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diff --git a/31820.txt b/31820.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7753cf --- /dev/null +++ b/31820.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21155 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Serapion Brethren,, by Ernst Theodor 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. I. + +Author: Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann + +Translator: Alex. Ewing + +Release Date: March 29, 2010 [EBook #31820] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SERAPION BRETHREN, *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + +Transcriber's notes: +1. Page scan scource: Web Archive: + http://www.archive.org/details/serapionbrethren01hoffuoft + +2. All footnotes (5 in number) are listed at the end of the book. + +3. [oe] = diphthong oe. + + + + + + THE SERAPION BRETHREN. + + + + + + + GEORGE BELL AND SONS + + LONDON PORTUGAL ST., LINCOLN'S INN. + CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO. + NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. + BOMBAY: A. H. WHEELER AND CO. + + + + + + + THE SERAPION BRETHREN. + + + BY + + ERNST THEODOR WILHELM HOFFMANN. + + + + Translated from the German + + + BY + + MAJOR ALEX. EWING, + + A.P.D., + TRANSLATOR OF J. P. RICHTER'S "FLOWER, FRUIT, AND THORN PIECES," + ETC. + + + + VOL. I. + + + + LONDON + GEORGE BELL AND SONS + 1908 + + + + + + + [_Reprinted from Stereotype plates._] + + + + + + + PREFACE. + + +Notwithstanding the popularity which several of Hoffmann's tales have +obtained in many different countries, we are not aware of any complete +or accurate translation of his works. In England they have become known +in a very partial form, chiefly by the appearance of a few isolated +tales in association with those of other writers, as in the 'Specimens +of German Romance,' or in Gillies' 'German Stories,' which were +published about 1830. Others are familiar only through the medium of a +translation from a previous French version, as is the case with the +well-known 'Nutcracker,'--and in this process of double dilution the +Author's name has sometimes disappeared altogether. + +The most important attempt to present this writer to English readers +is the recent publication of two volumes entitled 'Hoffmann's Weird +Stories,' which contain eleven tales seven being from the +_Serapions-Brueder_, two from the _Nachtstuecke_, and two from other parts +of his works. These stories are all separated from the setting in which, +as in the present volume, they for the most part appeared, and the +translator has not aimed at any completeness or method in their selection. +The first attempt to give English readers a satisfactory idea of +Hoffmann's work in its completeness is inaugurated by the present volume, +which will be followed by the remaining portion of the _Serapion +Brethren_, and in due course it is hoped by other portions of his works. + +Musicians will be interested by the fulness with which the Author's +views on musical subjects so much in advance of his age, and so just +and accurate are developed in many places, such as the dialogue called +"The Poet and the Composer," and the conversation which precedes the +tale "Master Martin." It would be of much interest could any of +Hoffmann's numerous musical compositions be brought to light at the +present day; they appear to have been considerably in advance of their +period, although Weber's critique on one of Hoffmann's operas is full +of high praise. + + A. E. + +_Taunton_, _September_, 1886. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + SECTION I. + + PAGE + +THE STORY OF SERAPION 10 +THE STORY OF KRESPEL 24 +AN INTERRUPTED CADENCE 54 +THE POET AND THE COMPOSER 76 + + SECTION II. + +A FRAGMENT OF THE LIVES OF THREE FRIENDS 105 +THE ARTUS HOF 152 +THE MINES OF FALUN 182 +NUTCRACKER AND THE KING OF MICE 211 + + SECTION III. + +THE SINGERS' CONTEST 293 +AUTOMATONS 352 +THE DOGE AND THE DOGARESSA 382 + + SECTION IV. + +MASTER MARTIN, THE COOPER, AND HIS MEN 447 +THE STRANGER CHILD 509 + + + + + THE SERAPION BRETHREN. + + + + SECTION I. + +"Look at the question how one will, the bitter conviction is not to be +got rid of by persuasion, or by force, that what has been never, never +can be again. It is useless to contend with the irresistible power of +Time, which goes on continually creating by a process of constant +destruction. Nothing survives save the shadowy reflected images left by +that part of our lives which has set, and gone far below our horizon; +and they often haunt and mock us like evil, ghostly dreams. But _we_ +are fools, and expect that matters which, in reality, were nothing but +our _ideas_, parts and portions of our own individualities, are to be +found actually existent in the world outside us, and blooming in +perpetual youth! The woman we have loved and parted from, the friend to +whom we have said good-bye, are both lost to us for ever. The people +whom, perhaps years afterwards, we meet as _being_ them, are not the +same whom we left, neither are we ever the same to them." + +So saying, Lothair got up from his seat, and folding his arms on the +mantel-piece, gazed, with gloomy sadness, into the fire which was +blazing and crackling merrily. + +"One thing is certain enough," said Theodore, "that, at all events, +you, dear Lothair, are so far actually the same Lothair whom I bade +good-bye to twelve years ago, that whenever any little thing vexes or +disappoints you at all, you immediately sink down to the lowest depths +of gloom and despair. It is quite true--and Cyprian, Ottmar and I feel +it as much as you that this first meeting of ours after our twelve +years' separation comes short of being quite all that we had pictured +it to be. Put the blame on me, who raced through one of those endless +streets of ours after another, leaving no stone unturned to get you all +assembled here to-night by my fireside. Perhaps I had better have left +it to chance. But I could not bear the idea that we--who had spent so +many years together in such close friendship, joined by the bonds of +our common pursuits in art and knowledge, and only driven asunder by +the hurricane which raged during that fateful time--that _we_, I say, +should come to cast anchor in the same harbour, for so much as a single +day, and yet not look upon each other with the eyes of the body, as we +had with the eyes of the spirit in the interval. And now, we have been +sitting here together for some hours, wearying ourselves to death over +the enthusiastic quality of our revived friendship, yet not one of us +has said anything worth listening to: we have talked tedious, tiresome +stuff, to a perfectly astonishing extent. And why is this, but because +we are a set of very childish children, thinking we were going to take +up the old tune which we sang twelve years ago, at the point where we +broke off with it, and go on singing it as we were doing then. Lothair, +we will say, should have read Tieck's 'Zerbino' aloud to us for the +first time, to our astonished delight; or Cyprian should have brought +some fanciful poem, or perhaps the text of a whole operatic +extravaganza, to which I should then have composed the music on the +spot, and thundered it out on the old weak-loined piano of twelve years +back; or Ottmar should have told us about some wonderful curiosity he +had come across--some remarkable wine, some extraordinary nincompoop, +etc., and set us all on fire with projects and ideas how to make the +most of our enjoyment of either, or both; and because none of all this +has happened, we sit secretly sulking at each other, each thinking (of +the other) 'Ay! what a change in the dear old fellow. Well! I never +should have believed he could have altered so!' Of course we none of us +_are_ the same. I say nothing of the circumstance that we are twelve +years older; that, no doubt, every year lays more earth upon us, which +weighs us down from aerial regions, till we go _under_ the earth at +last. But whom of us, all this time, has not the wild whirlpool carried +surging on from event to event, and from action to action? The terror, +the trouble, the anxiety of that stormy time,[1] could not pass over us +without leaving bleeding scars graven on our hearts. The pictures of +our early days are pale compared with _that_, and we cannot revive +their colours. No doubt, too, there is much in life and in ourselves +which looked very bright and glorious, and has lost its dazzling +glitter for our eyes, grown accustomed to a brighter light; but the +modes of thinking and feeling which gave rise to our friendship remain +pretty much the same. I mean that we all consider each other something +rather above the common, in suitability to each other at all events, so +as to be worthy of a thorough friendship. So let us leave the old days +out of sight, with all the promise and anticipations belonging to them, +and, starting from the conviction which I have expressed, see how we +can best establish a new bond of union." + +"Heaven be thanked," said Ottmar, "that Lothair could no longer endure +the forced, unnatural condition in which we were, and that you, +Theodore, have at once exorcised the malignant little fiend which was +vexing and teasing us. This constrained feeling of 'You are bound to be +enjoying yourself, whether you really are or not,' was beginning to +stifle me, and I was just getting fearfully out of temper, when Lothair +broke out as he did. But now that Theodore has pointed out so clearly +what it was that was amiss, I seem to be brought much nearer to you +all, and things appear as if the old kindly unconstrained comfort, with +which we used to meet, were getting the upper hand. Theodore is right; +though Time has altered a good many things, our belief in each other +remains untouched. And with this, I solemnly declare the preliminaries +of our new League established; and it is laid down as a rule that we +come together once every week on a certain day--otherwise we shall lose +sight of each other in this big town, and be further asunder than +ever." + +"A great idea," cried Lothair, "only you should add a few regular +rules as to our weekly meetings; for instance, that we are, or are not, +to talk upon certain subjects; or that each of us is bound to be three +times as witty as usual; or that we must always eat sardine-salad. In +this fashion, the fullest blown form of Philistinism that flourishes in +any club will burst in upon us. Don't you think, Ottmar, that anything +in the shape of a formal stipulation connected with our meetings would +at once introduce an element of constraint, destructive, at all events, +of _my_ enjoyment in them? Let me remind you of the extreme repugnance +which we used to feel towards everything in the shape of a 'club,' or +whatever name might be given to absurd institutions of the kind, where +all sorts of tedium and wearisomeness are carried forward on system. +And now you propose to force and constrain, artificially, this +four-bladed clover-plant of ours--which can only flourish and thrive +naturally without any gardener's training--into an evil form of this +sort." + +"Our friend Lothair," said Theodore, "does not get out of his moods so +very quickly, that we all know; as also that when he is in them he sees +spectres, and fights with them sturdily until he is dead-beat, and +obliged to acknowledge that they _were_ nothing but spectres, the +creations of his own brain. How is it possible, Lothair, that Ottmar's +harmless and very innocent suggestion should at once set you thinking +of clubs, and the Philistinism inherent in them? All the same, you have +brought to my memory a very amusing remembrance of our former days. I +dare say you remember the time when we first left the Residency and +went to the little town of P----? The customs of society made it +incumbent on us to join the club which the so-called 'Upper ten' of the +place belonged to. We received due notification, in a solemn document, +worded in the most formal juridical style, that, after the due +formalities, we had been admitted as members; and this notification was +accompanied by a great book, of some fifteen to twenty sheets of paper, +handsomely bound, containing the Club Rules. They had been drawn up by +an old legal luminary, exactly in the style of the Prussian Municipal +Code, all divided into titles and paragraphs, and were the most +entertaining reading it is possible to conceive. For instance, one +title was superscribed, 'Concerning Women and Children, and their +Rights, and Privileges,' in which nothing more or less was sanctioned +than that the wives and daughters of the members had the privilege of +coming to tea within the precincts of the club every Thursday and +Sunday evening, and might even dance there some five or six times +during the winter. Concerning children the law was still more +accurately and critically enunciated, the jurist having handled this +subject with even more than his usual care, jealously distinguishing +between children under age, children of age, and children under +parental tutelage. Those under age were further sub-divided, according +to their moral qualities, into well-behaved, and ill-behaved, and the +latter were unconditionally debarred from admission, 'good behaviour' +being a fundamental principle of the club constitution. The next title +was the noteworthy one, 'Concerning Dogs, Cats, and other irrational +creatures,' and laid down that nobody might bring into the club any +dangerous wild beast. So that, had any member taken to himself (for +example) a lion, a tiger, or a panther by way of lapdog, it would have +been impossible for him to take it into the club. Even had its mane and +claws been cut, a schismatic of this description would have been +excluded unconditionally by the committee. Even the cleverest poodles, +and the most highly-trained pugs were declared ineligible, and might +only, (on exceptional occasions in summer, when dinner was in the open +air,) be introduced, on presentation of a card of permission by the +committee. We--Lothair and I--invented a number of addenda and +declarations supplementary to this deeply-considered codex, which we +proposed, with the most solemn gravity, at the next meeting, and, to +our great entertainment, carried the thing so far that the most +preposterous nonsense was discussed and debated on with the gravest +deliberation. But at last one or two saw through our joke, so that all +confidence in us was at an end--although our expectations were not +realised, for we had thought it a certainty that we should be solemnly +expelled from the club." + +"I remember it quite well," said Lothair, "and I'm not a little annoyed +to feel that nowadays I could not carry out a similar mystification. I +have grown much too dull and sluggish, and inclined to be annoyed with +matters which used to make me laugh." + +"Nothing shall induce me to believe that," said Ottmar; "rather I feel +convinced, Lothair, that the echoes of something painful are louder in +you to-day than common. But a new life will shortly breathe through you +like a breeze of spring; those jarring discords will die away, and you +will be the same Lothair that you were twelve years since. Your club at +P---- reminds me of another, whose founders must have been witty +fellows. It was on the plan of a regular kingdom, with a King, +Ministers, a Parliament, &c. Its sole _raison d'etre_ was good eating, +and better drinking, and its meetings were held in the principal hotel, +where the wines and _cuisine_ were of the best. At those meetings, the +Minister for Foreign Affairs would give notice of the arrival of some +remarkably superior Rhine wine at some merchant's in the town. An +embassy would then be despatched, furnished with minute instructions, +and provided with necessary credits to be drawn against a special +reserve-fund in the hands of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. On +occasions when a _ragout_ turned out badly, everything was at sixes and +sevens. Pourparlers and diplomatic notes were exchanged relating to the +threatening aspect of the affairs of the realm. Then Parliament would +meet to decide as to the particular wine to be used on a given day in +compounding the cold punch. The decision had to be solemnly laid before +His Majesty in Council, and, after due deliberation, the King would +bow, in assent; the ordinance concerning the cold punch, duly passed, +would be remitted for execution to the Minister of the Interior. Art +and Science, also, were represented in these ceremonies; the poet who +wrote a new drinking song, and the musician who composed and performed +it, receiving a decoration from His Majesty's hands in the shape of a +red hen's feather, coupled with the permission to drink an extra bottle +of wine--at their own expense. On State occasions the King had a crown, +orb, and sceptre of gilt pasteboard, and the dignitaries of the realm +wore quaint head-dresses. The symbol of the fraternity was a silver box +with a hen sitting on eggs on the lid. At the time when I forgathered +with this pleasant company, there was a large proportion of talented +people in its ranks, so that it was entertaining enough, as far a it +went." + +"I have no doubt it was," said Lothair, "but I can't comprehend how a +thing of the kind could be kept up for any length of time. The best of +jokes loses its point if it is kept going so long as it seems to have +been in this 'Lodge of the Clucking Hen,' if I may so style it. You +have both, Theodore and Ottmar, told us of clubs on a grand scale, with +their rules, regulations, and mystifications. Let me direct your +attention to what was probably the very _minutest_ club that ever, I +should think, existed on this earth. In a certain little town on the +Polish frontier, occupied, at the time, by Prussia, the only German +officials were an old captain--retired on account of bad health--who +was postmaster, and the exciseman. Every evening as the clock struck +five, these two repaired to the only inn which there was in the place, +to a little room where nobody else was admitted. Generally, the +exciseman arrived there before the captain, who would find him smoking +his pipe over his jug of beer. The captain, on coming in, would greet +him with, 'Fine evening! Any news?' sit down opposite to him at the +table; light his pipe--filled beforehand; take the paper out of his +pocket, and hand each sheet, as he finished it, across to the +exciseman, who would read it with equal care and avidity. They would go +on puffing their clouds of smoke into each other's eyes in profound +silence, till the clock struck eight, when the exciseman would get up, +knock the ashes out of his pipe, and with a 'Not much news, to speak +of,' be off to his bed. This they styled, in all seriousness, 'Our +Club.' + +"Very good indeed," said Theodore, "and our Cyprian here would have +been a splendid candidate for membership in that club. He never would +have broken the sacred silence by any ill-timed remark. He seems to +have taken a vow of silence, like the monks of La Trappe, for up to +this moment not a syllable has passed his lips." + +Cyprian, who had indeed been completely silent up to this point, heaved +a deep sigh, as if awaking from a dream; raised his eyes to the +ceiling, and said, with a quiet smile: + +"I don't mind confessing that all this day I have been unable to banish +from my recollection a certain strange adventure which I met with +several years ago; and perhaps when the voices within one are loud, the +lips are not very apt to open for speech. But I have been attending to +all that has been said, and can give a proper account of it all. In the +first place, Theodore was quite right in saying that we had been +childish in fancying that we could begin again just where we left off +twelve years ago, and were sulking with each other because this was +not, and could not be, the case. I maintain that nothing could have so +established us as Philistines incarnate as to have gone ambling along +in our old track. And this reminds me of two savants--but I must tell +this story at full length. Imagine two men--whom I shall call Sebastian +and Ptolemy--imagine to yourselves these two studying Kant's philosophy +as hard as they could at College at K----, and daily carrying on long +discussions as to various points of it. Just at the moment when +Sebastian was going to deliver his most clenching blow, and Ptolemy +pulling himself together to answer it, they were interrupted; and Fate +so arranged matters that they never met again in K----, one going off +in one direction, the other, in another. Nearly twenty years afterwards +Ptolemy saw in the streets of B----, a figure walking, whom he at once +recognised as his friend Sebastian. He rushed after him, slapped him on +the shoulder, and when he looked round, Ptolemy said: 'Then you +maintain that----' + +"In short, struck the (argumentative) blow which he had lifted his arm +to deliver twenty years before! Sebastian sprung the mines which he had +laid in K----. They argued for two hours, three hours, walking up and +down the streets, and in the heat of their discussion, agreed to submit +the question to the Professor for his decision, never recollecting that +poor old Emanuel had been many a year in his grave. They parted, and +never met again. Now to _me_ there is something almost terrific about +this story (which has this peculiarity, that it is strictly true). My +imagination _boggles_ at a Philistinism of a depth so ghastly! So we +are not going to be Philistines. We are not going to insist on spinning +on at the thread which we were spinning twelve years ago, nor be +annoyed with each other for having on different hats and coats. We will +be different to what we were then, and yet the same; so that is +settled. What Lothair, without much relevancy, said of clubs is, I dare +say true enough, and proves how prone poor Humanity is to dam up the +minutest remnants of its freedom, and build an artificial roof to +prevent it looking up to the clear blue sky. But what have we to do +with this? For my part, I adhere to Ottmar's proposal, that we meet +every week on a certain day." + +"I shall oppose it persistently," said Lothair. "But to put an end to +this horrible argument and discussion, let Cyprian tell us the strange +adventure which is so much in his thoughts to-day." + +"My idea," said Cyprian, "is rather that we should try to get into a +merrier mood; and it would greatly conduce to this if Theodore would be +so kind as to open yon old mysterious vase, which, judging by the +delicate aroma it gives out, might have pertained to the Brotherhood of +the Clucking Hen. Nothing on earth could have a more opposite effect +than my adventure, which you would consider inappropriate, altogether +uninteresting--nay, silly and absurd. It is gloomy in its character at +the same time, and the part which I play in it is the reverse of +distinguished: abundant reasons for saying nothing about it." + +"Did I not tell you," cried Theodore, "that our Cyprian, our dear +Sunday-child, had been seeing all kinds of questionable spirits again, +which he won't allow our utterly carnal eyes to look upon? Out with +your adventure, Cyprian, and if you _do_ play rather an ungrateful part +in it, I promise that I will soon recollect, and dish you up adventures +of my own in which I play a more ungrateful part than you can possibly +do. I assure you I have a large stock of them." + +"So be it then," said Cyprian; and after gazing reflectively before him +for a few seconds, he commenced as follows:-- + +"You know that, some years ago I spent a considerable time in B----, a +place in one of the pleasantest districts of the South of Germany. As +my habit is, I used to take long walks in the surrounding country by +myself, without any guide, though I should often have been the better +for one. On one of these occasions I got into a piece of thickly wooded +country and lost my way; the farther I went, the less could I discover +the smallest vestige of a human footstep. At last the wood grew less +thick, and I saw, not far from me, a man in a brown hermit's robe, with +a broad straw hat on his head, and a long, wild black beard, sitting on +a rock, by the side of a deep ravine gazing, with folded hands, +thoughtfully into the distance. This sight had something so strange, +unexpected, and out of the common about it that I felt a shiver of +eeriness and awe. One can scarcely help such a feeling when what one +has only heretofore seen in pictures, or read of in books, suddenly +appears before one's eyes in actual, every-day life. Here was an +anchorite of the early ages of Christianity, in the body, seated in one +of Salvator Rosa's wild mountain scenes. But it soon occurred to me +that probably a monk on his peregrinations was nothing uncommon in that +part of the country. So I walked up to him, and asked if he could tell +me the shortest way out of the wood to the high road leading to B----. +He looked at me from head to foot with a gloomy glance, and said, in a +hollow and solemn voice: + +"'I know well that it is merely an idle curiosity to see me, and to +hear me speak which has led you to this desert. But you must perceive +that I have no time to talk with you now. My friend Ambrosius of +Camaldoli is returning to Alexandria. Travel with him.' + +"With which he arose and walked down into the ravine. + +"I felt as if I must be in a dream. Presently I heard the sound of +wheels close by, I made my way through the thickets, and found myself +in a forest track, where I saw a countryman going along in a cart. I +overtook him, and he shortly brought me to the high road leading to +B----. As we went along I told him my adventure, and asked if he knew +who the extraordinary man in the forest was? + +"'Oh, sir,' he said, 'that was the worthy man who calls himself Priest +Serapion, and has been living in these woods for some years, in a +little hut which he built himself. People say he's not quite right in +his head, but he is a nice, good gentleman, never does any harm, and +edifies us of the village with pious discourses, giving us all the good +advice that he can.' + +"I had come across the anchorite some six or eight miles from B----, +so I concluded that something must be known of him there, and this +proved to be the case. Dr. S---- told me all the story. This hermit +had once been one of the most brilliant intellects, one of the most +universally-accomplished men in M----; and belonging, as he did, to +a very distinguished family, he was naturally appointed to an important +diplomatic post as soon as he had completed his studies: the duties of +this office he discharged with great ability and energy. Moreover, he +had remarkable poetical gifts, and everything he wrote was inspired by +a most brilliant fancy, a mind and imagination which sounded the +profoundest depths of all subjects. His incomparable humour, and the +unusual charm of his character made him the most delightful of +companions imaginable. He had risen from step to step of his career, +and was on the point of being despatched on an important diplomatic +mission, when he disappeared, in the most incomprehensible fashion, +from M----. All search for him was fruitless, and conjecture and +enquiry were baffled by a combination of circumstances. + +"After a time there appeared amongst the villages, in the depths of the +Tyrolese mountains, a man in a brown robe, who preached in these +hamlets, and then went away into the wildest parts of the forests, +where he lived the life of a hermit. It chanced one day that Count +P---- saw this man (who called himself Priest Serapion), and at once +recognised him as his unfortunate nephew, who had disappeared from +M----. He was taken into custody, became violent, and all the skill of +the best doctors in M---- could do nothing to alleviate his terrible +condition. He was taken to the lunatic asylum at B----, and there the +methodical system, based upon profound psychological knowledge, pursued +by the medical man then in charge of that institution, succeeded in +bringing about a condition of much less excitement, and greater +quietness in the form of his malady. Whether this doctor, true to his +theory, gave the patient an opportunity of escaping, or whether he +himself found the means of doing so, escape he did, and was lost sight +of for a considerable time. + +"Serapion appeared, ultimately, in the country some eight miles from +B----, where I had seen him; and the doctor declared that if any true +compassion was to be shown him, he should not be again driven into a +condition of wild excitement; but that, if he was to be at peace, and, +after his fashion, happy, he should be left in these woods in perfect +freedom, to do just as he liked; in which case he, the said doctor, +would be responsible for the consequences. Accordingly, the police +authorities were content to leave him to a distant and imperceptible +supervision by the officials of the nearest village, and the result +bore out what the doctor had said. Serapion built himself a little hut, +pretty, and, under the circumstances, comfortable. He made chairs and +tables, wove mats of rushes to lie upon, and laid out a garden where he +grew flowers and vegetables. In all that did not touch the idea that he +was the hermit Serapion who fled into the Theban desert in the days of +the Emperor Decius, and suffered martyrdom in Alexandria, his mind was +completely unaffected. He could carry on the most intellectual +conversation, and often showed traces of the brilliant humour and +charming individuality of character for which he had been remarkable in +his former life. The aforesaid doctor declared him to be completely +incurable, and strongly deprecated all attempts to restore him to the +world and to his former pursuits and duties. + +"You will readily understand that I could not drive this anchorite of +mine out of my thoughts, and that I experienced an irresistible longing +to see him again. But just picture to yourselves the excess of my +folly! I had no less an undertaking in my mind than that of attacking +Serapion's fixed idea at its very roots. I read Pinel, Reil, every +conceivable book on insanity which I could lay my hands on. I fondly +believed that it might be reserved for _me_, an amateur psychologist +and doctor, to cast some rays of light into Serapion's darkened +intelligence. And I did not omit, either, to make myself acquainted +with the stories of all the Serapions (there were no fewer than eight +of them) treated of in the histories of saints and martyrs. + +"Thus equipped, I set out one fine morning in search of my anchorite. + +"I found him working in his garden with hoe and spade, singing a +devotional song. Wild pigeons, for which he had strewed an abundant +supply of food, were fluttering and cooing round him, and a young deer +was peeping through the leaves on the trellis. He was evidently living +in the closest intimacy with the woodland creatures. Not the faintest +trace of insanity was visible in his face; it bore a quiet expression +of remarkable serenity and happiness; and all this confirmed what Dr. +S---- in B---- had told me. When he heard of my projected visit to the +anchorite, he advised me to go some fine, bright pleasant morning, +because, he said, his mind would be less troubled then and he would be +more inclined to talk to a stranger, whereas at evening he would shun +all intercourse with mankind. + +"As soon as he saw me he laid down his spade, and came towards me in a +kind and friendly manner. I said that, being weary with a longish +journey, I should be glad if he would allow me to rest with him for a +little while. + +"'You are heartily welcome,' he said. 'The little which I can offer you +in the shape of refreshment is at your service.' + +"And he took me to a seat of moss in front of his hut, brought out a +little table, set on bread, magnificent grapes, and a can of wine, and +hospitably begged me to eat and drink. He sat down opposite to me, and +ate bread with much appetite, washing it down with draughts of water. + +"In good sooth I did not see how I was to lead the conversation to my +subject--how I was to bring my psychological science to bear upon this +peaceful, happy man. At last I pulled myself together and began: + +"'You style yourself Serapion, reverend sir?' + +"'Yes, certainly,' he answered. 'The Church has given me that name.' + +"'Ancient ecclesiastical history,' I continued, 'mentions several +celebrated holy men of that name. An abbot Serapion, known for his good +works the--learned Bishop Serapion alluded to by Hieronimus in his book +"_De Viris Illustribus_." There was also a monk Serapion, who (as +Heraclides relates in his "Paradise") on one occasion, coming from the +Theban desert to Rome, ordered a virgin, who had joined him--saying she +had renounced the world and its pleasures--to prove this by walking +with him naked in the streets of Rome, and repulsed her when she +hesitated, saying, "You still live the life of Nature, and are careful +for the opinions of mankind. Think not that you are anything great or +have overcome the world." If I am not mistaken, reverend sir, this was +the "filthy monk" (Heraclid himself so styles him) who suffered a +terrible martyrdom under the Emperor Decius--his limbs being torn +asunder at the joints, and his body thrown down from a lofty rock.' + +"'That was so,' said Serapion, turning pale, and his eyes glowing with +a sombre fire. 'But Serapion the martyr, had no connection with that +monk, who, in the fury of his asceticism, did battle against human +nature. I am Serapion the martyr, to whom you allude.' + +"'What?' I cried, with feigned surprise. 'You believe that you are that +Serapion who suffered such a hideous martyrdom so many hundred years +ago?' + +"That,' said Serapion with much calmness, 'may appear incredible to +you; and I admit that it must sound very wonderful to many who cannot +see further than the points of their own noses. However, it is as I +tell you. God's omnipotence permitted me to survive my martyrdom, and +to recover from its effects, because it was ordained, in His mysterious +providence, that I had still to pass a certain period of my existence, +to His praise and glory, here in the Theban desert. There is nothing +now to remind me of the tortures which I suffered except sometimes a +severe headache, and occasional violent cramps and twitchings in my +limbs.' + +"Now,' thought I, 'is the time to commence my cure.' + +"I made a wide circumbendibus, and talked in an erudite style +concerning the malady of 'Fixed Idea,' which attacks people, marring, +like one single discord, the otherwise harmonious organisms. I spoke of +the scientific man who could not be induced to rise from his chair for +fear he would break the windows across the street with his nose. I +mentioned the Abbot Molanus, who conversed most rationally upon every +subject, but would not leave his room because he thought he was a +barleycorn, and the hens would swallow him. I came to the fact that to +confound oneself with some historical character was a frequent form of +Fixed Idea. 'Nothing more absurd and preposterous,' I said, 'could +possibly be imagined than that a little bit of woodland country eight +miles from B----, daily frequented by country folk, sportsmen, and +people walking for exercise was the Theban desert, and he himself that +ascetic who suffered martyrdom many centuries ago.' + +"Serapion listened in silence. He seemed to feel what I said, and to be +struggling with himself in deep reflection. So that I thought it was +time to strike my decisive blow. I stood up, took him by both hands, +and cried, loudly and emphatically: + +"'Count P----, awake from the pernicious dream which is enthralling +you; throw off that abominable dress, and come back to your family, +which mourns your loss, and to the world where you have such important +duties to discharge.' + +"Serapion gazed at me with a sombre, penetrating gaze. Then a sarcastic +smile played about his lips and cheeks, and he said, slowly and +solemnly: + +"'You have spoken, sir, long, and, as _you_ consider, wisely and well. +Allow _me_, in turn, to say a few words in reply. Saint Anthony, and +all the men of the Church who have withdrawn from the world into +solitude, were often visited by vexing spirits, who, envying the inward +peace and contentment of their souls, carried on with them lengthy +contests, until they had to lie down conquered in the dust. And such is +_my_ fortune also. Every now and then there appear to me emissaries, +sent by Satan, who try to persuade me that I am Count P---- of M----, +and that I ought to betake myself to the life of Courts, and all sorts +of unholiness. Were it not for the efficacy of prayer, I should take +these people by the shoulders, turn them out of my little garden, and +carefully barricade it against them. But I need not do so in your case; +for you are, most unmistakably, the very feeblest of all the +adversaries who have ever come to me, and I can vanquish _you_ with +your own weapons--those of ratiocination. It is insanity that is in +question between us. But if one of us two is suffering from that sad +malady, it is evident that _you_ are so in a much greater degree than +I. You maintain that it is a case of Fixed Idea that I believe myself +to be Serapion the martyr--and I am quite aware that many persons hold +the same opinion, or pretend that they do. Now, if I am really insane, +none but a lunatic can think that he could _argue_ me out of the Fixed +Idea which insanity has engendered in me. Were such a proceeding +possible, there would soon be no madmen on the face of the earth, for +men would be able to rule, and command, their mental power, which is +not their own, but merely lent to them for a time by that Higher Power +which disposes of them. But if I am _not_ mad, and if I am really +Serapion the martyr, it is insane to set about arguing me out of that, +and leading me to adopt the Fixed Idea that I am Count P---- of M----. +You say that Serapion the martyr, lived several centuries ago, and +that, consequently, I cannot be that martyr, presumably for the reason +that human beings cannot remain so long on this earth. Well, as regards +this, the notion of time is just as _relative_ a notion as that of +number; and I may say to you that, according to the notion of time +which I have in _me_, it is scarcely three _hours_ (or whatever +appellation you may choose to give to the divisions of time), since I +was put to martyrdom by the Emperor Decius. But, leaving this on one +side, can you assert, in opposition to me, that a life of such length +as I say I have lived, is unexampled and contrary to human nature? Have +you cognizance of the precise length of the life of every human being +who has existed in all this wide world, that you can employ the +expression 'unexampled' in this pert and decisive manner? Do you +compare God's omnipotence to the wretched art of the clockmaker, who +can't save his lifeless machinery from destruction? You say this place +where we are is not the Theban desert, but a little woodland district +eight miles from B----, daily frequented by country folk, sportsmen and +others. _Prove_ that to me.' + +"Here, I thought I had my man. + +"'Come with me,' said I, 'and in a couple of hours we shall be in +B----, and what I assert will be proved.' + +"'Poor, blinded fool,' said Serapion. 'What a wide distance lies +between us and B----! But put the case that I went with you to some +town which you call B----; would you be able to convince me that we had +been travelling for two hours only, and the place we had arrived at was +really B----? If I were to assert that you were insane, and suppose the +Theban desert is a little bit of wooded country, and far-away +Alexandria the town of B---- in the south of Germany, what would you +say in reply? Our old discussion would go on for ever. Then there is +another point which you ought seriously to consider. You must, I should +suppose, perceive that I, who am talking with you, am leading the +peaceful and happy life of a man reconciled with God. It is only after +having passed through martyrdom that such a life dawns upon the soul. +And if it has pleased the Almighty to cast a veil over what happened +before my martyrdom, is it not a terrible, and diabolical action to try +to tear that veil away?' + +"With all my wisdom, I stood, confounded and silenced in the presence +of this insane man! With the very rationality of his irrationality he +had beaten me completely out of the field, and I saw the folly of my +undertaking in all its fulness. Still more than that, I felt the +reproach contained in what he had last said as deeply as I was +astounded at the dim remembrance of his previous life which shone +through it like some lofty, invulnerable, higher spirit. + +"Serapion seemed to be reading my thoughts, and, looking me full in the +face with an expression of the greatest kindliness, he said: + +"'I never took you for an evil-disposed adversary, and I see I was not +mistaken. You may have been instigated by somebody--perhaps by the Evil +One himself--to come here to vex and try me, but I am sure it was not a +spontaneous act of yours. And perhaps the fact that you found me other +than you expected, may have strengthened you in your expression of the +doubts which you have suggested. Although I in no sense deviate from +the devoutness beseeming him who has given up his life to God and the +Church, that cynicism of asceticism into which many of my brethren have +fallen--thereby giving proof of the weakness, nay, utter destruction of +their mental vigour, instead of its boasted strength--is utterly +foreign to me! You expected to find the Monk Serapion pale and haggard, +wasted with fast and vigil, all the horror of visions, terrible as +those which drove even St. Anthony to despair, in his sombre face, with +quivering knees scarce able to support him, in a filthy robe, stained +with his blood. You find a placid, cheerful man. But I, too, have +passed through those tortures, and have overcome them and survived. And +when I awoke with shattered limbs and fractured skull, the spirit +dawned, and shone bright within me, restoring my mind and my body to +health. May it please Heaven speedily to grant to you also, my brother, +even here on earth, a peace and happiness such as those which daily +refresh and strengthen _me_. Have no dread of the terror of the deepest +solitude. It is only there that a life like this can dawn upon the +pious soul.' + +"Serapion, who had spoken with genuine priestly unction, raised, in +silence, his eyes to Heaven with an expression of blissful gratitude. +How could I feel otherwise than awe-struck! A madman, congratulating +himself on his condition, looking upon it as a priceless gift from +Heaven, and, from the depths of his heart, wishing me a similar fate! + +"I was on the point of leaving him, but he began in an altered tone, +saying: + +"'You would, probably, scarcely suppose that this wild inhospitable +desert is often almost too full of the noise and bustle of life to be +suitable for my silent meditations. Every day I receive visits from the +most remarkable people of the most diverse kinds. Ariosto was here +yesterday, and Dante and Petrarch afterwards. And this evening I expect +Evagrus, the celebrated father, with whom I shall discuss the most +recent ecclesiastical affairs, as I did poetry yesterday. I often go up +to the top of that hill there, whence the towers of Alexandria are to +be seen distinctly in clear weather, and the most wonderful and +interesting events happen before my eyes. Many people have thought +_that_ incredible, too, and considered that I only _fancy_ I see before +me, in actual life, what is merely born in my mind and imagination. Now +_I_ say _that_ is the most incomprehensible piece of folly that can +exist. What is it, except the mind, which takes cognizance of what +happens around us in time and space? What is it that hears, and feels, +and sees? Is it the lifeless mechanism which we call eyes, ears, hands, +etc., and not the mind? Does the mind give form and shape to that +peculiar world of its own which has space and time for its conditions +of existence, and _then_ hand over the functions of seeing, hearing, +etc., to some _other_ principle inherent in us? How illogical! +Therefore, if it is the mind only which takes cognizance of events +around us, it follows that that which it has taken cognizance of _has_ +actually occurred. Last evening only, Ariosto was speaking of the +images of his fancy, and saying he had created in his brain forms and +events which had never existed in time and space. I at once denied the +possibility of this, and he was obliged to allow that it was only from +lack of a higher knowledge that a poet would box up within the narrow +limits of his brain that which, by virtue of his peculiar seer gift, he +was enabled to see in full life before him. But the complete +acquirement of this higher knowledge only comes after martyrdom, and is +strengthened by the life in profound solitude. You don't appear to +agree with me; probably you don't understand me here. Indeed how should +a child of this world, however well disposed, understand an anchorite +consecrated in all his works and ways to God? Let me tell you what +happened before my eyes, as I was standing this morning at sunrise at +the top of that hill.' + +"He then related a regular romance, with a plot and incidents such as +only the most imaginative poet could have constructed. The characters +and events stood out with such a vivid, plastic relief, that it was +impossible--carried away as one was by the magic spell of them--to help +believing, as if in a species of dream, that Serapion had actually +witnessed them from the hilltop. This romance was succeeded by another, +and that by another, by which time the sun stood high above us in the +noon-tide sky. Serapion then rose from his seat, and looking into the +distance, said: 'Yonder comes my brother Hilarion, who, in his over +strictness, always blames me for being too much given to the society of +strangers.' + +"I understood the hint, and took my leave, asking if I should be +allowed to pay him another visit. Serapion answered with a gentle +smile, 'My friend, I thought you would be eager to get away from this +wilderness, so little adapted to your mode of life. But if it is your +pleasure to take up your abode for a time in my neighbourhood, you will +always be welcome to my cottage and my little garden. Perhaps it may be +granted to me to convert him who came to me as an adversary. Farewell, +my friend.' + +"I am wholly unable to characterize the impression which my visit to +him had made upon me. Whilst his condition, his methodical madness in +which he found the joy of his life, produced the weirdest effect upon +me, his extraordinary poetical genius filled me with amazement, and his +kindly, peaceful happiness, instinct with the quietest resignation of +the purest mind, touched me unspeakably. I thought of Ophelia's +sorrowful words: + + "O what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! + The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword: + The expectancy and rose of this fair state, + The glass of fashion, and the mould of form, + The observ'd of all observers! quite, quite down! + Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, + Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; + That unmatched form and feature of blown youth, + Blasted with ecstasy." + +Yet I could not make plaint against the Omnipotence, which probably +had, in this mysterious fashion, steered his bark away from reefs, +which might have wrecked it, into this secure haven. + +"The oftener I went to see him, the more attached to him I became. I +always found him happy, and disposed to converse, and I took great care +never again to essay my role of the psychological doctor. It was +wonderful with what acuteness and penetration he spoke of life in all +its aspects, and most remarkable of all, how he deduced historical +events from causes wholly remote from all ordinary theories on the +subject. When sometimes--notwithstanding the striking acuteness of +those divinations of his--I took it upon me to object that no work on +history made any mention of the circumstances which he alluded to, he +would answer, with his quiet smile, that probably no historian in the +world knew as much about them as he did, seeing that he had them from +the very lips of the people concerned, when they came to see him. + +"I was obliged to leave B---- and it was three years before I could go +back there. It was late in Autumn, about the middle of November--the +14th, if I do not mistake--when I set out to pay my anchorite a visit. +Whilst I was still at a distance, I heard the sound of the little bell +which hung above his hut, and was filled with gloomy forebodings, +without apparent cause. At last I reached the cottage and went in. + +"Serapion was lying on his mat, with his hands folded on his breast. I +thought he was sleeping, and went softly up to him. Then I saw that he +was dead." + +"And two lions came and helped you to bury him," interrupted Ottmar. + +"What do you say?" cried Cyprian astonished. + +"Yes," Ottmar went on. "While you were in the forest, before you +reached Serapion's hut, you met strange monsters of all kinds, and +talked with them; a deer brought you St. Athanasius's mantle, and told +you to wrap it about Serapion's body. At any rate, your last visit to +your mad anchorite reminds me a good deal of that wonderful one which +St. Anthony paid to Paul the Hermit, of which the holy man relates so +much fantastic stuff that it's not difficult to see what a big bee was +buzzing in his bonnet. I know something of the Legends of the Saints, +you see, as well as you. Now I understand why it was that your head was +so full of monks and monasteries, saints and hermits a few years ago. I +saw that it was so by the letters you sent me, which were so strange +and mystic in their tone that they set me supposing all sorts of odd +things. And if I am not mistaken, it was about that time that you wrote +a curious book, treating of the profounder mysteries of the Catholic +Church, but containing madness and diablerie sufficient to give you a +very bad name amongst quiet, respectable folks. At that time you were +possessed with Serapionism to a very dangerous degree." + +"Quite true," said Cyprian, "and although that fanciful book does bear +the devil on its forehead, by way of danger-signal--so that those who +prefer to give it a wide berth may do so if they choose--I almost wish +now I had never brought it into the world. It is quite true that it was +suggested to me by my intercourse with the anchorite. I ought to have +kept out of his way, perhaps; but you all of you know what a +fascination insane people have always had for me. I have always thought +that in connection with those abnormal conditions nature vouchsafes us +glimpses into her most mysterious depths. In fact, by the very +gruesomeness which I have felt in the society of mad people, I have +found myself led upon the track of suggestions and ideas which have +inspired my mind and fancy to flights of unusual loftiness. Perhaps +people who are utterly sane may look upon flights such as these as mere +paroxysms of dangerous ill-health. But that is nothing when one _knows_ +that one is sound and well." + +"There is no doubt, dear Cyprian, that you are as sound and as well as +possible," said Theodore, "and in fact all this is a proof of the +strength and vigour of your constitution--which I almost could envy you +for. You speak of glimpses into Nature's mysterious depths; but people +who are not quite sure that they are exempt from anything like +giddiness ought to keep away from glimpses of the kind. Of course this +could never have applied to your Serapion, as you have described him to +us, inasmuch as to associate with him must have been better than +companionship with the most brilliant and splendid poet. But you will +admit that, chiefly because so many years have passed since you saw +him, you have pictured him to tie in all the brilliant colours in which +he glows in your memory. Now _I_ consider that, in the society of a +man, insane in the particular way in which your Serapion was, I should +never have been able to divest myself of an immense uneasiness, nay, I +may say terror! Even when you were telling us how he considered his +condition to be the happiest conceivable, and wished that it could be +yours, I felt my hair beginning to stand on end! What if the notion +that this condition _was_ a happy one should take root in one's mind, +and eventuate in real madness! Terrible thought! I could never have +been much with Serapion, just for that reason. Then, besides the risk +to the mind, there was the danger to the body, too. Pinel mentions +plenty of cases of people suffering from Fixed Idea who have suddenly +become fearfully violent, and murdered everybody whom they came near, +like furious wild beasts." + +"Theodore is right," said Ottmar. "Cyprian, I blame you for your +foolish _penchant_ for folly, your insane interest in insanity. There +is a morbidness about it which may give you some trouble one of these +days. For my part I shun mad people like the plague; and even people of +over-excitable temperaments, which lead them into marked eccentricities +of any kind, are repulsive and repugnant to me." + +"You go too far," said Theodore, "in your distaste for every expression +of feeling which takes any rather peculiar or unusual form. The +incongruity which _excitable_ people, as they are called, perceive +between their inner selves and the world without them makes them +grimace, in a manner which quiet folks, over whom pain has as little +power as pleasure, can't understand, and are only annoyed with. Yet you +yourself, Ottmar, with all your sensitiveness to this kind of behaviour +in others, often lay yourself open to be accused of very distinct +eccentricity. + +"I happen to remember a man whose eccentricities were so extreme that +half his fellow-citizens considered him a lunatic, although no one +really less deserved to be so characterized. The way in which I made +his acquaintance was as quaintly comic as the circumstances in, which I +met with him at a later period were tragic and terrible. I should like +to tell you all this story, as a sort of transition from pure insanity, +_via_ eccentricity, to the realms of every-day rationality. Only I am +afraid that, as I should have to say a good deal about music, I should +be open to the objection which I made to Cyprian's story--that of +giving my own particular hobby undue prominence, and introducing too +much of my own personality into my tale. In the meantime, I see that +Lothair is casting longing looks at that vase which Cyprian calls +'mysterious,' so we may as well break the spell which binds it." + +"Now," said Lothair, when glasses of a fluid which would have merited +the encomiums of the fraternity of the "Clucking Hen" had been passed +round, "tell us about your eccentric friend--be entertaining, be +affecting, be merry, or sad; but get us away from the atmosphere of +that abominable mad anchorite, and out of the bedlam where Cyprian has +been keeping us immured." + + +[THE STORY OF KRESPEL.] + +"The man," said Theodore, "whom I am going to tell you about was +Krespel, a Member of Council in the town of H----. This Krespel was the +most extraordinary character that I have ever, in my lifetime, come +across. When I first arrived in H---- the whole town was talking of +him, because one of his _most_ extraordinary pranks chanced to be in +its fullest swing. He was a very clever lawyer and _diplomate_, and a +certain German prince---not a person of _great_ importance--had +employed him to draw up a memorial, concerning claims of his on the +Imperial Chancery, which had been eminently successful. As Krespel had +often said he never could meet with a house quite to his mind, this +prince, as recompense for his services, undertook to pay for the +building of a house, to be planned by Krespel according to the dictates +of his fancy. He also offered to buy a site for it; but Krespel +determined to build it in a delightful piece of garden ground of his +own, just outside the town-gate. So he got together all the necessary +building materials, and had them laid down in this piece of ground. +After which, he was to be seen all day long, in his usual extraordinary +costume--which he always made with his own hands, on peculiar +principles of his own--slaking the lime, sifting the gravel, arranging +the stones in heaps, etc., etc. He had not gone to any architect for a +plan. But one fine day he walked in upon the principal builder, and +told him to come next morning, to his garden, with the necessary +workmen--stonemasons, hodmen, and so forth--and build him a house. The +builder, of course, asked to see the plan, and was not a little +astonished when Krespel said there was no plan and no occasion for one; +every thing would go on all right without one. + +"The builder arrived next morning with his men, and found a great +rectangular trench, carefully dug in the ground; and Krespel said 'this +is the foundation; so set to work, and go on building the walls till I +tell you to stop.' + +"'But what about the doors and windows,' said the builder; 'are there +to be no partition walls?' + +"'Just you do as I tell you, my good man,' said Krespel, as calmly as +possible; 'everything will come quite right in its own good time.' + +"Nothing but the prospect of liberal payment induced the man to have +anything to do with a job so preposterous--but never was there a piece +of work carried through so merrily; for it was amid the never-ceasing +jokes and laughter of the workmen--who never left the ground, where +abundance of victuals and drink were always at hand--that the four +walls rose with incredible celerity, till one day Krespel cried, +'Stop!' + +"Mallets and chisels paused. The men came down from their scaffolds, +and formed a circle about Krespel, each grinning countenance seeming to +say--'What's going to happen now?' + +"'Out of the way! 'cried Krespel, who hastened to one end of the +garden, and then paced slowly towards his rectangle of stone walls. On +reaching the side of it which was nearest--the one, that is, towards +which he had been marching--he shook his head dissatisfied, went to the +other end of the garden, then paced up to the wall as before, shaking +his head, dissatisfied, once more. This process he repeated two or +three times; but at last, going straight up to the wall till he touched +it with the point of his nose, he cried out, loud-- + +"Come here, you fellows, come here! Knock me in the door! Knock me in a +door _here_!' He gave the size it was to be, accurately in feet and +inches; and what he told them to do they did. When the door was knocked +out, he walked into the house, and smiled pleasantly at the builder's +remark that the walls were just the proper height for a nice +two-storied house. He walked meditatively up and down inside, the masons +following him with their tools, and whenever he cried 'here a window +six feet by four; a little one yonder three feet by two,' out flew the +stones as directed. + +"It was during these operations that I arrived in H----, and it was +entertaining in the extreme to see some hundreds of people collected +outside the garden, all hurrahing whenever the stones flew out, and a +window appeared where none had been expected. The house was all +finished in the same fashion, everything being done according to +Krespel's directions as given on the spot. The quaintness of the +proceeding, the feeling--not to be resisted--that it was all going to +turn out so marvellously better than was to have been expected; but, +particularly, Krespel's liberality, which, by the way, cost him +nothing, kept everybody in the best of humour. So the difficulties +attending this remarkable style of house-building were got over, and in +a very brief time there stood a fully-finished house, which had the +maddest appearance, certainly, from the outside, no two windows being +alike, and so forth, but was a marvel of comfort and convenience +within. Everybody said so who entered it, and I was of the same +opinion, when Krespel admitted me to it after I made his acquaintance. + +"It was some time, however, ere I did so. He had been so engrossed by +his building operations that he had never gone, as he did at other +times, to lunch at Professor M----'s on Thursdays, saying he should not +cross his threshold till after his house-warming. His friends were +expecting a grand entertainment on that occasion. However, he invited +nobody but the workmen who built the house. Them he entertained with +the most _recherche_ dishes. Journeymen masons feasted on venison +pasties, carpenters' apprentices and hungry hodmen, for once in their +lives stayed their appetites with roast pheasant and _pate de foie +gras_. In the evening their wives and daughters came, and there was a +fine ball. Krespel just waltzed a little with the foremen's wives, +and then sat down with the town-band, took a fiddle, and led the +dance-music till daylight. + +"On the Thursday after this house-warming, which had established +Krespel in the position of a popular character--'a friend to the +working classes'--I at last met him at Professor M----'s, to my no +small gratification. The most extravagant imagination could not invent +anything more extraordinary than Krespel's style of behaviour. His +movements were awkward, abrupt, constrained, so that you expected him +to bump against the furniture and knock things down, or do some +mischief or other every moment. But he never did; and you soon noticed +that the lady of the house never changed colour ever so little, +although he went floundering heavily and uncertainly about, close to +tables covered with valuable china, or man[oe]uvring in dangerous +proximity to a great mirror reaching from floor to ceiling; even when +he took up a valuable china jar, painted with flowers, and whirled it +about near the window to admire the play of the light on its colours. +In fact, whilst we were waiting for luncheon, he inspected and +scrutinised everything in the room with the utmost minuteness, even +getting up upon a cushioned arm-chair to take a picture down from the +wall and hang it up again. All this time he talked a great deal; often +(and this was more observable while we were at luncheon) darting +rapidly from one subject to another, and at other times--unable to get +away from some particular idea--he would keep beginning at it again and +again, and get into labyrinths of confusion over it, till something +else came into his head. Sometimes the tone of his voice was harsh and +screaming, at other times it would be soft, sustained, and singing; but +it was always completely inappropriate to what he happened to be +talking about. For instance, we were discussing music, and some one was +praising a new composer: Krespel smiled, and said in his gentle +_cantabile_ tone, 'I wish to heaven the devil would hurl the wretched +music-perverter ten thousand millions of fathoms deep into the abysses +of hell!' and then he screamed out violently and wildly, 'She's an +angel of heaven, all compounded of the purest, divinest music:' and the +tears came to his eyes. It was some time ere we remembered that, about +an hour before, we had been talking of a particular _prima donna_. +There was a hare at table, and I noticed that he carefully polished the +bones on his plate, and made particular enquiries for the feet, which +were brought to him, with many smiles, by the professor's little +daughter of fifteen. All the time of luncheon the children had been +fixing their eyes upon him as on a favourite, and now they came up to +him, though they kept a respectful distance of two or three paces.' +'What's going to happen,' thought I. The dessert came, and Krespel took +a small box from his pocket, out of which he brought a miniature +turning-lathe, made of steel, which he screwed on to the table, and +proceeded to turn, from the bones, with wonderful skill and rapidity, +all sorts of charming little boxes, balls, etc., which the children +took possession of with cries of delight. + +"As we rose from table, the professor's niece said-- + +"'And how is our dear Antonia, Mr. Krespel?' + +"'_Our_--OUR dear Antonia!' he answered, in his sustained singing tone +most unpleasant to hear. At first he made the sort of face which a +person makes who bites into a bitter orange, and wants to look as if +it were a sweet one; but soon this face changed to a perfectly +terrible-looking mask, out of which grinned a bitter, fierce--nay, as +it seemed to me, altogether _diabolical_, sneer of angry scorn. + +"The professor hastened up to him. In the look of angry reproach which +he cast at his niece I read that she had touched some string which +jarred most discordantly within Krespel. + +"'How get on the violins?' said the professor, taking Krespel by both +hands. + +"The cloud cleared away from his face, and he answered in his harsh +rugged tone, 'Splendidly, Professor. You remember my telling you about +a magnificent _Amati_, which I got hold of by a lucky accident a short +time ago? I cut it open this very morning, and expect that Antonia has +finished taking it to pieces by this time.' + +"'Antonia is a dear, good child,' said the Professor. + +"'Ay! that she is--that she is!' screamed Krespel, and seizing his hat +and stick, was off out of the house like a flash of lightning. + +"As soon as he was gone, I eagerly begged the Professor to tell me all +about those violins, and more especially about Antonia. + +"'Ah,' said the Professor, 'Krespel is an extraordinary man; he studies +fiddle-making in a peculiar fashion of his own.' + +"'Fiddle-making?' cried I in amazement. + +"'Yes,' said the Professor; 'connoisseurs consider that Krespel's +violin-making is unapproachable at the present day. Formerly, when he +turned out any special _chef d'[oe]uvre_, he would allow other people +to play upon it; but now he lets no one touch them but himself. When he +has finished a fiddle, he plays upon it for an hour or two (he plays +magnificently, with a power and an amount of feeling and expression +which the greatest professional violinists rarely equal, let alone +surpass), then he hangs it up on the wall beside the others, and never +touches it again, nor lets anyone else lay hands upon it.' + +"'And Antonia?' I eagerly asked. + +"'Well, _that_,' said the Professor, 'is an affair which would make me +have a very shady opinion of Krespel, if I didn't know what a +thoroughly good fellow he is; so that I feel convinced there is some +mystery about it which we don't at present fathom. When he first came +here some years ago, he lived like a hermit, with an old housekeeper, +in a gloomy house in ----Street. His eccentricities soon attracted +people's attention, and, when he saw this, he soon sought and made +acquaintances. Just as was the case in _my_ house, people got so +accustomed to him that they couldn't get on without him. In spite of +his rough exterior even the children got fond of him, though they were +never troublesome to him, but always looked upon him with a certain +amount of awe which prevented over-familiarity. You have seen how he +attracts children by all sorts of ingenious tricks. Everybody looked +upon him as a regular old bachelor and woman-hater, and he gave no sign +to the contrary; but after he had been here some time, he went off on +some excursion or other, no one knew where, and it was some months +before he came back. The second evening after his return, his windows +were lighted up in an unusual way--and that was enough to attract the +neighbours' attention. Presently, a most extraordinarily beautiful +female voice was heard singing to a pianoforte accompaniment. Soon the +tones of a violin were heard joining in, responding to the voice in +brilliant, fiery emulation. It was easy to distinguish that it was +Krespel who was playing. I joined the little crowd assembled outside +the house myself, to listen to the wonderful concert, and I can assure +you that the greatest prima-donnas I have ever heard were poor +every-day performers compared to the lady we heard that night. I _never_ +heard any one sing with such marvellously touching expression, and +such absolute finish of execution; never had had any idea of such +long-sustained notes, such nightingale roulades, such crescendoes and +diminuendoes, such swellings to an organ-like _forte_, such dyings down +to the most imperceptible whisper. There was not a soul in all the +crowd able to resist the magic spell of this wonderful singing; and +when she stopped, you heard nothing but sighs breaking the silence. It +was probably about midnight, when, all at once we heard Krespel talking +loudly and excitedly; another male voice, to judge by the tone of it, +bitterly reproaching him about something, and a woman intervening as +best she could tearfully, in broken phrases. Krespel screamed louder +and louder, till at last he broke into that horrible _singing_ tone +which you know. A loud shriek from the lady interrupted him: then all +was as still as death; and suddenly steps came rapidly down the stairs, +and a young man came out, sobbing, and, jumping into a carriage which +was standing near, drove rapidly away. + +"'The next day Krespel appeared quite in his ordinary condition, as if +nothing had happened, and no one had the courage to allude to the +events of the previous night; but the housekeeper said Krespel had +brought home a most beautiful lady, quite young; that he called her +Antonia, and that it was she who sung so splendidly; and that a young +gentleman had also come, who seemed to be deeply attached to Antonia, +and, as she supposed, was engaged to her; but that he had had to go +away, because Krespel had insisted on it. What Antonia's precise +position with respect to Krespel is, remains a mystery; at all events +he treats her in the most tyrannical style. He watches her as a cat +does a mouse, or as Dr. Bartolo, in _Il Barbiere_, does his niece. She +scarcely dares to look out of the window. On the rare occasions when he +can be prevailed upon to take her into society, he watches her with +Argus-eyes, and won't suffer a note of music to be heard, far less that +_she_ shall sing; neither will he now allow her to sing in his own +house; so that, since that celebrated night, Antonia's singing has +become, for the people of the town, a sort of romantic legend, as of +some splendid miracle, and even those who never heard her often say, +when some celebrated prima-donna comes to sing at a concert, 'Good +gracious! what a wretched caterwauling all this is, nobody can _sing_ +but Antonia!' + +"You know how anything of this sort always fascinates _me_, and you can +imagine how essential it became to me that I should make Antonia's +acquaintance. I had heard those sayings of the public about Antonia's +singing often, but I had had no idea that this glorious creature was +there, on the spot, held in thraldom by this crack-brained Krespel, as +by some tyrant enchanter. Naturally, that night, in my dreams I heard +Antonia singing in the most magnificent style; and as she was imploring +me, in the most moving manner, to set her free, in a gloriously lovely +_adagio_--absurdly enough, it seemed as if I had composed it myself--I +at once made up my mind that, by some means or other, I would make my +way into Krespel's house, and, like another Astolfo, set this Queen of +Song free from her shameful bonds. + +"Things came about, however, quite differently to what I had +anticipated; for after I had once or twice met Krespel and had a talk +with him about fiddle-making, he asked me to go and see him. I went, +and he showed me his violin treasures: there ere some thirty of them +hanging in a cabinet; and there was one, remarkable above the rest, +with all the marks of the highest antiquity (a carved lion's head at +the end of the tail-piece, etc.), which was hung higher than the +others, with a wreath of flowers on it, and seemed to reign over the +rest as queen. + +"'This violin,' said Krespel, when I questioned him about it, 'is a +very remarkable and unparalleled work, by some ancient master, most +probably about the time of Tartini. I am quite convinced there is +something most peculiar about its interior construction, and that, if I +were to take it to pieces, I should discover a certain secret which 1 +have long been in search of. But--you may laugh at me if you like--this +lifeless thing, which I myself inspire with life and language, often +speaks out of itself, to me in an extraordinary manner; and when I +first played upon it, I felt as if I were merely the magnetiser--the +mesmerist--who acts upon his _subject_ in such sort that she relates in +words what she is seeing with her inward vision. No doubt you think me +an ass to have any faith in nonsense of this sort; still, it is the +fact that I have never been able to prevail upon myself to take that +lifeless thing there to pieces. I am glad I never did, for since +Antonia has been here, I now and then play to her on that fiddle; she +is fond of hearing it--very fond.' + +"He exhibited so much emotion as he said this, that I was emboldened to +say 'Ah! dear Mr. Krespel, won't you be so kind as to let me hear you +play on it?' But he made one of his bitter-sweet faces, and answered in +his _cantabile sostenuto_: + +"'_Nay_, my dear master student, that would ruin everything;' and I had +to go and admire a number of curiosities, principally childish trash, +till at length he dived into a chest and brought out a folded paper, +which he put into my hand with much solemnity, saying: '_There!_ you +are very fond of music: accept _this_ as a present from me, and always +prize it beyond everything. It is a souvenir of _great_ value.' With +which he took me by the shoulders and gently shoved me out of the door, +with an embrace on the threshold--in short, he symbolically kicked me +out of his house. + +"When I opened the paper which he had given me, I found a small piece +of the first string of a violin, about the eighth of an inch in length, +and on the paper was written-- + +"'Portion of the first string which was on Stamitz's violin when he +played his last Concerto.' + +"The calmly insulting style in which I had been shown to the door the +moment I had said a word about Antonia, seemed to indicate that I +should probably never be allowed to see her; however, the second time I +went to Krespel's I found Antonia in his room, helping him to put a +fiddle together. Her exterior did not strike me much at first, but +after a short time one could not resist the charm of her lovely blue +eyes, rosy lips, and exquisitely expressive, tender face. She was very +pale; but when anyone said anything interesting, a bright colour and a +very sweet smile appeared in her face, but the colour quickly died down +to a pale-rose tint. She and I talked quite unconstrainedly and +pleasantly together, and I saw none of those Argus-glances which the +Professor had spoken about. Krespel went on quite in his ordinary, +beaten track, and seemed rather to approve of my being friendly with +Antonia than otherwise. Thus it came about that I went pretty often +there, and our little circle of three got so accustomed to each other's +society that we much enjoyed ourselves in our quiet way. Krespel was +always entertaining with his strange eccentricities; but it was really +Antonia who drew me to the house, and made me put up with a great deal +which, impatient as I was in those days, I should never have endured +but for her. In Krespel's quirks and cranks there was often a good deal +which was tedious, and not in the best of taste. What most annoyed me +was that, whenever I led the conversation to music--particularly to +vocal music--he would burst in, in that horrible singing voice of his, +and smiling like a demon, with something wholly irrelevant and +generally disgustingly unimportant at the same time. From Antonia's +looks of annoyance on those occasions, it was clear that he did this to +prevent me from asking her to sing. However, I wasn't going to give in: +the more he objected, the more determined was I to carry my point. I +felt that I must hear her, or die of my dreams of it. + +"There came an evening when Krespel was in particularly good humour. +He had taken an old Cremona violin to pieces, and found that the +sound-post of it was about half a line more perpendicular than usual. +Important circumstance!--of priceless practical value! I was fortunate +enough to start him off on the true style of violin playing. The style +of the great old masters--copied by them from that of the really grand +singers--of which he spoke, led to the observation that now the direct +converse held good, and that singers copied the scale, and skipping +'passages' of the instrumentalists. 'What,' said I, hastening to the +piano and sitting down at it, 'can be more preposterous than those +disgusting mannerisms, more like the noise of peas rattling on the +floor of a barn than music?' I went on to sing a number of those modern +cadenza-passages, which go yooping up and down the scale, more like a +child's humming-top than anything else, and I struck a feeble chord or +two by way of accompaniment. Krespel laughed immoderately, and cried +'Ha! ha! ha! I could fancy I was listening to some of our German +Italians, or our Italian Germans, pumping out some aria of Pucitt or +Portugallo, or some other such _maestro di capella_, or rather _schiavo +d' un prime uomo_.' + +"'Now,' thought I, 'is my chance at last.--I am sure Antonia,' I said, +turning to her, 'knows nothing of all that quavering stuff,' and I +commenced to roll out a glorious soulful aria of old Leonardo Leo's. +Antonia's cheeks glowed; a heavenly radiance beamed from her beautiful +eyes; she sprang to the piano; she opened her lips--but Krespel +instantly made a rush at her; shoved her out of the room, and, seizing +me by the shoulders, shrieked--'Little son, little son, little son.' He +continued, in a soft and gentle singing voice, while he took me by the +hand, bending his head with much courtesy, 'No doubt, my dear young +Master Student, it would be a breach of all courtesy and politeness if +I were to proceed to express, in plain and unmistakable words, and with +all the energy at my command, my desire that the damnable, hellish +devil might clutch hold of that throat of yours, here on the spot, with +his red-hot talons; leaving that on one side for the moment, however, +you will admit, my very dear young friend, that it's getting pretty +late in the evening, and will soon be dark; and as there are no lamps +lighted, even if I were not to pitch you down stairs, you might run a +certain risk of damaging your precious members. Go away home, like a +nice young gentleman, and don't forget your good friend Krespel, if you +should never--_never_, you understand--find him at home again when you +happen to call.' With which he took me in his arms, and slowly worked +his way with me to the door in such fashion that I could not manage to +set eyes on Antonia again for a moment. + +"You will admit that, situated as I was, it was impossible for me to +give him a good hiding, as, probably, I ought to have done by rights. +The Professor laughed tremendously, and declared that I had seen the +last of Krespel for good and all; and Antonia was too precious, I might +say too sacred, in my sight, that I should go playing the languishing +_amoroso_ under her window. I left her, broken-hearted; but, as is the +case with matters of the kind, the bright tints of the picture in my +fancy gradually faded, and toned down with the lapse of time; and +Antonia, ay, even Antonia's singing, which I had never heard, came to +shine upon my memory only like some beautiful, far-away vision, bathed +in rosy radiance. + +"Two years afterwards, when I was settled in B----, I had occasion to +make a journey into the South of Germany. One evening I saw the +familiar towers of H---- rising into sight against the dewy, roseate +evening sky; and as I came nearer, a strange, indescribable feeling of +painful, anxious uneasiness and alarm took possession of me, and lay on +my heart like a weight of lead. I could scarcely breathe. I got out of +the carriage into the open air. The oppression amounted to actual +physical pain. Presently I thought I could hear the notes of a solemn +hymn floating on the air; it grew more distinct, and I made out male +voices singing a choral. 'What's this, what's this,' I cried, as it +pierced through my heart like a dagger stab. 'Don't you see, sir?' said +the postillion, walking beside me, 'it's a funeral going on in the +churchyard.' We were, in fact, close to the cemetery, and I saw a +circle of people in black assembled by a grave, which was bring filled +in. The tears came to my eyes. I frit as if somehow all the happiness +and joy of my life bring buried in that grave. I had been descending +the hill pretty quickly, so that I could not now see into the cemetery. +The choral ceased, and I saw, near the gate, black-dressed men coming +away from the funeral. The Professor with his niece on his arm, both in +deep mourning, passed close to me without noticing me. The niece had +her handkerchief at her eyes' and was sobbing bitterly. I felt I could +not go into the town; I sent my servant with the carriage to the usual +hotel, and walked into the well-known country to try if I could shake +off the strange condition I was in, which I ascribed to physical +causes, being overheated and tired with my journey, etc. When I reached +the alley which leads to the public gardens, I saw a most extraordinary +sight--Krespel, led along by two men in deep mourning, whom he seemed +to be trying to escape from by all sorts of extraordinary leaps and +bounds. He was dressed, as usual, in his wonderful grey coat of his own +making; but from his little three-cornered hat, which he had cocked +over one ear in a martial manner, hung a very long, narrow streamer of +black crape, which fluttered playfully in the breeze. Round his waist +he had buckled a black sword-belt, but instead of a sword he had stuck +into it a long fiddle bow. + +"The blood ran cold in my veins. 'He has gone quite mad,' I said as I +followed them slowly. + +"They took him to his own door, where he embraced them, laughing loud. +They left him, and then he noticed me. He stared at me in silence for a +considerable time; then he said, in a mournful, hollow voice: + +"'Glad to see you, Master Student, _you_ know all about it.' He seized +me by the arm, dragged me into the house, and upstairs to the room +where the violins hung. They were all covered with crape, but the +masterpiece by the unknown maker was not in its place, a wreath of +cypress bung in its stead. + +"I knew then what had happened. 'Antonia, alas! Antonia,' I cried in +uncontrollable anguish. + +"Krespel was standing in front of me with his arms folded, like a man +turned to stone. + +"'When she died,' he said, very solemnly, 'the sound-post of that fiddle +shivered to pieces with a grinding crash. The faithful thing could only +live with her and in her; it is lying with her in her grave.' I sank +into a chair overpowered; but Krespel began singing a merry ditty, in a +hoarse voice; and it was a truly awful sight to see him dancing, as he +sang it, upon one foot, while the crape on his hat kept flapping about +the fiddles on the wall; and I could not help giving a scream of horror +as this crape streamer, during one of his rapid gyrations, came wafting +over my face, for I felt as if the touch of it must infallibly infect +me, and drag me, too, down into the black, terrible abyss of madness. +But when I gave the scream, Krespel stopped dancing, and said, in his +singing voice: + +"'What are you shrieking out like that for, little son? Did you see the +death angel, think you? people always do before the funeral.' Then, +walking into the middle of the floor, he drew the bow out of his belt, +and, raising it with both hands above his head, he broke it into +splinters. Then he laughed long and loud, and cried, 'The staff's +broken over me now, you think, little son, don't you?[2] +nothing of the kind, nothing of the kind!' + + "'I'm free now--I'm free! I'm free! + And fiddles I'll make no more, boys! + And fiddles I'll make no more! + Hurray! hurray! hip-hip hurray! + Oh! fiddles I'll make no more.'" + +"This he sang to a terribly merry tune, dancing about on one foot again +as he did so. Full of horror I was making for the door; but he held me +back, saying, quite quietly and soberly this time: + +"'Don't go away, Master Student. Don't think that those outbreaks of my +pain, which is so terrible that I can scarcely bear it longer, mean +that I am mad. No, no, I am as sane as you are, and as calmly in my +senses. The only thing is, a little while ago I made myself a +nightshirt, and thought when I had it on I should be like Destiny, or +God.' He went on talking the wildest incoherence for a time, till he +sank down, completely exhausted. The old housekeeper came at my +summons, and I was thankful when I found myself outside in the open +air. + +"I never doubted for an instant that Krespel had gone completely mad; +but the Professor maintained the contrary. 'There are people,' he said, +'in whose cases Nature, or some destiny or other, has deprived them of +the cover--the exterior envelope--under which we others carry on our +madnesses unseen. They are like certain insects who have transparent +integuments, which (as we see the play of their muscular movements) +give the effect of a malformation, although everything is perfectly +normal. What never passes beyond the sphere of thought in us becomes +action in Krespel. The bitter scorn and rage which the soul, imprisoned +as it is in earthly conditions of being and action, often vividly +feels, Krespel carries out, or expresses, into external life, by +extraordinarily frantic gesticulations and hare jumps. But those are +his lightning conductors. What comes out of the earth he delivers back +to the earth again; the heavenly he retains, and consequently +apprehends it quite clearly and distinctly with his inner +consciousness, notwithstanding all the crackiness which we sparking out +of him. No doubt Antonia's unexpected loss touches him very keenly, but +I should bet that he'll be going on in his usual jog trot to-morrow as +if nothing had happened.' + +"And it turned out very much as the Professor had expected: Krespel +appeared next morning very much as if nothing had happened. Only he +announced that he had given up fiddle-making, and would never play on +one again. And it afterwards appeared that he kept his word. + +"All that I had heard from the Professor strengthened my conviction +that the relation in which Antonia had stood to Krespel--so very +intimate, and so carefully kept unexplained--as also the fact that she +was dead--very probably involved him in a very serious responsibility, +which he might find it by no means easy to clear himself from. I made +up my mind that I would not leave H---- until I had given him the full +benefit of my ideas on this subject. My notion was to thoroughly alarm +him, to appeal to his conscience, and, if I could, constrain him to a +full confession of his crime. The more I considered the matter the +clearer it seemed that he must be a terrible villain; and all the more +eloquent and impressive grew the allocution which I mentally got ready +to deliver to him, and which gradually took the form of a regular +masterpiece of rhetoric. + +"Thus prepared for my attack, T betook myself to him in a condition of +much virtuous indignation one morning. + +"I found him making children's toys at his turning lathe, with a +tranquil smile on his face. + +"'How,' said I, 'is it possible that your conscience can allow you to +be at peace for an instant, when the thought of the horrible crime you +have been guilty of must perpetually sting you like a serpent's tooth?' + +"He laid down his tools, and stared at me in astonishment. + +"'What do you mean, my good sir?' he said. 'Sit down on that chair +there.' + +"But I went on, with much warmth, and distinctly accused him of having +caused Antonia's death, threatening him with the vengeance of Heaven. +Nay more, being full of juridical zeal--as I had just been inducted +into a judicial appointment--I went on to assure him that I should +consider it my duty to leave no stone unturned to bring the affair +thoroughly to light, so as to deliver him into the hands of earthly +justice. I was a little put out, I admit, when, on the conclusion of my +rather pompous harangue, Krespel, without a word in reply, merely +looked at me as if waiting for what I had to say next: and I tried to +find something further to add: but everything that occurred to me +seemed so silly and feeble that I held my peace. He seemed rather to +enjoy this breakdown in my eloquence, and a bitter smile passed over +his face, but then he became very grave, and said in a solemn tone: + +"'My good young sir! Very likely you think me a fool--or a madman. I +forgive you. We are both in the same madhouse, and you object to my +thinking myself God the Father, because you think you are God the Son. +How do you suppose you can enter into another person's life, utterly +unknown to you in all its complicated turnings and windings, and pick +up and follow all its deeply hidden threads? She is gone, and the +riddle is solved!' + +"He stopped, rose, and walked two or three times up and down the room. +I ventured to ask for some explanation. He looked at me fixedly, took +me by the hand, and led me to the window, opening both the outside +jalousies. He leaned upon the sill with both his arms, and, so looking +out into the garden, he told me the story of his life. + +"When he had ended, I left him deeply affected, and bitterly ashamed. + +"To make a long tale short, matters as concerned Antonia stood as +follows: + +"Some twenty years previously, his fancy of making a collection of the +finest violins of the great old makers had taken him to Italy. At that +time he had not begun to make violins himself, neither, consequently, +to take them to pieces. At Venice he heard the renowned prima donna, +Angela, at that time shining in the leading _roles_ at the Teatro di +San Benedetto. She was as supereminent in beauty as she was in art: and +well became, and deserved, her name of Angela. He sought her +acquaintance, and, in spite of all his rugged uncouthness, his most +remarkable violin playing, with its combination of great originality, +force and tenderness, speedily won her artist's heart. A close intimacy +led, in a few weeks, to a marriage--which not made public--because +Angela would neither leave the stage, give up her well-known name, nor +tack on to it strangely-sounding 'Krespel.' He described, with the +bitterest irony, the quite peculiar ingenuity with which Signora Angela +commenced, as soon as she was his wife, to torment and torture him. All +the selfishness, caprice, and obstinacy of all the prima donnas on +earth rolled into one, were, as Krespel considered, incorporated in +Angela's little body. Whenever he tried to assert his true position in +the smallest degree, she would launch a swarm of _abbates_, _maestros_, +and _academicos_ about his ears, who, not knowing his real relations +with her, would snub him, and set him down as a wretched unendurable +ass of an amateur _inamorato_, incapable of adapting himself to the +Signora's charming and interesting humours. After one of those stormy +scenes, Krespel had flown off to Angela's country house, and +phantasizing on his Cremona, was forgetting the sorrows of the day. +This had not lasted long, however, when the Signora, who had followed +him, came into the room. She happened to be in a tender mood: she +embraced Krespel with sweet, languishing glances, she laid her little +head upon his shoulder. But Krespel, lost in the world of his +harmonies, went on fiddling, so that the walls reechoed; and it so +chanced that he touched the Signora, a trifle ungently, with his +bow-arm. She blazed up like a fury, screamed out, '_Bestia tedesca_,' +snatched the violin out of his hand, and dashed it to pieces on a +marble table. Krespel stood before her for a moment, a statue of +amazement, and then, as if awaking from a dream, he grasped the Signora +as with the fists of a giant, shied her out of the window of her own +_palazzo_, and set off--without concerning himself further about the +matter--to Venice, and thence to Germany. It was some little time +before he quite realized what he had done. Though he knew the window +was only some five feet from the ground, and the necessity of throwing +the Signora out of it under the circumstances was quite indisputable, +still he felt very anxious as to the results, inasmuch as she had given +him to understand that he was 'about to be a father.' He was almost +afraid to make any inquiries, and was not a little surprised, some +eight months afterwards, to receive an affectionate letter from his +beloved wife, in which she did not say a syllable about the little +circumstance which had occurred at the country _palazzo_, but announced +that she was the happy mother of a charming little daughter, and prayed +the '_marito amato e padre felicissimo_' to come as quickly as he could +to Venice. However, Krespel didn't go, but made inquiries through a +trusted friend as to what had happened. He was told that the Signora +had dropped down on to the grass as lightly as a bird, and the only +results of her fall were mental ones. The Signora had been like a new +creature after Krespel's heroic achievement. All her wilfulness and +charming caprices had disappeared completely; and the _maestro_ who +wrote the music for the next Carnival considered himself the luckiest +man under the sun; inasmuch as the Signora sang all his arias without +one of the thousand alterations which, in ordinary circumstances, she +would have insisted on his making in them. Krespel's friend added that +it was most desirable to give no publicity to what had occurred, +because, otherwise, _prima donnas_ would be getting pitched out of +window every day. + +"Krespel was in great excitement. He ordered horses. He got in to the +post-chaise. + +"'Stop a moment, though,' he said. 'Isn't it a positive certainty that, +as soon as I make my appearance, the evil spirit will take possession +of Angela again? I've thrown her out of window once already. What +should I do a second time? I don't see what I could do.' + +"He got out of the carriage, wrote an affectionate letter to his wife, +and--remained in Germany. They carried on a warm correspondence. +Assurances of affection, fond imaginings, regrets for the absence of +the beloved, etc., etc., flew backwards and forwards between H---- and +Venice. Angela came to Germany, as we know, and shone as prima donna on +the boards at F----. Though she was no longer young, she carried +everything before her by the irresistible charm of her singing. Her +voice had lost nothing at that time. Meanwhile Antonia had grown up; +and her mother could scarce find words in which to describe, to +Krespel, how, in Antonia, a Cantatrice of the first rank was blossoming +out. Krespel's friends in F----, too, kept on telling him of this; +begging him to go there and hear these two remarkable singers. Of +course they had no idea of the relationship in which Krespel stood to +them. He would fain have gone and seen his daughter, who lived in the +depths of his heart, and whom he often saw in dreams. But the thought +of what his wife was restrained him: and he stayed at home, amongst his +dismembered fiddles. + +"I daresay you remember a very promising young composer in F---- of the +name of B----, who suddenly ceased to be heard of--no one knew why: +perhaps you may have known him. Well, he fell deeply in love with +Antonia; she returned his affection, and he urged her mother to consent +to a union consecrated by art. Angela was quite willing, and Krespel +gave his consent all the more readily that this young _maestro's_ +writings had found favour before his critical tribunal. Krespel was +expecting to hear of the marriage every day, when there came a letter +with a black seal, addressed in a stranger's hand. A certain Dr. +M---- wrote to say that Angela had been taken seriously ill, in +consequence of a chill caught at the theatre, and had passed away on the +very night before the day fixed for Antonia's marriage. He added that +Angela had told him she was Krespel's wife, and Antonia his daughter; +so that he ought to come and take charge of her. Deeply as he was shocked +by Angela's death, he could not but feel that a certain disturbing element +was removed from his life, and that he could breathe freely, for the +first time for many a long day. You cannot imagine how affectingly he +described the moment when he saw Antonia for the first time. In the +very oddness of his description of it lay a wonderful power of +expression which I am unable to give any idea of. Antonia had all the +charm and attractiveness of Angela, with none of her nasty reverse +side. There was no cloven foot peeping out anywhere. B----, her husband +that was to have been, came. Antonia comprehending her quaint father, +with delicate tact, and seeing into his inner depths, sang one of those +motetts of old Padre Martini which she knew Angela used to sing to him +during the fullest blossom-time of their days of love. He shed rivers +of tears. Never had he heard even Angela sing so splendidly. The tone +of Antonia's voice was quite _sui generis_--at times it was like the +AEolian harp, at others like the trilling roulades of the nightingale. +It seemed as though there could not be space for those tones in a human +breast. Antonia, glowing with love and happiness, sang all her best +solos, and B---- played between whiles as only ecstatic inspiration can +play. At first, Krespel floated in ecstasy. Then he grew thoughtful and +silent, at last he sprung up, pressed Antonia to his heart, and said, +gently and imploringly, 'Don't sing any more, if you love me. It breaks +my heart. The fear of it--the fear of it! Don't sing any more.' + +"'No,' said Krespel next morning to Dr. M----, 'when, during her +singing, her colour contracted to two dark red spots on her white +cheeks, it was no longer a mere everyday family likeness--it was what I +had been dreading.' The doctor, whose face at the beginning of the +conversation had expressed deep anxiety, said, 'Perhaps it may be that +she has exerted herself too much in singing when over-young, or her +inherited temperament may be the cause. But Antonia has organic disease +of the chest. It is that which gives her voice its extraordinary power, +and its most remarkable timbre, which is almost beyond the scope of the +ordinary human voice. At the same time it implies her early death. If +she goes on singing, six months is the utmost I can promise her.' This +pierced Krespel's heart like a thousand daggers. It was as if some +beautiful tree had suddenly come into his life, all covered with +beautiful blossoms, and it was sawn across at the root. His decision +was made at once. He told Antonia all. He left it to her to decide +whether she would follow her lover, and yield to his and the world's +claims on her, and die young, or bestow upon her father, in his +declining years, a peace and happiness such as he had never known, and +live many a year in so doing. + +"She fell sobbing into her father's arms. It was beyond his power to +think at such a moment. He felt too keenly all the anguish involved in +either alternative. He discussed the matter with B----; but although he +asseverated that Antonia should never sing a single note, Krespel knew +too well that he never would be able to resist the temptation to hear +her sing compositions of his own at all events. Then the world--the +musical public--though it knew the true state of the case, would never +give up its claims upon her. The musical public is a cruel race; where +its own enjoyment is in question, and terrible. + +"Krespel disappeared with Antonia from F----, and came to H----. +B---- heard with despair of their departure, followed on their track, +and arrived at H---- at the same time that they did. + +"'Only let me see him once, and then die!' Antonia implored. + +"'Die--die!' cried Krespel in the wildest fury. His daughter, the only +creature in the wide world who could fire him with a bliss he had never +otherwise felt, the only being who had ever made life endurable to him, +was tearing herself violently away from him. So the worst might happen, +and he would give no sign. + +"B---- sat down to the piano, Antonia sang, and Krespel played the +violin, till suddenly the dark red spots came to Antonia's cheeks. Then +Krespel ordered a halt, but when B---- took his farewell she fell down +insensible in a swoon. + +"'I thought she was dead,' Krespel said, 'for I quite expected it would +kill her; and as I had wound myself up to expect the worst, I kept +quite calm and self-possessed. I took hold of B---- by the shoulders +(in his frightful consternation he was staring before him like a +sheep), and said (here he fell into his singing voice), "My dear Mr. +Pianoforte-teacher, now that you have killed the woman you were going +to marry by your own deliberate act, perhaps you will be so kind as to +take yourself off out of this with as little trouble as you can, unless +you choose to stay till I run this little hunting-knife through you, so +that my daughter, who, as you see, is looking rather white, may derive +a shade or two of colour from that precious blood of yours. Even though +you run pretty quick, I could throw a fair sized knife after you." +I suppose I must have looked rather terrible as I said this, for +B---- dashed away with a scream of terror downstairs, and out of the +door.' + +"When, after B----'s departure, Krespel went to raise Antonia, who was +lying senseless on the floor, she opened her eyes with a profound sigh, +but seemed to close them again, as if in death. Krespel then broke out +into loud, inconsolable lamentations. The doctor, fetched by the old +housekeeper, said that Antonia was suffering from a violent shock, but +that there was no danger, and this proved to be the case, and she +recovered even more speedily than was to be expected. She now clung to +her father with the most devoted filial affection, and entered warmly +into all his favourite hobbies, however absurd. She helped him to take +old fiddles to pieces, and to put new ones together. 'I won't sing any +more. I want to live for you,' she would often say to her father with a +gentle smile, when people asked her to sing, and she was obliged to +refuse. Krespel endeavoured to spare her those trials, and this was why +he avoided taking her into society, and tried to taboo all music. He +knew, of course, what a pain it was to her to renounce the art which +she had cultivated to such perfection. When he bought the remarkable +violin already spoken of--the one which was buried with her--and was +going to take it to pieces, Antonia looked at him very sorrowfully, and +said, gently imploring him, 'This one, too?' Some indescribable impulse +constrained him to leave it untouched, and to play on it. Scarcely had +he brought out a few notes from it when Antonia cried, loudly and +joyfully, 'Ah! that is I--that is I singing again.' And of a verity its +silver bell-like tones had something quite extraordinarily wonderful +about them. They sounded as if they came out of a human heart. Krespel +was deeply affected. He played more gloriously than ever he had done +before. And when, with his fullest power, he would go storming over the +strings, in brilliant, sparkling scales and _arpeggios_, Antonia would +clap her hands and cry, delighted, 'Ah! I did that well. I did that +splendidly!' Often she would say to him, 'I should like to sing +something, father'; and then he would take the fiddle from the wall, +and play all her favourite solos, those which she used to sing of +old,--and then she was quite happy. + +"A short time before I came back, Krespel one night thought he heard +some one playing on the piano in the next room, and presently he +recognized that it was B----, preluding in his accustomed rather +peculiar fashion. He tried to rise from his bed, but some strange heavy +weight seemed to lie upon him, fettering him there, so that he could +not move. Presently he heard Antonia singing to the piano, in soft +whispering tones, which gradually swelled, and swelled to the most +pealing _fortissimo_. Then those marvellous tones took the form of a +beautiful, glorious _aria_ which B---- had once written for Antonia, in +the religious style of the old masters. Krespel said the state in which +he found himself was indescribable, for terrible alarm was in it, and +also a bliss such as he had never before known. Suddenly he found +himself in the middle of a flood of the most brilliant and dazzling +light, and in this light he saw B---- and Antonia holding each other +closely embraced, and looking at each other in a rapture of bliss. The +tones of the singing and of the accompanying piano went on, although +Antonia was not seen to be singing, and B---- was not touching the +piano. Here Krespel fell into a species of profound unconsciousness, in +which the vision and the music faded and were lost. When he recovered, +all that remained was a sense of anxiety and alarm. He hastened into +Antonia's room. + +"She was lying on the couch, with her eyes, closed, and a heavenly +smile on her face, as if she were dreaming of the most exquisite +happiness and bliss. But she was dead!" + +Whilst Theodore had been telling this tale, Ottmar had been manifesting +his impatience nay, his lively repugnance in various ways. Sometimes he +would get up and walk about the room, then he would sit down again, and +drink glass after glass of the contents of the vase; then he sat down +at Theodore's table, and pulled the papers about, till he found an +almanac, of which he eagerly turned over the leaves for a time, till at +length he laid it down before him, open on the table, with the air of +having discovered something in it of the deepest interest and +importance. + +"Well!" cried Lothair, when Theodore had ended his story; "this is +almost too much. You can't bear the idea of the kindly visionary whom +Cyprian told us about; you tell us it is dangerous to peep down into +those mysterious abysses of nature; you will neither talk about things +of the sort, nor hear them talked about, yet you come in upon us with +a story which, frightful as it is in its crackiness, is infinitely +beyond, at all events, _my_ powers of endurance. What was the +gentle, happy, contented Serapion in comparison with this splenetic +Krespel--absolutely terrific in his spleneticism? You said we were to +be led, gently, from insanity, _via_ eccentricity, to ordinary, +everyday rationality; and you go on to show us pictures which, if we +look at them with any closeness, are enough to drive us clean out of +our senses. Cyprian's story was largely tinctured by his own +individuality, but yours was so by yours in a far higher degree, for I +know that the moment music is in question, you get into a sort of +magnetized condition, and see the strangest visions. As is usual with +you, you have given your story a strong dash of mystery which, of course, +excites and enthrals a listener, as anything out of the common groove +will do, be it never so morbid. But there are limits to all things; and +it is not right to drive people to the verge of insanity in this +gratuitous sort of way. Antonia's story and circumstances, and the +mysterious sympathy between her and that ancient violin are very +touching, but in a way which makes one's blood curdle, and the _finale_ +of the tale produces an inconsolable misery which I cannot but call +excessively painful--in fact, I consider it 'abominable.' It is a +strong expression; but I really don't see that I can well retract it." + +"Are you accusing me," asked Theodore with a smile, "of having harrowed +your feelings with a more or less elaborately constructed fiction? I +was merely telling you about a strange character, of whom I was +reminded by the story of Serapion. I merely related circumstances which +actually occurred; and if you think any of them improbable, remember, +my dear sir, that it is nearly always the most improbable things that +really come to pass." + +"Very likely," said Lothair. "Still, that is small excuse for you. You +should cither have told us nothing about this horrible Krespel, or +(admirable colourist as you are) you should have shown him in more +agreeable tints. However, we have had more than enough of that +distressful architect, _diplomate_, and fiddle maker. May he sink Into +oblivion? But now, Cyprian, I bend my knee to you. I shall never call +you a fanciful spirit-seer again. You have given us a strange proof +that reminiscences are very remarkable and mysterious things. All this +day you have not been able to get poor Serapion out of your mind, and I +see quite clearly that you have been much relieved, and happier, since +you told us his story. Now just come and look at this book here, this +excellent specimen of the ordinary household almanac, for it contains a +key to the whole mystery. This, you see, is the 14th of November. It +was on the 14th of November that you found your hermit lying dead in +his hut, and though you were not vouchsafed the assistance of a couple +of lions to bury him--as Ottmar suggested--and met with no particularly +wonderful adventures in the forest, of course you were deeply affected +at the sight of your friend, who had passed to his rest so gently. The +impression was ineradicable; and it may well be supposed that the +spirit within you brought the image of your friend more vividly before +you than usual on the anniversary of his death, by some process of +which you were unconscious. Do me the kindness, Cyprian, to add a +miraculous circumstance or two to your account of Serapion's death, +just to enrich the conclusion of it a little." + +"When I was leaving the hut," said Cyprian, "the tame deer, which I +told you about, came up to me with great tears in its eyes, and the +wild doves hovered about me with anxious cries; and as I was +approaching the village, to give information of his death, I met some +peasants coming with a bier, all ready, who said that when they had +heard the hermit's bell tolling at an unusual time they had known that +the holy man had laid himself down to die, or was dead already. That is +all, dear Lothair, that I have to serve up by way of a subject for your +banter." + +"Banter, do you say?" cried Lothair, rising. "What do you take me for, +O my Cyprianus? Am I not, like Brutus, an honourable man; just and +upright; a lover of the truth? Don't I enthusi-ize with the +enthusiasts, and phantazize with the phantazizers? Do I not rejoice +with them that do rejoice, and weep with those that weep? Just look +here, my Cyprianus! Look once again at this book, this literary +production here, crammed with incontrovertible facts, this most +excellent specimen of the common, every-day household almanac. At the +date '14th November' you find, it is true, the commonplace, every-day +name 'Levin.' But cast your eyes upon this 'catholic' column here. +There stands, in red letters, + + "'SERAPION, MARTYR.' + +"Consequently, your Serapion died on the very name-day of the Saint whom +he took himself to be! Come; I drink this cup to the memory of +Serapion, saint and martyr, and do you all do likewise!" + +"'With all my heart!' said Cyprian, and the glasses clinked. + +"Looking at the subject all round," said Lothair, "and especially now +that Theodore has so thoroughly stirred my bile with that horrible +Krespel of his, I am quite reconciled to Cyprian's Serapion. More than +that, I honour and reverence his insanity; for none but a grand and +genuine poet could have been attacked by a madness of that particular +form. I needn't advert to the circumstance--it's an old, well-worn +story--that, originally, the same word was used to denote the poet and +the seer; but it is certain that we might often doubt just as much of +the existence of real poets as of that of genuine seers, recounting in +their _extasis_ the wonders of a higher realm; or else why is it that +so much poetry, by no means to be termed 'bad' (so far as its form and +workmanship are concerned), affects us no more than some pale, faded +picture, so that we are not carried away by it at all, and the +gorgeousness of its diction only serves to increase the frost which it +permeates us with? Why is this, but because the poet has never really +_seen_ what he is telling us about: the events and incidents have never +appeared to his mental vision, in all their joy, terror, splendour, +majesty, gloom, and sadness, inspiring him, and setting him aglow, so +that his inward fire blazes forth in words of lightning? It is useless +for a poet to set to work to make us believe in a thing which he does +not believe in himself, cannot believe in, because he has never really +seen it. What can the characters of a poet of this sort--who +(according to the old expression) is not at the same time a genuine +seer--be but deceptive puppets, glued together out of heterogeneous +stuff? Your hermit, dear Cyprian, was a true poet. He had actually seen +what he described; and that was why he affected people's hearts and +souls. Poor Serapion! Wherein did your madness consist? except that +some hostile star had taken away your faculty of discerning that +duplexity which is, really, the essential condition of our earthly +existence. There is an inner world; and a spiritual faculty of +discerning it with absolute clearness, nay, with the most minute and +brilliant distinctness. But it is part of our earthly lot that it is +the _outer_ world, in which we are encased, which is the lever that +brings that spiritual faculty into play. The things of the inner world +appear to us only inside the circle which is formed round us by the +objects of the outer world, beyond which circle our spirits cannot +soar, except in dim mysterious bodings--never; becoming distinct +images--that such things exist. But you, happy hermit, lost sight of +the outer world, and did not perceive the lever which set your inward +faculty in motion; and when, with that gruesome acumen of yours, you +declared that it is only the mind which sees, hears, and takes +cognizance of events and incidents, and that, as a consequence, +whatever the mind takes cognizance of has actually happened, you forgot +that it is the outer world which causes the spirit to exercise those +functions which, take cognizance. Your life was a constant dream, from +which your awaking in another world was assuredly not a painful one. I +consecrate this glass to your memory." + +"Don't you notice," said Ottmar, "that Lothair is looking quite a +different person--thanks to Theodore's admirably compounded beverage, +which has driven the evil spirit out of him?" + +"Don't ascribe my better mood to the influence of the bowl," said +Lothair. "You all know that, till the evil mood has left me, I never +can touch wine. The truth is that I have only just begun to feel at +ease, and at home, amongst you. The restless, excited state in which I +was at first has gone; and as I not only forgive Cyprian for telling us +about Serapion, but feel a real affection for him, why, Theodore's +horrible 'Krespel' may pass muster as well. But there are a good many +things I should like to say to you. We seem to be all agreed that we +are a set of rather uncommonly superior people, and we have made up our +minds to reconstitute our old alliance; whilst the bustle of this great +town, our distance from each other, and the diversity of our +occupations tend to keep us apart. Let us determine, then, this +evening, the times and places of our weekly meetings. More than that, +it cannot but be that, as of old, we shall wish to read to each other +such little stories, and so forth, as we may have been writing from +time to time. Let us remember Serapion the Hermit in connection with +this. Let each of us try, and examine himself well, as to whether he +has really _seen_ what he is going to describe before he sets to work +to put it in words. At all events, let each of us strive, very +strenuously, to get a clear grasp, in his mind, of the picture he is +going to produce,--in every one of its forms, colours, lights and +shadows, and then, when he feels himself thoroughly permeated and +kindled by it, bring it out into outer life. Thus shall our society be +established on solid foundations, and be a source of comfort and +gratification to us all. Let Serapion the Hermit be our patron saint: +may his seer-gift inspire us. His rule we will follow, as true Serapion +Brethren." + +"Now," said Cyprian, "is not our Lothair the most extraordinary of all +extraordinary fellows? At first he was the one who flamed furiously up +in opposition to Ottmar's very sensible suggestion that we should meet +every week on a certain evening, and dragged in the subject of clubs, +without rhyme or reason. And now he is the very one to prove to us that +our meetings are a necessity, as well as a pleasure, and to set to work +to determine their character, and lay down the rules which are to +govern them." + +"I certainly did, at first, feel opposed to the idea of there being +anything in the shape of formal conditions attached to our meetings," +said Lothair, "but I was in a peculiar mood then, which has passed away +now. There is no danger of our drifting into Philistinism. Everybody +has more on less of a tendency towards it, however sublimely he may +strive against it; and perhaps a certain spice of it may not always be +an unmitigated evil. However, we needn't bother ourselves about +whatever little clouds, of any sort, may rise on our horizon from time +to time. The devil is sure to bring some over us, as opportunities +offer. Let us discuss the Serapiontic principle. What are your views +about it?" + +Theodore, Ottmar and Cyprian all thought that their union would have +been sure to assume a literary character, of itself, though nothing had +been expressly stipulated to that affect,--and at once took the vow of +obedience to the rule of Serapion the Hermit, so clearly formulated by +Lothair; which, as Theodore pointed out, amounted to this--that they +should never vex each other's souls by the production of scamped work. + +So they clinked their glasses joyously, and gave each other the +fraternal embrace of the true Serapion Brother. + +"Midnight," said Ottmar, "is still a long way off, and I think it would +be very nice if one of us were to relate something more pleasant and +amusing, by way of throwing the melancholy, nay terrible, events we +have been dealing with into the background a little. I think it rests +properly with Theodore to operate his promised 'Transition to Ordinary +Rationality.'" + +"If you like," said Theodore, "I will read you a little story which I +wrote some time ago, which was suggested to me by a picture. When I saw +this picture, I discovered a meaning in it which the painter of it had +certainly never dreamt of--could not have dreamt of in fact--because it +referred to circumstances in my own early life, which the picture +brought strangely back to my memory." + +"I sincerely trust there are no mad people in it," said Lothair; "for I +have had more than my fill of them already: and I hope it conforms to +the rule of our patron saint." + +"There are no mad people in it," said Theodore, "but, as to its +conformity with Serapiontic rule, I must leave that to the verdict of +my worthy brethren, begging them at the same time not to judge me too +severely, seeing that my little story was suggested by a light, airy +picture, and makes no pretence but to cause a passing moment's +entertainment." + +With which Theodore produced his manuscript, and began as follows: + + + "AN INTERRUPTED CADENCE. + +"In the Berlin autumn Exhibition of 1814, there was a charming picture +of Hummel's, called 'A Scene in an Italian Locanda,' which attracted +much attention. It was both light and vigorous, and had all the effect +of representing a real occurrence. The scene was a garden-arbour, thick +with the luxuriant leafage of the South. Two Italian ladies, seated +opposite to one another, at a table, with wine and fruit--one of +them singing, the other accompanying her on a guitar. Between them, +and behind the table, an _abbate_, standing beating the time, as +music-director; his hand was raised, as a conductor's is when a singer +is executing a _cadenza_, watching carefully and anxiously for the +precise instant when the singer--evidently warbling out her cadence, +with eyes upraised to the sky--should come in with her _trillo_--her long +shake; at the precise termination of which it would be his duty to make +his down-beat, on which signal the guitarist should strike in with her +chord of the dominant. The _abbate_, all admiration and intense +enjoyment, was watching for the proper instant to made his down-beat as +a cat watches a mouse. Not if his life depended on it would he depass +that precise instant by a hair's-breadth. Fain would he muzzle every +fly, every mosquito, humming about under the leaves. Most distressful +to him the approach of the landlord, who had selected that particular +moment to come in with more wine. Beyond the arbour, in the middle +distance, a shaded alley, with streams of bright sunlight breaking +athwart it through the branches; and a man on horseback, drinking a +cool draught, served to him by a girl from the _locanda_. + +"Edward and Theodore were standing studying this picture; and Edward +said: + +"'The more I look at this picture; at that lady singing--not quite so +young as she has been, but inspired by genuine artistic enthusiasm--at +the pure, intellectual Roman profile, and the magnificent figure of the +lady accompanying on the guitar, and at the delicious little _abbate_ +beating the time, the more convinced I am that they are portraits of +real, living persons. I feel as if I should like to step into that +arbour and open one of those delightful wicker-covered flasks that are +smiling at me on that table there. I can almost fancy I scent the aroma +of the noble wine. And that latter idea must be realised, and not +allowed to evaporate in this chill atmosphere. I propose that we go and +drink a bottle of real Italian wine, in honour of this charming +picture, and of the happy land of Italy, the only country where life is +worth living.' + +"As Edward so spoke, Theodore was standing silent, sunk in deep +reflection. + +"'Very well--yes--we may as well,' he answered, like a man waking from +a dream. Yet he seemed loth to tear himself away from the picture, and +still kept casting longing glances at it when he had mechanically +followed his friend to the door. + +"It was an easy matter to put Edward's idea into practice. They had +only to cross the street to find themselves in the little blue room in +the Sala Tarone, with a wicker-covered flask, like those in the +picture, on the table before them. + +"'You seem, somehow,' said Edward, when they had swallowed two or three +glasses of the Italian wine, and Theodore was still sitting silent and +thoughtful,--'you seem, somehow, as if that picture had produced a +different impression, and a far less pleasant one, on you than on me.' + +"'I delight in that picture as much as anybody,' answered Theodore. +'But the extraordinary thing about it is, that it chances to represent +a scene in my early life, with the utmost exactness, so that the very +characters in it are absolute portraits of the real actors in that +scene. You will admit that even pleasant reminiscences affect us +strangely when they come bursting in upon us in this utterly unexpected +sort of manner, as if evoked by the wand of an enchanter.' + +"'What a very extraordinary affair,' said Edward. 'You say this picture +represents an incident, in your own life? It seems probable enough that +the two ladies and the _abbate_ are likenesses of real people: but that +they should ever have had anything to do with _you_ is certainly +amazing enough. Do tell me all about it. We are not pressed for time, +and nobody is likely to come in and disturb us at this hour of the +day.' + +"'I should rather like to tell you about it,' said Theodore, 'only I +shall have to go a longish way back, to the time when I was a mere +boy.' + +"Please go on, then, and tell me about it,' said Edward. 'I don't know +much about your early life; and if it does take some time in telling we +shall only have to send for another bottle of this Italian wine; nobody +will be the worse for that, neither we nor Signor Tarone.' + +"'Nobody who knows me,' said Theodore, 'need feel any surprise at my +having thrown everything else overboard, and devoted myself, body and +soul, to the glorious art, music. Even when I was a mere child, music +was the only thing I really cared about. I would hammer all day, and +all night, too, if people would have allowed me, upon my uncle's old +rattle-trap of a piano. Music was at an extremely low ebb in the little +place where we lived; there was nobody to give me any instruction but +an old, conceited, self-opinionated organist. His music was of the +lifeless, mathematical order. He wearied my soul with a lot of ugly +gloomy _toccatas_ and _fugues_. However, I did not let this discourage +me, but laboured faithfully on. The old fellow would often gird at me +in bitter and unsparing terms; but he had only to sit down and play me +something in his severely accurate manner, to reconcile me to life and +art in a moment. Often the most wonderful ideas would come into my head +on such occasions; many of Sebastian Bach's works, for instance, and +they above all others, would fill me with a weird awe, as if they were +legends about spirits and enchanters. But a perfect paradise opened +upon me when, as happened in winter, the town band gave a concert, +assisted by a few local amateurs, and I was allowed to play the +kettledrums in the symphony, a favour granted to me on account of the +accuracy of my time. It was many a day before I knew what wretched and +ludicrous affairs those concerts were. My master, the organist, +generally played a couple of pianoforte concertos of Wolff or Emanuel +Bach; one of the bandsmen tortured himself--and his hearers--with some +violin solo of Stamitz, and the excise officer blew terrifically on a +flute, and wasted so much breath in the process, that he kept blowing +out the candles on his desk, so that they had to be constantly lighted +up again. Nothing in the shape of singing could be accomplished, and +this was a source of deep regret to my uncle, a "great" amateur +musician. He remembered the days when the choir-masters of the four +churches used to sing "Lottchen am Hofe" at the concerts, and he used +to refer, with high approbation, to the fine spirit of religious +tolerance which actuated those musicians, who laid aside their +religious differences, and united in these performances, coming +together, irrespective of creed, on a common basis of art. For, besides +the Catholic and the Evangelical communities, the Protestants +themselves were divided into French and German churches. The French +choir-master used to take the part of "Charlotte," and my uncle used to +say he sang it--spectacles on nose--in the loveliest falsetto that ever +issued from a human throat. + +"'There dwelt amongst us, at this period, a certain "court-singer," +retired on pension, whose name was Mademoiselle Meibel. She was a +demoiselle of some five-and-fifty summers, but my uncle thought it +would be only a proper thing if she could be induced to emerge +occasionally from her pensioned retirement, so far as to sing a solo +now and then at our concerts. After giving herself the proper amount of +airs, and saying "no" a sufficient number of times, she graciously +yielded, so that we got the length of including an occasional "_Aria di +Bravura_" in our programmes. She was an extraordinary-looking creature, +Mademoiselle Meibel. I can see her little wizened figure at this moment +as if she were here before my eyes. She used to come forward on to the +platform, very grave and dignified, her music in her hand, dressed in +nearly all the colours of the rainbow, and make a ceremonious dip of +the upper part of her body to the audience. She used to have on a +miraculous sort of head-gear, with Italian porcelain flowers stuck on +the front of it; and, as she sung, these flowers used to nod and quiver +in the oddest fashion. When she ended her solo--received always by the +audience with boundless applause--she would hand her music, with a +glance of pride, to my master, who was accorded the privilege of +dipping his forefinger and thumb into the little box, in the shape of a +pug dog, which she at such times produced, and took snuff from with a +courtly air. She had a most disagreeable, quavering voice, and +introduced all kinds of horrible, vulgar grace-notes and flourishes; +and you can imagine the ludicrous effect which this, in combination +with her external appearance, produced on me. My uncle was loud in +encomiums, but this was incomprehensible to me, and I sided all the +more with my organist, who despised all vocal music, and used to mimic +old Mademoiselle Meibel in the most entertaining style. + +"'The more I coincided with my master in considering all singing to be +an inferior province of the musical art, the higher waxed his estimate +of my musical endowments. He taught me counterpoint with untiring, +indefatigable pains and zeal, and ere long I was able to write the +correctest of _fugues_ and _toccatas_. + +"'On my nineteenth birthday, I was playing one of those compositions of +mine to my uncle, when the waiter of our principal hotel came in, and +announced that two foreign ladies, who had just arrived in the town, +were coming to see us. + +"Before my uncle had time to throw off his large-flowered dressing-gown +and dress himself, the ladies were in upon us. + +"You know the electrical effect which any unusual apparition of this +sort has upon people who live in small provincial places, but the one +which now appeared to me was really such as to produce on me the effect +of the wave of some enchanter's wand. + +"'Picture to yourself two tall, handsome Italian girls, dressed in the +latest fashions, walking up to my uncle, with a combination of artistic +ease and charming courtesy of manner, and talking away to him in voices +which were extremely loud, and yet remarkably beautiful in tone. What +was the curious language they were speaking? Now and then but only now +and then it sounded something like German. + +"'My uncle didn't understand a word of it. He stepped back, completely +nonplussed, and pointed in silence to the sofa; they sat down there and +talked to each other. _That_ was real music. Ultimately they managed to +explain to my uncle that they were singers on a tour, intended giving +some concerts, and had been recommended to apply to him as a person who +could assist them in the necessary arrangements. While they had been +talking to each other I had gathered their names; Lauretta, who seemed +to be the elder of the two, kept talking away to my bewildered uncle, +with immense energy and eager gesticulation, glancing about her with +beaming eyes the while. Without being to be called "stout," she was +luxuriant of figure to a degree which was at that time something wholly +novel to my inexperienced--and admiring--eyes. Teresina, taller and +slighter, with a long earnest face, spoke, in the intervals, very +little, but much more comprehensibly. Every now and then she would +smile, in a curious way, as if a good deal amused at the aspect of my +poor uncle, who kept shrinking into his flowered dressing-gown as a +snail does into its shell, vainly trying to stick away a certain string +belonging to his nether garments, which would keep fluttering out every +now and then, to the length of an ell or so. + +"'At last they rose to go. My uncle had promised to arrange a concert +for the next day but one, and he and I (whom he had presented to them +as a young _virtuoso_) were invited to go and take chocolate with the +sisters that evening. + +"'When the time came, we walked slowly and solemnly up the stairs +accordingly. We both felt very queer: somewhat as if we were going +forward to undertake some rather perilous adventure, for which we were +by no means adequately prepared. + +"After my uncle, who had carefully prepared himself beforehand, had +spoken much and learnedly about music--(nobody understood a word he +said, neither he himself, nor we others)--after I had burnt my tongue, +three times, terribly with the scalding chocolate smiling at my +tortures with the stoicism of a Scaevola--Lauretta said she would sing +something. Teresina took the guitar tuned it, and struck two or three +handfuls of chords. I had never heard the instrument before, and was +much impressed by the strange, mysterious effect of its hollow +vibrations. + +"'Lauretta commenced a note, very _piano_, swelled it out to a ringing +_fortissimo_, and then broke out into a bold warbling _cadenza_, +extending over an octave and a half. I remember the words of the +beginning of her aria:-- + + "Sento l'amica speme." + +"'My blood seemed to pause in my veins! I never had had an idea that +there could be anything like this, and as Lauretta soared on her +bright pinions of song, higher and higher, and as the beams of those +beautiful tones shone brighter and brighter upon me, all the music within +me--dead and dormant hitherto--caught fire, and blazed on high in +glorious and mighty flames. + +"'Ah! that was the first time in my life that I ever heard _music_! +Next the sisters sang together, some of those earnest, quiet, +deep-drawn duets of Abbate Steffani'e. Teresina's rich, exquisitely +beautiful contralto stirred the depths of my soul. I could not keep +back my tears, they rolled down my cheeks. My uncle blew his nose a +great deal, and cast reproachful looks at me. It was no use; I couldn't +control myself. This seemed to please the sisters; they asked about my +musical studies. I felt utterly disgusted with all I had done, and +declared, in my enthusiasm, that I had never heard music before. + +"'"_Il buon fanciullo!_" said Lauretta, very sweetly and tenderly. + +"'When I got home I felt almost out of my mind. I seized all the +_toccatas_ and _fugues_ which I had so laboriously carpentered together +(as well as forty-five Variations on a Thema in Canon, which the +organist had composed for me, and presented to me in a beautifully +written MS.), and shied the whole boiling of them into the fire. I +laughed sardonically as this mass of double counterpoint crackled and +blazed, and went sparkling out into ashes. Then I sat down to the +instrument, and tried, first to imitate the guitar, and then to play, +and next to sing, the melodies which I had heard the sisters execute. +At last, about midnight, my uncle came out of his bedroom crying, "For +the love of heaven stop that caterwauling, be off to your bed, and +let's try to get some sleep," with which he blew out the lights and +left me in the dark. I had nothing for it but obey; but in my dreams I +thought I had solved the secret of song, and was singing the "Sento +l'Amica Speme" in the most exquisite style myself. + +"'Next morning my uncle had got together everybody who could play on +string or wind instruments, to a rehearsal in the concert-room, and a +proud man he felt himself to be able to turn out such a fine show of +performers. The rehearsal was anything but a success, however. Lauretta +essayed a grand scena, but we had not got many bars into the recitative +when everything was at sixes and sevens; none of the players had the +slightest idea of accompanying. Lauretta screamed, stormed, wept, with +rage and disgust. The organist was at the piano, and him she attacked +with her bitterest objurgations. He rose from his seat, and walked +slowly, and with much composure, out at the door. The band-master, at +whom she had hurled an "_asino tedesco_" put his violin under his arm, +and cocked his cap martially over one ear; he, too, was making for the +door, his men, unscrewing their mouthpieces, and sticking their bows in +among their strings, preparing to follow him. Only the amateurs were +left, looking at each other, almost with tears in their eyes, the +exciseman saying, "Oh, dear me! how very much I do feel a thing of this +sort!" + +"'But all my natural bashfulness had abandoned me. I stopped the +band-master; I entreated and implored him; in the anguish of the moment +I promised I would write him six minuets, with double trios each, for +the county-ball. I succeeded in pacifying him. He went back to his +music-stand; the bandsmen followed his example, and the orchestra was +ready to commence operations once more. All except the organist; his place +at the piano was vacant. I found him strolling--a calm, contemplative +man--up and down in the market-place, by no process whatever to be +prevailed upon to cross the threshold of the concert-room any more. + +"'Teresina had been looking on at all this, biting her lips to keep +back her laughter. Lauretta was now just as conciliatory as she had +previously been the contrary. She thanked me most warmly for all I had +done. She asked if I could play the piano, and, ere I knew where I was, +I found myself occupying the organist's vacant place, with the score +before me. Up to this time I had never accompanied a singer, or +directed an orchestra. Teresina sat down beside me, and indicated the +various _tempi_ to me. Lauretta gave me an encouraging "bravo!" now and +then; the orchestra began to understand, and things went better. At the +second rehearsal all was clear, and the sensation the sisters produced +at the concert was indescribable. + +"'There were going to be great doings at the Residenz, on the occasion +of the prince's return from abroad, and the sisters were engaged to +sing there; in the meantime they decided on remaining in our little +town, and giving one or two more concerts. The admiration of the +towns-folk for them amounted to a species of insanity. Only old Mdlle. +Meibel would take a reflective pinch out of her pug-dog snuff-box, and +remark that screeching of that sort was not singing. My organist was no +more to be seen, and I by no means regretted his absence. I was the +happiest creature on earth. I sat with the sisters all day long, playing +their accompaniments, and writing out the parts from the scores for the +concerts at the Residenz. Lauretta was my ideal; all her naughty +tempers, her artistic outbreaks of fury, impatience with her +accompanyist, and so forth, I bore like a lamb. I began to learn +Italian, and wrote a _canzonetta_ or two. How I rose to the empyrean +when Lauretta sang my compositions, and even praised them! I often felt +as if I had never thought and written those things, but as if the ideas +streamed out for the first time when she sang them. With Teresina I did +not get on so well. She sang very seldom; didn't seem to take much +interest in me or my doings, and sometimes gave me the impression of +laughing at me behind my back. + +"'The time arrived at last when they had to leave us: then it was that +I fully realized what Lauretta had become to me, and how impossible it +was for me to be parted from her. After she had been unusually +_smorfiosa_ with me, she would be kind and caressing, but always in +such a fashion that, although my blood would seethe, the coldness which +I could feel that she brought to bear upon me was sufficient to prevent +me from throwing myself at her feet with passionate avowals of love. + +"'I had a pretty fair tenor voice then: it had never had any +cultivation, but it was beginning to improve, and I used to sing, with +Lauretta, numbers of those tender Italian duets whose name is legion. +We were singing one of those duets one day; the time of her departure +was at hand-- + + "Senza di te, ben mio! + Vivere non poss' io." + +"'Who could have resisted this? I threw myself at Lauretta's feet, wild +with despair. + +"'She helped me to rise. "Why should we part, dear friend?" she said. I +listened in delighted amazement. She said I had much better go with her +and Teresina to the Residenz. If I meant to devote myself to music +altogether, I should have to quit my little native town some day or +other. + +"'Picture to yourself a person who has bidden good-bye to life and +hope, and is falling down some black, fathomless abyss; but, at the +very instant when he expects the crash which is to dash him in pieces, +lo and behold! he is in a beautiful bower of roses, with hundreds of +little many-tinted lights dancing round him, and saying, "Darling! +you're still alive, you see!" These were my sensations at that moment. +To go with them to the Residenz was the one prominent, tangible idea of +my life. + +"'I shan't weary you by describing how I set about proving to my uncle +the absolute necessity of my going to the Residenz--no such very great +distance, when all was said. He agreed at last, and said he would go +with me! Here was an unexpected baulk to my little plans. I dared not +tell him I was going with the ladies; but luckily one of his attacks of +bronchitis came to my rescue. + +"'I started off in the stage-coach, but got out at the first change of +horses, and waited there for the coming of my goddesses. I had plenty +of money in my pocket, so that I was able to make all my arrangements. +My idea was to escort the ladies on horseback, like a paladin of +Romance; so I managed to hire a steed--not particularly grand to look +at, but, as his owner assured me, a good serviceable animal,--and at +the appointed time I mounted him, and rode out to meet the two +_cantatrices_. Ere long, their little double-seated phaeton was seen +coming quietly along. The two sisters were on the front seat, and +behind sat their maid, little fat Gianna, a brown Neapolitan. The +carriage was crammed with all sorts of boxes, band-boxes, portmanteaus, +and so forth, and two pug-dogs, on Gianna's lap, yapped at me as I rode +up. + +"Everything went swimmingly till we got to the last stage from the +Residenz, but there my horse was seized with the remarkable idea that +he ought to go home to his stable. A conviction that severe measures +are seldom effectual in such conjunctures induced me to try every +description of mild persuasion that I could think of. The perverse +animal was proof against all my gentle remonstrances. I wanted to go +forward; he wanted to go back. All that I could accomplish in the +circumstances was that, instead of retrograding, he kept describing +circles. Teresina leant out of the carriage, laughing most heartily; +whilst Lauretta put her hands before her eyes and screamed, as if I +were in the utmost danger. I jammed my spurs into the brute's sides, +and, ere I could say Jack Robinson, found myself on the broad of my +back on the turnpike road, with the horse standing over me, his long +neck stretched out, surveying me with an expression of calm derision. + +"'I could not get up till the driver got off and helped me. Lauretta, +too, got out, and was weeping and screaming. I had twisted one of my +feet, and couldn't ride any further. What was to be done? The horse was +made fast to the back of the carriage, and I had to squeeze myself +inside, as best I could. Just picture to yourself two well-grown +young women, a fat maid, a couple of dogs, a dozen or so of baskets, +band-boxes, etc., and me in addition, squeezed up in a little two-seated +phaeton! Think of Lauretta's lamentations about the want of room; the +dogs' yapping; the Neapolitan's chattering, and the horrible pain of my +foot, and you will have some idea what a charming position I was in. +Teresina declared she could bear it no longer; the driver pulled up, +and with one bound she was out of the carriage. She loosed my horse, +got on his back, and trotted and curvetted down the road before us. She +certainly looked splendid; the grace and distinction which she +possessed in an eminent degree were more especially conspicuous on +horseback. She made us hand her out her guitar, and, slinging her +bridle over her left arm, she sang Spanish ballads as she rode along, +striking handfuls of chords in accompaniment. Her silk dress fluttered +in shimmering folds, and the white plumes in her hat nodded and +quivered, like airy sprites, in time to the music. Her whole effect was +romantic beyond expression, and I could not take my eyes away from her; +although Lauretta called her absurd, and said she was a silly, forward +girl, and had better take care she didn't meet with an accident. +However, the horse seemed to have altered his tactics--or perhaps he +preferred the lady-singer to the Paladin; at all events, it was not +till we were close to the gates of the Residenz that Teresina clambered +back into the carriage again. + +"'Imagine me now deliciously up to my eyes in concerts, operas, and +music of every description, passing my days and hours at the piano, +whilst arias, duets, and I don't know all what, are being studied and +rehearsed. From the total change in my outward man you gather that I am +permeated and inspired by a spirit of might. All the provincial +bashfulness is gone. I sit at the piano, a _maestro_, with the score +before me, conducting my donna's _scenas_. My whole soul and existence +is centred in melody. With the utmost contempt for counterpoint, +I write quantities of _canzonettas_ and _arias_, which Lauretta +sings--only in private, however. Why won't she ever sing anything of mine +at a concert? I can't make this out. Teresina sometimes dawns on my +memory, curvetting with her lyre on her charger, like some incarnation of +music; and, spite of myself, I write loftier and more serious strains +when I think of this. Lauretta, no doubt, sports and plays with the +notes like some fairy-queen. What does she ever attempt in which she +does not succeed? Teresina never attempts a _roulade_; a simple +_appoggiatura_ or so, in the antique style, is the utmost that she +ventures upon; but those long, sustained notes of hers shine through +the dim background, and wonderful spirits arise, and gaze, with their +earnest eyes, deep into the breast. I don't know why mine was so long +before it opened to them. + +"'The sisters' benefit-concert came off at length. Lauretta was singing +a great _scena_ of Anfossi's. I was, of course, at the piano as usual. +We had arrived at her final "pause," where her grand _cadenza ad +libitum_ had to come in. It was a question of showing what she really +_could_ do. Nightingale trills went warbling up and down; then came +long holding-notes; then all kinds of florid passages--a regular +_solfeggio_; even _I_ thought the affair was being kept up too long. +Suddenly I felt a breath. Teresina was standing close behind me; +Lauretta was just pulling herself together to begin her long, swelling +harmonica shake, which was to lead back to the _a-tempo_. Some demon +took possession of me. I crashed down the chord of the dominant with +both hands; the orchestra followed me; and there was an end of +Lauretta's _trillo_, just at the supreme moment when it ought to have +set the audience _in furore_. + +"'Lauretta, with a glare of fury at me, which went through me like a +two-edged sword, tore her music in pieces, and sent it flying about my +ears; then rushed away like a mad creature, through the orchestra, into +the ante-room. As soon as the _tutti_ was finished, I hastened after +her. She was sobbing and raving. "Don't come near me, you malignant +fiend!" she screamed: "you have blasted my career for ever; how can I +ever look an audience in the face again? You have robbed me of my name, +and fame, and, oh, of my _trillo_! Out of my sight;" she made a rush at +me, but I slipped deftly out of the door. During the _concerto_--which +somebody or other played--Teresina and the Kapellmeister succeeded in +so far pacifying her as to induce her to appear again--but not with me +at the piano--and in the concluding duet, which the sisters sung, +Lauretta did actually introduce the harmonica shake, was tremendously +applauded, and got into the most delightful temper imaginable. + +"'I, however, couldn't get over the style in which I had been treated +before so many strangers; and I had quite made up my mind to be off +back to my native town again the following morning. In fact I was +packing up, when Teresina came into my room. When she saw what was +going on, she was thunderstruck. "_You_ going to leave us?" she cried. +I said that after the way in which Lauretta had behaved to me, I could +not possibly stay. + +"'"Then the hasty, petulant outburst of a foolish girl, which she is +heartily ashamed of and sorry for, is going to drive you away; where +else could you carry on your artistic life so happily? It rests +entirely with you to cure Lauretta of those tempers of hers. You are +too good to her, and let her have her own way far too much. You have +too high an opinion of her altogether. She has a very fair voice, and +an enormous compass, no doubt. But all those _fioriture_, those +everlasting scales and passages, and nightingale trills of hers, what +are they but dazzling tricks, more like what an acrobat does on the +tight-rope than anything else? Can such things possibly touch the +heart? The harmonica shake, which you wouldn't let her bring in, is a +thing which I detest! it makes me feel quite ill. Then all that +clambering up among the ledger-line notes, isn't it a mere, unnatural +forcing of the proper voice--the real voice--the only voice that +touches the listener? What I admire are the middle and lower registers. +A tone which goes to the heart, a genuine _portamento di voce_, I +prefer to everything else. None of those meaningless _embellimenti_--a +firm, steady, full utterance of the note--something like decision and +accuracy of intonation; that is real singing, and that is how I sing +myself. If you can't bear Lauretta longer, don't forget that there is +Teresina, who is your devoted friend: and you can be my _maestro_ and +composer quite in your own special style. Don't be vexed with me, but +all your florid _canzonettas_ and _arias_ are nothing in comparison +with _the_ one." + +"'Teresina sang, in her rich pathetic tones, a simple _canzone_ in +church style which I had written a few days before. Never could I have +imagined that it could ever possibly have sounded like that. Tears of +rapture rolled down my cheeks: I seized her hand, and pressed it to my +lips a thousand times: I vowed that nothing on earth should ever part +us. + +"'Lauretta looked upon my alliance with Teresina with angry jealousy, +which she concealed as best she could. I was indispensable to her at +the time; because, clever as her singing was, she couldn't learn +anything new without assistance. She was a wretched hand at reading, +and extremely shaky over her time. Teresina could read everything at +sight, and the accuracy of her time was incomparable. Lauretta's +tempers and caprices never came out in such full force as when she was +being accompanied. The accompaniment never pleased her. She looked upon +it in the light of a necessary evil, she wanted the piano to be barely +audible, always _pianissimo_. She was always dragging and altering the +time, every bar different, just as she happened to take it in her head +at the moment. I set to work to resist this firmly. I combatted those +evil habits of hers; I showed her that there must be a certain energy +about an accompaniment, that breadth of phrasing was one thing, and +meaningless dragging quite another. Teresina backed me up staunchly. I +gave up writing everything but the church style, and gave all the solos +to the contralto voice. Teresina dragooned me pretty smartly, too; but +I didn't mind that. She knew more than Lauretta, and I thought she had +more feeling for German music. + +"'When we were in a certain little town in the south of Germany, we met +with an Italian tenor on his way from Milan to Vienna. My ladies were +charmed to meet with a fellow-countryman. He was continually with them. +Teresina was the one whom he chiefly devoted himself to, and, to my no +small disgust, I found myself quite playing second fiddle. One morning, +as I was just going into their room, with a score under my arm, I heard +an animated conversation going on between my ladies and the tenor. My +own name struck my ear, and I listened with might and main. I knew +enough Italian to catch every word that was said. Lauretta was relating +the terrible story of the concert when I cut her out of her shake by +striking my chord too soon. + +"'"_Asino tedesco!_" cried the tenor. I felt inclined to go and chuck +the vapouring stage-hero out of the window; but I restrained myself. +Lauretta went on to say that she would have got rid of me on the spot, +but that I had implored her to let me stay, and she had done so, out of +compassion, as I was going to take singing-lessons from her. Teresina +confirmed this, to my no small amazement. "He is a nice boy, enough," +she added. "He is in love with _me_ just now, and writes all his solos +for the contralto. There is a certain amount of talent in him, if he +could get rid of the stiffness and awkwardness which all Germans have. +I am in hopes I may make a composer of him who may write some good +things for the contralto: there is so little written for it that is +worth very much. He is dreadfully wearisome with his everlasting +sighings and devotion, and torments me fearfully with his compositions, +which are poor enough as yet." + +"'"Thank goodness, I am quit of him," cried Lauretta, "You know, +Teresina, how he used to torture me with his _arias_ and _duettos_," +and she began a duet of mine, which she had highly praised formerly. +Teresina took the second voice, and they both caricatured me most +unmercifully. The tenor laughed till the room re-echoed. I felt a +stream of icy water running down my back, my mind was thoroughly made +up. I slipped back to my own room as quietly as I could. Its windows +looked out into the side-street--the post-office was just over the +way, and the Bamberg coach was drawing up to take in the mail-bags. +The passengers were collecting at the gate, but I had still the best +part of an hour before me. I got my things together as quickly as I +could--magnanimously paid the whole of the hotel bill, and was off to +the coach. As I went along the High Street, I saw my ladies looking out +at the window, with the tenor, at the sound of the horn. But I kept well +out of sight in the background, and pictured to myself, with deep +delight, the crushing effect of the scathing letter which I had left +for them. + +"'Here Theodore slowly savoured, with intense gusto, the last drops of +the glowing Eleatic which Edward had poured out for him. + +"'"I shouldn't have expected Teresina to have behaved as she did," said +Edward, opening a fresh bottle, and shaking away the drop or two of oil +on the surface like one accustomed to that operation. "I can't forget +the pretty picture of her caracoling along on horseback, singing +Spanish songs." + +"'That was her culminating point,' said Theodore. 'I remember as +distinctly as possible the impression that made upon me. I forgot the +pain of my foot. She looked like some creature of a higher sphere. A +moment of that sort makes a tremendous impression upon one sometimes. +Things sometimes put on a form, in an instant, which no lapse of time +can change. If ever, since then, I have been unusually happy in the +subject of some bold, spirited _romanza_, you may be sure I had that +scene, and Teresina, vividly before my mind.' + +"'"We mustn't forget the clever Lauretta, either," said Edward. "I vote +that we let bygones be bygones, and drink to both the sisters." Which +they did. + +"'Ah!' said Theodore, 'how the perfumes of exquisite Italy breathe upon +one out of this wine. One's blood seems to course through one's veins +with threefold vigour. Oh, why had I to leave that glorious country so +soon!' + +"'"So far, though," said Edward, "I see no connection between what you +have been telling me and the picture; so I suppose there is more about +the sisters yet to come. Of course I see that the ladies in the picture +are no other than Lauretta and Teresina." + +"'Yes,' said Theodore. 'And my longing sighs for Italy form a +good-enough introduction to what there remains for me to say. A short +time before I had to leave Rome, the year before last, I went for a +little excursion into the country, on horseback. I came to a _locanda_, +where I saw a nice-looking girl, and I thought it would be a good thing +to get her to bring me a flagon of good wine. I drew up at the door in +the shaded alley, the bright sunlight breaking athwart it through the +branches. I heard singing, and a guitar, somewhere near. I listened +attentively, for the voices of the singers affected me strangely; dim +reminiscences stirred within me, but were slow to take definite form. I +got off my horse, and slowly drew nearer to the vine-covered arbour +where the music was going on. The second voice had stopped; the first +was singing a _canzonetta_ alone; the singer was in the middle of an +elaborate _cadenza_, it went warbling up and down, till at last she +began a long holding-note, and then, all at once, a woman's voice broke +out in a fury, with curses, execrations and reproaches. A man was heard +protesting, another man laughing, whilst a second woman's voice joined +in the _melee_. Wilder and wilder raged the storm, with true Italian +_rabbia_. At last, just as I came up to the arbour, out flew an +_abbate_, nearly knocking me down. He looked up at me, and I saw that +he was none other than my good friend Signor Ludovico, my regular +news-purveyor, from Rome. "What, in the name of Heaven----" I cried. +"Ah, Signor Maestro! Signor Maestro!" he cried, "save me! rescue me! +protect me from this mad creature--this crocodile, this tiger, this +hyena--this devil of a girl! It is true I was beating the time to that +_canzonetta_ of Anfossi's, and I came in too soon with my down-beat, right +in the middle of her pause-note, and cut her out of her _trillo_. Why did +I look at her eyes, goddess of the infernal regions that she is? The +devil take all pause-notes!" + +"'In most unusual excitement I hastened into the arbour, and at the +first glance, recognised Lauretta and Teresina. Lauretta was still +screaming and raging, Teresina talking violently into her face; the +landlord was looking on with a face of amusement, whilst a girl was +putting fresh flasks of wine on the table. + +"'The moment that the singers set eyes on me they threw themselves +about my neck and overwhelmed me with the affectionateness of their +reception. "Ah, Signor Teodoro, Signor Teodoro," all our little +differences were forgotten. "This," said Lauretta to the _Abbate_, "is +a composer who has all the grace and melody of the Italians combined +with the science of the Germans." And both the sisters, taking the +words out of each other's mouths, told him all about the happy days we +had spent together, my profound musical knowledge, even as a boy, our +practisings, and the excellence of my compositions. Never had they +really cared to sing anything but works of mine. Presently Teresina +told me she had got an engagement at an important theatre for the next +Carnival, but meant to make it a condition that _I_ should be +commissioned to write at least one tragic opera; since, of course, +_opera seria_ was my real line, etc., etc. Lauretta, again, said it +would be too bad if I didn't follow my special bent for the florid and +sparkling style--for _opera buffa_, in fact: that she had got an +engagement as prima donna in that line, and that, as a matter of +course, nobody but I should write the operas in which she should +appear. You can imagine how strange it felt to be with them again; and +you see, now, that the scene and all the circumstances are exactly +those of Hummel's picture. + +"'"But didn't they say anything about the circumstances of your +parting, or that scathing letter of yours?" asked Edward. + +"Not a syllable,' said Theodore. 'Neither did I. I had long forgotten +my annoyance, and remembered my affair with the sisters as a mere piece +of fun nothing more. The only thing I did was to tell the _Abbate_ how, +many years ago, a similar misadventure had befallen me, and that in an +aria of Anfossi's too. I incorporated in my story an account of all +that had happened during the time that the sisters and I had spent +together, delivering a swashing side-blow, now and then, just to show +the considerable increment of "calibre" which a few years of artistic +experience had endowed me with. "And," said I in conclusion, "it was a +very lucky thing that I did come in too soon with that down-beat of +mine. No doubt it was fore-ordained from all eternity; and I have +little doubt that, if I hadn't interrupted Lauretta as I did then, I +should have been sitting playing pianoforte accompaniments to this +hour." + +"'"But, Signer," said the _Abbate_, "what _maestro_ can lay down laws +to a prima donna? And then, your crime was far more heinous than mine. +You were in a concert-room. I was only in this arbour here, merely +_playing_ the _maestro_. What did it matter about my down-beat? If +those beautiful eyes of hers hadn't bewitched me, I shouldn't have made +an ass of myself as I did." The _Abbate's_ last words worked like +magic. Lauretta's eyes, which had begun to dart angry lightnings, +beamed softly again. + +"'We spent that evening together. It was fourteen years since we had +met, and fourteen years cause many changes. Lauretta was by no means as +young as she had been, but she had not lost all her attractiveness. +Teresina had worn better, and still retained her beautiful figure. They +dressed in much the same style as of old, and had all their former +ways: that's to say, their dress and manners were fourteen years +younger than themselves. At my request, Teresina sang some of those +earnest, serious _arias_ which had impressed me so much in early days, +but they did not seem to be quite what my memory had represented them. +And it was the same with Lauretta's singing: though her voice had +fallen off little, either in power or in compass, still it was +different from the singing which lived in my memory as hers; and this +attempt to compare a mental idea with the not altogether satisfactory +reality, untuned me even more than the sisters' behaviour--their +pretended ecstasy, their coarse admiration (which at the same time took +the form of a generous patronage) had done at the beginning. But the +droll little _Abbate_--who was playing the _amoroso_ to both the +sisters at once, in the most sugary manner--and the good wine (of which +we had a fair share) gave me my good humour back at length, so that we +all enjoyed our evening. The sisters invited me, in the most pressing +manner, to go and see them, so that we might talk over the parts I was +to compose for them; however I left Rome without ever seeing them +again. + +"'"Still," said Edward, "you have to thank them for awaking the music +within you." + +"'Undoubtedly,' answered Theodore, 'and for a quantity of good melodies +into the bargain; but that is exactly the reason why I never should +have seen them again. No doubt every composer can remember some +particular occasion when some powerful impression was made on him, +which time never effaces. The spirit which dwells in music spoke, and +the spirit _en rapport_ with it within the composer awoke at that +creative fiat; it flamed up with might, and could never be extinguished +again. It is certain that all the melodies which we produce under an +impulse of this sort seem to belong only to the singer who cast the +first spark into us. We hear her, and merely write down what she has +sung; but it is the lot of us feeble earthly creatures, clamped to the +dust as we are, to long and strive to bring down whatever we can of the +super-earthly into the wretched little bit of earthly life in which we +are cribbed up. And thus the singer becomes our beloved--perhaps our +wife! The spell is broken; our inward melody, with its message, or +gospel of glory, turns to a squabble about a broken soup-plate, or a +row about an ink-mark on one's new shirt. That composer is a happy man +who never again, in this earthly life, sees Her who, with mystic power, +kindled the music within him. He may rage, and mourn, poor boy! when +his beautiful enchantress has left him; but she has been transformed to +everlasting Music, glorious and divine, which lives on in eternal +beauty and youth; and out of it are born the melodies which are Her +only, and Her again and again. What is she but his highest ideal, +reflected from him on to herself? + +"'"Curious, but pretty plausible," said Edward, as the friends, +arm-in-arm, walked out of the Sala Tarone into the street.'" + + +It was admitted that, if Theodore's story might not satisfy all the +necessary conditions, it came near enough to be passed as +"Serapiontic." Ottmar said, "Your story, dear Theodore, has this +effect, that it brings vividly to mind all your devoted labours at +music. Each of us wished to draw you into a different province of it. +While Lothair thought your instrumental writings your best, I thought +your _forte_ was comic opera. Cyprian wanted you to do 'things +unattempted yet,' by putting music to (what he will now admit were) +poems completely beyond all recognised forms and rules; and you +yourself cared only for the serious ecclesiastical style. Well, as +things stand at present, the _opera tragica_ may probably be +considered, the highest goal at which a composer can aim, and I can't +understand why you haven't set to work at one long ago; you would +surely have turned out something very superior in that line." + +"And whose fault is it that I have not?" said Theodore, "but your own, +and Cyprian's, and Lothair's? Could I ever succeed in inducing either +of you to write me a libretto, with all my entreaties?" + +"Marvellous fellow!" said Cyprian, "haven't I argued for hours and days +with you about opera-texts? Haven't you rejected the finest ideas, on +the ground that they were not adapted for music? Didn't you insist, at +last, like an extraordinary fellow as you are, that I should regularly +set to work to study music, so as to be able to understand, and comply +with your requirements? So that I should have had to say good-bye to +all idea of writing poetry, seeing that, like all professional writers, +Kapellmeisters, and music-directors, you cleave to the established +musical forms, and won't abandon them by so much as a hair's breadth." + +"What I can't understand," said Lothair, "is, why Theodore, with his +command of language and poetical expression, doesn't write librettos +for himself? Why should we have to learn to be musicians, and expend +our poetical powers, merely to produce a sort of block, or lay figure, +for him to give life and motion to? Is it not principally because +composers are usually one-sided people, without enough _general_ +education, that they require other folks to help them to do their own +work? Are perfect unity of text and music conceivable, except when poet +and composer are one and the same person?" + +"All that sounds astonishingly plausible," said Theodore, "and yet it +is utterly and completely untrue. I maintain that it is wholly +impossible that any one person can write a work, the words and the +music of which shall both be excellent." + +"You composers," said Lothair, "get that idea into your heads either +because you are absurdly unenergetic, or constitutionally indolent. The +notion of having to go through the labour of writing the words before +you can set to work at the music is so disagreeable to you that you +can't bring yourselves to face it; but my belief is that, to a really +inspired composer, the words and the music would occur simultaneously." + +"You are rather driving me into a corner," said Theodore, "so instead +of carrying on this argument, I shall ask you to let me read you a +dialogue about the necessary conditions, or essentials of opera, which +I wrote several years ago that eventful period which we have passed +through was then only beginning. I thought my artistic existence +seriously menaced, and I fell into a state of despondency, which was +probably partly the result of bad health. At this time I made a +Serapiontic friend, who had abandoned the pen for the sword. He cheered +me in my despondency, and forced me to throw myself into the full +current of the events of that stirring time." Without further +introduction, Theodore at once began:-- + + + + "THE POET AND THE COMPOSER. + +"The enemy was before the gates. Heavy guns were thundering in every +direction, and shells were hurtling through the air; the people of the +town were running, with white faces, into their houses, and the empty +streets rang to the tramp of the cavalry patrols that were cantering +along through them, and driving, with threats and curses, such of the +soldiers as were loitering, or had fallen out of the ranks from any +cause, forward into the trenches. But Ludwig sat on, in his back room, +sunk and lost in the lovely, glorious vision-world which had opened +upon him at his piano. For he had just completed a symphony, in which +he had tried to write down, in notes to be seen and read, what he had +heard and seen within him; a work which, like Beethoven's colossal ones +in that kind, should tell, in heavenly language, of the glorious +wonders of that far-off, romantic realm where life is all unspeakable, +blissful, longing. Like _his_ marvellous creations, it was to +come from that far-off realm, into this little, arid, thirsty world of +ours, and, with beautiful, syren-accents, lure away from it those who +should list, and give ear to its charming. But the landlady came in and +rated him for sitting at his piano in that time of danger and distress; +asking him if he meant to stay in his garret and be shot. At first he +didn't understand what the woman was talking about, till a fragment of +a shell knocked a piece of the roof off, and the broken panes of the +window went clattering down upon the floor. Then the landlady ran +down-stairs weeping and screaming; and Ludwig, taking his most precious +possession, the score of his symphony, under his arm, hastened after +her to the cellar. The inhabitants of the house were all assembled +there. In an access of liberality very unusual with him, the wine-shop +keeper, who occupied the lower story, had 'stood' a dozen or so of his +best wine; whilst the women, in fear and trembling, brought numerous +tit-bits in their work-baskets. People ate and drank, and quickly +passed from their condition of exaltation and excitement to that +confidential frame of mind in which neighbour, drawing close to +neighbour, seeks, and thinks he finds security; and, so to say, all the +petty, artificial _pas_ which we have been taught by conventionality +are whelmed and merged in the great colossal waltz-whirl, to which the +iron hand of destiny beats the resistless measure. The trouble and +danger--the risk to life and limb--were forgotten; cheerful +conversation was the order of the day; animated lips uttered brilliant +speeches, and fellow-lodgers, who barely touched a hat to each other at +ordinary times as they met on the stairs, were seated side by side, +confiding to each other their most confidential affairs. + +"The firing began to slacken a good deal, and there was talk of going +up-stairs again, as the streets seemed to be getting pretty safe. An +ex-Militaire, who was present, went further; and, after a few +instructive observations concerning the system of fortification +practised by the Romans, and the effect of the catapult (with a passing +allusion or two to Vauban, and more modern times), was just proving to +us that we had no cause for the slightest uneasiness, because the house +was completely out of the line of fire, when a shot sent the bricks of +the cellar-ventilator rattling down about our ears. No one was hurt, +however; and, as the Militaire jumped, with a brimming bumper in his +hand, on to the table (which the falling bricks had cleared of the +bottles), and defied any other shot to trouble us, we were all quite +reassured at once; and this proved to be our last scare. The night +passed away quietly, and, in the morning, we found that the troops had +moved off to occupy another position, abandoning the town to the enemy. +On leaving the cellar, we found the enemy's cavalry scouring the +streets, and a placard posted up guaranteeing that the townsfolk and +their property should not be molested. + +"Ludwig joined the throng, eager to see the new spectacle, which was +watching the arrival of the enemy's commander-in-chief, who was coming +in at the gate, with a pompous fanfare of trumpets, surrounded by a +brilliant escort. Scarcely could he believe his eyes when he saw his +old college-friend Ferdinand among the staff, in a quiet-looking +uniform, with his left arm in a sling, curvetting close past him on a +beautiful sorrel charger. 'It was he--it was really and truly himself +and no other!' Ludwig cried involuntarily. He couldn't overtake him, +his horse was going too fast, and Ludwig hastened, full of thought, +back to his room. But he couldn't get on with any work; he could think +of nothing but his old friend, whom he had not seen for years; and the +happy days of youth which they had spent together rose to his memory +bright and clear. At that time Ferdinand had never shown any turn for +soldiering: he was devoted to the Muses, and had evinced his poetic +vocation in many a striking poem; so that this transformation was all +the more incomprehensible; and Ludwig burned with anxiety to speak with +him, though he had no notion where or how he should find him. The +bustle and movement in the streets increased; a considerable portion of +the enemy's forces, with the Allied Princes at their head, passed +through the town, as a halt was to be made in the neighbourhood for a +day or two; and the greater the crowd about headquarters the less +chance there seemed of encountering Ferdinand. But suddenly, in an +out-of-the-way _cafe_, where Ludwig was in the habit of going for his +frugal dinner, Ferdinand came up to him with a cry of delight. + +"Ludwig was silent, for a certain feeling of discomfort embittered, for +him, this longed-for meeting. It was, as it often is in dreams, when, +just as we are going to put our arms about people whom we love, they +suddenly change into something else, and the whole thing becomes a +mockery, Here was the gentle son of the Muses, the writer of many a +romantic lay which Ludwig had clothed in music, in a nodding plume, +with a clanking sword at his side, and even his voice transformed to a +harsh, rough tone of command. Ludwig's gloomy glance rested on the +wounded arm, and upon the decoration, the cross of honour, on his +breast. But Ferdinand put his arm round him and pressed him to his +side. + +"'I know what you are thinking,' he said; 'I understand what you feel +at this meeting of ours. But the Fatherland called me; I could not +hesitate to obey. My hand, which had only wielded the pen, took up the +sword, with the joy, with the enthusiasm, which the holy cause has +kindled in every breast which is not stamped with the seal of +cowardice. I have given some of my blood already; and the mere accident +that this happened under the Prince's eyes has gained me this cross. +But, believe me, Ludwig, the strings which vibrated in me of old, and +whose tones have so often spoken to you, are all whole and uninjured +still; and many a night, when, after some fierce engagement, the +troopers have been sleeping round the fire of the bivouac on some +lonely picquet, I have written poems which have elevated me and +inspired me in my glorious duty of fighting for Honour and Freedom.' + +"Ludwig's heart opened at these words; and when Ferdinand went with him +into a small private room, and took off his sword and helmet, he felt +as if his friend had only been dressed to act a part, and had taken off +his stage-costume. + +"As they dined and talked over the old days they began to feel as if +they had only parted yesterday. Ferdinand asked what Ludwig had been +composing lately, and was much astonished to learn that he had never +written an opera, because he never had been able to meet with a +libretto to his satisfaction--one that could inspire him with music. + +"'I can't understand,' said Ferdinand, 'why you haven't written a +Libretto long ago yourself. You have a very vivid imagination, and a +fine command of language.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'Yes, I have imagination enough to invent plenty of good +plots. Indeed, often, when at night a slight headache keeps me in that +dreamy condition which is like a struggle between sleeping and waking, +I not only think of splendid subjects for operas, but see and hear them +being performed, to my own music. But, so far as the faculty of +retaining them and writing them down is concerned, my belief is that I +am wholly without it. And in fact it is scarcely to be expected of us +composers that we should acquire that technical, mechanical skill +(which is necessary to success in every art, and only comes by constant +perseverance and long practice) which would enable us to write our own +librettos. But even if I had the skill to write out a plot, properly +arranged in lines, scenes, etc., I scarcely think I should set to work +to do it for myself.' + + +"_Ferdinand_. 'But then nobody could so thoroughly understand your +special musical tendencies as yourself.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'That, I daresay, may be true enough. Still, I can't help +thinking that a composer who should sit down to put the idea of a plot, +which had occurred to him, into the words would be something like a +painter who should be called upon to make a minute etching, or a +line-engraving, of his picture before setting to work to draw it and +colour it.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'You mean that the necessary fire would smoulder out +during the process of versifying?' + +"_Ludwig_. 'I think it would. My poetry would seem trashy, to myself; +something like the cases of rockets which had fallen down, charred and +empty, after rushing all resplendent up to the skies. To me it appears +that in no art so much as in music is it so essential that the entirety +of the subject involved, with all its parts, down to the minutest +detail, should be grasped by the mind at _first_, in its earliest, +glowing outburst; because in no other is subsequent polishing and +altering so hurtful. I am convinced, by my own experience, that the +melody which comes to you, as at the wave of an enchanter's wand, the +first time you read the words of a poem, is always the best--nay, +probably the only really _right_ one (for that particular composer at +all events), to put to it. It would be impossible for a composer not to +think of the music called for by the situation, while he was writing +down the words. Indeed he would be thinking so much of _it_ that he +could not give the necessary attention to the words, and if he forced +himself to do so the river of the music would soon dry up, as if sucked +in by thirsty sands. Nay, to express my meaning more clearly, I will +say that, at the moment of his musical inspiration, all _words_, all +verbal expressions, would appear insufficient to him, nay flat, and +miserably inadequate; and it would be necessary for him to come down to +a lower level, to go, like a beggar asking for alms, in quest of those +words, necessities of the lower requirements of his existence. Would +not his wings soon be paralysed, like a caged eagle's, so that he would +try to soar sunwards in vain?' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'One listens to all this, of course; but do you know, my +dear friend, that what you say does not so much convince me as it seems +to indicate your own _personal_ repugnance to working your way, +laboriously, through all the necessary _scenas_, _arias_, _duettos_, +etc., till you get to the point of composing the music.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'Perhaps; but I renew an old reproach. Why, in the days when +you and I were living in such constant intimacy, would you never write +me a libretto, eagerly as I begged you to do so?' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'Because I think it the most thankless labour imaginable. +You must allow that no demands could be more exacting than those which +you composers make upon us; and if you say that a musician can't be +expected to acquire the technical skill which the mechanical part of +poetry-writing demands, I, again, think that it is too much to expect +of a poet that he should be continually harassing himself about the +precise structure of your _terzettes_, _quartettes_, _finales_, etc., +so as not to run the risk of transgressing against some of those forms, +which you look upon--Heaven knows why--as so many matters fixed and +established for ever and ever, like the laws of the Medes and Persians. +After we have expended our best efforts with extremity of mental +tension, in trying to apprehend all the situations of our story in a +true poetical spirit, and to express them in the most eloquent +language, and the smoothest and most finished versification, it is +quite terrible how you run your pens through our finest lines, in the +most relentless manner, and spoil our happiest ideas and expressions, +by inverting them, or altering them, or drowning them in the music. I +say this merely with reference to the uselessness of spending time and +labour on elaborate finish. But then, many admirable plots, which have +occurred to us in our poetic inspiration, and which we bring to you, +all pride, expecting you to be delighted with them, you reject in a +moment, as being unsuitable, and unworthy to be clothed in music. But +this must often be sheer caprice, or I don't know what else it can be; +because you often set to work upon texts which are absolutely wretched +and----' + +"_Ludwig_. 'Stop a moment, my dear friend! Of course there are +composers who have as little idea of music as many rhyme-spinners have +of poetry, and _they_ have often put notes to plots which really are +wretched, in all respects. But real composers, who live and move and +have their being in true, glorious, heavenly _Music_, always choose +poetic texts.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'Do you say so of Mozart?' + +"_Ludwig_. 'Mozart--however paradoxical it may appear to you--never +chose any but poetic texts for his classical operas. But, leaving that +on one side for the moment, my opinion is that it is always quite easy +to know what sort of plot is adapted for an opera, so that the poet +need never be in any danger of making any mistake about it.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'I must confess I never have really gone into this: and +indeed I know so little about music that I don't suppose it would have +been of much consequence if I had.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'If by the expression "knowing about music" you mean being +thoroughly versed in the so-called "school routine" of music, there is +no necessity for your being that, to be able to know what composers +require. It is quite easy, altogether apart from the school routine, so +to comprehend, and have within one, the true essence of music as to be, +in this sense, a much better musician than a person who, after studying +the whole, extensive school-routine in the sweat of his forehead, and +labouring through all its manifold, intricate mazes and labyrinths, +worships its lifeless rules and regulations as a self-manufactured +Fetish, in place of the living Spirit: and whom this Idol-cult excludes +from the happiness of the higher realm of bliss.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'Then you think the poet might enter into this inner +sanctum without the preliminary initiation of the "school"?' + +"_Ludwig_. 'I do, certainly. And I say that, in that far-off realm +which we often feel,--so dimly, but so unmistakeably,--to be so close +about us, whence marvellous voices sound to us, awakening all the tones +which are sleeping in our hearts, cabined, cribbed, confined, so that +those tones, awakened and set free, dart aloft in fiery streams, +gladsome and happy, and we taste of the bliss of that paradise whence +the voices come--I say that, in that far-off realm, the Poet and the +Musician are intimately-allied members of one and the same Church: for +the "secret" of poetry and of music is one and the same, and opens to +both the portals of the Inner Sanctuary.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'I hear my dear old Ludwig trying to formulate the laws +of art in dim and mystic phrases; and I must say, that the gulf which +seemed to lie between poet and composer, begins to look much narrower +than it did.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'Let me try to express my idea about the true essentials of +Opera in as few words as possible. A proper opera, in my opinion, is +one in which the music springs directly out of the poem, as a necessary +sequence, or consequence.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'I don't quite understand that, as yet.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'Is not music the mysterious language of a higher +spirit-realm, whose wondrous accents make their way into our souls, +awaking in them a higher Intensivity of life? All passions contend +together, shimmering in bright armour, and then merge and sink into an +ineffable longing which fills our being. This is the effect (not, perhaps, +to be more clearly expressed in words) of _Instrumental_ music. But Music, +to enter wholly into our lives, must take those visions of hers which she +thus brings with her, and, clothing them in words and actions, speak to +us of _particular_ passions and events. Very well! Can the vulgar and +the common-place be spoken of in those accents of glory? Can Music tell +us of anything other than the wonders and the mysteries of that realm +from whence she comes to us with those magic tones of hers? Let the +poet equip himself for a bold flight into the land of romance. There +he will find the Marvellous, which it is for him to bring into this +work-a-day world, so living and glowing in brilliant colouring that we +accept it as true without hesitation. So that--as if carried out of +this arid every-day life in some blissful dream--we go wandering along +the flowery paths of that happy country, and, forgetting everything +else for the time, understand its language--which is what the mighty +voice of Music speaks.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'Then it is the Romantic Opera, with its fairies and +spirits, its prodigies and transformations, that you would adhere to, +exclusively?' + +"_Ludwig_. 'I certainly think the Romantic Opera the only perfect kind, +because it is only in the realm of the Romantic that music is at home. +Of course you will understand that I profoundly despise that miserable +class of productions in which silly, _un_spiritual spirits appear, and +where wonders are heaped upon wonders, without rhyme or reason, merely +for the delectation of the _eyes_ of the musical groundlings. It is +only a poet of true genius who can write the book of a proper Romantic +Opera; for none other can bring the wonders of the Spirits-World into +this life of ours. On his wings we soar across the gulf which divides +us from it. We grow to feel at home in that strange land; we give +belief to the marvels which, as necessary results of the influence of +higher natures on our personality, we see taking place; and we +comprehend all the powerful incidents and situations which fill us with +awe and horror, and also with the highest rapture. It is, in one word, +the magical power of Poetical Truth which the poet who would represent +those marvels must have at his command; for it is that alone which can +carry us away: and a mere collection of meaningless fairies, who (as is +the case in so many productions of the kind) are introduced only to +dance about the _pagliasso_ in flesh-coloured skin-tights,--foolish +absurdities as they are,--will always leave us indifferent and +uninterested. In an opera the effect produced upon us by the influence +of higher beings should take place _visibly_, so as to display before +our eyes a romantic life, or condition of existence, in which the +_language_, too, is more highly potentiated; or rather, is derived from +that distant realm: in other words, is _sung music_: ay! where the +scenes and incidents, too, hovering and soaring about in grand and +beautiful tones, and masses of tones, seize us and carry us away with +irresistible might. It is in this way that, as I said before, the music +ought to take its rise and origin straight out of the poem, as a +necessary sequence, or consequence.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'Now I quite understand you; and I think, at once, of +Tasso and Ariosto. Still, it seems to me, it would be no easy matter to +write a musical drama as you would postulate it.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'It is work for a real romantic poet, of true genius. Think +of the splendid Gozzi! in his dramatic legends he has completely +fulfilled the conditions which I have laid down as essential for the +poet of opera, and I cannot understand why this rich mine of +magnificent opera-plots has been so little drawn upon, hitherto.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'I remember being greatly delighted with Gozzi, when I +read him some years ago; though, of course, I did not then look at him +from your point of view.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'One of the best of his tales is "The Raven." A certain King +Millo, of Frattombrosa, cares for nothing but the chase. One day in the +forest he sees a splendid raven, and he sends an arrow through its +heart. The raven falls upon a monumental tomb of the whitest marble, +which there is there under the trees, besprinkling it with his blood. +On this, the forest is shaken, as if by an earthquake; and a terrible +monster comes stalking out of a cave, and thunders forth a curse upon +Millo, in the following terms:-- + + "Findest thou not a fair woman, + White as this monument's marble, + Red as the raven's heart's blood, + Black as the night of his plumes, + Perish in raving madness." + +"'All attempts to discover such a woman are fruitless. But the king's +brother, Gennaro, who is devoted to him, vows that he will never rest +till he finds this woman, who is to restore his brother's reason. He +traverses land and sea; till at last, counselled by an old man versed +in necromancy, he discovers Armilla, daughter of the mighty sorcerer +Norand. White is her skin like the monument's marble, red like the +raven's blood; and black as his plumes are her hair and eyebrows. He +succeeds in carrying her off, and after many adventures, they reach the +shores of Frattombrosa in safety. As he lands on the beach, chance +places in his possession a magnificent charger, and a falcon endowed +with extraordinary powers. He is filled with joy that he is enabled to +restore his brother's reason, and also to have two such acceptable +gifts to offer him. He lies down to rest in a pavilion which has been +prepared for him under a tree. Then two doves come and sit in the +branches, and begin to talk:-- + +"'"Woe! Woe to Gennaro! Well had he never been born; the falcon will +peck out his brother's eyes--but if he giveth it not, or if he telleth +what he hath heard, he will turn to stone; if his brother mounteth the +horse, it will instantly kill him--but if he giveth it not, or telleth +what he hath heard, he will turn to stone; if his brother weddeth +Armilla, a monster will come on the wedding-night, and tear him limb +from limb but if Gennaro withholdeth Armilla, or telleth what he hath +heard, he will turn to stone! + +"'"Woe! Woe to Gennaro! Well had he never been born!" + +"'Norand appears, and confirms what the doves have said. It is the +punishment--the penalty, for having carried Armilla away. + +"'As soon as Millo sets eyes on Armilla, his madness departs. The horse +and the hawk are brought, and the king is charmed with his brother's +affection in bringing him presents so much to his mind. Gennaro brings +the hawk, but ere his brother can take it, he cuts off its head. Thus +Millo's eyes are saved; and just as Millo is setting foot in the +stirrup to mount the horse, Gennaro draws his sword and hews off its +fore-legs with one stroke. Millo thinks it is love-madness which causes +Gennaro's conduct, and Armilla confirms this opinion, as Gennaro's +sighs and tears, and his confusion and inexplicable behaviour have for +some time made her suspect him of being secretly in love with her. She +assures the king of her entire devotion to him; of which Gennaro had +laid the foundation, by his warm and touching accounts of his brother +on the journey. To cast aside all suspicion, she begs that the marriage +may be hurried on as much as possible; and that is accordingly done. +Gennaro, who sees his brother's last hours at hand, is in despair at +being so misjudged; and yet, a terrible fate awaits him if a word of +explanation crosses his lips. But he determines to save his brother, at +whatever cost, and makes his way in the night, by a subterranean +passage, to his sleeping chamber. A terrible dragon appears, breathing +flames and fire. Gennaro attacks it; but his blows have no effect; the +monster is nearing the sleeping chamber. In his desperation he delivers +a tremendous two-handed stroke at the creature, and this cleaves +through the door of the chamber. Millo comes out, and, as the monster +has disappeared, he sees in his brother a traitor urged to fratricide +by the madness of unhallowed passion. Gennaro cannot vindicate himself. +The guards are summoned, and he is disarmed and thrown into a dungeon. +He is doomed to die, but begs that he may speak with his brother first. +Millo consents. Gennaro recalls to his memory the tender affection +which has always subsisted between them; but when he asks if his +brother can truly suppose him capable of his murder, Millo calls for +proofs of his innocence; and then, in his agony, Gennaro divulges the +terrible prophecies of the doves and Norand. But no sooner have the +words been spoken than Gennaro is turned to a marble statue. On this +Millo, in his grief and remorse, determines that he never will leave +the statue's side, and will die at its feet in contrition and sorrow. +At this juncture Norand appears, and says, "In the eternal Book of +Destiny were written the raven's death, the curse on you, and the +carrying away of Armilla. One thing, and one alone, will bring your +brother back to life--but it is a terrible deed. Let Armilla be slain +at the statue's side, by this dagger; and when the cold marble is +besprinkled with her heart's blood, it will warm into life. If you have +courage to kill her, do it. Weep, weep, and lament! even as do I!" He +vanishes. Armilla wrings from the unfortunate Millo the purport of +Norand's terrible disclosure. Millo quits her in despair, and, filled +with horror and grief, careless of living longer, she stabs herself +with the dagger. As soon as her blood besprinkles the statue Gennaro +comes back to life. Millo comes: he sees his brother alive, and his +bride lying slain. In his despair he is going to stab himself with the +dagger; but the gloomy dungeon changes to a great, illuminated hall; +Norand appears: all the mysterious decrees of fate are accomplished, +all the sorrow is past. Norand touches Armilla. She comes back to life, +and everything ends happily.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'Yes; I remember this fine, imaginative tale quite well, +and the impression it made upon me. You are quite right; this is an +instance in which the Marvellous takes the form of an essential +element, and has so much poetical verity that we believe it without +hesitation. Millo's killing of the raven is what knocks at the brazen +gates of the Spirit-Realm; on that they fly open with a clash, and the +spirits come swooping in upon the human life, and immesh the mortals in +the web of strange, mysterious destiny which impends over them.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'Exactly; and notice the grand, powerful situations which +the poet has evolved from this contest with the spirit-world. Gennaro's +self-sacrifice; Armilla's deed of heroism; there is a grandeur in them +which our "moral" playwrights, in their rummagings among the +paltrinesses of every-day life (like sweepings of drawing-rooms thrown +out into the dust-bin) haven't the slightest idea of; and then the +comic parts for the masks are must effectively woven in.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'Yes it is only in the Romantic Drama that the comic +element blends on such perfectly equal terms with the tragic that they +contribute with equality to the general effect.' + +"_Ludwig_. Even common opera-manufacturers have got hold of some dim +notion of that, for it is thence that the so-called Comic-Heroic operas +take their origin--productions in which the Heroic is often exceedingly +Comic, and the Comic is so far Heroic that it most heroically ignores +all the requirements of taste and propriety.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'According to your notion of the essentials of opera, we +can't congratulate ourselves on possessing very many.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'No; most so-called operas are only plays with singing +added; and the utter absence of dramatic effect, which is ascribed +sometimes to the music, sometimes to the plot or to the words, is +really due to the lifelessness of the mass of scenes, tacked together +without inward connection or poetical truthfulness, and incapable of +kindling music into life. The composer has often to work between the +lines, as it were, on his own account, and the wretched words meander +along in a side-channel, not to be brought into the musical current by +any conceivable means. In such a case the music may be good enough; +that is,--without having depth enough to carry away the listener with +magic power, it may give a certain amount of pleasure, like a +glittering play of gay colours. Then the opera is merely a concert, +given on a stage, with dresses and scenery.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'As it is the Romantic Opera, in its strictest sense, +which is the only species that you recognise as opera, properly +so-called, how about musical Tragedies, and Comic Operas in modern +costume?--you repudiate them altogether, I presume.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'Oh, no; not at all. In most of the older Tragic +Operas--such as are not written nowadays, unfortunately (either as +regards plots or music)--what so powerfully sways the audience is the +heroic nature of the action, and the inward strength of the characters +and situations. That dark mysterious power which rules, controls, and +disposes of Gods and Men, we see stalking along visibly before our +eyes; we hear the eternal, irreversible, immutable decrees of Fate, to +which the Gods themselves have to submit, pronounced and formulated +aloud, in awful and mysterious tones. From Tragic matter of this sort +the Fantastic element is perforce excluded; but a loftier language--in +the wondrous accents of Music--has to be employed to depict that +intercourse with the Gods which stirs the Mortals to a higher life, and +to God-like achievements. Were not the ancient tragedies musically +declaimed, by the way?--and did not that prove clearly the necessity +for a higher medium of expression than ordinary language? The musical +tragedies have inspired composers of genius in a quite special +way--with a lofty, I might almost say, a _saintly_ style of writing. It +is as if we mortals were wafted upwards, in some condition of mystic +consecration, on the pinions of the tones of the golden harps of the +Cherubim and Seraphim, to the realms of light, where we learn the +mystery of our existence. What I would say, Ferdinand, is to point out +the close relationship that there is between the old Church Style and +the Tragic Opera, whence the old writers have framed a glorious style +of their own, of which modern composers have no idea--not even +excepting Spontini, with all his wealth and exuberance of fancy. The +glorious Gluck, who stands apart by himself, a hero, I need say nothing +about; but as an instance how the grand tragic style has influenced far +inferior talents, think of the chorus of the Priests of Night in +Piccini's "Dido."' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'This is just as it used to be in the golden old days +when we were together. As you talk in that inspired sort of way of your +Art, you raise me up to the level of ideas which otherwise I never +should have dreamt of; and, I assure you, at this moment I consider +that I really know a good deal about music. In fact, I think no +passable line of poetry would occur to me without its appropriate +clothing of music.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'Is not this the true inspiration of the poet of opera? I +maintain that he should "think" the music belonging to his lines just +as much>as the composer does; and that the only thing which +differentiates the one from the other is the distinct recognition of +particular melodies, and of particular qualities and peculiarities of +the Bounds of instruments which are co-operating and involved in the +effects; in fact, the easy, habitual command over the "Inner Kingdom" +of Music. But I have still to tell you my ideas about _Opera Buffa_.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'You will scarcely have a good word to say for that, +particularly if it is in modern costume.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'On the contrary, I consider that it is just when it is in +the costume of the day that not only is it at its best, but that it is +the only genuine form of _opera buffa_ in the sense in which the +mobile, mercurial, excitable Italians have understood it and written +it. In this case it is the Fantastic element which is _paramount_, +proceeding partly from the quips of individual characters, partly from +the _bizarre_ play of chance. The Fantastic element comes pop into our +everyday lives, and turns everything topsy-turvy. One ought to have to +say, "Yes; that really _is_ Brown (or Jones, or Robinson) in that +snuff-coloured Sunday coat of his with the brass buttons, which we all +know so well. And what in the name of fortune 's the fellow going on +like _that_ for?" Picture to yourself some respectable family--uncles, +aunts, and so forth--and a little languishing daughter; throw in two or +three students, be-singing their cousin's eyes and playing the guitar +under the windows. Let the tricksy sprite Puck pop suddenly into the +middle of them! The result you may imagine. All the fat's in the fire; +everything is at sixes and sevens; everybody goes darting in every +direction, gesticulating and grimacing, skipping and posturing, as if a +whole hive of bees were let loose in their bonnets. Some strange planet +rules the ascendant; the nets of haphazard are set, and will catch the +most respectable folk if their noses happen to be just the least bit +longer than the average. I consider that the very essence of _opera +buffa_ lies in this incursion of the Fanciful-Fantastic, the +preposterous and absurd, into actual, everyday life, and the +incongruities that result. And it is just the power of catching hold of +this fanciful-fantastic element--which generally lies rather far off +and out of the way--and bringing it, with vividness, into everyday +life, which makes the acting of Italian buffo actors so inimitable. +They catch the indications given by the author, and their acting +clothes the skeleton which he has sketched with flesh and colour.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'I think I follow you quite. What you mean is, that in +the _opera buffa_ the Fantastic element takes the place of the Romantic +(which, in general terms, you consider an essential principle of +opera), and the art of the poet has to consist in this--that the +characters must appear, not only with much finish, and standing out in +_alto-relievo_, as well as being poetically true, but so clearly drawn +as well from everyday life, and so full of individual character, that +the spectator at once says, "Look there! that's my next-door neighbour, +whom I say 'How are you?' to every day. And that's the student who goes +to his lectures every morning, and sighs so tremendously as he passes +his cousin's window," etc., etc. And then all these people are to be +subjected to the spell of some Puck, in such fashion that what they set +to work to do under that influence, and all that happens to them, are +to affect us as if we were there on the spot, sharing their experiences +with them, under the influence of the same spell.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'Exactly. And I scarcely need say that, according to my +principle, music adapts itself well to _opera buffa_, and that in so +adapting itself there results a certain special style which makes a +special impression of its own on the hearer.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'Do you think music can express all the shades of the +Comic?' + +"_Ludwig_. 'I am quite sure it can; clever artists have proved it +scores of times. For instance, music can express the most delicate and +delightful Irony. That is the predominating element in Mozart's +glorious "Cosi fan tutte."' + +"_Ferdinand_. That, by the way, leads me to the remark that, according +to your principle, the so-much disparaged text of that work is really +highly suitable for an opera.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'That is exactly what I was thinking of when I said, a +little while ago, that for his classic operas Mozart always chose +really suitable texts, for "Le Nozze di Figaro" is more a Comedy in +Music than a true Opera. The nefarious attempt to turn pathetic dramas +into operas can never come to anything; our "Orphan Hospitals," +"Oculists," and so forth, are sure to be soon forgotten. And what could +have been more miserable and opposed to the true spirit of opera than +all that series of _vaudeilles_ of Dittersdorf's? But on the other hand +I call such works as "The Sunday-Child" and "The Sisters of Prague" +admirable. One might style them true German _opere buffe_.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'They have always amused me greatly, at all events, when +decently given; and I have always thought of what Tieck makes his +"poet" say to the public in his "Puss in Boots": "If you want to enjoy +this thoroughly, you must divest yourself of whatever you may have +attained in the shape of cultivation and learning, and become wholly as +little children, so as to enjoy it as such."' + +"_Ludwig_. 'Unfortunately those words, like many others of the kind, +fell upon stony ground, and could take no root. But the _vox populi_, +which is generally the _vox Dei_ in theatrical matters, has drowned the +few isolated sighs and groans which super-delicate and sensitive people +have given vent to over the sad untruthfulness and tastelessness of +those works--"trifling," according to their ideas. And there are +instances on record of some of those very people who, in the height of +their calm, contemptuous, aristocratic impassibility and supercilious +scorn of the whole thing, have been so carried away by the infection of +the roars of laughter of the "baser" folk about them that they have +burst out laughing in the most deplorable way themselves, declaring +that they had no idea what they were laughing at.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'Wouldn't Tieck, if he had chosen, have written splendid +opera plots, according to your definition of them?' + +"_Ludwig_. 'No doubt, being a true romantic poet; and I remember I did +once think of writing music to a plot of his. But though the subject +was well adapted for music, the work was too diffuse and lengthy; not +concentrated enough. It was called "The Monster of the Enchanted +Forest," if I remember rightly.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'That reminds me of another difficulty which we meet with +in writing for you composers: I mean the extraordinary brevity and +conciseness which you insist upon. All our efforts to portray this or +that situation or burst of passion in properly descriptive language are +so much wasted labour. You will have the whole affair comprised in a +line or two; and even these few lines you twist about and turn +upside-down just as you take it in your heads.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'I think the writer of the words of an opera ought to be +something like a scene painter, and paint his picture correctly as +regards the drawing, but in broad, powerful lines; then the music will +be what will make it appear in proper light and shade, and in correct +perspective, so that it shall have a proper effect of life, and what +seemed only meaningless dashes of colour prove to be forms instinct +with meaning, standing out prominently in relief.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'So that what we have to do is to give you a sketch +merely, not a finished poem?' + +"_Ludwig_. 'No, no; that is not what I mean at all! It is scarcely +necessary to say that the poet of opera must observe, as regards the +arrangement, the disposition, of the whole, all the rules essential to +dramatic composition; but what he has to take special care for is to so +order his scenes that the subject-matter may unfold itself, clearly and +intelligibly, to the _eyes_ of the spectator: who ought to be able to +understand what is going on from what he sees taking place, almost +without catching any of the words. No dramatic poem so absolutely +demands this sort of distinctness as the opera-text, for not only is it +more difficult to distinguish words when they are sung, (however +distinctly,) than when they are spoken, but the music tends to carry +the audience into distant regions, and it is necessary that the +attention should be kept directed to the particular point whore the +action is concentrated, _pro tempore_. Then as regards the words, the +composer likes them best when they express the passion, or situation, +to which they refer, _vigorously_ and _concisely_. There is no occasion +for flowery diction, and, above all, there should be no imagery, no +similes.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'Then how about Metastasio, with his exuberance of +similes?' + +"_Ludwig_. 'Yes; he had the strange idea that the composer, +particularly in arias, must always have his imagination stirred up by +some poetical comparison. Hence his oft-repeated openings such as "Come +una Tortorella," etc., or "Come Spume in Tempesta," etc.: and in fact, +the cooing of doves and the roar of the sea have often made their +appearance--in the accompaniment, at all events.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'But, while we avoid flowery language, are we to be +allowed any sort of elaboration of interesting situations? For +instance: the young hero sets off to the battle, and bids adieu to +his aged father, the old king, whose country is trembling in the +grasp of a victorious usurper. Or some terrible fate severs a youth +from his beloved. Are neither of them to say anything but just +"fare-thee-well"?' + +"_Ludwig_. 'The hero may add a few words about his courage and the +justice of his cause, and the lover may tell his sweetheart that life +will be nothing but a long, painful dream without her. Still, the +simple "fare-thee-well" will be amply sufficient for the Composer--(who +draws his inspiration, not from the words, but from the business and +the situations)--to represent the mental condition of the hero and the +lover with powerful strokes and touches. To stick to the instance you +have adduced; just think in what thousands of most affecting and +heart-breaking ways the Italians have sung the little word "_addio_." +What thousands--ay, and thousands of thousands--of shades musical +expression is capable of! And of course it is just that that is the +marvellous mystery of the Tone-Art that, just where language comes to +an end, _she_ is only beginning to disclose a perennial fountain of fresh +forms of expression.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'Then what the opera-poet has to do is--to strive to +attain the utmost simplicity, as far as the words are concerned; it +will be enough to _suggest_ the situation, in clear and forcible +language.' + +"_Ludwig_. 'Exactly: because the composer has to draw his inspiration +from the matter, the business and the situation--not from the words. +And not only is imagery to be avoided, but everything in the shape of a +reflection is a bugbear to the composer.' + +"_Ferdinand_. 'After what you have said, I can assure you it seems to +be anything but an easy matter to write an opera text. Now, this +indispensable simpleness of the language; I can't say that I quite see +how to----' + +"_Ludwig_. 'How to accomplish it! No! You are so fond of painting with +words, and so accustomed to it. But though Metastasio (as I think) has +exemplified in his librettos how opera texts ought _not_ to be written, +there are quantities of Italian poems which are absolute models of +words for music. For instance take the lines, known to the whole world, +no doubt: + + "Almen si non poss' io + Seguir l'amato bene, + Affetti del cor mio + Seguite-lo per me!" + +What can be simpler? Yet, in these few, unpretending words lies the +suggestion, or indication, of love and sorrow which the composer +comprehends, and can apply all the resources of musical expression to +represent. The particular situation in which the words are to be sung +will so stir his imagination that he will give the music the most +individual character. And this is why you will often find that a +poetical composer sets words that are wretched enough to admirable +music. In such cases what inspired him was that the matter was +genuinely suitable for opera; and as an instance I merely mention +Mozart's "Zauberfloete."' + +"Ferdinand was going to reply, when, outside the windows, down in the +street, the drums were heard beating the _generale_. This seemed to +wake him to the sense of present duty as with an electric shock. Ludwig +shook him warmly by the hand. + +"'Ah, Ferdinand,' he cried, 'what is to become of Art in these terrible +times? Won't it die, like some delicate plant lifting its languid head +towards the clouds beyond which the sun has disappeared? Ah! Where are +the golden days when we were lads? All that is good is drowned and +swept away by this torrent that whirls along, devastating the country. +We see bleeding corpses, appearing by glimpses, carried along in its +dark billows; and in the horror which seizes us, we slip and lose our +footing, we have nothing to hold on to; our cry of terror dies away in +the darksome air--victims of inappeasable anger, we sink to earth, and +there is no hope of salvation.' Ludwig paused, sunk in his thoughts. + +"Ferdinand stood up, and put on his sword and helmet. He stood before +Ludwig like the God of War armed for the fray. Ludwig looked up at him +admiringly, and a glow came over Ferdinand's face, and he said, in a +calm and reassuring tone: + +"'Ludwig, what has happened to you? Has the dungeon air which you have +been breathing here so long debilitated you, so that you are too sick +and faint to feel the warm reviving breath of spring which is blowing, +sweet and gentle, up there among the clouds as they glow with the rose +tints of dawn? The children of Nature were abbrutized and sunk in +sluggish inaction, careless of all her most precious gifts, and +treading them into the mire. Then their angry mother awoke the Genius +of War, who had long been sleeping in gardens heavy with the breath of +flowers--and War came, like some Giant of Adamant, amongst these spoilt +children, who, at the sound of his awful voice, which makes the hills +tremble, fled to their mother's arms for refuge, though they had +forgotten her before. But with remembrance came gratitude. Nothing but +strength brings success. The divine element radiates out from contest +and striving as life does from death. Yes, Ludwig, a time is upon us +which is pregnant with fate, and (as in the awful profundity of the +ancient Sagas, which come rolling over to us like the mysterious +muttering of distant thunder) we can trace, once more, distinctly, the +voice of that Power which rules for Ever more. Nay, marching visibly +into our lives, it awakes in us a faith which enables us to read the +riddle of our Being. The morning light is breaking, and inspired +Singers are soaring up in the sweet fresh morning air, proclaiming the +advent of the Divine, and celebrating it with hymns of praise. The +golden gates are open, and art and knowledge, in one united ray, +are kindling that flame of sacred effort which makes all humanity +one universal Church. Therefore lift up your eyes, dear friend. +Courage--Confidence--Faith.' + +"Ferdinand clasped Ludwig's hand; and in a few moments his charger was +bearing him rapidly along with the troops moving on to the attack, the +light and joy of battle on every brow." + + +The friends were much affected by this; for each of them remembered +days when the clutch of a hostile destiny was at his throat and all +comfort or enjoyment in life seemed to be a thing of the past for ever. +And then, after a time, the first rays of the beautiful Star of Hope +began to pierce the clouds and rose higher and higher, reviving them, +strengthening and invigorating them with newness of life. Then, in the +gladsomeness of contest, everything stirred, and came into activity, +shouting for joy. At last the grandest and most brilliant of victories +rewarded their courage and constancy. + +"Each of us," said Lothair, "has said, within himself, very much what +the Serapiontic Ferdinand said; and well is it for us that the menacing +storms which thundered over our heads refreshed us, instead of +annihilating us, and braced us like a fine sulphur bath. In fact, it +seems to me that it is only now, and here among you, that I begin to +feel quite strong and well, and to trace a fresh impulse to begin, now +that the storms are over, to bestir myself again in the paths of +literature and science. I know that Theodore is doing so right +strenuously; he is devoting himself, as of old, to his music, although +he is not neglecting literature neither, so that I am expecting him to +astonish us, one of these days, with an opera altogether his own, both +music and words. All that he has said about the impossibility of the +same person writing the words and the music of an opera may be +plausible enough, but it doesn't convince me." + +"I don't agree with you," said Cyprian, "but I don't see much use in +continuing the discussion. It seems all the more a waste of time that +if the thing were possible, which Theodore says it is not, he would be +the first to set about doing it. It would be far better if he would +open his piano and, as he has favoured us with so many interesting +Stories, let us hear some of his Compositions." + +"Cyprian," said Theodore, "is always accusing me of sticking too +closely to established forms, and rejecting any poetry which cannot be +fitted to some of them. This I do not admit, and I mean to prove what I +say by producing some music of mine to words which require a setting +differing from any of the hackneyed 'forms' in question. I mean +the Night Hymn in Mueller the painter's 'Genofeva.' All the sweet +sadness,--the pain, longing, and sense of the supernatural,--of a heart +torn by hopeless love are in the words of this beautiful poem. Moreover, +as the verses have a certain touching flavour of the Antique, I have +thought it better that the composition should be without any instrumental +accompaniment, but for voices alone, in the style of old Alessandro +Scarlatti, or the more modern Benedetto Marcello. I have done all the +music for it in my head, but only the beginning of it has been written +down as yet. If you haven't quite forgotten all about singing, and, +especially, if you still feel the benefit of our old practice at +'reading invisible music,' and can strike your notes correctly as of +old, I should like that we sing what I have composed for thebe words." + +"Ah yes!" said Ottmar, "I remember about the 'reading invisible music.' +You used to put your fingers on the notes of the chords without +pressing them down, and each of us sang the notes of his part without +previously hearing them on the instrument. People who didn't notice the +process of indicating the notes couldn't imagine how we 'improvised' +part-music so cleverly; and for those who possess the talent of being +easily astonished, it really is a good and interesting musical trick. +For my part, I still sing that mediocre, grumbling old baritone of +mine, and have as little forgotten how to hit my note as Lothair, who +can still, with his fine _basso_, lay firm foundations on which tenors +like you and Cyprian can build skywards with security." + +"For Cyprian's beautiful, delicate, tender tenor," said Theodore, "this +thing of mine is exactly suitable. Therefore I shall give him the first +tenor part, and take the second myself. Ottmar, who was always very +accurate in striking his note, shall take the first bass, and Lothair +the second. Only, for Heaven's sake, don't thunder, but keep the whole +thing soft and _sostenuto_, as the character of the composition +requires." + +Theodore struck two or three introductory chords on the piano, and then +the voices began, with long, sustained notes, in the key of A flat +major: + + "Beauteous Lover's Star, + That gleamest far and far, + In pale blue vault of Heaven! + To thee, this night, our hearts make prayer; + Oh! aid us in our fond despair! + To Love--to Love alone our souls are given." + +The two Tenors now went on, in duet; key of F minor: + + "Oh! calm and holy night! + Those glowing worlds of light-- + Heaven's eyes--begin to tread their mystic measure. + Soar high, like sweet bells far-off chime, + Night Hymn of Love, in silv'ry rhyme-- + Beat at Heaven's gate, in rhythmic, pulsant measure." + +At the words "soar high," etc., the music had gone into the key of D +flat major, and now Lothair and Ottmar came in, in B flat minor: + + "Oh! saintly souls above, + That burn in holy love, + With heart and tongue all pure from earthly tainting, + Drop down some balm on this poor heart, + Which fails, and droops, in bitter smart, + Contending here--in conflict well-nigh fainting." + +Then, finally, the four voices ended in F major: + + "Knock, knock, and soon the angel's voice will say, + 'The gates are open! enter in for aye!'" + +All of them--Lothair, Ottmar, and Cyprian--felt much affected by +Theodore's lovely music, which was in the simple, serious style of the +early masters. The tears came to their eyes. They embraced the clever +composer; they pressed him to their hearts. The clocks tolled midnight. + +"Blessed be our reunion!" cried Lothair. "Oh! glorious Serapion +Brotherhood, which binds us with an eternal chain! May it ever keep +green and flourish! As we have done to-night, we will continue to +refresh and vivify our minds in the paths of literature and art; and +our next care will be to assemble again here at our Theodore's, at the +same time in the evening, this day week." + + + + SECTION II. + +Seven o'clock struck. Theodore was expecting his friends impatiently. +At last Ottmar came in. + +"Leander has just been with me," he said; "that was what detained me. I +told him how sorry I was that I was called away by a pressing +engagement. He insisted on walking with me as far as the place I was +going to, but I slipped away from him in the dark--not without some +difficulty. I know he knew quite well I was coming here, and wanted to +come too." + +"And you haven't brought him?" said Theodore. "He would have been most +welcome." + +"No, no," said Ottmar, "that would never have answered at all. In the +first place, I don't consider that I have any right to bring in a +stranger--or, if Leander is not exactly a stranger, any fifth person +whatever--without the unanimous consent of the Serapion Brethren. +Besides, rather an unfortunate thing happened with regard to Leander, +through Lothair's fault. Lothair told him about our delightful Serapion +Brotherhood, in his usual enthusiastic style. He talked hyperbolically +of the admirable tendency of the Serapiontic principle, and asseverated +nothing less than that we meant--keeping that principle constantly in +view--to incite each other to undertake all sorts of interesting and +important work. On that, Leander said that an opportunity of +associating himself in this way with literary people was what it had +long been his most ardent desire to meet with, and that he hoped, if we +would admit him to our order, to prove himself a highly meritorious +brother of it. He added that he had a great many things _in petto_, and +as he said so, he made an involuntary movement of his hand towards one +of his coat pockets. It was stuffed to fatness; and, to my alarm, I saw +that the other pocket was so too; they were both distended with +manuscripts, and papers of an alarming aspect were sticking out of his +breast pocket as well." + +Here Ottmar was interrupted by the somewhat boisterous entry of +Lothair, who was followed by Cyprian. + +"A certain little storm cloud," said Theodore, "has been forming, +rather threateningly, in the atmosphere of this Serapion Brotherhood of +ours. However, Ottmar has managed to dispel it cleverly. Leander wanted +to come bothering us, and stuck to poor Ottmar like grim death, till he +managed to give him the slip in the dark." + +"Why didn't he bring him?" asked Lothair. "He's a witty, clever, +intelligent fellow: I can't think of a more eligible member of our +society." + +"How exactly like you that is," said Ottmar: "you are always the same +old Lothair; always changing your mind; always a member of the +opposition. If I had brought him, you would have been the very first to +find fault with me most bitterly. You say Leander is intelligent, +clever, and witty. Very well; so he is--all that and more. Everything +he writes has a roundness and a finish which evinces soundness of +criticism and clearness of judgment; but, in the first place, I don't +believe there is a man on this earth who is so absolutely devoid of any +trace of the Serapiontic principle. Everything he writes he has most +maturely thought out, weighed, and considered in all its aspects, but +never really _seen_. His reasoning faculty does not control his +imagination; it puts itself in its place. Then he delights in a wordy +prolixity which is unendurable to the hearer, if not to the reader; +works of his which one must admit to possess plenty of talent and +interest, are tedious beyond expression when he reads them aloud." + +"There is a curious question there, connected with reading aloud; I +mean as to things _adapted_ for reading aloud," said Cyprian; "it seems +as if not only the most vivid life were essential to them, but that +they should be restricted to a certain definite length." + +"The reason, I think," said Theodore, "is that the reader must not +declaim; experience tells us that _that_ is unendurable; he ought +merely to slightly indicate the various feelings that arise in the +course of the action, preserving a quiet tone; and this tone, after a +time, produces an irresistibly narcotic effect." + +"What I think," said Ottmar, "is, that a story or poem, to be adapted +for reading aloud, ought to approach very closely to the dramatic, or +be dramatic altogether; but then again, why is it that most comedies +and tragedies are unsatisfactory when read aloud?--that is, become +boring and wearisome?" + +"Just because they are quite _un_dramatic, said Lothair; "or because +too much has been left for the effect of the action of the actors on +the stage; or because the poem is so weak and feeble in itself that it +does not call up before the listener's mind any picture in clear, +distinct colours, and with living figures, except with the help of the +actors and the stage. However, we are losing sight of Leander, as to +whom I maintain, notwithstanding what Ottmar says to the contrary, that +he well deserves to be admitted to our circle." + +"Well and good," said Ottmar, "but please to remember what your own +experience has been of him already; how he once dogged and pursued you +wherever you went, with a fat--fat dramatic poem; how you always +managed to give him the slip, till he asked you and me to a splendid +dinner, with grand cuisine and first-rate wines, so that we might +swallow the poem, thus washed down, like a dose of medicine; how I +endured two acts of it like a man, and was screwing up my courage for a +third, when you lost patience, and got up, declaring that you were +suddenly taken very unwell, and left poor Leander in the lurch, wines, +dinner, and all. Recollect how he came to your house once when you had +several people with you; how he now and then rustled papers in his +pockets, looking from one to the other with sly, crafty glances, in +hopes that somebody would say, 'You've brought something good, haven't +you, dear Leander?' How you privately implored us all, for God's sake, +to take no notice whatever of this menacing rustling, but to hold our +tongues. Remember how you used to liken old Leander--with a tragedy +always in his breast pocket, always armed and eager for the fray--to +Meros creeping to slay the tyrant, with a dagger in his breast; how +once, when you were obliged to ask him to dinner, he came with a great +fat manuscript in his hand, so that our hearts sunk within us; how he +then announced, with the sweetest smiles, that he could only stay for +an hour or so, because he had promised to go to Madame So-and-so's to +tea, and to read her his last epic poem in twelve cantos; how we then +breathed freely again, like men relieved from a terrible burden; +and when he went away all cried, with one voice, 'Oh, poor Madame +So-and-so!--what an unfortunate woman!'" + +"Stop, stop, Ottmar," said Lothair; "what you say is all true enough, +of course, but nothing of that sort could take place amongst Serapion +Brethren. We form a strongly organized opposition to everything that is +not in harmony with our fundamental principle, and I would give odds +that Leander conforms to our rule." + +"Don't imagine anything of the kind, dear Lothair," said Ottmar. +"Leander has a fault which many conceited writers have in common with +him--he won't listen; and, just for that reason, he always wants to be +the person who reads or speaks. He would always be trying to occupy the +whole of our evenings with his own interminable compositions; he would +take our efforts to obviate this in the worst possible part, and, +consequently, mar the whole of our enjoyment: he even spoke to-day of +works to be undertaken in common; and with that idea in his head he +would torture us terribly." + +"That is a sort of thing which never answers," said Cyprian. "It +doesn't seem practicable for several people to write a work together; +it would require such absolute similarity of mental disposition, such +depth of insight, and such identity of the power to grasp ideas as they +suggest and succeed one another, even if a plot were fully determined +on in concert. I say this from experience, although of course there are +some instances to the contrary." + +"At the same time," said Cyprian, "sympathetically-minded friends often +give each other valuable hints and suggestions, which lead to the +production of works." + +"For a suggestion of that sort," said Ottmar, "I have to thank our +friend Severin, who, when he comes back here, as I expect him to do +immediately, will make a much better Serapion Brother than Leander. I +was sitting with him in the Thiergarten, Berlin, when there happened, +before our eyes, the incident which suggested the story called 'A +Fragment of the Lives of Three Friends,' which I wrote, and have +brought with me to read to you to-night; for when (as you shall +presently hear) the pretty girl read the letter, which had been +privately handed to her, with tears in her eyes, Severin cast pregnant +glances at me, and whispered, 'There's something for you, Ottmar; let +your fancy move its wings; write at once all about the girl, the +letter, and her tears.' I did so, and here you have the result." + +The friends sat down at the round table; Ottmar took a manuscript from +his pocket, and read-- + + + 'A FRAGMENT OF THE LIVES OF THREE FRIENDS. + +"One Whit Monday the 'Webersche Zelt,' a place of public resort in the +Thiergarten, Berlin, was so densely crowded by people of every sort and +kind that it was only by dint of unremitting and assiduous shouting, +and the most dogged perseverance of pursuit, that Alexander succeeded +in capturing a much-vexed and greatly-badgered waiter, and inducing him +to set out a small table under the trees beside the water, where he, +with his friends Severin and Marzell (who had managed, by the exercise +of fine strategical talent, to possess themselves of a couple of +chairs), sat down in the happiest possible frame of mind. It was only a +few days since they had come back to Berlin. Alexander had arrived from +a distant province to take possession of the heritage of an aunt +deceased, and the two others had come back to resume the duties of +their Government appointments, from which they had been absent for a +considerable time on military duty, during the important campaign which +was just at an end. This was the day when they had arranged to +celebrate their reunion in famous style, and, as it often happens, it +was the Present, with its doings and strivings, more than the eventful +Past, that was occupying their minds. + +"'I can assure you,' said Alexander, taking up the steaming coffee-pot +and filling the cups, 'that if you saw me in my aunt's old house--how I +wander pathetically up and down the lofty chambers hung with gloomy +tapestry; how Mistress Anne, my aunt's former housekeeper, a little +spectral-looking creature, comes in wheezing and coughing, carrying the +pewter salver with my breakfast in her trembling arms, putting it down +on the table with a curious backward-sliding curtsey, and then making +her exit without a word, sighing, and scuffling along on slippers too +large for her feet, like the beggar wife of Locarno, while the tom-cat +and the pug, eying me with dubious glances, go out after her; how I +then, with a low-spirited parrot scolding at me, and china mandarins +nodding at me with scornful smiles, swallow cup after cup of the +coffee, scarcely daring to desecrate this virginal chamber, where amber +and mastic have been wont to shed their perfumes, with vulgar tobacco +reek,--I say, if you were to see me in these circumstances, you would +say I was under some spell of enchantment; you would regard me as a +species of Merlin. I can assure you that the easy adaptability to +circumstances which you have so often blamed me for was the sole cause +of my having at once taken up my quarters in my aunt's lonely house, +instead of looking out for some other lodging; for the pedantic +scrupulosity of her executor has rendered it an exceedingly uncanny +place to be in. That strange creature of an aunt of mine (whom I +scarcely ever saw) left directions in her will that everything was to +remain till my arrival exactly as she left it at her death. By the side +of the bed, which is resplendent in snow-white linen and sea-green +silk, still stands the little tabouret, on which, as of yore, is laid +out the maidenly night-dress and the much be-ribboned nightcap; under +it are the embroidered slippers,--and a brightly polished silver +mermaid (the handle of some piece of toilet apparatus or other) +glitters as it projects from beneath the quilt, which is all over +many-tinted flowers. The unfinished piece of embroidery, which she +was working at shortly before her death, is still lying in the +sitting-room, with Arndt's 'True Christianity' open beside it; and +(what for me, at all events, fills up the measure of eeriness) in this +same room there is a life-size portrait of her, taken some thirty-five +or forty years ago, in her wedding-dress; in which wedding-dress, as +Mistress Anne tells me with many tears, just as it is shown in the picture, +she was buried.' + +"'What a strange idea!' said Marzell. + +"'Yet not so very odd, after all,' said Severin; 'those who die maids +are called the brides of Christ, and I trust nobody would be reprobate +enough to make fun of this pretty old fancy, which well beseems an old +maiden's creed. At the same time I don't quite gather why the aunt had +her portrait taken as a bride forty years ago.' + +"'As the tale was told to me,' said Alexander, 'my aunt was engaged to +be married at one time--indeed the wedding-day had arrived, and she was +dressed and waiting for the bridegroom; but he never made his +appearance, having thought proper to leave the place that morning with +a "flame" of his of earlier date. My aunt took this deeply to heart, +and, without being exactly queer in the head, always kept the +anniversary of that marriage-day of hers, that was to have been, +in a curious way. Early in the morning of it she used to put on her +wedding-dress complete, and (as she had done on the day itself) lay out +a little table of walnut-wood with gilt carvings in her dressing-room, +with chocolate, wine, and cake for two people, and then walk slowly up +and down, sighing and softly lamenting, till ten at night, when, after +she had prayed fervently, Mistress Anne would undress her, and she +would go silently to bed, sunk in deep reflection.' + +"'I call that exceedingly touching,' said Marzell. 'Woe to the traitor +who caused the poor creature that never-forgotten pain!' + +"'But there may be another side to the question,' said Alexander: 'the +man whom you accuse of perfidy--and who was a traitor, no doubt, +whatever may have been his motives--may have had a warning from his +good genius; or, if you prefer to say so, a better feeling may have +come to him. Perhaps it was her money that was the attraction; he may +have found out that she was imperious, quarrelsome, miserly--in short, +a disagreeable person to have much to do with.' + +"'Perhaps,' said Severin, laying his pipe on the table, and looking +reflectively before him with his arms crossed; 'but could those silent, +affecting funereal observances--those resigned regrets, heard only +in her own heart, for the unfaithful scoundrel--have existed in any +but a deep and tender nature, which must have been a stranger to the +worldly infirmities which you accuse your aunt of? No doubt the bitter +feeling--(how seldom can we altogether master it, hard beset as we are +in this life of ours?)--may sometimes have manifested itself in her in +various forms, not always very easily recognizable, and having a more or +less unpleasant effect upon the old lady's surroundings; still, that +yearly day of pious sorrow would have atoned, in my eyes, at all events, +for any amount of shortcomings during the rest of the time.' + +"'I agree with you, Severin,' said Marzell. 'The old lady can't have +been quite so bad as Alexander--though only from hearsay--makes her out +to have been; at the same time I must confess I don't like to have +anything to do with folks who have had their lives embittered, and it's +better that Alexander should edify himself with the story of the old +lady's way of keeping her wedding-day (that ought to have been), and +rummage in the well-filled boxes and chests she has left him, or gloat +over the valuable "inventory," than that he should see the deserted +bride, dressed for the altar, walking up and down beside her +chocolate-table.' + +"Alexander set the coffee-cup which he was raising to his lips down +untasted on the table with a clatter; beat his hands together, and +cried, 'For Heaven's sake don't put ideas of that sort into my head! +Really I feel in that state that it wouldn't astonish me if I were to +see my old aunt in her bride-clothes suddenly peering, in a horrible, +spectral manner, out of the middle of that group of nice-looking girls +there, in the bright sunshine!' + +"'That serves you right for having said what you did about your aunt, +who never did you anything but kindness, even in death,' said Severin, +with a quiet laugh, puffing away little blue cloudlets from his pipe, +which he had resumed. + +"Do you know, my dear fellows,' said Alexander, 'that the very +atmosphere of that old house of mine seems to be so thoroughly +impregnated with the essence and spirit of the old lady, that one has +only to be in it for a day or two to find one's self imbibing it to a +very appreciable extent?' + +"Marzell and Severin chanced to be handing their empty cups to +Alexander as he spoke; he put in the sugar and milk, and poured out the +coffee with a dainty, deliberate care, and said: + +"'I daresay you notice how differently I do a thing of this sort from +my old way of doing it; I mean, I do it much more like an old lady; and +you will be more astonished still when I tell you that I find myself +taking a strange pleasure in well-polished pewter and copper, and in +linen and silver plate--in everything relating to a well-ordered +household. In one word, I feel like some old housekeeper. I find myself +looking with a funny satisfaction at household paraphernalia of every +sort, and it has suddenly dawned upon me that it is good to be the +possessor of something besides a bed, a chair, a table, a lamp and an +inkstand. My aunt's executor smiles and tells me I can marry whenever I +choose, and have nothing to do but fix upon the bride and the parson. +What he really means is that the bride's not far to seek. He has a +little bit of a daughter himself; a dressy little thing with great big +eyes, excessively childish and innocent in her ways, always gushing +with artlessness, and hopping about like a water-wagtail. I daresay +this may have been all very well, considering her little elfin +figure, some sixteen years ago or so; but now that she's two- or +three-and-thirty, it gives one rather a queer sensation.' + +"'Ay,' said Severin, 'and yet how very natural that kind of +self-mystification is. Where is the precise point where a girl, who +has taken up some particular line, in consequence of some personal +peculiarity or other, is to say to herself, "I am no longer what I was; +the colours I put on are still fresh and youthful, but my face has lost +its bloom; so, patience! what can't be cured must be endured!" The +sight of a poor girl in these circumstances fills me with pity, and, +for that very reason, I could put my arms about her, take her to my +heart, and comfort her.' + +"'You see, Alexander,' said Marzell, 'that Severin's in his most +beneficent mood to-day. First, he takes up the cudgels for your aunt, +and now the executor's daughter (I think I know who the executor +is--Falter, the Kriegsrath); Falter's little witch of two- or +three-and-thirty, whom I know very well, inspires him with sentiments +of sad, compassionate sympathy; presently he'll advise you to marry her, +and cure her of that inappropriate _naivete_ of hers; for that she will +lay aside, as far as you are concerned at all events, the moment she says +"Yes!" Don't you do anything of the kind. Experience teaches that naive +little creatures of that kind are sometimes--or rather very often--of +feline nature, and, out of the velvet paws which they stroke you with +before the parson's blessing, can soon stick out sharp enough claws, on +suitable opportunity afterwards.' + +"'Heavens and earth!' cried Alexander, 'what nonsense you're talking! +Neither Falter's little witch of thirty-two, nor anybody else, were she +ten times as young and charming, could induce me to go and sacrifice, +of my own free will and accord, the golden years of youthful liberty +and freedom which, now that a slice of the good things of this world +has fallen to my share, I mean to set to work to thoroughly enjoy; and +the fact is that the old bridely aunt has such a ghostly, haunting +effect upon me, that I can't help associating all sorts of eery, +uncanny, shuddery feelings with the very word "bride."' + +"I'm sorry for you,' said Marzell; 'for my part, the moment I think of +a girl dressed for her wedding, I feel sweet, secret thrills going all +through me; and if I see such a creature, I feel impelled to clasp her +to me, mentally, with a lofty, pure affection which has nothing in +common with mundane passion.' + +"'Oh!' said Alexander, 'I know you always fall in love with every bride +you come across; and often even other people's sweethearts are to be +found set up in that inner sanctuary which you have established in your +imagination.' + +"'He loves with them that love,' said Severin; 'that's why I like him +so much.' + +"I shall set my aunt at him,' said Alexander, laughing, 'and see if +that will rid me of a species of haunting which is becoming rather a +nuisance to me. You are looking at me with questioning glances, are +you?--very well then; I'll make a clean breast of it. The old-maid +nature is traceable in me in this further respect, that I feel a +perfectly unendurable terror of ghosts, and go on like some little +child whom its nurse has frightened with a bogy. What happens is no +less than this: that often in broad daylight, and particularly about +mid-day, when I'm looking into the chests and boxes, I suddenly seem to +catch a glimpse of my aunt's peaky nose close beside me, and of her +long, lean fingers poking in among the clothes and linen, and rummaging +among them. If I take down a teacup, or a saucepan off the wall, to +look at them with a feeling of satisfaction, all the rest rattle, and I +expect to see a ghostly hand offering me another; then I throw the +things down, and run to the front-room without looking over my +shoulder. There I sing or whistle out of the open window into the +street, at which Mistress Anne is greatly scandalized: and that the +aunt "walks" every night at twelve o'clock is a positive and undoubted +fact.' + +"Marzell laughed heartily at this. Severin remained grave, and said, +'Let us hear all about that; it'll probably turn out to be some trick +or other. Fancy a fellow with your enlightened, advanced views, turning +spirit-seer!' + +"'Well, Severin,' said Alexander, 'you know quite well, and so does +Marzell, that nobody could be less of a believer in ghosts and +apparitions than I have always been. Never in my life till now have I +ever met with anything in the least out of the common, and I had never +had the slightest experience of that strange, nervous sense of the +proximity of spiritual principles belonging to another state of being +which paralyzes both body and mind; but let me tell you what happened +the very first night I spent in the house.' + +"'Not too loud, then,' said Marzell, 'for I think our neighbours here +are doing us the favour of listening to what we are saying.' + +"'They shan't hear,' said Alexander; 'indeed I scarcely like to tell +even you; however, here goes, I may as well out with it. Mistress Anne +received me, dissolved in tears, and went before me with a branched +silver candlestick in her trembling hands to the bedroom, groaning and +coughing as she went. The postboy had to bring in my trunk, and as he +pocketed, with profuse thanks, the tip I gave him, he took a survey of +the room with a grin on his face, till he fixed his eyes on the great +towering bed with the sea-green curtains. + +"'"My word!" he cried, "the gentleman'll have a better night of it than +he would have had in the old coach!--and the nightgown and nightcap all +ready and waiting!" + +"'Mistress Anne, almost fainting with the shock of this irreverent +mention of the maidenly night-gear, was letting the candlestick fall, +but I caught it in time, and lighted the fellow out. He cast a +facetious look at the old woman as he departed. When I came back she +was all in a tremble; she thought I would tell her to go, and proceed +coolly to desecrate the maidenly couch by sleeping in it, but she +revived when I told her I wasn't accustomed to anything so soft, and +should be obliged if she would make me up a shake-down as well as she +could in the sitting-room. Her wrinkles of annoyance vanished, and her +face lighted up, in a way it never has since, into a most gracious +smile. She dipped her long lean arms down to the ground, fingered up +the down-trodden heels of her slippers, and trotted off, half +frightened and half delighted. As I meant to have a fine long sleep, I +told her not to come with my coffee before nine o'clock; so I left the +old woman for the night almost with Wallenstein's words. + +"I was tired to death, and thought I should fall asleep in a moment, +but the manifold thoughts and fancies which began to cross each other +in my brain drove sleep away. I seemed to be only beginning to realize +the rapid change which had taken place in my position and +circumstances. It was only now, when I had actually taken possession of +my property, and was absolutely in my house, that I quite grasped the +fact that I was suddenly lifted out of very narrow circumstances to a +position of affluence, and that life was opening before me a vista of +most agreeable ease and comfort. The watchman's discordant voice +croaked out "Eleven," and "Twelve." I was so wide awake that I +distinctly heard my watch ticking on the table, and a cricket chirping +somewhere a long way off; but as the last stroke of twelve sounded, +hollow and faint, from a church-clock in the distance, measured +footfalls began to walk up and down the room, and at every step came +the sounds of sobbing and sighing, growing louder and louder, till they +were like the heart-breaking cries of some creature in deadly pain or +peril, and then there came a scuffling and a scratching on the outside +of the door, and a dog whimpered and moaned, in tones that were almost +human. I had noticed the old pug--my aunt's pet and darling--the +evening before. It was evidently him, whining to get in. I got out of +bed: I stared most scrutinizingly all about the room, which was dimly +lighted by the glimmer of the sky. Everything that was in it I could +make out distinctly; but no form was to be seen moving up and down, +though the footsteps, and the sobbing and sighing, still went on, +apparently close beside my bed. And then, suddenly, I was seized by +that terror, arising from the proximity of a spirit, which I had never +known before. I felt a cold perspiration dropping from my forehead, and +my hair standing straight up on end, as if frozen by its iciness. I +could not move a limb, nor open my mouth to scream, for terror; but my +blood streamed faster in my throbbing veins, and kept my inner senses +active, though they could exercise no control over my organs, which +were paralyzed as with a spasm of death. Suddenly the footsteps +stopped, and the sobbing ceased; then I could hear a sort of coughing +sound--like a clearing of the throat more than coughing; the door of a +cupboard seemed to open; there was a clattering as of a silver spoon; +then a sound as if some bottle was opened and put back on the shelf; a +sound of swallowing, and then a deep-drawn sigh. At that instant a +tall, white figure seemed to come wavering forward out of the wall. I +sunk down into the depths of an ice river of the wildest terror. I lost +consciousness. + +"I came to myself with the sensation of a fall from some height. You +all know that every-day dream sensation; but the peculiar feeling that +I experienced then I hardly know how to describe to you. It was some +time before I could make out where I was, and then there was a sense as +if something terrible had been happening, which a long, death-like +sleep had wiped away the remembrance of. At last it all came gradually +back to me, but I thought it was nothing but a painful dream. However, +when I got up I noticed the portrait for the first time--the portrait +in the wedding-dress; a life-size, three-quarter length portrait. A +cold shiver ran down my back, for I felt sure I recognized in it the +figure which I had seen in the night. But then I could see nothing in +the shape of a cupboard in the room, and that confirmed me in the +conclusion that I had only been dreaming. + +"'Mistress Anne brought my coffee. She looked me long in the face, and +said, "Eh, sir! you _are_ looking pale and badly!--has anything been +happening?" Far from telling her anything about it, I said an +oppression in my chest had prevented me from sleeping. "It's the +stomach!--it's the stomach!" said the old woman. "Eh! we've help at +hand for that!" She scuffled up to the wall; opened a door in the +hangings which I had not noticed before, and I saw into a cupboard +where there were glasses, small bottles, and two or three silver +spoons. The old woman took out one of the spoons, clattering and +tinkling it as she did so; opened a bottle; poured a few drops from it +into the spoon; put it back in its place, and then came towards me with +her unsteady, wavering gait. I gave a scream of horror. It was the +exact reproduction, in broad, waking daylight, of the scene of the +previous night. + +"'"Well, well!" croaked the old woman, with a strange grin; "it's only +a drop of medicine, sir. The mistress was troubled with her stomach +too, and often had to take a little." + +"'I manned myself, and swallowed the stuff, which was bitter and +hot. My eyes were on the bride's picture, which was just over the +wall-press. "Whose portrait's that?" I asked. + +"'"Good gracious, sir! don't you know?" she cried. "That's poor dear +mistress, that's dead and gone your aunt." The tears ran down her +cheeks. The dog began to whimper, as it had done in the night. I +mastered my inward shudder, and forced myself with some difficulty to +be composed. I said: + +"'"Mistress Anne! I feel quite positive that my aunt was at that +cupboard last night at twelve o'clock, taking some of those drops." + +"'The old woman showed no surprise. A strange, deadly pallor seemed to +extinguish the last sparks of life in her wrinkled face, and she said +softly, "Has the Feast of the Invention of the Cross come round +again?--No; it's long past the third of May." + +"'I didn't feel able to ask anything further, and the old woman went +away. I dressed as fast as I could, left my breakfast untouched, and +ran as quickly as possible into the open air to try and shake off +the dreadful feeling of unreality--as if everything was a horrible +dream--which had taken possession of me again. That night, without my +having given any orders on the subject, Mistress Anne made up my bed in +a nice cheerful room facing the street. I have never said another word +to her about what I heard and saw, far less to Falter. Do me the favour, +you two, to say nothing about it either, or there will only be a lot of +annoying tittle-tattle, and endless troublesome questions, and, very +likely, all the bother of a formal investigation by the Psychological +Society. Even in the room where I sleep now, I feel pretty certain I +can hear the footsteps and the sobs every night at midnight. However, I +mean to put up with it the best way I can for a short time, and then +try to get rid of the house as quietly as possible, and look out for +another.' + +"When Alexander had finished, there was a short silence. Then Marzell +said: + +"'All this about your old aunt haunting the house is strange and +uncanny enough. But, firmly as I believe that an extraneous Spiritual +Principle, or "Entity," has the power of making itself felt by, or +perceptible to, us in some way or other, this adventure of yours +strikes one as being very largely tinctured with a purely material +element. The footsteps, and the sighing and sobbing, might pass well +enough: but that the poor old aunt deceased should go and swallow +stomachic drops, as she did when she was feeling a little out of sorts +in this life--well, it's too much like the lady who, when she revisited +the glimpses of the moon after death, used to scrabble outside the +window like a cat shut out by accident.' + +"'Now that,' said Severin, 'is just one of the regular, stereotyped +ways in which we go wilfully mystifying ourselves. We admit that an +extraneous Spiritual Principle can affect us (apparently, at all +events), by acting on our bodily senses, but we insist on giving said +spiritual principle a certain amount of education, and on teaching it +what it is proper, and what it is improper that it should do. According +to your theory, my dear Marzell, a spirit may go about in slippers and +sigh and sob, but it mustn't take the cork out of a bottle, or swallow +any of its contents. Here it is to be observed that our own spirit, in +dreams, often hangs commonplace matters out of our own imprisoned state +of life on to that higher condition of being which only indicates +itself dimly, even in dreams; and that it employs a great deal of irony +in so doing. May not this irony, which lies so very deep in our nature +(so conscious of its state of decadence from what it originally was) +still exist in the soul after it has burst from the chrysalis of the +body, and out of this life of dreams, when it is allowed a glance back +at its discarded envelope? On this theory, the essential factor in +every case of spirit-seeing is the Will of the Spiritual Entity, and +the influence exerted by it. This influence is what sends the person +affected by it, though in the waking state, into the world of +dreams--(though the person seeing relieves that he does so by means of +his natural senses)--and it would be absurd enough were we to insist on +establishing, for appearances of this sort, any particular "Norm," +corresponding to our ideas of what ought, or ought not to be. It's +worthy of remark that people who walk in their sleep, active dreamers, +are often employed about the most trivial functions of life: for +instance, the fellow who, on the night of full moon, always used to +saddle his horse, take it out of the stable, and then lead it back, +unsaddle it, and go to his bed again. However, all these matters are +mere _disjecta membra_. What I really am driving at is, briefly----' + +"'You believe in the old aunt then, do you?' asked Alexander, turning +rather pale. + +"'What is there that he doesn't believe?' said Marzell. 'And I am a +true believer, too, though not such a confirmed one, perhaps. But now +I'm going to tell you that I have been haunted too; and that by a much +worse apparation, in the house where I'm lodging at present. I assure +you it nearly frightened me to death.' + +"'And I haven't been so much better off, neither,' said Severin. + +"'When I got back here to Berlin the other day,' said Marzell, 'I took +a nice, comfortable, well-furnished room in Friedrich Strasse. Like +Alexander, I was tired to death when I threw myself into bed; but +I had hardly been asleep for an hour or so when I became aware of +something like a bright light shining on my closed eyelids. I opened my +eyes--and, fancy my horror--close beside my bed stood a tall, attenuated +figure, with a face as pale as death, and frightfully distorted, +staring at me fixedly with glassy-looking spectral eyes! A white shirt +was hanging from the shoulders of this figure, so that its breast was +bare, and seemed to be bloody. In its left hand it had a branched +candlestick, with two lighted wax candles; and in its right, a tall +glass full of water. Speechlessly, I kept my eyes riveted on this +spectral being as it began swinging the lights and the glass in wide +circles, uttering horrible, whimpering sounds as it did so. Like +Alexander, I was seized by "ghost terror." Slower and slower the +spectre swung the lights and the water-glass, till they came to a stop. +Then I fancied I could hear a sort of low, whispering singing in the +room, and, with a curious sardonic sort of laugh, the figure went +slowly away, out of the door. It was long before I could summon up +courage to get up and hurriedly bolt the door, which I found I had +neglected to do the night before when I went to bed. Often and often, +when I was serving in the field, I have found some stranger standing +beside me when I awoke; but that never frightened me at all, so that I +was firmly persuaded there was something supernatural about the affair +in this instance. Well, I was going downstairs next morning to talk to +the landlady about what had happened in the night. As I came out on to +the landing the opposite door opened and a tall attenuated figure, +muffled up in a white dressing-gown, came out meeting me. At the first +glance I recognized the deadly white face and the sunken, glassy eyes I +had seen at my bedside in the night. And, although I knew, now, that, +if the ghost appeared again it was kickable, still, I felt a sort of +echo of the terror which had been on me in the night, and was starting +off downstairs as fast as I could. But the individual barred my +passage, took me politely by the hand and said, in a kindly manner, +with a good-tempered smile on his face: + +"'"Good-morning, dear neighbour. I trust you had a quiet night, and +that nothing disturbed you?"' + +"'I told him what had happened without a moment's hesitation; adding +that I felt pretty certain he had been the apparition himself, and that +I was glad I hadn't given him a pretty warm reception, as, from my +recent experience in the field, I was, not unnaturally, rather apt to +think that people who came in upon me in that sort of fashion were not +exactly friendly. I added that I could scarcely be expected to answer +for myself, in that respect, in the future. + +"'As I said this the man kept on smiling and shaking his head; and, +when I had finished, he said, very softly and gently: + +"'"Well, my dear neighbour, I hope you won't be annoyed. Ay--ay--the +fact is, I thought, I felt quite _sure_ it would be so, and this +morning I knew it had been, I felt so well and happy, so composed and +reassured in myself. You see, I'm a very anxious, nervous man: how +could it be otherwise? Yes, yes: and so they say that, the day after +to-morrow,--" + +"'And he went on to talk about common, every-day gossip of the town, +and then to other matters connected with the place, likely to be of +interest to a new arrival; and all this he dished up not without a +spice of irony which was entertaining enough. So, now that he began to +be interesting, I went back to the events of the night, and asked him +to tell me, without reserve or hesitation, what had induced him to come +and wake me up in that alarming manner. + +"'"Ah, my dear neighbour," he said, "I really hope you won't be much +annoyed with me for taking the liberty--I'm sure I scarcely know how I +could have been so bold. It was only that I was anxious to know how you +were disposed towards me. I'm an exceedingly anxious, nervous man; and +a new neighbour can be a very painful trial to me till I know what +terms we're going to be upon." + +"'I assured this extraordinary fellow that, so far, I hadn't the +slightest idea what he was driving at; and then he took me by the hand, +and led me into his room. + +"'"Why should I hide from you, dear neighbour," he said, taking me to +the window--"why should I deny, or make any secret of the miraculous +power which I possess? God's strength is made perfect in our weakness; +and thus it is that, to me, wretched creature that I am, exposed +without shield to all the fiery darts of the adversary, has been +vouchsafed, as a means of help and protection, the miraculous power of +seeing, under certain conditions, into the hearts of men, and reading +their inmost thoughts. I take up this clear, bright vessel, containing +distilled water" (he took a tall drinking-glass from the window-sill, +it was the same he had had in the night), "I fix my thoughts and +concentrate my will upon the person whose heart I wish to read, and I +swing the glass to and fro, observing certain prescribed oscillations, +known only to myself. Presently little bubbles begin to move up and +down in the water, throwing reflections, something like the back of a +looking-glass, and by-and-by, as I look at them, I seem to see, as it +were, my own inner spirit reflected in them, perceptibly and legibly, +although a higher consciousness recognizes the image and its reflection +as that of the person upon whom I am exerting my will. Often, when the +propinquity of a stranger, as yet uninvestigated, makes me over anxious +and uneasy, it chances that I make an experiment in the night; and I +presume this was the case last night; for I can assure you you caused +me no little uneasiness yesterday evening. Oh! my dear, dear neighbour, +surely I can't be wrong, surely I'm not making a mistake here: you and +I spent many happy days together in Ceylon, just as nearly as possible +two hundred years ago? Did we not?" + +"'Then he got into all sorts of labyrinths of incoherence, and I saw +well enough whom I had to do with, and got away from him as quickly as +I could, though not without some difficulty. + +"'When I asked the landlady about him, I found that my neighbour, who +had long been a much esteemed savant and man of business, with much +many-sided cultivation, had a short time before fallen into a profound +_maliconia_, in which he believed that everybody was inimically +disposed to him and wanted to do him some harm; till all at once he +thought he had discovered the means of finding out those who were his +enemies and were hostile to him; upon which he had passed into his +present tranquil and contented condition of madness with "fixed idea." +It seems he sits nearly all day at his window making experiments with +his glass. His own kindly disposition is seen in the circumstance that +he nearly always augurs well of the people whom he experiments upon, +and when he comes across anybody whom he thinks inimical, or dubious, +he is not angry, but droops into a state of quiet sadness. So that his +madness is quite harmless, and his elder brother, who manages his +affairs, can let him live wherever he chooses, and has no occasion to +give himself any trouble about him.' + +"'So that your ghost,' said Severin, 'belongs to the category of those +in Wagner's "Book of Apparitions," inasmuch as your explanation--to the +effect that it was due to natural causes, and was chiefly the result of +your own imagination--comes dragging in at the tail of the story, as is +always the case in that most prosy of books.' + +"'If nothing short of a ghost will satisfy you,' said Marzell, 'of +course that is so. However, this madman of mine with whom I'm now on +the most intimate terms--is a very interesting specimen; and there's +only one thing connected with him that I don't altogether like, namely, +that he's beginning to take to _other_ fixed ideas; for instance, that +he's the King of Amboyna, and has been taken prisoner, and exhibited +for money about the country, as a bird of paradise, for fifty years. +Now that sort of thing is capable of turning into a violent form of +insanity. I knew a man who used to shine as the moon in the quietest +and happiest madness every night, till he took it in his head that he +had got to rise as the sun also, and then he broke out into the wildest +violence.' + +"'My dear fellows,' cried Alexander, 'is this talk for a place like +this, in the middle of thousands of people in their holiday clothes, +enjoying themselves in the bright sunshine? All we want to make us +perfect is that Severin--who's looking much paler and more pensive than +I like to see him shall have had some more terrible experience than +even we have, and will tell us about it.' + +"'Well,' said Severin, 'the fact is, though I haven't been seeing any +ghost, still the mysterious, the supernatural, has come in contact with +my life so nearly and closely, that I have been most painfully made +aware of the existence of "the electric chain with which we are darkly +bound."' + +"I was certain,' said Alexander, 'that the strange mood he is in must +be traceable to something out of the common.' + +"'We shall hear strange matters now, I feel certain,' said Marzell with +a laugh. + +"On which Severin said: + +"'If Alexander's aunt deceased takes doses of stomachic drops, if +Nettelmann, the ex-private secretary--(for he's the madman, and a very +old acquaintance of mine he is)--has divined Marzell's good disposition +towards him in a glass of water, perhaps I may be allowed to tell you +of a curious instance of foreboding, or presentiment, or call it a +prescience, which I have experienced in the form of the perfume of a +flower. You know that I am living at the far end of the Thiergarten, +near the park-ranger's? Very well. The day of my arrival----' + +"Here Severin was interrupted by an old gentleman, vary nicely dressed, +who politely asked him to be kind enough to move his chair a little +forward to let him pass. Severin rose, and the old gentleman, bowing +courteously, led forward an elderly lady, apparently his wife. A boy of +some twelve years followed them. Severin was about to sit down again, +when Alexander said softly, 'Wait a moment; that young lady there seems +to belong to the family, too.' + +"The friends looked, and saw a wonderfully beautiful creature +approaching, with hesitating steps, looking backwards over her +shoulder. She seemed to be looking for some one whom she was anxious to +see, or perhaps had noticed in passing. Almost immediately a young +fellow came gliding up to her through the crowd, and slipped a note +into her hand, which she quickly concealed in her breast. Meanwhile, +the old gentleman had taken possession of a table which some people had +just left, and was telling the flying waiter (whom he had checked in +his flight, and was holding tight by the flap of his jacket) at much +length, and with great minuteness, what he was to go and bring. The +lady was occupied in dusting the chairs, and consequently they did not +observe the loitering of their daughter, who, without taking any notice +of Severin (who still stood politely holding the chair to allow her to +pass), made haste to rejoin her people. She sat down so that the +friends were able to look straight into her wonderfully beautiful face, +and dark, exquisitely 'appealing' eyes. There was something immensely +attractive and irresistible in her whole being, and in all her +movements. She was beautifully dressed in the latest fashions, a trifle +too much dressed, perhaps, for the promenade, but still in perfect +taste. The mother recognised a lady sitting a short distance off, and +they rose and talked to each other; the old gentleman lighted his pipe. +The young lady took advantage of this chance to take the letter from +her breast and read it hastily, and the friends saw the colour come +quickly to the poor thing's cheeks, and the big tears rise in her eyes, +while her bosom rose and fell with emotion. She tore the letter into +little fragments, and let the wind carry them one by one away, as if +each was some beautiful hope hard to relinquish. The old people came +back: the father looked keenly at her tearful eyes, and seemed to be +asking her what was the matter. She answered a word or two in a tone of +gentle regret (the friends couldn't hear them), but, as she took out +her handkerchief and held it to her cheek, they concluded she was +pretending to have toothache; and therefore it struck them as strange +that her father--who had a somewhat caricature-like face of irony on +him--made funny grimaces, and laughed heartily. + +"Neither Alexander, Severin, nor Marzell had said a word, but kept +their eyes riveted on the lovely creature who had suffered such a +bitter sorrow. The boy now came and sat down, and his sister changed +her place so that her back was turned to our friends. This broke the +spell, and Alexander, standing up, and tapping Severin on the shoulder, +said: + +"'Well, friend Severin, what has become of your prescience in the shape +of a flower; and of Nettelmann, my aunt, and all the other subjects we +were discussing so profoundly? What is this apparition which has tied +our tongues and amazed our eyes?' + +"'One remark I will make,' said Marzell with a heavy sigh, 'to wit, +that that poor girl there is the most divinely and exquisitely +beautiful creature that ever I beheld.' + +"'Oh!' said Severin, sighing more deeply than Marzell; 'and to think +that this lovely darling is under the burden of some terrible sorrow!' + +"'Ay,' said Marzell, and has probably just received a crushing blow.' + +"Exactly,' said Alexander. 'What I wish to goodness is, that I could +get hold of that great, awkward-looking lout of a fellow who gave her +the letter. If I could only give him a good hiding, I should feel +relieved in my mind. Of course it was he whom she was expecting to meet +here; and, instead of joining the family party, like a man, he has gone +and handed her some boshy letter telling her he couldn't come. Some +preposterous piece of jealousy, I suppose; some lover's quarrel or +another.' + +"Marzell interrupted him impatiently. 'How little you know the world! +Your hiding would fall upon the shoulders (temptingly broad they are, I +admit) of an innocent, inoffensive messenger. You could see that in the +silly smile of him, in his whole manner, even in his walk. He was only +the letter-carrier, not the letter-writer. You may do what you like, +but if you hand a person a letter of your own writing, the contents of +it are legible in your face. At all events your face is always a +condensed "summary" of the full official report inside. Nothing but the +most cruel irony (easily recognisable into the bargain) would have made +a man give the woman he loved a letter with the particular sort of bow +that the fellow made when he handed that one. No! what seems certain +is, that the poor thing expected to meet her sweetheart--prevented from +seeing her at home--in this place. He has been unavoidably prevented +from coming; or perhaps, as Alexander thinks, some silly lover's +quarrel has kept him away: so that he sent some friend with the letter. +At all events, whatever the facts may be, the little scene was quite +heart-breaking.' + +"And yet,' said Severin, 'you ascribe this deep, heart-breaking sorrow +to some trumpery, every-day cause! No, no! she has a secret passion, +most likely against her parents' will. All her hopes depended upon some +one event which to-day was to decide. It has all turned out amiss! +hope's star has set for ever, all earthly happiness is a thing of the +past! Didn't you see the heart-breaking look of deep, inconsolable +sorrow with which she sent the fragments of the fatal letter fluttering +away on the breeze, like Ophelia with her straw flowers, or Emilia +Galotti with her roses? I could have wept tears of blood when the wind +whirled away those words of death, as in bitter, sneering mockery! Is +there no comfort on earth? Does the world contain no more hope or +consolation for that most lovely, interesting young creature?' + +"'Bravo, Severin,' said Alexander, 'you're fairly afloat and under way, +now! you've got your tragedy fairly in hand! No, no! we'll leave her +some hope still, some prospect of happiness in this world; and I +believe she hasn't many misgivings on the subject herself. She seems to +be pretty composed and comfortable in her mind. See how carefully she's +putting her new white gloves down on the tablecloth, and how quietly and +daintily she's dipping her cake in her tea. See, she's nodding at the +old fellow as he puts a tiny droplet of rum into the cup. The boy's +munching away at the bread-and-butter. Plump! goes a fid of it into his +tea, which splashes up in his face. The old folks are laughing, and +so's the young lady, she's actually shaking with laughter.' + +"'Ah!' said Severin, 'that's just the terrible part of it; to be +obliged to pretend to be interested in every day matters when the heart +is breaking. Indeed, it's easier to laugh, then, than to seem +indifferent.' + +"'I do beg, Severin,' said Marzell, 'that you'll be quiet for a little. +If we keep on looking at her in this way we shall get so terribly +interested in her that we shan't see the end of it. Let's talk about +something else.' + +"Alexander agreed, and they set to work to carry on a conversation, +lightsomely fluttering from topic to topic. In this they were so far +successful that they talked about utterly trivial matters with a great +expenditure of noise. But everything they said had such a strange +character and peculiar tone, never in the least appropriate to the +subject, that the words seemed to be mere cyphers with some hidden, +mysterious meaning. They determined to celebrate this day of their +reunion with a bowl of cold punch; and at the third glass of it they +fell weeping into each other's arms. The young lady rose, went to the +railing above the stream, and stood there pensively gazing at the +clouds. + + 'Swift-sailing cloudlets + Borne by the breezes,' + +quoted Marzell, in accents of gentle sorrow. But Severin banged his +glass on the table, and spoke of a battle-field which he had seen by +the light of a full-moon, and of the pale corpses that had gazed at him +with eyes instinct with life. + +"'God be about us!' cried Alexander. 'What's the matter with you, +brother?' + +"The girl sat down again at the table. With one impulse the three +fellows jumped up and ran a sort of race to the rail she had been +leaning on. Alexander depassed the other two by a powerful leap over a +couple of chairs, leant upon the spot where the girl had been standing, +and stuck to it like a leech, though the other two tried to shove him +away, on pretext of embracing him affectionately. Severin spoke with +great solemnity of the clouds and the way they were floating, and +described, louder than was necessary, their shapes and figures. +Marzell, without listening to him, compared Bellevue to a Roman villa; +and, although he had just come back by way of Switzerland, said the +flat, bare, ugly country, with the lightning-conductors on the +powder-magazines--which he called 'masts surmounted by gleaming +stars'--was beautiful and romantic. Alexander contented himself with +saying it was a lovely evening, and the Webersche Zelt a charming spot. + +"The family seemed to be preparing for a move. The old gentleman +knocked the ashes out of his pipe, the young lady put away her +knitting, and the boy sought--and called for--his cap, which, after a +little, the busy house poodle (who had been playing with it) brought +and laid down at his feet, and then stood looking up in his face, eager +to be of further service, and anxious to set about it at once (after +the nature of his kind). The friends' conversation subsided in tone. +The family bowed civilly to them as they passed, on which they, ducking +their heads faster and further than the occasion demanded, banged them +all three together with a resounding thwack. Ere they recovered from +this, the family had gone. Then they slunk, in gloomy silence, back to +their cold punch, which they found miserable. The imagery of the clouds +paled into cold darksome mist; Bellevue was Bellevue again, each +lightning-conductor a lightning-conductor, and the Webersche Zelt a +common refreshment shop. And, as there was hardly anybody else left in +the place, an unpleasant chill began to be perceptible, the very pipes +wouldn't keep alight; and the friends crept away, in a conversation +which only flared up for a moment now and then, like a burnt-out +candle. Severin left the others while they were still in the +Thiergarten, as he lived in it at the other end; and Marzell, turning +off at the Friedrich Strasse, left Alexander to wend his way to his +distant dwelling, and the society of his 'walking' aunt. It was on +account of the distance at which they lived from one another that they +had chosen a public place for their meetings, where they might see each +other on particular days of the week. They came, however, more for the +sake of keeping their promise than from any strong desire to see each +other. They found it impossible to hit back again upon the old +confidential tone which had formerly prevailed among them. Each of them +seemed to have something on his mind which destroyed all enjoyment and +freedom, and which he felt bound to keep to himself like some dark and +dangerous secret. In a very short time Severin suddenly disappeared +from Berlin altogether. Soon after that, Alexander complained, in a +highly despairing manner, that he had applied unsuccessfully for an +extension of his leave, and would be obliged to go away before he had +settled all the legal business connected with his heritage affairs, and +say good-bye to his nice, comfortable house. + +"'But I thought you found it so uncanny to live in,' said Marzell. +'Isn't it pleasant to get away from the sound of your aunt "walking" +every night at twelve o'clock?' + +"'Oh,' said Alexander, 'she's given that up some time ago; and I can +assure you that I regularly long for household ease and quietness, and +I shall most likely apply for my retirement almost at once, so as to +devote myself to art and literature altogether.' + +"Indeed, Alexander was obliged to go away within a very few days. Soon +after that, the war broke out again, and Marzell had to rejoin the +army. So that the three friends were once more separated, almost before +they could be said to have met, in the proper sense of the word. + + +"Two years afterwards, when Whit Monday came round in due course, +Marzell, who had come back a second time from field service, was +standing leaning over the old balustrade, in the Webersche Zelt, and +revolving many things in his mind. Somebody tapped him on the shoulder, +and when he looked round, lo! Alexander and Severin were both there. + +"'See how one comes across one's friends!' cried Alexander, joyfully. +'I was strolling along to keep an engagement, thinking of anything +rather than of seeing either of you here. Close past me goes a figure; +I couldn't believe my eyes, but it was Severin. I called to him; he +turned round, and was just as glad to see me as I was to meet him. I +asked him to come to my house, but he said he had an irresistible +desire to come here, so I gave up my engagement, and came here too. His +presentiment was right, you see; we have found you here!' + +"'The truth is,' said Severin, 'that I felt quite certain I should find +_you_ here, and I hardly knew how to keep my patience till you came.' + +"'Don't you think Severin looks remarkably well?' said Marzell; 'he has +quite got rid of that sickly pallor he used to have, and there are none +of those nasty cloud shadows which used to be upon his brow.' + +"'I may say just the same of you, dear Marzell,' said Severin; 'for, +though you didn't look so seedy as I did--and I really was very far +from nourishing, either in body or mind--still, the strange depression +and perturbation of spirit you were in had so completely got the upper +hand with you, that it had turned your bright young face into the +likeness of a crabbed old gentleman's. I suspect both of us have passed +through a good deal of purifying purgatorial fire; and Alexander looks +as if he had done the same, for he had lost all his good-spirits +towards the end, and put on a damned medicine face, where one might +read, "a tablespoonful every hour." Whether it was the aunt that was at +the bottom of it, or, as I shrewdly suspect, something else, I don't +know; at all events, he seems to be a new man now, as well as we.' + +"'You're quite right,' said Marzell; 'and, the more I look at the +fellow, the more clearly I see what wonders a comfortable income can +work here below. Had he ever such rosy cheeks?--such a rounded chin? +Don't these sweetly-smiling lips say, "The roast-beef was superior, and +the burgundy first quality"?' + +"Severin laughed. + +"'Observe,' said Marzell, taking Alexander by the arms and turning him +round, 'what superfine cloth his coat's made of! Look at the dazzling +whiteness of his linen!--that splendid gold chain with about seven +hundred seals! Tell us, lad, how you have managed to turn out such a +terrific swell? It's so unlike what you used to be. One might almost +have said of you, quoting Sir John Falstaff, that you might be wrapped +in an eel-skin; and now you're getting almost pudgy. What does it all +mean?' + +"'Well,' said Alexander, blushing a little, 'have you got anything more +to say about me? You know I took my retirement a year ago, and am +leading a happy, comfortable life?' + +"'The fact is,' said Severin, who had not been listening much to what +Marzell was saying, but had been standing lost in thought, 'we parted +in a strange sort of fashion; not at all as old friends should.' + +"'You, in particular,' said Alexander, 'for you went off without saying +a word to either of us.' + +"'Ah!' said Severin, 'I was in the height of a phase of most +extraordinary folly just then, and so were you, and Marzell, too, +for----' + +"He suddenly stopped, and the three looked at one another with +sparkling eyes, like people all struck at once by the same idea, like +an electric shock. While Severin had been speaking, they had been going +along arm-in-arm, and they now found they were at the very table where +the beautiful creature who had turned all their heads two years before +had been sitting that day. What their eyes all said was, 'There! there +is the place where she was sitting!' There was a strong feeling as if +she were coming back again. Marzell was beginning to move out the +chairs. However, they went on, and Alexander had a table set out on the +spot where they themselves had been sitting that eventful Whit Monday. +The coffee had come; but neither of them had spoken a word, and +Alexander seemed the most embarrassed of the three. The waiter stood +waiting for his money. He looked in amazement from one of these +speechless customers to another; he rubbed his hands; he coughed; at +last he said, in a feebly voice: + +"'Shall I bring some rum, gentlemen?' + +"On which they looked in each other's faces, and burst out into fits of +extravagant laughter. + +"Oh, Lord!' cried the waiter, starting back a couple of paces, 'they're +all off their heads!' + +"Alexander calmed him by paying for the coffee, and, when he had gone, +Severin began: + +"'What I was just going to say, we have all represented in pantomime; +and the denouement, with the "moral" of the story as well, were +expressed by that hearty burst of laughter of ours. This day two years +ago, we all fell into a condition of the most egregious folly; we're +ashamed of it now, and completely cured.' + +"'The fact was,' said Marzell, 'that that exquisitely beautiful +creature turned all our heads to a frightful extent.' + +"'Exquisitely beautiful!' said Alexander; 'exquisitely beautiful, +indeed! But,' he continued, with a little dash of anxiety in his tone, +'you say, Marzell, that we are all quite cured of our folly--_id est_, +of our having lost our hearts to that girl whom we none of us knew +anything about. Now let me ask you one thing. If she were to come back +here again to-day, and sit down in her old place, shouldn't we fall +back into the old folly again, just as we did before?' + +"'For my part,' said Severin, 'I'm quite certain, beyond the +possibility of any mistake about it, that I am most thoroughly cured of +it.' + +"'And so am I," said Marzell, quite as unmistakeably. Nobody was ever +made such a thorough ass of as I was, when I came to a closer +acquaintance with that incomparable lady.' + +"'"Closer acquaintance?--incomparable lady?"' interrupted Alexander +eagerly. + +"'Well, yes,' said Marzell; 'it's impossible to deny the fact that that +adventure of ours here, which I might almost call a novelette in one +volume, was followed in my case by a regular screaming farce.' + +"'My luck was no better,' said Severin. 'Only, if your novelette was in +one volume, and your farce in one act, all I played in was a little +duodecimo sheet, and a single scene.' + +"During this, Alexander's face had got red as fire; the perspiration +stood on his forehead; his breath came short and quick, he ran his +hands through his curly hair; in short, he showed every symptom of the +greatest excitement, and was so clearly unable to retain any control +over himself that Marzell cried: + +"What on earth's the matter with you, my dear fellow? What are you +getting into such a state of mind about?' + +"He's simply over head and ears in love still with the lady whom we've +given up,' said Severin, laughing, 'and he doesn't believe us, doesn't +think it possible we can have had our little romances or novelettes; at +all events, he's getting infernally jealous. And I'm sure he may save +himself the trouble. I was most abominably treated, at all events.' + +"So was I, in a way,' said Marzell, 'and I give you my word that the +spark which fell into my heart that Whit Monday has gone out most +completely, beyond the possibility of ever being kindled again. So you +may be as deeply in love with the lady as ever you like!' + +"'So you may as far as I'm concerned too,' said Severin. + +"Alexander, now quite reassured again, laughed very heartily, and said: + +"'You were right about me, to a certain extent, though you're partly on +a wrong scent, too. So just listen a moment. It is quite true that, +when I remembered that eventful afternoon, that lovely girl, in all her +marvellous attractiveness, came so vividly to my mind's eye that I +fancied I could hear her beautiful voice, and touch her white, delicate +hand as she held it out to me. I felt as though it was to her alone +that I could devote the whole affection of my heart and being, and as +if I never could be happy without her! Now, supposing this to be true, +just think what a terrible thing it would be!' + +"'What for? Why on earth?' cried Severin and Marzell, both together. + +"'Because I have been married for the last year,' answered Alexander +quietly. + +"You married, for the last year?' the friends cried, clapping their +hands, and then shouting with laughter. 'Who is it? Is she +nice-looking? Rich, poor, young, old: how, when, what, where?' + +"Alexander stopped his ears. 'I beg of you,' he cried imploringly, as +he leant his left hand on the table, and with the right (on the little +finger whereof the betrothal ring glittered, beside a chrysophrase) +took the spoon and stirred his coffee. 'I implore you to spare me all +these questions, and, if you would do me a real favour, tell me what +happened to you after our adventure here with the lady.' + +"'Ay! ay! brother!' said Marzell; 'it strikes me you haven't made a +very good job of it. It isn't Falter's little witch, is it?' + +"'If you have any real regard for me,' said Alexander, 'please don't +badger me with questions, but let me hear about your own adventures.' + +"'It's the ghost's doing,' said Severin. 'He felt himself compelled to +add some wife or another to his collection of pots and pans and plate +and household linen. So there he sits, with a heart torn with regret +and forbidden love; though that flourishing exterior of his doesn't +quite seem to suit that theory either. What does the aunt, of the +stomach drops, say to it all?' + +"'She is highly satisfied,' said Alexander. 'But oh! if you have any +real commiseration for me, if you don't want to embitter for ever this +occasion of our meeting again after all this time, do, for Heaven's +sake, leave off your damnable questions, and begin your stories.' + +"They saw that Alexander was so terribly in earnest, that it would be +cruelty to keep him on tenter-hooks any longer. So Marzell at once +began his part of the tale, as follows: + +"'We all admit and know that, this day two years ago, a very pretty +girl turned all our heads at the first glance; that we conducted +ourselves as young asses do in such circumstances, and couldn't shake +off the insanity which had come upon us. Night and day, wherever I +went, that girl's image haunted me. She went with me to the War Office, +into the Secretary of State's private sanctum; she came to meet me out +of his writing-table, and confused all my finely turned official +periods with her beautiful eyes, so that people asked me, with +melancholy faces, if the old wound in my head was troubling me again. +To see her again was my goal, the object of all my restless efforts. 1 +ran from one street to another like a letter-carrier, from morning till +night. I looked up at all the well-to-do people's windows, all in vain. +Every afternoon I used to come to the Webersche Zelt here.' + +"So did I! So did I!' cried Severin and Alexander. + +"'I used to see you,' said Marzell, 'but I kept carefully out of your +way.' + +"That's exactly what we did, too,' they all cried _in tutti_.' Oh, what +infernal donkeys!' + +"'It was no use,' said Marzell. 'But I had neither peace nor rest. The +very idea that she was in love with somebody else already, that I could +but perish in hopeless misery, even if ever I succeeded in making her +acquaintance; that I should only then clearly find out the extent of my +misery, to wit, her inconsolable regret for the man she had lost, her +love for him, and her fidelity--I say, just this very idea was what +fanned the fire within me to a terrific pitch of fury. The tragic +pictures of her condition which Severin painted here for us came back +to my mind, and, while I piled up all imaginable love-misfortunes on to +her head, I seemed to myself to be the more unfortunate of the two. In +my sleepless nights, and on lonely walks, I used to spin the wildest +and most ingenious romances, in which, of course, the unknown lover and +I myself played the leading parts. No scenes were too improbable to be +introduced into these imaginary dramas of mine, and I was immensely +delighted with myself in my character of the hero, resigned to suffer a +hopeless passion. As I have said, I went all over the town, in the most +senseless manner, searching for her who ruled my thoughts and my whole +being. Very well; one forenoon, I found myself in the new street called +"Green Street;" and, as I was strolling along there, deep in thought, +a young gentleman stopped me, took off his hat politely, and asked if I +could tell him where Mr. Asling, the Geheime Rath, lived in that +street. I said I could not. But the name "Asling" struck me, somehow. +"Asling? Asling?" I said to myself. Then, all at once I remembered that +my romantic passion had so occupied my head that I had forgotten all +about a letter for this very Mr. Asling, which a nephew of his (whom I +had left, wounded, in hospital at Deutz) had given me to deliver to +him. I determined to atone for this unpardonable oversight at once. I +saw that a shopkeeper directed the young gentleman to a fine-looking +house just over the way, and I followed him. I was shown into an +anteroom, and the servant begged me to wait there a few minutes, his +master being engaged with a strange gentleman. He left me alone there, +and I was glancing carelessly at the engravings on the wall, when the +door behind me opened, I turned round, and saw _her_! her very self, +the beautiful creature whom we saw in the Thiergarten. I really cannot +describe to you with any clearness what my feelings were, but I know I +could scarcely breathe, couldn't utter a syllable, and felt ready to +fall down at the angel's feet.' + +"Ay, ay!' said Alexander, rather astonished; 'then you were really very +seriously in love with her, old fellow?' + +"'At all events,' continued Marzell, 'my feelings at that moment were +those of the wildest devotion. My state of consternation and +speechlessness must have been queer enough to see, for Pauline looked +at me as if she were considerably alarmed; and as I couldn't utter a +syllable, and she very naturally thought I must be either a bumpkin or +a born idiot, she said at last, with a delicate smile of irony just +fluttering over her lips, "You're waiting to see my father, are you +not?" The bitter shame that I felt for myself gave me back complete +self-control. I pulled myself together with an effort: I told her my +name with a courteous bow, and explained the commission which I was +entrusted with for the Geheime Rath. On this Pauline cried, loudly and +joyfully: + +"'"Oh, how delightful! News of my cousin? You have met him: you know +him; you've spoken to him? I don't believe his letters. He always says +he's almost well. Do, please, let me know the worst. He'll be lame for +life, won't he, poor fellow?"' + +"'I assured her, as I was quite justified in doing, that the +bullet-wound which had nearly fractured his kneecap, though it certainly +had been dangerous at one time, and though amputation had been talked of, +was now so very much better that there was no more danger, and that, as +he was a fine healthy young fellow, there was every prospect of his +soon being able to leave off his crutches, which he had been obliged to +use for a month or two. + +"'As I got more accustomed to be actually looking at Pauline, to see +her eyes, to be under the magic spell of her presence, and having got a +little of my confidence back, from talking about these matters of fact, +I took heart of grace, and told her all about the action where her +cousin got wounded. We had both been in this action together, serving +in the same battalion, as it happened. You know how one manages, in +such a case, to give a pretty graphic and vivid account of things, and, +indeed, is rather apt to get--more than is quite called for--into that +emphatic and picturesque "manner" which never fails in its effect upon +young women. Of course you will understand that I didn't dwell so much +upon the disposition of the troops, the plan of attack, the "general +idea" of the operations, the feigned attacks, masked batteries, +debouching and development of the cavalry arm, etc., etc., as upon the +minor incidents of a more personal kind, which are what really interest +friends at home. Many an incident which I scarcely noticed when it +happened put on quite an interesting and affecting appearance when I +was telling her about it; and thus it came about that Pauline was +sometimes pale from sorrow and alarm, and at other times smiling gently +through her tears. + +"'"Ah!" she said, "when I came in just now, and you were standing so +still and so thoughtfully, looking at that picture of a battle, it must +have been recalling some painful memory to your mind." + +"'A red-hot dart seemed to go through my heart at this. I suppose I +must have turned as red as blood. + +"'"What I was thinking of," I said, "was probably the happiest moment +of my life, though at that moment I received a mortal wound." + +"'"But you've quite got over it, have you not?" she asked with much +anxious sympathy. "I suppose some bullet struck you at the moment of +victory?" + +"'I felt a good deal of an ass; but I suppressed this feeling to the +best of my power, and without looking up, but fixing my eyes on the +ground like some naughty schoolboy who has just been having a blowing +up, I said in a feeble voice: + +"'"I have had the pleasure of seeing you before." + +"'Then the conversation went on in most edifying fashion, Pauline +saying: + +"'"Oh, really, I didn't know!" + +"'"Yes," I went on; "it was such magnificent spring weather, and I was +enjoying it with two friends of mine, whom I hadn't seen for several +years." + +"'"Ah! that must have been very nice," she said. + +"'"I saw you, Miss Asling," I said. + +"'"Did you really?" she answered. Oh, that must have been in the +Thiergarten." + +"'"Yes," said I; "one Whit Monday, in the Webersche Zelt." + +"'"Yes, yes; quite right," cried Pauline. "I was there with my father +and mother. There was a great crowd of people. I enjoyed it immensely. +But I don't remember seeing you." + +"My former state of idiocy came back upon me in full force, and I was +on the point of saying something very absurd, when the Geheime Rath +came in, to whom Pauline announced with much joy that I had brought a +letter from her cousin. The old gentleman was charmed, and cried: + +"'"What! a letter from Leopold! He's alive, then? How's his wound +getting on? When will he be able to be moved?" + +"'And with that he took me by the lapels of the coat, and led me into +his own room. Pauline followed; he called for breakfast, and asked +endless questions. In short, I had to stay two good hours, and when at +last I tore myself away with much difficulty (for Pauline sat close +beside me, and kept looking me in the eyes with childlike +unconstraint), he put his arm about my shoulders and begged me to come +in as often as I could--at breakfast-time, for preference. + +"'I was now (as often happens in field service) right in the thick of +the fire, without expecting it. If I were to detail to you the tortures +that I underwent; how I often, as if impelled by some irresistible +power, rushed away to that house which appeared to me a place so fatal +to my peace; how I used to drop the bell-handle, without ringing it, +and go home, then go back again, wander round and round the house, and +at last go bursting into it, like a moth which can't keep away from the +candle which is to burn it to a cinder, verily you would laugh, because +you anticipate my admission that at that time I was deliberately making +myself an ass of the very first water. Nearly every evening when I went +I found a number of people there, and I must say that I never was so +happy as I was on these occasions, and in that house; notwithstanding +that, in the character of my own "daemon" or warning angel, I mentally +gave myself constant digs in the ribs, and cried into my own ears, +"You're a lost man! It's all up with you." + +"Every night I went home more hopelessly in love and more intensely +miserable. I soon felt convinced, from Pauline's happy, untroubled +behaviour, that any thing like an unhappy love-affair on her part was +quite out of the question; and frequent allusions of the guests clearly +pointed to the fact that she was engaged, and would soon be married. +There was a great amount of pleasant, jovial fun and merriment about +the whole circle. It was quite a peculiarity of that house; and Asling +himself--a fine, vigorous, jolly fellow, in first-rate health and +well-to-do circumstances--was the leading spirit in all this. Often +there seemed to be schemes of fun and mystification, on an extensive +scale, on the _tapis_, which I, as a comparative outsider, not knowing +the persons and circumstances, wasn't admitted to share in. There was +generally great laughter and amusement going on among the _habitues_ +over these affairs. I remember that one time when, after a long +struggle with myself, I had yielded to the temptation and gone in +rather late, I found the old gentleman and Pauline sitting in one of +the windows with a group of young ladies round them. The old gentleman +was reading something out to them; and when he had finished there was a +ringing burst of laughter. To my astonishment he had a big nightcap in +his hand, with an enormous bunch of carnations stuck on to it; this, +after saying a word or two more, he put on his head, and nodded out of +the window with it several times, moving his head up and down, at which +they all burst out laughing again tremendously.' + +"'Damnation! damnation!' cried Severin, getting up from his chair, and +walking about. + +"'What's the matter with you?' cried the other two anxiously. + +"'Nothing! oh, nothing!' he said; 'I'm all right. Go on, my dear +fellow, go on, that's all. Let's hear the rest of it.' + +"He repeated this request, not without laughing bitterly within +himself. Marzell went on: + +"'I don't know whether it was from my having been a comrade of his +nephew, or because the curious state I always was in on account of my +continual condition of excitement endowed me with some odd interest in +his eyes. But at all events the old gentleman soon took a great liking +to me, and I should have been utterly blind had I not observed that +Pauline evidently cared much more for me than for any of the other +fellows who came about her.' + +"'Really! really!' said Alexander, in a tone of anxiety. + +"'There could be no doubt about it,' continued Marzell, and no wonder +that I should have got nearer to her liking; because, like any girl +with a head on her shoulders, she couldn't, with her delicate tact, +help hearing in every thing that I said (or did) a full-choired hymn in +praise of her marvellous attractiveness, my deepest devotion to that +whole nature of hers, instinct with the most passionate fervour. She +would often let her hand remain in mine for minutes, she would return +my gentle pressure, and, once, when the girls were all waltzing to the +rather wheezy old piano, she came into my arm, and I felt her bosom +rising and falling, and her sweet breath on my cheek. I was beside +myself. Fire burned on my lips. I should have kissed her in a minute.' + +"'The devil! the devil!' roared Alexander, jumping up like a man +possessed, and grabbing hold of his hair with both hands. + +"'For shame! for shame! remember you're a married man,' said Severin, +pushing him back into his chair again. 'I'll be hanged if you're not +daft about Pauline at this moment, married though you be. Think shame +of yourself, wretched Benedict, with your neck fast in the yoke.' + +"'Well! go on with your story,' said Alexander, in an inconsolable +tone, 'we shall hear of fine goings on, I can see.' + +"From what I have told you,' continued Marzell, 'you can form some idea +of my state of mind. I was torn by a thousand passions, and worked +myself up to the highest pitch of heroism. I made up my mind that I +would quaff the brimming cup of poison, and then go and breathe out +what was left to me of life far, far away from the beloved one. In +other words, I meant to tell her I loved her, and then avoid her, till +the wedding day, at all events; for then I meant to do as the heroes in +so many novels do, that is, look on at the ceremony concealed behind a +pillar in the church, and after the fatal "yes" fall down at full +length, with a tremendous crash, senseless on the floor; be carried out +by the sympathizing spectators, and so forth. Possessed with this idea, +I went to the house earlier than usual one day, like a man out of his +mind. I found Pauline alone in the drawing-room, and, before she had +time to be frightened at my agitated condition, I fell at her feet, +seized her hands, pressed them to my heart, vowed that I loved her to +distraction, and, pouring out a flood of tears, said I was the most +miserable of mankind, doomed to a cruel death, as she had given her +heart and promised her hand to another, before we had met. Pauline let +me rage out what I had to say; then, with a charming smile, she made me +rise and sit down by her on the sofa, and then she asked me, in a voice +of gentle concern: + +"'"What's the matter with you? Please calm yourself, dear Mr. Marzell, +you're in a state which terrifies me." + +"'I repeated all I had said before, more coherently however. Then +Pauline said: + +"'"But how did you ever get it in your head that I'm in love with +anybody, or engaged to be married? There's not a word of truth in +either the one story or the other, I can assure you." + +"'I maintained, on the other hand, that I had been quite certain ever +since the first moment I had set eyes on her that she was in love; and +as she kept pressing me to explain more clearly, I told her the whole +story of that first Monday of ours in the Webersche Zelt. Scarcely had +I finished it when Pauline got up and danced about the room with shouts +of laughter, crying: + +"'"Oh! good gracious! It's too delicious altogether! Well! what dreams! +what ludicrous absurdities to take in one's head! Oh! I never heard +anything like it! it's really beyond everything!" + +"'I sat nonplussed; Pauline came back to me, took me by the hands, and +shook me by them, as one does to rouse a person from a deep sleep. + +"'"Now please to listen to what I'm going to tell you," she said, +trying hard, but not very successfully, to restrain her laughter. "The +young man whom you took for a messenger of love was a shopman from +Bramigk, the draper's; the note he gave me was from Bramigk himself. +He, like the most charming and courteous of shopkeepers as he is, had +promised to get me a hat from Paris (I had admired the pattern when I +saw it), and to let me know as soon as it arrived. I wanted it +particularly to wear the evening of that Whit Monday when we were all +in the Webersche Zelt. I wanted to put it on to go to a singing tea in; +you know what we call a singing tea here? A place where people sing in +order to drink tea, and drink tea for the purpose of singing. Very +well! The hat had come, but it was so badly made that it had to be all +altered before I could wear it. This was the fatal news that made me +shed a tear or two. I didn't want my father to see that it had made me +cry, but he soon found out what I was vexed about, and chaffed me +unmercifully on the subject. You know I have a habit of holding my +handkerchief to my face, as I did that day, when anything annoys me?" + +"Pauline burst out laughing again. But a bitter frost seemed to go +through my veins and marrow, and a voice within me seemed to cry, +"Wretched, shallow, disgusting dress-worshipper!" + +"'Come, come!' interrupted Alexander, 'that's terribly severe, and not +true of her. I call it going too far.... However, let's hear the rest +of your story.' + +"'My feelings,' said Marzell, 'I really cannot describe to you. I had +awakened from the mocking dream in which some wicked demon had held me +enthralled. I felt, now, that I had never really been in love with +Pauline, but had only been the sport of some incomprehensible +self-mystification. I could scarcely find a syllable to say; my whole +body shook and trembled with rage and vexation. When Pauline, in alarm, +asked what was the matter with me, I pretended that I was taken +suddenly unwell, and I fled, like a hunted deer, out of the house for +ever. As I was crossing the square of the Gendarmerie, I saw a body of +volunteers falling in to march off and join the army. This showed me +clearly the course I ought to adopt, for the calming of my mind, and to +forget this miserable business. Instead of going home, I went off and +enrolled myself for service in the field. Everything was arranged in a +couple of hours' time. I ran home, put on my uniform, packed my +knapsack, took my musket and bayonet, and went to hand over to the +charge of my landlady what things I was going to leave behind. While I +was talking to her, I heard some commotion going on on the stairs +outside. + +"'"Ah! they're bringing him down," said the landlady, and opened the +door. I saw Nettelmann, the madman, coming down between two keepers. He +had on a lofty crown of gilt paper, and was carrying a long ruler, with +a gilt apple on the top of it. + +"'"He thinks he's King of Amboyna again, now," the landlady whispered, +"and he's been doing such extraordinary things of late that his brother +has had to have him taken to the asylum." + +"'He recognized me; smiled down at me with proud benignity, and said, +"Now that the Bulgarians have been vanquished by our trusty General +Tellheim, we are returning to our capital." + +"Though I wasn't making any attempt to speak to him, he motioned me to +silence with a wave of his hand, and said: + +"'Enough, enough! we are aware what you would say, good sir. No more! +We are satisfied with you; you have done your duty. Accept this trifle +as a mark of our favour and esteem." + +"'With which he took two or three cloves from his waistcoat-pocket and +put them into my hand. The men put him into a carriage which was +waiting. The tears came to my eyes as I saw him driven off. + +"'"I hope we soon shall see you back again, safe and sound, and covered +with glory," said the landlady, shaking me warmly by the hand. With +many a painful thought in my tormented breast, I ran out into the +night, and soon came up with the party of my comrades, who were singing +cheery soldier-songs as they marched along.' + +"'Then,' said Alexander, 'you feel certain that your love for Pauline +was a mere self-mystification?' + +"'As sure as that I'm alive,' answered Marzell; 'and it won't require +much knowledge of mankind to convince you that my rapid change of +sentiment, when I found I hadn't a rival, would have been impossible +otherwise. Moreover, I am seriously in love now; and although I laughed +at the notion of your being married, because the idea of you in the +capacity of Paterfamilias seems rather too funny, somehow (I hope you +won't be vexed at my saying so), I am expecting very soon to lead a +darling girl home as my bride, in a fairer land than ours.' + +"'I'm very glad, and I give you my heartiest congratulations, my dear, +dear old fellow,' said Alexander, quite delighted. + +"'See how pleased he is that somebody else is going to follow his own +absurd example,' said Severin. 'As far as I'm concerned, the idea of +marriage fills me with absolute horror. However, I should like to tell +you the adventure I had with Pauline; it will amuse you.' + +"'Well, what had you to do with Pauline?' asked Alexander, in an +irritable tone, 'We must hear that.' + +"'It didn't amount to very much,' said Severin, 'compared to Marzell's +long tale, with all its psychological remarks and illustrations. Mine +is a very commonplace piece of fun. You know that, about this time two +years ago, I was in a very strange condition altogether. Probably it +was the state of my health, which was very queer at that time, which +had converted me into a terribly sensitive, overstrung, fanciful +spirit-seer. I was always floating on a boundless ocean of dreams and +presentiments. I thought I understood the language of birds, like a +Persian Mage. I heard voices in the rustling of the trees, sometimes of +warning, sometimes of consolation. I saw my own image wandering in the +clouds of the sky. Very well! It happened one day, when I was sitting +in a lonely part of the Thiergarten on a bank of grass, that I got into +a condition which I can only compare to that species of delirium which +one often feels just when one is falling asleep. I seemed to be +suddenly surrounded with the scent of a most delicious rose, but at the +same time I became aware that this rose odour really was a beautiful +being, whom I had long, though unconsciously, loved with the deepest +and most passionate devotion. I strove to see her with my corporeal +eyes; but it seemed to me that a great, dark-red carnation was laid on +my brow, and the scent of this carnation burned away the rose perfume, +as with a scorching ray, benumbing my senses so that a bitter sense of +pain took possession of me, which strove to find expression in accents +of wild anguish. Through the trees came sighing a sound like that when +the evening wind touches the AEolian Harp with a gentle waft of its +pinions, and breaks the spell which holds the music prisoned and +sleeping within the strings. But this was not _my_ sound. It was that +of the beautiful being who was stricken to death (as I was also) by the +hostile contact of the carnation. If I may put this vision of mine into +the form of an Indian myth, I might say that the rose and the carnation +represented, for me, life and death; and all the absurdities which I +said and perpetrated this day two years ago were chiefly due to the +circumstance that in that beautiful creature, who was sitting in that +chair there, and who has since assumed the corporeal form of Pauline +Asling, I fancied I recognized her whose love had disclosed itself to +me in the form of the rose perfume. You remember that I got away from +you as soon as I could, leaving you in the Thiergarten. A sure +presentiment told me that if I made an effort, and got quickly through +the Leipzig gate, and then to Unter den Linden, I should meet the +family, at the slow rate they were walking at, somewhere near the +castle; so I ran as hard as I could; and I did meet them, very near the +place where I had thought I should. I followed them at a little +distance, and found out, that same evening, where the beautiful +creature lived. You will probably laugh when I tell you that I thought +I could scent a mysterious perfume of rose and carnation, actually in +Green Street itself. For the rest, I conducted myself like some boy in +a state of calf-love, who destroys the finest trees, contrary to the +forest regulations, by carving interlaced initials on them, and carries +about a withered petal, which the beloved has dropped, next his heart, +wrapped in seven pieces of paper. That is, I used to pass under her +window twelve, fifteen, or twenty times a-day; and if I saw her at it, +I would stare at her, without any salutation, in a way which must have +been funny enough. Heaven only knows how I arrived at the conviction +that she understood me, and was fully conscious of the psychical +influence which she had exerted on me in that flower-vision, and +recognized in me him over whom the hostile carnation had cast a dark +pall as he was striving to clasp her, who had thus risen as a planet of +love in the depths of his being. That very day I sat down and wrote to +her. I told her my vision; how I had then seen her at the Webersche +Zelt, and known her as the being of my dream. I said I knew she fancied +she loved another, and that in this connection something disastrous had +come into her life. There could be no doubt, I said, that she, like me, +had become aware of our intimate psychic relation, and our mutual +devotion, in some dream-consciousness such as my own; though perhaps it +was but now that my vision had clearly revealed to her all that had +been slumbering in the depths of her nature; but, in order that this +might come, joyfully and gladsomely, into actual life, so that I might +approach her with a heart at rest, I implored her to be at the window +the next day, at twelve o'clock, and, as an unmistakeable symbol of our +happy love, to wear fresh-blown roses on her breast. Should she, +however, be irresistibly drawn away from her _rapport_ with me, through +hostile deception, by some other--if she rejected me without remead--I +asked her to wear carnations instead of roses. The letter was probably +a mad and senseless affair. That I am prepared to admit now. I sent it +by such a trusty messenger that I knew it would reach the proper hands. +Full of inward anxiety, and with a heavy heart, I went the next day at +twelve o'clock to Green Street. I neared the house. I saw a white form +at the window. My heart throbbed so that it almost burst my bosom. I +came in front of the house. The old gentleman--he was the white +figure--opened the window. He had a great white nightcap on, with a large +bunch of carnations stuck in front of it. He nodded in a friendly way, +so that the flowers waved and quivered; he wafted kisses of his hand at +me, with the sweetest smiles. Just then I caught sight of Pauline, as +well, peeping out from behind the curtains. She was laughing! I had +been standing motionless, like a man under a spell; but when I saw her, +I rushed away like a mad creature. There! you can understand, if you +had any doubt about it before, that this cured me completely; but the +shame of it would not let me rest. As Marzell did later, I went off at +once to join the troops on active service, and nothing but the +adversity of fate prevented us from meeting again.' + +"Alexander laughed immoderately over the humorous old gentleman. + +"'Then this,' said Marzell, 'was what he was after that time when I +found him with the nightcap; and of course it was your letter that he +was reading to the girls.' + +"'Of course,' said Severin; 'and although I can see the absurdity of +the thing now, and think the old gentleman was perfectly right, and +feel really obliged to him for the drasticity and appropriateness of +the dose of medicine he made me swallow, still that adventure of mine +causes me the most intense annoyance, and, to this hour, I can't endure +the sight of a carnation.' + +"'Well,' said Marzell, 'we've both been pretty severely punished for +our folly. Alexander, who doesn't seem to have fallen in love with +Pauline till we had gone through with our share of the business, turns +out to have been the wisest of the three: and, for that reason, he has +kept clear of further absurdities, and has none to tell us about.' + +"'But, at all events,' said Severin, 'he can tell us how he came by his +wife.' + +"Really, my dear old fellow,' said Alexander, 'there's very little to +tell; except that I saw her, fell in love with her, and married her. +But there's one thing connected with it which may interest you, because +my aunt has to do with it.' + +"'Well! well! tell us!' they both cried. + +"'You will remember,' said Alexander, 'that at that time I left Berlin, +and my house--uncanny though it was to me by reason of my aunt's +"walking" in it at night--greatly against my will. The connection of +all these matters was as follows. One fine morning, after T had been +terribly disturbed the whole of the night by tappings and rappings in +all directions--which came into the room where I was sleeping, this +time--I was lying in the window seat, quite tired and exhausted, and +excessively out of temper and annoyed with the whole affair. I was +looking out into the street mechanically, when, right opposite, in the +big house over the way, a window opened, and a most beautiful girl in a +pretty morning dress looked out. Much as I had admired Pauline, I +thought her whom I then saw more charming still. I couldn't withdraw my +eyes from her. At last she looked down; she couldn't help seeing me. I +made her a greeting, and she returned it with indescribable +pleasantness of manner. I found out from Mistress Anne who the people +who lived there were, and I made up my mind that I must make their +acquaintance somehow, so as to get nearer to her. It was an odd thing +that, as soon as my thoughts were occupied with this young lady, and I +was wholly sunk in sweet love-dreams about her, all the supernatural +noises connected with my aunt ceased. Mistress Anne, whom I made as +much of as ever I could, and who had quite got over her dread of me, +often told me a good deal about my aunt. She was inconsolable because +the poor soul, who had led such a pious, and exemplary life, could find +no rest in her grave, and she laid all the blame upon the man who had +treated her so cruelly, and the insuperable disappointment she had +suffered on her wedding day--that was to have been. I told her, with +much joy, that I never heard anything at night now. + +"'"Ah!" she cried, with tears in her voice, "if the Feast of the +Invention of the Cross were only over!" + +"'"What is there specially about the Feast of the Invention of the +Cross?" I quickly asked. + +"'"Oh, good gracious!" she answered, "don't you know? That was to have +been her marriage day. She died on the third of April, you remember. +That day week she was buried. The executor put seals on all the rooms +except the big drawing-room and the closet off it; so I had to live in +them, though I felt it terribly, I couldn't tell why. When day was +dawning on the morning of the Feast of the Invention of the Cross, I +felt an icy hand on my forehead, and distinctly heard your aunt's voice +say 'Get up, Anne! Get up! it's time for you to dress me; the +bridegroom's coming.' I jumped out of bed, terribly frightened, and +hurried on my clothes. Everything was silent, and there was only a cold +air moving through the room. Mimi kept on whimpering and whining, and +even Hans--contrarily to cat-nature--groaned, and pressed himself, +frightened, into corners. Then presses and cupboards seemed to be being +opened, and there was the sound of the rustling of a silk dress, and a +voice singing a morning hymn. I heard all this distinctly, master, but +I saw nothing. Terror nearly overmastered me, but I knelt down in a +corner and prayed fervently. Then a small table seemed to be being +moved, and glasses and teacups set out on it; footsteps went up and +down the room. I couldn't stir, and--what more shall I say?--I heard +the mistress going about, just as she always had done on that unlucky +day, sobbing and sighing; till the clock struck ten, when I distinctly +heard the words 'Go to your bed, Anne; it's all over now.' Then I fell +down insensible, and the people found me lying there in the morning +when they broke open the door, for they thought something must have +happened to me as they had seen or heard nothing of me. But I've never +told anybody about it except you." + +"'From my own experience, I couldn't doubt that everything had happened +as the old woman described it, and I was glad I hadn't arrived sooner, +so as to have had to go through it myself. It was just at this very +time, when the ghost seemed to be laid, and I was living in the +sweetest of hopes and anticipations, that I was obliged to leave +Berlin; and that was the cause of my annoyance, which you noticed +yourselves. But before six months were over I had taken my retirement, +and then I came back as quickly as possible. I very soon managed to +make the acquaintance of the family over the way, and I found the young +lady, who had seemed so fascinating at first sight, to be even more +charming and attractive in every respect on closer acquaintance, so +that I felt that the happiness of my life was wholly bound up in her. I +don't know quite why, but I always thought she was in love with someone +else; and this opinion was confirmed once when the conversation +happened to turn on a certain young gentleman, at the mention of whom +tears came to her eyes and she rose and left the room. Still, I put no +constraint on my feelings, but, without actually saying anything to +her, I allowed her to see the affection which fettered me to her. She +appeared to like me better every day, and to be much gratified with my +homage, which took the form of a thousand little attentions calculated +to please her.' + +"'Never,' cried Marzell, interrupting Alexander in his story 'never +should I have believed that this inexperienced, uncouth sort of a +fellow would have been capable of all that. He's a spirit-seer and a +lover _a la mode_ rolled into one. But now that he tells us about it, I +believe it, and see him pervading all the shops to get some piece of +head gear the young lady had a fancy for, or rushing into Bouche's, out +of breath, to buy the finest roses and carnations----' + +"To the devil with these damnable flowers!' cried Severin. + +"Alexander went on with his story: + +"'Don't suppose I made her any valuable presents; I knew better. That +wasn't the sort of thing to go down in that house, I soon saw. What I +did was to associate apparently unimportant civilities and attentions +with myself, personally. I never appeared without bringing some pattern +she had wanted, or a new song, or some book which she hadn't seen, or +something of the kind. If I didn't call every forenoon for half an hour +or so, I was missed. In short, why should I bother you with tiresome +details? My relations with her passed into that pleasant phase of +confidential intimacy which leads to love-avowal, and to marriage. But +I wished to get rid of the very shadow of the last remaining cloud, +and, therefore, in a pleasant hour I spoke, straight out, of my +foregone conclusion that she either then liked somebody else, or had +done so previously; and I mentioned all the circumstances which led me +to this conclusion, speaking particularly of the young gentleman, the +mention of whom had brought tears to her eyes. + +"'"I must confess to you," she said, "that longer intercourse with that +gentleman--whom a mere chance brought to the house, as a perfect +stranger might have been dangerous to my peace of mind, and, indeed, I +did feel a strong regard for him growing in me; and that is why I am +always so sorry, when I think of the terrible misfortune which parted +us, that I can't help crying." + +"'"The terrible misfortune which parted you?" I inquired. + +"'"Yes," she said; "I never knew any man whose conversation, and +intellect, and whole character, had such a power over me, altogether. +But I couldn't deny, what my father always said, that he was +continually in a most strangely excited condition. This I attributed to +causes which we knew nothing about, perhaps some deep impression made +upon his mind by something that had happened to him during the war, +which he had been serving in; though my father thought drink was the +cause of it. But I was right, as the event proved. One day he found me +alone, and exhibited a state of mind, which I at first took for an +outburst of the most passionate affection. But by-and-by, when he ran +away, trembling in every limb as with a frost, and uttering +unintelligible cries, I could only conclude it was insanity, and so it +was, poor fellow! He had once happened to mention his address, and I +remembered it. After we had seen nothing of him for some weeks, my +father sent there to make inquiries. The landlady--or rather, the +porter who waited on the lodgers--told our servant that he had gone mad +some time before, and been taken to the asylum. I suppose it must have +been lottery speculations which turned his head, for it seems he +thought he was king of the Ambe."' + +"'Good gracious!' cried Marzell, 'that must have been Nettelmann. +Ambe--Amboyna.' + +"'It may have been some confusion,' said Severin under his breath. 'I +seem to see daylight through it, but go on, please.' + +"Alexander looked at Severin with a sad smile, and then continued: + +"'My mind was now at ease, and soon the young lady and I were engaged, +and the wedding day fixed. I wanted to sell my house, for the ghostly +noises were still heard in it now and then. But my father-in-law +advised me not to do so, and so it came about that I told him the whole +story. He is a jovial sort of man, full of vital energy; but he grew +deeply thoughtful over this, and spoke about it in a way that I hadn't +expected. + +"'"People used to have a pious simple faith," he said. "We believed in +another world, but we admitted the feebleness of our senses. Then came +'enlightenment,' and made everything so very clear and enlightened, +that we can see nothing for excess of light, and go banging our noses +against the first tree we come to in the wood. We insist, now-a-days, +on grasping the other world with stretched-out arms of flesh and bone. +Keep you the house, and leave the rest to me." + +"'I was astonished when he settled that the marriage should take place +in the drawing-room of my house, and on the day of the Feast of the +Invention of the Cross; and still more when he had everything arranged +just as it had been on the celebrated day of my aunt's marriage--that +was to have been. Mistress Anne crept about, in whispered prayer, her +face contracted with anxious alarm. The bride came in her wedding +dress, the clergyman arrived nothing out of the common was to be heard +or seen. But when the blessing was pronounced, a gentle sigh seemed to +pass through the room; and the bride, and I myself, and every one +present declared that at that instant we all felt an indescribable +sense of happiness strike through us like an electric spark. Since that +moment there never has been the slightest trace of anything haunting +me, except to-day, when thinking vividly of the charming Pauline, did +bring a haunting something into my married happiness." + +"This Alexander said with an odd smile, and looking round him. + +"'Oh! you donkey!' said Marzell. 'I hope she may not turn up here +to-day. I really shouldn't like to answer for the consequences.' + +"Meanwhile a good many pleasure-seekers had come into the grounds, and +taken their places at various tables. But the one where the Aslings had +been sitting on that memorable day two years ago was still unoccupied. + +"'There's a very distinct presentiment at work within me,' said +Severin. 'I quite expect to see that place there occupied by ----' + +"He stopped, for as he spoke, behold! Geheime Rath Asling appeared, +with his wife on his arm; Pauline came after them, looking the picture +of happiness and beauty--in all other respects exactly the Pauline of +two years back. Just as was the case then, she was looking back over +her shoulder, as if expecting to see somebody. She caught sight of +Alexander, who had risen from his chair. + +"'Ah!' she cried, running up to him joyfully. 'Here you are already!' + +"He took her hand, and said to Marzell and Severin: + +"'Dear old friends! this is my darling wife, Pauline!'" + + +The Brethren were much pleased with Ottmar's story. + +"You had special reasons for laying the scene of your story in Berlin," +said Theodore, "and giving the names of streets, squares, etc. But I +think it is a good thing, as a general rule, to indicate localities in +this way. It not only brings in an element of historical truth, which +helps a sluggish fancy; but--at all events for people who know the +places--the story gains greatly in life and vigour." + +"Our friend hasn't managed to steer altogether clear of that ironical +bent of his, though, which is especially strong in all that concerns +the fairer sex," said Lothair. "However, I make no attack on him upon +that score." + +"Merely a pinch of salt," said Ottmar, "to season rather meagre fare. +For the fact is, I felt it as I read the story--it's too prosaic--too +much about everyday matters." + +"As Theodore approves of naming the scene of action," said Cyprian; "as +Ottmar thinks his subject-matter over-prosaic; and if Lothair will +allow me a pinch of irony now and then, I'll read you a story which +suggested itself to me when I was living in Dantzic." + +He read:-- + + + "THE ARTUS HOF. + +"Doubtless, kind reader, you have often heard a great deal about the +fine old business town of Dantzic. And, probably, you know, from +reading of them, all about the 'lions' of the place. But I should be +better pleased could I think that you had been there, in person, at +some time or other, and had actually seen, with your own eyes, the +wonderful hall into which I fain would take you; I mean the 'Artus +Hof.' + +"In the mid-day hours, a throng of business men, of all nations and +conditions, goes surging up and down in it, with a confused uproar of +voices which deafens the ear. But, no doubt, the time when--if you were +in Dantzic--you would best like to go into it would be after the +exchange hours are over, when the business men are gone to their +mid-day meal, and only a few rare ones now and then cross the hall at +intervals with preoccupied faces--there is a passage through it, +leading from one street to another--for then a magic half-light comes +stealing through the dim, ancient windows, and all the curious frescoes +and carvings which ornament the walls seem to come to life, and begin +to move. Stags with great antlers, and other strange animals, gaze down +at you with gleaming eyes, so that you don't half care to look at them. +And the more the light fades, the more awe-inspiring grows the marble +statue of the king in the centre of the hall. The large picture of the +Virtues and the Vices (whose names are written beside them) loses a +good deal of its moral effect: for the Virtues soar more irrecognizably +aloft, half hidden in grey clouds; and the Vices--beautiful women in +shining raiment--come forward enticingly, and seem to be trying to lure +you from the path of duty, whispering to you in accents sweet and low. +Wherefore, you turn from them to the belt of colour which goes nearly +round the walls, on which you see long trains of soldiers, in various +costumes of the old Imperial-City times, going marching along. Worthy +burgomasters, with shrewd, significant faces, ride at their head on +spirited horses, richly caparisoned. The drummers and fifers, and the +Hallebardiers march along so briskly and bravely that you begin to hear +the stirring martial music, and expect them to go tramping out at the +great window yonder on to the market-place--looking at all this, you +would, if you were a draughtsman, set to work and make a pen-and-ink +sketch of that fine stately Burgomaster there, with the strikingly +handsome page in attendance on him. There is always plenty of pens, +ink, and paper on the tables--provided at the public expense for the +merchants' use--so that you would not be able to resist the temptation. + +"There would be no objection to your so employing your time, kind +reader; but that was by no means the case with Traugott, the young +merchant, who was continually getting into the most terrible scrapes on +this very account. + +"'Write off at once and advise our correspondent in Hamburg of the +day's transactions, Herr Traugott,' said Elias Roos, the head of a +flourishing firm, of which Traugott had just been admitted a partner, +being moreover engaged to Roos's only daughter Christina. Traugott with +some difficulty found a vacant place at the crowded tables, took a +sheet of paper, dipped his pen in the ink, and was just going to begin +with a fine caligraphic flourish, when--as he was rapidly revolving in +his mind what he was going to say--he lifted his eyes mechanically to +the wall above him. + +"Now, chance had so ordained matters that he was sitting just in front +of a certain little group of two figures, the sight of which always +caused him a strange, inexplicable sense of sorrow. It represented a +grave-looking, almost sombre man, with a dark, curling beard, +handsomely dressed, riding a black horse, with a page at his bridle +whose masses of hair and richly-tinted costume gave him almost the +appearance of a girl. The face and figure of the man caused Traugott a +certain feeling akin to fear, but a world of sweet presage streamed +forth upon him from the face of the page. Somehow he never could +withdraw his eyes from this couple whenever he happened to look at +them; consequently, instead of writing the Hamburg letter as he ought +to have done, he kept gazing at these two figures, and drawing with his +pen on the paper before him, without observing what he was about. When +this had been going on for some little time, somebody tapped him on the +shoulder from behind, and said, in rather a hollow voice: + +"'Good! very good! I like that; it promises well!' + +"Traugott, waking from his dream, turned sharply round, and felt like a +man struck by a thunderbolt. Astonishment, alarm, rendered him +speechless; for he found himself staring into the face of the very man +who was represented in the fresco on the wall above him. It was he who +had spoken the words, and beside him stood the beautiful page, smiling +at Traugott as if with inexpressible affection. + +"'It is they in the body,' was the thought which flashed through his +mind. 'They'll throw off those ugly cloaks directly, and appear in +their beautiful antique costume.' + +"The seething masses of people were hurrying to and fro, and the two +strange figures were speedily lost in the throng. But Traugott stood in +the same spot, with his letter of advice in his hand, till the business +hours were long over, and only one or two people passed at intervals +through the hall. At last he saw Herr Elias Roos, coming up to him with +two strange gentlemen. + +"'Well, Traugott,' said Elias Roos, 'what are you cogitating about here +so late in the afternoon? Have you sent off the Hamburg advices all +right?' + +"Without thinking what he was doing, Traugott handed him the sheet of +paper which he had in his hand. On seeing it, Elias Roos struck his +clenched fists together over his head, stamped with his right foot, +slightly at first, then very violently, and shouted, till the hall +resounded: + +"'Oh! good Lord! Oh! good Lord! Stupid, childish nonsense! Here's a +partner for you! Here's a precious son-in-law! Damnation, sir, are you +out of your senses? The letter of advice, the letter of advice? Oh +God--the _post_!' + +"Herr Elias nearly went into a fit with anger. The two strangers smiled +at this singular letter of advice, which certainly wasn't of much use +as such, as it stood. Immediately after the words 'Referring to your +esteemed order of the 20th instant,' Traugott had made a firm, bold +outline sketch of the two striking figures of the old man and the page. +The strange gentlemen strove to calm Herr Elias, addressing him in the +most soothing tones; but he shoved his wig into various positions, +banged his cane on the floor, and cried: + +"'The devil's in the fellow! Had a letter of advice to write; instead +of that, goes and draws pictures! Five hundred pounds gone!--pht!'--he +blew through his fingers; and then repeated, in a weeping tone, +'Five--hundred--pounds!' + +"'Don't distress yourself, Herr Roos,' said, at last, the elder of the +two strangers; 'the post is gone, certainly, but I am sending a courier +off to Hamburg in an hour's time. He can take your letter of advice, +and it will reach your correspondent sooner that it would have done by +the regular mail.' + +"'Most incomparable of men!' cried Herr Elias, with full sunshine +restored to his face. + +"Traugott had recovered from his astonishment, and was hastening to the +table to write the advice; but Herr Elias shoved him away, saying, +through his teeth, with most diabolical looks: + +"Don't trouble yourself, my lad!' + +"While Herr Elias was writing busily, the elder of the strangers went +up to Traugott, who was standing silent and abashed, and said: + +"'You seem to be a little out of your element here, my dear sir! It +would never have occurred to a real man of business to sketch figures +when he ought to have been writing a letter of advice.' + +"This Traugott could not gainsay. Much astonished, himself, at what had +occurred, he said: + +"'I can't quite make it out. I've written plenty of letters of advice. +It's only now and then that I make one of these mistakes.' + +"'My dear sir,' said the stranger, with a smile, 'I must say I don't +think it seems to be a mistake at all. I should rather be inclined to +suppose that very few of your letters of advice are worth as much as +this admirable, accurate, and powerful outline sketch. There is true +genius in it!' + +"With which he took the paper from Traugott, folded it carefully up, +and put it in his pocket. This convinced Traugott firmly that he had +done something much better than writing a letter of advice. A new +spirit awoke within him; and when Elias Roos, who had finished his +letter, and was still very much out of temper, cried, 'That nonsense of +yours very nearly cost me L500,' Traugott answered him, louder and more +firmly than usual, 'Don't go on making such a fuss, or I shall have to +bid you good-morning, and write no more of your damned letters of +advice.' + +"Herr Elias set his wig straight with both hands, stared at Traugott, +and said: + +"What nonsense you're talking, partner; you can't be serious, +son-in-law?' + +"The elder of the strangers intervened, and it required very few words +to wholly re-establish the peace between them. Then they all went to +dinner at Elias Roos's house. + +"Christina received them in a beautifully-fitting dress, which set off +her well-developed, pretty figure to advantage. She wielded the massive +soup-ladle with great skill. + +"I suppose I ought to describe the five people at this dinner-table; +but Traugott's adventures are waiting to be told, and such pictures of +said people as I could sketch would be very hasty. You are aware that +Elias Roos wears a round wig, and I could add little more, as, from +what he has said, you can see before you the little, stoutish man in +his leather-coloured suit with gilt buttons. Of Traugott I have much to +say, because this is his story which I am telling, and he is the +principal character in it. If it is true that our thoughts, words, and +works--coming, as they do, from the inner depths of our natures--do so +shape and model the outward man that there results a certain marvellous +harmony of the whole--not to be explained, only to be felt--which we +term 'character,' Traugott's appearance will be plain to you from my +story without any further description. If this is not the case, all +further description would be useless, and you can take this tale as not +read. The two strange gentlemen are uncle and nephew, well-to-do +business men, and 'friends'--that is to say, business connections--of +Roos's. They come from Koenigsberg, wear English clothes, carry about +mahogany boot-jacks from London, are connoisseurs in the arts, and, +taking them all round, persons of much cultivation. The uncle is making +a collection of pictures, which is why he pocketed Traugott's sketch. + +"As I perceive that Christina will speedily vanish from my story, I had +better give a few indications of what she is like before she makes her +exit. She is of medium height, with a finely-developed figure; about +two or three and twenty, with a round face, a short nose, slightly +turned up, and kindly light-blue eyes, which say, with a charming +smile, to every man she meets, 'I'm going to get married very soon +(don't much mind to whom). She has a beautiful, fair complexion; hair +not over red; most kissable lips, and a mouth rather too large, which +she has an odd way of drawing on one side, though two rows of pearls +are thereby rendered visible. If the next house were on fire, and the +flames were catching the room, she would just, quickly, feed her canary +and put away the clothes from the wash, and then go and tell her father +that the house was on fire. No almond-tart ever came to grief in her +hands, and her butter-sauce is always of exactly the right thickness, +because she always stirs it from left to right, never the other way. As +Elias Roos has just poured out the last of the bottle into old Franz's +glass, I further remark, hastily, that it is because he's going to +marry her that she's so fond of Traugott; for what in the world would +become of her if she weren't to get married? After dinner Roos proposed +to the strangers a walk round the walls. How gladly would Traugott have +made his escape and been by himself! Never had he known anything like +the thoughts, feelings, and sensations which he had experienced to-day. +Escape he could not, however, for just as he was slipping out at the +door, without even kissing Christina's hand, Herr Elias seized him by +the coat-tails, crying, 'Come, partner; you're not going to give us the +slip, are you, son-in-law?' So he had to stay. + +"A well known professor of natural philosophy was of opinion that +Nature, in her capacity of a skilled experimentalist, has somewhere or +other set up a tremendous electrical machine, from which mysterious +conductors stretch all through our lives; and, though we avoid them and +keep clear of them as well as we can, at some given moment or other we +can't help treading on them, and then the flash and the shock dart +through us, altering everything in us completely. No doubt Traugott had +stepped on to one of these conductors at the moment when he began +sketching the old man and the page, without having any idea that they +were standing behind him in the flesh; for the strange apparition of +them had gone darting through him like a flash of lightning, and he +felt that he now clearly knew and understood things which had formerly +been but presages and dreams. The shyness which used to tie his tongue +when conversation turned upon things which lay hidden, like holy +mysteries, in the depths of his being, had vanished; and so, when the +uncle began finding fault with the wonderful figures, partly painted, +partly carved, in the Artus-Hof, as being 'in bad taste,' and +particularly the soldier-pictures as being 'wild and extravagant,' +Traugott boldly maintained that, though it was possible that they might +not strictly conform to the canons of art, still, it had been the case +with him, as well as with many others, that a marvellous world of +imagination had dawned upon him in the Artus Hof, and that some of the +figures had told him, in looks full of life, as well as in distinct +words, that he was a mighty master himself, and able to make and form +like him from whose mysterious _atelier_ they had proceeded. + +"Herr Elias really looked, if possible, even a greater ass than usual +when the youngster spoke these lofty words; but the uncle, with a +strange, slightly sneering smile, said: + +"'I repeat what I said before, that I can't understand how you should +be a man of business, and not devote yourself to art altogether.' The +man was excessively antipathetic to Traugott, somehow; and he +therefore, during the walk, kept to the nephew, who was very pleasant +and friendly. + +"'Ah, Heavens!' the nephew said, 'how I envy you that talent of yours! +If I could only draw like you! I really have a great turn for it; I've +drawn some capital eyes, and ears and noses, and two or three heads +even; but oh!--the office, you know,--the office!' + +"'I thought,' said Traugott, 'that when one was conscious of a real +gift--a true calling--for art, one ought to devote one's self to it +altogether.' + +"'Be an artist, you mean? How can you say such a thing? Look here, my +dear fellow; I've thought over this subject perhaps more than most +people; indeed I have such a reverence for art that I've gone deeper +into this, almost, than I can explain, so that I can only give you a +hint or two of what I mean.' + +"He looked so learned and so profoundly thoughtful as he said this, +that Traugott really felt a sort of veneration for him. + +"'You'll admit,' said the nephew, when he had taken a pinch of snuff, +and sneezed a couple of times, 'that the function of art is to weave +flowers into life. Amusement--recreation after the serious business of +life--is the delightful end and object of all artistic effort; and this +is attained exactly in proportion as the productions of art are +satisfactory. This goal of art is distinctly perceptible in actual +life, because it is only those who practise art on this principle who +enjoy that comfort and prosperity which flies away for ever from those +who (against the true principles of things) look upon art as the +primary object and highest aim of life. Therefore, my dear sir, don't +you pay any attention to what my uncle said, nor let that lead you +astray from the serious business of life, to an occupation which can no +more stand alone than a helpless infant learning to walk.' + +"Here the nephew paused, as if expecting Traugott to reply; but he had +no idea what to say. The nephew's harangue had struck him as being a +farrago of incredible nonsense, and he contented himself with asking +him what he considered 'the serious business of life.' The nephew +looked at him rather puzzled. + +"'Well,' he said at last, 'you'll admit that a man must live; and the +embarrassed professional artist can scarcely be said to do that.' He +then went on talking a quantity of nonsense, using fine words and +elaborate expressions; the result of which was, that by 'living' he +meant having plenty of money and no debts; eating and drinking of the +best, and having a nice wife and children, with no grease-spots on +their Sunday-clothes, etc. This seemed to stifle Traugott, and he was +glad when he got quit of this sapient nephew, and was alone in his own +quarters. + +"'What a wretched, miserable life I am leading, to be sure!' he said +to himself. 'In the beautiful morning--in the glorious, golden +spring-time, when the soft west wind comes breathing even into the +gloomy streets, and seems to tell, in its gentle murmurings, of all +the wonders and marvels that are blossoming into beauty in the fields +and woods--I slink into Elias Roos's smoky office, "creeping like snail +unwillingly to school." There pale faces sit behind shapeless desks, +and nothing breaks the gloomy silence, buried in which everybody +labours, but the turning of the leaves of big account-books, the jingle +of money on the desks, and an occasional unintelligible word or two. +And what kind of labour is it? What is all this thinking and writing +for? That the coins in the chest may increase in number; that the +Fafner's ill-luck-bringing hoard may sparkle and gleam the brighter. +The artist--the sculptor--can go out with uplifted head, and inhale the +refreshing spring-rays, which kindle in him an inner world full of +glorious pictures, so that it bursts into happiness of life and motion. +Out of the dark thickets come wonderful forms, created by his own +spirit; and they remain his; because the mysterious spells of light, of +colour, and of form dwell within him, and he fixes down for ever that +which his mental vision has seen, representing it to the senses. Why +should I not break away from this hateful life? The wonderful old man +has confirmed me in the idea that I am called to be an artist; still +more has the beautiful page. It is true he didn't say anything, but I +felt that his look told me clearly everything which has been in me so +long, in the form of presentiment, but which a thousand doubts and +misgivings have pressed down and prevented from shooting up into life. +Can I not be a great artist, in spite of my abominable calling?' + +"Traugott got out all the drawings he had ever done, and looked through +them critically. Much of his work struck him quite differently from +what it had formerly done, and generally seemed much better than he had +thought. There was one drawing particularly--one of his childish +attempts, done in his early boyhood--a leaf, on which the old +burgomaster and the page were copied, in somewhat distorted, but +clearly recognizable outlines; and he remembered well that, even in +these early days, those figures had a strange influence upon him, and +that he was once, in the gloaming, impelled, as by an irresistible +spell, to leave his play and go to the Artus Hof, where he laboured +diligently at copying them. He was moved by the deepest, most +melancholy yearning as he looked at this drawing. He ought by rights to +have gone to the office for a couple of hours as usual, but he felt +that he could not; and, instead, he went out and up on to the +Karlsberg. Thence he looked out over the sea: and in the dashing +billows, in the grey evening haze rising, and lying in wonderful +shapes of cloud-vapour over Hela, he strove to read, as in a magic +mirror, the destiny of his future life. + +"Do you not hold, dear reader, that that which comes down into our +breasts from the higher realm of love has to reveal itself to us at +first as hopeless sorrow? That is the doubt, the misgiving, which comes +surging into the artist's heart. He sees the ideal, and feels his +powerlessness to grasp it. But then there comes to him a godlike +courage; he makes endeavour, and his despair melts away into a sweet +longing which gives him strength, and incites him to approach nearer +and nearer to that Unattainable which he never reaches, though always +getting closer to it. + +"Traugott was now powerfully attacked by this hopeless pain. When, +early the next morning, he looked again at his drawings, they all +seemed feeble and wretched, and he remembered what an experienced +friend had often said: that great mischief, together with very mediocre +results in art, proceed from the circumstance that people often mistake +mere vivid, superficial excitement for a true, inward calling for art. +He was much disposed to look upon the Artus Hof and the figures of the +burgomaster and the page as outward, superficial excitements of this +description. He condemned himself to go back and work in the office, +regardless of the loathing, which often came so forcibly upon him that +he was obliged to leave off work all of a sudden and rush into the open +air. Herr Elias, with careful consideration, attributed this to the +poor state of health which he felt certain the deadly pale face of the +youngster indicated. + +"A considerable time elapsed--the St. Dominic's Fair was at hand, after +which Traugott was to marry Christina, and be formally announced to the +commercial world as Roos's partner. This point of time was, to him, +that of his sorrowful farewell to all his fair hopes and beautiful +dreams; and it lay heavy on his heart when he saw Christina hard at +work having everything scrubbed and polished on the second floor, +folding curtains with her own hands, giving the final polish and +glitter to all the brass, etc. + +"One day, in the thick of the turmoil in the Artus Hof, at its most +crowded hour, Traugott heard a voice behind him, whose well-remembered +tones went straight to his heart: + +"'Is this paper really at such a discount?' + +"He turned quickly, and saw, as he had expected, the wonderful old man, +who had gone up to a broker to sell some paper whose price was +tremendously depreciated. The handsome lad was standing behind the old +man, and cast a sad, kindly look at Traugott. He went quickly up, and +said: + +"'Excuse me, sir; but that paper is very low in the market just at +present. Still, there can be no doubt that it will stand much better in +a very few days. If you will take my advice, you will keep it, and not +sell till the quotation is more favourable.' + +"'My good sir,' said the old man coldly and irritably, 'what have you +got to do with my affairs? How do you know but that I may want ready +money just at this particular moment, so that this piece of paper may +be of no use to me?' + +"Traugott, vexed that the old man had taken his interference so amiss, +was going quickly away, but the lad looked beseechingly at him with +tearful eyes. + +"'I meant you kindly, sir,' he said quickly, 'and I can't allow you to +be such a serious loser. Sell me the paper, on the understanding that I +pay you the higher rate which it will stand at in a day or two.' + +"'You're a strange person,' said the old man; 'I don't see why you +should go making my fortune in this sort of way.' + +"As he said this, he looked piercingly at the lad, who cast down +bashful eyes of blue. They went with Traugott to his office, where the +money was paid over to the old man, who put it in his purse with a face +of gloom. Whilst this was going on, the lad said to Traugott: + +"'Was it not you who were drawing so cleverly a week or two ago in the +Artus Hof?' + +"Yes,' said Traugott, while the colour came to his cheeks as he +remembered the letter of advice. + +"'Oh, then,' said the lad, 'I'm not surprised----' + +"The old man looked at him angrily, and he stopped at once. Traugott +couldn't help a certain embarrassment in their presence, so that they +were gone before he managed to ask where they lived, etc., etc. The +looks of them had something so marvellous about them that even the +people in the office were struck by it. + +"The surly book-keeper stuck his pen behind his ear and stared at the +old man, with his arms crossed behind his head. + +"God bless my soul!' he cried, when the couple had gone out, 'that chap +with the curly beard and the black cloak looks like an old picture of +the year 1400 in the church of St. John.' + +"But Herr Elias took him for a Polish Jew, notwithstanding his +aristocratic bearing, and his grave, thoughtful, old-German face. + +"'Stupid brute!' he cried. 'Sells his paper now, and would get at least +ten per cent, more for it this day week!' Of course he didn't know that +Traugott was going to pay him the difference out of his own pocket; +which he did some days afterwards, when he came across the old man and +the lad in the Artus Hof again. + +"'My son,' said the old man, 'has reminded me that you are a +brother-artist; therefore I have accepted this service from you, which +otherwise I should not have done.' + +"They were standing beside one of the four granite pillars which +support the vaulted roof of the hall, and close to the figures which +Traugott had drawn in the letter of advice. He spoke, without +hesitation, of the extraordinary likeness of these figures to the old +man and the lad. The old man gave a strange smile, laid his hand on +Traugott's shoulder, and said, in a low voice of some caution: + +"'You are not aware, then, that I am Godfredus Berklinger, the German +painter, and that I painted the figures which you seem to admire a very +long time ago, when I was quite a young student of my art? I painted my +own portrait as the Burgomaster, as a _souvenir_, and that the page +leading the horse is my son you may see in a moment if you compare +their faces and figures.' + +"Traugott was dumb with amazement, but he soon felt that the old man, +who believed himself the master who had painted these pictures over two +hundred years ago, must be suffering from some species of insanity. + +"'Indeed,' said the old man, lifting his head and looking round him +with pride, 'it was a glorious springtide of art when I adorned this +hall with all these pictures, in honour of the wise King Arthur and his +Round Table. I have always felt convinced that the noble presence, who +came to me once when I was working here, and called me to mastership, +which I had not then attained, was King Arthur himself.' + +"'My father,' said the lad, 'is an artist whom there are not many like, +and you would not regret it if he were to allow you to come and see his +works.' + +"The old man had taken a few steps through the hall, which was then +empty; and he called to the lad to come away. But Traugott boldly asked +him to show him his pictures. The old man scanned him long, with keen, +penetrating eyes, and finally said, very seriously: + +"'You are somewhat presumptuous, truly, in that you would penetrate +into the holy of holies before your apprenticeship is well begun. +However, be it so! if your eyes are too feeble to see as yet, you may +to some extent surmise. Come to me early to-morrow.' + +"He explained where he lived, and Traugott got away from his work as +soon as possible the next morning, and hastened to the out-of-the-way +street where the old man was to be found. The lad, dressed in antique +German costume, opened the door, and took him into a spacious room, +where the old man was sitting on a little stool before a large canvas, +all covered with a grey ground-tint. + +"'You are come at a fortunate time, sir,' cried the old man, 'for I +have just this moment put the finishing touches to this great picture, +upon which I have been engaged for more than a year, and which has cost +me no small pains! It is the companion picture to another of the same +size, representing "Paradise Lost," which I finished last year, and +which you will see here also. This one, as you see, is "Paradise +Regained," and I should pity you if you were to try to discover any +hidden allegory in it. It is only weaklings and bunglers who paint +allegorical pictures. This picture of mine does not suggest; it _is_! +You observe that all these rich groupings of men, animals, flowers and +jewels form one harmonious whole, whose loud, glorious music is a pure, +heavenly harmony of eternal glorification and ecstasy.' + +"Then he began to point out, and give prominence to particular groups. +He drew Traugott's attention to the mysteries of the disposition of the +light and shade; to the lustre and sparkle of the flowers and gems; to +the wonderful forms which, rising out of the bells of lilies, grouped +themselves into bands of beautiful maidens and youths; to the bearded +men who, with youthful vigour in their looks and motions, seemed to be +conversing with curious animals. He spoke louder and louder, more and +more vehemently and incoherently. + +"'Let thy diamond crown sparkle, thou mighty sage!' he cried, with +gleaming eyes riveted on the empty canvas. 'Throw off the Isis-veil +which thou hast cast over thy head at the approach of the uninitiate! +Why dost thou wrap that dark mantle so carefully over thy breast? I +must see thy heart! It is the philosopher's stone, which discloses all +secrets. Art thou not _me_? What meanest thou by confronting me with +such audacity? Wilt thou do battle with thy master? Dost thou think +that gleaming ruby there, which is thy heart, can grind my breast to +dust? Come on, then! come forth! come _here_! I am he that made thee, +for I am----' + +"Here the old man fell to the ground in a heap, as if struck by a +lightning flash. Traugott raised him up; the lad brought an easy-chair, +in which they placed the old man, who now seemed to be lying in a quiet +sleep. + +"'You now know my dear old father's condition, sir,' said the lad +softly, in a low voice. 'A cruel fate has stripped all the flowers away +from his life; for many years he has been dead to the art, which was +his life formerly. He sits for entire days before a canvas, stretched +and grounded as you see that one. This he calls "painting," and you +have seen the condition of excitement which the description of one of +his so-called pictures produces in him. Besides this, he is tormented +by another most unfortunate idea, which makes my life a very sad and +unhappy one. But this I look upon as a blow of destiny which carries me +away in the same sweep with which it has come over him. If you would +like to recover a little from the impression of this strange scene, +come with me into the next room, where you will see several pictures +painted in my father's earlier, fruitful days.' + +"How astonished was Traugott to see a number of works which might have +been by the most celebrated painters of the Dutch School! They were +generally scenes from life; for instance, a company of people coming +back from the chase, singing, and playing on instruments, and the like. +They were full of deep meaning; and the heads, particularly, had a +wonderful expression of life and vigour. As Traugott was going back to +the other room, he noticed a picture close to the door, before which he +paused as if spell-bound. It was a portrait of a most beautiful girl, +in ancient German dress, but the face was exactly that of the lad, only +rounder and with more colour; and the figure seemed to be on a fuller +scale. A thrill of nameless delight went through Traugott at the sight +of this beautiful lady. In power and vigour the picture was quite equal +to a Vandyke. The dark eyes gazed down on Traugott with a might of +love-appeal; the sweet lips, half-parted, seemed to be whispering words +of affection. + +"'Oh Heaven! oh Heaven!' sighed Traugott out of the depths of his +heart, 'where is she to be found?' + +"'Come, sir,' said the lad, 'we must go to my father.' + +"But Traugott cried, like one beside himself: + +"'Ah! that is she, the beloved of my soul, whom I have so long +treasured in the depths of my heart, whom I was conscious of, and +recognized only in dreams! Where is she? Where is she?' + +"The tears streamed from young Berklinger's eyes; he seemed torn with a +spasm of pain, scarce able to master his emotion. + +"'Come!' he said at last, in a firm, steady voice. 'That is a portrait +of my sister, my unfortunate sister, Felizitas. She is lost, gone for +ever. You will never see her.' + +"Traugott, scarcely conscious what he was doing, let himself be +conducted back to the other room. The old man was still asleep, but he +started up, with eyes flashing anger, and cried: + +"'What are you doing here, sir?' + +"The lad reminded him that he had just been showing Traugott his new +picture. He then seemed to remember what had happened. He appeared to +get weaker, and said, very faintly: + +"'You will pardon an old man's forgetfulness, my dear sir?' + +"Your new picture is a most magnificent work,' said Traugott. 'I have +never seen anything like it. It must take enormous labour and study to +paint like that. I trace in myself a great, irresistible bent towards +art, and I beg you most earnestly, my dear old master, to take me as +your most diligent and hard-working pupil.' + +"The old man grew quite serene and kindly. He embraced Traugott, and +promised to be his faithful master and instructor. Traugott went to him +every day, and made great progress. His office work was now altogether +repugnant to him; he got so careless of it and inattentive to it that +Herr Elias Roos made loud complaints, and at last was glad when +Traugott, under the pretext of a lingering illness, gave up going to +the office at all: for which reason, also, the marriage was put off for +an indefinite time, to Christina's no small vexation. + +"'That Mr. Traugott of yours,' said a business friend to Roos, 'looks +as if he had got something or other on his mind; perhaps some old love +debit which he would like to square up before he marries; he's so +terribly white, and wild-looking.' + +"'Ay, ay,' said Elias; 'and why not, if he likes? I wonder,' he +continued after a little, 'if that sly little baggage of a Christina of +mine has been up to any tricks? That book-keeper's a spoony sort of +fellow; he's always kissing her hand, and squeezing it. Traugott's over +head and ears in love with her. Is it a bit of jealousy, I wonder? Gad! +I must watch how the cat jumps a little.' + +"But though he watched as carefully as he could, he did _not_ see how +she jumped; and he said to the business friend aforesaid: + +"'He's a precious rum customer, Master Traugott, I can tell you; but I +see nothing for it but to let him "gang his gate" as he likes best. If +he hadn't between seven and eight thousand pounds in my house, I should +soon let him see what I'd be after. Damme! he never does a stroke of +work in the office.' + +"Traugott would now have been leading a life of the brightest sunshine +in the study of his art, had his heart not been consumed by the fervour +of his love for the beautiful Felizitas, whom he often saw in wondrous +dreams. Her portrait had disappeared; the old man had taken it away, +and Traugott did not dare to ask about it for fear of annoying him. For +the rest, Berklinger had got more and more confidence in Traugott as +time went on, and he now allowed him to better his narrow housekeeping +in many ways, instead of paying for his lessons in money. Traugott +learned from young Berklinger that the old man had lost very +considerably by the sale of a small collection of pictures, and that +the paper which Traugott had negotiated for him was all that had been +left of that sum, and was in fact all the money they had remaining. But +it was extremely seldom that he was able to have any talk with the lad +in private; the old man watched him with extraordinary vigilance, and +always instantly interfered when he was beginning to talk freely and +unconstrainedly with his friend. This pained Traugott greatly, as from +his extraordinary likeness to Felizitas he was devoted to him; and +often, when he was near the lad, he almost felt as if the beloved form +was by him in all its beauty--as if he felt the sweet breath of her +love; and he would fain have taken the lad to his heart as if he had +been the adored Felizitas herself. + +"The winter was over; the beautiful spring shone forth, and blossomed +in all its loveliness in wood and meadow. Elias Boos advised Traugott +to go to some watering-place, or try a course of whey. Christina began +to look forward to her marriage again, though Traugott seldom showed +himself, and still seldomer allowed the idea of such a thing as +marriage to enter his head. + +"One day, Traugott had been obliged to go to the office and spend a +considerable time there, in connection with the settlement of some +important accounts; so that the usual hour for his lesson was long +past, and he did not arrive at Berklinger's till it was late in the +evening twilight. He found nobody in the front-room, and from the next +proceeded the sound of a lute. He had never heard the instrument +before. He listened. A song, broken by pauses, breathed through the +chords like gentle sighs. He opened the door. Heavens! a female figure, +in ancient German dress, was seated with her back to him, with high +lace collar, exactly like the portrait. At the slight sound which +Traugott made in opening the door, the lady rose, laid the lute on the +table, and turned. It was her very self! + +"'Felizitas!' Traugott cried wildly, in the fulness of his rapture, and +was going to kneel at her feet, when he felt himself seized by the neck +from behind, with a mighty grip, and dragged out of the room. + +"'Profligate! Villain unparalleled!' cried old Berklinger, as he thrust +him out, 'this is your love of art, is it? Do you want to kill me?' + +"He dragged him out at the door; a knife was gleaming in his hand. +Traugott fled down-stairs, stupefied, half crazy with love and terror. +He hurried home. + +"He rolled about, sleepless, from side to side in his bed. + +"'Felizitas! Felizitas!' he cried, torn with anguish and love-pain; +'you are here, and I may not see you!--cannot take you to my arms! For +you love me, that I know, by the bitter torture that I feel myself?' + +"The spring sun came shining brightly into his room; he pulled himself +together, and resolved to get to the bottom of the mystery in +Berklinger's house, cost what it might. He went there as quickly as he +could; but what were his feelings when he saw that all the windows were +open, and women busy cleaning out the rooms. He felt what had happened. +Berklinger and his son had left the house late the previous evening, +and gone away, no one knew whither. A cart with two horses had taken +away the boxes with the pictures, and the two small trunks which +contained the Berklingers' little all; and he had followed, with his +son, about half-an-hour afterwards. All efforts to trace them were +vain; no stable-keeper had hired out horses to anybody answering to the +description of them which Traugott gave; even at the town-gates he +could hear nothing satisfactory. Berklinger had disappeared as if he +had been carried away on Mephistopheles's mantle. Traugott ran home in +utter despair. + +"'She is gone! she is gone! the beloved of my soul! All--all is lost!' +he cried, as he went banging past Elias Roos (who happened to be in the +front hall near the entry door) on his way to his room. + +"'God bless my soul and body!' cried Herr Elias, shoving back his wig. +'Christina! Christina!' he then cried till the house rang; 'Christina! +horrible girl! undutiful daughter!' + +"The clerks came running out of the office with faces of terror. + +"'What's the matter, Herr Roos?' cried the bookkeeper, in great alarm; +but Herr Roos went on shouting 'Christina! Christina!' + +"'Just then Christina came in at the street-door, and, after she had +lifted the brim of her broad straw-hat up a little, asked, with a +smile, what her father was making such a shouting about. + +"I'm not going to have you bolting away in this inexplicable sort of +way,' Herr Elias roared at her, wrathfully in the extreme. 'The +son-in-law's a melancholy sort of customer, and as jealous as the Grand +Turk. Just you keep at home, d'ye see, or we shall have all the fat in +the fire directly. My partner's sitting in there, howling and groaning, +because you're out of the way somewhere.' + +"Christina cast a look of amazement at the bookkeeper, who replied by a +significant glance towards the office-cupboard where Herr Elias kept +the cinnamon-water. + +"'Better go in and comfort the intended,' he said, going back to the +office. Christina went to her own room, just to put on some other +'things;' give out the week's washing; make the necessary arrangements +with the cook about the Sunday dinner, and hear the gossip of the town +during that process, and then go at once and see what was the matter +with the 'intended.' + +"Yon know, dear reader, that we should all of us--had we been in +Traugott's place--have had to go through the essential stages of the +condition. No escape from that. After the despair comes a benumbed, +heavy brooding, in which the 'crisis' takes place; and then the +condition passes into a gentle sorrow, in which Nature knows how to +apply her remedies efficaciously. + +"In this stage of heavy, but beneficent sorrow, Traugott was sitting +some days afterwards on the Karlsberg, gazing once more at the waves as +they beat upon the shore, and the grey mists that lay over Hela. But +not, this time, was he trying to read the future. All that he had hoped +and anticipated was past. + +"'Ah!' he sighed, 'my calling for art was a bitter deception. Felizitas +was the phantom which lured me to believe in what never existed save in +the insane dreams of a fever-sick fool. It is all over. I fight no +more! Back to my prison! So let it be, and have done with it!' + +"Traugott worked in the office again, and the marriage-day with +Christina was fixed once more. The day before it, Traugott was standing +in the Artus Hof, looking, not without inward heart-breaking sorrow, at +the fateful forms of the burgomaster and his page, when he noticed the +broker to whom Berklinger had been trying to sell his paper. Almost +involuntarily, without thinking what he was doing, he went up to him +and asked him: + +"'Did you know a strange old man with a black, curly beard, who used to +come here some time ago, with a handsome lad?' + +"'Of course I did,' said the broker: Godfried Berklinger, the mad +painter.' + +"'Then have you any idea what's become of him?--where he's living now?' + +"'Certainly I have,' answered the broker; 'he's been quietly settled +down at Sorrento for a good while, with his daughter?' + +"'With his daughter Felizitas?' cried Traugott, so vehemently that all +the people looked round at him. + +"'Well, yes,' answered the broker quietly; 'that was the nice-looking +lad that used to go about with the old man. Half Dantzic knew it was a +girl, though the old gentleman thought nobody would ever find it out. +It had been prophesied to him that if his daughter ever got into any +love-affair he would die a horrible death, and that was why he didn't +want anybody to know about her, and gave out that she was his son.' + +"Traugott stood as if petrified. Then he set off running through the +streets, out at the town-gate to the open country, and on into the +woods, loudly lamenting. + +"'Miserable wretch that I am!' he cried. 'It was she!--it was herself! +I have sate beside her thousands of times; inhaled her breath, pressed +her delicate hands, looked into her beautiful eyes, listened to her +sweet accents! and now she is lost! Ah, no!--lost she is not! After her +to the land of art! The hint of destiny is clear. Away!--away to +Sorrento!' He rushed home. Elias Roos chanced to come in his way. He +seized him, and dragged him into his room. + +"'I'll never marry Christina!' he shouted; 'she's like the Voluptas, +and the Luxuries, and has hair like the Ira, in the picture in the +Artus Hof. Felizitas! beautiful, beloved being! how you stretch out +your longing arms to me! I am coming! I am coming! and I give you fair +warning, Elias,' he continued, once more clutching that man of +business, whose face was as white as a sheet, 'that you'll never see me +in that damned office of yours any more! What the devil do I care for +your infernal ledgers and day-books? I'm a painter--and a good painter +too: Berklinger is my master, my father, my everything; and you are +nothing--and less than nothing!' + +"With this he gave Elias a good shaking, who shouted at the top of his +lungs, 'Help! help, you fellows! Come here! the son-in-law's gone off +his head! My partner's raving! Help! help!' + +"The clerks all came rushing out of the office; Traugott had left Elias +go, and was lying exhausted in a chair. They all came round him; but on +his jumping up suddenly, with a wild look, and crying, 'What the devil +do you want?' they ran jostling out at the door in a heap, with Herr +Elias in the centre. Presently there was a rustling, as of a silk +dress, outside, and a voice inquired: + +"Are you really gone out of your senses, Mr. Traugott, or are you only +joking?' + +"It was Christina. + +"'I'm not a bit wrong in my head, my clear child,' Traugott answered, +'and I'm not joking in the slightest degree. But there'll be no wedding +to-morrow, as far as I am concerned. As to that, my mind's completely +made up. It's impossible that ever I can marry you at all.' + +"'Oh, very well,' said Christina, without the smallest excitement; 'I +haven't been caring so much about you for some time as I used, and +there are people who would think themselves very well off to marry me +if they got the chance. So, adieu.' + +"With which she went rustling out. + +"'She means the book-keeper,' thought Traugott. As he was calm, now, he +betook himself to Herr Roos, to whom he demonstrated circumstantially +that there could not possibly be any further question of him as a +son-in-law, or as a partner either. Herr Elias agreed to everything, +and asseverated, times without number, in the office, with gladness of +heart, that he thanked God he was well rid of the crack-brained +Traugott, when the latter was far away from Dantzic. + +"Life dawned upon Traugott with a fresh and glorious brightness when he +found himself in the longed-for land. The German artists in Rome +admitted him into the circle of their studies, and thus it happened +that he made a longer stay there than his eagerness to see Felizitas, +which had urged him on restlessly till then, wholly justified. But this +longing had become less urgent. It had taken more the form of a +blissful dream whose perfumed shimmer pervaded all his being, so that +he looked upon it, and the exercise of his art, as matters belonging +wholly to the high and holy, super-earthly realm of blissful presage +and anticipation. Every female figure which he painted with his skilful +artist's hand had the face of the beautiful Felizitas. The young +artists were much struck by the beauty of this face, of which they +could not come across the original in Rome; and they besieged Traugott +with questions as to where he had seen her. But he felt a certain +shyness about telling them his strange adventure at Dantzic; till at +length an old friend of his, Matuszewski by name (who, like himself, +had devoted himself to painting in Rome), joyfully announced that he +had seen the girl whom Traugott introduced in all his pictures. +Traugott's joy may be imagined; he no longer made any secret of what it +was that had drawn him so strongly to art and brought him to Italy, and +the artists thought his Dantzic adventure so curious and interesting +that they all undertook to search eagerly for his lost love. +Matuszewski was the most successful; he soon found out where the girl +lived, and learnt, besides, that she really was the daughter of a poor +old painter, who was at that time tinting the walls in the church of +Trinita dell' Monte. Traugott went to that church with Matuszewski, and +thought he actually recognized old Berklinger in the painter, who was +up upon a lofty scaffold. From thence the friends, whom the old man had +not noticed, hurried to where he lived. + +"'It is she!' cried Traugott when he saw the painter's daughter on the +balcony, busy about some woman's work. "With a loud cry of 'Felizitas! +Felizitas!' he burst into the room. The girl looked at him quite +terrified. She had the features of Felizitas, and was excessively like +her, but was not she. This bitter disappointment pierced Traugott's +heart as with a thousand daggers. Matuszewski explained to the girl how +the matter stood, in a few words. She was very lovely in her shyness, +with blushing cheeks and downcast eyes; and Traugott, who at first +wanted to be off immediately, remained where he was (after giving just +another sorrowful look at the pretty young creature), fettered by +gentle bands. Matuszewski managed to say polite and pleasant things to +reassure the pretty Dorina, who soon lifted the dark fringed curtains +of her eyes, and looked at the strangers with smiling glances, saying +her father would soon be home and that he would be delighted to see +German artists, of whom his opinion was high. Traugott could not but +admit that, except Felizitas, no woman had ever made such an impression +on him as Dorina. She was, in fact, almost Felizitas herself, only her +features were a little more strongly marked, and her hair a trifle +darker. It was the same portrait painted by Raphael and by Rubens. The +father came in ere long, and Traugott at once saw that the height of +the scaffold on which he had seen him had deceived him as to his +appearance. Instead of the vigorous Berklinger, this was a little lean, +timid creature, oppressed by poverty. A deceptive cross shadow in the +church had given to his smooth-shaven chin the effect of Berklinger's +black curly beard. He showed great practical knowledge in talking of +his art, and Traugott determined to cultivate an acquaintance which, +painfully as it had commenced, was becoming pleasanter every moment. +Dorina, all sweetness and childlike candour, allowed her liking for the +young German painter to be clearly seen. Traugott returned it heartily, +and soon got so accustomed to be with her that he spent entire days +with the little household, moved his studio to a large empty room near +their house, and at last went and lodged with them altogether. In this +way he greatly improved their slender scale of housekeeping, and the +old man could not think otherwise than that Traugott was going to marry +Dorina. He told him so, one day, plump and plain. Traugott was not a +little alarmed: for he only then began to ask himself what had become +of the object of his journey. Felizitas stood once more vividly before +his memory, and yet he did not feel able to quit Dorina. In some +mysterious way he could not think of ever possessing his vanished love +as a wife. Felizitas seemed a spiritual image, never either to be won, +or lost--eternally present to the spirit--never to be physically gained +and possessed. But Dorina often came to his thoughts as his dear wife. +Sweet thrills permeated him, a gentle glow streamed through his veins. +And yet it seemed a treason to his first love to allow himself to be +bound with new, indissoluble ties. Thus did the most contradictory +feelings strive in his heart. He could not come to a decision. He +avoided the old man carefully, who was under the impression that +Traugott was going to trick him out of his daughter, and took care to +talk everywhere of Traugott's marriage as a settled thing, saying that +otherwise he never would have allowed his daughter to contract an +intimacy so dangerous to her fair fame. One day his Italian blood fired +up, and he told Traugott distinctly that he must either marry Dorina, +or be off about his business, as he could not allow their intimacy to +go on, on its present footing, for another hour. Traugott was vexed and +indignant, and that not with the old man only. His own conduct struck +him as contemptible. It seemed a sin and an abomination to have ever +thought of another than Felizitas. It tore his heart to part from +Dorina, but he broke the tender ties by a mighty effort, and set off as +fast as possible to Naples--to Sorrento. + +"He spent a year in the most careful efforts to discover Berklinger and +Felizitas--in vain; nobody knew anything about them. All that he traced +was a faint sort of surmise--based upon what seemed little more than a +legend--that there had once been an old German painter in Sorrento, +several years before. Driven to and fro as if upon a stormy ocean, +Traugott ended by settling down for some time in Naples; and, as he +worked more diligently at his painting again, the longing for Felizitas +grew gentler and milder in his heart. But he never saw a woman at all +resembling her in figure, walk, or bearing, without feeling the loss of +the dear, sweet child most painfully. When painting, he never thought +of Dorina, but always of Felizitas, who was his constant ideal. + +"At last he got letters from home, in which his agent told him that +Herr Elias Roos had shuffled off this mortal coil, and that his +presence was necessary for the settlement of his affairs with the +book-keeper, who had married Christina, and was carrying on the +business. Traugott hastened back to Dantzic by the quickest route. + +"There he stood once more in the Artus Hof, by the granite pillar, +opposite to the Burgomaster and the Page. He thought of the strange +adventure which had introduced such a painful element into his life; +and, in deep and painful sorrow, he gazed at the lad, who seemed to +welcome him back with eyes of life, and to whisper in sweet and +charming accents, 'You see, you could not leave me, after all!' + +"'Can I believe my eyes? Is it really you, sir, back again safe and +sound, and quite cured of the troublesome melancholy which used to +bother you so?' + +"So croaked a voice beside Traugott. It was our old acquaintance the +broker. + +"'I never found them,' said Traugott involuntarily. + +"'Them?' inquired the broker. 'Whom did you never find, sir?' + +"'The painter, Godfredus Berklinger, and his daughter Felizitas,' +answered Traugott. 'I searched for them all over Italy; nobody knew +anything about them in Sorrento.' + +"The broker looked at him with eyes of wide amazement, and stammered: +'Where did you look for them, sir? In Italy? at Naples? at Sorrento?' + +"'Yes, of course I did,' said Traugott wrathfully. + +"The broker struck his hands together time after time, crying 'Oh, my +goodness gracious! Oh, my goodness gracious! Oh, Mr. Traugott, sir!' + +"'Well! what is there so astonishing about it?' said Traugott. 'Don't +go on like a donkey! For the sake of the woman he loves, a man will go +even as far as to Sorrento. Yes, yes! I loved Felizitas, and I went in +search of her.' + +"But the broker jumped about on one leg, and kept on crying, 'Oh, my +goodness gracious!' till Traugott seized him and held him tight; and +looking at him with earnest glance said: + +"'For God's sake, man, out with what you see so extraordinary about the +affair!' + +"'But, Mr. Traugott,' began the broker at last, 'don't you know that +Herr Aloysius Brandstetter, the town councillor and Dean of Guild, +calls that little villa of his at the bottom of the Karlsberg, in the +fir wood near Conrad's Hammer, "Sorrento"? He bought Berklinger's +pictures, and took him and his daughter to live in his house, that's to +say, in Sorrento. They were there for a year or two, and you might have +stood upon the Karlsberg on your own logs, my dear sir, and looked down +into the garden, and seen Mademoiselle Felizitas walking about in funny +old-fashioned clothes, like those in the pictures there. You needn't +have taken the trouble to go to Italy! Afterwards the old man---- But +that's a painful story.' + +"'Let me hear it,' said Traugott in a hollow voice. + +"'Well,' continued the broker, 'young Mr. Brandstetter came back from +England and fell in love with Mademoiselle Felizitas; and once when he +found her in the garden, he fell romantically on his knees to her and +vowed he would marry her, and free her from the tyrannical slavery her +father kept her in. The old man was close by, though they didn't see +him; and as soon as ever Felizitas said, "I will be yours," he tumbled +down, with a hollow cry, as dead as a herring, sir! They say he looked +awful, all blue and bloody, for he had broken a blood-vessel somehow or +other. After that, Mademoiselle Felizitas couldn't endure young Mr. +Brandstetter, so she married Mr. Mathesius, the police magistrate at +Marienwerder. You'll go and call upon her, of course, for the sake of +old times. Marienwerder isn't quite so far away as Sorrento in Italy. +She's quite well, and very happy, They've got several nice children.' + +"Traugott hastened away, silent and benumbed. This outcome of his +adventure filled him with awe and terror. + +"'Oh no!' he cried. 'This is not she, this is not she--not Felizitas, +the angelic creature who kindled that eternal love and longing in my +soul! whom I went in search of to a far-off country, always and always +seeing her dear image before me like my star of fortune, beaming and +glowing in sweet hope! Felizitas! Mrs. Mathesius, wife of Mathesius, +the police magistrate. Ha! ha! ha! Mrs. Mathesius!' + +"He laughed loud and bitterly in the wildness of his grief; and, as of +old, he went out at the Olivaer Gate and up on to the Karlsberg. He +looked down into the grounds of Sorrento: the tears rolled down his +cheeks. 'Ah!' he cried, 'how deeply, how incurably deeply, thou Eternal +Power that rulest all things, does thy bitter scorn and mockery wound +the tender hearts of poor humanity! But, no, no; why should the child, +who puts his hands into the fire instead of enjoying its warmth and +brightness, complain? Destiny was at work with me, visibly; but my +feeble eyes could not see; and, in my audacity, I thought that creation +of the old master which came so wondrously to life and approached me, +was a thing like myself, and that I could drag it down into this +wretched earthly existence. No, no, Felizitas! I have not lost you. You +are, and shall be, mine for ever, because you are the creative art +which lives within me. It is only now that I really know you. What have +you, what have I, to do with Mrs. Mathesius, the police magistrate's +wife? Nothing, that I can see.' + +"'I couldn't quite see what you had to do with her, either, Mr. +Traugott,' a voice fell in. + +"Traugott awoke from a dream. He found himself, without knowing how, in +the Artus Hof again, leaning on the granite pillar. The person who had +just spoken was Christina's husband. He handed Traugott a letter which +had just arrived from Rome. Matuszewski wrote: + +"'Dorina is prettier and more charming than ever; only rather pale, for +love of you, dear friend. She expects you hourly, for she is certain +you could not desert her. She is really tremendously devoted to you. +When shall we see you here again?' + +"'I'm very glad, indeed,' said Traugott to Christina's husband after +reading this, 'that we managed to settle all our business to-day, for I +start to-morrow for Rome, where the lady I am going to marry is +expecting me eagerly.'" + + +When Cyprian finished reading, the friends congratulated him on the +pleasant, healthy tone which pervaded his story. Only Theodore thought +the fair sex might find a good deal to take exception to in it, and +that not only the blonde Christina with her well scoured pots and pans, +but the mystification of the hero, Mrs. Mathesius the police +magistrate's wife and all the latter part of the story, with its +profound irony, would much displease them. + +"If you are going to model your work," said Lothair, "according +to what pleases women, you must, of course, leave out irony +altogether--although it is the source of the most delicate and +delightful kind of humour--because they have not, as a general rule, +the smallest sense of it." + +"Which I, for one, am thoroughly glad is the case," said Theodore. +"You'll admit that humour, which, in us, takes its source in striking +contrasts, is quite foreign to feminine nature. And we are vividly +conscious of this, though we may not often clearly account to ourselves +for it. For, tell me, though you may take pleasure for a time in the +conversation of a witty and humorous woman, would you like her as a +sweetheart or a wife?" + +"Not at all," said Lothair, "although there is a great deal to be said +on the extensive question of how far humour is a feminine quality or +otherwise; and I hereby reserve the privilege of hereafter addressing +my worthy Serapion Brethren, at a suitable opportunity, on this +important question, with a fulness and wisdom with which no +psychologist has as yet discussed it. But, as a general query, let me +ask you, Theodore, if you consider it essentially necessary to think of +every superior woman, with whom one may have a little rational +conversation, in the light of a sweetheart or wife?" + +"I think," said Theodore, "that any feminine being can only really +interest one if one, at all events, does not shrink from the idea of +her as a sweetheart or wife, and that, the more this idea finds +comfortable room in one's mind, the greater is the interest." + +"That," said Ottmar, laughing, "is one of Theodore's most daring +theories, which I know well of old. He has always acted up to it, and +often coolly turned his back upon many a charming creature, because he +couldn't manage to fancy himself in love with her for an hour or two. +Even as a dancing student, he used to declare, earnestly, that he gave +his heart to every girl he danced with, at all events while the waltz +or quadrille lasted; and he used to try to express in his 'steps' what +his lips were forbidden to utter, and sigh as profoundly as his stock +of breath would let him." + +"Allow me," said Theodore, "to interrupt this un-Serapiontish +conversation. It is late; and I should be sorry not to read you, +to-night, a tale which I finished yesterday. The spirit moved me to +treat, rather more fully than has been done previously, a well-known +_thema_ concerning a miner at Falun; and you must decide whether I have +done well to yield to the spirit's prompting, or not. I have had to +keep my colouring down to a melancholy tone, which may perhaps contrast +unfavourably with Cyprian's more cheerful picture. Forgive me this, and +lend me a favourable ear." + +Theodore read:-- + + "THE MINES OF FALUN. + +"One bright, sunny day in July the whole population of Goethaborg was +assembled at the harbour. A fine East-Indiaman, happily returned from +her long voyage, was lying at anchor, with her long, homeward-bound +pennant, and the Swedish flag fluttering gaily in the azure sky. +Hundreds of boats, skiffs, and other small craft, thronged with +rejoicing seafolk, were going to and fro on the mirroring waters of the +Goethaelf, and the cannon of Masthuggetorg thundered their far-echoing +greeting out to sea. The gentlemen of the East-India Company were +walking up and down on the quay, reckoning up, with smiling faces, the +plentiful profits they had netted, and rejoicing their hearts at the +yearly increasing success of their hazardous enterprise, and at the +growing commercial importance of their good town of Goethaborg. For the +same reasons everybody looked at these brave adventurers with pleasure +and pride, and shared their rejoicing; for their success brought sap +and vigour into the whole life of the place. + +"The crew of the East-Indiaman, about a hundred strong, landed in a +number of boats (gaily dressed with flags for the occasion) and +prepared to hold their 'Hoensning.' That is the name of the feast which +the sailors hold on such occasions; it often goes on for several days. +Musicians went before them, in strange, gay dresses, playing lustily on +violins, oboes, fifes and drums, whilst others sung merry songs; after +them came the crew, walking two and two; some, with gay ribbons on +their hats and jackets, waved fluttering streamers; others danced and +skipped; and all of them shouted and cheered at the tops of their +voices, till the sounds of merriment rang far and wide. + +"Thus the gay procession passed through the streets, and on to the Haga +suburb, where a feast of eating and drinking was ready for them in a +tavern. + +"Here the best of 'Oel' flowed in rivers and bumper after bumper was +quaffed. Numbers of women joined them, as is always the case when +sailors come home from a long voyage; dancing began, and wilder and +wilder grew the revel, and louder and louder the din. + +"One sailor only--a slender, handsome lad of about twenty, or scarcely +so much--had slipped away from the revel, and was sitting alone +outside, on the bench at the door of the tavern. + +"Two or three of his shipmates came out to him, and cried, laughing +loudly: + +"'Now then, Elis Froebom! are you going to be a donkey, as usual, and +sit out here in the sulks, instead of joining the sport like a man? +Why, you might as well part company from the old ship altogether, and +set sail on your own hook, as fight shy of the "Hoensning." One would +think you were a regular long-shore land-lubber, and had never been +afloat on blue water. All the same, you've got as good pluck as any +sailor that walks a deck--ay, and as cool and steady a head in a gale +of wind as ever I came athwart; but, you see, you can't take your +liquor! You'd sooner keep the ducats in your pocket than serve them out +to the land-sharks ashore here. There, lad! take a drink of that; or +Naecken, the sea-devil, and all the Troll will be foul of your hawse +before you know where you are!' + +"Elis Froebom jumped up quickly from the bench; glared angrily at +his shipmates; took the tumbler--which was filled to the brim with +brandy--and emptied it at a draught; then he said: + +"'You see I can take my glass with any man of you, Ivens; and you can +ask the captain if I'm a good sailor-man, or not; so stow away that +long tongue of yours, and sheer off! I don't care about all this drink +and row here; and what I'm doing out here by myself is no business of +yours; you have nothing to do with it.' + +"'All right, my hearty!' answered Ivens. 'I know all about it. You're +one of these Nerica men--and a moony lot the whole cargo of them are +too. They're the sort of chaps that would rather sit and pipe their eye +about nothing particular, than take a good glass, and see what the +pretty lasses at home are made of, after a twelve-month's cruize! But +just you belay there a bit. Steer full and bye, and stand off and on, +and I'll send somebody out to you that'll cut you adrift, in a pig's +whisper, from that old bench where you've cast your anchor.' + +"They went; and presently a very pretty, rather refined-looking girl +came out of the tavern, and sat down beside the melancholy Elis, who +was still sitting, silent and thoughtful, on the bench. From her dress +and general appearance there could be no doubt as to her terrible +calling. But the life she was leading had not yet quite marred the +delicacy of the wonderfully tender features of her beautiful face; +there was no trace of repulsive boldness about the expression of her +dark eyes--rather a quiet, melancholy longing. + +"'Aren't you coming to join your shipmates, Elis?' she said. 'Now that +you're back safe and sound, after all you've gone through on your long +voyage, aren't you glad to be home in the old country again?' + +"The girl spoke in a soft, gentle voice, putting her arms about him. +Elis Froebom looked into her eyes, as if roused from a dream. He took +her hand; he pressed her to his breast. It was evident that what she +had said had made its way to his heart. + +"'Ah!' he said, as if collecting his thoughts, 'it's no use talking +about my enjoying myself. I can't join in all that riot and uproar; +there's no pleasure in it, for me. You go away, my dear child! Sing and +shout like the rest of them, if you can, and let the gloomy, melancholy +Elis stay out here by himself; he would only spoil your pleasure. Wait +a minute, though! I like you, and I should wish you to think of me +sometimes, when I'm away on the sea again.' + +"With that he took two shining ducats out of his pocket, and a +beautiful Indian handkerchief from his breast, and gave them to the +girl. But her eyes streamed with tears; she rose, laid the money on the +bench, and said: + +"'Oh, keep your ducats; they only make me miserable; but I'll wear the +handkerchief in dear remembrance of you. You're not likely to find me +next year when you hold your Hoensning in the Haga.' + +"And she crept slowly away down the street, with her hands pressed to +her face. + +"Elis fell back into his gloomy reveries. At length, as the uproar in +the tavern grew loud and wild, he cried: + +"'Oh, that I were lying deep, deep beneath the sea! for there's nobody +left in the wide, wide world that I can be happy with now!' + +"A deep, harsh voice spoke, close behind him: 'You must have been most +unfortunate, youngster, to wish to die, just when life should be +opening before you.' + +"Elis looked round, and saw an old miner standing leaning against the +boarded wall of the tavern, with folded arms, looking down at him with +a grave, penetrating glance. + +"As Elis looked at him, a feeling came to him as if some familiar +figure had suddenly come into the deep, wild solitude in which he had +thought himself lost. He pulled himself together, and told the old +miner that his father had been a stout sailor, but had perished in the +storm from which he himself had been saved as by a miracle; that his +two soldier brothers had died in battle, and he had supported his +mother with the liberal pay he drew for sailing to the East Indies. He +said he had been obliged to follow the life of a sailor, having been +brought up to it from childhood, and it had been a great piece of good +fortune that he got into the service of the East-India Company. This +voyage, the profits had been greater than usual, and each of the crew +had been given a sum of money over and above his pay; so that he had +hastened, in the highest spirits, with his pockets full of ducats, to +the little cottage where his mother lived. But strange faces looked at +him from the windows, and a young woman who opened the door to him at +last told him, in a cold, harsh tone, that his mother had died three +months before, and that he would find the few bits of things that were +left, after paying the funeral expenses, waiting for him at the Town +Hall. The death of his mother broke his heart. He felt alone in the +world--as much so as if he had been wrecked on some lonely reef, +helpless and miserable. All his life at sea seemed to him to have been +a mistaken, purposeless driving. And when he thought of his mother, +perhaps badly looked after by strangers, he thought it a wrong and +horrible thing that he should have gone to sea at all, instead of +staying at home and taking proper care of her. His comrades had dragged +him to the Hoensning in spite of himself, and he had thought, too, that +the uproar, and even the drink, might have deadened his pain; but +instead of that, all the veins in his breast seemed to be bursting, and +he felt as if he must bleed to death. + +"'Well,' said the old miner, 'you'll soon be off to sea again, Elis, +and then your sorrow will soon be over. Old folks must die; there's no +help for that: she has only gone from this miserable world to a +better.' + +"Ah!' said Elis, 'it is just because nobody believes in my sorrow, and +that they all think me a fool to feel it--I say it's that which is +driving me out of the world! I shan't go to sea any more; I'm sick of +existence altogether. When the ship used to go flying along through the +water, with all sail set, spreading like glorious wings, the waves +playing and dashing in exquisite music, and the wind singing in the +rigging, my heart used to bound. Then I could hurrah and shout on deck +like the best of them. And when I was on look-out duty of dark, quiet +nights, I used to think about getting home, and how glad my dear old +mother would be to have me back. I could enjoy a Hoensning like the +rest of them, then. And when I had shaken the ducats into mother's lap, +and given her the handkerchiefs and all the other pretty things I had +brought home, her eyes would sparkle with pleasure, and she would clap +her hands for joy, and run out and in, and fetch me the "Aehl" which +she had kept for my homecoming. And when I sat with her of an evening, +I would tell her of all the strange folks I had seen, and their ways +and customs, and about the wonderful things I had come across in my +long voyages. This delighted her; and she would tell me of my father's +wonderful cruizes in the far North, and serve me up lots of strange, +sailor's yarns, which I had heard a hundred times, but never could hear +too often. Ah! who will give me that happiness back again? No, no! +never more on land!--never more at sea! What should I do among my +shipmates? They would only laugh at me. Where should I find any heart +for my work? It would be nothing but an objectless striving.' + +"It gives me real satisfaction to listen to you, youngster,' said the +old miner. 'I have been observing you, without your knowledge, for the +last hour or two, and have had my own enjoyment in so doing. All that +you have said and done has shown me that you possess a profoundly +thoughtful mind, and a character and nature pious, simple, and sincere. +Heaven could have given you no more precious gifts; but you were never +in all your born days in the least cut out for a sailor. How should the +wild, unsettled sailor's life suit a meditative, melancholy Neriker +like you?--for I can see that you come from Nerica by your features, +and whole appearance. You are right to say good-bye to that life for +ever. But you're not going to walk about idle, with your hands in your +pockets? Take my advice, Elis Froebom. Go to Falun, and be a miner. You +are young and strong. You'll soon be a first-class pick-hand; then a +hewer; presently a surveyor, and so get higher and higher. You have a +lot of ducats in your pocket. Take care of them; invest them; add more +to them. Very likely you'll soon get a "Hemmans" of your own, and then +a share in the works. Take my advice, Elis Froebom; be a miner.' + +"The old man's words caused him a sort of fear. + +"'What?' he cried. 'Would you have me leave the bright, sunny sky that +revives and refreshes me, and go down into that dreadful, hell-like +abyss, and dig and tunnel like a mole for metals and ores, merely to +gain a few wretched ducats? Oh, never!' + +"'The usual thing,' said the old man. 'People despise what they have +had no chance of knowing anything about! As if all the constant +wearing, petty anxieties inseparable from business up here on the +surface, were nobler than the miner's work. To his skill, knowledge, +and untiring industry Nature lays bare her most secret treasures. You +speak of gain with contempt, Elis Froebom. Well, there's something +infinitely higher in question here, perhaps: the mole tunnels the +ground from blind instinct; but, it may be, in the deepest depths, by +the pale glimmer of the mine candle, men's eyes get to see clearer, and +at length, growing stronger and stronger, acquire the power of reading +in the stones, the gems, and the minerals, the mirroring of secrets +which are hidden above the clouds. You know nothing about mining, Elis. +Let me tell you a little.' + +"He sat down on the bench beside Elis, and began to describe the +various processes minutely, placing all the details before him in the +clearest and brightest colours. He talked of the Mines of Falun, in +which he said he had worked since he was a boy; he described the great +main-shaft, with its dark brown sides; he told how incalculably rich +the mine was in gems of the finest water. More and more vivid grew his +words, more and more glowing his face. He went, in his description, +through the different shafts as if they had been the alleys of some +enchanted garden. The jewels came to life, the fossils began to move; +the wondrous Pyrosmalite and the Almandine flashed in the light of the +miner's candles; the Rock-Crystals glittered, and darted their rays. + +"Elis listened intently. The old man's strange way of speaking of all +these subterranean marvels as if he were standing in the midst of them, +impressed him deeply. His breast felt stifled; it seemed to him as if +he were already down in these depths with the old man, and would never +more look upon the friendly light of day. And yet it seemed as though +the old man were opening to him a new and unknown world, to which he +really properly belonged, and that he had somehow felt all the magic of +that world, in mystic forebodings, since his boyhood. + +"Elis Froebom,' said the old man at length, 'I have laid before you all +the glories of a calling for which Nature really destined you. Think +the subject well over with yourself, and then act as your better +judgment counsels you.' + +"He rose quickly from the bench, and strode away without any good-bye +to Elis, without looking at him even. Soon he disappeared from his +sight. + +"Meanwhile quietness had set in in the tavern. The strong 'Aehl' and +brandy had got the upper hand. Many of the sailors had gone away with +the girls; others were lying snoring in corners. Elis--who could go no +more to his old home--asked for, and was given, a little room to sleep +in. + +"Scarcely had he thrown himself, worn and weary as he was, upon his +bed, when dreams began to wave their pinions over him. He thought he +was sailing in a beautiful vessel on a sea calm and clear as a mirror, +with a dark, cloudy sky vaulted overhead. But when he looked down into +the sea he presently saw that what he had thought was water was a firm, +transparent, sparkling substance, in the shimmer of which the ship, in +a wonderful manner, melted away, so that he found himself standing upon +this floor of crystal, with a vault of black rock above him, for that +was rock which he had taken at first for clouds. Impelled by some power +unknown to him he stepped onwards, but, at that moment, every thing +around him began to move, and wonderful plants and flowers, of +glittering metal, came shooting up out of the crystal mass he was +standing on, and entwined their leaves and blossoms in the loveliest +manner. The crystal floor was so transparent that Elis could distinctly +see the roots of these plants. But soon, as his glance penetrated +deeper and deeper, he saw, far, far down in the depths, innumerable +beautiful maidens, holding each other embraced with white, gleaming +arms; and it was from their hearts that the roots, plants, and flowers +were growing. And when these maidens smiled, a sweet sound rang all +through the vault above, and the wonderful metal-flowers shot up +higher, and waved their leaves and branches in joy. An indescribable +sense of rapture came upon the lad; a world of love and passionate +longing awoke in his heart. + +"'Down, down to you!' he cried, and threw himself with outstretched +arras down upon the crystal ground. But it gave way under him, and he +seemed to be floating in shimmering aether. + +"'Ha! Elis Froebom; what think you of this world of glory?' a strong +voice cried. It was the old miner. But as Elis looked at him, he seemed +to expand into gigantic size, and to be made of glowing metal. Elis was +beginning to be terrified; but a brilliant light came darting, like a +sudden lightning-flash, out of the depths of the abyss, and the earnest +face of a grand, majestic woman appeared. Elis felt the rapture of his +heart swelling and swelling into destroying pain. The old man had hold +of him, and cried: + +"'Take care, Elis Froebom! That is the queen. You may look up now.' + +"He turned his head involuntarily, and saw the stars of the night sky +shining through a cleft in the vault overhead. A gentle voice called +his name as if in inconsolable sorrow. It was his mother's. He thought +he saw her form up at the cleft. But it was a young and beautiful woman +who was calling him, and stretching her hands down into the vault. + +"'Take me up!' he cried to the old man. I tell you I belong to the +upper world, and its familiar, friendly sky.' + +"'Take care, Froebom,' said the old man solemnly; 'be faithful to the +queen, whom you have devoted yourself to.' + +"But now, when he looked down again into the immobile face of the +majestic woman, he felt that his personality dissolved away into +glowing molten stone. He screamed aloud, in nameless fear, and awoke +from this dream of wonder, whose rapture and terror echoed deep within +his being. + +"'I suppose I could scarcely help dreaming all this extraordinary +stuff,' he said to himself, as he collected his senses with difficulty; +'the old miner told me so much about the glories of the subterranean +world that of course my head's quite full of it. But I never in my life +felt as I do now. Perhaps I'm dreaming still. No, no; I suppose I +must be a little out of sorts. Let's get into the open air. The fresh +sea-breeze'll soon set me all right.' + +"He pulled himself together, and ran to the Klippa Haven, where the +uproar of the Hoensning was breaking out again. But he soon found that +all enjoyment passed him by, that he couldn't hold any thought fast in +his mind, that presages and wishes, to which he could give no name, +went crossing each other in his mind. He thought of his dead mother +with the bitterest sorrow; but then, again, it seemed to him that what +he most longed for was to see that girl again--the one whom he gave the +handkerchief to--who had spoken so nicely to him the evening before. +And yet he was afraid that if she were to come meeting him out of some +street she would turn out to be the old miner in the end. And he was +afraid of _him_; though, at the same time, he would have liked to hear +more from him of the wonders of the mine. + +"Driven hither and thither by all these fancies, he looked down into +the water, and then he thought he saw the silver ripples hardening into +the sparkling glimmer in which the grand ships melted away, while the +dark clouds, which were beginning to gather and obscure the blue sky, +seemed to sink down and thicken into a vault of rock. He was in his +dream again, gazing into the immobile face of the majestic woman, and +the devouring pain of passionate longing took possession of him as +before. + +"His shipmates roused him from his reverie to go and join one of their +processions, but an unknown voice seemed to whisper in his ear: + +"'What are you doing here? Away, away! Your home is in the Mines of +Falun. There all the glories which you saw in your dream are waiting +for you. Away, away to Falun!' + +"For three days Elis hung and loitered about the streets of Goethaborg, +constantly haunted by the wonderful imagery of his dream, continually +urged by the unknown voice. On the fourth day he was standing at the +gate through which the road to Gefle goes, when a tall man walked +through it, passing him. Elis fancied he recognized in this man the old +miner, and he hastened on after him, but could not overtake him. + +"He followed him on and on, without stopping. + +"He knew he was on the road to Falun, and this circumstance quieted him +in a curious way; for he felt certain that the voice of destiny had +spoken to him through the old miner, and that it was he who was now +leading him on to his appointed place and fate. + +"And, in fact, he many times--particularly if there was any uncertainty +about the road--saw the old man suddenly appear out of some ravine, or +from thick bushes, or gloomy rocks, stalk away before him, without +looking round, and then disappear again. + +"At last, after journeying for many weary days, Elis saw, in the +distance, two great lakes, with a thick vapour rising between them. As +he mounted the hill to westward, he saw some towers and black roofs +rising through the smoke. The old man appeared before him, grown to +gigantic size, pointed with outstretched hand towards the vapour, and +disappeared again amongst the rocks. + +"'There lies Falun,' said Elis, 'the end of my journey.' + +"He was right; for people, coming up from behind him, said the town of +Falun lay between the lakes Runn and Warpann, and that the hill he was +ascending was the Guffrisberg, where the main-shaft of the mine was. + +"He went bravely on. But when he came to the enormous gulf, like the +jaws of hell itself, the blood curdled in his veins, and he stood as if +turned to stone at the sight of this colossal work of destruction. + +"The main-shaft of the Falun mines is some twelve hundred feet long, +six hundred feet broad, and a hundred and eighty feet deep. Its dark +brown sides go, at first for the most part, perpendicularly down, till +about half way they are sloped inwards towards the centre by enormous +accumulations of stones and refuse. In these, and on the sides, there +peeped out here and there timberings of old shafts, formed of strong +shores set close together and strongly rabbeted at the ends, in the way +that blockhouses are built. Not a tree, not a blade of grass to be seen +in all the bare, blank, crumbling congeries of stony chasms; the +pointed, jagged, indented masses of rock tower aloft all round in +wonderful forms, often like monstrous animals turned to stone, often +like colossal human beings. In the abyss itself lie, in wild +confusion--pell-mell stones, slag, and scoria, and an eternal, +stupefying sulphury vapour rises from the depths, as if the hell-broth, +whose reek poisons and kills all the green gladsomeness of nature, were +being brewed down below. One would think this was where Dante went down +and saw the Inferno, with all its horror and immitigable pain. + +"As Elis looked down into this monstrous abyss, he remembered what an +old sailor, one of his shipmates, had told him once. This shipmate of +his, at a time when he was down with fever, thought the sea had +suddenly all gone dry, and the boundless depths of the abyss had opened +under him, so that he saw all the horrible creatures of the deep +twining and writhing about amongst thousands of extraordinary shells, +and groves of coral, in dreadful contortions, till they died, and lay +dead, with their mouths all gaping. The old sailor said that to see +such a vision meant death, ere long, in the waves; and in fact he did +very soon after fall overboard, no one knew exactly how, and was +drowned without possibility of rescue. Elis thought of that: for indeed +the abyss seemed to him to be a good deal like the bottom of the sea +run dry; and the black rocks, and the blue and red slag and scoria, +were like horrible monsters shooting out polype-arms at him. Two or +three miners happened, just then, to be coming up from work in the +mine, and in their dark mining clothes, with their black, grimy faces, +they were much like ugly, diabolical creatures of some sort, slowly and +painfully crawling, and forcing their way up to the surface. + +"Elis felt a shudder of dread go through him, and--what he had never +experienced in all his career as a sailor--his head got giddy. Unseen +hands seemed to be dragging him down into the abyss. + +"He closed his eyes and ran a few steps away from it; and it was not +till he began climbing up the Guffrisberg again, far from the shaft, +and could look up at the bright, sunny sky, that he quite lost the +feeling of terror which had taken possession of him. He breathed freely +once more, and cried, from the depths of his heart: + +"'Lord of my Life! what are the dangers of the sea compared with the +horror which dwells in that awful abyss of rock? The storm may rage, +the black clouds may come whirling down upon the breaking billows, but +the beautiful, glorious sun soon gets the mastery again, and the storm +is past. But never does the sun penetrate into these black, gloomy +caverns; never a freshening breeze of spring can revive the heart down +there. No! I shall not join you, black earthworms that you are! Never +could I bring myself to lead that terrible life.' + +"He resolved to spend that night in Falun, and set off back to +Goethaborg the first thing in the morning. + +"When he got to the market-place, he found a crowd of people there. A +train of miners with their mine-candles in their hands, and musicians +before them, was halted before a handsome house. A tall, slightly-built +man, of middle age, came out, looking round him with kindly smiles. It +was easy to see, by his frank manner, his open brow, and his bright, +dark-blue eyes, that he was a genuine Dalkarl. The miners formed a +circle round him, and he shook them each cordially by the hand, saying +kindly words to them all. + +"Elis learned that this was Pehrson Dahlsjoe, Alderman, and owner of a +fine 'Fraelse' at Stora-Kopparberg. 'Fraelse' is the name given in +Sweden to landed property leased out for the working of the lodes of +copper and silver contained in it. The owners of these lands have +shares in the mines and are responsible for their management. + +"Elis was told, further, that the Assizes were just over that day, and +that then the miners went round in procession to the houses of the +aldermen, the chief engineers and the minemasters, and were hospitably +entertained. + +"When he looked at these fine, handsome fellows, with their kindly, +frank faces, he forgot all about the earthworms he had seen coming up +the shaft. The healthy gladsomeness which broke out afresh in the whole +circle, as if new-fanned by a spring breeze, when Pehrson Dahlsjoe came +out, was of a different kidney to the senseless noise and uproar of the +sailors' Hoensning. The manner in which these miners enjoyed themselves +went straight to the serious Elis's heart. He felt indescribably happy; +but he could scarce restrain his tears when some of the young pickmen +sang an ancient ditty in praise of the miner's calling, and of the +happiness of his lot, to a simple melody which touched his heart and +soul. + +"When this song was ended, Pehrson Dahlsjoe opened his door, and the +miners all went into his house one after another. Elis followed +involuntarily, and stood at the threshold, so that he overlooked the +spacious floor, where the miners took their places on benches. Then the +doors at the side opposite to him opened, and a beautiful young lady, +in evening dress, came in. She was in the full glory of the freshest +bloom of youth, tall and slight, with dark hair in many curls, and a +bodice fastened with rich clasps. The miners all stood up, and a low +murmur of pleasure ran through their ranks. "Ulla Dahlsjoe!" they said. +"What a blessing Heaven has bestowed on our hearty alderman in her!" +Even the oldest miners' eyes sparkled when she gave them her hand in +kindly greeting, as she did to them all. Then she brought beautiful +silver tankards, filled them with splendid Aehl (such as Falun is +famous for), and handed them to the guests with a face beaming with +kindness and hospitality. + +"When Elis saw her a lightning flash seemed to go through his heart, +kindling all the heavenly bliss, the love-longings, the passionate +ardour lying hidden and imprisoned there. For it was Ulla Dahlsjoe who +had held out the hand of rescue to him in his mysterious dream. He +thought he understood, now, the deep significance of that dream, and, +forgetting the old miner, praised the stroke of fortune which had +brought him to Falun. + +"Alas! he felt he was but an unknown, unnoticed stranger, standing +there on the doorstep miserable, comfortless, alone--and he wished he +had died before he saw Ulla, as he now must perish for love and +longing. He could not move his eyes from the beautiful creature, and, +as she passed close to him, he pronounced her name in a low, trembling +voice. She turned, and saw him standing there with a face as red as +fire, unable to utter a syllable. So she went up to him, and said, with +a sweet smile: + +"'I suppose you are a stranger, friend, as you are dressed as a sailor. +Well! why are you standing at the door? Come in and join us." + +"Elis felt as if in the blissful paradise of some happy dream, from +which he would presently waken to inexpressible wretchedness. He +emptied the tankard which she had given him; and Pehrson Dahlsjoe came +up, and, after kindly shaking hands with him, asked him where he came +from, and what had brought him to Falun. + +"Elis felt the warming power of the noble liquor in his veins, and, +looking the hearty Dahlsjoe in the eyes, he felt happy and courageous. +He told him he was a sailor's son and had been at sea since his +childhood, had just come home from the East Indies and found his mother +dead; that he was now alone in the world; that the wild sea life had +become altogether distasteful to him; that his keenest inclination led +him to a miner's calling, and that he wished to get employment as a +miner here in Falun. The latter statement, quite the reverse of his +recent determination, escaped him involuntarily; it was as if he could +not have said anything else to the alderman, nay as if it were the most +ardent desire of his soul, although he had not known it till now, +himself. + +"Pehrson Dahlsjoe looked at him long and carefully, as if he would read +his heart; then he said: + +"'I cannot suppose, Elis Froebom, that it is mere thoughtless +fickleness and the love of change that lead you to give up the calling +you have followed hitherto, nor that you have omitted to maturely weigh +and consider all the difficulties and hardships of the miner's life +before making up your mind to take to it. It is an old belief with us +that the mighty elements with which the miner has to deal, and which he +controls so bravely, destroy him unless he strains all his being to +keep command of them--if he gives place to other thoughts which weaken +that vigour which he has to reserve wholly for his constant conflict +with Earth and Fire. But if you have properly tested the sincerity of +your inward call, and it has withstood the trial, you are come in a +good hour. Workmen are wanted in my part of the mine. If you like, you +can stay here with me, from now, and to-morrow the Captain will take +you down with him, and show you what to set about.' + +"Elis's heart swelled with gladness at this. He thought no more of the +terror of the awful, hell-like abyss into which he had looked. The +thought that he was going to see Ulla every day, and live under the +same roof with her, filled him with rapture and delight. He gave way to +the sweetest hopes. + +"Pehrson Dahlsjoe told the miners that a young hand had applied for +employment, and presented him to them then and there. They all looked +approvingly at the well-knit lad, and thought he was quite cut out for +a miner, as regarded his light, powerful figure, having no doubt that +he would not fail in industry and straightforwardness, either. + +"One of the men, well advanced in years, came and shook hands with him +cordially, saying he was Head-Captain in Pehrson Dahlsjoe's part of the +mine, and would be very glad to give him any help and instruction in +his power. Elis had to sit down beside this man, who at once began, +over his tankard of Aehl, to describe with much minuteness the sort of +work which Elis would have to commence with. + +"Elis remembered the old miner whom he had seen at Goethaborg, and, +strangely enough, found he was able to repeat nearly all that he had +told him. + +"'Ay,' cried the Head-Captain. 'Where can you have learned all that? +It's most surprising! There can't be a doubt that you will be the +finest pickman in the mine in a very short time.' + +"Ulla--going backwards and forwards amongst the guests and attending to +them--often nodded kindly to Elis, and told him to be sure and enjoy +himself. 'You're not a stranger now, you know,' she said, 'but one of +the household. You have nothing more to do with the treacherous sea the +rich mines of Falun are your home.' + +"A heaven of bliss and rapture dawned upon Elis at these words of +Ulla's. It was evident that she liked to be near him; and Pehrson +Dahlsjoe watched his quiet earnestness of character with manifest +approval. + +"But Elis's heart beat violently when he stood again by the reeking +hell-mouth, and went down the mine with the Captain, in his miner's +clothes, with the heavy, iron-shod Dalkarl shoes on his feet. Hot +vapours soon threatened to suffocate him; and then, presently, the +candles flickered in the cutting draughts of cold air that blew in the +lower levels. They went down deeper and deeper, on iron ladders at last +scarcely a foot wide; and Elis found that his sailor's adroitness at +climbing was not of the slightest service to him there. + +"They got to the lowest depths of the mine at last, and the Captain +showed him what work he was to set about. + +"Elis thought of Ulla. Like some bright angel he saw her hovering over +him, and he forgot all the terror of the abyss, and the hardness of the +toilsome labour. + +"It was clear in all his thoughts that it was only if he devoted +himself with all the power of his mind, and with all the exertion which +his body would endure, to mining work here with Pehrson Dahlsjoe, that +there was any possibility of his fondest hopes being some day realized. +Wherefore it came about that he was as good at his work as the most +practised hand, in an incredibly short space of time. + +"Staunch Pehrson Dahlsjoe got to like this good, industrious lad +better and better every day, and often told him plainly that he +had found in him one whom he regarded as a dear son, as well as a +first-class mine-hand. Also Ulla's regard for him became more and more +unmistakeable. Often, when he was going to his work, and there was any +prospect of danger, she would enjoin him to be sure to take care of +himself, with tears in her eyes. And she would come running to meet him +when he came back, and always had the finest of Aehl, or some other +refreshment, ready for him. His heart danced for joy one day when +Pehrson said to him that as he had brought a good sum of money with +him, there could be no doubt that--with his habits of economy and +industry--he would soon have a 'Hemmans,' or perhaps even a 'Fraelse'; +and then not a mineowner in all Falun would say him nay if he asked for +his daughter. Fain would Elis have told him at once how unspeakably he +loved Ulla, and how all his hopes of happiness were based upon her. +But unconquerable shyness, and the doubt whether Ulla really liked +him--though he often thought she did--sealed his lips. + +"One day it chanced that Elis was at work in the lowest depths of the +mine, shrouded in thick, sulphurous vapour, so that his candle only +shed a feeble glimmer, and he could scarcely distinguish the run of the +lode. Suddenly he heard--as if coming from some still deeper cutting--a +knocking resounding, as if somebody was at work with a pick-hammer. As +that sort of work was scarcely possible at such a depth, and as he knew +nobody was down there that day but himself--because the Captain had got +all the men employed in another part of the mine--this knocking and +hammering struck him as strange and uncanny. He stopped working, and +listened to the hollow sounds, which seemed to come nearer and nearer. +All at once he saw, close by him, a black shadow and--as a keen draught +of air blew away the sulphur vapour--the old miner whom he had seen in +Goethaborg. + +"'Good luck,' he cried, 'good luck to Elis Froebom, down here among the +stones! What think you of the life, comrade?' + +"Elis would fain have asked in what wonderful way the old man had got +into the mine; but he kept striking his hammer on the rocks with such +force that the fire-sparks went whirling all round, and the mine rang +as if with distant thunder. Then he cried, in a terrible voice: + +"'There's a grand run of trap just here; but a scurvy, ignorant +scoundrel like you sees nothing in it but a narrow streak of 'Trumm' +not worth a beanstalk. Down here you're a sightless mole, and you'll +always be a mere abomination to the Metal Prince. You're of no use up +above either--trying to get hold of the pure Regulus; which you never +will--hey! You want to marry Pehrson Dahlsjoe's daughter; that's what +you've taken to mine work for, not from any love of your own for the +thing. Mind what you're after, double-face; take care that the Metal +Prince, whom you are trying to deceive, doesn't take you and dash you +down so that the sharp rocks tear you limb from limb. And Ulla will +never be your wife; that much I tell you.' + +"Elis's anger was kindled at the old man's insulting words. + +"'What are you about,' he cried, 'here in my master, Herr Pehrson +Dahlsjoe's shaft, where I am doing my duty, and working as hard at it +as I can? Be off out of this the way you came, or we'll see which of us +two will dash the other's brains out down here.' + +"With which he placed himself in a threatening attitude, and swung his +hammer about the old man's ears; who only gave a sneering laugh, and +Elis saw with terror how he swarmed up the narrow ladder rungs like a +squirrel, and disappeared amongst the black labyrinths of the chasms. + +"The young man felt paralyzed in all his limbs; he could not go on with +his work, but went up. When the old Head-Captain--who had been busy in +another part of the mine--saw him, he cried: + +"'For God's sake, Elis, what has happened to you? You're as pale as +death. I suppose it's the sulphur gas; you're not accustomed to it yet. +Here, take a drink, my lad; that'll do you good.' + +"Elis took a good mouthful of brandy out of the flask which the +Head-Captain handed to him; and then, feeling better, told him what had +happened down in the mine, as also how he had made the uncanny old +miner's acquaintance in Goethaborg. + +"The Head-Captain listened silently; then dubiously shook his head and +said: + +"'That must have been old Torbern that you met with, Elis; and I see, +now, that there really is something in the tales that people tell about +him. More than one hundred years ago, there was a miner here of the +name of Torbern. He seems to have been one of the first to bring mining +into a flourishing condition at Falun here, and in his time the profits +far exceeded anything that we know of now. Nobody at that time knew so +much about mining as Torbern, who had great scientific skill, and +thoroughly understood all the ins and outs of the business. The +richest lodes seemed to disclose themselves to him, as if he had +been endowed with higher powers peculiar to himself; and as he was a +gloomy, meditative man, without wife or child--with no regular home, +indeed--and very seldom came up to the surface, it couldn't fail that a +story soon went about that he was in compact with the mysterious power +which dwells in the bowels of the earth, and fuses the metals. +Disregarding Torbern's solemn warnings--for he always prophesied that +some calamity would happen as soon as the miners' impulse to work +ceased to be sincere love for the marvellous metals and ores--people +went on enlarging the excavations more and more for the sake of mere +profit, till, on St. John's Day of the year 1678, came the terrible +landslip and subsidence which formed our present enormous main-shaft, +laying waste the whole of the works, as they were then, in the process. +It was only after many months' labour that several of the shafts were, +with much difficulty, got into workable order again. Nothing was seen +or heard of Torbern. There seemed to be no doubt that he had been at +work down below at the time of the catastrophe, so that there could be +no question what his fate had been. But not long after, and +particularly when the work was beginning to go on better again, the +miners said they had seen old Torbern in the mine, and that he had +given them valuable advice, and pointed out rich lodes to them. Others +had come across him at the top of the main-shaft, walking round it, +sometimes lamenting, sometimes shouting in wild anger. Other young +fellows have come here in the way you yourself did, saying that an old +miner had advised them to take to mining, and shewn them the way to +Falun. This always happened when there was a scarcity of hands; very +likely it was Torbern's way of helping on the cause. But if it really +was he whom you had those words with in the mine, and if he spoke of a +fine run of trap, there isn't a doubt that there must be a grand vein +of ore thereabouts, and we must see, to-morrow, if we can come across +it. Of course you remember that we call rich veins of the kind +"trap-runs," and that a "Trumm" is a vein which goes sub-dividing into +several smaller ones, and probably gets lost altogether.' + +"When Elis, tossed hither and thither by various thoughts, went into +Pehrson Dahlsjoe's, Ulla did not come meeting him as usual. She was +sitting with downcast looks, and--as he thought--eyes which had been +weeping; and beside her was a handsome young fellow, holding her hand, +and trying to say all sorts of kind and amusing things, to which she +seemed to pay little attention. Pehrson Dahlsjoe took Elis--who, seized +by gloomy presentiments, was keeping a darksome glance riveted on the +pair--into another room, and said: + +"'Well, Elis, you will soon have it in your power to give me a proof of +your regard and sincerity. I have always looked upon you as a son, but +you will soon take the place of one altogether. The man whom you see in +there is a well-to-do merchant, Eric Olavsen by name, from Goethaborg. +I am giving him my daughter for his wife, at his desire. He will take +her to Goethaborg, and then you will be left alone with me, my only +support in my declining years. Well, you say nothing? You turn pale? I +trust this step doesn't displease you, and that now that I'm going to +lose my daughter you are not going to leave me too? But I hear Olavsen +mentioning my name; I must go in.' + +"With which he went back to the room. + +"Elis felt a thousand red-hot irons tearing at his heart. He could find +no words, no tears. In wild despair he ran out, out of the house, away +to the great mine-shrift. + +"That monstrous chasm had a terrible appearance by day; but now, when +night had fallen, and the moon was just peeping down into it, the +desolate crags looked like a numberless horde of horrible monsters, the +direful brood of hell, rolling and writhing, in wildest confusion, all +about its reeking sides and clefts, and flashing up fiery eyes, and +shooting forth glowing claws to clutch the race of mortals. + +"Torbern, Torbern,' Elis cried, in a terrible voice, which made the +rocks re-echo. 'Torbern, I am here; you were not wrong I was a wretched +fool to fix my hopes on any earthly love, up on the surface here. My +treasure, and my life, my all-in-all, are down below. Torbern! take me +down with you! Show me the richest veins, the lodes of ore, the glowing +metal! I will dig and bore, and toil and labour. Never, never more will +I come back to see the light of day. Torbern! Torbern! take me down to +you!' + +"He took his flint and steel from his pocket, lighted his candle, and +went quickly down the shaft, into the deep cutting where he had been on +the previous day, without seeing anything of the old man. But what was +his amazement when, at the deepest point, he saw the vein of metal with +the utmost clearness and distinctness, so that he could trace every one +of its ramifications, and its risings and fallings. But as he kept his +gaze fixed more and more firmly on this wonderful vein, a dazzling +light seemed to come shining through the shaft, and the walls of rock +grew transparent as crystal. That mysterious dream which he had had in +Goethaborg came back upon him. He was looking upon those Elysian Fields +of glorious metallic trees and plants, on which, by way of fruits, +buds, and blossoms, hung jewels streaming with fire. He saw the +maidens, and he looked upon the face of the mighty queen. She put out +her arms, drew him to her, and pressed him to her breast, Then a +burning ray darted through his heart, and all his consciousness was +merged in a feeling of floating in waves of some blue, transparent, +glittering mist. + +"'Elis Froebom! Elis Froebom!' a powerful voice from above cried out, +and the reflection of torches began shining in the shaft. It was +Pehrson Dahlsjoe come down with the Captain to search for the lad, who +had been seen running in the direction of the main-shaft like a mad +creature. + +"They found him standing as if turned to stone, with his face pressed +against the cold, hard rock. + +"'What are you doing down here in the night-time, you foolish fellow?' +cried Pehrson. 'Pull yourself together, and come up with us. Who knows +what good news you may hear.' + +"Elis went up in profound silence after Dahlsjoe, who did not cease to +rate him soundly for exposing himself to such danger. It was broad +daylight in the morning when they got to the house. + +"Ulla threw herself into Elis's arms with a great cry, and called him +by the fondest names, and Pehrson said to him: + +"'You foolish fellow! How could I help seeing, long ago, that you were +in love with Ulla, and that it was on her account, in all probability, +that you were working so hard in the mine? Neither could I help seeing +that she was just as fond of you. Could I wish for a better son-in-law +than a fine, hearty, hard-working, honest miner--than just yourself, +Elis? What vexed me was that you never would speak.' + +"'We scarcely knew ourselves,' said Ulla, 'how fond we were of each +other.' + +"'However that may be,' said Pehrson, 'I was annoyed that Elis didn't +tell me openly and candidly of his love for you, and that was why I +made up the story about Eric Olavsen, which was so nearly being the +death of you, you silly fellow. Not but what I wished to try you, Ulla, +into the bargain. Eric Olavsen has been married for many a day, and I +give my daughter to you, Elis Froebom, for, I say it again, I couldn't +wish for a better son-in-law.' + +"Tears of joy and happiness ran down Elis's cheeks. The highest bliss +which his imagination had pictured had come to pass so suddenly and +unexpectedly that he could scarce believe it was anything but another +blissful dream. The workpeople came to dinner, by Dahlsjoe's +invitation, in honour of the event. Ulla had dressed in her prettiest +attire, and looked more charming than ever, so that they all cried, +over and over again, 'Ey! what a sweet and charming creature Elis has +got for a betrothed! May God bless them and make them happy!' + +"Yet the terror of the past night still lay upon Elis's pale face, and +he often stared about him as if he were far away from all that was +going on round him. 'Elis, darling, what is the matter?' Ulla asked +anxiously. He pressed her to his heart and said, 'Yes, yes, you are my +own, and all is well.' But in the midst of all his happiness he often +felt as though an icy hand clutched at his heart, and a dismal voice +asked him, + +"Is it your highest ideal, then, to be betrothed to Ulla? Wretched +fool! Have you not looked upon the face of the queen?' + +"He felt himself overpowered by an indescribable, anxious alarm. He was +haunted and tortured by the thought that one of the workmen would +suddenly assume gigantic proportions, and to his horror he would +recognize in him Torbern, come to remind him, in a terrible manner, of +the subterranean realm of gems and metals to which he had devoted +himself. + +"And yet he could see no reason why the spectral old man should be +hostile to him, or what connection there was between his mining work +and his love. + +"Pehrson, seeing Elis's disordered condition, attributed it to the +trouble he had gone through, and his nocturnal visit to the mine. Not +so, Ulla, who, seized by a secret presentiment, implored her lover to +tell her what terrible thing had happened to him to tear him away from +her so entirely. This almost broke his heart. It was in vain that he +tried to tell her of the wonderful face which had revealed itself to +him in the depths of the mine. Some unknown power seemed to seal his +lips forcibly; he felt as though the terrible face of the queen were +looking out from his heart, so that if he mentioned her everything +about him would turn to stone, to dark, black rock, as at the sight of +the Medusa's frightful head. All the glory and magnificence which had +filled him with rapture in the abyss appeared to him now as a +pandemonium of immitigable torture, deceptively decked out to allure +him to his ruin. + +"Dahlsjoe told him he must stay at home for a few days, so as to shake +off the sickness which he seemed to have fallen into. And during this +time Ulla's affection, which now streamed bright and clear from her +candid, child-like heart, drove away the memory of his fateful +adventure in the mine-depths. Joy and happiness brought him back to +life, and to belief in his good fortune, and in the impossibility of +its being ever interfered with by any evil power. + +"When he went down the pit again, everything appeared quite different +to what it used to be. The most glorious veins lay clear and distinct +before his eyes. He worked twice as zealously as before; he forgot +everything else. When he got to the surface again, it cost him an +effort of thought to remember about Pehrson Dahlsjoe, about his Ulla, +even. He felt as if divided into two halves, as if his better self, his +real personality, went down to the central point of the earth, and +there rested in bliss in the queen's arms, whilst _he_ went to his +darksome dwelling in Falun. When Ulla spoke of their love, and the +happiness of their future life together, he would begin to talk of the +splendours of the depths, and the inestimably precious treasures that +lay hidden there, and in so doing would get entangled in such +wonderful, incomprehensible sayings, that alarm and terrible anxiety +took possession of the poor child, who could not divine why Elis should +be so completely altered from his former self. He kept telling the +Captain, and Dahlsjoe himself, with the greatest delight, that he had +discovered the richest veins and the most magnificent trap-runs, and +when these turned out to be nothing but unproductive rock, he would +laugh contemptuously and say that none but he understood the secret +signs, the significant writing, fraught with hidden meaning, which the +queen's own hand had inscribed on the rocks, and that it was sufficient +to understand those signs without bringing to light what they +indicated. + +"The old Captain looked sorrowfully at Elis, who spoke, with wild +gleaming eyes, of the glorious paradise which glowed down in the depths +of the earth. 'That terrible old Torbern has been at him,' he whispered +in Dahlsjoe's ear. + +"'Pshaw! don't believe these miners' yarns,' cried Dahlsjoe. 'He's a +deep-thinking serious fellow, and love has turned his head, that's +all. Wait till the marriage is over, then we'll hear no more of the +trap-runs, the treasures, and the subterranean paradise.' + +"The wedding-day, fixed by Dahlsjoe, came at last. For a few days +previously Elis had been more tranquil, more serious, more sunk in deep +reflection than ever. But, on the other hand, never had he shown such +affection for Ulla as at this time. He could not leave her for a +moment, and never went down the mine at all. He seemed to have +forgotten his restless excitement about mining work, and never a word +of the subterranean kingdom crossed his lips. Ulla was all rapture. Her +fear lest the dangerous powers of the subterranean world, of which she +had heard old miners speak, had been luring him to his destruction, had +left her; and Dahlsjoe, too, said, laughing to the Captain, 'You see, +Elis was only a little light-headed for love of my Ulla.' + +"Early on the morning of the wedding-day, which was St. John's Day as +it chanced, Elis knocked at the door of Ulla's room. She opened it, and +started back terrified at the sight of Elis, dressed in his wedding +clothes already, deadly pale, with dark gloomy fire sparkling in his +eyes. + +"'I only want to tell you, my beloved Ulla,' he said, in a faint, +trembling voice, 'that we are just arrived at the summit of the highest +good fortune which it is possible for mortals to attain. Everything has +been revealed to me in the night which is just over. Down in the depths +below, hidden in chlorite and mica, lies the cherry-coloured sparkling +almandine, on which the tablet of our lives is graven. I have to give +it to you as a wedding present. It is more splendid than the most +glorious blood-red carbuncle, and when, united in truest affection, we +look into its streaming splendour together, we shall see and understand +the peculiar manner in which our hearts and souls have grown together +into the wonderful branch which shoots from the queen's heart, at the +central point of the globe. All that is necessary is that I go and +bring this stone to the surface, and that I will do now, as fast as I +can. Take care of yourself meanwhile, beloved darling. I will be back +to you directly.' + +"Ulla implored him, with bitter tears, to give up all idea of such a +dream-like undertaking, for she felt a strong presentiment of disaster; +but Elis declared that without this stone he should never know a +moment's peace or happiness, and that there was not the slightest +danger of any kind. He pressed her fondly to his heart, and was gone. + +"The guests were all assembled to accompany the bridal pair to the +church of Copparberg, where they were to be married, and a crowd of +girls, who were to be the bridesmaids and walk in procession before the +bride (as is the custom of the place), were laughing and playing round +Ulla. The musicians were tuning their instruments to begin a wedding +march. It was almost noon, but Elis had not made his appearance. +Suddenly some miners came running up, horror in their pale faces, with +the news that there had been a terrible catastrophe, a subsidence of +the earth, which had destroyed the whole of Pehrson Dahlsjoe's part of +the mine. + +"'Elis! oh, Elis! you are gone!' screamed Ulla, wildly, and fell as if +dead. Then only, for the first time, Dahlsjoe learned from the Captain +that Elis had gone down the main-shaft in the morning. Nobody else had +been in the mine, the rest of the men having been invited to the +wedding. Dahlsjoe and all the others hurried off to search, at the +imminent danger of their own lives. In vain! Elis Froebom was not to be +found. There could be no question that the earth-fall had buried him in +the rock. And thus came desolation and mourning upon the house of brave +Pehrson Dahlsjoe, at the moment when he thought he was assured of peace +and happiness for the remainder of his days. + + +"Long had stout Pehrson Dahlsjoe been dead, his daughter Ulla long lost +sight of and forgotten. Nobody in Falun remembered them. More than +fifty years had gone by since Froebom's luckless wedding-day, when it +chanced that some miners who were making a connection-passage between +two shafts, found, at a depth of three hundred yards, buried in +vitriolated water, the body of a young miner, which seemed, when they +brought it to the daylight, to be turned to stone. + +"The young man looked as if he were lying in a deep sleep, so perfectly +preserved were the features of his lace, so wholly without trace of +decay his new suit of miner's clothes, and even the flowers in his +breast. The people of the neighbourhood all collected round the young +man, but no one recognized him or could say who he had been, and none +of the workmen missed any comrade. + +"The body was going to be taken to Falun, when out of the distance an +old, old woman came creeping slowly and painfully up on crutches. + +"Here's the old St. John's Day grandmother!' the miners said. They had +given her this name because they had noticed that she came always every +year on St. John's Day up to the main shaft, and looked down into its +depths, weeping, lamenting, and wringing her hands as she crept round +it, then going away again. + +"The moment she saw the body she threw away her crutches, lifted her +arms to Heaven, and cried, in the most heartrending accents of the +deepest lamentation: + +"'Oh! Elis Froebom! Oh, my sweet, sweet bridegroom!' + +"And she cowered down beside the body, took the stony hands and pressed +them to her heart, chilled with age, but throbbing still with the +fondest love, like some naphtha flame under the surface ice. + +"'Ah!' she said, looking round at the spectators, 'nobody, nobody among +you all, remembers poor Ulla Dahlsjoe, this poor boy's happy bride +fifty long years ago. When I went away, in my terrible sorrow and +despair, to Ornaes, old Torbern comforted me, and told me I should see +my poor Elis, who was buried in the rock upon our wedding-day, yet once +more here upon earth. And I have come every year and looked for him, +all longing and faithful love. And now this blessed meeting has been +granted me this day. Oh, Elis! Elis! my beloved husband!' + +"She wound her arms about him as if she would never part from him more, +and the people all stood round in the deepest emotion. + +"Fainter and fainter grew her sobs and sighs, till they ceased to be +audible. + +"The miners closed round. They would have raised poor Ulla, but she had +breathed out her life upon her bridegroom's body. The spectators +noticed now that it was beginning to crumble into dust. The appearance +of petrifaction had been deceptive. + +"In the church of Copparberg, where they were to have been married +fifty years before, they laid in the earth the ashes of Elis Froebom, +and with them the body of her who had been thus 'Faithful unto death.'" + +"I see," said Theodore, when he had finished, and the friends sat +looking straight before them in silence, "that you don't much like this +story of mine. Perhaps, in your present mood of mind, it strikes you as +too painful." + +"It does produce a terribly melancholy effect upon one," said Ottmar, +"and, to speak my candid opinion, I cannot say that I care about all +the Swedish 'Fraelse' holders, the national festivities, the spectral +miners, visions, and so forth. The simple account in Schubert's 'Night +Side of Natural Science,' of the finding of a body in the Falun Mine, +which an old woman recognized as her betrothed of fifty years before, +affected me much more deeply." + +"I must betake myself for aid to our patron, Serapion," said Theodore; +"for the story of the miner really came to my fancy exactly as I have +told it." + +"Everybody has his own way of looking at things," said Lothair, "but +perhaps it is as well that it was to us that you read this tale, +inasmuch as we have all some knowledge of mining matters, of Falun, and +of Swedish manners and customs. Other people might say you had +sometimes been a little unintelligible from the use of too much mining +phraseology; and it isn't everybody who would know that the 'Aehl' +which you mention so often is simply a fine, strong sort of beer." + +"Theodore's story has not displeased me so much as it has you, Ottmar," +said Cyprian. "Writers very often show us people who perish in some +disastrous way as having been at issue with themselves all through +their lives, as if under the control of unknown powers of darkness. +This is what Theodore has done; and I must say I approve of it, because +I think it is exceedingly true to nature. I have known people who have +suddenly seemed to alter and change completely--who have appeared to be +suddenly petrified (so to speak) within themselves, or driven hither +and thither by hostile powers, in constant unrest, till some fearful +catastrophe has withdrawn them from life." + +"Stop, stop!" cried Lothair. "If we give this spirit-seer Cyprian a +chance, we shall be drawn into a regular labyrinth of dreams, +presentiments, and all the rest of it. Allow me to dispel the gloomy +tone which has come upon us at one stroke, by reading you--as a finale +to our present sitting--a children's story which I wrote a short time +ago, as I believe, under the direct inspiration of the tricksy spirit +Puck, himself." + +"A children's story by you, Lothair!" they all cried. + +"Even so," said Lothair. "It may seem to you a piece of insanity that I +should write a children's story; but let me read it to you, and then +give your verdicts." + +Lothair took a carefully written MS. from his pocket, and read:-- + + + + + "NUTCRACKER AND THE KING OF MICE. + + + "CHRISTMAS EVE. + +"On the 24th of December Dr. Stahlbaum's children were not allowed, on +any pretext whatever, at any time of all that day, to go into the small +drawing-room, much less into the best drawing-room into which it +opened. Fritz and Marie were sitting cowered together in a corner of +the back parlour when the evening twilight fell, and they began to feel +terribly eery. Seeing that no candles were brought, as was generally +the case on Christmas Eve, Fritz, whispering in a mysterious fashion, +confided to his young sister (who was just seven) that he had heard +rattlings and rustlings going on all day, since early morning, inside +the forbidden rooms, as well as distant hammerings. Further, that a +short time ago a little dark-looking man had gone slipping and creeping +across the floor with a big box under his arm, though he was well aware +that this little man was no other than Godpapa Drosselmeier. At this +news Marie clapped her little hands for gladness, and cried: + +"'Oh! I do wonder what pretty things Godpapa Drosselmeier has been +making for us _this_ time!' + +"Godpapa Drosselmeier was anything but a nice-looking man. He was +little and lean, with a great many wrinkles on his face, a big patch of +black plaister where his right eye ought to have been, and not a hair +on his head; which was why he wore a fine white wig, made of glass, and +a very beautiful work of art. But he was a very, very clever man, who +even knew and understood all about clocks and watches, and could make +them himself. So that when one of the beautiful clocks that were in Dr. +Stahlbaum's house was out of sorts, and couldn't sing, Godpapa +Drosselmeier would come, take off his glass periwig and his little +yellow coat, gird himself with a blue apron, and proceed to stick +sharp-pointed instruments into the inside of the clock, in a way that +made little Marie quite miserable to witness. However, this didn't +really hurt the poor clock, which, on the contrary, would come to life +again, and begin to whirr and sing and strike as merrily as ever; which +caused everybody the greatest satisfaction. Of course, whenever he +came he always brought something delightful in his pockets for the +children--perhaps a little man, who would roll his eyes and make bows +and scrapes, most comic to behold; or a box, out of which a little bird +would jump; or something else of the kind. But for Christmas he always +had some specially charming piece of ingenuity provided; something +which had cost him infinite pains and labour--for which reason it was +always taken away and put by with the greatest care by the children's +parents. + +"'Oh! what can Godpapa Drosselmeier have been making for us _this_ +time.' Marie cried, as we have said. + +"Fritz was of opinion that, this time, it could hardly be anything but +a great castle, a fortress, where all sorts of pretty soldiers would be +drilling and marching about; and then, that other soldiers would come +and try to get into the fortress, upon which the soldiers inside would +fire away at them, as pluckily as you please, with cannon, till every +thing banged and thundered like anything. + +"'No, no,' Marie said. 'Godpapa Drosselmeier once told me about a +beautiful garden, with a great lake in it, and beautiful swans swimming +about with great gold collars, singing lovely music. And then a lovely +little girl comes down through the garden to the lake, and calls the +swans and feeds them with shortbread and cake.' + +"'Swans don't eat cake and shortbread,' Fritz cried, rather rudely +(with masculine superiority); 'and Godpapa Drosselmeier couldn't make a +whole garden. After all, we have got very few of his playthings; +whatever he brings is always taken away from us. So I like the things +papa and mamma give us much better; we keep them, all right, ourselves, +and can do what we like with them.' + +"The children went on discussing as to what he might have in store for +them this time. Marie called Fritz's attention to the fact that Miss +Gertrude (her biggest doll) appeared to be failing a good deal as time +went on, inasmuch as she was more clumsy and awkward than ever, +tumbling on to the floor every two or three minutes, a thing which did +not occur without leaving very ugly marks on her face, and of course a +proper condition of her clothes became out of the question altogether. +Scolding was of no use. Mamma too had laughed at her for being so +delighted with Miss Gertrude's little new parasol. Fritz, again, +remarked that a good fox was lacking to his small zoological +collection, and that his army was quite without cavalry, as his papa +was well aware. But the children knew that their elders had got all +sorts of charming things ready for them, as also that the Child-Christ, +at Christmas time, took special care for their wants. Marie sat in +thoughtful silence, but Fritz murmured quietly to himself: + +"'All the same, I should like a fox and some hussars!' + +"It was now quite dark; Fritz and Marie sitting close together, did not +dare to utter another syllable; they felt as if there were a fluttering +of gentle, invisible wings around them, whilst a very far away, but +unutterably beautiful strain of music could dimly be heard. Then a +bright gleam of light passed quickly athwart the wall, and the children +knew that the Child-Christ had sped away, on shining wings, to other +happy children. At this moment a silvery bell said, 'Kling-ling! +Kling-ling!' the doors flew open, and such a brilliance of light came +streaming from the drawing-room that the children stood rooted where +they were with cries of 'Oh! Oh!' + +"But papa and mamma came and took their hands, saying, 'Come now, +darlings, and see what the blessed Child-Christ has brought for you.' + + + "THE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS. + +"I appeal to yourself, kind reader (or listener)--Fritz, Theodore, +Ernest, or whatsoever your name may chance to be--and I would beg you +to bring vividly before your mind's eye your last Christmas table, all +glorious with its various delightful Christmas presents; and then +perhaps you will be able to form some idea of the manner in which the +two children stood speechless with brilliant glances fixed on all the +beautiful things; how, after a little, Marie, with a sigh, cried, 'Oh, +how lovely! how lovely!' and Fritz gave several jumps of delight. The +children had certainly been very, very good and well-behaved all the +foregoing year to be thus rewarded; for never had so many beautiful and +delightful things been provided for them as this time. The great +Christmas tree on the table bore many apples of silver and gold, and +all its branches were heavy with bud and blossom, consisting of sugar +almonds, many-tinted bonbons, and all sorts of charming things to eat. +Perhaps the prettiest thing about this wonder-tree, however, was the +fact that in all the recesses of its spreading branches hundreds of +little tapers glittered like stars, inviting the children to pluck its +flowers and fruit. Also, all round the tree on every side everything +shone and glittered in the loveliest manner. Oh, how many beautiful +things there were! Who, oh who, could describe them all? Marie gazed +there at the most delicious dolls, and all kinds of toys, and (what was +the prettiest thing of all) a little silk dress with many-tinted +ribbons was hung upon a projecting branch in such sort that she could +admire it on all its sides; which she accordingly did, crying out +several times, 'Oh! the lovely, the lovely, darling little dress. And I +suppose, I do believe, I shall really be allowed to put it on!' Fritz, +in the meantime, had had two or three trials how his new fox (which he +had actually found on the table) could gallop; and now stated that he +seemed a wildish sort of brute; but, no matter, he felt sure he would +soon get him well in order; and he set to work to muster his new +squadron of hussars, admirably equipped, in red and gold uniforms, with +real silver swords, and mounted on such shining white horses that you +would have thought they were of pure silver too. + +"When the children had sobered down a little, and were beginning upon +the beautiful picture books (which were open, so that you could see all +sorts of most beautiful flowers and people of every hue, to say nothing +of lovely children playing, all as naturally represented as if they +were really alive and could speak), there came another tinkling of a +bell, to announce the display of Godpapa Drosselmeier's Christmas +present, which was on another table, against the wall, concealed by a +curtain. When this curtain was drawn, what did the children behold? + +"On a green lawn, bright with flowers, stood a lordly castle with a +great many shining windows and golden towers. A chime of bells was +going on inside it; doors and windows opened, and you saw very small, +but beautiful, ladies and gentlemen, with plumed hats, and long robes +down to their heels, walking up and down in the rooms of it. In the +central hall, which seemed all in a blaze, there were quantities of +little candles burning in silver chandeliers; children, in little short +doublets, were dancing to the chimes of the bells. A gentleman, in an +emerald green mantle, came to a window, made signs thereat, and then +disappeared inside again; also, even Godpapa Drosselmeier himself (but +scarcely taller than papa's thumb) came now and then, and stood at the +castle door, then went in again. + +"Fritz had been looking on with the rest at the beautiful castle and +the people walking about and dancing in it, with his arms leant on the +table; then he said: + +"'Godpapa Drosselmeier, let me go into your castle for a little.' + +"Drosselmeier answered that this could not possibly be done. In which +he was right; for it was silly of Fritz to want to go into a castle +which was not so tall as himself, golden towers and all. And Fritz saw +that this was so. + +"After a short time, as the ladies and gentlemen kept on walking about +just in the same fashion, the children dancing, and the emerald man +looking out at the same window, and God papa Drosselmeier coming to the +door Fritz cried impatiently: + +"'Godpapa Drosselmeier, please come out at that other door!' + +"'That can't be done, dear Fritz,' answered Drosselmeier. + +"'Well,' resumed Fritz, 'make that green man that looks out so often +walk about with the others.' + +"'And that can't be done, either,' said his godpapa, once more. + +"'Make the children come down, then,' said Fritz. 'I want to see them +nearer.' + +"'Nonsense, nothing of that sort can be done,' cried Drosselmeier, with +impatience. 'The machinery must work as it's doing now; it can't be +altered, you know.' + +"Oh,' said Fritz, 'it can't be done, eh? Very well, then, Godpapa +Drosselmeier, I'll tell you what it is. If your little creatures in the +castle there can only always do the same thing, they're not much worth, +and I think precious little of them! No, give me my hussars. They've +got to man[oe]uvre backwards and forwards just as I want them, and are +not fastened up in a house.' + +"With which he made off to the other table, and set his squadron of +silver horse trotting here and there, wheeling and charging and +slashing right and left to his heart's content. Marie had slipped away +softly, too, for she was tired of the promenading and dancing of the +puppets in the castle, though, kind and gentle as she was, she did not +like to show it as her brother did. Drosselmeier, somewhat annoyed, +said to the parents--'After all, an ingenious piece of mechanism like +this is not a matter for children, who don't understand it; I shall put +my castle back in its box again.' But the mother came to the rescue, +and made him show her the clever machinery which moved the figures, +Drosselmeier taking it all to pieces, putting it together again, and +quite recovering his temper in the process. So that he gave the +children all sorts of delightful brown men and women with golden faces, +hands and legs, which were made of ginger cake, and with which they +were greatly content. + + + "MARIE'S PET AND PROTEGEE. + +"But there was a reason wherefore Marie found it against the grain to +come away from the table where the Christmas presents were laid out; +and this was, that she had just noticed a something there which she had +not observed at first. Fritz's hussars having taken ground to the right +at some distance from the tree, in front of which they had previously +been paraded, there became visible a most delicious little man, who was +standing there quiet and unobtrusive, as if waiting patiently till it +should be his turn to be noticed. Objection, considerable objection, +might, perhaps, have been taken to him on the score of his figure, for +his body was rather too tall and stout for his legs, which were short +and slight; moreover, his head was a good deal too large. But much of +this was atoned for by the elegance of his costume, which showed +him to be a person of taste and cultivation. He had on a very pretty +violet hussar's jacket, all over knobs and braiding, pantaloons of +the same, and the loveliest little boots ever seen even on a hussar +officer--fitting his dear little legs just as if they had been painted +on to them. It was funny, certainly, that, dressed in this style as he +was, he had on a little, rather absurd, short cloak on his shoulders, +which looked almost as if it were made of wood, and on his head a cap +like a miner's. But Marie remembered that Godpapa Drosselmeier often +appeared in a terribly ugly morning jacket, and with a frightful +looking cap on his head, and yet was a very very darling godpapa. + +"As Marie kept looking at this little man, whom she had quite fallen in +love with at first sight, she saw more and more clearly what a sweet +nature and disposition was legible in his countenance. Those green eyes +of his (which stuck, perhaps, a little more prominently out of his head +than was quite desirable) beamed with kindliness and benevolence. It +was one of his beauties, too, that his chin was set off with a well +kept beard of white cotton, as this drew attention to the sweet smile +which his bright red lips always expressed. + +"'Oh, papa, dear!' cried Marie at last, 'whose is that most darling +little man beside the tree?' + +"Well,' was the answer, 'that little fellow is going to do plenty of +good service for all of you; he's going to crack nuts for you, and he +is to belong to Louise just as much as to you and Fritz.' With which +papa took him up from the table, and on his lifting the end of his +wooden cloak, the little man opened his mouth wider and wider, +displaying two rows of very white, sharp teeth. Marie, directed by her +father, put a nut into his mouth, and--knack--he had bitten it in two, +so that the shells fell down, and Marie got the kernel. So then it was +explained to all that this charming little man belonged to the +Nutcracker family, and was practising the profession of his ancestors. +'And,' said papa, 'as friend Nutcracker seems to have made such an +impression on you, Marie, he shall be given over to your special care +and charge, though, as I said, Louise and Fritz are to have the same +right to his services as you.' + +"Marie took him into her arms at once, and made him crack some more +nuts; but she picked out all the smallest, so that he might not have to +open his mouth so terribly wide, because that was not nice for him. +Then sister Louise came, and he had to crack some nuts for her too,' +which duty he seemed very glad to perform, as he kept on smiling most +courteously. + +"Meanwhile, Fritz was a little tired, after so much drill and +man[oe]uvring, so he joined his sisters, and laughed beyond measure at +the funny little fellow, who (as Fritz wanted his share of the nuts) +was passed from hand to hand, and was continually snapping his month +open and shut. Fritz gave him all the biggest and hardest nuts he could +find, but all at once there was a 'crack--crack,' and three teeth fell +out of Nutcracker's mouth, and all his lower jaw was loose and wobbly. + +"'Ah! my poor darling Nutcracker,' Marie cried, and took him away from +Fritz. + +"'A nice sort of chap he is!' said Fritz. 'Calls himself a nutcracker, +and can't give a decent bite--doesn't seem to know much about his +business. Hand him over here, Marie! I'll keep him biting nuts if he +drops all the rest of his teeth, and his jaw into the bargain. What's +the good of a chap like him!' + +"'No, no,' said Marie, in tears; 'you shan't have him, my darling +Nutcracker; see how he's looking at me so mournfully, and showing me +his poor sore mouth. But you're a hard-hearted creature! You beat your +horses, and you've had one of your soldiers shot.' + +"'Those things must be done,' said Fritz; 'and you don't understand +anything about such matters. But Nutcracker's as much mine as yours, so +hand him over!' + +"Marie began to cry bitterly, and wrapped the wounded Nutcracker +quickly up in her little pocket-handkerchief. Papa and mamma came with +Drosselmeier, who took Fritz's part, to Marie's regret. But papa said, +'I have put Nutcracker in Marie's special charge, and as he seems to +have need just now of her care, she has full power over him, and nobody +else has anything to say in the matter. And I'm surprised that Fritz +should expect further service from a man wounded in the execution of +his duty. As a good soldier, he ought to know better than that.' + +"Fritz was much ashamed, and, troubling himself no further as to nuts +or nutcrackers, crept off to the other side of the table, where his +hussars (having established the necessary outposts and videttes) were +bivouacking for the night. Marie got Nutcracker's lost teeth together, +bound a pretty white ribbon, taken from her dress, about his poor chin, +and then wrapped the poor little fellow, who was looking very pale and +frightened, more tenderly and carefully than before in her +handkerchief. Thus she held him, rocking him like a child in her arms, +as she looked at the picture-books. She grew quite angry (which was not +usual with her) with Godpapa Drosselmeier because he laughed so, and +kept asking how she could make such a fuss about an ugly little fellow +like that. That odd and peculiar likeness to Drosselmeier, which had +struck her when she saw Nutcracker at first, occurred to her mind again +now, and she said, with much earnestness: + +"'Who knows, godpapa, if you were to be dressed the same as my darling +Nutcracker, and had on the same shining boots--who knows whether you +mightn't look almost as handsome as he does?' + +"Marie did not understand why papa and mamma laughed so heartily, nor +why Godpapa Drosselmeier's nose got so red, nor why he did not join so +much in the laughter as before. Probably there was some special reason +for these things. + + + "WONDERFUL EVENTS. + +"We must now explain that, in the sitting-room, on the left-hand as you +go in, there stands, against the wall, a high, glass-fronted cupboard, +where all the children's Christmas presents are yearly put away to be +kept. Louise, the elder sister, was still quite little when her father +had this cupboard constructed by a very skilful workman, who had put in +it such transparent panes of glass, and altogether made the whole +affair so splendid, that the things, when inside it, looked almost more +shining and lovely than when one had them actually in one's hands. In +the upper shelves, which were beyond the reach of Fritz and Marie, were +stowed Godpapa Drosselmeier's works of art; immediately under them was +the shelf for the picture-books. Fritz and Marie were allowed to do +what they liked with the two lower shelves, but it always came about +that the lower one of all was that in which Marie put away her dolls, +as their place of residence, whilst Fritz utilized the shelf above this +as cantonments for his troops of all arms. So that, on the evening as +to which we are speaking, Fritz had quartered his hussars in his--the +upper--shelf of these two, whilst Marie had put Miss Gertrude rather in +a corner, established her new doll in the well-appointed chamber there, +with all its appropriate furniture, and invited herself to tea and +cakes with her. This chamber was splendidly furnished, everything on a +first-rate scale, and in good and admirable style, as I have already +said--and I don't know if you, my observant reader, have the +satisfaction of possessing an equally well-appointed room for your +dolls; a little beautifully-flowered sofa, a number of the most +charming little chairs, a nice little tea-table, and, above all, a +beautiful little white bed, where your pretty darlings of dolls go to +sleep? All this was in a corner of the shelf, the walls of which, in +this part, had beautiful little pictures hanging on them; and you may +well imagine that, in such a delightful chamber as this, the new doll +(whose name, as Marie had discovered, was Miss Clara) thought herself +extremely comfortably settled, and remarkably well off. + +"It was getting very late, not so very far from midnight, indeed, +before the children could tear themselves away from all these Yuletide +fascinations, and Godpapa Drosselmeier had been gone a considerable +time. They remained riveted beside the glass cupboard, although their +mother several times reminded them that it was long after bedtime. +'Yes,' said Fritz, 'I know well enough that these poor fellows (meaning +his hussars) are tired enough, and awfully anxious to turn in for the +night, though as long as I'm here, not a man-jack of them dares to nod +his head.' With which he went off. But Marie earnestly begged for just +a little while longer, saying she had such a number of things to see +to, and promising that as soon as ever she had got them all settled she +would go to bed at once. Marie was a very good and reasonable child, +and therefore her mother allowed her to remain for a little longer with +her toys; but lest she should be too much occupied with her new doll +and the other playthings so as to forget to put out the candles which +were lighted all round on the wall sconces, she herself put all of them +out, leaving merely the lamp which hung from the ceiling to give a soft +and pleasant light. 'Come soon to your bed, Marie, or you'll never be +up in time in the morning,' cried her mother as she went away into the +bedroom. + +"As soon as Marie was alone, she set rapidly to work to do the thing +which was chiefly at her heart to accomplish, and which, though she +scarcely knew why, she somehow did not like to set about in her +mother's presence. She had been holding Nutcracker, wrapped in the +handkerchief, carefully in her arms all this time, and she now laid him +softly down on the table, gently unrolled the handkerchief, and +examined his wounds. + +"Nutcracker was very pale, but at the same time he was smiling with a +melancholy and pathetic kindliness which went straight to Marie's +heart. + +"Oh, my darling little Nutcracker!' said she, very softly, 'don't you +be vexed because brother Fritz has hurt you so: he didn't mean it, you +know; he's only a little bit hardened with his soldiering and that, but +he's a good, nice boy, I can assure you: and I'll take the greatest +care of you, and nurse you, till you're quite, quite better and happy +again. And your teeth shall be put in again for you, and your shoulder +set right; Godpapa Drosselmeier will see to that; he knows how to do +things of the kind----' + +"Marie could not finish what she was going to say, because at the +mention of Godpapa Drosselmeier, friend Nutcracker made a most +horrible, ugly face. A sort of green sparkle of much sharpness seemed +to dart out of his eyes. This was only for an instant, however; and +just as Marie was going to be terribly frightened, she found that she +was looking at the very same nice, kindly face, with the pathetic smile +which she had seen before, and she saw plainly that it was nothing but +some draught of air making the lamp flicker that had seemed to produce +the change. + +"'Well!' she said, 'I certainly am a silly girl to be so easily +frightened, and think that a wooden doll could make faces at me! But +I'm too fond, really, of Nutcracker, because he's so funny, and so kind +and nice; and so he must be taken the greatest care of, and properly +nursed till he's quite well.' + +"With which she took him in her arms again, approached the cupboard, +and kneeling down beside it, said to her new doll: + +"I'm going to ask a favour of you, Miss Clara--that you will give up +your bed to this poor sick, wounded Nutcracker, and make yourself as +comfortable as you can on the sofa here. Remember that you're quite +well and strong yourself, or you wouldn't have such fat, red cheeks, +and that there are very few dolls indeed who have as comfortable a sofa +as this to lie upon.' + +"Miss Clara, in her Christmas full dress, looked very grand and +disdainful, and said not so much as 'Muck!' + +"Very well,' said Marie, 'why should I make such a fuss, and stand on +any ceremony?'--took the bed and moved it forward; laid Nutcracker +carefully and tenderly down on it; wrapped another pretty ribbon, taken +from her own dress, about his hurt shoulder, and drew the bed-clothes +up to his nose. + +"But he shan't stay with that nasty Clara,' she said, and moved +the bed, with Nutcracker in it, up to the upper shelf, so that +it was placed near the village in which Fritz's hussars had their +cantonments. She closed the cupboard, and was moving away to go to bed, +when--listen, children! there begun a low soft rustling and rattling, +and a sort of whispering noise, all round, in all directions, from all +quarters of the room--behind the stove, under the chairs, behind the +cupboards. The clock on the wall 'warned' louder and louder, but could +not strike. Marie looked at it, and saw that the big gilt owl which was +on the top of it had drooped its wings so that they covered the whole +of the clock, and had stretched its cat-like head, with the crooked +beak, a long way forward. And the 'warning' kept growing louder and +louder, with distinct words: 'Clocks, clockies, stop ticking. No sound, +but cautious "warning." Mousey king's ears are fine. Prr-prr. Only sing +"poom, poom"; sing the olden song of doom! prr-prr; poom, poom. Bells +go chime! Soon rings out the fated time!' And then came 'Poom! poom!' +quite hoarsely and smothered, twelve times. + +"Marie grew terribly frightened, and was going to rush away as best she +could, when she noticed that Godpapa Drosselmeier was up on the top of +the clock instead of the owl, with his yellow coat-tails hanging down +on both sides, like wings. But she manned herself, and called out in a +loud voice of anguish: + +"Godpapa! godpapa! what are you up there for? Come down to me, and +don't frighten me so terribly, you naughty, naughty Godpapa +Drosselmeier!' + +"But then there begun a sort of wild kickering and queaking, +everywhere, all about, and presently there was a sound as of running +and trotting, as of thousands of little feet behind the walls, and +thousands of little lights began to glitter out between the chinks of +the woodwork. But they were not lights; no, no! little glittering eyes; +and Marie became aware that, everywhere, mice were peeping and +squeezing themselves out through every chink. Presently they were +trotting and galloping in all directions over the room; orderly bodies, +continually increasing, of mice, forming themselves into regular troops +and squadrons, in good order, just as Fritz's soldiers did when +man[oe]uvres were going on. As Marie was not afraid of mice (as many +children are), she could not help being amused by this, and her first +alarm had nearly left her, when suddenly there came such a sharp and +terrible piping noise that the blood ran cold in her veins. Ah! what +did she see then? Well, truly, kind reader, I know that your heart is +in the right place, just as much as my friend Field Marshal Fritz's is, +itself, but if you had seen what now came before Marie's eyes, you +would have made a clean pair of heels of it; nay, I consider that you +would have plumped into your bed, and drawn the blankets further over +your head than necessity demanded. + +"But poor Marie hadn't it in her power to do any such thing, because, +right at her feet, as if impelled by some subterranean power, sand, and +lime, and broken stone came bursting up, and then seven mouse-heads, +with seven shining crowns upon them, rose through the floor, hissing +and piping in a most horrible way. Quickly the body of the mouse which +had those seven crowned heads forced its way up through the floor, and +this enormous creature shouted, with its seven heads, aloud to the +assembled multitude, squeaking to them with all the seven mouths in +full chorus; and then the entire army set itself in motion, and went +trot, trot, right up to the cupboard--and, in fact, to Marie, who was +standing beside it. + +"Marie's heart had been beating so with terror that she had thought it +must jump out of her breast, and she must die. But now it seemed to her +as if the blood in her veins stood still. Half fainting, she leant +backwards, and then there was a 'klirr, klirr, prr,' and the pane of +the cupboard, which she had broken with her elbow, fell in shivers to +the floor. She felt, for a moment, a sharp, stinging pain in her arm, +but still, this seemed to make her heart lighter; she heard no more of +the queaking and piping. Everything was quiet; and though she didn't +dare to look, she thought the noise of the glass breaking had +frightened the mice back to their holes. + +"But what came to pass then? Right behind Marie a movement seemed to +commence in the cupboard, and small, faint voices began to be heard, +saying: + + 'Come, awake, measures take; + Out to the fight, out to the fight; + Shield the right, shield the right; + Aim and away, this is the night.' + +And harmonica-bells began ringing as prettily as you please. + +"Oh! that's my little peal of bells!' cried Marie, and went nearer and +looked in. Then she saw that there was bright light in the cupboard, +and everything busily in motion there; dolls and little figures of +various kinds all running about together, and struggling with their +little arms. At this point, Nutcracker rose from his bed, cast off the +bedclothes, and sprung with both feet on to the floor (of the shelf), +crying out at the top of his voice: + + 'Knack, knack, knack, + Stupid mousey pack, + All their skulls we'll crack. + Mousey pack, knack, knack, + Mousey pack, crick and crack, + Cowardly lot of schnack!' + +"And with this he drew his little sword, waved it in the air, and +cried: + +"'Ye, my trusty vassals, brethren and friends, are ye ready to stand by +me in this great battle?' + +"Immediately three scaramouches, one pantaloon, four chimney-sweeps, +two zither-players, and a drummer cried, in eager accents: + +"'Yes, your highness; we will stand by you in loyal duty; we will +follow you to the death, the victory, and the fray!' And they +precipitated themselves after Nutcracker (who, in the excitement of the +moment, had dared that perilous leap) to the bottom shelf. Now _they_ +might well dare this perilous leap, for not only had they got plenty of +clothes on, of cloth and silk, but besides, there was not much in their +insides except cotton and sawdust, so that they plumped down like +little wool-sacks. But as for poor Nutcracker, he would certainly have +broken his arms and legs; for, bethink you, it was nearly two feet from +where he had stood to the shelf below, and his body was as fragile as +if he had been made of elm-wood. Yes, Nutcracker would have broken his +arms and legs, had not Miss Clara started up, at the moment of his +spring, from her sofa, and received the hero, drawn sword and all, in +her tender arms. + +"'Oh! you dear, good Clara!' cried Marie, 'how I did misunderstand you. +I believe you were quite willing to let dear Nutcracker have your bed.' + +"But Miss Clara now cried, as she pressed the young hero gently to her +silken breast: + +"'Oh, my lord! go not into this battle and danger, sick and wounded +as you are. See how your trusty vassals, clowns and pantaloon, +chimney-sweeps, zithermen and drummer, are already arrayed below; and +the puzzle-figures, in my shelf here, are in motion, and preparing for +the fray! Deign, then, oh my lord, to rest in these arms of mine, and +contemplate your victory from a safe coign of vantage.' + +"Thus spoke Clara. But Nutcracker behaved so impatiently, and kicked so +with his legs, that Clara was obliged to put him down on the shelf in a +hurry. However, he at once sank gracefully on one knee, and expressed +himself as follows: + +"'Oh, lady! the kind protection and aid which you have afforded me, +will ever be present to my heart, in battle and in victory!' + +"On this, Clara bowed herself so as to be able to take hold of him by +his arms, raised him gently up, quickly loosed her girdle, which was +ornamented with many spangles, and would have placed it about his +shoulders. But the little man drew himself swiftly two steps back, laid +his hand upon his heart, and said, with much solemnity: + +"Oh, lady! do not bestow this mark of your favour upon me; for----' He +hesitated, gave a deep sigh, took the ribbon, with which Marie had +bound him, from his shoulders, pressed it to his lips, put it on as a +cognizance for the fight, and, waving his glittering sword, sprang, +like a bird, over the ledge of the cupboard down to the floor. + +"You will observe, kind reader, that Nutcracker, even before he really +came to life, had felt and understood all Marie's goodness and regard, +and that it was because of his gratitude and devotion to her, that he +would not take, or wear even, a ribbon of Miss Clara's, although it was +exceedingly pretty and charming. This good, true-hearted Nutcracker +preferred Marie's much commoner and more unpretending token. + +"But what is going to happen, further, now? At the moment when +Nutcracker sprang down, the queaking and piping commenced again worse +than ever. Alas! under the big table, the hordes of the mouse army had +taken up a position, densely massed, under the command of the terrible +mouse with the seven heads. So what is to be the result? + + + "THE BATTLE. + +"Beat the _Generale_, trusty vassal-drummer!' cried Nutcracker, very +loud; and immediately the drummer began to roll his drum in the most +splendid style, so that the windows of the glass cupboard rattled and +resounded. Then there began a cracking and a clattering inside, and +Marie saw all the lids of the boxes in which Fritz's army was quartered +bursting open, and the soldiers all came out and jumped down to the +bottom shelf, where they formed up in good order. Nutcracker hurried up +and down the ranks, speaking words of encouragement. + +"'There's not a dog of a trumpeter taking the trouble to sound a call!' +he cried in a fury. Then he turned to the pantaloon (who was looking +decidedly pale), and, wobbling his long chin a good deal, said, in a +tone of solemnity: + +"'I know how brave and experienced you are, General! What is essential +here, is a rapid comprehension of the situation, and immediate +utilization of the passing moment. I entrust you with the command of +the cavalry and artillery. You can do without a horse; your own legs +are long, and you can gallop on them as fast as is necessary. Do your +duty!' + +"Immediately Pantaloon put his long, lean fingers to his month, and +gave such a piercing crow that it rang as if a hundred little trumpets +had been sounding lustily. Then there began a tramping and a neighing +in the cupboard; and Fritz's dragoons and cuirassiers--but above all, +the new glittering hussars--marched out, and thru came to a halt, drawn +up on the floor. They then marched past Nutcracker by regiments, with +_guidons_ flying and bands playing; after which they wheeled into line, +and formed up at right angles to the line of march. Upon this, Fritz's +artillery came rattling up, and formed action front in advance of the +halted cavalry. Then it went 'boom-boom!' and Marie saw the sugar-plums +doing terrible execution amongst the thickly-massed mouse-battalions, +which were powdered quite white by them, and greatly put to shame. +But a battery of heavy guns, which had taken up a strong position +on mamma's footstool, was what did the greatest execution; and +'poom-poom-poom!' kept up a murderous fire of gingerbread nuts into +the enemy's ranks with most destructive effect, mowing the mice down in +great numbers. The enemy, however, was not materially checked in his +advance, and had even possessed himself of one or two of the heavy +guns, when there came 'prr-prr-prr!' and Marie could scarcely see what +was happening, for smoke and dust; but this much is certain, that every +corps engaged fought with the utmost bravery and determination, and it +was for a long time doubtful which side would gain the day. The mice +kept on developing fresh bodies of their forces, as they were advanced +to the scene of action; their little silver balls--like pills in +size--which they delivered with great precision (their musketry +practice being specially fine) took effect even inside the glass +cupboard. Clara and Gertrude ran up and down in utter despair, wringing +their hands, and loudly lamenting. + +"Must I--the very loveliest doll in all the world--perish miserably in +the very flower of my youth?' cried Miss Clara. + +"'Oh! was it for this,' wept Gertrude, 'that I have taken such pains to +_conserver_ myself all these years? Must I be shot here in my own +drawing-room after all?" + +"On this, they fell into each other's arms, and howled so terribly that +you could hear them above all the din of the battle. For you have no +idea of the hurly-burly that went on now, dear auditor! It went +prr-prr-poof, piff-schnetterdeng--schnetterdeng--boom-booroom--boom- +booroom--boom all confusedly and higgledy-piggledy; and the +mouse-king and the mice squeaked and screamed; and then again +Nutcracker's powerful voice was heard shouting words of command, and +issuing important orders, and he was seen striding along amongst his +battalions in the thick of the fire. + +'Pantaloon had made several most brilliant cavalry charges, and covered +himself with glory. But Fritz's hussars were subjected--by the mice--to +a heavy fire of very evil-smelling shot, which made horrid spots on +their red tunics; this caused them to hesitate, and hang rather back +for a time. Pantaloon made them take ground to the left, in _echelon_, +and, in the excitement of the moment, he, with his dragoons and +cuirassiers, executed a somewhat analogous movement. That is to say, +they brought up the right shoulder, wheeled to the left, and marched +home to their quarters. This had the effect of bringing the battery of +artillery on the footstool into imminent danger, and it was not long +before a large body of exceedingly ugly mice delivered such a vigorous +assault on this position that the whole of the footstool, with the guns +and gunners, fell into the enemy's hands. Nutcracker seemed much +disconcerted, and ordered his right wing to commence a retrograde +movement. A soldier of your experience, my dear Fritz, knows well that +such a movement is almost tantamount to a regular retreat, and you +grieve, with me, in anticipation, for the disaster which threatens the +army of Marie's beloved little Nutcracker. But turn your glance in the +other direction, and look at this left wing of Nutcracker's, where all +is still going well, and you will see that there is yet much hope for +the commander-in-chief and his cause. + +"During the hottest part of the engagement masses of mouse-cavalry had +been quietly debouching from under the chest of drawers, and had +subsequently made a most determined advance upon the left wing of +Nutcracker's force, uttering loud and horrible queakings. But what a +reception they met with! Very slowly, as the nature the _terrain_ +necessitated (for the ledge at the bottom of the cupboard had +to be passed), the regiment of motto-figures, commanded by two +Chinese Emperors, advanced, and formed square. These fine, +brilliantly-uniformed troops, consisting of gardeners, Tyrolese, +Tungooses, hairdressers, harlequins, Cupids, lions, tigers, unicorns, +and monkeys, fought with the utmost courage, coolness, and steady +endurance. This _bataillon d'elite_ would have wrested the victory from +the enemy had not one of his cavalry captains, pushing forward in a +rash and foolhardy manner, made a charge upon one of the Chinese +Emperors, and bitten off his head. This Chinese Emperor, in his fall, +knocked over and smothered a couple of Tungooses and a unicorn, and +this created a gap, through which the enemy effected a rush, which +resulted in the whole battalion being bitten to death. But the +enemy gained little advantage by this; for as soon as one of the +mouse-cavalry soldiers bit one of these brave adversaries to death, he +found that there was a small piece of printed paper sticking in his +throat, of which he died in a moment. Still, this was of small +advantage to Nutcracker's army, which, having once commenced a +retrograde movement, went on retreating farther and farther, suffering +greater and greater loss. So that the unfortunate Nutcracker found +himself driven back close to the front of the cupboard, with a very +small remnant of his army. + +"'Bring up the reserves! Pantaloon! Scaramouch! Drummer! where the +devil have you got to?' shouted Nutcracker, who was still reckoning on +reinforcements from the cupboard. And there did, in fact, advance a +small contingent of brown gingerbread men and women, with gilt faces, +hats, and helmets; but they laid about them so clumsily that they +never hit any of the enemy, and soon knocked off the cap of their +commander-in-chief, Nutcracker, himself. And the enemy's chasseurs soon +bit their legs off, so that they tumbled topsy-turvy, and killed +several of Nutcracker's companions-in-arms into the bargain. + +"Nutcracker was now hard pressed, and closely hemmed in by the enemy, +and in a position of extreme peril, He tried to jump the bottom ledge +of the cupboard, but his legs were not long enough. Clara and Gertrude +had fainted; so they could give him no assistance. Hussars and heavy +dragoons came charging up at him, and he shouted in wild despair: + +"'A horse! a horse! My kingdom for a horse!' + +"At this moment two of the enemy's riflemen seized him by his wooden +cloak, and the king of the mice went rushing up to him, squeaking in +triumph out of all his seven throats. + +"Marie could contain herself no longer. 'Oh! my poor Nutcracker!' she +sobbed, took her left shoe off, without very distinctly knowing what +she was about, and threw it as hard as she could into the thick of the +enemy, straight at their king. + +"Instantly everything vanished and disappeared. All was silence. +Nothing to be seen. But Marie felt a more stinging pain than before in +her left arm, and fell on the floor insensible. + + + "THE INVALID. + +"When Marie awoke from a death-like sleep she was lying in her little +bed; and the sun was shining brightly in at the window, which was all +covered with frost-flowers. There was a stranger gentleman sitting +beside her, whom she recognized as Dr. Wendelstern. 'She's awake,' he +said softly, and her mother came and looked at her very scrutinizingly +and anxiously. + +"'Oh, mother!' whispered Marie, 'are all those horrid mice gone away, +and is Nutcracker quite safe?' + +"'Don't talk such nonsense, Marie,' answered her mother. 'What have the +mice to do with Nutcracker? You're a very naughty girl, and have caused +us all a great deal of anxiety. See what comes of children not doing as +they're told! You were playing with your toys so late last night that +you fell asleep. I don't know whether or not some mouse jumped out and +frightened you, though there are no mice here, generally. But, at all +events, you broke a pane of the glass cupboard with your elbow, and cut +your arm so bally that Dr. Wendelstern (who has just taken a number of +pieces of the glass out of your arm) thinks that if it had been only a +little higher up you might have had a stiff arm for life, or even have +bled to death. Thank Heaven, I awoke about twelve o'clock and missed +you; and I found you lying insensible in front of the glass cupboard, +bleeding frightfully, with a number of Fritz's lead soldiers scattered +round you, and other toys, broken motto-figures, and gingerbread men; +and Nutcracker was lying on your bleeding arm, with your left shoe not +far off.' + +"Oh, mother, mother,' said Marie, 'these were the remains of the +tremendous battle between the toys and the mice; and what frightened me +so terribly was that the mice were going to take Nutcracker (who was +the commander-in-chief of the toy army) a prisoner. Then I threw my +shoe in among the mice, and after that I know nothing more that +happened.' + +"Dr. Wendelstern gave a significant look at the mother, who said very +gently to Marie: + +"'Never mind, dear, keep yourself quiet. The mice are all gone away, +and Nutcracker's in the cupboard, quite safe and sound.' + +"Here Marie's father came in, and had a long consultation with Dr. +Wendelstern. Then he felt Marie's pulse, and she heard them talking +about 'wound-fever.' She had to stay in bed, and take medicine, for +some days, although she didn't feel at all ill, except that her arm was +rather stiff and painful. She knew Nutcracker had got safe out of the +battle, and she seemed to remember, as if in a dream, that he had said, +quite distinctly, in a very melancholy tone: + +"'Marie! dearest lady! I am most deeply indebted to you. But it is in +your power to do even more for me still.' + +"She thought and thought what this could possibly be; but in vain; she +couldn't make it out. She wasn't able to play on account of her arm; +and when she tried to read, or look through the picture-books, +everything wavered before her eyes so strangely that she was obliged to +stop. So that the days seemed very long to her, and she could scarcely +pass the time till evening, when her mother came and sat at her +bedside, telling and reading her all sorts of nice stories. She had +just finished telling her the story of Prince Fakardin, when the door +opened and in came Godpapa Drosselmeier, saying: + +"'I've come to see with my own eyes how Marie's getting on.' + +"When Marie saw Godpapa Drosselmeier in his little yellow coat, the +scene of the night when Nutcracker lost the battle with the mice came +so vividly back to her that she couldn't help crying out: + +"'Oh! Godpapa Drosselmeier, how nasty you were! I saw you quite well +when you were sitting on the clock, covering it all over with your +wings, to prevent it from striking and frightening the mice. I heard +you quite well when you called the mouse-king. Why didn't you help +Nutcracker? Why didn't you help _me_, you nasty godpapa? It's nobody's +fault but yours that I'm lying here with a bad arm.' + +"Her mother, in much alarm, asked what she meant. But Drosselmeier +began making extraordinary faces, and said, in a snarling voice, like a +sort of chant in monotone: + +"'Pendulums could only rattle--couldn't tick, ne'er a click; all the +clockies stopped their ticking: no more clicking; then they all struck +loud "cling-clang." Dollies! Don't your heads downhang! Hink and hank, +and honk and hank. Doll-girls! don't your heads downhang! Cling and +ring! The battle's over--Nutcracker all safe in clover. Comes the owl, +on downy wing--Scares away the mouses' king. Pak and pik and pik and +pook--clocks, bim-boom--grr-grr. Pendulums must click again. Tick and +tack, grr and brr, prr and purr.' + +"Marie fixed wide eyes of terror upon Godpapa Drosselmeier, because he +was looking quite different, and far more horrid, than usual, and was +jerking his right arm backwards and forwards as if he were some puppet +moved by a handle. She was beginning to grow terribly frightened at him +when her mother came in, and Fritz (who had arrived in the meantime) +laughed heartily, crying, 'Why, godpapa, you _are_ going on funnily! +You're just like my old Jumping Jack that I threw away last month.' + +"But the mother looked very grave, and said, 'This is a most +extraordinary way of going on, Mr. Drosselmeier. What can you mean by +it?' + +"'My goodness!' said Drosselmeier, laughing, 'did you never hear my +nice Watchmaker's Song? I always sing it to little invalids like +Marie.' Then he hastened to sit down beside Marie's bed, and said +to her, 'Don't be vexed with me because I didn't gouge out all the +mouse-king's fourteen eyes. That couldn't be managed exactly; but, to +make up for it, here's something which I know will please you greatly.' + +"He dived into one of his pockets, and what he slowly, slowly brought +out of it was--Nutcracker! whose teeth he had put in again quite +firmly, and set his broken jaw completely to rights. Marie shouted for +joy, and her mother laughed and said, 'Now you see for yourself how +nice Godpapa Drosselmeier is to Nutcracker.' + +"'But you must admit, Marie,' said her godpapa, 'that Nutcracker is far +from being what you might call a handsome fellow, and you can't say he +has a pretty face. If you like I'll tell you how it was that the +ugliness came into his family, and has been handed down in it from one +generation to another. Did ever you hear about the Princess Pirlipat, +the witch Mouseyrinks, and the clever Clockmaker?' + +"I say, Godpapa Drosselmeier,' interrupted Fritz at this juncture, +'you've put Nutcracker's teeth in again all right, and his jaw isn't +wobbly as it was; but what's become of his sword? Why haven't you given +him a sword?' + +"Oh,' cried Drosselmeier, annoyed, 'you must always be bothering and +finding fault with something or other, boy. What have I to do with +Nutcracker's sword? I've put his mouth to rights for him; he must look +out for a sword for himself.' + +"Yes, yes,' said Fritz, 'so he must, of course, if he's a right sort of +fellow.' + +"'So tell me, Marie,' continued Drosselmeier, 'if you know the story of +Princess Pirlipat?' + +"'Oh no,' said Marie. 'Tell it me, please--do tell it me!' + +"'I hope it won't be as strange and terrible as your stories generally +are,' said her mother. + +"'Oh no, nothing of the kind,' said Drosselmeier. 'On the contrary, +it's quite a funny story which I'm going to have the honour of telling +this time.' + +"'Go on then--do tell it to us,' cried the children; and Drosselmeier +commenced as follows:-- + + + "THE STORY OF THE HARD NUT. + +"Pirlipat's mother was a king's wife, so that, of course, she was a +queen; and Pirlipat herself was a princess by birth as soon as ever she +was born. The king was quite beside himself with joy over his beautiful +little daughter as she lay in her cradle, and he danced round and round +upon one leg, crying again and again, + +"'"Hurrah! hurrah! hip, hip, hurrah! Did anybody ever see anything so +lovely as my little Pirlipat?" + +"'And all the ministers of state, and the generals, the presidents, and +the officers of the staff, danced about on one leg, as the king did, +and cried as loud as they could, "No, no--never!" + +"Indeed, there was no denying that a lovelier baby than Princess +Pirlipat was never born since the world began. Her little face looked +as if it were woven of the most delicate white and rose-coloured silk; +her eyes were of sparkling azure, and her hair all in little curls like +threads of gold. Moreover, she had come into the world with two rows of +little pearly teeth, with which, two hours after her birth, she bit the +Lord High Chancellor in the fingers, when he was making a careful +examination of her features, so that he cried, "Oh! Gemini!" quite +loud. + +"'There are persons who assert that "Oh Lord" was the expression he +employed, and opinions are still considerably divided on this point. At +all events, she bit him in the fingers; and the realm learned, with +much gratification, that both intelligence and discrimination dwelt +within her angelical little frame. + +"'All was joy and gladness, as I have said, save that the queen was +very anxious and uneasy, nobody could tell why. One remarkable +circumstance was, that she had Pirlipat's cradle most scrupulously +guarded. Not only were there lifeguardsmen always at the doors of +the nursery, but--over and above the two head nurses close to the +cradle--there had always to be six other nurses all round the room at +night. And what seemed rather a funny thing, which nobody could +understand, was that each of these six nurses had always to have a cat +in her lap, and to keep on stroking it all night long, so that it might +never stop purring. + +"'It is impossible that you, my reader, should know the reason of all +these precautions; but I do, and shall proceed to tell you at once. + +"'Once upon a time, many great kings and very grand princes were +assembled at Pirlipat's father's court, and very great doings were +toward. Tournaments, theatricals, and state balls were going on on the +grandest scale, and the king, to show that he had no lack of gold and +silver, made up his mind to make a good hole in the crown revenues +for once, and launch out regardless of expense. Wherefore (having +previously ascertained, privately, from the state head master +cook that the court astronomer had indicated a propitious hour for +pork-butching), he resolved to give a grand pudding-and-sausage +banquet. He jumped into a state carriage, and personally invited all +the kings and the princes--to a basin of soup, merely--that he might +enjoy their astonishment at the magnificence of the entertainment. Then +he said to the queen, very graciously: + +"'"My darling, _you_ know exactly how I like my puddings and sausages!" + +"The queen quite understood what this meant. It meant that she should +undertake the important duty of making the puddings and the sausages +herself, which was a thing she had done on one or two previous +occasions. So the chancellor of the exchequer was ordered to issue out +of store the great golden sausage-kettle, and the silver _casseroles_. +A great fire of sandal-wood was kindled, the queen put on her damask +kitchen apron, and soon the most delicious aroma of pudding-broth rose +steaming out of the kettle. This sweet smell penetrated into the very +council chamber. The king could not control himself. + +"'"Excuse me for a few minutes, my lords and gentlemen," he cried, +rushed to the kitchen, embraced the queen, stirred in the kettle a +little with his golden sceptre, and then went back, easier in his mind, +to the council chamber. + +"'The important juncture had now arrived when the fat had to be +cut up into little square pieces, and browned on silver spits. The +ladies-in-waiting retired, because the queen, from motives of love and +duty to her royal consort, thought it proper to perform this important +task in solitude. But when the fat began to brown, a delicate little +whispering voice made itself audible, saying, "Give me some of that, +sister! I want some of it, too; I am a queen as well as yourself; give +me some." + +"'The queen knew well who was speaking. It was Dame Mouseyrinks, who +had been established in the palace for many years. She claimed +relationship to the royal family, and she was queen of the realm of +Mousolia herself, and lived with a considerable retinue of her own +under the kitchen hearth. The queen was a kind-hearted, benevolent +woman; and, although she didn't exactly care to recognize Dame +Mouseyrinks as a sister and a queen, she was willing, at this festive +season, to spare her the tit-bits she had a mind to. So she said, "Come +out, then, Dame Mouseyrinks; of course you shall taste my browned fat." + +"'So Dame Mouseyrinks came running out as fast as she could, held up +her pretty little paws, and took morsel after morsel of the browned fat +as the queen held them out to her. But then all Dame Mouseyrink's +uncles, and her cousins, and her aunts, came jumping out too; and her +seven sons (who were terrible ne'er-do-weels) into the bargain; and +they all set-to at the browned fat, and the queen was too frightened to +keep them at bay. Most fortunately the mistress of the robes came in, +and drove these importunate visitors away, so that a little of the +browned fat was left; and this, when the court mathematician (an +ex-senior wrangler of his university) was called in (which he had to +be, on purpose), it was found possible, by means of skilfully devised +apparatus provided with special micrometer screws, and so forth, to +apportion and distribute amongst the whole of the sausages, &c., under +construction. + +"'The kettledrums and the trumpets summoned all the great princes and +potentates to the feast. They assembled in their robes of state; some +of them on white palfreys, some in crystal coaches. The king received +them with much gracious ceremony, and took his seat at the head of the +table, with his crown on, and his sceptre in his hand. Even during the +serving of the white pudding course, it was observed that he turned +pale, and raised his eyes to heaven; sighs heaved his bosom; some +terrible inward pain was clearly raging within him. But when the +black-puddings were handed round, he fell back in his seat, loudly +sobbing and groaning. + +"'Every one rose from the table, and the court physician tried in vain +to feel his pulse. Ultimately, after the administration of most +powerful remedies--burnt feathers, and the like--his majesty seemed to +recover his senses to some extent, and stammered, scarce audibly, the +words: "Too little fat!" + +"'The queen cast herself down at his feet in despair, and cried, in a +voice broken by sobs, "Oh, my poor unfortunate royal consort! Ah, what +tortures you are doomed to endure! But see the culprit here at your +feet! Punish her severely! Alas! Dame Mouseyrinks, her uncles, her +seven sons, her cousins and her aunts, came and ate up nearly all the +fat--and---- + +"Here the queen fell back insensible. + +"'But the king jumped up, all anger, and cried in a terrible voice, +"Mistress of the robes, what is the meaning of this?" + +"The mistress of the robes told all she knew, and the king resolved to +take revenge on Dame Mouseyrinks and her family for eating up the fat +which ought to have been in the sausages. The privy council was +summoned, and it was resolved that Dame Mouseyrinks should be tried for +her life, and all her property confiscated. But as his majesty was of +opinion that she might go on consuming the fat, which was his +appanage, the whole matter was referred to the court Clockmaker and +Arcanist--whose name was the same as mine--Christian Elias +Drosselmeier, and he undertook to expel Dame Mouseyrinks and all her +relations from the palace precincts forever, by means of a certain +politico-diplomatic procedure. He invented certain ingenious little +machines, into which pieces of browned fat were inserted; and he placed +these machines down all about the dwelling of Dame Mouseyrinks. Now she +herself was much too knowing not to see through Drosselmeier's +artifice; but all her remonstrances and warnings to her relations were +unavailing. Enticed by the fragrant odour of the browned fat, all her +seven sons, and a great many of her uncles, her cousins and her aunts, +walked into Drosselmeier's little machines, and were immediately taken +prisoners by the fall of a small grating; after which they met with a +shameful death in the kitchen. + +"Dame Mouseyrinks left this scene of horror with her small following. +Rage and despair filled her breast. The court rejoiced greatly; the +queen was very anxious, because she knew Dame Mouseyrinks' character, +and knew well that she would never allow the death of her sons and +other relatives to go unavenged. And, in fact, one day when the queen +was cooking a _fricassee_ of sheep's lights for the king (a dish to +which he was exceedingly partial), Dame Mouseyrinks suddenly made her +appearance, and said: "My sons and my uncles, my cousins and my aunts, +are now no more. Have a care, lady, lest the queen of the mice bites +your little princess in two! Have a care!" + +"With which she vanished, and was no more seen. But the queen was so +frightened that she dropped the _fricassee_ into the fire; so this was +the second time Dame Mouseyrinks spoiled one of the king's favourite +dishes, at which he was very irate. + +"'But this is enough for to-night; we'll go on with the rest of it +another time.' + +"Sorely as Marie--who had ideas of her own about this story--begged +Godpapa Drosselmeier to go on with it, he would not be persuaded, but +jumped up, saying, 'Too much at a time wouldn't be good for you; the +rest to-morrow.' + +"Just as Drosselmeier was going out of the door, Fritz said: I say, +Godpapa Drosselmeier, was it really you who invented mousetraps?' + +"'How can you ask such silly questions?' cried his mother. But +Drosselmeier laughed oddly, and said: 'Well, you know I'm a clever +clockmaker. Mousetraps had to be invented some time or other.' + +"And now you know, children,' said Godpapa Drosselmeier the next +evening, 'why it was the queen took such precautions about her little +Pirlipat. Had she not always the fear before her eyes of Dame +Mouseyrinks coming back and carrying out her threat of biting the +princess to death? Drosselmeier's ingenious machines were of no avail +against the clever, crafty Dame Mouseyrinks, and nobody save the court +astronomer, who was also state astrologer and reader of the stars, knew +that the family of the Cat Purr had the power to keep her at bay. This +was the reason why each of the lady nurses was obliged to keep one of +the sons of that family (each of whom was given the honorary rank and +title of "privy councillor of legation") in her lap, and render his +onerous duty less irksome by gently scratching his back. + +"One night, just after midnight, one of the chief nurses stationed +close to the cradle, woke suddenly from a profound sleep. Everything +lay buried in slumber. Not a purr to be heard--deep, deathlike silence, +so that the death-watch ticking in the wainscot sounded quite loud. +What were the feelings of this principal nurse when she saw, close +beside her, a great, hideous mouse, standing on its hind legs, with its +horrid head laid on the princess's face! She sprang up with a scream of +terror. Everybody awoke; but then Dame Mouseyrinks (for she was the +great big mouse in Pirlipat's cradle) ran quickly away into the corner +of the room. The privy councillors of legation dashed after her, but +too late! She was off and away through a chink in the floor. The noise +awoke Pirlipat, who cried terribly. "Heaven be thanked, she is still +alive!" cried all the nurses; but what was their horror when they +looked at Pirlipat, and saw what the beautiful, delicate little thing +had turned into. An enormous bloated head (instead of the pretty little +golden-haired one), at the top of a diminutive, crumpled-up body, and +green, wooden-looking eyes staring, where the lovely azure-blue pair +had been, whilst her mouth had stretched across from the one ear to the +other. + +"'Of course the queen nearly died of weeping and loud lamentation, and +the walls of the king's study had all to be hung with padded arras, +because he kept on banging his head against them, crying: + +"'"Oh! wretched king that I am! Oh, wretched king that I am!" + +"'Of course he might have seen, then, that it would have been much +better to eat his puddings with no fat in them at all, and let Dame +Mouseyrinks and her folk stay on under the hearthstone. But Pirlipat's +royal father thought not of that. What he did was to lay all the blame +on the court Clockmaker and Arcanist, Christian Elias Drosselmeier, of +Nuernberg. Wherefore he promulgated a sapient edict to the effect +that said Drosselmeier should, within the space of four weeks, +restore Princess Pirlipat to her pristine condition,--or, at least, +indicate an unmistakable and reliable process whereby that might be +accomplished,--or else suffer a shameful death by the axe of the common +headsman. + +"'Drosselmeier was not a little alarmed; but he soon began to place +confidence in his art, and in his luck; so he proceeded to execute the +first operation which seemed to him to be expedient. He took Princess +Pirlipat very carefully to pieces, screwed off her hands and her feet, +and examined her interior structure. Unfortunately, he found that the +bigger she got the more deformed she would be, so that he didn't see +what was to be done at all. He put her carefully together again, +and sank down beside her cradle--which he wasn't allowed to go away +from--in the deepest dejection. + +"'The fourth week had come, and Wednesday of the fourth week, when the +king came in, with eyes gleaming with anger, made threatening gestures +with his sceptre, and cried: + +"'"Christian Elias Drosselmeier, restore the princess, or prepare for +death!" + +"'Drosselmeier began to weep bitterly. The little princess kept on +cracking nuts, an occupation which seemed to afford her much quiet +satisfaction. For the first time the Arcanist was struck by Pirlipat's +remarkable appetite for nuts, and the circumstance that she had been +born with teeth. And the fact had been that immediately after her +transformation she had begun to cry, and she had gone on crying till by +chance she got hold of a nut. She at once cracked it, and ate the +kernel, after which she was quite quiet. From that time her nurses +found that nothing would do but to go on giving her nuts. + +"'"Oh, holy instinct of nature--eternal, mysterious, inscrutable +Interdependence of Things!'" cried Drosselmeier, "thou pointest out to +me the door of the secret. I will knock, and it shall be opened unto +me." + +"'He at once begged for an interview with the Court Astronomer, and was +conducted to him closely guarded. They embraced, with many tears, for +they were great friends, and then retired into a private closet, where +they referred to many books treating of sympathies, antipathies, and +other mysterious subjects. Night came on. The Court Astronomer +consulted the stars, and, with the assistance of Drosselmeier (himself +an adept in astrology), drew the princess's horoscope. This was an +exceedingly difficult operation, for the lines kept getting more and +more entangled and confused for ever so long. But at last--oh what +joy!--it lay plain before them that all the princess had to do to be +delivered from the enchantment which made her so hideous, and get back +her former beauty, was to eat the sweet kernel of the nut Crackatook. + +"'Now this nut Crackatook had a shell so hard that you might have fired +a forty-eight pounder at it without producing the slightest effect on +it. Moreover, it was essential that this nut should be cracked, in the +princess's presence, by the teeth of a man whose beard had never known +a razor, and who had never had on boots. This man had to hand the +kernel to her with his eyes closed, and he might not open them till he +had made seven steps backwards without a stumble. + +"'Drosselmeier and the astronomer had been at work on this problem +uninterruptedly for three days and three nights; and on the Saturday +the king was sitting at dinner, when Drosselmeier--who was to have been +beheaded on the Sunday morning--burst joyfully in to announce that he +had found out what had to be done to restore Princess Pirlipat to her +pristine beauty. The king embraced him in a burst of rapture, and +promised him a diamond sword, four decorations, and two Sunday suits. + +"'"Set to work immediately after dinner," the monarch cried: adding, +kindly, "Take care, dear Arcanist, that the young unshaven gentleman in +shoes, with the nut Crackatook all ready in his hand, is on the spot; +and be sure that he touches no liquor beforehand, so that he mayn't +trip up when he makes his seven backward steps like a crab. He can get +as drunk as a lord afterwards, if he likes." + +"'Drosselmeier was dismayed at this utterance of the king's, and +stammered out, not without trembling and hesitation, that, though the +remedy was discovered, both the nut Crackatook and the young gentleman +who was to crack it had still to be searched for, and that it was +matter of doubt whether they ever would be got hold of at all. The +king, greatly incensed, whirled his sceptre round his crowned head, and +shouted, in the voice of a lion: + +"'"Very well, then you must be beheaded!" + +"'It was exceedingly fortunate for the wretched Drosselmeier that the +king had thoroughly enjoyed his dinner that day, and was consequently +in an admirable temper, and disposed to listen to the sensible advice +which the queen, who was very sorry for Drosselmeier, did not spare to +give him. Drosselmeier took heart, and represented that he really had +fulfilled the conditions, and discovered the necessary measures, and +had gained his life, consequently. The king said this was all bosh and +nonsense; but at length, after two or three glasses of liqueurs, +decreed that Drosselmeier and the astronomer should start off +immediately, and not come back without the nut Crackatook in their +pockets. The man who was to crack it (by the queen's suggestion) might +be heard of by means of advertisements in the local and foreign +newspapers and gazettes.' + +"Godpapa Drosselmeier interrupted his story at this point, and promised +to finish it on the following evening. + + +"Next evening, as soon as the lights were brought, Godpapa Drosselmeier +duly arrived, and went on with his story as follows:-- + +"'Drosselmeier and the court astronomer had been journeying for fifteen +long years without finding the slightest trace of the nut Crackatook. I +might go on for more than four weeks telling you where all they had +been, and what extraordinary things they had seen. I shall not do so, +however, but merely mention that Drosselmeier, in his profound +discouragement, at last began to feel a most powerful longing to see +his dear native town of Nuernberg once again. And he was more powerfully +moved by this longing than usual one day, when he happened to be +smoking a pipe of kanaster with his friend in the middle of a great +forest in Asia, and he cried: + +"'"Oh, Nuernberg, Nuernberg! dear native town--he who still knows thee +not, place of renown--though far he has travelled, and great cities +seen--as London, and Paris, and Peterwardeen--knoweth not what it is +happy to be--still must his longing heart languish for thee--for thee, +O Nuernberg, exquisite town--where the houses have windows both upstairs +and down!" + +"'As Drosselmeier lamented thus dolefully, the astronomer, seized with +compassionate sympathy, began to weep and howl so terribly that he was +heard throughout the length and breadth of Asia. But he collected +himself again, wiped the tears from his eyes, and said: + +"'"After all, dearest colleague, why should we sit and weep and howl +here? Why not come to Nuernberg? Does it matter a brass farthing, after +all, where and how we search for this horrible nut Crackatook?" + +"'"That's true, too," answered Drosselmeier, consoled. They both got up +immediately, knocked the ashes out of their pipes, started off, and +travelled straight on without stopping, from that forest right in the +centre of Asia till they came to Nuernberg. As soon as they got there, +Drosselmeier went straight to his cousin the toy maker and doll-carver, +and gilder and varnisher, whom he had not seen for a great many long +years. To him he told all the tale of Princess Pirlipat, Dame +Mouseyrinks, and the nut Crackatook, so that he clapped his hands +repeatedly, and cried in amazement: + +"'"Dear me, cousin, these things are really wonderful--very wonderful, +indeed!" + +"'Drosselmeier told him, further, some of the adventures he had met +with on his long journey--how he had spent two years at the court of +the King of Dates; how the Prince of Almonds had expelled him with +ignominy from his territory; how he had applied in vain to the Natural +History Society at Squirreltown--in short, how he had been everywhere +utterly unsuccessful in discovering the faintest trace of the nut +Crackatook. During this narrative, Christoph Zacharias had kept +frequently snapping his fingers, twisting himself round on one foot, +smacking with his tongue, etc.; then he cried: + +"'"Ee--aye--oh!--that really would be the very deuce and all." + +"'At last he threw his hat and wig in the air, warmly embraced his +cousin, and cried: + +"'"Cousin, cousin, you're a made man--a made man you are--for either I +am much deceived, or I have got the nut Crackatook myself!" + +"'He immediately produced a little cardboard box, out of which he took +a gilded nut of medium size. + +"'"Look there!" he said, showing this nut to his cousin; "the state of +matters as regards this nut is this. Several years ago, at Christmas +time, a stranger man came here with a sack of nuts, which he offered +for sale. Just in front of my shop he got into a quarrel, and put the +sack down the better to defend himself from the nut-sellers of the +place, who attacked him. Just then a heavily-loaded waggon drove over +the sack, and all the nuts were smashed but one. The stranger man, with +an odd smile, offered to sell me this nut for a twenty-kreuzer piece of +the year 1796. This struck me as strange. I found just such a coin in +my pocket, so I bought the nut, and I gilt it over, though I didn't +know why I took the trouble quite, or should have given so much for +it." + +"'All question as to its being really the long-sought nut Crackatook +was dispelled when the Court Astronomer carefully scraped away the +gilding, and found the word "Crackatook" graven on the shell in Chinese +characters. + +"The joy of the exiles was great, as you may imagine; and the cousin +was even happier, for Drosselmeier assured him that _he_ was a made man +too, as he was sure of a good pension, and all the gold leaf he would +want for the rest of his life for his gilding, free, gratis, for +nothing. + +"'The Arcanist and the Astronomer had both got on their nightcaps, and +were going to turn into bed, when the astronomer said: + +"'"I tell you what it is, dear colleague, one piece of good fortune +never comes alone. I feel convinced that we've not only found +the nut, but the young gentleman who is to crack it, and hand the +beauty-restoring kernel to the princess, into the bargain. I mean none +other than your cousin's son here, and I don't intend to close an eye +this night till I've drawn that youngster's horoscope." + +"'With which he threw away his nightcap, and at once set to work to +consult the stars. The cousin's son was a nice-looking, well-grown +young fellow, had never been shaved, and had never worn boots. True, he +had been a Jumping Jack for a Christmas or two in his earlier days, but +there was scarcely any trace of this discoverable about him, his +appearance had been so altered by his father's care. He had appeared +last Christmas in a beautiful red coat with gold trimmings, a sword by +his side, his hat under his arm, and a fine wig with a pigtail. Thus +apparelled, he stood in his father's shop exceeding lovely to behold, +and from his native _galanterie_ he occupied himself in cracking nuts +for the young ladies, who called him "the handsome nutcracker." + +"'Next morning the Astronomer fell, with much emotion, into the +Arcanist's arms, crying: + +"'"This is the very man!--we have got him!--he is found! Only, dearest +colleague, two things we must keep carefully in view. In the first +place, we must construct a most substantial pigtail for this precious +nephew of yours, which shall be connected with his lower jaw in such +sort that it shall be capable of communicating a very powerful pull to +it. And next, when we get back to the Residenz, we must carefully +conceal the fact that we have brought the young gentleman who is to +shiver the nut back with us. He must not make his appearance for a +considerable time after us. I read in the horoscope that if two or +three others bite at the nut unsuccessfully to begin with, the king +will promise the man who breaks it,--and, as a consequence, restores +the princess her good looks,--the princess's hand and the succession to +the crown." + +"The doll-maker cousin was immensely delighted with the idea of his +son's marrying Princess Pirlipat, and being a prince and king, so he +gave him wholly over to the envoys to do what they liked with him. The +pigtail which Drosselmeier attached to him proved to be a very powerful +and efficient instrument, as he exemplified by cracking the hardest of +peach-stones with the utmost ease. + +"'Drosselmeier and the Astronomer, having at once sent the news to the +Residenz of the discovery of the nut Crackatook, the necessary +advertisements were at once put in the newspapers, and, by the time +that our travellers got there, several nice young gentlemen, among whom +there were princes even, had arrived, having sufficient confidence in +their teeth to try to disenchant the princess. The ambassadors were +horrified when they saw poor Pirlipat again. The diminutive body with +tiny hands and feet was not big enough to support the great shapeless +head. The hideousness of the face was enhanced by a beard like white +cotton, which had grown about the mouth and chin. Everything had turned +out as the court astronomer had read it in the horoscope. One milksop +in shoes after another bit his teeth and his jaws into agonies over the +nut, without doing the princess the slightest good in the world. And +then, when he was carried out on the verge of insensibility by the +dentists who were in attendance on purpose, he would sigh: + +"'"Ah dear, that was a hard nut." + +"'Now when the king, in the anguish of his soul, had promised to him +who should disenchant the princess his daughter and the kingdom, the +charming, gentle young Drosselmeier made his appearance, and begged to +be allowed to make an attempt. None of the previous ones had pleased +the princess so much. She pressed her little hands to her heart and +sighed: + +"'"Ah, I hope it will be he who will crack the nut, and be my husband." + +"'When he had politely saluted the king, the queen, and the Princess +Pirlipat, he received the nut Crackatook from the hands of the Clerk of +the Closet, put it between his teeth, made a strong effort with his +head, and--crack--crack--the shell was shattered into a number of +pieces. He neatly cleared the kernel from the pieces of husk which were +sticking to it, and, making a leg, presented it courteously to the +princess, after which he closed his eyes and began his backward steps. +The princess swallowed the kernel, and--oh marvel!--the monstrosity +vanished, and in its place there stood a wonderfully beautiful lady, +with a face which seemed woven of delicate lily-white and rose-red +silk, eyes of sparkling azure, and hair all in little curls like +threads of gold. + +"'Trumpets and kettledrums mingled in the loud rejoicings of the +populace. The king and all his court danced about on one leg, as they +had done at Pirlipat's birth, and the queen had to be treated with Eau +de Cologne, having fallen into a fainting fit from joy and delight. All +this tremendous tumult interfered not a little with young +Drosselmeier's self-possession, for he still had to make his seven +backward steps. But he collected himself as best he could, and was just +stretching out his right foot to make his seventh step, when up came +Dame Mouseyrinks through the floor, making a horrible weaking and +squeaking, so that Drosselmeier, as he was putting his foot down, trod +upon her, and stumbled so that he almost fell. Oh misery!--all in an +instant he was transmogrified, just as the princess had been before: +his body all shrivelled up, and could scarcely support the great +shapeless head with enormous projecting eyes, and the wide gaping +mouth. In the place where his pigtail used to be a scanty wooden cloak +hung down, controlling the movements of his nether jaw. + +"'The clockmaker and the astronomer were wild with terror and +consternation, but they saw that Dame Mouseyrinks was wallowing in her +gore on the floor. Her wickedness had not escaped punishment, for young +Drosselmeier had squashed her so in the throat with the sharp point of +his shoe that she was mortally hurt. + +"'But as Dame Mouseyrinks lay in her death agony she queaked and +cheeped in a lamentable style, and cried: + +"'"Oh, Crackatook, thou nut so hard!--Oh, fate, which none may +disregard!--Hee hee, pee pee, woe's me, I cry!--since I through that +hard nut must die.--But, brave young Nutcracker, I see--you soon must +follow after me.--My sweet young son, with sevenfold crown--will soon +bring Master Cracker down.--His mother's death he will repay--so, +Nutcracker, beware that day!--Oh, life most sweet, I feebly cry,--I +leave you now, for I must die. Queak!" + +"'With this cry died Dame Mouseyrinks, and her body was carried out by +the Court Stovelighter. Meantime nobody had been troubling themselves +about young Drosselmeier. But the princess reminded the king of his +promise, and he at once directed that the young hero should be +conducted to his presence. But when the poor wretch came forward in his +transmogrified condition the princess put both her hands to her face, +and cried: + +"'"Oh please take away that horrid Nutcracker!" + +"'So that the Lord Chamberlain seized him immediately by his little +shoulders, and shied him out at the door. The king, furious at the idea +of a nutcracker being brought before him as a son-in-law, laid all the +blame upon the clockmaker and the astronomer, and ordered them both to +be banished for ever. + +"'The horoscope which the astronomer had drawn in Nuernberg had said +nothing about this; but that didn't hinder him from taking some fresh +observations. And the stars told him that young Drosselmeier would +conduct himself so admirably in his new condition that he would yet be +a prince and a king, in spite of his transmogrification; but also that +his deformity would only disappear after the son of Dame Mouseyrinks, +the seven-headed king of the mice (whom she had born after the death of +her original seven sons) should perish by his hand, and a lady should +fall in love with him notwithstanding his deformity. + +"'That is the story of the hard nut, children, and now you know why +people so often use the expression "that was a hard nut," and why +Nutcrackers are so ugly.' + +"Thus did Godpapa Drosselmeier finish his tale. Marie thought the +Princess Pirlipat was a nasty ungrateful thing. Fritz, on the other +hand, was of opinion that if Nutcracker had been a proper sort of +fellow he would soon have settled the mouse king's hash, and got his +good looks back again. + + + "UNCLE AND NEPHEW. + +"Should any of my respected readers or listeners ever have happened to +be cut by glass they will know what an exceedingly nasty thing it is, +and how long it takes to get well. Marie was obliged to stay in bed a +whole week, because she felt so terribly giddy whenever she tried +to stand up; but at last she was quite well again, and able to +jump about as of old. Things in the glass cupboard looked very fine +indeed--everything new and shiny, trees and flowers and houses--toys of +every kind. Above all, Marie found her dear Nutcracker again, smiling +at her in the second shelf, with his teeth all sound and right. As she +looked at this pet of hers with much fondness, it suddenly struck her +that all Godpapa Drosselmeier's story had been about Nutcracker, and +his family feud with Dame Mouseyrinks and her people. And now she knew +that her Nutcracker was none other than young Mr. Drosselmeier, of +Nuernberg, Godpapa Drosselmeier's delightful nephew, unfortunately under +the spells of Dame Mouseyrinks. For whilst the story was being told, +Marie couldn't doubt for a moment that the clever clockmaker at +Pirlipat's father's court was Godpapa Drosselmeier himself. + +"But why didn't your uncle help you? Why didn't he help you?' Marie +cried, sorrowfully, as she felt more and more clearly every moment that +in the battle, which she had witnessed, the question in dispute had +been no less a matter than Nutcracker's crown and kingdom. Wern't all +the other toys his subjects? And wasn't it clear that the astronomer's +prophecy that he was to be rightful King of Toyland had come true?' + +"Whilst the clever Marie was weighing all these things in her mind, she +kept expecting that Nutcracker and his vassals would give some +indications of being alive, and make some movements as she looked at +them. This, however, was by no means the case. Everything in the +cupboard kept quite motionless and still. Marie thought this was +the effect of Dame Mouseyrinks's enchantments, and those of her +seven-headed son, which still were keeping up their power. + +"'But,' she said, 'though you're not able to move, or to say the least +little word to me, dear Mr. Drosselmeier, I know you understand me, and +see how very well I wish you. Always reckon on my assistance when you +require it. At all events, I will ask your uncle to aid you with all +has great skill and talents, whenever there may be an opportunity.' + +"Nutcracker still kept quiet and motionless. But Marie fancied that a +gentle sigh came breathing through the glass cupboard, which made its +panes ring in a wonderful, though all but imperceptible, manner--whilst +something like a little bell-toned voice seemed to sing: + +"Marie fine, angel mine! I will be thine, if thou wilt be mine!' + +"Although a sort of cold shiver ran through her at this, still it +caused her the keenest pleasure. + +"Twilight came on. Marie's father came in with Godpapa Drosselmeier, +and presently Louise set out the tea-table, and the family took their +places round it, talking in the pleasantest and merriest manner about +all sorts of things. Marie had taken her little stool, and sat down at +her godpapa's feet in silence. When everybody happened to cease talking +at the same time, Marie looked her godpapa full in the face with her +great blue eyes, and said: + +"'I know now, godpapa, that my Nutcracker is your nephew, young Mr. +Drosselmeier from Nuernberg. The prophecy has come true: he is a king +and a prince, just as your friend the astronomer said he would be. But +you know as well as I do that he is at war with Dame Mouseyrinks's +son--that horrid king of the mice. Why don't you help him?' + +"Marie told the whole story of the battle, as she had witnessed it, and +was frequently interrupted by the loud laughter of her mother and +sister; but Fritz and Drosselmeier listened quite gravely. + +"'Where in the name of goodness has the child got her head filled with +all that nonsense?' cried her father. + +"'She has such a lively imagination, you see,' said her mother; 'she +dreamt it all when she was feverish with her arm.' + +"'It is all nonsense,' cried Fritz, 'and it isn't true! my red hussars +are not such cowards as all that. If they were, do you suppose I should +command them?' + +"But godpapa smiled strangely, and took little Marie on his knee, +speaking more gently to her than ever he had been known to do before. + +"'More is given to you, Marie dear,' he said, 'than to me, or the +others. You are a born princess, like Pirlipat, and reign in a bright +beautiful country. But you still have much to suffer, if you mean to +befriend poor transformed Nutcracker; for the king of the mice lies in +wait for him at every turn. But I cannot help him; you, and you only, +can do that. So be faithful and true.' + +"Neither Marie nor any of the others knew what Godpapa Drosselmeier +meant by these words. But they struck Dr. Stahlbaum--the father--as +being so strange that he felt Drosselmeier's pulse, and said: + +"'There seems a good deal of congestion about the head, my dear sir. +I'll just write you a little prescription.' + +"But Marie's mother shook her head meditatively, and said: + +"'I have a strong idea what Mr. Drosselmeier means, though I can't +exactly put it in words.' + + + "VICTORY. + +"It was not very long before Marie was awakened one bright moonlight +night by a curious noise, which came from one of the corners of her +room. There was a sound as of small stones being thrown, and rolled +here and there; and between whiles came a horrid cheeping and +squeaking. + +"'Oh, dear me! here come these abominable mice again!' cried Marie, in +terror, and she would have awakened her mother. But the noise suddenly +ceased; and she could not move a muscle--for she saw the king of the +mice working himself out through a hole in the wall; and at last he +came into the room, ran about in it, and got on to the little table at +her bed-head with a great jump. + +"Hee-hehee!' he cried; 'give me your sweetmeats! out with your cakes, +marchpane and sugar-stick, gingerbread cakes! Don't pause to argue! If +yield them you won't, I'll chew up Nutcracker! See if I don't!' + +"As he cried out these terrible words he gnashed and chattered his +teeth most frightfully, and then made off again through the hole in the +wall. This frightened Marie so that she was quite pale in the morning, +and so upset that she scarcely could utter a word. A hundred times she +felt impelled to tell her mother or her sister, or at all events her +brother, what had happened. But she thought, 'of course none of them +would believe me. They would only laugh at me.' + +"But she saw well enough that to succour Nutcracker she would have to +sacrifice all her sweet things; so she laid out all she had of them at +the bottom of the cupboard next evening. + +"'I can't make out how the mice have got into the sitting-room,' said +her mother. 'This is something quite new. There never were any there +before. See, Marie, they've eaten up all your sweetmeats.' + +"And so it was: the epicure mouse king hadn't found the marchpane +altogether to his taste, but had gnawed all round the edges of it, so +that what he had left of it had to be thrown into the ash-pit. Marie +never minded about her sweetmeats, being delighted to think that she +had saved Nutcracker by means of them. But what were her feelings when +next night there came a queaking again close by her ear. Alas! The king +of the mice was there again, with his eyes glaring worse than the night +before. + +"Give me your sugar toys,' he cried; give them you must, or else I'll +chew Nutcracker up into dust!' + +"Then he was gone again. + +"Marie was very sorry. She had as beautiful a collection of sugar-toys +as ever a little girl could boast of. Not only had she a charming +little shepherd, with his shepherd looking after a flock of milk-white +sheep, with a nice dog jumping about them, but two postmen with letters +in their hands, and four couples of prettily dressed young gentlemen +and most beautifully dressed young ladies, swinging in a Russian swing. +Then there were two or three dancers, and behind them Farmer +Feldkuemmel and the Maid of Orleans. Marie didn't much care about +_them_; but back in the corner there was a little baby with red cheeks, +and this was Marie's darling. The tears came to her eyes. + +"'Ah!' she cried, turning to Nutcracker, 'I really will do all I can to +help you. But it's very hard.' + +"Nutcracker looked at her so piteously that she determined to sacrifice +everything--for she remembered the mouse king with all his seven mouths +wide open to swallow the poor young fellow; so that night she set down +all her sugar figures in front of the cupboard, as she had the +sweetmeats the night before. She kissed the shepherd, the shepherdess, +and the lambs; and at last she brought her best beloved of all, the +little red-cheeked baby from its corner, but did put it a little +further back than the rest. Farmer Feldkuemmel and the Maid of Orleans +had to stand in the front rank of all. + +"'This is really getting too bad,' said Marie's mother the next +morning; 'some nasty mouse or other must have made a hole in the glass +cupboard, for poor Marie's sugar figures are all eaten and gnawed.' +Marie really could not restrain her tears. But she was soon able to +smile again; for she thought, 'What does it matter? Nutcracker is +safe.' + +"In the evening Marie's mother was telling her father and Godpapa +Drosselmeier about the mischief which some mouse was doing in the +children's cupboard, and her father said: + +"'It's a regular nuisance! What a pity it is that we can't get rid of +it. It's destroying all the poor child's things.' + +"Fritz intervened, and remarked: + +"The baker downstairs has a fine grey Councillor-of-Legation; I'll go +and get hold of him, and he'll soon put a stop to it, and bite the +mouse's head off, even if it's Dame Mouseyrinks herself, or her son, +the king of the mice.' + +"'Oh, yes!' said his mother, laughing, 'and jump up on to the chairs +and tables, knock down the cups and glasses, and do ever so much +mischief besides.' + +"'No, no!' answered Fritz; 'the baker's Councillor-of-Legation's a very +clever fellow. I wish I could walk about on the edge of the roof, as he +does.' + +"'Don't let us have a nasty cat in the house in the night-time,' said +Louise, who hated cats. + +"Fritz is quite right though,' said the mother; 'unless we set a trap. +Haven't we got such a thing in the house?' + +"Godpapa Drosselmeier's the man to get us one,' said Fritz; 'it was he +who invented them, you know.' Everybody laughed. And when the mother +said they did not possess such a thing, Drosselmeier said he had +plenty; and he actually sent a very fine one round that day. When the +cook was browning the fat, Marie--with her head full of the marvels of +her godpapa's tale--called out to her: + +"Ah, take care, Queen! Remember Dame Mouseyrinks and her people.' But +Fritz drew his sword, and cried, 'Let them come if they dare! I'll give +an account of them.' But everything about the hearth remained quiet and +undisturbed. As Drosselmeier was fixing the browned fat on a fine +thread, and setting the trap gently down in the glass cupboard, Fritz +cried: + +"'Now, Godpapa Clockmaker, mind that the mouse king doesn't play you +some trick!' + +"Ah, how did it fare with Marie that night? Something as cold as ice +went tripping about on her arm, and something rough and nasty laid +itself on her cheek, and cheeped and queaked in her ear. The horrible +mouse king came and sat on her shoulder, foamed a blood-red foam out of +all his seven mouths, and chattering and grinding his teeth, he hissed +into Marie's ear: + +"'Hiss, hiss!--keep away--don't go in there--ware of that house--don't +you be caught--death to the mouse--hand out your picture-books--none of +your scornful looks!--Give me your dresses--also your laces--or, if you +don't, leave you I won't--Nutcracker I'll bite--drag him out of your +sight--his last hour is near--so tremble for fear!--Fee, fa, fo, +fum--his last hour is come!--Hee hee, pee pee--queak--queak!' + +"Marie was overwhelmed with anguish and sorrow, and was looking quite +pale and upset when her mother said to her next morning: + +"'This horrid mouse hasn't been caught. But never mind, dear, we'll +catch the nasty thing yet, never fear. If the traps won't do, Fritz +shall fetch the grey Councillor of Legation.' + +"As soon as Marie was alone, she went up to the glass cupboard, and +said to Nutcracker, in a voice broken by sobs: + +"'Ah, my dear, good Mr. Drosselmeier, what can I do for you, poor +unfortunate girl that I am! Even if I give that horrid king of the mice +all my picture-books, and my new dress which the Child Christ gave me +at Christmas as well, he's sure to go on asking for more; so I soon +shan't have anything more left, and he'll want to eat me! Oh, poor +thing that I am! What shall I do? What shall I do?' + +"As she was thus crying and lamenting, she noticed that a great spot of +blood had been left, since the eventful night of the battle, upon +Nutcracker's neck. Since she had known that he was really young Mr. +Drosselmeier, her godpapa's nephew, she had given up carrying him in +her arms, and petting and kissing him; indeed, she felt a delicacy +about touching him at all. But now she took him carefully out of his +shelf, and began to wipe off this blood-spot with her handkerchief. +What were her feelings when she found that Nutcracker was growing +warmer and warmer in her hand, and beginning to move! She put him back +into the cupboard as fast as she could. His mouth began to wobble +backwards and forwards, and he began to whisper, with much difficulty: + +"'Ah, dearest Miss Stahlbaum--most precious of friends! How deeply I am +indebted to you for everything--for _everything_! But don't, don't +sacrifice any of your picture-books or pretty dresses for me. Get me a +sword--a sword is what I want. If you get me that, I'll manage the +rest--though--he may----' + +"There Nutcracker's speech died away, and his eyes, which had been +expressing the most sympathetic grief, grew staring and lifeless again. + +"Marie felt no fear; she jumped for joy, rather, now that she knew how +to help Nutcracker without further painful sacrifices. But where on +earth was she to get hold of a sword for him? She resolved to take +counsel with Fritz; and that evening, when their father and mother had +gone out, and they two were sitting beside the glass cupboard, she told +him what had passed between her and Nutcracker with the king of the +mice, and what it was that was required to rescue Nutcracker. + +"The thing which chiefly exercised Fritz's mind was Marie's statement +as to the unexemplary conduct of his red hussars in the great battle. +He asked her once more, most seriously, to assure him if it really was +the truth; and when she had repeated her statement, on her word of +honour, he advanced to the cupboard, and made his hussars a most +affecting address; and, as a punishment for their behaviour, he +solemnly took their plumes one by one out of their busbies, and +prohibited them from sounding the march of the hussars of the guard for +the space of a twelvemonth. When he had performed this duty, he turned +to Marie, and said: + +"As far as the sword is concerned, I have it in my power to assist +Nutcracker. I placed an old Colonel of Cuirassiers on retirement on a +pension, no longer ago than yesterday, so that he has no further +occasion for his sabre, which is sharp.' + +"This Colonel was settled, on his pension, in the back corner of the +third shelf. He was fetched out from thence, and his sabre--still a +bright and handsome silver weapon--taken off, and girt about +Nutcracker. + +"Next night Marie could not close an eye for anxiety. About +midnight she fancied she heard a strange stirring and noise in the +sitting-room--a rustling and a clanging--and all at once came a shrill +'Queak!' + +"'The king of the mice! The king of the mice!' she cried, and jumped +out of bed, all terror. Everything was silent; but soon there came a +gentle tapping at the door of her room, and a soft voice made itself +heard, saying: + +"Please to open your door, dearest Miss Stahlbaum! Don't be in the +least degree alarmed; good, happy news!' + +"It was Drosselmeier's voice--young Drosselmeier's, I mean. She threw +on her dressing-gown, and opened the door as quickly as possible. There +stood Nutcracker, with his sword, all covered with blood, in his right +hand, and a little wax taper in his left. When he saw Marie he knelt +down on one knee, and said: + +"'It was you, and you only, dearest lady, who inspired me with knightly +valour, and steeled me with strength to do battle with the insolent +caitiff who dared to insult you. The treacherous king of the mice lies +vanquished and writhing in his gore! Deign, lady, to accept these +tokens of victory from the hand of him who is, till death, your true +and faithful knight.' + +"With this Nutcracker took from his left arm the seven crowns of the +mouse king, which he had ranged upon it, and handed them to Marie, who +received them with the keenest pleasure. Nutcracker rose, and continued +as follows: + +"Oh! my best beloved Miss Stahlbaum, if you would only take the trouble +to follow me for a few steps, what glorious and beautiful things I +could show you, at this supreme moment when I have overcome my +hereditary foe! Do--do come with me, dearest lady!' + + + "TOYLAND. + +"I feel quite convinced, children, that none of you would have +hesitated for a moment to go with good, kind Nutcracker, who had always +shown himself to be such a charming person, and Marie was all the more +disposed to do as he asked her, because she knew what her just claims +on his gratitude were, and was sure that he would keep his word, and +show her all sorts of beautiful things. So she said: + +"'I will go with you, dear Mr. Drosselmeier; but it mustn't be very +far, and it won't do to be very long, because, you know, I haven't had +any sleep yet.' + +"'Then we will go by the shortest route,' said Nutcracker, 'although it +is, perhaps, rather the most difficult.' + +"He went on in front, followed by Marie, till he stopped before the big +old wardrobe. Marie was surprised to see that, though it was generally +shut, the doors of it were now wide open, so that she could see her +father's travelling cloak of fox-fur hanging in the front. Nutcracker +clambered deftly up this cloak, by the edgings and trimmings of it, so +as to get hold of the big tassel which was fastened at the back of it +by a thick cord. He gave this tassel a tug, and a pretty little ladder +of cedar-wood let itself quickly down through one of the arm-holes of +the cloak. + +"'Now, Miss Stahlbaum, step up that ladder, if you will be so kind,' +said Nutcracker. Marie did so. But as soon as she had got up through +the arm-hole, and begun to look out at the neck, all at once a dazzling +light came streaming on to her, and she found herself standing on a +lovely, sweet-scented meadow, from which millions of sparks were +streaming upward, like the glitter of beautiful gems. + +"This is Candy Mead, where we are now,' said Nutcracker. 'But we'll go +in at that gate there.' + +"Marie looked up and saw a beautiful gateway on the meadow, only a few +steps off. It seemed to be made of white, brown, and raisin-coloured +marble; but when she came close to it she saw it was all of baked +sugar-almonds and raisins, which--as Nutcracker said when they were +going through it--was the reason it was called 'Almond and Raisin +Gate.' There was a gallery running round the upper part of it, +apparently made of barley-sugar, and in this gallery six monkeys, +dressed in red doublets, were playing on brass instruments in the most +delightful manner ever heard; so that it was all that Marie could do to +notice that she was walking along upon a beautiful variegated marble +pavement, which, however, was really a mosaic of lozenges of all +colours. Presently the sweetest of odours came breathing round her, +streaming from a beautiful little wood on both sides of the way. There +was such a glittering and sparkling among the dark foliage, that one +could see all the gold and silver fruits hanging on the many-tinted +stems, and these stems and branches were all ornamented and dressed up +in ribbons and bunches of flowers, like brides and bridegrooms, and +festive wedding guests. And as the orange perfume came wafted, as if on +the wings of gentle zephyrs, there was a soughing among the leaves and +branches, and all the goldleaf and tinsel rustled and tinkled like +beautiful music, to which the sparkling lights could not help dancing. + +"'Oh, how charming this is!' cried Marie, enraptured. + +"'This is Christmas Wood, dearest Miss Stahlbaum,' said Nutcracker, + +"Ah!' said Marie, 'if I could only stay here for a little! Oh, it is so +lovely!' + +"Nutcracker clapped his little hands, and immediately there appeared a +number of little shepherds and shepherdesses, and hunters and +huntresses, so white and delicate that you would have thought they were +made of pure sugar, whom Marie had not noticed before, although they +had been walking about in the wood: and they brought a beautiful gold +reclining chair, laid down a white satin cushion in it, and politely +invited Marie to take a seat. As soon as she did so, the shepherds and +shepherdesses danced a pretty ballet, to which the hunters and +huntresses played the music on their horns, and then they all +disappeared amongst the thickets. + +"I must really apologize for the poor style in which this dance was +executed, dearest Miss Stahlbaum,' said Nutcracker. 'These people all +belong to our Wire Ballet Troupe, and can only do the same thing over +and over again. Had we not better go on a little farther?' + +"'Oh, I'm sure it was all most delightful, and I enjoyed it immensely!' +said Marie, as she stood up and followed Nutcracker, who was going on +leading the way. They went by the side of a gently rippling brook, +which seemed to be what was giving out all the perfume which filled the +wood. + +"'This is Orange Brook,' said Nutcracker; 'but, except for its sweet +scent, it is nothing like as fine a water as the River Lemonade, a +beautiful broad stream, which falls--as this one does also--into the +Almond-milk Sea.' + +"And, indeed, Marie soon heard a louder plashing and rushing, and came +in sight of the River Lemonade, which went rolling along in swelling +waves of a yellowish colour, between banks covered with a herbage and +underwood which shone like green carbuncles. A remarkable freshness and +coolness, strengthening heart and breast, exhaled from this fine river. +Not far from it a dark yellow stream crept sluggishly along, giving out +a most delicious odour; and on its banks sat numbers of pretty +children, angling for little fat fishes, which they ate as soon as they +caught them. These fish were very much like filberts, Marie saw when +she came closer. A short distance farther, on the banks of this stream, +stood a nice little village. The houses of this village, and the +church, the parsonage, the barns, and so forth, were all dark brown +with gilt roofs, and many of the walls looked as if they were plastered +over with lemon-peel and shelled almonds. + +"'That is Gingerthorpe on the Honey River,' said Nutcracker. 'It is +famed for the good looks of its inhabitants; but they are very +short-tempered people, because they suffer so much from tooth-ache. So +we won't go there at present.' + +"At this moment Marie caught sight of a little town where the houses +were all sorts of colours and quite transparent, exceedingly pretty to +look at. Nutcracker went on towards this town, and Marie heard a noise +of bustle and merriment, and saw some thousands of nice little folks +unloading a number of waggons which were drawn up in the market-place. +What they were unloading from the waggons looked like packages of +coloured paper, and tablets of chocolate. + +"'This is Bonbonville,' Nutcracker said. 'An embassy has just arrived +from Paperland and the King of Chocolate. These poor Bonbonville people +have been vexatiously threatened lately by the Fly-Admiral's forces, so +they are covering their houses over with their presents from Paperland, +and constructing fortifications with the fine pieces of workmanship +which the Chocolate-King has sent them. But oh! dearest Miss Stahlbaum, +we are not going to restrict ourselves to seeing the small towns and +villages of this country. Let us be off to the metropolis.' + +"He stepped quickly onwards, and Marie followed him, all expectation. +Soon a beautiful rosy vapour began to rise, suffusing everything with a +soft splendour. She saw that this was reflected from a rose-red, +shining water, which went plashing and rushing away in front of them in +wavelets of roseate silver. And on this delightful water, which kept +broadening and broadening out wider and wider, like a great lake, the +loveliest swans were floating, white as silver, with collars of gold. +And, as if vieing with each other, they were singing the most beautiful +songs, at which little fish, glittering like diamonds, danced up and +down in the rosy ripples. + +"'Oh!' cried Marie, in the greatest delight, 'this must be the lake +which Godpapa Drosselmeier was once going to make for me, and I am the +girl who is to play with the swans.' + +"Nutcracker gave a sneering sort of laugh, such as she had never seen +in him before, and said: + +"'My uncle could never make a thing of this kind. You would be much +more likely to do it yourself. But don't let us bother about that. +Rather let us go sailing over the water, Lake Rosa here, to the +metropolis.' + + + "THE METROPOLIS. + +"Nutcracker clapped his little hands again, and the waves of Lake Rosa +began to sound louder and to plash higher, and Marie became aware of a +sort of car approaching from the distance, made wholly of glittering +precious stones of every colour, and drawn by two dolphins with scales +of gold. Twelve of the dearest little negro boys, with head-dresses and +doublets made of humming-birds' feathers woven together, jumped to +land, and carried first Marie and then Nutcracker, gently gliding +above the water, into the car, which immediately began to move along +over the lake of its own accord. Ah! how beautiful it was when Marie +went onward thus over the waters in the shell-shaped car, with the +rose-perfume breathing around her, and the rosy waves plashing. The two +golden-scaled dolphins lifted their nostrils, and sent streams of +crystal high in the air; and as these fell down in glittering, +sparkling rainbows, there was a sound as of two delicate, silvery +voices, singing, 'Who comes over the rosy sea?--Fairy is she. +Bim-bim--fishes; sim-sim--swans; sfa-sfa--golden birds; tratrah, rosy +waves, wake you, and sing, sparkle and ring, sprinkle and kling--this +is the fairy we languish to see--coming at last to us over the sea. +Rosy waves dash--bright dolphins play--merrily, merrily on!' + +"But the twelve little black boys at the back of the car seemed to take +some umbrage at this song of the water-jets; for they shook the +sunshades they were holding so that the palm leaves they were made of +clattered and rattled together; and as they shook them they stamped an +odd sort of rhythm with their feet, and sang: + +"'Klapp and klipp, and klipp and klapp, and up and down.' + +"'Negroes are merry, amusing fellows,' said Nutcracker, a little put +out; 'but they'll set the whole lake into a state of regular mutiny on +my hands!' And in fact there did begin a confused, and confusing, noise +of strange voices which seemed to be floating both in the water and in +the air. However, Marie paid no attention to it, but went on looking +into the perfumed rosy waves, from each of which a pretty girl's face +smiled back to her. + +"Oh! look at Princess Pirlipat,' she cried, clapping her hands with +gladness, 'smiling at me so charmingly down there! Do look at her, Mr. +Drosselmeier.' + +"But Nutcracker sighed, almost sorrowfully, and said: + +"'That is not Princess Pirlipat, dearest Miss Stahlbaum, it is only +yourself; always your own lovely face smiling up from the rosy waves.' +At this Marie drew her head quickly back, closed her eyes as tightly as +she could, and was terribly ashamed. But just then the twelve negroes +lifted her out of the car and set her on shore. She found herself in a +small thicket or grove, almost more beautiful even than Christmas Wood, +everything glittered and sparkled so in it. And the fruit on the trees +was extraordinarily wonderful and beautiful, and not only of very +curious colours, but with the most delicious perfume. + +"'Ah!' said Nutcracker, 'here we are in Comfit Grove, and yonder lies +the metropolis.' + +"How shall I set about describing all the wonderful and beautiful +sights which Marie now saw, or give any idea of the splendour and +magnificence of the city which lay stretched out before her on a +flowery plain? Not only did the walls and towers of it shine in the +brightest and most gorgeous colours, but the shapes and appearance of +the buildings were like nothing to be seen on earth. Instead of roofs +the houses had on beautiful twining crowns, and the towers were +garlanded with beautiful leaf-work, sculptured and carved into +exquisite, intricate designs. As they passed in at the gateway, which +looked as if it was made entirely of macaroons and sugared fruits, +silver soldiers presented arms, and a little man in a brocade +dressing-gown threw himself upon Nutcracker's neck, crying: + +"'Welcome, dearest prince! welcome to Sweetmeatburgh!' + +"Marie wondered not a little to see such a very grand personage +recognise young Mr. Drosselmeier as a prince. But she heard such a +number of small delicate voices making such a loud clamouring and +talking, and such a laughing and chattering going on, and such a +singing and playing, that she couldn't give her attention to anything +else, but asked Drosselmeier what was the meaning of it all. + +"'Oh, it is nothing out of the common, dearest Miss Stahlbaum,' he +answered. 'Sweetmeatburgh is a large, populous city, full of mirth and +entertainment. This is only the usual thing that is always going on +here every day. Please to come on a little farther.' + +"After a few paces more they were in the great marketplace, which +presented the most magnificent appearance. All the houses which were +round it were of filagreed sugar-work, with galleries towering above +galleries; and in the centre stood a lofty cake covered with sugar, by +way of obelisk, with fountains round it spouting orgeade, lemonade, and +other delicious beverages into the air. The runnels at the sides of the +footways were full of creams, which you might have ladled up with a +spoon if you had chosen. But prettier than all this were the delightful +little people who were crowding about everywhere by the thousand, +shouting, laughing, playing, and singing, in short, producing all that +jubilant uproar which Marie had heard from the distance. There were +beautifully dressed ladies and gentlemen, Greeks and Armenians, +Tyrolese and Jews, officers and soldiers, clergymen, shepherds, +jack-puddings, in short, people of every conceivable kind to be found +in the world. + +"The tumult grew greater towards one of the corners; the people +streamed asunder. For the Great Mogul happened to be passing along +there in his palanquin, attended by three-and-ninety grandees of the +realm, and seven hundred slaves. But it chanced that the Fishermen's +Guild, about five hundred strong, were keeping a festival at the +opposite corner of the place; and it was rather an unfortunate +coincidence that the Grand Turk took it in his head just at this +particular moment to go out for a ride, and crossed the square with +three thousand Janissaries. And, as if this were not enough, the grand +procession of the Interrupted Sacrifice came along at the same time, +marching up towards the obelisk with a full orchestra playing, and the +chorus singing: + +"'Hail! all hail to the glorious sun!' + +"So there was a thronging and a shoving, a driving and a squeaking; and +soon lamentations arose, and cries of pain, for one of the fishermen +had knocked a Brahmin's head off in the throng, and the Great Mogul had +been very nearly run down by a jack-pudding. The din grew wilder and +wilder. People were beginning to shove one another, and even to come to +fisticuffs; when the man in the brocade dressing-gown who had welcomed +Nutcracker as prince at the gate, clambered up to the top of the +obelisk, and, after a very clear-tinkling bell had rung thrice, +shouted, very loudly, three several times: + +"Pastrycook! pastrycook! pastrycook!' + +"Instantly the tumult subsided. Everybody tried to save his bacon as +quickly as he could; and, after the entangled processions had been got +disentangled, the dirt properly brushed off the Great Mogul, and the +Brahmin's head stuck 011 again all right, the merry noise went on just +the same as before. + +"'Tell me why that gentleman called out "Pastrycook," Mr. Drosselmeier, +please,' said Marie. + +"'Ah! dearest Miss Stahlbaum,' said Nutcracker, 'in this place +"Pastrycook" means a certain unknown and very terrible Power, which, it +is believed, can do with people just what it chooses. It represents the +Fate, or Destiny, which rules these happy little people, and they stand +in such awe and terror of it that the mere mention of its name quells +the wildest tumult in a moment, as the burgomaster has just shown. +Nobody thinks further of earthly matters, cuffs in the ribs, broken +heads, or the like. Every one retires within himself, and says: + +"'"What is man? and what his ultimate destiny?"' + +"Marie could not forbear a cry of admiration and utmost astonishment as +she now found herself all of a sudden before a castle, shining in +roseate radiance, with a hundred beautiful towers. Here and there at +intervals upon its walls were rich bouquets of violets, narcissus, +tulips, carnations, whose dark, glowing colours heightened the dazzling +whiteness, inclining to rose-colour, of the walls. The great dome of +the central building, as well as the pyramidal roofs of the towers, +were set all over with thousands of sparkling gold and silver stars. + +"'Aha!' said Nutcracker, 'here we are at Marchpane Castle at last!' + +"Marie was sunk and absorbed in contemplation of this magic palace. But +the fact did not escape her that the roof was wanting to one of the +principal towers, and that little men, up upon a scaffold made of +sticks of cinnamon, were busy putting it on again. But before she had +had time to ask Nutcracker about this, he said: + +"This beautiful castle was a short time since threatened with +tremendous havoc, if not with total destruction. Sweet-tooth the giant +happened to be passing by, and he bit off the top of that tower there, +and was beginning to gnaw at the great dome. But the Sweetmeatburgh +people brought him a whole quarter of the town by way of tribute, and a +considerable slice of Comfit Grove into the bargain. This stopped his +mouth, and he went on his way.' + +"At this moment soft, beautiful music was heard, and out came twelve +little pages with lighted clove-sticks, which they held in their little +hands by way of torches. Each of their heads was a pearl, their bodies +were emeralds and rubies, and their feet were beautifully-worked pure +gold. After them came four ladies about the size of Marie's Miss Clara, +but so gloriously and brilliantly attired that Marie saw in a moment +that they could be nothing but princesses of the blood royal. They +embraced Nutcracker most tenderly, and shed tears of gladness, saying: + +"'Oh, dearest prince! beloved brother!' + +"Nutcracker seemed deeply affected. He wiped away his tears, which +flowed thick and fast, and then he took Marie by the hand and said, +with much pathos and solemnity: + +"This is Miss Marie Stahlbaum, the daughter of a most worthy medical +man, and the preserver of my life. Had she not thrown her slipper just +in the nick of time--had she not procured me the pensioned Colonel's +sword--I should have been lying in my cold grave at this moment, bitten +to death by the accursed king of the mice. I ask you to tell me +candidly, can Princess Pirlipat, princess though she be, compare for a +moment with Miss Stahlbaum here in beauty, in goodness, in virtues of +every kind? My answer is, emphatically "No."' + +"All the ladies cried 'No;' and they fell upon Marie's neck with sobs +and tears, and cried: + +"Ah! noble preserver of our beloved royal brother! Excellent Miss +Stahlbaum!' + +"They now conducted Marie and Nutcracker into the castle, to a hall +whose walls were composed of sparkling crystal. But what delighted +Marie most of all was the furniture. There were the most darling little +chairs, bureaus, writing-tables, and so forth, standing about +everywhere, all made of cedar or Brazil-wood, covered with golden +flowers. The princesses made Marie and Nutcracker sit down, and said +that they would themselves prepare a banquet. So they went and brought +quantities of little cups and dishes of the finest Japanese porcelain, +and spoons, knives and forks, graters and stew-pans, and other kitchen +utensils of gold and silver. Then they fetched the most delightful +fruits and sugar things--such as Marie had never seen the like of--and +began to squeeze the fruit in the daintiest way with their little +hands, and to grate the spices and rub down the sugar-almonds; in +short, they set to work so skilfully that Marie could see very well how +accomplished they were in kitchen matters, and what a magnificent +banquet there was going to be. Knowing her own skill in this line, she +wished, in her secret heart, that she might be allowed to go and help +the princesses, and have a finger in all these pies herself. And the +prettiest of Nutcracker's sisters, just as if she had read the wishes +of Marie's heart, handed her a little gold mortar, saying: + +"'Sweet friend, dear preserver of my brother, would you mind just +pounding a little of this sugar-candy?' + +"Now as Marie went on pounding in the mortar with good will and +the utmost enjoyment--and the sound of it was like a lovely +song--Nutcracker began to relate, with much minuteness and prolixity, +all that had happened on the occasion of the terrible engagement +between his forces and the army of the king of the mice; how he had had +the worst of it on account of the bad behaviour of his troops; how the +horrible mouse king had all but bitten him to death, so that Marie had +had to sacrifice a number of his subjects who were in her service, +etc., etc. + +"During all this it seemed to Marie as if what Nutcracker was +saying--and even the sound of her own mortar--kept growing more and +more indistinct, and going farther and farther away. Presently she saw +a silver mistiness rising up all about, like clouds, in which the +princesses, the pages, Nutcracker, and she herself were floating. And a +curious singing and a buzzing and humming began, which seemed to die +away in the distance; and then she seemed to be going up--up--up, as if +on waves constantly rising and swelling higher and higher, higher and +higher, higher and higher. + + + "CONCLUSION. + +"And then came a 'prr-poof,' and Marie fell down from some +inconceivable height. + +"That was a crash and a tumble! + +"However, she opened her eyes, and, lo and behold, there she was in her +own bed! It was broad daylight, and her mother was standing at her +bedside, saying: + +"'Well, what a sleep you have had! Breakfast has been ready for ever so +long.' + +"Of course, dear audience, you see how it was. Marie, confounded and +amazed by all the wonderful things she had seen, had fallen asleep at +last in Marchpane Castle, and the negroes or the pages, or perhaps the +princesses themselves, had carried her home and put her to bed. + +"'Oh, mother darling,' said Marie, what a number of places young Mr. +Drosselmeier has taken me to in the night, and what beautiful things I +have seen!' And she gave very much the same faithful account of it all +as I have done to you. + +"Her mother listened, looking at her with much astonishment, and, when +she had finished, said: + +"'You have had a long, beautiful dream, Marie; but now you must put it +all out of your head.' + +"Marie firmly maintained that she had not been dreaming at all; so her +mother took her to the glass cupboard, lifted out Nutcracker from his +usual position on the third shelf, and said: + +"'You silly girl, how can you believe that this wooden figure can have +life and motion?' + +"'Ah, mother,' answered Marie, 'I know perfectly well that Nutcracker +is young Mr. Drosselmeier from Nuernberg, Godpapa Drosselmeier's +nephew.' + +"Her father and mother both burst out into ringing laughter. + +"'It's all very well your laughing at poor Nutcracker, father,' cried +Mary, almost weeping; 'but he spoke very highly of _you_; for when we +arrived at Marchpane Castle, and he was introducing me to his sisters, +the princesses, he said you were a most worthy medical man.' + +The laughter grew louder, and Louise, and even Fritz, joined in it. +Marie ran into the next room, took the mouse king's seven crowns from +her little box, and handed them to her mother, saying: + +"Look there, then, dear mother; those are the mouse king's seven crowns +which young Mr. Drosselmeier gave me last night as a proof that he had +got the victory.' + +"Her mother gazed in amazement at the little crowns, which were made of +some very brilliant, wholly unknown metal, and worked more beautifully +than any human hands could have worked them. Dr. Stahlbaum could not +cease looking at them with admiration and astonishment either, and both +the father and the mother enjoined Marie most earnestly to tell them +where she really had got them from. But she could only repeat what she +had said before; and when her father scolded her, and accused her of +untruthfulness, she began to cry bitterly, and said: + +"'Oh, dear me; what can I tell you except the truth, poor unfortunate +girl that I am!' + +"At this moment the door opened, and Godpapa Drosselmeier came in, +crying: + +'"Hullo! hullo! what's all this? My little Marie crying? What's all +this? what's all this?' + +"Dr. Stahlbaum told him all about it, and showed him the crowns. As +soon as he had looked at them, however, he cried out: + +"'Stuff and nonsense! stuff and nonsense! These are the crowns I used +to wear on my watch-chain. I gave them as a present to Marie on her +second birthday. Do you mean to tell me you don't remember?' + +"None of them _did_ remember anything of the kind. But Marie, seeing +that her father and mother's faces were clear of clouds again, ran up +to her godpapa, crying: + +"'You know all about the affair, Godpapa Drosselmeier; tell it to them +then. Let them know from your own lips that my Nutcracker is your +nephew, young Mr. Drosselmeier from Nuernberg, and that it was he who +gave me the crowns.' But Drosselmeier made a very angry face, and +muttered, 'Stupid stuff and nonsense!' upon which Marie's father took +her in front of him, and said, with much earnestness: + +"'Now just look here, Mario; let there be an end of all this foolish +trash and absurd nonsense for once and for all; I'm not going to allow +any more of it; and if ever I hear you say again that that idiotic, +misshapen Nutcracker is your godpapa's nephew, I shall shy, not only +Nutcracker, but all your other playthings--Miss Clara not excepted--out +of the window.' + +"Of course poor Marie dared not utter another word concerning that +which her whole mind was full of, for you may well suppose that it was +impossible for anyone who had seen all that she had seen to forget it. +And I regret to say that even Fritz himself at once turned his back on +his sister whenever she wanted to talk to him about the wondrous realm +in which she had been so happy. Indeed, he is said to have frequently +murmured, 'Stupid goose!' between his teeth, though I can scarcely +think this compatible with his proved kindness of heart. This much, +however, is matter of certainty, that, as he no longer believed what +his sister said, he now, on a public parade, formally recanted what he +had said to his red hussars, and, in the place of the plumes he had +deprived them of, gave them much taller and finer ones of goose quills, +and allowed them to sound the march of the hussars of the guard as +before. + +"Marie did not dare to say anything more of her adventures. But the +memories of that fairy realm haunted her with a sweet intoxication, and +the music of that delightful, happy country still rang sweetly in her +ears. Whenever she allowed her thoughts to dwell on all those glories +she saw them again, and so it came about that, instead of playing as +she used to do, she sat quiet and meditative, absorbed within herself. +Everybody found fault with her for being this sort of little dreamer. + +"It chanced one day that Godpapa Drosselmeier was repairing one of the +clocks in the house, and Marie was sitting beside the glass cupboard, +sunk in her dreams and gazing at Nutcracker. All at once she said, as +if involuntarily: + +"Ah, dear Mr. Drosselmeier, if you really were alive, _I_ shouldn't be +like Princess Pirlipat, and despise you because you had had to give up +being a nice handsome gentleman for my sake!' + +"'Stupid stuff and nonsense!' cried Godpapa Drosselmeier. + +"But, as he spoke, there came such a tremendous bang and shock that +Marie fell from her chair insensible. + +"When she came back to her senses her mother was busied about her and +said: + +"How could you go and tumble off your chair in that way, a big girl +like you? Here is Godpapa Drosselmeier's nephew come from Nuernberg. See +how good you can be.' + +"Marie looked up. Her godpapa had got on his yellow coat and his glass +wig, and was smiling in the highest good-humour. By the hand he was +holding a very small but very handsome young gentleman. His little face +was red and white; he had on a beautiful red coat trimmed with gold +lace, white silk stockings and shoes, with a lovely bouquet of flowers +in his shirt frill. He was beautifully frizzed and powdered, and had a +magnificent queue hanging down his back. The little sword at his side +seemed to be made entirely of jewels, it sparkled and shone so, and the +little hat under his arm was woven of flocks of silk. He gave proof of +the fineness of his manners in that he had brought for Marie a quantity +of the most delightful toys--above all, the very same figures as those +which the mouse king had eaten up--as well as a beautiful sabre for +Fritz. He cracked nuts at table for the whole party; the very hardest +did not withstand him. He placed them in his mouth with his left hand, +tugged at his pigtail with his right, and crack! they fell in pieces. + +"Marie grew red as a rose at the sight of this charming young +gentleman; and she grew redder still when, after dinner, young +Drosselmeier asked her to go with him to the glass cupboard in the +sitting-room. + +"'Play nicely together, children,' said Godpapa Drosselmeier; 'now that +my clocks are all nicely in order, I can have no possible objection.' + +"But as soon as young Drosselmeier was alone with Marie, he went down +on one knee, and spake as follows: + +"'Ah! my most dearly-beloved Miss Stahlbaum! 'see here at your feet the +fortunate Drosselmeier, whose life you saved here on this very spot. +You were kind enough to say, plainly and unmistakably, in so many +words, that you would not have despised me, as Princess Pirlipat did, +if I had been turned ugly for your sake. Immediately I ceased to +be a contemptible Nutcracker, and resumed my former not altogether +ill-looking person and form. Ah! most exquisite lady! bless me with +your precious hand; share with me my crown and kingdom, and reign with +me in Marchpane Castle, for there I now am king.' + +"Marie raised him, and said gently: + +"'Dear Mr. Drosselmeier, you are a kind, nice gentleman; and as you +reign over a delightful country of charming, funny, pretty people, I +accept your hand.' + +"So then they were formally betrothed; and when a year and a day had +come and gone, they say he came and fetched her away in a golden coach, +drawn by silver horses. At the marriage there danced two-and-twenty +thousand of the most beautiful dolls and other figures, all glittering +in pearls and diamonds; and Marie is to this day the queen of a realm +where all kinds of sparkling Christmas Woods, and transparent Marchpane +Castles--in short, the most wonderful and beautiful things of every +kind--are to be seen--by those who have the eyes to see them. + +"So this is the end of the tale of Nutcracker and the King of the +Mice." + + +"Tell me, dear Lothair," said Theodore, "how you can call your +'Nutcracker and the King of the Mice' a children's story? It is +impossible that children should follow the delicate threads which run +through the structure of it, and hold together its apparently +heterogeneous parts. The most they could do would be to keep hold of +detached fragments, and enjoy those, here and there." + +"And is that not enough?" answered Lothair. "I think it is a great +mistake to suppose that clever, imaginative children--and it is only +they who are in question here--should content themselves with the empty +nonsense which is so often set before them under the name of Children's +Tales. They want something much better; and it is surprising how much +they see and appreciate which escapes a good, honest, well-informed +papa. Before I read this story to you, I read it to the only sort of +audience whom I look upon as competent critics of it, to wit, my +sister's children. Fritz, who is a great soldier, was delighted with +his namesake's army, and the battle carried him away altogether. He +cried 'prr and poof, and schmetterdeng, and boom booroom,' after me, in +a ringing voice; jigged about on his chair, and cast an eye towards his +sword, as if he would go to Nutcracker's aid when he got into danger. +He had never read Shakespeare, or the recent newspaper accounts of +fighting; so that all the significance of the military strategy and +evolutions connected with that greatest of battles escaped him +completely, as well as 'A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!' And +in the same way dear little Eugenie thoroughly appreciated, in her kind +heart, Marie's regard for little Nutcracker, and was moved to tears +when she sacrificed her playthings and her picture-books--even her +little Christmas dress--to rescue her darling; and doubted not for a +moment as to the existence of the glittering Candy Mead on to which +Marie stepped from the neck of the mysterious fox-fur cloak in her +father's wardrobe. The account of Toyland delighted the children more +than I can tell." + +"That part of your story," said Ottmar, "keeping in view the +circumstance that the readers or listeners are to be children, I think +the most successful. The interpolation of the story of the Hard Nut, +although the 'cement' of the whole lies there, I consider to be a +fault, because the story is--in appearance at all events--complicated +and confused by it, and it rather stretches and broadens the threads. +You have declared that we are incompetent critics, and so reduced us to +silence; but I cannot help telling you that, if you bring this tale +before the public, many very rational people--particularly those who +never have been children themselves (which is the case with many)--will +shrug their shoulders and shake their heads, and say the whole affair +is a pack of stupid nonsense; or, at all events, that some attack of +fever must have suggested your ideas, because nobody in his sound and +sober senses could have written such a piece of chaotic monstrosity." + +"Very good," said Lothair, "to such a head-shaker I should make a +profound reverence, lay my hand on my heart, and assure him that it is +little service to an author if all sorts of fancies dawn upon him in a +confused dream, unless he can discuss them with himself by the light of +sound reason and judgment, and work out the threads of them firmly and +soberly. Moreover, I would say that no description of work demands a +clear and quiet mind more absolutely than just this; for, although it +must have the effect of flashing out in all directions with the most +arbitrary disregard of all rules, it must contain a firm kernel within +it." + +"Nobody can gainsay you in this," said Cyprian. "Still, it must always +be a risky undertaking to bring the utterly fanciful into the domain of +everyday life, and clap mad, enchanted caps on to the heads of grave +and sober folks--judges, students, and Masters of the Rolls--so that +they go gliding about like ghosts in broad daylight up and down the +most frequented streets of the most familiar towns, and one does not +know what to think of his most respectable neighbours. It is true that +this brings with it a certain tone of irony, which acts as a spur to +the lazy spirit, or rather entices it, unobservedly, with a plausible +face, into this unaccustomed province." + +"But the said tone of irony," said Theodore, "is capable of becoming +a most dangerous pitfall; for the pleasantness of the plot and +execution--which we have a right to demand in all tales of the +kind--may very easily trip over it and go tumbling to the bottom." + +"But I do not believe it is possible to lay down definite canons for +the construction of stories of this kind," said Lothair. "Tieck, the +profound and glorious master--the creator of the most delightful +works of the 'tale' class--has only placed a very few scattered, +instructive hints on the subject in the mouths of the characters in his +'Phantasus.' According to them, the conditions are, a quietly +progressive tone of the narrative; a certain guilelessness in the +relation, which, like gently fantasising music, enters the soul without +noise or din. There should be no bitter after-taste left behind by it, +but only a sense of enjoyment, echoing on. But is this sufficient to +define the only admissible tone for this species of literature? +However, I don't wish to think any more about my 'Nutcracker.' I feel +that it is pervaded by what I may call 'overflowing spirits' to too +great an extent; and I have thought too much of grown-up people and +their ways and doings; for the rest, I have had to promise the little +critics in my sister's nursery to get another story ready for them by +next Christmas, and I undertake to keep it in a quieter tone. For +to-day, I think we ought to be thankful that I have summoned you +up out of the dreadful mine-shaft at Falun to the light of day, and +restored you to the good humour and good spirits which become Serapion +Brethren--particularly at the moment of parting, for I hear the clock +striking twelve." + +"May Serapion continue to protect and aid us," cried Theodore, rising +and elevating his glass, "and enable us to describe what we have seen +with the eye of the spirit, in graphic and apposite words." + +The Brethren drank the toast, and parted. + + * * * * * + + + + + SECTION THIRD. + +"There can be no question," said Lothair, when the Serapion Brethren +were next assembled, "that our Cyprian--just as was the case on the St. +Serapion's Day when our Brotherhood was founded--has something strange +occupying his mind and thoughts. He is pale and disturbed; listens to +our conversation with only half an ear; and seems, though present in +the body, to be far away in spirit." + +"Then," said Ottmar, "the best thing he can do is to out with the story +of the madman whose name-day he is probably celebrating." + +"And discharge the contents of his brain in eccentric sparks just +as he pleases," added Theodore; "for I know that he will then become +humanly-minded again, and come back to our circle, which he will have +to content himself with as best he may." + +"You are doing me an injustice," said Cyprian; "for instead of my being +preoccupied with anything relating to insanity, I bring you a piece of +news which ought to delight you all. Our friend Sylvester has come back +here to-day from his long stay in the country." + +The friends welcomed this announcement with shouts; for they were all +much attached to the quiet but brilliant and kindly Sylvester, whose +inward poesy shone forth in the mildest and most beauteous radiance. + +"No more worthy Serapion Brother than our Sylvester could possibly +exist," said Theodore. "He is quiet and thoughtful: it is true it costs +some trouble to kindle him up to the point of clear utterance; but +probably there never was any one more susceptive of the work of other +people. Though he is a man of few words himself, one reads in his face, +in the clearest traits, the impression which the words of others +produce upon him; and when his kindliness and talent stream forth in +his looks and whole being, I feel myself more kind and more clever in +his presence--more free and more happy." + +"The truth is," said Ottmar, "that Sylvester is a very remarkable man +just on that account. The poets of the present day seem all to go +storming, of set purpose, up above the level of that unpretending +modesty which ought to be considered the most marked and essential +quality of the true poet-nature; and even the better-minded among them +have need to be careful that, in the mere maintenance of their rights, +they should abstain from drawing that sword which the great majority of +them never lay out of their hands. But Sylvester goes about weaponless, +like a guileless child. We have often accused him of indolence, and +told him that, considering the wealth of his intellect, he writes too +little. But must people go on writing continually? When Sylvester sits +down and fixes some inner image into words, there is sure to be some +irresistible impulse constraining him to do so. He never writes +anything that he has not most vividly felt, and seen; and therefore he +must come amongst us as a perfect Serapion Brother." + +"I have a dislike to all odd numbers," said Lothair, "except the mystic +and pleasant number seven; and I think that five Serapion Brethren +would never answer, but that six, on the other hand, would sit very +comfortably about this round table. Sylvester has arrived to-day; and +very shortly that restless, wandering spirit, Vincent, will be casting +anchor here too. We all know him; and we are aware that, except for the +kindness of heart which he possesses in common with Sylvester, he is +the most absolute contrast to him, in all respects, that it would be +possible to find. Sylvester is quiet and meditative; whilst Vincent +boils over with wit and high spirits. He has an inexhaustible faculty +of clothing everything in bizarre imagery--the most everyday matters, +as well as the most extraordinary; as, moreover, he says everything in +a clear, almost piercing voice, and with the drollest pathos, his talk +is often like a set of magic-lantern slides, carrying the attention +along in constant, unresting alternation and change, without allowing +it to pause and contemplate anything quietly." + +"You have drawn a most striking portrait of Vincent," said Theodore; +"but there is one of his characteristics which we must not lose +sight of, that, with all his brilliant qualities, and constant +firework-volleys of humour, he is, heart and soul, devoted to mysticism +of every kind, and introduces it into his pursuits in rich measure. You +know he has taken up medicine as a profession?" + +"Yes," said Ottmar; "and, by the way, he is the most eager champion of +Mesmerism to be found, and I must say that I have heard from his lips +the most acute and profound observations possible on that somewhat +obscure subject." + +"Ho ho!" said Lothair, laughing, "have you gone to be schooled by all +the magnetisers since the days of Mesmer, that you can be so very +certain as to 'the most acute and profound things possible' that can be +said about Mesmerism? No doubt, if dreams and reveries have to be +brought within the confines of any given system, Vincent, by reason of +his clear-sightedness, is the very man to do it better than thousands +of others. And he treats everything with a jovial good-temper which is +always very delightful. Some time since he happened, in the course of +his peregrinations, to be with me in a certain place, and it chanced +that I had an unendurable nervous headache. Nothing would do it the +slightest good. Vincent came in, and I told him what was the matter. +'What!' he cried, in that clear-toned voice of his, 'you have a +headache?--a mere trifle! I can conjure headaches away in ten minutes' +time; send them wherever you choose--into the arm-chair, or the +ink-bottle, or out of the window!' And he began making his mesmeric +passes. They did not do me the slightest good, but I could not help +laughing most heartily; and Vincent, delighted, cried, 'See how I've +conquered your headache in a moment!' Unfortunately I was compelled to +answer that the headache was just as bad as ever. But Vincent said I +was only feeling a sort of after-echo of the former pain. After-echo or +not, it lasted for several days. I take this opportunity of declaring +to my respected Serapion Brethren that I have not the slightest belief +in the curative effects of Mesmerism; the most careful and ingenious +researches on this subject seem to me to be much like the theorisings +of the Royal Society of England on the question proposed to them by the +King: why a vessel of water with a ten-pound fish in it should not +weigh more than a similar vessel containing water alone? Several of the +philosophers had solved the problem successfully, and were about to lay +the results of their wisdom before the King, when one, a little more +practical than the others, suggested that the experiment should be +tried. When this was done, the fish weighed down the balance, as it +could not but do. The basis of all the ingenious reasoning did not +exist." + +"Ah ha!" said Lothair, "incredulous, prosaic Schismatic! how was it, +since you don't believe in Mesmerism,--how was it--but I must tell you, +Cyprian and Theodore, this little story at full length, so that the +shame of the contemptuous unbelief which Lothair has just avowed may +return upon his head. You have probably heard that Lothair had an +illness some time ago, the principal seat of which was in his nervous +system. It came upon him in an indescribable manner; destroyed all his +fine spirits and good temper, and spoilt all his enjoyment of life. I +went one day to see him, all compassion and sympathy. I found him +sitting in an arm-chair, with a cap drawn over his ears; pale, worn-out +by a sleepless night, with his eyes closed. In front of him (whom +Heaven has not endowed with the most gigantic dimensions in the world), +sat a personage almost as diminutive as himself, breathing upon him, +drawing the tips of his fingers along his spine, laying his hand on his +epigastrium, and asking him, in a soft, whispering voice: + +"'How do you feel now, Lothair?' + +"And Lothair opened his eyes, smiled pathetically, and sighed out: + +"'Better, doctor; much better.' + +"In short, Lothair, who has no faith in the curative effects of +Mesmerism; who says Mesmerism is all nonsense; who laughs the +whole thing to scorn, and considers it all mere charlatanry and +deception--Lothair was having himself mesmerized!" + +Cyprian and Theodore laughed heartily over this rather grotesque +picture. + +"Pray don't talk of such things," said Lothair. "Man, by virtue of his +wonderful organization, is, alas! such a feeble creature the physical +element in him has such an injurious influence on the psychical that +every illness, every abnormal condition, awakens an alarm and anxiety +in him which, being a temporary insanity, causes him to do the most +extraordinary things. Plenty of clever and rational men, when they have +thought their doctors' prescriptions were not working as they expected +them to do, have had recourse to old women's nostrums, or 'sympathetic +media,' and I don't know what all. That I, at the time in question, +when my nerves were all out of order, inclined to Mesmerism, is a proof +of my weakness, but not of anything else." + +"I," said Cyprian, "must beg you to allow me rather to believe that the +doubts respecting Mesmerism which you have expressed to-night are only +the results of some passing mental mood of the moment. What is +Mesmerism, considered as to its curative effects, but the concentrated, +increased, potentiated power of man's psychical element, empowered, by +being thus concentrated and augmented, thoroughly to control the +physical element; to know it, see it, and understand it through and +through; to detect the minutest abnormal condition in it, and, by the +very knowledge and perception of any such abnormal condition, to remove +it? It is not possible that you can deny this power of our psychical +element, or close your ears to the marvellous chords which come toning +into us, and pass toning out from us--mysterious 'music of the +spheres,'--the grand, unchangeable principle of Nature herself." + +"You are talking in your usual strain," answered Lothair, "revelling in +your mystic dreams as you always do. I admit at once that Mesmerism, +stretching, as it undoubtedly does, into the domain of the ghostly, +must always exercise a powerful attraction on poetic temperaments. I +myself cannot deny that this mysterious subject has always penetrated +to the very depths of my soul. But listen while I make my confession of +faith in a few words. Who can penetrate, with foolhardy presumption, +into the deepest mysteries of Nature? Who can understand, or even +conjecture, with any sort of clearness, the nature of the mysterious +bond which unites soul and body, and, in consequence, is the +fundamental condition of our existence? Yet it is exactly upon the +cognizance of this mystery that Mesmerism is wholly based; and so long +as this cognizance is an impossibility, both the theory and the +practice of Mesmerism (which are grounded upon isolated experiments, +often illusory), are like the gropings of the born-blind. It is certain +that there occur states of exaltation in which the spirit, ruling over +the body and controlling its activity, acts with much power, and, in so +acting, produces phenomena of the most extraordinary description. Dim +presciences and fore-anticipations assume distinct shape and form; and +we see and understand, with the fullest powers of comprehension, things +as yet slumbering deep and motionless in our souls. Dreams (which are +undoubtedly the most wonderful phenomena belonging to the human +organism, and, as I consider, appear in their most potentiated form in +what is called, in general terms, 'somnambulism') belong to this +province. But it is also certain that such conditions presuppose the +existence of some abnormality in the relation between the psychical and +the physical principles. The most distinct and vivid dreams come to us +always when some diseased or morbid feeling is affecting the body. The +spirit takes advantage of the inactive condition of its co-regent; +taken possession of the throne, and turns that co-regent into a servile +vassal. So that Mesmerism, also, is a result of some diseased or morbid +condition of the body. It may also happen that Nature may frequently +establish a psychical dualism, during which the mutual inter-play of +the two principles produces highly remarkable phenomena. But I consider +that it is Nature only which should produce this dualism, and that +every attempt to produce it artificially, without Queen Nature's +command, at one's own will and pleasure, is dangerous and rash, if not +wicked. I go even further. I cannot deny that it is possible to produce +this potentiated condition of the psychical element--of course all +experience would be against me if I did. The psychical principle +belonging to a given person can, in the process of mesmeric +manipulation, become embodied, and can stream out from the mesmerizer +in the form of some 'fluid' (or whatever one may choose to term it), +and seize upon and govern the psychical principle of another--the +person mesmerized--producing a state which is at variance with all the +ordinary conditions of human life, and the usual rules of existence, +and which, even in its celebrated 'ecstatic forms,' comprehends in +itself all the awesomeness of the mysterious spirit realm. All this, I +say, I can by no means deny; but I must always look upon this process +as the blind exercise of an evil power, whose effects and results, in +spite of all theory, cannot be predicted or relied upon. Mesmerism is +somewhere defined as a dangerous weapon in the hands of a child; and +with that definition I thoroughly agree. If human beings are to set to +work to operate at will upon each other's spiritual elements, the +doctrine of the Barbarini school of spiritualists, who work purely by +faith and will, without any manipulations, seems to me to be much the +purest and most innocuous. The fixing of the firm will is a discreet +and sober question put to Nature whether the dualism of spirit is to be +established or not in any particular case; and it is she alone who +decides it and answers it. Similarly, people's magnetising themselves, +at the 'Bacquet' (as it was called) without any intervention of a +mesmerizer, may be considered less dangerous, inasmuch as no influence +of a foreign possibly hostile or hurtful spiritual principle can then +be exercised. But think of the hosts of people who now practise this +most mysterious of all sciences if it is to be called a science +light-mindedly, or in complete self-deception, where they do not do it +altogether for parade or notoriety! Bartels, in his 'Physiology and +Physics of Mesmerism,' quotes the saying of a foreign physician, in +which he expresses his surprise that the German doctors treat, and +experiment upon, mesmeric subjects, just as if they were pieces of +lifeless apparatus. Unfortunately this is perfectly true, and therefore +I prefer to disbelieve in the curative effects of mesmerism, at all +events, than to entertain the idea that the uncanny exercise and +influence of another person's spiritual principle might some day +destroy my own life beyond the possibility of remedy." + +"What results," said Theodore, "from what you have said not without +much truth and profundity about mesmerism is, that you have made up +your mind, from mere dread of the consequences, never to allow any +mesmerist in the world to make any of his manipulations on the ganglia +of your back, or elsewhere. So far as regards your dread of the effect +of a foreign spiritual principle, I quite agree with you. And I beg to +be allowed by way of an illustrative note to your confession of faith +to add an account of my own experiences in mesmerism. A college friend +of mine who was studying medicine was the first to introduce me to this +mysterious subject. You, who know me so very intimately, will have no +difficulty in understanding how it took entire possession of my mind. I +read everything bearing on the subject that I could get hold of, and +finally Klug's book on 'Mesmerism as a Curative Agent.' This book +caused some doubts to arise in me, as, without being very luminously +scientific in its mode of treating the subject, it is based chiefly on +cases, besides mixing up proved facts with matter wholly legendary. My +friend rebutted all my objections, and at last proved to me that the +mere study of the theory would never awaken that faith which was +essential, and which could only be attained by witnessing mesmeric +experiments. At this time there was no opportunity of seeing any at the +University; for even if a promising mesmeric operator had been to be +found, there did not appear to be any one with any disposition to +become somnambulistic or clairvoyant. + +"I went to the Residenz, and there mesmerism was in its fullest flower. +Nobody talked of anything but the wonderful magnetic crises of a +talented and accomplished lady of position, who, after some not very +important nerve-attacks, had, almost of herself, become first a +'sonnambule,' and then the most remarkable clairvoyante that (by the +verdict of all who were authorities on the subject) ever had been, or +ever could be, seen. I managed to make the acquaintance of the doctor +who attended and treated her; and, seeing that I was a student eager +for knowledge, he promised to take me to this lady when she was in one +of her crises. This he accordingly did. One day he said, 'Come to me at +six this afternoon, for I know that my patient has just fallen into the +magnetic sleep.' Full of the most eager anticipation, I went with him +to the elegantly, nay, sumptuously, appointed room. Rose-coloured +curtains were carefully drawn over the windows, so that the rays of the +evening sun, passing through them, tinted everything with a magic +roseate shimmer. The 'subject' was lying, dressed in a beautiful and +becoming morning dress, stretched on the sofa, with her eyes fast +closed, breathing gently as if in a profound sleep. + +"In a wide circle around her, several devotees were ranged. There were +one or two young ladies, who were rolling their eyes and sighing +profoundly, and who would evidently have been but too happy to become +subjects on the spot themselves, for the edification of the handsome +officer and the other nice-looking young gentleman, who both seemed to +be eagerly looking forward to this important moment; besides some +elderly ladies who were watching, with bent heads and folded hands, +every breath drawn by their sleeping friend. + +The coming on of the highest condition of clairvoyance was expected +momentarily. The mesmerizer, who did not take the trouble to place +himself _en rapport_ with his subject, as, he said, the _rapport_ +between them was continually in existence, went near her, and began to +talk with her. She specified the times during the day when he had been +thinking of her with special vividness, and mentioned many other +circumstances which had occurred to him. At last she asked him to put +away the ring which he had in his pocket in a red morocco case, and +which he had never had with him before, because the gold of it, and +particularly the diamond, affected her painfully. With every mark of +the profoundest astonishment, the mesmerist stepped back, and took the +described ring, in its case, out of his pocket. He had only got it that +afternoon from the jeweller's, and the subject could have been +conscious of its existence in no other way than by the _rapport_ +between them. This miracle had such an effect on the young ladies that +they both sunk down into easy-chairs, sighing deeply; and a few passes +by the mesmerizer speedily sent them both into a profound sleep. + +"The fatal morocco case being got out of the way, the mesmerizer, +chiefly for my edification, put his patient through some 'feats' (if I +may so term them). She sneezed when he took snuff. She read a letter +which he placed upon her pericardium, and so forth. At last he tried +whether he could place me _en rapport_ with her through himself, and +succeeded admirably. She described me minutely from head to foot, and +said she had known beforehand that her mesmerizer was going to bring a +friend with him that day, and had long had a clear presentiment within +her of him, and of the manner of man he was. She appeared to be well +pleased with my proximity. Suddenly she ceased speaking, and raised +herself into a partly sitting posture. I fancied I observed a trembling +of her eyelids, and a slight twitching of her lips. The Mesmerizer told +us she was passing into the fifth stage--that of self-contemplation and +detachment from the external world. This distracted the attention of +the two young gentlemen from the young ladies, just as they were +beginning to be extremely interesting. One of them had got the length +of stating that the hair of the officer (whom she had got _en rapport_ +with) was emitting a strange and beautiful light; the other announced +that the general's lady, who occupied the floor below, was at that +moment drinking very fine caravan tea, the aroma of which she could +scent through the floor, and, moreover, she prophesied, +clairvoyantically, that she would wake from her mesmeric sleep in a +quarter of an hour, and drink some tea herself, and also eat some +tea-cake into the bargain. But the lady in the High Condition began to +speak again, in an altogether altered voice, which had a strange, and, +as I must admit, remarkably beautiful tone. What she said, moreover, +was couched in such mystic phraseology, and extraordinary expressions, +that I could make no sense of it. But the mesmerizer told us she was +saying the most glorious, the most profound, and the most instructive +things on the subject of her own stomach. This, of course, I had to +take for granted. Quitting the theme of her stomach (to rely again upon +her mesmerizer's interpretation), she soared away upon a loftier +flight. Sometimes it seemed to me that there occurred whole passages +which I had read somewhere or other; I had an idea that I had met with +them in Novalis's 'Fragments,' perhaps, or in Schelling's 'Weltseele.' +And then she fell back rigid upon her cushions. Her mesmerizer expected +her to awake directly, and begged us to go away, because it might have +a painful effect upon her if she found strangers about her when she +awoke. So we were sent about our business. The two young ladies, about +whom nobody had given themselves any further trouble, had thought it as +well to wake up some little time before, and slip quietly away. + +"You cannot imagine the odd impression this whole scene had produced +upon me. To say nothing of the two silly girls--who, of course, would +have been only too happy to emerge from their uninteresting position as +mere spectators--I could not drive away the idea that the lady on the +sofa was playing--with very considerable talent and ability--a +thoroughly studied, well got-up, carefully rehearsed part. I was +perfectly certain that the mesmerist was the most sincere and +honourable of human beings, and would have abhorred any 'comedy' of +the sort from the bottom of his heart; so that I was convinced that +he--even from a desire to make converts to the true faith--would never +for one moment have lent himself to anything in the shape of deception. +Consequently, if there was any deception in the case, it must rest with +the lady, whose acting was more than a match for the scientific +doctor's powers of observation. I did not dare to ask myself what +object she could have in subjecting herself to such a process of +self-torture--for self-torture such a feigned condition of exaltation +must certainly be. There have been, as we know, devil-possessed +Ursulines--nuns who mewed like cats, horrible creatures who dislocated +their own limbs; to say nothing of the woman in the hospital at +Wuerzburg who, regardless of the frightful torture she endured, bored +pieces of glass and needles into her lancet wounds, merely to astonish +her doctor at the strangeness of the substances to be found within her. +We know that there have, at all times, been hosts of women who have +risked health and life, honour, fair fame, and freedom, solely that the +world might look upon them as extraordinary beings, and talk of the +marvels connected with them. But to return to the lady in question. I +ventured, though with much diffidence, to formulate my doubts to the +doctor. But he replied, with a smile, that doubts like these were +nothing but the last feeble struggles of the vanquished intelligence. +The lady, he said, had several times declared that my proximity +affected her favourably, so that he had every reason to desire me to +continue my visits, which, he was certain, would convince me in the +end. In fact, after going to see her several times, I did begin to be +more convinced, and my belief almost became absolute when, once that +the mesmerizer had placed me _en rapport_ with her in one of her higher +conditions, she mentioned, in an incomprehensible manner, certain +circumstances in my previous life, and spoke, particularly, of an +affection of the nervous system into which I fell at a time when I had +lost a beloved sister. It displeased me much, however, that the number +of spectators kept increasing, and that the mesmerizer tried to convert +the lady into a prophetess and sibyl, making her give oracular +utterances about the health and circumstances of strangers with win mi +he placed her _en rapport_. + +"One day I found, among the spectators, an old doctor, a celebrated +man, who was well known as the most strenuous and formidable opponent +of, and sceptic concerning, the curative effects of mesmerism. Before +his arrival the lady, in her magnetic sleep, had said that it would +last longer this time than usual, and that she would not awake for +fully two hours. Soon after this she attained the highest stage of +clairvoyance, and began her mystic utterances. The mesmerist told us +that, in this highest grade, the subject was a wholly spiritual being, +had completely stripped off the body, and was utterly insensible to +physical pain. The old doctor thought this was an opportunity for +making a decisive experiment in the cause of science, for the +convincing of all the incredulous; and proposed that he should be +allowed to burn the sole of the lady's foot with a red-hot iron, and +see whether she would feel it or not. It seemed rather a terrible +experiment, but abundant means of cure were at hand; he had brought +them in his pocket, and a small iron for the purpose as well. These he +at once produced. + +"The mesmerizer averred that, on awaking, the lady would not mind any +slight inconvenience which she might thus suffer in the cause of +science, and ordered a chafing-dish to be brought. It came, and the +doctor placed his iron in it to be heated. Just then the lady was +seized with a sudden spasm, heaved a deep sigh, awoke, and complained +of feeling uncomfortable. The old doctor cast a piercing glance at her, +unceremoniously cooled his iron in some mesmerized water which happened +to be on the table, put it in his pocket, took his hat and stick, and +left the house. The scales fell from my eyes. I hastened to take my +departure also, indignant at the vile deception which this fine lady +was practising on her mesmerizer, and on us all. + +"As a matter of course, neither the mesmerizer nor the devotees--who +looked upon their visits as a species of mystic divine service--were in +the slightest degree enlightened by what had occurred. It is equally a +matter of course that I, for my part, was convinced that everything in +the shape of mesmerism was the merest chimeric superstition, and would +listen to nothing more on the subject. + +"My destiny took me to B----. There, also, much was being said about +mesmerism, but there was no mention of any experiments on it going on. +It was said that a much esteemed old doctor, the director of the +admirably ordered lunatic asylum there--like the one in the Residenz +who, in a horrible manner, carried anti-somnambulistic irons about in +his pockets--had declared himself decidedly against mesmerism as a +cure, and strictly forbidden the doctors under his orders to practise +it. + +"My surprise was all the greater, therefore, to learn, after a time, +that this very doctor himself was employing mesmerism, though quite +secretly, in the lunatic asylum. + +"When I had made his acquaintance, I tried to bring him on to the +subject of mesmerism. He avoided it: but at last, as I persisted in +talking of this wondrous science, and showed that I had a certain +amount of practical knowledge on the subject, he asked what was being +done at the Residenz in the direction of curative mesmerism. I told +him, without ceremony, the story of the lady who came back so suddenly +from the realms of celestial ecstasies to this sublunary world at the +idea of being slightly burned. 'That is just it! that is just it!' he +cried, whilst his eyes flashed lightnings; and he at once changed the +subject. At last, when I had gained more of his confidence, he spoke +out his mind concerning mesmerism, to the effect that he was convinced, +from personal experience, of the existence of this mysterious natural +power, and of its beneficial effects in particular cases, but +considered the calling into action of this power to be the most +dangerous experiment possible, which should only be permitted to +doctors, in the most absolute serenity of their minds, and above any +sort of passionate enthusiasm; that there was nothing in which there +was a greater possibility of self-deception, or in which self-deception +was easier; and that he considered no experiment satisfactory in which +the person operated on had previously heard much of the marvels of +mesmerism, and possessed sufficient intelligence and education to +understand what it was all about. He considered that the charm of +penetrating into a higher spirit-world was, for poetic temperaments, or +those naturally 'exalted,' too alluring not to give rise, taken in +connection with an eager desire to attain that condition, to illusory +feelings of every kind. Moreover, he said that the magnetizer's dream +of controlling the spiritual principle of another was a source of +deception, where he lends himself wholly to the fancies of exciteable +people, instead of throwing the most prosaic cold water over them, and +thus keeping them in check as by bit and bridle. At the same time he +would not deny that he made use of the curative powers of mesmerism +himself, in his asylum, although he thought that the mode in which, +from pure conviction, he allowed it to be applied, by doctors +carefully selected under his own strict superintendence, obviated all +risk of abuse, and, on the contrary, produced beneficial effects on the +patients, as well as resulting increase of knowledge respecting this +most mysterious of all curative agents. Although it was a breach of all +regulations, he said he was willing, provided that I would promise him +the strictest secrecy, so as to keep the curious at bay, to allow me to +be present at a mesmeric cure, if a case of the kind should occur. + +"Chance soon brought a very remarkable case of the kind under my +observation, of which the circumstances are as follow: + +"In a certain village about twenty miles from B---- the local medical +man met with a country labourer's daughter, of about sixteen, whose +condition her parents bewailed with bitter tears. They said their +daughter could neither be said to be ill nor well. She suffered from no +pain or illness, she ate and drank, slept--often for a whole day at a +time--and yet she seemed to be wasting away, and getting weaker and +feebler daily, so that she had been able to do no work for a long time +past. The doctor convinced himself that some deep-seated affection of +the nervous system was the root of the evil, and that mesmerism was +clearly indicated as the remedy. He told the parents that it was +impossible that their daughter could be cured there in the village, but +that she could be put to rights completely if they would send her to +the hospital in B----, where she would have the best of advice and +treatment, and be given the necessary medicine without having to pay a +farthing. After a hard struggle the parents did as they were advised. + +"Before the mesmeric cure had been commenced I went with my friend to +the hospital, and saw the patient. I found the girl in a lofty, +well-lighted room, fitted up in the most careful manner with all +imaginable comforts and conveniences. She was of very delicate build +for her station in life, and her refined-looking face was almost to be +called beautiful, had it not been for the dull, vacant eyes, the deadly +pallor, the colourless lips. Probably her malady had impaired, for the +time, her mental powers, but she seemed to be very limited in +intelligence, appeared to have a good deal of difficulty in +understanding questions put to her, and answered them in the broad, +abominable, unintelligible jargon which the country people speak in her +part of the world. The director had selected as her mesmerizer a young, +robust medical student whose face expressed ingenuousness and +kindliness, and to whom he had ascertained that the girl had no +dislike. The process began. There was no question in this case of +visits by the curious, astonishing feats, or the like. Besides the +mesmerizer, no one was present except the director (who watched the +process with the minutest attention, and carefully observed the most +trifling incidents) and me. At first the girl seemed but very slightly +susceptible, but ere long she progressed rapidly from grade to grade, +until in three weeks' time she reached the stage of true clairvoyance. +Let me pass over the various wonderful phenomena which presented +themselves in her several stages. It is sufficient if I assure you that +here, where there was no possibility whatever of the smallest +deception, I was convinced to the depths of my soul of the real +occurrence of that state which mesmerists describe as the highest form +of clairvoyance. In this stage, as Kluge says, the union with the +mesmerizer is so absolute and complete that the subject not only knows +instantly when the mesmerizer's thoughts are withdrawn from him (or +her), but reads the thoughts which are in the mesmerizer's mind with +the utmost minuteness. On the other hand, the clairvoyant is completely +under the control of the mesmerizer's will, and can only think, speak, +and act by means of, and through, the mesmerizer's psychical principle. +This is exactly the condition in which this peasant girl was. + +"I am unwilling to weary you with all that happened as between the +mesmerizer and patient in this condition; I shall merely mention one +circumstance--to my mind the most convincing of all. While she was in +this condition, the girl spoke the pure, educated dialect of her +mesmerizer, and in her answers to his questions--often given with a +most charming smile--she expressed herself in the choice and refined +language of a person of intelligence and education; in fact, exactly as +her mesmerizer was in the habit of expressing himself; and as she did +so, her lips and cheeks bloomed into rosy colours, and her features and +expression were ennobled in the most striking manner. + +"I could not but be amazed. But this complete absence of individual +will in the patient, this absolute surrender of her personality, this +objectionable dependence upon the spiritual principle of another--this +existence, in fact, conditioned solely by another's spiritual +principle--filled me with horror and awe. Nay, I could not but feel the +deepest and most heartrending pity for the poor thing, even after I was +obliged to see and admit that the mesmerism was doing the patient a +most wonderful amount of good, so that she bloomed forth into the +finest and most robust health, and thanked her mesmerizer, the +director--and even me--for all the benefit she had derived, saying all +this in a broader and more unintelligible jargon than ever. The +director seemed to observe my feeling, and to share it. We never came +to any explanation about it; probably for the best of reasons. Never +since then have I been able to persuade myself to witness any more +mesmeric cures. I had no wish to see any experiments besides the one in +question, which was so perfect in all its conditions as to remove all +doubts of the wondrous power of mesmerism. At the same time, it had +brought me to the brink of an abyss into which it was impossible to +peer without profound alarm. + +"From all which it results that I am entirely of Lothair's opinion." + +"And," said Ottmar, "as I add that I am entirely of yours, it is clear +that we are all of one mind on this mysterious subject. No doubt any +clever doctor who is an advocate for mesmerism would refute all +our arguments in a moment, and soundly rebuke us for setting our +crude laymen's opinions up in opposition to convictions resulting +from careful experiments and extensive experience. Do not let us +forget, neither, that we ought not to be altogether unfavourably +disposed towards mesmerism, since, in our Serapiontic essays it may +frequently find its application as a most efficient lever for bringing +little-understood spiritual powers into play. Even you, Lothair, have +made use of this lever not seldom. In your very 'Nutcracker,' that most +edifying story, Marie is sometimes a little 'sonnambule.' But, ah! how +far we have wandered away from the subject of Vincent!" + +"The transition was easy enough," said Lothair. "The path was traced +all ready. If Vincent joins our Brotherhood, there is sure to be much +dabbling in mysteries, for his head is full of them. However, Cyprian +here has not been attending to what we have been saying for several +minutes past; he has been turning over the leaves of a manuscript which +he took from his pocket. He ought now to have an opportunity of +disburdening his mind." + +"The truth is," said Cyprian, "that your discussion on mesmerism +seemed, to me, tedious and wearisome; and, if you like, I will read you +a Serapiontic tale which was suggested to me by Wagenseil's 'Chronicles +of Nuernberg.' Remember, that my object was not to write a critical, +antiquarian treatise on the celebrated Contest on the Wartburg; I have +merely, according to my wont, related the circumstances just as they +arose before my mental vision." + +He read:-- + + + + + "'THE SINGERS' CONTEST. + + +"'At the season when spring and winter are bidding each other +farewell--on the night of the Equinox--a reader sat in a lonely chamber +with Johann Christoph Wagenseil's work on the glorious craft of the +Master Singers open before him. The storm, raging and roaring without, +was clearing up the fields, dashing the heavy rain-drops against the +windows, and whistling and howling the winter's wild adieu through the +chimneys of the houses; whilst the beams of the full moon were dancing +and playing like pallid spectres up and down on the wall. But the +reader took no note of all this. He closed the book, and gazed, deep in +thought, into the fire which was crackling on the hearth, given over +wholly to contemplation of the magic forms of long-past times, which +his book had evoked for him. It was as if some invisible being laid +down veil after veil upon his head, so that the objects around him +floated far away into thicker and thicker mists. The raging of the +storm and the crackling of the fire turned to gentle, harmonious +murmuring whispers, and a voice within him said, + +"'"This is the dream, whose wings murmur so softly up and down, as it +lays itself on man's breast like a loving child, awaking with a sweet +kiss the inner sight--so that it beholds the beauteous forms of a +higher life, which is all splendour and glory." + +"'A dazzling radiance burst forth like lightning-flash, and the veiled +dreamer opened his eyes. But no veil--no mist cloud--now obscured his +sight. He was lying on beds of flowers in the twilight dimness of a +thick, beautiful forest. The brooks were murmuring, the thickets +rustling, like the secret talk of lovers; and between whiles a +nightingale complained in sweetest pain. The morning breeze awoke, +and--rolling the clouds away--made straight the pathway of the glorious +sunshine; and soon the sunlight gleamed upon all the green, green +leaves, waking the sleeping birds, which fluttered from spray to spray, +singing their joyous strains. Then came sounding from afar the tones of +the merry horn. The deer sprang up from their lairs, and the harts and +the roes peered out--shyly, with bright, wise eyes--through the leafy +thickets, at him who lay on the flowers, and then dashed back in alarm +into their coverts again. The horns were silent; but now the chords of +harps were heard, and tones of voices, making a music so sweet, that it +seemed to come straight from Heaven. Nearer and nearer approached +the sound of these beautiful strains, and hunters armed with their +boar-spears, with bright horns slung over their shoulders, rode forth +from the forest shades. On a splendid cream-coloured charger rode +onward a stately lord, dressed in old German garb, robed in a prince's +mantle. By his side on a graceful palfrey, a lady of dazzling beauty, +richly attired, rode along. After them came six cavaliers, riding on +beautiful horses, each of a different colour; their marked and +expressive faces spake of a long vanished time. They had laid their +bridle reins over their horses' necks, and were playing on lutes and +harps, and singing in clear-toned voices. Their horses, trained to the +music, went prancing in time to the strains, after the royal pair along +the woodland way. When the singing ceased for a time, the hunters +sounded their horns, and the horses whinnied and neighed as if in +gladness of heart. Pages and servitors richly attired brought up the +rear of the stately procession, which wended its way along into the +depths of the woods. + +"'He who had been sunk in amaze at this wondrous sight, rose from his +flowery couch, and cried enraptured, + +"'"Oh, Ruler of the Universe! have those grand old days arisen again +from the grave? What were these glorious forms?" + +"'A deep voice spoke behind him: "Did you not recognize the men, whom +you have had so vividly present to your mind?" + +"'He looked round, and saw a grave and stately man in a dark +full-bottomed wig, dressed all in black, in the fashion of about the +year 1680; and he recognized the learned old Professor Johann Christoph +Wagenseil, who went on to speak as follows: + +"'"You need have had no difficulty in seeing that the stately lord in +the prince's mantle, was the doughty Landgrave Hermann of Thuringia. By +his side rode the star of his court, Countess Mathilda, the youthful +widow of Count Cuno of Falkenstein, who died advanced in years. The six +who rode after them, singing to lutes and harps, were the six great +masters of song, whom the Landgrave--heart and soul devoted to the +glorious singer's craft--has assembled at his Court. They are now +engaged in the chase; but when that is over, they will meet in a +beautiful meadow in the heart of the forest, and hold a singing +contest. Thither let us repair, that we may be present when the hunt is +over." + +"'Wherefore they went along; while the distant rocks and the woods +re-echoed the notes of the horns, the cries of the hounds, and the +shouts of the hunters. All turned out as Professor Wagenseil had +desired. Scarcely had they come to the gold-green glittering meadow, +when the Landgrave, the Countess, and the six masters came slowly up +from the distance. + +"'"Good friend!" said Wagenseil, "I shall now point out to you each of +the masters, and call him by his name. You see the one who looks about +him so joyfully, and, holding his chestnut horse well in hand, comes +caracoling up so bravely? The Landgrave nods to him--he gives a happy +smile--that is the cheerful, vigorous Walther of the Vogelweid. He with +the broad shoulders and the strong, curly beard, with knightly blazon +on his shield--riding quietly forward on the piebald--is Reinhard of +Zweckhstein. Now, notice him there riding away from us into the woods +on a small-sized dapple grey. He gazes thoughtfully before him, and +smiles as if fair forms and pictures were rising before him out of the +ground; that is the great Professor Heinrich Schreiber. He is probably +far away in spirit, and thinks not of the meadow or of the singers' +contest. For see how he pushes his way down the narrow woodland path, +while the branches above him strike his head. There goes Johannes +Bitterolff after him, that fine-looking man on the sorrel, with the +short reddish beard. He calls to the professor, who wakes up from his +reverie, and they come riding back together. But what is this wild +commotion there amongst the trees; Can storm squalls be passing along +down so low in the thickets? This is indeed a wild rider, spurring his +horse till he bounds and rears, foaming and fretting. See the pale +handsome lad; how his eyes flame, and the muscles of his face are drawn +with pain--as if some invisible being were sitting behind him and +torturing him--it is Heinrich of Ofterdingen. What can have changed him +thus? He used to ride quietly on, joining with beautiful tones in the +songs of the other masters. Oh look, now, at this grand cavalier on the +white Arab! He is dismounting, and now he swings his bridle reins over +his arm, and, with genuine knightly courtesy, holds his hand out to +Countess Mathilda to help her from her saddle. See the grace with which +he stands, his bright blue eyes beaming on the lady. It is Wolfframb of +Eschinbach. But they are taking their places, and the contest is going +to begin." + +"'Each of the masters in turn now sung a magnificent song. It was easy +to see that they strove to surpass each other. But though none of them +did altogether surpass the others--difficult as it was to decide which +of them had sung the best--yet the Lady Mathilda bent to Wolfframb of +Eschinbach with the garland, which she held in her hand, as the prize. +But Heinrich of Ofterdingen sprang up from his seat, with a gleam of +wild fire sparkling in his dark eyes; and as he stepped impetuously +forward to the centre of the meadow, a gust of wind carried away his +barret-cap, and the hair streamed up in spikes on his deadly pale +forehead. + +"'"Stay! stay!" he cried, "the prize has not been won! my song, my song +has still to be heard; and then let the Landgrave say which of us wins +the garland." + +"'"With this there came to his hand--one scarce could tell how or +whence--a lute of wonderful form, almost like some strange unearthly +creature turned to wood. This lute he began to play and strike with +such power, that all the distant woodlands trembled and shook to its +tones. Then he sang to its chords in a voice of grandeur and power, in +praise of a stranger prince, a mightier prince than all, whom every +master must hail and lowly worship, and laud, on pain of shame and +dismay, of speedy ruin and end. Often marvellous tones--sneering and +harsh, and wild--seemed to sound from the lute, as he was singing this +strain. + +"'The Landgrave's glances were angry as this wild singer sang. But the +other masters sang all together, joining their voices in answer. +Heinrich's wonderful song was well-nigh lost in their singing. So that +he swept his strings with more and more passionate swell, till they +strained and shivered, and broke, uttering a cry as of pain. Then, in +place of the lute, lo! a sudden, dark horrible form was seen to stand +at his side; it grasped him with horrible talons, and rose with him up +to the air. The songs of the masters ceased, and died away in faint +echoes. Black clouds sunk down over forest and meadow, shrouding the +scene in night. Then a star arose, shining in soft, gentle radiance, +and passed along upon its heavenly way. And the masters floated after +this star, resting on shining clouds, singing, and softly touching +their strings. A glimmering radiance trembled up from the grass, the +woodland voices awoke from their deep slumber, and toned forth, and +joined in the masters' songs. + +"'And now you perceive, dear reader, that he who dreamed this dream is +he who is about to lead you amongst these masters, to whose +acquaintance Professor Johann Christian Wagenseil has introduced him. + +"'Often, when we see strange forms moving in the dimness of distance, +our hearts beat with a painful anxiety to know what or whom they may +be, and what they are doing. They come nearer and nearer; we can make +out the colour of their dress, and see their faces. We hear their +voices, although the words cannot be distinguished. But they dip down +into the blue haze of some valley, and we can scarcely wait till they +come up again and reach us, so eager are we to see them and talk with +them, and know what those who seemed so wondrous in the distance may +turn out to be when close at hand. May the dream above narrated give +rise to similar feelings in you, dear reader, and may you consider that +the narrator is doing you no unfriendly service in at once conducting +you to the famous Wartburg, and the Court of Landgrave Hermann of +Thuringia. + + + "'THE MASTER SINGERS AT THE WARTBURG. + +"'It was about the year 1208, that the noble Landgrave of Thuringia, a +zealous lover and active patron of the gracious singers-craft, had +gathered six mighty masters of song together at his Court. These were +Wolfframb of Eschinbach, Walther of the Vogelweid, Reinhardt of +Zweckhstein, Heinrich Schreiber, Johannes Bitterolff--all of knightly +rank--and Heinrich of Ofterdingen, burgher of Eisenach. The masters +dwelt together in heartfelt amity and harmony, as priests of one and +the same church, all their efforts being directed to maintaining the +gift of song--the most precious wherewith the Lord hath blessed +mankind--in full flower and in high honour. Each of them had a "manner" +of his own, as it was called, a "style" as we should more probably term +it; but just as each note of a harmony differs from all the rest, and +yet they all unite in forming the beautiful chord, so the various +"modes" or "styles" of these masters harmonized completely together, +and seemed but diverse rays of the same star of love. Hence neither of +them thought that his own "manner" was the best, but held those of the +others in high esteem, and knew that his own "mode" would not sound so +beautiful but for the others; just as any note of a chord does not +acquire its full beauty, significance, and power until the others +belonging to it awake and come lovingly to greet it. + +"'Whilst the songs of Walther of the Vogelweid (a lord of broad acres) +were noble and elegantly turned, yet full of exuberant gladness, +Reinhardt sung in curt and knightly phrases, employing words and forms +of force and might; whilst Heinrich Schreiber was learned and profound, +Johannes Bitterolff was full of glitter, and rich in ingenious similes +and quaint conceits. Heinrich of Ofterdingen's songs went straight to +the depths of the soul. Wasted and worn himself by pain and longing, he +knew how to stir the deepest sorrow in the hearts of men; but often +there rang through his music harsh accents coming from the torn and +wounded breast, where bitter scorn and sorrow had taken their abode, +stinging and gnawing like venomous insects. It was a mystery unknown to +all why Heinrich had fallen into this condition. Wolfframb of +Eschinbach was born in Switzerland, his songs, breathing of grace and +peaceful clearness, were like the pure blue skies of his beautiful +native land, his "manner" had in it the sounds of the cattle-bells, and +of herdsmen playing their reeden pipes; but yet the wild waterfalls +lifted their voices, and the thunder among the mountains. As he sang, +those who listened were borne floating along with him, on the +glittering wavelets of some beautiful stream, now gliding gently, now +battling with the storm-driven surges; anon, the storm over, and the +danger past, steering in gladness to the wished-for haven. +Notwithstanding his youth, Wolfframb of Eschinbach was the most +experienced of the masters assembled at the Landgrave's Court. He had +been wholly devoted to the singer's craft from his early childhood, +and, as soon as he had grown to be a lad, he had travelled in quest of +instruction through many countries, till he met with the great master +whose name was Friedebrand. This master taught him faithfully in his +art, and gave him many master poems in manuscript, which sent light +into his inner spirit, enabling him to see and distinguish all that was +formless and dim before. More especially at Siegebrunnen, in Scotland, +Master Friedebrand gave him certain books from which he learned the +histories which he rendered into German song. They related chiefly to +Gamurret and his son Parcival, to the Markgrave Wilhelm of Narben and +his doughty Rennewart. These poems another master singer, Ulrich of +Tuerkheim, afterwards translated into more modern German verse, and +enlarged into a thick book at the request of lords and ladies who could +not rightly understand Eschinbach's poetry. Thus Wolfframb was renowned +far and wide for the excellence of his art, and obtained the favour of +many princes and great lords. He visited many courts, and received the +richest rewards for his splendid mastership, till at length the +enlightened Landgrave Hermann of Thuringia, having heard of his fame +from all quarters, invited him to his Court. + +"'Not only his greatness in his art, but his sweet disposition and his +modesty, very shortly gained him the Landgrave's fullest favour and +affection, and perhaps Heinrich of Ofterdingen, who had formerly +enjoyed the full sunshine of the prince's favour had, in consequence, +to step somewhat backwards into the shade; but notwithstanding, none of +the masters clung to Wolfframb with such sincerity of affection as +Heinrich of Ofterdingen. Wolfframb returned it from the depth of his +soul; and thus they two stood united in the closest friendship, while +the other masters formed a beautiful shining garland around them. + + + "'HEINRICH OF OFTERDINGEN's SECRET. + +"'Ofterdingen's wild and distracted condition increased upon him every +day; gloomier and more restless grew his glance, paler and paler his +cheek. Whilst the other masters, after singing the most sublime themes +from holy writ, raised their glad voices in praise of fair ladies, and +of their valiant prince, Ofterdingen's songs bewailed the immeasurable +pain of earthly existence, and were often like the wailing cry of one +who is mortally hurt, and longs in vain for death to deliver him. All +believed him to be suffering from hopeless love; but none could succeed +in wringing his secret from him. The Landgrave, who was devoted to him +heart and soul, tried once, when they chanced to be alone together, to +find out the cause of his trouble; he plighted his princely word that +he would spare no effort in his power to avert any misfortune +threatening him should that be the cause; or, by furthering any desire +which might at that time seem hopeless, convert his bitter sufferings +into joy and hope; but the Landgrave succeeded no better than the +others in inducing young Heinrich to open his heart. + +"'"Alas, my lord!" he said, while the hot tears came to his eyes, "I +cannot myself tell what hellish monster has clutched me with fiery +talons, and is holding me suspended halfway between heaven and earth. I +belong no more to this world; and I thirst in vain for the joys up in +the heaven above me. The heathen poets have told of the desolate shades +of the dead, who do not belong to Elysium or to Orcus; they flit and +wander to and fro on Acheron's banks, and the darksome air, where no +star of hope can ever shine, resounds with their cries of sorrow; and +the terrible wailings of their inexpressible pain, their weeping, their +prayers are vain; the inexorable ferryman drives them away when they +try to enter the mysterious barge, and this condition of theirs--this +frightful perdition--is mine." + +"'Soon after Heinrich had thus spoken with the Landgrave, he left the +Wartburg in a state of real bodily sickness, and betook himself to +Eisenach. The masters sorrowed that so fair a flower was lost from +their garland, faded before its time, as if by the blight of some +poisonous blast; but Wolfframb of Eschinbach by no means gave up all +hope--rather he thought that, now that Ofterdingen's mental trouble had +turned to a bodily sickness, recovery might be near at hand, for it is +not seldom the case that the mind falls sick, presaging bodily pain, +and it might be so with Ofterdingen, whom he determined to go and +faithfully comfort and tend. + +"'So Wolfframb went at once to Eisenach, and when he went in to +Ofterdingen, he found him stretched on his couch, deathly pale, with +half-closed eyes; his lute was hung on the wall covered thickly with +dust, and many of its strings were broken. When he saw his friend, he +raised himself a little, and stretched out his hand to him with a +melancholy smile. Wolfframb having taken a seat beside him, and +delivered to him the hearty greetings of the Landgrave, and of the +other masters; and spoken many other kindly words--Heinrich, in the +languid voice of a sick man said, "Much that is strange has happened to +me; doubtless I have borne myself as one bereft of his senses. Well +might you all believe that some secret, penned up within my breast, was +what was driving me so wildly hither and thither; but alas, my wretched +state was a mystery even to myself; a raging torture was eating at my +heart, but its cause I could not discover. All that I did seemed to me +wretched and worthless. The songs which I held so high before, sounded +toneless and weak, unworthy the feeblest learner; and yet, befooled by +a vain presumption, I burned to outvie you all. A bliss unknown, the +highest joy of heaven, shone far above me like a golden star. To it +must I raise myself, or perish miserably. I raised my eyes, I stretched +my longing arms; but ice-cold wings waved a chill to heart and soul, +and a voice said 'What avails thy hope and longing? Is not thine eye +blinded? Is not thy power lost? Thou canst not endure the ray of thy +hope; thou canst not grasp and hold thy heavenly bliss.' But now, now +my secret is plain, even to myself. It is true it gives me my death, +but death in the highest of heavenly bliss. Sick and feeble I lay on my +bed. It was sometime deep in the night, and the fever-wanderings, which +had been driving me hither and thither for so long, left me at once. I +felt myself at peace; and a gentle beneficent warmth went spreading +through my frame. I seemed to be floating away through the deeps of +heaven, borne upon dark clouds. Then a glittering levin-bolt seemed to +come cleaving through the gloom, and I cried out-- + +"'"'Mathilda! Mathilda!' + +"'"Upon this I awoke. The dream was gone, my heart was throbbing with a +strange sweet pain, and with a nameless joy I was conscious that I had +cried 'Mathilda,' and I gave way to fear--for I thought that the woods +and the meadows, and all the hills and the caves would re-echo that +beauteous name--and that thousands of voices would tell her glorious +self how deep and true and tender, even to the death, my adoration must +always be, and that she is the marvellous star whose beams, streaming +into my heart, awake those destroying pains of hopeless longing; and +that now those passionate flames have burst into blazing might, that +all my soul is athirst, and dies for her peerless beauty! + +"'"You know all my secret now, Wolfframb; bury it deep in your breast. +You see that I am peaceful and happy, and you believe me when I tell +you that I would rather die than render myself despicable in your +eyes--in the eyes of all. But to you--to you, whom Mathilda loves--I +felt that I must tell all. As soon as I can rise from this couch, I +shall wander away into some foreign land, with death in my heart. +Should you hear that I am no more, you may tell Mathilda that I----" + +"But Heinrich could speak no further. He sank back upon his couch, and +turned his face to the wall. His bitter sobs betrayed the struggle +within him. + +"'Wolfframb was greatly startled and surprised at that which Heinrich +had disclosed to him. He sat with his eyes fixed on the ground, and +considered how his friend might be rescued from the dominion of this +mad and foolish passion, which must infallibly lead him to his +destruction. + +"'He tried to speak words of comfort, and even to induce Heinrich to go +back to the Wartburg, and return--with hope in his heart--into the +sunshine which Mathilda shed around her. He even said that it was only +by virtue of his songs that he himself had found favour in her eyes, +and that Ofterdingen might well reckon upon equal good fortune. But +poor Heinrich gazed at him sadly, and said: + +"'"You will never see me, I think, at the Wartburg any more. Would you +have me cast myself into the flames? I shall die a happier death afar +from her--the sweet death of longing." + +"'Wolfframb departed, leaving Heinrich in Eisenach. + + + "'WHAT HAPPENED FURTHER TO HEINRICH OF OFTERDINGEN. + +"'It sometimes comes to pass that the love-pain in our hearts, which at +first threatened to tear them asunder, grows habitual after a time, so +that we even come to cherish it with care; and the sharp cries of +anguish which the nameless torture at first made us utter, turn to +melodious plaints of gentle sorrow, which tone back like sweet echoes +into our souls, laying themselves, like balm, on our bleeding wounds. + +"'And thus it was with Heinrich of Ofterdingen. His love was as warm +and longing as ever, but he looked no more into the black, hopeless +abyss. He lifted his eyes to the shimmering clouds of spring, and then +it seemed to him as if his beloved was looking down at him with her +beautiful eyes, inspiring him with the most glorious songs he had ever +sung. He took his lute down from the wall, strung it with fresh +strings, and went forth into the fair spring weather which had just +commenced. Then he felt powerfully impelled towards the region of the +Wartburg; and when he saw the towers of the castle shining in the +distance, and reflected that he would never see Mathilda more--that his +life would never be anything but a hopeless longing; that Wolfframb had +won the peerless lady by the power of song--all his lovely visions of +hope sank away into gloomy night, and the deathly pangs of despair and +jealousy pierced his heart. Then he fled, as if pursued by evil +spirits, back to his lonely chamber, and there he was able to sing +songs which brought him delicious dreams, and, in them, the Beloved +herself. + +"'For a long time he had succeeded in avoiding the sight of the towers +of the Wartburg; but one day he got into the forest--he scarce could +tell how--the forest which lies in front of the Wartburg, on going out +of which one has the castle close before his sight. He had come to a +part of the woods where strangely-shaped crags rise up, covered with +many-tinted mosses, surrounded by thick copses and ugly, stunted, +prickly underwood. With some difficulty he clambered halfway up these +rocks, so that, through a cleft, he could see the towers of the +Wartburg rising in the distance. There he sat himself down, and, +vanquishing the pain of his gloomy fancies, lost himself in dreams of +the sweetest hope. + +"'The sun had been some time set, and from out the gloomy clouds which +had come down and spread upon the hill, the moon rose, red and fiery. +The night wind began to sigh through the lofty trees, and, touched by +its icy breath, the thicket shuddered and shivered like one in the +chills of fever. The night birds rose screaming from the rocks, and +began their wavering flight. The woodland streams rushed louder--the +distant waterfalls lifted their voices. But as the moon begun to shine +more brightly through the trees, the tones of distant singing came +faintly over the valley. Heinrich rose. He thought how the masters on +the Wartburg were now beginning their pious evening hymns. He saw +Mathilda, as she retired, casting looks of affection at Wolfframb--whom +she loved--with a heart brimming over with fondness and longing. +Heinrich took his lute and begun a song such as perhaps he had never +sung before. The night wind paused; the thickets and trees kept +silence; the tones went gleaming through the woodland shadows as if +they were part of the moonlight. But as this song was dying away in +sighs of bitter sorrow, a sudden burst of shrill, piercing laughter +rang out behind him. He turned quickly round, startled, and saw a tall +dark form, which, ere he could collect his thoughts, began to speak in +a disagreeable, sneering tone: + +"'"Aha! I have been searching about here for a considerable time to see +who might be singing so beautifully at this hour of the night. So it is +you, is it, Heinrich of Ofterdingen? Ha! I might have known that, for +you are certainly by far the poorest (which is not saying little) of +all the 'masters,' as folks call them, up on the Wartburg there; and +that silly song, without either meaning or melody, could only have come +from your mouth." + +"'Half still alarmed, half glowing in anger, Heinrich cried: + +"'"And who may you be, who know me and think you can attack me here +with contumely and scorn?" And he laid his hand on his sword. But the +dark stranger gave another of his screaming laughs, and, as he did, a +ray of moonlight fell upon his deathly pale face, so that Ofterdingen +could see, with much distinctness, the wild-gleaming eyes, the sunken +cheeks, the pointed, reddish beard, the mouth with its fixed sneering +smile, and the barret-cap with its black feather. + +"'"Heyday, young sir!" said the stranger; "are you going to come at me +with lethal weapons because I criticise your songs? I know you singers +do not like anything but praise, and expect to receive it for +everything that drops from your renowned lips, though there be nothing +good about it. But just because that is not my way, and because I tell +you candidly that instead of being a master you are but a mediocre +scholar and learner of the noble singer's craft, you ought to see that +I am your true friend, and mean you kindly." + +"'"How," said Ofterdingen, who felt a secret shudder run through him; +"how can you, whom I do not remember to have seen before, be my friend +and mean me kindly?" + +"'Without answering this question the stranger went on to say: + +"'"This is a charming spot, and the night is delightful. I will sit +down beside you in the friendly light of the moon; you are not going +back to Eisenach just yet, so we can have a little chat together. Pay +attention to what I am going to tell you, it may prove instructive." + +"'With this the stranger sat down on the large mossy rock, close beside +Ofterdingen. The latter struggled with the strangest feelings. With all +his fearlessness he could not, in the loneliness of the night, and in +that desert place, overcome the profound shuddering which the +stranger's voice and manner awakened in him. He felt as if he ought to +throw him down the steep precipice into the woodland stream which +roared beneath. Then, again, he felt as if paralyzed in all his +members. + +"'Meanwhile the stranger came and sat quite close to Ofterdingen and +spoke very softly, almost whispering in his ear. + +"'"I have just come from the Wartburg," he said, "where I have been +listening to the poor, homely, unskilled, schoolboy-like 'singing,' as +it is by courtesy styled, of the so-called 'masters' up there. But the +Countess Mathilda is peerless; she is more perfect and charming than +any other lady on earth!" + +"'"Mathilda!" Ofterdingen cried in a tone of the deepest sorrow. + +"'"Hoho, young sir," cried the stranger; "it is there where the shoe +pinches, is it? However, for the present we have lofty matters to +discuss; we have to deal with the noble craft of song. I have no doubt +that you people up there mean your best with those songs of yours, and +that they all come to you as smoothly and naturally as possible. But of +the real, true, profound singer-craft not one of you has the most +distant idea. I shall just give you one or two elementary notions on +the subject, and then you will see that, on the path on which you are +at present, you will never reach the goal you are aiming at." + +"'The dark stranger now began to speak of the true craft of song in +very extraordinary language, which itself almost sounded like strange +songs hitherto unheard. And as he spoke image after image arose in +Heinrich's mind, and then vanished again as if borne away by some +storm-wind. A new world seemed to be opening upon him, seething with +voluptuous shapes. Each word of the stranger's kindled lightning gleams +which flashed forth for an instant and then went out again. The full +moon was now high above the trees. Heinrich and the stranger were both +sitting in her full radiance, and the former now noticed that the face +of the stranger was far from being as horrible as it had appeared at +first. There was certainly a strange fire sparkling in his eyes, but +Heinrich fancied that a pleasing smile played about his lips, and the +great, hawk-like nose and the lofty brow gave the face an expression of +immense power and strength. + +"'"I cannot express to you," said Heinrich, "the strangeness of the +effect which your words produce upon me. I seem to be only now, for the +first time in my life, beginning to form some slight notion what +singing really means--as if all that I have done hitherto, under the +impression that it was singing, was utterly poor and miserable--and +that the true singer's craft was only beginning to dawn upon me. You +must certainly yourself be a mighty master of song. Perhaps you will +favour me so far as to take me as your most zealous pupil. I most +earnestly beg that you will do so." + +"'The stranger gave another of his disagreeable laughs. He rose from +his seat and stood before Heinrich, of such giant stature, and with a +face so altered, that Heinrich felt the same shudder as when the +stranger had first appeared at his side. The latter said, in a voice of +such power that it re-echoed amongst the rocks: + +"'"You think I am a mighty master of song, do you? Perhaps I am at +times, but the giving of lessons is a matter with which I can by no +means be troubled. I have good advice at the service of all who are +eager for knowledge, as you seem to be. Have you ever heard of the +great master Klingsohr, who is renowned for his mastery of the singer's +craft as well as in all other branches of knowledge? People say he is a +magician, and has dealings with one who is not everywhere in the best +of odour. But do not you be deceived. Things which people do not +understand, and cannot themselves manipulate, they think to be +supernatural, and pertaining either to Heaven or to Hell. Master +Klingsohr will lead you to your goal. His home is in Siebenbuergen; go +you to him there, and you will see how science and art have procured +for him, in lavish measure, all that his heart could desire--honours +and riches, and fair ladies' favour. Ay, my young sir, if Klingsohr +were here you would see how little the Lady Mathilda would trouble +herself about the gentle Wolfframb of Eschinbach, our sighing Swiss +herdsman." + +"'"Do not dare to mention her name!" cried Heinrich. "Begone, and leave +me in peace; I shudder at your presence." + +"'"Hoho!" laughed the stranger; "do not get out of temper, my little +friend; the cause of your shuddering is the chilliness of the night +breeze and the thinness of your doublet. You felt well and happy whilst +I was sitting near you, diffusing warmth through your frame. Shuddering +and terror! Nonsense! I have blood and fire at your command. As for the +Lady Mathilda, what I tell you is that her favour may be gained by +means of the singer's gift, such as Master Klingsohr possesses. I began +by making light of your singing, to show you your own lack of skill. +But the fact that you begin to see your own shortcomings when I give +you some inklings of the true craft is sufficient to prove that you are +possessed of good dispositions. Who knows? You may be destined to tread +in Master Klingsohr's footsteps, and then you may sue for the Lady +Mathilda's favour with some reasonable hope of success. So make +yourself ready; be off to Siebenbuergen. But stay; if you cannot start +off at once I will give you a little book which you shall study +diligently. It is a book written by Master Klingsohr, and it contains +not only the rules of the true singer's craft, but also one or two +admirable compositions of his own." + +"'With this the stranger had produced a little book in a blood-red +cover, which glimmered and shone in the moonlight. He handed this book +to Heinrich, and, as soon as he had done so, he stepped back and +vanished amongst the underwood. + +"'Heinrich fell into a profound sleep. When he awoke the sun was high in +the heavens, and, had it not been that the book was lying on his +breast, he would have looked upon his adventure with the stranger as +merely a vivid dream. + + + "'OF THE LADY MATHILDA. EVENTS ON THE WARTBURG. + +"'Doubtless, dear reader, you have at some time or other found yourself +in some circle composed of fair ladies and talented men, which might be +likened to a fair garland of many-tinted flowers, vieing in colour and +perfume. But, like the exquisite tones of a music breathing over the +whole, and awaking joy and rapture in every breast, it was the special +charm of some one lady in particular, which, outshining the rest of the +circle, was the special determining cause of the perfection of harmony +pervading the whole. The other ladies seemed more lovely and +attractive, seen in the light of her beauty, joining in the music of +her voice. It made the men's hearts grow wider, and enabled them to +give play to the enthusiasm and inspiration which is shy to come to the +light at ordinary times, so that it streamed forth in words or music, +or in such form as the nature of the circumstances might suggest. And, +however this "queen" of the circle might endeavour, in the kindness and +simplicity of her thoughtful goodness and consideration for all, to +apportion her favour to each in equal measure, one still could see that +her glance singled out one youth in particular standing in silence near +her, whose eyes, moist with tears of soft emotion, betrayed the +blissfulness of the passion burning in his breast. Many might envy, but +none could hate this fortunate being; nay, those who were his friends +rather loved him the better for the sake of the love he felt. + +"Thus it happened that, in the fair garland of ladies and poets at the +Court of Landgrave Hermann of Thuringia, the Countess Mathilda, widow +of Count Cuno of Falkenstein (dead at an advanced age), was the fairest +flower, surpassing the others in beauty and sweetness. + +"'Wolfframb of Eschinbach, deeply moved by her loveliness and charm, +fell in love with her at first sight, and the other masters, inspired +by her beauty, celebrated her in many a tuneful lay. Reinhardt of +Zweckhstein called her the lady of his thoughts, for whom he was ready +to tilt in the tournay, or perish in the fray. Walther of the Vogelweid +burned with the most chivalrous passion for her, whilst Heinrich +Schreiber and Johannes Bitterolff outvied each other in praising her in +every variety of quaint and ingenious conceit. But Wolfframb's songs +came from the depths of a loving soul, and found their way to +Mathilda's heart like glittering, sharp-pointed arrows. The other +masters knew this well, but they felt that Wolfframb's good fortune and +happiness irradiated them all with a sunny shimmer, and gave even to +their songs a peculiar sweetness and power. + +"The first dark shadow that fell upon Wolfframb's radiant life was cast +by Ofterdingen's unlucky secret, when he thought how all the other +masters loved him, although they, too, were deeply impressed by +Mathilda's beauty and grace. As it was only in Ofterdingen's mind that +hostile rancour was associated with affection, driving him away into +dreary and joyless solitude, he could not help feeling bitterly pained. +Often he thought Ofterdingen was only affected by a temporary madness +which would wear itself out. Then again he felt with much vividness +that he himself would not have been able to endure it if he had sued +for Mathilda's favour in vain. "And," he said to himself, "what better +claim to it have I? Am I in any way better than Ofterdingen? Am I wiser +or handsomer? Where is the difference between us? That which presses +him to earth is but the power of a hostile destiny, which might have +been mine just as it is his; and I, his faithful friend, pass +carelessly by on the other side, and never hold out a hand to help +him." + +"'Such reflections brought him at last to the conviction that he must +go to Eisenach, and use his utmost efforts to induce Ofterdingen to +come back to the Wartburg; but when he arrived Heinrich was gone, no +one knew where. Sorrowfully Wolfframb returned to the Wartburg, and +told the Landgrave and the masters of Heinrich's disappearance. Then +for the first time it was seen how was their affection for him, in +spite of his disturbed condition, which was sometimes sullen even to +bitterness. They mourned for him as for one dead, and long did this +grief lie over all their songs like a gloomy veil, depriving them of +all their splendour and tone, till at length the image of the lost one +passed further and further away into the dimness of distance. + +"'The spring had come again, and with it all the joy and happiness of +renewed life. On a pleasant place in the castle gardens, closed in by +beautiful flowers, the masters were assembled to greet the young leaves +and the buds and blossoms with festive songs. The Landgrave, with +Mathilda and other ladies, had taken their seats in a circle round +them, and Wolfframb of Eschinbach was about to begin a song, when a +young man, with a lute in his hand, came forward from amongst the +trees. With glad surprise they all recognized in him the long missing +Heinrich of Ofterdingen. The masters went to meet him with greetings of +the heartiest kindliness; but, without taking much notice of them, he +approached the Landgrave, to whom, and then to the Countess Mathilda, +he made a lowly reverence. He said he was completely cured of the +sickness which had been upon him, and begged, should there be any +reasons precluding him from being readmitted to the circle of the +masters, to be at least allowed to sing his compositions as well as the +others. But the Landgrave said that, though he had been away from among +them for a time, he was by no means withdrawn from the circle of the +masters, and he did not know why he should imagine that that would be +the case. He embraced him, and himself pointed out to him his former +place, between Walther of the Vogelweid and Wolfframb of Eschinbach. It +was soon apparent that Heinrich's looks and bearing were completely +changed. Instead of hanging his head as formerly, and creeping about +with eyes fixed on the ground, he now walked with a bold firm step, +lifting his head on high. His face was as pale as ever, but his glance +was firm and penetrating, instead of wavering and uncertain. On his +brow, instead of the old deep melancholy, sat a proud, gloomy gravity; +and a strange muscular play about his mouth and cheek at times +expressed a most uncanny kind of scorn. He deigned no word to the +masters, but sat down silent in his place. Whilst the others were +singing, he looked at the sky, moved about on his seat, counted on his +fingers, yawned--in short, gave every indication of tedium and +impatience. Wolfframb of Eschinbach sung in praise of the Landgrave, +and then alluded to the return of the dear friend so long absent, +describing it so thoroughly out of the depths of his heart that all +present were deeply affected. But Heinrich knitted his brows, and, +turning away from Wolfframb, took his lute, and struck upon it the most +wonderful and extraordinary chords. He advanced to the centre of the +circle, and began a song, of which the "manner," wholly unlike anything +that the others had sung, was so unprecedented, that every one was +struck with the profoundest amazement, and at last consternation. It +was as if he was knocking, with tones of might, at the dark portal of +some strange mysterious realm, and conjuring forth the mystic secrets +of the unknown power therein dwelling. Then he invoked the stars, and +his lute's tones whispered soft and low, till one thought one heard the +harmonies of the ringing measures of the spheres. Then the chords grew +stronger, and rushed louder and louder; and glowing vapours seemed to +rise round the assemblage, whilst forms as of voluptuous love-passion +glowed in the opened Eden of the pleasures of sense. When he ended all +were sunk in the deepest silence, till a burst of applause broke +stormily forth; and Lady Mathilda rose quickly from her seat, went up +to him, and placed on his brow the garland which she had been holding +as the prize. + +"'Ofterdingen's face grew red as fire. He fell on his knees, and +pressed her hands to his breast with rapture. As he rose, his +sparkling, penetrating glance fell upon the faithful Wolfframb, who was +coming up towards him, but turned away, as if suddenly constrained to +do so by some evil power. + +"'There was but one who did not join in the enthusiastic applause, and +that was the Landgrave, who had become very grave and thoughtful during +Ofterdingen's singing, and could scarce find a word of praise for the +marvellous song. At this Ofterdingen seemed visibly annoyed. + +"'When the twilight was almost merging into night, Wolfframb, who had +been seeking for Heinrich in vain, met with him in one of the garden +alleys. He hastened to him, and after warmly embracing him said: + +"'"Well, dearest brother, and so you have become the greatest master of +song, as I suppose, that the world contains. Tell me how you have +accomplished what all we others, nay, yourself of old, had not the +faintest conception of? What spirit has stood at your command to teach +you the marvellous music of another world?" + +"'"It is well," said Heinrich of Ofterdingen coldly, "that you see the +height to which I have risen above you, the so-called 'masters'; or +rather how I, and I only, have landed, and feel at home, in that realm +towards which you are all striving on mistaken paths. You will not +blame me, then, for thinking you all somewhat tedious and +uninteresting, as well as what you call your 'singing' into the +bargain." + +"'"Then," said Wolfframb, "you now altogether despise us, whom of old +you held in high esteem--you will have nothing more in common with us. +All friendship, all liking have passed away from your heart, because +you are a greater master than we. Even me you hold no longer worthy of +your regard, because I may not be able to soar as high in my songs as +do you. Ah, Heinrich, if I were to tell you what I felt when I heard +you sing!" + +"'"Pray let me hear," said Heinrich with a scornful laugh, "perhaps it +may teach me something of value." + +"'"Heinrich," said Wolfframb, in a very earnest and serious tone, "it +is true your song was couched in a very extraordinary 'manner,' quite +unlike anything we had ever heard before, and the ideas soared high, +even beyond the clouds. But something within me said that such a song +could never come out of the pure human soul, but must be produced by +supernatural agency--as necromancers manure the earth of home with +magical substances, and it brings forth the strange plants of foreign +lands. You have become a great master of song Heinrich, and are +occupied in lofty matters; but do you still understand the sweet +greeting of the evening wind when you wander through the deep forest +shadows? Does your heart still throb with gladness at the rustling of +the branches, and the voices of the mountain streams? Do the flowers +still look up at you with the eyes of innocent children? Does the +nightingale's complaining still make your heart well nigh faint with +pain? Ah, Heinrich, there were many things in your song which filled me +with a sense of unholy awe. I could not but think of the picture you +drew of the poor disembodied shades wandering on the banks of Acheron, +when the Landgrave once asked you the cause of your secret pain. I +could but fancy that you had bidden farewell to love, and that what you +have obtained in its place is but the useless hoard of the wanderer +lost in the wilderness. Even now I cannot help fearing--pardon me for +speaking so plainly--that you have bought your mastership with all that +joy in life which is only vouchsafed to the pious and childlike of +spirit. A dark presentiment seizes me. I think of what drove you from +the Wartburg, and the circumstances in which you have returned. Many +things may succeed with you, it is true; perhaps the beautiful star of +hope to which I have been raising my eyes may set for me for ever. +Still, Heinrich--here, take my hand on it--never can any ill-will +towards you find place in my heart. Notwithstanding the good fortune +which is streaming over you now, should you one day suddenly find +yourself on the brink of some deep, bottomless abyss, and the whirl of +giddiness seizes you, and you are about to fall down and be destroyed, +I shall be standing behind you, firm in heart, and I will hold you fast +with my strong arms." + +"'Heinrich had listened in profound silence to all that Wolfframb said. +He now covered his face with his mantle, and dashed rapidly in amongst +the thick trees. And Wolfframb heard him sighing and gently sobbing as +he sped quickly away. + + + "'THE CONTEST ON THE WARTBURG. + +"'Much as at first the other masters marvelled at the haughty +Heinrich's songs, and praised them, ere long they began to talk +of spuriousness in the "manners," of emptiness and superficial +display--nay, of absolute wickedness--in the works which he brought +before them. Lady Mathilda, and she alone, had turned to the singer +with her whole soul; and he praised her charms in a "manner" which all +the other masters (except Wolfframb of Eschinbach, who reserved his +opinion) declared to be heathenish and abominable. Before very long +Lady Mathilda became a wholly altered creature. She looked down upon +the other masters with scornful arrogance, and even withdrew her favour +from Wolfframb of Eschinbach. She carried matters so far as to ask +Heinrich of Ofterdingen to give her instruction in the craft of song, +and began to write compositions herself quite in the style of his. From +this time all beauty and attractiveness seemed to abandon this poor +deluded lady. Discarding everything which serves to adorn noble ladies, +and leaving off all womanly ways, she became an uncanny creature, +neither woman nor man, detested by the women and laughed at by the men. +The Landgrave, fearing that this disorder of hers might infect the +other ladies of the Court, issued strict commands that no lady should +occupy herself in composition under pain of banishment, and for this +the men, who were much horrified at Mathilda's state, thanked him +warmly. Countess Mathilda left the Wartburg, and repaired to a castle +not far from Eisenach, whither Heinrich of Ofterdingen would have +followed her had not the Landgrave ordered that he should go through +with the contest to which the other masters had challenged him. + +"'"Heinrich of Ofterdingen," the Landgrave said to this overweening +minstrel, "you have in ugly fashion broken up and disturbed, by those +unholy songs of yours, the fair and happy circle which I had collected +in this place. Me you could never beguile; I saw clearly, from the +beginning, that your songs did not come out of the depths of a pure, +honest singer's heart, but were the fruits of the teaching of some +false master. What avails outward ornamentation, glitter, and +brilliance, when what it covers is merely a lifeless corpse? You sing +of lofty matters, of mysteries of the universe, it is true, not as they +dawn in the hearts of men, as sweet presciences of a higher life, but +as the presumptuous astrologer tries to comprehend them, and reduce and +measure them with compass and scale. You should blush, Heinrich of +Ofterdingen, to think at what you have arrived, that your brave, honest +spirit has bent itself to serve an unworthy master." + +"'"I know not, my Lord," said Heinrich, "how far I merit your +displeasure and your reproaches. You may possibly alter your opinion +when you hear who the master was who opened to me that province of song +which is his own special home. I left your Court in a condition of the +deepest melancholy; and it may have been that the pain, which then +threatened to destroy me, was in truth only caused by the powerful +effort of the germ within me to burst its way towards the fertilizing +breath of a higher life. In a strange and remarkable manner a little +book came to my hands, in which the greatest master of song on earth +had expounded, with the profoundest science, the principles of the art, +adding one or two compositions of his own. The more I read and studied +in this book, the clearer it became to me what a wretched affair it is +when the singer cannot go beyond expressing in words merely that which +he fancies he feels in his heart. But, more than this, I felt by +degrees as though I were becoming gradually linked on to higher powers, +who often sang through me, instead of its being I myself who sang, +although I was, in absolute truth, the singer at the same time. My +longing to see this great master himself, and listen to the profound +wisdom and the critical judgments streaming from his very lips, became +irresistible. I went, therefore, to Siebenbuergen, for, pray let me tell +you, my Lord, it was to Master Klingsohr himself that I repaired; it is +to him I am indebted for the super-earthly scope of my compositions, +and perhaps you may now take a more favourable view of my feeble +efforts." + +"'"The Duke of Austria," the Landgrave said, "has told and has written +me much in praise of your master. Master Klingsohr is versed in +profound and secret sciences. He calculates the courses of the stars, +and distinguishes the wonderful connection existing between them and +the destinies of men. The secrets of the metals, the plants, and the +gems are laid open to him, and at the same time he is skilled in the +conduct of mundane affairs, and aids the Duke of Austria in action, as +well as with advice and counsel. But what all this may have to do with +the singer's pureness of heart I do not know, and I believe, moreover, +that this is exactly the reason why Master Klingsohr's music, artfully +and cleverly thought out and constructed as it doubtless is, has not +the smallest power to touch or move my heart. However that may be, +Heinrich of Ofterdingen, my masters, enraged, nay outraged, at your +arrogant, overbearing demeanour, desire to sing against you for the +prize, for several days together, and that shall now take place." + +"'So the masters' contest began, but whether it was that Ofterdingen's +spirit, confounded by false teaching, could no longer find its way by +that pure light which served for truthful minds, or whether the +interest of the occasion redoubled the powers of the other masters, the +result was that each one who sang against him overcame him and gained +the prize, in spite of his utmost efforts. Ofterdingen was very angry +over this disgrace, and began songs which, with contemptuous allusions +to Landgrave Hermann, extolled the Duke of Austria to the skies, +calling him the only glorious sun that had arisen upon art. Moreover, +he attacked the ladies of the Court with insolent and scornful words, +and went on to praise only the charms and beauty of Lady Mathilda, in +heathenish and reprobate style. It could not be but that all the +masters--the gentle Wolfframb of Eschinbach included--fell into just +and righteous indignation at this, so that they trod Heinrich of +Ofterdingen's mastership into the mire in the most fervent and +unsparing songs. Heinrich Schreiber and Johannes Bitterolff stripped +off the false and deceptive outward glitter from Ofterdingen's +compositions, and clearly demonstrated the feebleness of the skeleton +form hidden beneath. But Walther of the Vogelweid, and Reinhard of +Zweckhstein, went further. They maintained that Ofterdingen's conduct +was worthy of condign punishment, which they were prepared and eager to +inflict upon him, sword in hand. + +"'Thus Heinrich of Ofterdingen saw his mastership contemptuously +trodden into the mire, and found even his very life in danger. Full of +despair and fury, he appealed to the Landgrave for protection; nay +more, to entrust the decision of the contest for the mastership to +Master Klingsohr, the most renowned master of the time. + +"'The Landgrave said: + +"'"Matters now have come, between you and the masters, to such a +point that it is no longer merely a question of mastership in the +singer-craft. In those wild, insane songs of yours you have outraged +me, as well as the noble ladies of my Court; therefore my honour and +theirs is involved in the question. But it must be decided in singing +contest, and I agree to this Master Klingsohr of yours being the +arbiter. One of my masters, who shall be chosen by lot, shall contend +with you, and the subject you shall treat of shall be left to your own +selection. But the headsman shall stand behind you with drawn sword, +and he who is vanquished shall be beheaded on the spot. About it, +therefore, arrange for Master Klingsohr's arrival at the Wartburg +within a year and a day, that he may settle the issue of this trial for +life and death." + +"'Heinrich departed, and peace returned to the Wartburg for the time. + +"'The songs which at this time the masters sang in contest with +Heinrich were spoken of as "the war of the Wartburg." + + + "'MASTER KLINGSOHR ARRIVES AT EISENACH. + +"Nearly a year had elapsed when news came to the Wartburg that Master +Klingsohr had arrived at Eisenach, and taken up his abode in the house +of a citizen named Helgrefe, who lived near the St. George's Gate. The +masters were much relieved in their minds that now their bitter quarrel +with Heinrich of Ofterdingen would be brought to an end; but none of +them was so eager to see this world-renowned master face to face as +Wolfframb of Eschinbach. "It may be," he said to himself, "that, as the +people say, Klingsohr is devoted to unholy arts, that the powers of +evil are at his command, and have aided him to the acquisition of his +mastership in all branches of knowledge. But the noblest wine is grown +upon congealed lava. What recks the thirsty traveller that the grapes +which quench his thirst are nourished by the very fires of hell? I can +profit and delight myself by the masters deep knowledge and skilful +tuition without asking further questions, only assimilating so much of +it as a pure and pious heart may accept." + +"'Wolfframb went off at once to Eisenach. When he came in front of the +citizen Helgrefe's house, he found a crowd of people assembled, all +staring, in eager expectancy, up at the balcony. He recognized amongst +them many young men, scholars of the singer's craft, who kept on +quoting this or that saying of the great master. One of them had +written down the words he uttered when he went into Helgrefe's house; +another knew exactly what he had had for dinner; a third averred that +the master had actually looked at him with a smile, because he knew him +to be a singer by his barret-cap, which he wore just as Klingsohr did +his. A fourth began a song which he said was in Klingsohr's "manner." +In short, it was a great excitement and commotion. + +"'Wolfframb of Eschinbach at last succeeded in forcing his way with +difficulty through the crowd, and in getting into the house. Helgrefe +welcomed him courteously, and, at his desire, went upstairs to announce +to the master his arrival. The master, however, was engaged in his +studies, and could not receive any one just then. He might come back in +a couple of hours. Wolfframb had to swallow this rebuff. He came back +in some two hours' time, and had to wait an hour longer. After this, +Helgrefe was allowed to usher him in. A strange-looking servant, +dressed in silks of many colours, opened the door of the room, and +Wolfframb went in. He saw before him a tall stately man, dressed in a +robe of dark-red samite, with wide arms, richly trimmed with sable, +pacing up and down the chamber with long solemn steps. His face was +much like that which classical sculptors have given to their +representations of Jupiter, such a domineering gravity sat on the brow, +such a formidable fire flashed out of the great eyes. His cheeks and +chin were covered by a black curling beard, and on his head was what +was either a barret-cap of strange form or a cloth wound round it in a +peculiar fashion; it was hard to determine which. He had his arms +folded over his breast, and, as he paced up and down, he spoke, in a +clear, ringing voice, words which to Wolfframb were incomprehensible. +On looking round the chamber, which was full of books and quantities of +extraordinary-looking apparatus, Wolfframb saw in one corner a little +old pallid mannikin, scarce three feet high, sitting upon a tall stool, +busied in writing down, as hard as he could, all that the master was +saying, on a leaf of parchment, with a silver pen. When this had been +going on for a considerable time, the master's glance fell upon +Wolfframb, and, stopping in his walk, he stood still in the centre of +the chamber. Wolfframb greeted him with pleasant verses, in a light +playful style, explaining that he was come to be edified by Klingsohr's +masterly skill and knowledge, and begging him to respond to him in a +similar vein, so as to display his powers. The master measured him from +head to foot with a wrathful glance, and said: + +"'"Heyday! and who may you be, young sir, who have the impertinence to +come here, pitting yourself against me with your idiotic rhymes, as if +actually having the overweening presumption to challenge me to a +prize-singing? Ah! I see! you can be none other than Wolfframb of +Eschinbach, the most unfledged, ignorant laic of those who style +themselves masters of the singer's craft up on the Wartburg. No, no, +boy! You will have to grow a little ere you can hope to pit yourself +against me." + +"'Wolfframb had not looked for a reception of this kind. His blood +boiled at Klingsohr's insulting words. He felt the power with which the +heavens had gifted him awaking within him more vividly than was usual. +He looked the master straight in the eyes, gravely and firmly, and +said: + +"'"Master Klingsohr, you do not well in assuming this hard and bitter +tone, in place of answering me kindly and frankly, as I addressed you. +I know you are my superior in science, and probably also in the +singer's craft; but that does not justify you in these arrogant +vauntings, which you ought to think beneath you. I tell you to your +face, Master Klingsohr, that I now believe that, as the people say, you +have power over evil spirits, and intercourse with infernal beings, +through the unholy arts which you practise. It is because you can call +up dark spirits from the abyss that your mastership is so great. The +mind of man stands aghast at them, and it is the terror of them which +makes you prevail; not that profound love which streams forth from a +pure singer's soul into the heart of the sympathetically-minded. This +is why you are arrogant, as no singer, whose heart is untainted, ever +can be." + +"'"Hoho!" answered Master Klingsohr, "Hoho, young sir! Do not get on +your high horse in this manner. As for my supposed intercourse with +powers of evil, be silent. It is beyond your comprehension; it is but +the idle chatter of childish idiots that it is from such a source that +my skill in sing-craft is derived. But, let me ask you, whence did you +derive what small knowledge on the subject you possess? Do you suppose +I do not know that at Siegebrunnen, in Scotland, Master Friedebrand +lent you certain books, which you, with base ingratitude, did not +return, but kept, and that all your songs are taken from them? Ha ha! +if I have the devil to thank, you have to thank your own ingrained +ingratitude." + +"'Wolfframb was aghast at this horrible accusation. He laid his hand on +his heart, and said: + +"'"May God be mine aid!--Amen. The spirit of falsehood is mighty within +you, Master Klingsohr. How could I have so shamefully cozened my great +master, Friedebrand, of his precious writings? Let me tell you that I +kept these manuscripts only just as long as Master Friedebrand wished +me to do so, and then gave them back to him again. Have you never +learned anything from the writings of other masters?" + +"'"Be that as it may," Klingsohr replied, without paying much attention +to what Wolfframb said, "whencesoever you may have derived your art, +what warrants you in attempting to place yourself on a level with me? +Are you aware how diligently I have studied in Rome, in Paris, in +Cracow; that I have travelled to the distant east, and learned the +secrets of the wise Arabs; that I have sucked the essence of every +school of the singer's craft that exists, and wrung the prize from +every one who has competed with me; that I am a master of the Seven +Liberal Arts? Whereas you, who have spent your days in far-off +Switzerland, at a distance from everything in the shape of art and +science, you, who are a mere laic, ignorant of all book-knowledge, +cannot by any possibility have acquired even the rudiments of the true +craft of song." + +"'During this speech of Klingsohr's, Wolfframb's anger had quite calmed +down. The cause may have been that, at Klingsohr's braggart language, +the precious gift of song within him shone forth more jubilantly +bright, as do the sunbeams when they break victoriously through the +heavy clouds which the storm has brought driving up on its wings. A +gentle and pleasant smile spread over his face, and he said, in a quiet +tone of self-command, to the irritated Master Klingsohr: + +"''Nay, good master, I might reply that though I have never studied at +Rome or Paris, nor sought out the wise Arabs in their own distant land, +I have known many singers of fame and skill (to say nothing of my +master, Friedebrand, whom I followed into the heart of Scotland) whose +instruction has much profited me; and that--like yourself--I have +gained the singer's prize at the courts of many of our exalted princes +in Germany. But I hold that all instruction, and all intercourse with +the greatest masters would have availed me nothing, had not the eternal +might of heaven placed within me the spark which has blazed up into the +glorious beams of song; had I not held--and did I not still hold--afar +from me all that is false or base; did I not strive, with all my +strength, to sing nothing other than that which truly fills my heart." + +"'And here he began--he scarcely knew how, or why--to sing a glorious +song, in the "Golden Tone," which he had shortly before composed. + +"'Master Klingsohr paced up and down full of wrath. Then he paused +before Wolfframb, gazing at him with his fixed, gleaming eyes, as if he +would pierce him through and through. When Wolfframb had ended, +Klingsohr laid his hands on his shoulders, and said, gently and +quietly, "Well, since you will not have it otherwise, Wolfframb, let us +sing against one another, in all the tones and manners. But we will go +elsewhere; this chamber is not fit for the like. Besides, you must +drink a cup of good wine with me." + +"'At this instant the little mannikin who had been writing tumbled down +from his stool, and, as he fell hard on to the floor, he gave a little +delicate cry of pain. Klingsohr turned quickly round, and pushed the +little creature with his foot into a sort of cupboard under the desk, +which he closed upon him. Wolfframb heard the mannikin making a low +whimpering and sobbing. After this, Klingsohr shut all the books which +were lying about open; and each time that he closed one, a strange, +awe-inspiring sound, like a death sigh, passed through the room. Next +he took up in his hands wonderful roots; which, as he took them, had +the appearance of strange unearthly creatures, and struggled with their +stems and fibres, as if with arms and legs. Indeed, often a little, +distorted human-looking countenance would come jerking out grinning and +laughing in a horrible manner. At the same time it grew unquiet in the +cupboards round the room, and a great bird appeared, flapping about in +wavering, irregular flight with whirring wings that glittered like +gold. Darkness was falling fast, and Wolfframb began to feel profound +alarm. Klingsohr took a stone out of a case, which immediately diffused +a light as bright as the sun through the room. On this all grew still, +and Wolfframb saw and heard no more of that which had caused his +uneasiness. + +"'Two servants, dressed in the same strange fashion, in many-coloured +silks, as the one who had opened the door at first, came in with +magnificent garments, in which they dressed their master. And then +Klingsohr and Wolfframb went out together to the Town-Cellar. + +"'They drank to friendship and reconciliation, and they sang against +each other in all the most skilful and artful "manners." There was no +other master present to decide which of them was the victor, but had +there been one he would doubtless have declared that Klingsohr had the +worst of it. For with the utmost efforts of his art and intelligence he +never in the least attained to the power and sweetness of the simple +songs which Wolfframb sung. + +"'The latter had just ended one of his most successful essays when +Master Klingsohr leaned back in his chair, and said, in a low, gloomy +tone: + +"'"You called me vain and braggart, Master Wolfframb; but you would +much mistake me if you supposed that I was so blinded by vanity that I +should not recognize the true art of song wherever I come across +it--were it in the wilderness, or in the master's hall. There is none +here to judge between you and me; but I tell you that you have +vanquished me Master Wolfframb: and, by my so saying, you may recognize +the genuineness of my art." + +"'"Oh, good Master Klingsohr," said Wolfframb, "it may be that a +certain special sense of happiness which I feel within me to-night may +have made my efforts more successful than they may be at other times. +Far be it from me to rank myself higher than you on that account. +Perhaps your heart was heavy to-day--how often it happens that a heavy +weight seems to lie upon one, like mists resting upon a meadow, and +hindering the flowers from lifting up their heads. You may say you are +vanquished to-night, but nevertheless I admired much in your beautiful +songs, and you may very probably gain the victory to-morrow." + +"'"What does that single-hearted modesty of yours avail you?" cried +Master Klingsohr, who started up quickly from his seat, and turning his +back to Wolfframb, placed himself at the lofty window, through which he +gazed in silence at the pale moonbeams falling from on high. + +"'After some minutes of this he turned, walked up to Wolfframb and said, +in a loud voice, while his eyes glared with anger: + +"'"You were right, Wolfframb of Eschinbach. My skill and knowledge are +backed up by powers of darkness; and your nature and mine must ever be +at variance. You have vanquished me: but in the night which follows +this I will send one to you who is called Nasias. Sing against him; and +have a care that he does not vanquish you." + +"'With which Master Klingsohr went storming out of the Town-Cellar. + + + "'NASIAS COMES BY NIGHT TO VISIT WOLFFRAMB OF ESCHINBACH. + +"'Wolfframb lodged in Eisenach over against the Bread House with a +burgher of the name of Gottschalk: a kindly, pious man who held him in +great honour. Although Klingsohr and Eschinbach had thought they were +alone and unobserved in the Town-Cellar, it might well have been that +many of the young scholars of song who dogged and watched every step of +the celebrated master, and strove to catch every word and syllable that +fell from his lips, might have found means to listen to the two masters +singing against each other. At all events, the news that Wolfframb of +Eschinbach had overcome the great Master Klingsohr had spread abroad in +Eisenach, so that Gottschalk had come to hear of it. He hastened to his +lodger full of joy, and asked him how it could possibly have happened +that this haughty master should have consented to undertake a +prize-singing in the Town-Cellar. Wolfframb told him all that had +happened, not concealing the circumstance that Master Klingsohr had +threatened to set one of the name of Nasias at him in the night. At +this Gottschalk turned pale with terror, beat his hands together, and +cried in a lamentable tone: + +"'"Ah! gracious heavens, good sir, do you not know that Master +Klingsohr has dealings with evil spirits, which are subject to him and +obliged to execute his commands? Helgrefe, in whose house Master +Klingsohr has taken up his abode, tells his neighbours the strangest +tales as to what goes on there. It seems that often in the night time +one would think a large concourse of people were collected in his room, +although no one is ever seen to go in; and then there begins a wild, +extraordinary singing, and the strangest goings on of all kinds--all +the windows streaming with dazzling light. Very likely this Nasias +may be the very evil one in person, and will carry you off to +perdition--you ought to set off, dearest master. Do not wait for this +terrible visitor--get away, I implore you." + +"'"What?" answered Wolfframb. "My good landlord Gottschalk, why would +you have me go away as if I was afraid to sing against this same +Nasias? That would not be conduct for a master singer by any means. Be +Master Nasias an evil spirit or not, I await him patiently and +tranquilly. He may sing me down with his acherontic 'manners,' but he +will strive in vain to beguile my pious heart, or to do hurt to my +immortal soul!" + +"'"I am well aware," said Gottschalk, "that you are a valiant +gentleman, and have not the slightest fear of the very devil himself. +But if you are determined to stay here, at least allow my servant Jonas +to be in the room with you. He is a pious, stalwart, broad-shouldered +fellow, and doesn't mind the singing one hair's breadth. And if you +chance to get a little spent, and feel a trifle faint with all the +devilish howling--so that Nasias should be like to get the better of +you and come at you--Jonas will give a shout, and we will come in with +holy water and consecrated candles. And they say the devil cannot +endure the stink of musk which a Capuchin friar has worn on his breast +in a bag. I'll have some of that handy, and will make such a fumigation +that Master Nasias won't have enough breath left to sing a bar." + +"'Wolfframb of Eschinbach laughed at his landlord's kindly anxiety, and +said he was now quite ready, and only wished the trial between him and +Nasias were over. Jonas, however--the pious man with the broad +shoulders, proof against all singing, of whatsoever kind--might stay +and be welcome. + +"The fateful night arrived. At first all was quiet; till the works of +the church clock whirred and rattled, and it struck twelve. Then a gust +of wind came breezing through the house, ugly voices howled in +confusion and a wild croaking scream as of pain and terror--like that +of some frightened night-bird--was heard. Wolfframb had been immersed +in beautiful, pure, pious poets' fancies, and had almost forgotten the +evil visit in store for him. But now icy shudders ran through his +veins; yet he pulled himself together and went to the centre of the +room. The door burst open with a tremendous crash, which shook the +whole house; and a tall form, surrounded with fiery light, stood before +him, and gazed at him with gleaming, malignant eyes. This form was of +such terrible aspect that doubtless many a man would have lost his +courage, nay, fallen to the ground in wild apprehension; but Wolfframb +stood firm, and asked in a grave and emphatic manner: + +"'"What is your will and business in this place?" + +"'The form answered, in a horrible, yelling voice: + +"'"I am Nasias, come to contend with you in the singer's craft." + +"'Nasias opened his large cloak, and Wolfframb saw that he had a number +of books under his arms, which he let fall on the table beside him. He +then at once began a wonderful song, which treated of the Seven Planets +and the music of the Heavenly Spheres, as described in Scipio's Dream, +and he rang the changes on the most ingenious and complicated "tones" +and "manners." Wolfframb, who had seated himself in his armchair, +listened calmly, with downcast eyes; and when he had quite finished +began a beautiful "tone" or "manner" upon religious themes. At this +Nasias jumped hither and thither, and tried to interrupt Wolfframb with +howlings, and to throw the heavy books he had brought with him at the +singer. But the clearer and the stronger that Wolfframb's song streamed +forth, the paler grew Nasias's fieriness, and the more his form +crumbled and shrunk together, so that at last he was running up and +down on the cupboards, with his little red cloak and the thick ruff at +the throat of it, no more than a span long--weaking and squeaking. +Wolfframb, when he had ended his song, was going to catch hold of him, +but he shot out at once to his original size, and breathed out flames +of fire all round him. + +"'"Hei! hei!" he cried, in a terrible voice, "none of these tricks on +me, young sir; very likely you may be a great authority on theology, +and well versed in the doctrines and subtleties of your fat book; but +you are not therefore a singer fit to measure himself against me and my +master. Let us have a nice love song, and see where your mastership +will be then." + +"He then sang a song concerning Fair Helen, and the marvellous delights +of the Venusberg. And indeed this song was fascinating; and it was as +if the flames which Nasias emitted turned to perfume, breathing +voluptuous passion, delight, and desire, amid which the beautiful +sounds floated up and down, like love gods at play. Wolfframb had +listened to this song as to the former one quietly, with his eyes fixed +on the ground. But soon there came to him a sense as though he were +wandering along the shady alleys of some beautiful garden, while lovely +tones of an exquisite music came floating over the beds of flowers, +breaking through the leafy shadows like the dawning red of morning; and +the songs of the Evil Thing sunk away before them into night, as the +birds of darkness plunge terrified into some deep ravine, croaking at +the coming of the day. And as those tones streamed clearer and clearer, +his heart throbbed with sweet anticipation and ineffable longing. Soon +she who was his life came forth from the thick bushes, in all the +splendour of her beauty and grace; and the leaves rustled, and the +clear streams plashed, greeting the fairest of women with a thousand +sighs of love. She came floating onward, borne on the pinions of song, +as on the outstretched wings of a beautiful swan; and when her heavenly +glance touched him all the bliss of the purest love-rapture awoke in +his heart. In vain he strove to find words, or tones of music. But, +when she vanished, he threw himself down on the flowery mead, he called +her name to the breezes, he embraced the tall lilies, he kissed the +roses on their glowing lips; and all the flowers understood his +rapture, and the morning wind, the brooks, and the bushes talked with +him of the nameless ecstasy of pure affection. + +"'Thus, while Nasias was going on with his vain and empty love songs, +Wolfframb was thinking of the moment when he saw Lady Mathilda for the +first time in the garden at the Wartburg; just as she had appeared to +him then, he saw her before him now in all her beauty, looking at him +with the self-same eyes of love. + +"Thus he had heard none of that which the Evil Thing was singing, and +when it was done he himself began a song which treated of the bliss of +a pious singer's pure affection in the most glorious strains of power. + +"'The Evil Thing grew more and more restless, till at last he began to +bleat like a goat, and do all manner of mischief in the room. Then +Wolfframb arose, and commanded him, in the name of Christ and the +saints, to take himself off. Nasias, spurting out fiery flames around +him, gathered his books together, and cried, with mocking laughter: + +"'"Schnib! Schnab! what are you but an ignorant laic?--yield the +mastership to Klingsohr!" he stormed out like a hurricane, and a +stifling stench of sulphur filled the room. + +"'Wolfframb opened the windows; the fresh morning air streamed in, and +cleared away all traces of the Evil Thing. Jonas woke up from the deep +sleep into which he had fallen, and wondered not a little to learn that +all was over. He called his master, to whom Wolfframb related all that +occurred. And if Gottschalk had honoured the noble Wolfframb before, he +now looked upon him as a very saint, whose pious power could baffle the +denizens of hell itself. When he chanced to cast his eyes towards the +ceiling of the room, what was his astonishment to see, written in +letters of fire above the door, the words: + +"'"Schnib! Schnab! what are you but an ignorant laic?--yield the +mastership to Klingsohr!" + +"The Evil Thing had written there the last words he spoke when he took +his departure, by way of an eternal defiance. "Not a single happy +hour," said Gottschalk, "can I spend in this house while that devilish +writing--an affront to my dear Master Wolfframb of Eschinbach--keeps on +burning there on the wall." He went off straight and fetched masons to +plaster the words over with lime. It was so much labour wasted. + +"They put on a finger's depth of lime, and still the writing was as +plain as ever. And when they took it all off again and came to the bare +bricks the writing was burning upon them as brightly as before. +Gottschalk uttered loud complaints, and begged Wolfframb to sing +something which should constrain Nasias to remove the horrible writing +himself. Wolfframb said, laughing, that this might not be in his power, +but that Gottschalk should wait patiently, and see if the writing might +perhaps disappear when he had gone away. + +"'It was high noon when Wolfframb of Eschinbach left Eisenach in the +happiest possible frame of mind, and the highest spirits, like one who +sees the brightest and most hopeful of prospects dawning before him. +Not far from the town there came, meeting him, Count Meinhard of +Muehlberg, and Walther of Bargel, the cupbearer, dressed in the richest +attire, on gaily caparisoned horses, attended by a numerous retinue. +Wolfframb saluted them, and learned that Landgrave Hermann had +despatched them to Eisenach to escort the renowned Master Klingsohr to +the Wartburg. On the previous night Klingsohr had repaired to a high +window of Helgrefe's house, and consulted the stars with great care. +When he drew his astrological figures, one or two students of +astrology, who had joined him, saw from his looks and manner that some +important secret which he had read in the stars was filling his mind. +They did not hesitate to inquire of him concerning it. Then Klingsohr +rose from his seat, and said, in a solemn tone: + +"'"Know that, this night, a daughter will be born to Andreas the +Second, King of Hungary. Her name will be Elizabeth; and, for her +goodness and virtues, she will be canonized, in after time, by Pope +Gregory the Ninth. And this Saint Elizabeth will be the wife of Ludwig, +the son of your Landgrave Hermann." + +"'This prophecy was at once communicated to the Landgrave, who was +beyond measure delighted thereat. And he altered his opinion concerning +the renowned master, whose mysterious knowledge had announced the +rising of so fair a star of hope. Wherefore he had determined that +Klingsohr should be conducted to the Wartburg with the pomp and +ceremony due to a prince. + +"'Wolfframb thought that now, in all probability, the decision of the +singers' life-and-death trial would be postponed on this account, +especially as Heinrich of Ofterdingen had not made his appearance as +yet. But the knights said that the Landgrave had received news of +Heinrich's arrival, that the inner court of the castle was chosen as +the scene of the contest, and Stempel, the executioner from Eisenach, +ordered to be in attendance. + + + "'MASTER KLINGSOHR QUITS THE WARTBURG, AND THE + SINGERS-CONTEST IS DECIDED. + +"'In a fair and lofty chamber of the Wartburg sate Landgrave Hermann +and Klingsohr in confidential converse together. Klingsohr again +assured the Landgrave that he had distinctly seen and carefully read +the meaning of the constellations on the previous night, and ended by +advising him to despatch an Embassy at once to the King of Hungary to +beg that the infant princess might be betrothed to his son, then eleven +years of age. This counsel pleased the Landgrave well, and, as he now +extolled the master's wisdom, Klingsohr began to discourse so +beautifully of the secrets of nature, and of the macrocosm and the +microcosm, that the Landgrave (himself not unversed in such matters) +was filled with the profoundest admiration. + +"'"Master Klingsohr," said the Landgrave, "I would fain continue in the +enjoyment of your skilled and wise society. Leave the inhospitable +Siebenbuergen, and take up your abode at this Court of mine, where, as +you must admit, Art and Science are more highly prized and more truly +cherished than elsewhere. The masters of song will look upon you as +their lord, for I make no doubt that you are as highly gifted in their +art as in astrology and other profound sciences. Remain here, +therefore, and think not of returning to Siebenbuergen." + +"'"Nay," most gracious Prince," said Master Klingsohr, "on the +contrary, I must crave your permission to return to Siebenbuergen this +very hour. The country is not so inhospitable as you may suppose. And +then, it is thoroughly meet for my studies. Consider, moreover, that I +may not offend my own king, Andreas the Second, from whom I draw a +yearly allowance of three thousand silver marks, on account of my +knowledge of mining matters, whereby I have discovered for him many +most valuable lodes of metal; so that I live in that peace and freedom +which are essential to the due cultivation of science and art. Whereas +here--even could I forego my yearly allowance--I should be involved in +continual questions and disputes with your masters. My art is based +upon other foundations than theirs, and its inward and outward forms +are totally different. It may be that their pious minds, and what they +term their rich imaginations, suffice to them for the composition of +their works, and that, like timid children, they are afraid to enter +upon another province of their art. I do not say that I think +slightingly of them on that account, but to take my place amongst them +is for ever impossible." + +"'"At all events," said the Landgrave, "you will consent to be present, +as arbiter and judge, at the great contest between your pupil Heinrich +of Ofterdingen and the other masters." + +"'"Your Highness must pardon me," said Master Klingsohr. "How were it +possible for me to do this thing? And even were it possible, I should +never desire to do it. Yourself, noble Prince, should decide this +contest, merely confirming the popular voice, which will assuredly make +itself heard. But call not Heinrich of Ofterdingen my pupil. He seemed, +at one time, to possess power and courage enough; but he merely gnawed +at the bitter shell, and never got so far as to savour the sweetness of +the kernel. Fix the day for the contest, therefore; I will take care +that Heinrich of Ofterdingen appears with all due punctuality." The +most urgent entreaties of the Landgrave were powerless to soften the +master's obduracy. He stuck to his resolve, and left the Wartburg laden +with rich reward. + +"'The fateful day had arrived on which the singers'-contest was to +begin and end. In the castle court lists had been set, almost as if for +a tourney. In the centre of the arena there were two seats, draped with +black, for the contending singers, and behind them a lofty scaffold. +The Landgrave had chosen two noble gentlemen, versed in the singer's +craft (they were the same who had escorted Master Klingsohr to the +Wartburg), and appointed them arbiters. For them and the Landgrave +lofty seats were erected over against those of the contending masters, +and beside them were the places for the ladies and other spectators. +The masters were to take their places on a bench draped with black, +near the contending singers and the scaffold. + +"'Thousands of spectators filled the space, and from all the windows +and roofs of the Wartburg an eager throng looked down. The Landgrave, +with the arbiters, entered by the castle gate, to the sound of trumpets +and muffled drums, and took their seats. The masters, in habits of +ceremony, headed by Walther of the Vogelweid, approached, and occupied +the seats allotted to them. Upon the scaffold stood Stempel the +executioner from Eisenach, with his attendants. He was a gigantic man, +of wild, arrogant aspect, wrapped in a wide, blood-red mantle, from the +folds of which peeped out the glittering hilt of his enormous sword. +Father Leonard, the Landgrave's confessor, took his place in front of +the scaffold, to stand by the vanquished in the hour of death. + +"A silence of anticipation lay upon the vast assemblage, till the +Landgrave's Marshal, wearing the insignia of his office, stepped +forward to the centre of the arena, and read aloud the conditions of +the contest, and the Landgrave's irreversible decree that he who was +vanquished should have his head struck off by the sword. Father Leonard +raised the crucifix, and all the masters rose from their seats, and on +bended knees vowed, bareheaded, to submit, gladly and readily, to the +Landgrave's decree. Stempel then swung his broad, flashing sword three +times through the air, and cried, in a voice which echoed through the +arena: + +"'"Him who is delivered into my hands I will despatch according to the +best of my power and conscience." + +"'The trumpets now sounded; the Marshal advanced to the centre of the +arena, and cried aloud, three times running: + +"'"Heinrich of Ofterdingen! Heinrich of Ofterdingen! Heinrich of +Ofterdingen!" + +"And as though Heinrich had been standing unobserved close to the +barriers, waiting till the sound of the Marshal's words should die +away, he suddenly stood at his side, in the centre of the arena. He +made a lowly reverence to the Landgrave, and said, in a firm voice, he +was ready to contend, according to the decree, with the master +appointed as his adversary, and to submit to the arbiters' award. + +"The Marshal then passed along in front of the masters, holding a +silver vase, out of which each of them had to draw a lot. When +Wolfframb of Eschinbach unfolded that which he had drawn, he found it +marked with the sign indicating that he was the master chosen for the +contest. A deadly terror well-nigh unmanned him at the thought of +having thus to enter upon a life-and-death contest with his friend. But +soon he felt that it was of Heaven's mercy that the lot had fallen on +him. If vanquished he would gladly die; but if victor, far sooner would +he go to the death than suffer Heinrich of Ofterdingen to perish by the +sword of the headsman. With a gladsome heart and a serene and pleasant +countenance, he took his appointed place. When he had seated himself +opposite to his friend, a strange feeling, akin to fear, took +possession of him. For he was certainly looking upon the face of his +friend; but out of the deadly pale countenance uncanny eyes were +gleaming at him, and he could not help remembering Nasias. + +"'Heinrich of Ofterdingen began his songs, and Wolfframb was greatly +startled when he recognised them to be the same which Nasias had sung +on the night when he came to him. But he collected himself with all his +might, and replied to his antagonist with a magnificent song, in such +sort that the acclamations of the thousand voices of the audience rang +through the air, and the people at once accorded him the victory. But +the Landgrave ordered that Heinrich of Ofterdingen should sing again, +and Heinrich went on with songs which, in the marvellousness of their +"manners," were so pregnant with the joy of the animalism of life, that +the listeners sank into a species of gentle intoxication, as if under +the influence of "the drowsy syrups of the East." Even Wolfframb felt +himself drawn as into a foreign province of existence. He could think +no more of his own songs, nor even of himself. + +"At this moment a sound arose at the gate leading to the arena, and the +crowd parted and made way. An electric stroke seemed to penetrate +Wolfframb; he awoke from his reverie and looked in the direction of +this interruption. Oh, Heaven! Lady Mathilda appeared, advancing in all +the simple grace and beauty which had adorned her when first he saw her +in the Wartburg garden. She looked at him with a glance of the deepest +affection; and the blissfulness of heaven and the most glowing rapture +soared jubilantly forth in ins song, as had been the case on the night +when he vanquished the Evil Thing. With the stormiest enthusiasm the +listeners proclaimed him the victor. The Landgrave and the arbiters +rose, the trumpets sounded. The Marshal took the garland from the +Landgrave's hand to crown the victorious master. + +"Then the executioner prepared to do his duty. But when the apparitors +went up to seize the vanquished singer, they found themselves grasping +at a cloud of black smoke, which rose up, rushing and crackling and +suddenly vanished in the air. Heinrich of Ofterdingen had disappeared, +none knew how. + +"'The crowd ran wildly hither and thither in confusion, with +consternation and terror on their pale faces. People spoke of +diabolical forms--of unholy enchantment; but the Landgrave assembled +the masters around him, and said: + +"'"I now understand what Master Klingsohr meant when he spoke so +strangely and mysteriously on the subject of the singers' contest, and +would on no account undertake the deciding of it himself; and I have +cause to be grateful to him that all has turned out as it has. Whether +it was Heinrich of Ofterdingen who took the place appointed for him in +the arena, or one whom Klingsohr sent in his pupil's stead, matters +not. The contest is decided in your favour, my trusty masters, and we +can now honour the glorious craft of song, and cultivate it to the best +of our ability in peace." + +"'Certain of the Landgrave's retainers who had been on warders' duty at +the castle said that, at the very time when Wolfframb of Eschinbach won +the prize and conquered the ostensible Heinrich of Ofterdingen, a +figure much resembling Master Klingsohr had been seen to dash out of +the gateway on a foaming steed. + + + "'CONCLUSION. + +"'Meanwhile Countess Mathilda had gone into the garden of the Wartburg, +and Wolfframb of Eschinbach had followed her. + +"'And when he found her there, seated on a flowery bank of moss, with +hands folded in her lap and her lovely head drooping sadly towards the +ground, he threw himself at her beloved feet, unable to utter a word. +Mathilda put her arms about him, and both of them shed hot tears of +sweet sorrow and lovers' pain. + +"'"Ah! Wolfframb," she cried, "what an evil dream has befooled me! How +have I, a foolish, unreasoning, blinded child, abandoned myself to the +snares of the Evil One who was lying in wait to compass my destruction! +Ah! how I have failed in my duty to you! Is it possible that you can +pardon me?" + +"'Wolfframb clasped her to his heart, and, for the first time, pressed +burning kisses on her rosy lips. He assured her that she had always +dwelt in his heart, that he had ever been faithful to her in spite of +the powers of evil; that it was she, the lady of his thoughts, alone, +who had been his inspiration in the song with which he vanquished them. + +"'"Oh, my beloved!" she said, "let me tell you in what a wonderful +manner you rescued me from the snares of the Wicked One which were set +for me. There came a night, not very long ago, when strange and +terrible ideas took hold upon me. Whether it was bliss or pain that so +powerfully oppressed me that I scarce could breathe, I cannot tell. +But, driven by an impulse which I could not resist, I began to write a +song which was altogether in the 'manner' of my weird master. As I +wrote, I heard a strange music, partly beautiful, partly repulsive and +horrible, which benumbed my senses, and it was as if, instead of the +song, what I had written was some terrible formula, some spell which +the powers of darkness must obey. A wild, terrible form started up; it +clasped me with burning arms, and was carrying me away to the black +abyss. Then a song came shining through the darkness, whose tones had +the mild, soft radiance of the light of stars. At this the dark form +was compelled to loose its clasp of me, yet it stretched its arms +towards me in fury. It could not touch me, but only the song I had been +writing. It clutched that, and plunged screaming with it into the +abyss. It was your song which saved me, the same which you sung to-day +when you won the contest. Now I am wholly yours. My songs are all +faithful love for you, whose inexpressible blissfulness no words have +power to tell." + +"'The lovers again fell into each other's arms, and could not cease +talking of the tortures they had undergone, and the bliss of their +reunion. + +"'But in the night when Wolfframb overcame Nasias, Mathilda had +distinctly heard, and comprehended--in a dream--the song which +Wolfframb, in the height of his inspired affection, was singing; the +one which he repeated afterwards at the Wartburg contest. + +"'Wolfframb was sitting in his chamber at late eventide thinking of new +songs, when his landlord Gottschalk came in full of joy, crying: + +"'"Ah! noble sir, how you have vanquished the Evil One by the power of +your art and skill! The horrible writing in your chamber has gone out +of its own accord, God be praised and thanked for the same! I have +brought something which was left at my house to be conveyed to you." +With which he produced a folded letter, well sealed with wax. It was +from Heinrich of Ofterdingen, and to the following effect. + +"'"I greet you, my trusty Wolfframb, as one who has recovered from some +terrible sickness which threatened his death. Many marvellous things +have happened to me. But I would fain keep silence as to the evils of a +time, which lies behind me now like a dark, impenetrable mystery. +Doubtless you remember the words you spoke, when I was boasting of the +inward power which elevated me above you and the other masters. You +said then, that perhaps I should find myself on the brink of some +terrible abyss, a prey to giddiness, ready to fall down into it; and +that then you would hold me back with your strong arms. Wolfframb, that +which your prophetic soul foresaw, was that which came to pass! I stood +on the brink of an abyss, and you held me fast when the fatal giddiness +had wellnigh benumbed my senses. It was your splendid victory which +annihilated my adversary, and restored me to life and happiness. Yes, +Wolfframb! before your love the mighty veils which enwrapped me fell +away, and I looked up again to the bright heavens. Can my affection for +you be otherwise than redoubled? You recognized Klingsohr as a great +master--and that he is. But woe to him who--not endowed with that +peculiar strength which he possesses--ventures, like him, to strive +towards the dark realm, which he has laid open to himself. I have +renounced him, and totter on the brink of the Hell-river, helpless and +wretched, no longer. I am restored to the joys of home. + +"'"Mathilda, ah no! Doubtless it was never that glorious lady. It was +some foul enchantment, which filled me with deceptive visions of a +paradise on earth--of vain, mundane pleasure. May all that I did in my +days of madness be forgotten. Greet the masters, and tell them how it +is with me now. Fare thee well, most sincerely beloved Wolfframb. +Peradventure you may hear tidings of me ere long." + +"'After some time news came to the Wartburg that Heinrich was at the +Court of Leopold the Seventh, Duke of Austria, singing many beautiful +songs. Soon afterwards Landgrave Hermann received copies of the same, +together with the "manners" to which they were to be sung. All the +masters were heartily delighted, and convinced that Heinrich of +Ofterdingen had renounced all that was false, and preserved his pure +singer's heart inviolate, through all the Evil One's attempts upon him. + +"'Thus it was Wolfframb of Eschinbach's high art of song, as it +streamed from the depths of his purest of souls, which, in glorious +victory over his enemy, rescued his beloved and his friend from utter +perdition.'" + + +The friends gave diverse verdicts as to Cyprian's tale, Theodore +disapproved of it altogether, and said Cyprian had utterly marred for +him the beautiful picture, which Novalis had drawn of the grandly +inspired Heinrich of Ofterdingen. But his chief objection was that the +singers never actually got the length of any singing, for sheer +continual preparation to sing. Ottmar supported him; but, at the same +time, considered that the introductory vision might be admitted to be +Serapiontic; although, at the same time, Cyprian ought to be careful +for the future not to dip into Ancient Chronicles, because reading of +that sort was apt--as the present instance proved--to lead him into an +unfamiliar province, in which--not being native to the soil, nor +endowed with a strong bump of locality--he wandered astray and lost +himself, without being able to find the real path. + +Cyprian, putting on a face of vexation, jumped hastily up, went to the +fire, and was going to throw his manuscript into it. But Lothair went +up to him, seized him by the shoulders, turned him about, and said with +solemnity: + +"Cyprian, Cyprian! withstand strenuously the foul fiend of author's +pride, which, is vexing you, and whispering all manner of ugly things +in your ear. I will address you in the formula of conjuration employed +by the doughty Tobias von Ruelp, 'Come, come--tuck, tuck--it is +contrary to all respectability, man, to play at pitch and toss with the +Devil. Away with the ugly sweep!' Ha! your face lightens up! You are +smiling! See what power over the demons I possess; and now I have some +healing balm to drop upon the wounds, which your friends' adverse +verdicts have inflicted. If Ottmar thinks your introduction is +Serapiontic, I may say as much for Klingsohr, and the fiery demon +Nasias. Also the little automatic secretary strikes me as by no means +lightly to be esteemed. If Theodore objects to the way in which you +have portrayed Heinrich of Ofterdingen, at all events the suggestion of +your portrait of him is to be found in Wagenseil. If he thinks it a +fault that the singers never arrive at any actual singing from +continual preparation for the same, I must confess that I do not quite +know what he means. Perhaps he does not quite know, himself, what he +means. I should scarcely think he would have wished you to introduce +little verses of poetry, as being the masters' songs. The very fact of +your not having done so, but left their words to our imaginations, +redounds greatly to your credit in my opinion. I can never tolerate the +introducing of verses into a story. They always seem to go along in it +so lamely and limpingly, and interrupt its progress in an unnatural +sort of manner. The writer--keenly impressed with the feebleness of his +matter at some particular point--grasps at the crutch of verse. But if +he manages, in this fashion, to prop himself along for a time, this +sort of uniform, monotonous, tottery, pit-a-pat movement is very +different from the firm tread of vigorous health; and, probably, it is +a frequent error of our modern writers, that they seek their salvation +exclusively in the outward, metrical form, forgetting that it is the +poetic matter only which gives the metric pinions their due swing. +Well-sounding verses have the power of inducing a species of +somnambulistic intoxication; but this is very much like the effect of +the sound of a mill, or of other similar, regular and monotonous +noises. They procure one a sound sleep. All this I merely say en +passant, for the behoof of our musical Theodore, who is very often +deluded ('bribed' was the word I was going to employ) by the sweet +sound of meaningless verses; and, indeed, he is often attacked by a +sort of 'sonnetical' mania, under the influence of which he brings into +the world the strangest automaton-like little monsters. But now for you +again, Cyprian. I do not think you ought to plume yourself much on your +'Singers' Contest.' I cannot say that I am altogether satisfied with +it, though it certainly does not deserve death by fire. The laws of the +land declare that abortions are not to be put to death if they have +human heads; and in my opinion, this child of yours is not only not an +abortion at all, but it is fairly well-shapen, though it may be a +little weak about the limbs." + +Cyprian pocketed his manuscript, and said, with a smile: + +"My dear friends, you know my little peculiarity. When I get a little +annoyed, because some fault is found with any of my feeble efforts, +this is merely because I am so well aware how thoroughly the censure is +deserved, and how much my productions merit it. Do not let us say +another word on the subject of this story of mine." + +After this the friends went back to the subject of Vincent, and his +bent towards the marvellous. Cyprian's view was, that such a bent must +of necessity be inherent in all poetic temperaments, and that this was +why Jean Paul has said so many magnificent things on the subject of +mesmerism, that a whole universe of hostile doubt would sink into +insignificance in comparison with them; that poetical persons are the +pet children of Nature, and that it is silly to suppose she can be +displeased when those darlings of hers try to discover secrets which +she has shrouded with her veil--as a fond mother hides from her +children some valuable gift, only that she may afford them the greater +pleasure by disclosing it to them. + +"But, to speak practically," said Cyprian, "and this principally to +please you, Ottmar: who that has looked carefully into the history of +the human race--can have failed to be struck by the circumstance that, +as soon as some disease makes its appearance like a ravening monster, +Nature herself comes to the front with the weapons necessary to +vanquish it; and, as soon as it has been overcome, another monster +makes its appearance, with fresh powers of destruction; and new +weapons are discovered again? And so goes on the everlasting contest +which is a condition of the process of life--of the organic structure +of the entire world. How if, in these times, when everything is +spiritualized--when the interior relationship, the mysterious +interdependence and interplay of the physical and psychical principles, +are coming more and more clearly and importantly into evidence; when +every bodily malady is found to have its corresponding expression in +the psychic organism--how, I say, if mesmerism were the weapon--forged +in the spirit--which Nature herself presents to us, as the means of +combatting the evil which is located in the spirit?" + +"Stay, stay!" cried Lothair, "where are we getting to? We have talked +far too much already on a subject which must always remain a foreign +province for us; in which we can, at most, pluck for poetic purposes a +few fruits, tempting by their colour and aroma; or transplant a pretty +little tree or so into our poetic garden. I was delighted when +Cyprian's story interrupted our wearisome discussion on this subject, +and now we seem to be in danger of getting deeper into it than ever. +Let us turn to something else. But wait a moment. First, I should like +to give you a little '_pezzo_' of our friend's mystical experiments, +which I am sure you will enjoy. It is briefly this:--A considerable +time ago I was invited to a little evening gathering, where our friend +was, along with some others. I was detained by business, and did not +arrive till very late. All the more surprised was I not to hear the +very slightest sound as I came up to the door of the room. Could it be +that nobody had been able to go? Thus cogitating, I gently opened the +door. There sat Vincent, over against me, with the others, round a +little table; and they were all staring, stiff and motionless like so +many statues, in the profoundest silence, up at the ceiling. The lights +were on a table at some distance, and nobody took any notice of me, I +went nearer, full of amazement, and saw a glittering gold ring swinging +backwards and forwards in the air, and presently beginning to move in +circles. One and another then said, 'Wonderful!' 'Very wonderful!' +'Most inexplicable!' 'Curious thing!' etc. I could no longer contain +myself, and cried out, 'For Heaven's sake, tell me what you are about?' + +"At this they all jumped up. But Vincent cried, in that shrill voice of +his: + +"'Recreant! obscure Nicodemus, coming slinking in like a sleep-walker, +interrupting the most important and interesting experiments. Let me +tell you that a phenomenon which the incredulous have, without a +moment's hesitation, classed in the category of the fabulous has just +been verified by the present company. We wished to try whether the +pendulum-oscillations of a suspended ring could be controlled by the +concentrated human will. I undertook to fix my will upon it; and +thought steadfastly of circular-shaped oscillations. The ring--fixed to +the ceiling by a silk thread--remained motionless for a very long time. +But at last it began to swing, in an acute angle with reference to my +position, and it was just beginning to swing in circles when you came +in and interrupted us.'" + +"'But what if it were not your will,' I said, so 'much as the draught +of air when I opened the door, which set the contumacious ring in +motion?' + +"'Prosaic wretch!' cried Vincent: but everybody laughed." + +"The pendulum-oscillations of rings drove me nearly crazy at one time," +said Theodore. "Thus much is matter of absolute certainty, and any one +can convince himself of it, that the oscillations of a plain gold ring, +suspended by a fine thread over the palm of the hand held level, +unquestionably take the direction which the unuttered will directs them +to take. I cannot tell you how profoundly, and how eerily, this +phenomenon affected me. I used to sit for hours at a time making the +ring go swinging in the most various directions, as I willed it to do; +and at last I went the length of making a regular oracle of it. I would +say, in my mind, if such and such a thing is going to happen, the ring +will swing in the direction between the little finger and the thumb; if +it is not going to happen, it will swing at right angles to that +direction, and so on."' + +"Delightful!" said Lothair, "you set up, within your own self, a higher +spiritual principle, which, conjured up in mystic fashion by yourself, +should make utterances to you. Here we have the true "spiritus +familiaris," the socratic daemon! from hence there is only a very short +step to the region of ghost, and haunting stories, which might easily +have their _raison d'etre_ in the influence of some exterior spiritual +principle." + +"And I mean to actually take this step," said Cyprian, "by telling you, +on the spot, the most awful and terrible supernatural story I have ever +heard of. The peculiarity of this story is, that it is amply vouched +for by persons of credibility, and that the manner in which it has been +brought to my knowledge, or recollection, has to do with the excited, +or (if you prefer to say so) disordered condition which Lothair +observed me to be in a short time ago." + +Cyprian stood up; and, as was his habit when his mind was full of +something, so that he had to take a little time to arrange his words in +order to express it, he walked several times up and down the room. +Presently he sat down, and began:-- + +"You may remember that some little time ago, just before the last +campaign, I was paying a visit to Colonel Von P---- at his country +house. The colonel was a good-tempered, jovial man, and his wife +quietness and simpleness personified. At the time I speak of the son +was away with the army, so that the family circle consisted, besides +the colonel and his lady, of two daughters, and an elderly French lady, +who was trying to persuade herself that she was fulfilling the duties +of a species of governess though the young ladies appeared to be beyond +the period of being "governessed." The elder of the two was a most +lively and cheerful creature, vivacious even to ungovernability; not +without plenty of brains, but so constituted that she could not go five +yards without cutting at least three "entrechats." She sprung, in the +same fashion, in her conversation, and in all that she did, restlessly +from one thing to another. I myself have seen her, within the space of +five minutes, work at needlework, read, draw, sing, and dance, or cry +about her poor cousin who was killed in battle, one moment, and while +the bitter tears were still in her eyes, burst into a splendid, +infectious burst of laughter when the French-woman spilt the contents +of her snuff-box over the pug, who at once began to sneeze frightfully, +and the old lady cried, "Ah, che fatalita! Ah carino! Poverino!" + +"'For she always spoke to the dog in Italian because he was born in +Padua. Moreover, this young lady was the loveliest blonde ever seen, +and, in all her odd caprices, full of the utmost charm, goodness, +kindliness and attractiveness, so that, whether she would or no, she +exerted the most irresistible charm over every one. + +"The younger sister was the greatest possible contrast to her (her name +was Adelgunda). I strive in vain to find words in which to express to +you the extraordinary impression which this girl produced upon me when +first I saw her. Picture to yourselves the most exquisite figure, and +the most marvellously beautiful face; but the cheeks and lips wear a +deathly pallor, and the figure moves gently, softly, slowly, with +measured steps; and then, when a low-toned word is heard from the +scarce opened lips and dies away in the spacious chamber, one feels a +sort of shudder of spectral awe; of course I soon got over this eery +feeling, and, when I managed to get her to emerge from her deep +self-absorbed condition and converse, I was obliged to admit that the +strangeness, the eeriness, was only external, and by no means came from +within. In the little she said there displayed themselves a delicate +womanliness, a clear head, and a kindly disposition. There was not a +trace of over-excitability, though her melancholy smile, and her +glance, heavy as with tears, seemed to speak of some morbid bodily +condition producing a hostile influence on her mental state. It struck +me as very strange that the whole family, not excepting the French +lady, seemed to get into a state of much anxiety as soon as any one +began to talk to this girl, and tried to interrupt the conversation, +often breaking into it in a very forced manner. But the most +extraordinary thing of all was that, as soon as it was eight o'clock in +the evening, the young lady was reminded, first by the French lady and +then by her mother, sister, and father, that it was time to go to her +room, just as little children are sent to bed that they may not +overtire themselves. The French lady went with her, so that they +neither of them ever appeared at supper, which was at nine o'clock. The +lady of the house, probably remarking my surprise at those proceedings, +threw out (by way of preventing indiscreet inquiries) a sort of sketchy +statement to the effect that Adelgunda was in very poor health, that, +particularly about nine in the evening, she was liable to feverish +attacks, and that the doctors had ordered her to have complete rest at +that time. I saw there must be more in the affair than this, though I +could not imagine what it might be; and it was only this very day that +I ascertained the terrible truth, and discovered what the events were +which have wrecked the peace of that happy circle in the most frightful +manner. + +"'Adelgunda was at one time the most blooming, vigorous, cheerful +creature to be seen. Her fourteenth birthday came, and a number of her +friends and companions had been invited to spend it with her. They were +all sitting in a circle in the shrubbery, laughing and amusing +themselves, taking little heed that the evening was getting darker and +darker, for the soft July breeze was blowing refreshingly, and they +were just beginning thoroughly to enjoy themselves. In the magic +twilight they set about all sorts of dances, pretending to be elves and +woodland sprites. Adelgunda cried, "Listen, children! I shall go and +appear to you as the White Lady whom our gardener used to tell us about +so often while he was alive. But you must come to the bottom of the +garden, where the old ruins are." She wrapped her white shawl round +her, and went lightly dancing down the leafy alley, the girls following +her, in full tide of laughter and fun. But Adelgunda had scarcely +reached the old crumbling arches, when she suddenly stopped, and stood +as if paralyzed in every limb. The castle clock struck nine. + +"'"Look, look!" cried she, in a hollow voice of the deepest terror. +"Don't you see it? the figure--close before me--stretching her hand out +at me. Don't you see her?" + +"The children saw nothing whatever; but terror came upon them, and they +all ran away, except one, more courageous than the rest, who hastened +up to Adelgunda, and was going to take her in her arms. But Adelgunda, +turning pale as death, fell to the ground. At the screams of the other +girl every body came hastening from the castle, and Adelgunda was +carried in. At last she recovered from her faint, and, trembling all +over, told them that as soon as she reached the ruins she saw an airy +form, as if shrouded in mist, stretching its hand out towards her. Of +course every one ascribed this vision to some deceptiveness of the +twilight; and Adelgunda recovered from her alarm so completely that +night that no further evil consequences were anticipated, and the whole +affair was supposed to be at an end. However, it turned out altogether +otherwise. The next evening, when the clock struck nine, Adelgunda +sprung up, in the midst of the people about her, and cried-- + +"'"There she is! there she is. Don't you see her--just before me?" + +"'Since that unlucky evening, Adelgunda declared that, as soon as the +clock struck nine, the figure stood before her, remaining visible for +several seconds, although no one but herself could see anything of it, +or trace by any psychic sensation the proximity of an unknown spiritual +principle. So that poor Adelgunda was thought to be out of her mind; +and, in strange perversion of feeling, the family were ashamed of this +condition of hers. I have told you already how she was dealt with in +consequence. There was, of course, no lack of doctors, or of plans of +treatment for ridding the poor soul of the "fixed idea," as people were +pleased to term the apparition which she said she saw. But nothing had +any effect; and she implored, with tears, that she might be left in +peace, inasmuch as the form which, in its vague, uncertain traits, had +nothing terrible or alarming about it, no longer caused her any fear; +although, for a time after seeing it she felt as if her inner being and +all her thoughts and ideas were turned out from her, and were hovering, +bodiless, about, outside of her. At last the colonel made the +acquaintance of a celebrated doctor, who had the reputation of being +specially clever in the treatment of the mentally afflicted. When this +doctor heard Adelgunda's story he laughed aloud, and said nothing could +be easier than to cure a condition of the kind, which resulted solely +from an over-excited imagination. The idea of the appearing of the +spectre was so intimately associated with the striking of nine o'clock, +that the mind could not dissociate them. So that all that was necessary +was to effect this separation by external means; as to which there was +no difficulty, as it was only necessary to deceive the patient as to +the time, and let nine o'clock pass without her being aware of it. If +the apparition did not then appear, she would be convinced, herself, +that it was an illusion; and measures to give tone to the general +system would be all that would then be necessary to complete the +cure. This unfortunate advice was taken. One night all the clocks at +the castle were put back an hour--the hollow, booming tower clock +included--so that, when Adelgunda awoke in the morning, she found +herself an hour wrong in her time. When evening came, the family were +assembled, as usual, in a cheerful corner room; no stranger was +present, and the mother constrained herself to talk about all sorts of +cheerful subjects. The colonel began (as was his habit, when in +specially good humour) to carry on an encounter of wit with the old +French lady, in which Augusta, the elder of the daughters, aided and +abetted him. Everybody was laughing, and more full of enjoyment than +ever. The clock on the wall struck eight (so that it was really nine +o'clock) and Adelgunda fell back in her chair, pale as death; her work +dropped from her hands; she rose, with a face of horror, stared before +her into the empty part of the room, and murmured, in a hollow voice-- + +"'"What! an hour earlier! Don't you see it? Don't you see it? Right +before me!" + +"'Every one rose up in alarm. But as none of them saw the smallest +vestige of anything, the colonel cried-- + +"'"Calm yourself, Adelgunda, there is nothing there! It is a vision of +your brain, a deception of your fancy. We see nothing, nothing +whatever; and if there really were a figure close to you we should see +it as well as you! Calm yourself." + +"'"Oh God!" cried Adelgunda, "they think I am out of my mind. See! it +is stretching out its long arm, it is making signs to me!" + +"'And, as though she were acting under the influence of another, +without exercise of her own will, with eyes fixed and staring, she put +her hand back behind her, took up a plate which chanced to be on the +table, held it out before her into vacancy, and let it go, and it went +hovering about amongst the lookers on, and then deposited itself gently +on the table. The mother and Augusta fainted; and these fainting fits +were succeeded by violent nervous fever. The colonel forced himself to +retain his self-control, but the profound impression which this +extraordinary occurrence made on him was evident in his agitated and +disturbed condition. + +"'The French lady had fallen on her knees and prayed in silence with +her face turned to the floor, and both she and Adelgunda remained free +from evil consequences. The mother very soon died. Augusta survived the +fever; but it would have been better had she died. She who, when I +first saw her, was an embodiment of vigorous, magnificent youthful +happiness, is now hopelessly insane, and that in a form which seems to +me the most terrible and gruesome of all the forms of fixed idea ever +heard of. For she thinks she is the invisible phantom which haunts +Adelgunda; and therefore she avoids every one, or, at all events, +refrains from speaking, or moving if anybody is present. She scarce +dares to breathe, because she firmly believes that if she betrays her +presence in any way every one will die. Doors are opened for her, and +her food is set down, she slinks in and out, eats in secret, and so +forth. Can a more painful condition be imagined? + +"'The colonel, in his pain and despair, followed the colours to the +next campaign, and fell in the victorious engagement at W----. It is +remarkable, most remarkable that, since then, Adelgunda has never seen +the phantom. She nurses her sister with the utmost care, and the French +lady helps her. Only this very day Sylvester told me that the uncle of +these poor girls is here, taking the advice of our celebrated R----, as +to the means of cure to be tried in Augusta's case. God grant that the +cure may succeed, improbable as it seems.'" + +When Cyprian finished, the friends all kept silence, looking +meditatively before them. At last Lothair said, + +"It is certainly a very terrible ghost story. I must admit it makes me +shudder, although the incident of the hovering plate is rather trifling +and childish." + +"Not so fast, dear Lothair," Ottmar interrupted. "You know my views +about ghost stories, and the manner in which I swagger towards +visionaries; maintaining, as I do, that often as I have thrown down my +glove to the spirit world, overweeningly enough, to enter the lists +with me, it has never taken the trouble to punish me for my presumption +and irreverence. But Cyprian's story suggests another consideration. +Ghost stories may often be mere chimeras; but, whatever may have been +at the bottom of Adelgunda's phantom, and the hovering plate, thus +much is certain, that, on that evening, in the family of Colonel Von +P---- there happened something which produced, in three of the persons +present, such a shock to the system that the result was the death of +one and the insanity of another; if we do not ascribe, at least +indirectly, the colonel's death to it too. For I happen to remember +that I heard from officers who were on the spot, that he suddenly +dashed into the thick of the enemy's fire as if impelled by the furies. +Then the incident of the plate differs so completely from anything in +the ordinary _mise en scene_ of supernatural stories. The hour when it +happened is so remote from ordinary supernatural use and wont, and the +thing so simple, that it is exactly in the very probability which the +improbability of it thereby acquires that the gruesomeness of it lies +for me. But if one were to assume that Adelgunda's imagination carried +away, by its influence, those of her father, mother and sister--that it +was only within her brain that the plate moved about--would not this +vision of the imagination striking three people dead in a moment, like +a shock of electricity, be the most terrible supernatural event +imaginable?" + +"Certainly," said Theodore, "and I share with you, Ottmar, your opinion +that the very horror of the incident lies in its utter simpleness. I +can imagine myself enduring, fairly well, the sudden alarm produced by +some fearful apparition; but the weird actions of some invisible thing +would infallibly drive me mad. The sense of the most utter, most +helpless powerlessness must grind the spirit to dust. I remember that I +could scarce resist the profound terror which made me afraid to sleep +in my room alone, like a silly child, when I once read of an old +musician who was haunted in a terrible manner for a long time (almost +driving him out of his mind) by an invisible being which used to play +on his piano in the night, compositions of the most extraordinary kind, +with the power and the technique of the most accomplished master. He +heard every note, saw the keys going up and down, but never any form of +a player." + +"Really," Cyprian said, "the way in which this class of subject is +flourishing amongst us is becoming unendurable, I have admitted that +the incident of that accursed plate produced the profoundest impression +on me. Ottmar is right; if events are to be judged by their results, +this is the most terrible supernatural story conceivable. Wherefore I +pardon Cyprian's disturbed condition which he displayed earlier in the +evening, and which has passed away considerably now. But not another +word on the subject of supernatural horrors. I have seen a manuscript +peeping for some time out of Ottmar's breast-pocket, as if craving for +release; let him release it therefore." + +"No, no," said Theodore, "the flood which has been rolling along in +such stormy billows must be gently led away. I have a manuscript well +adapted for that end, which some peculiar circumstances led to my +writing at one time. Although it deals pretty largely with the +mystical, and contains plenty of psychical marvels and strange +hypotheses, it links itself on pretty closely to affairs of every-day +life." He read: + + + + + "'AUTOMATONS. + + +"'"The talking Turk" was attracting universal attention, and setting +the town in commotion. The hall where this automaton was exhibited was +thronged by a continual stream of visitors, of all sorts and +conditions, from morning till night, all eager to listen to the +oracular utterances which were whispered to them by the motionless lips +of that wonderful quasi-human figure. The manner of the construction +and arrangement of this automaton distinguished it in a marked degree +from all puppets of the sort usually exhibited. It was, in fact, a very +remarkable automaton. About the centre of a room of moderate size, +containing only a few indispensable articles of furniture, at this +figure, about the size of a human being, handsomely formed, dressed in +a rich and tasteful Turkish costume, on a low seat shaped as a tripod, +which the exhibitor would move if desired, to show that there was no +means of communication between it and the ground. Its left hand was +placed in an easy position on its knee, and its right rested on a +small movable table. Its appearance, as has been said, was that of a +well-proportioned, handsome man, but the most remarkable part of it was +its head. A face expressing a genuine Oriental astuteness gave it an +appearance of life rarely seen in wax figures, even when they represent +the characteristic countenances of talented men. A light railing +surrounded the figure, to prevent the spectators from crowding too +closely about it; and only those who wished to inspect the construction +of it (so far as the Exhibitor could allow this to be seen without +divulging his secret), and the person whose turn it was to put a +question to it, were allowed to go inside this railing, and close up to +it. The usual mode of procedure was to whisper the question you wished +to ask into the Turk's right ear; on which he would turn, first his +eyes, and then his whole head, towards you; and as you were sensible of +a gentle stream of air, like breath coming from his lips, you could not +but suppose that the low reply which was given to you did really +proceed from the interior of the figure. From time to time, after a few +answers had been given, the Exhibitor would apply a key to the Turk's +left side, and wind up some clockwork with a good deal of noise. Here, +also, he would, if desired, open a species of lid, so that you could +see inside the figure a complicated piece of mechanism consisting of a +number of wheels; and although you might not think it probable that +this had anything to do with the speaking of the automaton, still it +was evident that it occupied so much space that no human being could +possibly be concealed inside, were he no bigger than Augustus's dwarf +who was served up in a pasty. Besides the movement of the head, which +always took place before an answer was given, the Turk would sometimes +also raise his right hand, and either make a warning gesture with the +finger, or, as it were, motion the question away with the whole hand. +When this happened, nothing but repeated urging by the questioner could +extract an answer, which was then generally ambiguous or angry. It +might have been that the wheel work was connected with, or answerable +for, those motions of the head and hands, although even in this the +agency of a sentient being seemed essential. People wearied themselves +with conjectures concerning the source and agent of this marvellous +Intelligence. The walls, the adjoining room, the furniture, everything +connected with the exhibition, were carefully examined and scrutinised, +all completely in vain. The figure and its Exhibitor were watched and +scanned most closely by the eyes of the most expert in mechanical +science; but the more close and minute the scrutiny, the more easy and +unconstrained were the actions and proceedings of both. The Exhibitor +laughed and joked in the furthest corner of the room with the +spectators, leaving the figure to make its gestures and give its +replies as a wholly independent thing, having no need of any connection +with him. Indeed he could not wholly restrain a slightly ironical smile +when the table and the figure and tripod were being overhauled and +peered at in every direction, taken as close to the light as possible, +and inspected by powerful magnifying glasses. The upshot of it all was, +that the mechanical geniuses said the devil himself could make neither +head nor tail of the confounded mechanism. And a hypothesis that the +Exhibitor was a clever ventriloquist, and gave the answers himself (the +breath being conveyed to the figure's mouth through hidden valves) fell +to the ground, for the Exhibitor was to be heard talking loudly and +distinctly to people among the audience at the very time when the Turk +was making his replies. + +"'Notwithstanding the enigmatical, and apparently mysterious, character +of this exhibition, perhaps the interest of the public might soon have +grown fainter, had it not been kept alive by the nature of the answers +which the Turk gave. These were sometimes cold and severe, while +occasionally they were sparkling and jocular--even broadly so at times; +at others they evinced strong sense and deep astuteness, and in some +instances they were in a high degree painful and tragical. But they +were always strikingly apposite to the character and affairs of the +questioner, who would frequently be startled by a mystical reference to +futurity in the answer given, only possible, as it would seem, in one +cognizant of the hidden thoughts and feelings which dictated the +question. And it happened not seldom that the Turk, questioned in +German, would reply in some other language known to the questioner, in +which case it would be found that the answer could not have been +expressed with equal point, force, and conciseness in any other +language than that selected. In short, no day passed without some fresh +instance of a striking and ingenious answer of the wise Turk becoming +the subject of general remark. + +"'It chanced, one evening, that Lewis and Ferdinand, two college +friends, were in a company where the talking Turk was the subject of +conversation. People were discussing whether the strangest feature of +the matter was the mysterious and unexplained human influence which +seemed to endow the figure with life, or the wonderful insight into the +individuality of the questioner, or the remarkable talent of the +answers. They were both rather ashamed to confess that they had not +seen the Turk as yet, for it was _de rigueur_ to see him, and every one +had some tale to tell of a wonderful answer to some skilfully devised +question. + +"'"All figures of that description," said Lewis, "which can scarcely be +said to counterfeit humanity so much as to travesty it--mere images of +living death or inanimate life are in the highest degree hateful to me. +When I was a little boy, I ran away crying from a waxwork exhibition I +was taken to, and even to this day I never can enter a place of the +sort without a horrible, eerie, shuddery feeling. When I see the +staring, lifeless, glassy eyes of all the potentates, celebrated +heroes, thieves, murderers, and so on, fixed upon me, I feel disposed +to cry with Macbeth + + "'"'Thou hast no speculation in those eyes + Which thou dost glare with.' + +And I feel certain that most people experience the same feeling, though +perhaps not to the same extent. For you may notice that scarcely any +one talks, except in a whisper, in those waxwork places. You hardly +ever hear a loud word. But it is not reverence for the Crowned Heads +and other great people that produces this universal pianissimo; it is +the oppressive sense of being in the presence of something unnatural +and gruesome; and what I most of all detest is anything in the shape of +imitation of the motions of Human Beings by machinery. I feel sure this +wonderful, ingenious Turk will haunt me with his rolling eyes, his +turning head, and his waving arm, like some necromantic goblin, when I +lie awake of nights; so that the truth is I should very much prefer not +going to see him. I should be quite satisfied with other people's +accounts of his wit and wisdom." + +"'"You know," said Ferdinand, "that I fully agree with you as to the +disagreeable feeling produced by the sight of those imitations of Human +Beings. But they are not all alike as regards that. Much depends on the +workmanship of them, and on what they do. Now there was Ensler's rope +dancer, one of the most perfect automatons I have ever seen. There was +a vigour about his movements which was most effective, and when he +suddenly sat down on his rope, and bowed in an affable manner, he was +utterly delightful. I do not suppose any one ever experienced the +gruesome feeling you speak of in looking at him. As for the Turk, I +consider his case different altogether. The figure (which every one +says is a handsome-looking one, with nothing ludicrous or repulsive +about it) the figure really plays a very subordinate part in the +business, and I think there can be little doubt that the turning of the +head and eyes, and so forth, go on merely that our notice may be +directed to them, for the very reason that it is elsewhere that the key +to the mystery is to be found. That the breath comes out of the +figure's mouth is very likely, perhaps certain; those who have been +there say it does. It by no means follows that this breath is set in +motion by the words which are spoken. There cannot be the smallest +doubt that some human being is so placed as to be able, by means of +acoustical and optical contrivances which we do not trace, to see and +hear the persons who ask questions, and whisper answers back to them; +that not a soul, even amongst our most ingenious mechanicians, has the +slightest inkling, as yet, of the process by which this is done, shows +that it is a remarkably ingenious one; and that, of course, is one +thing which renders the exhibition very interesting. But much the most +wonderful part of it, in my opinion, is the spiritual power of this +unknown human being, who seems to read the very depths of the +questioner's soul; the answers often display an acuteness and sagacity, +and, at the same time, a species of dread half-light, half-darkness, +which do really entitle them to be styled 'oracular' in the highest +sense of the term. Several of my friends have told me instances of the +sort which have fairly astounded me, and I can no longer refrain from +putting the wonderful seer-gift of this unknown person to the test, so +that I intend to go there to-morrow forenoon; and you must lay aside +your repugnance to 'living puppets,' and come with me." + +"'Although Lewis did his best to get off, he was obliged to yield, on +pain of being considered eccentric, so many were the entreaties to him +not to spoil a pleasant party by his absence, for a party had been made +up to go the next forenoon, and, so to speak, take the miraculous Turk +by the very beard. They went accordingly, and although there was no +denying that the Turk had an unmistakable air of Oriental _grandezza_, +and that his head was handsome and effective, yet, as soon as Lewis +entered the room, he was struck with a sense of the ludicrous about the +whole affair, and when the Exhibitor put the key to the figure's side, +and the wheels began their whirring, he made some rather silly joke to +his friends about "the Turkish gentleman's having a roasting-jack +inside him." Every one laughed; and the Exhibitor--who did not seem to +appreciate the joke very much--stopped winding up the machinery. +Whether it was that the hilarious mood of the company displeased the +wise Turk, or that he chanced not to be "in the vein" on that +particular day, his replies--though some were to very witty and +ingenious questions--seemed empty and poor; and Lewis, in particular, +had the misfortune to find that he was scarcely ever properly +understood by the oracle, so that he received for the most part crooked +answers. The Exhibitor was clearly out of temper, and the audience were +on the point of going away, ill-pleased and disappointed, when +Ferdinand said-- + +"'"Gentlemen, we none of us seem to be much satisfied with the wise +Turk, but perhaps we may be partly to blame ourselves, probably our +questions may not have been altogether to his taste; the fact that he +is turning his head round at this moment, and raising his arm" (the +figure was really doing so), "seems to indicate that I am not mistaken. +A question has occurred to me to put to him; and if he gives one of his +apposite answers to it, I think he will have quite redeemed his +character." + +"'Ferdinand went up to the Turk, and whispered a word or two in his +ear. The Turk raised his arm as unwilling to answer. Ferdinand +persisted, and then the Turk turned his head towards him. + +"'Lewis saw that Ferdinand instantly turned pale; but after a few +seconds he asked another question, to which he got an answer at once. +It was with a most constrained smile that Ferdinand, turning to the +audience, said-- + +"'"I can assure you, gentlemen, that as far as I am concerned at any +rate, the Turk has redeemed his character. I must beg you to pardon me +if I conceal the question and the answer from you; of course the +secrets of the Oracle may not be divulged." + +"'Though Ferdinand strove hard to hide what he felt, it was but too +evident from his efforts to be at ease that he was very deeply moved, +and the cleverest answer could not have produced in the spectators the +strange sensation, amounting to a species of awe, which his +unmistakable emotion gave rise to in them. The fun and the jests were +at an end; hardly another word was spoken, and the audience dispersed +in uneasy silence. + +"'"Dear Lewis," said Ferdinand, as soon as they were alone together, "I +must tell you all about this. The Turk has broken my heart; for I +believe I shall never get over the blow he has given me until I do +really die of the fulfilment of his terrible prophecy." + +"'Lewis gazed at him in the profoundest amazement; and Ferdinand +continued-- + +"'"I see, now, that the mysterious being who communicates with us by +the medium of the Turk, has powers at his command which compel our most +secret thoughts with magic might; it may be that this strange +intelligence clearly and distinctly beholds that germ of the future +which fructifies within us in mysterious connection with the outer +world, and is thus cognizant of all that is to come upon us in distant +days, like those persons who are endowed with that unhappy seer-gift +which enables them to predict the hour of death." + +"'"You must have put an extraordinary question," Lewis answered; "but I +should think you are tacking on some unduly important meaning to the +Oracle's ambiguous reply. Mere chance, I should imagine, has educed +something which is, by accident, appropriate to your question; and you +are attributing this to the mystic power of the person (most probably +quite an every-day sort of creature) who speaks to us through the +Turk." + +"'"What you say," answered Ferdinand, "is quite at variance with all +the conclusions you and I have come to on the subject of what is +ordinarily termed 'chance.' However, you cannot be expected to +comprehend the precise condition in which I am, without my telling you +all about an affair which happened to me some time ago, as to which I +have never breathed a syllable to any one living till now. Several +years ago I was on my way back to B----, from a place a long way off in +East Prussia, belonging to my father. In K----, I met with some young +Courland fellows who were going back to B---- too. We travelled +together in three post carriages; and, as we had plenty of money, and +were all about the time of life when people's spirits are pretty high, +you may imagine the manner of our journey. We were continually playing +the maddest pranks of every kind. I remember that we got to M---- about +noon, and set to work to plunder the landlady's wardrobe. A crowd +collected in front of the inn, and we marched up and down, dressed in +some of her clothes, smoking, till the postilion's horn sounded, and +off we set again. We reached D---- in the highest possible spirits, and +were so delighted with the place and scenery, that we determined to +stay there several days. We made a number of excursions in the +neighbourhood, and so once, when we had been out all day at the +Karlsberg, finding a grand bowl of punch waiting for us on our return, +we dipped into it pretty freely. Although I had not taken more of it +than was good for me, still, I had been in the grand sea-breeze all +day, and I felt all my pulses throbbing, and my blood seemed to rush +through my veins in a stream of fire. When we went to our rooms at +last, I threw myself down on my bed; but, tired as I was, my sleep was +scarcely more than a kind of dreamy, half-conscious condition, in which +I was cognizant of all that was going on about me. I fancied I could +hear soft conversation in the next room, and at last I plainly made out +a male voice saying-- + +"'"'Well, good night, now; mind and be ready in good time.' + +"'"A door opened and closed again, and then came a deep silence; but +this was soon broken by one or two chords of a pianoforte. + +"'"You know the magical effect of music sounding in that way in the +stillness of night. I felt as though some beautiful spirit voice was +speaking to me in these chords. I lay listening, expecting something in +the shape of a fantasia--or some such piece of music--to follow; but +fancy what it was when a most gloriously, exquisitely beautiful lady's +voice sang, to a melody that went to one's very heart, the words I am +going to repeat to you-- + + "'"Mio ben ricordati + S' avvien ch' io mora + Quanto quest' anima + Fedel t' amo; + Lo se pur amano + Le fredde ceneri, + Nel urna ancora + T' adorero'."[3] + +"'"How can I ever hope to give you the faintest idea of the effect of +those long-drawn swelling and dying notes upon me. I had never imagined +anything approaching it. The melody was marvellous--quite unlike any +other. + +It was, itself, the deep, tender sorrow of the most fervent love. As it +rose in simple phrases, the clear upper notes like crystal bells, and +sank till the rich low tunes died away like the sighs of a despairing +plaint, a rapture which words cannot describe took possession of +me--the pain of a boundless longing seized my heart like a spasm; I +could scarcely breathe, my whole being was merged in an inexpressible, +super-earthly delight. I did not dare to move; could only listen; soul +and body were merged in ear. It was not until the tones had been for +some time silent that tears, coming to my eyes, broke the spell, and +restored me to myself. I suppose that sleep then came upon me, for when +I was roused by the shrill notes of a posthorn, the bright morning sun +was shining into my room, and I found that it had been only in my +dreams that I had been enjoying a bliss more deep, a happiness more +ineffable, than the world could otherwise have afforded me. For a +beautiful lady came to me--it was the lady who had sung the song--and +said to me, very fondly and tenderly-- + +"'"'Then you _did_ recognize me, my own dear Ferdinand! I knew that I +had only to sing, and I should live again in you wholly, for every note +was sleeping in your heart.' + +"'"Then I recognized, with rapture unspeakable, that she was the +beloved of my soul, whose image had been enshrined in my heart since +childhood. Though an adverse fate had torn her from me for a time, I +had found her again now; but my deep and fervent love for her melted +into that wonderful melody of sorrow, and our words and our looks grew +into exquisite swelling tones of music, flowing together into a river +of fire. Now, however, that I had awakened from this beautiful dream, I +was obliged to confess to myself that I could trace no association of +former days connected with it. I never had seen the beautiful lady +before. + +"'"I heard some one talking loudly and angrily in front of the house, and +rising mechanically, I went to the window. An elderly gentleman, well +dressed, was rating the postilion, who had damaged something about an +elegant travelling carriage; at last this was put to rights, and the +gentleman called upstairs to some one, 'We're all ready now; come +along, it's time to be off.' I found that there had been a young lady +looking out of the window next to mine; but as she drew quickly back, +and had on a broad travelling hat, I did not see her face; when she +went out, she turned round and looked up at me. Heavens! she was the +singer! she was the lady of my dream! For a moment her beautiful eyes +rested upon me, and the beam of a crystal tone seemed to pierce my +heart like the point of a burning dagger, so that I felt an actual +physical smart: all my members trembled, and I was transfixed with an +indescribable bliss. She got quickly into the carriage, the postilion +blew a cheerful tune as if in jubilant defiance, and in a moment they +had disappeared round the corner of the street. I remained at the +window like a man in a dream. My Courland friends came in to fetch me +for an excursion which had been arranged: I never spoke; they thought I +was ill. How could I have uttered a single word connected with what had +occurred? I abstained from making any inquiries in the hotel about the +occupants of the room next to mine; I felt that every word relating to +her uttered by any lips but mine would be a desecration of my tender +secret. I resolved to keep it always faithfully from thenceforth, to +bear it about with me always, and to be for ever true to her--my only +love for evermore--although I might never see her again. You can quite +understand my feelings. I know you will not blame me for having +immediately given up everybody and everything but the most eager search +for the very slightest trace of my unknown love. My jovial Courland +friends were now perfectly unendurable to me; I slipped away from them +quietly in the night, and was off as fast as I could travel to B----, +to go on with my work there. You know I was always pretty good at +drawing. Well, in B---- I took lessons in miniature painting from good +masters, and got on so well that in a short time I was able to carry +out the idea which had set me on this tack--to paint a portrait of her, +as like as it could be made. I worked at it secretly, with locked +doors. No human eye has ever seen it; for I had another picture the +exact size of it framed, and put her portrait into the frame instead of +it, myself. Ever since, I have worn it next my heart. + +"'"I have never mentioned this affair--much the most important event in +my life--until to-day; and you are the only creature in the world, +Lewis, to whom I have breathed a word of my secret. Yet this very day a +hostile influence--I know not whence or what--comes piercing into my +heart and life! When I went up to the Turk, I asked--thinking of my +beloved-- + +"'"'Will there ever be a time again for me like that which was the +happiest in my life?' + +"'"The Turk was most unwilling to answer me, as I daresay you observed; +but at last, as I persisted, he said-- + +"'"'I am looking into your breast; but the glitter of the gold, which +is towards me, distracts me. Turn the picture round.' + +"'"Have I words for the feeling which went shuddering through me? I am +sure you must have seen how I was startled. The picture was really +placed on my breast in the way the Turk had said; I turned it round, +unobserved, and repeated my question. Then the figure said, in a +sorrowful tone-- + +"'"'Unhappy man! At the very moment when next you see her, she will be +lost to you for ever!'" + +"'Lewis was about to try to cheer his friend, who had fallen into a +deep reverie, but some mutual acquaintances came in, and they were +interrupted. + +"'The story of this fresh instance of a mysterious answer by the Turk +spread in the town, and people busied themselves in conjectures as to +the unfavourable prophecy which had so upset the unprejudiced +Ferdinand. His friends were besieged with questions, and Lewis had to +invent a marvellous tale, which had all the more universal a success +that it was remote from the truth. The coterie of people with whom +Ferdinand had been induced to go and see the Turk was in the habit of +meeting once a week, and at their next meeting the Turk was necessarily +the topic of conversation, as efforts were continually being made to +obtain, from Ferdinand himself, full particulars of an adventure which +had thrown him into such an evident despondency. Lewis felt most deeply +how bitter a blow it was to Ferdinand to find the secret of his +romantic love, preserved so long and faithfully, penetrated by a +fearful, unknown power; and he, like Ferdinand, was almost convinced +that the mysterious link which attaches the present to the future must +be clear to the vision of that power to which the most hidden secrets +were thus manifest. Lewis could not help believing the Oracle; but the +malevolence, the relentlessness with which the misfortune impending +over his friend had been announced, made him indignant with the +undiscovered Being which spoke by the mouth of the Turk, so that he +placed himself in persistent opposition to the Automaton's many +admirers; and whilst they considered that there was much impressiveness +about its most natural movements, enhancing the effect of its oracular +sayings, he maintained that it was those very turnings of the head and +rollings of the eyes which he considered so absurd, and that this was +the reason why he could not help making a joke on the subject; a joke +which had put the Exhibitor out of temper, and probably the invisible +agent as well. Indeed the latter had shown that this was so by giving a +number of stupid and unmeaning answers. + +"'"I must tell you," said Lewis, "that the moment I went into the room +the figure reminded me of a most delightful Nutcracker which a cousin +of mine once gave me at Christmas time when I was a little boy. The +little fellow had the gravest and most comical face ever seen, and when +he had a hard nut to crack there was some arrangement inside him which +made him roll his great eyes, which projected far out of his head, and +this gave him such an absurdly life-like effect that I could play with +him for hours; in fact, in my secret soul, I almost thought he was +real. All the marionettes I have seen since then, however perfect, I +have thought stiff and lifeless compared to my glorious Nutcracker. I +had heard much of some wonderful automatons in the Arsenal at Dantzig, +and I took care to go and see them when I was there some years ago. +Soon after I got into the place where they were, an old-fashioned +German soldier came marching up to me, and fired off his musket with +such a bang that the great vaulted hall rang again. There were other +similar tricks which I forget about now; but at length I was taken into +a room where I found the God of War--the terrible Mars himself--with +all his suite. He was seated, in a rather grotesque dress, on a throne +ornamented with arms of all sorts; heralds and warriors were standing +round him. As soon as we came before the throne, a set of drummers +began to roll their drums, and lifers blew on their fifes in the most +horrible way--all out of tune--so that one had to put one's fingers in +one's ears. My remark was that the God of War was very badly off for a +band, and every one agreed with me. The drums and fifes stopped; the +heralds began to turn their heads about, and stamp with their halberds, +and finally the God of War, after rolling his eyes for a time, started +up from his seat, and seemed to be coming straight at us. However, he +soon sank back on his throne again, and after a little more drumming +and fifing, everything reverted to its state of wooden repose. As I +came away from seeing these automatons, I said to myself, 'Nothing like +my Nutcracker!' And now that I have seen the sage Turk, I say again, +'Give me my Nutcracker.' + +"'"People laughed at this, of course; though it was believed to be +'more jest than earnest,' for, to say nothing of the remarkable +cleverness of many of the Turk's answers, the indiscoverable connection +between him and the hidden Being who, besides speaking through him, +must produce the movements which accompanied his answers, was +unquestionably very wonderful, at all events a masterpiece of +mechanical and acoustical skill." + +"'Lewis was himself obliged to admit this; and every one was extolling +the inventor of the automaton, when an elderly gentleman who, as a +general rule, spoke very little, and had been taking no part in the +conversation on the present occasion, rose from his chair (as he was in +the habit of doing when he did finally say a few words, always greatly +to the point) and began, in his usual polite manner, as follows-- + +"'"Will you be good enough to allow me, gentlemen--I beg you to pardon +me. You have reason to admire the curious work of art which has been +interesting us all for so long; but you are wrong in supposing the +commonplace person who exhibits it to be the inventor of it. The truth +is that he really has no hand at all in what are the truly remarkable +features of it. The originator of them is a gentleman highly skilled in +matters of the kind--one who lives amongst us, and has done so for many +years--whom we all know very well, and greatly respect and esteem." + +"'Universal surprise was created by this, and the elderly gentleman was +besieged with questions, on which he continued; + +"'"The gentleman to whom I allude is none other than Professor X----. +The Turk had been here a couple of days, and nobody had taken any +particular notice of him, though Professor X--- took care to go and see +him at once, because everything in the shape of an Automaton interests +him in the highest degree. When he had heard one or two of the Turk's +answers, he took the Exhibitor apart and whispered a word or two in his +ear. The man turned pale, and shut up his exhibition as soon as the two +or three people who were then in the room had gone away. The bills +disappeared from the walls, and nothing more was heard of the Talking +Turk for a fortnight. Then new bills came out, and the Turk was found +with the fine new head, and all the other arrangements as they are at +present--an unsolvable riddle. It is since that time that his answers +have been so clever and so interesting. But that all this is the work +of Professor X---- admits of no question. The Exhibitor, in the +interval, when the figure was not being exhibited, spent all his time +with him. Also it is well known that the Professor passed several days +in succession in the room where the figure is. Besides, gentlemen, you +are no doubt aware that the Professor himself possesses a number of +most extraordinary automatons, chiefly musical, which he has long vied +with Hofrath B---- in producing, keeping up with him a correspondence +concerning all sorts of mechanical, and, people say, even _magical_ +arts and pursuits, and that, did he but choose, he could astonish the +world with them. But he works in complete privacy, although he is +always ready to show his extraordinary inventions to all who take a +real interest in such matters." + +"'It was, in fact, matter of notoriety that this Professor X----, whose +principal pursuits were natural philosophy and chemistry, delighted, +next to them, in occupying himself with mechanical research; but no one +in the assemblage had had the slightest idea that he had had any +connection with the "Talking Turk," and it was from the merest hearsay +that people knew anything concerning the curiosities which the old +gentleman had referred to. Ferdinand and Lewis felt strangely and +vividly impressed by the old gentleman's account of Professor X----, +and the influence which he had brought to bear on that strange +automaton. + +"'"I cannot hide from you," said Ferdinand, "that a hope is dawning +upon me that, if I get nearer to this Professor X----, I may, perhaps, +come upon a clue to the mystery which is weighing so terribly upon me +at present. And it is possible that the true significance and import of +the relations which exist between the Turk (or rather the hidden entity +which employs him as the organ of its oracular utterances) and myself +might, could I get to comprehend it, perhaps comfort me, and weaken the +impression of those words, for me so terrible. I have made up my mind +to make the acquaintance of this mysterious man, on the pretext of +seeing his automatons; and as they are musical ones, it will not be +devoid of interest for you to come with me." + +"'"As if it were not sufficient for me," said Lewis, "to be able to aid +you, in your necessity, with counsel and help! But I cannot deny that +even to-day, when the old gentleman was mentioning Professor X----'s +connection with the Turk, strange ideas came into my mind; although +perhaps I am going a long way about in search of what lies close at +hand, could one but see it. For instance, to look as close at hand as +possible for the solution of the mystery, may it not be the case that +the invisible being knew that you wore the picture next your heart, so +that a mere lucky guess might account for the rest? Perhaps it was +taking its revenge upon you for the rather uncourteous style in which +we were joking about the Turk's wisdom." + +"'"Not one human soul," Ferdinand answered, "has ever set eyes on the +picture; this I told you before. And I have never told any creature but +yourself of the adventure which has had such an immensely important +influence on my whole life. It is an utter impossibility that the Turk +can have got to know of this in any ordinary manner. Much more +probably, what you say you are 'going a long roundabout way' in search +of may be much nearer the truth." + +"'"Well then," said Lewis, "what I mean is this; that this automaton, +strongly as I appeared to-day to assert the contrary, is really one of +the most extraordinary phenomena ever beheld, and that everything goes +to prove that whoever controls and directs it has at his command higher +powers than is supposed by those who go there simply to gape at things, +and do no more than wonder at what is wonderful. The figure is nothing +more than the outward form of the communication; but that form has been +cleverly selected, as such, since the shape, appearance, and movements +of it are well adapted to occupy the attention in a manner favourable +for the preservation of the secret, and, particularly, to work upon the +questioners favourably as regards the intelligence, whatsoever it is, +which gives the answers. There cannot be any human being concealed +inside the figure; that is as good as proved, so that it is clearly the +result of some acoustic deception that we think the answers come from +the Turk's mouth. But how this is accomplished--how the Being who gives +the answers is placed in a position to hear the questions and see the +questioners, and at the same time to be audible by them--certainly +remains a complete mystery to me. Of course all this merely implies +great acoustic and mechanical skill on the part of the inventor, and +remarkable acuteness, or, I might say, systematic craftiness, in +leaving no stone unturned in the process of deceiving us. And I admit +that this part of the riddle interests me the less, inasmuch as it +falls completely into the shade in comparison with the circumstance +(which, is the only part of the affair which is so extraordinarily +remarkable) that the Turk often reads the very soul of the questioner. +How, if it were possible to this Being which gives the answers, to +acquire by some process unknown to us, a psychic influence over us, and +to place itself in a spiritual _rapport_ with us, so that it can +comprehend and read our minds and thoughts, and more than that, have +cognizance of our whole inner being; so that, if it does not clearly +speak out the secrets which are lying dormant within us, it does yet +evoke and call forth, in a species of _extasis_ induced by its +_rapport_ with the exterior spiritual principle, the suggestions, the +outlines, the shadowings of all which is reposing within our breasts, +clearly seen by the eye of the spirit, in brightest illumination! On +this assumption the psychical power would strike the strings within us, +so as to make them give forth a clear and vibrating chord, audible to +us, and intelligible by us, instead of merely murmuring, as they do at +other times; so that it is we who answer our own selves; the voice +which we hear is produced from within ourselves by the operation of +this unknown spiritual power, and vague presentiments and anticipations +of the future brighten into spoken prognostications--just as, in +dreams, we often find that a voice, unfamiliar to us, tells us of +things which we do not know, or as to which we are in doubt, being, in +reality, a voice proceeding from ourselves, although it seems to convey +to us knowledge which previously we did not possess. No doubt the Turk +(that is to say, the hidden power which is connected with him) seldom +finds it necessary to place himself _en rapport_ with people in this +way. Hundreds of them can be dealt with in the cursory, superficial +manner adapted to their queries and characters, and it is seldom that a +question is put which calls for the exercise of anything besides ready +wit. But by any strained or exalted condition of the questioner the +Turk would be affected in quite a different way, and he would then +employ those means which render possible the production of a psychic +_rapport_, giving him the power to answer from out of the inner depths +of the questioner. His hesitation in replying to deep questions of this +kind may be due to the delay which he grants himself to gain a few +moments for the bringing into play of the power in question. This is my +true and genuine opinion; and you see that I have not that contemptuous +notion of this work of art (or whatever may be the proper term to apply +to it) that I would have had you believe I had. But I do not wish to +conceal anything from you; though I see that if you adopt my idea, I +shall not have given you any real comfort at all." + +"'"You are wrong there, dear friend," said Ferdinand. "The very fact +that your opinion does chime in with a vague notion which I felt, +dimly, in my own mind, comforts me very much. It is only myself that I +have to take into account; my precious secret is not discovered, for 1 +know that you will guard it as a sacred treasure. And, by-the-bye, I +must tell you of a most extraordinary feature of the matter, which I +had forgotten till now. Just as the Turk was speaking his latter words, +I fancied that I heard one or two broken phrases of the sorrowful +melody, '_mio ben ricordati_,' and then it seemed to me that one +single, long-drawn note of the glorious voice which I heard on that +eventful night went floating by." + +"'"Well," said Lewis, "and I remember, too, that, just as your answer +was being given to you, I happened to place my hand on the railing +which surrounds the figure. I felt it thrill and vibrate in my hand, +and I fancied also that I could hear a kind of musical sound, for I +cannot say it was a vocal note, passing across the room. I paid no +attention to it, because, as you know, my head is always full of music, +and I have several times been wonderfully deceived in a similar way; +but I was very much astonished, in my own mind, when I traced the +mysterious connection between that sound and your adventure in D----." + +"'The fact that Lewis had heard the sound as well as himself, was to +Ferdinand a proof of the psychic _rapport_ which existed between them; +and as they further diseased the marvels of the affair, he began to +feel the heavy burden which had weighed upon him since he heard the +fatal answer lifted away, and was ready to go forward bravely to meet +whatsoever the future might have in store. + +"'"It is impossible that I can lose her," he said. "She is my heart's +queen, and will always be there, as long as my own life endures." + +"'They went and called on Professor X----, in high hope that he would +be able to throw light on many questions relating to occult sympathies +and the like, in which they were deeply interested. They found him to +be an old man, dressed in old-fashioned French style, exceedingly keen +and lively, with small grey eyes which had an unpleasant way of fixing +themselves on one, and a sarcastic simile, not very attractive, +playing about his mouth. + +"'When they had expressed their wish to see some of his automatons, he +said, "Ah! and you really take an interest in mechanical matters, do +you? Perhaps you have done something in that direction yourselves? +Well, I can show you, in this house here, what you will look for in +vain in the rest of Europe: I may say, in the known world." + +"'There was something most unpleasant about the Professor's voice; it +was a high-pitched, screaming sort of discordant tenor, exactly suited +to the mountebank tone in which he proclaimed his treasures. He fetched +his keys with a great clatter, and opened the door of a tastefully and +elegantly furnished hall, where the automatons were. There was a piano +in the middle of the loom, on a raised platform; beside it, on the +right, a life-sized figure of a man, with a flute in his hand; on the +left, a female figure, seated at an instrument somewhat resembling a +piano; behind her were two boys, with a drum and a triangle. In the +background our two friends noticed an orchestrion (which was an +instrument already known to them), and all round the walls were a +number of musical clocks. The Professor passed, in a cursory manner, +close by the orchestrion and the clocks, and just touched the +automatons, almost imperceptibly; then he sat down at the piano, and +began to play, _pianissimo_, an _andante_ in the style of a march. He +played it once through by himself; and as he commenced it for the +second time the flute-player put his instrument to his lips, and took +up the melody; then one of the boys drummed softly on his drum in the +most accurate time, and the other just touched his triangle, so that +you could hear it and no more. Presently the lady came in with full +chords, of a sound something like those of a harmonica, which she +produced by pressing down the keys of her instrument; and now the whole +room kept growing more and more alive; the musical clocks came in one +by one, with the utmost rhythmical precision; the boy drummed louder; +the triangle rang through the room, and lastly the orchestrion set to +work, and drummed and trumpeted _fortissimo_, so that the whole place +shook again; and this went on till the Professor wound up the whole +business with one final chord, all the machines finishing also, with +the utmost precision. Our friends bestowed the applause which the +Professor's complacent smile (with its undercurrent of sarcasm) seemed +to demand of them. He went up to the figures to set about exhibiting +some further similar musical feats; but Lewis and Ferdinand, as if by a +preconcerted arrangement, declared that they had pressing business +which prevented their making a longer stay, and took their leave of the +inventor and his machines. + +"'"Most interesting and ingenious, wasn't it?" said Ferdinand; but +Lewis's anger, long restrained, broke out. + +"'"Oh! confusion on that wretched Professor!" he cried. "What a +terrible, terrible disappointment! Where are all the revelations we +expected? What became of the learned, instructive discourse which we +thought he would deliver to us, as to disciples at Sais?" + +"'"At the same time," said Ferdinand, "we have seen some very ingenious +mechanical inventions, curious and interesting from a musical point of +view. Clearly, the flute-player is the same as Vaucanson's well-known +machine; and a similar mechanism applied to the fingers of the female +figure is, I suppose, what enables her to bring out those really +beautiful tones from her instrument. The way in which all the machines +work together is really astonishing." + +"'"It is exactly that which drives me so wild," said Lewis. "All that +machine-music (in which I include the Professor's own playing) makes +every bone in my body ache. I am sure I do not know when I shall get +over it! The fact of any human being's doing anything in association +with those lifeless figures which counterfeit the appearance and +movements of humanity has always, to me, something fearful, unnatural, +T may say terrible, about it. I suppose it would be possible, by means +of certain mechanical arrangements inside them, to construct automatons +which should dance, and then to set them to dance with human beings, +and twist and turn about in all sorts of figures; so that we should +have a living man putting his arms about a lifeless partner of wood, +and whirling round and round with her, or rather it. Could you look at +such a sight, for an instant, without horror? At all events, all +machine-music is to me a thing altogether monstrous and abominable; and +a good stocking-loom is, in my opinion, worth all the most perfect and +ingenious musical clocks in the universe put together. For is it the +breath, merely, of the performer on a wind-instrument, or the skilful, +supple fingers of the performer on a stringed instrument, which evoke +those tones which lay upon us a spell of such power, and awaken that +inexpressible feeling, akin to nothing else on earth, the sense of a +distant spirit world, and of our own higher life therein? Is it not, +rather, the mind, the soul, the heart, which merely employ those bodily +organs to give forth into our external life that which is felt in our +inner depths? so that it can be communicated to others, and awaken +kindred chords in them, opening, in harmonious echoes, that marvellous +kingdom from whence those tones come darting, like beams of light? To +set to work to make music by means of valves, springs, levers, +cylinders, or whatever other apparatus you choose to employ, is a +senseless attempt to make the means to an end accomplish what can +result only when those means are animated and, in their minutest +movements, controlled by the mind, the soul, and the heart. The gravest +reproach you can make to a musician is that he plays without +expression; because, by so doing, he is marring the whole essence of +the matter. Yet the coldest and most unfeeling executant will always be +far in advance of the most perfect of machines. For it is impossible +that no impulse whatever, from the inner man shall ever, even for a +moment, animate his rendering; whereas, in the case of a machine, no +such impulse can ever do so. The attempts of mechanicians to imitate, +with more or less approximation to accuracy, the human organs in the +production of musical sounds, or to substitute mechanical appliances +for those organs, I consider tantamount to a declaration of war against +the spiritual element in music; but the greater the forces they array +against it, the more victorious it is. For this very reason, the more +perfect that this sort of machinery is, the more I disapprove of it; +and I infinitely prefer the commonest barrel-organ, in which the +mechanism attempts nothing but to be mechanical, to Vaucauson's +flute-player, or the harmonica girl. + +"'"I entirely agree with you," said Ferdinand, "and indeed you have +merely put into words what I have always thought; and I was much struck +with it to-day at the Professor's. Although I do not so wholly live and +move and have my being in music as you do, and consequently am not so +sensitively alive to imperfections in it, I, too, have always felt a +repugnance to the stiffness and lifelessness of machine-music; and, I +can remember, when I was a child at home, how I detested a large, +ordinary musical clock, which played its little tune every hour. It is +a pity that those skilful mechanicians do not try to apply their +knowledge to the improvement of musical instruments, rather than to +puerilities of this sort." + +"'"Exactly," said Lewis. "Now, in the case of instruments of the +keyboard class a great deal might be done. There is a wide field open +in that direction to clever mechanical people, much as has been +accomplished already; particularly in instruments of the pianoforte +genus. But it would be the task of a really advanced system of the +'mechanics of music' to closely observe, minutely study, and carefully +discover that class of sounds which belong, most purely and strictly, +to Nature herself, to obtain a knowledge of the tones which dwell in +substances of every description, and then to take this mysterious music +and enclose it in some description of instrument, where it should be +subject to man's will, and give itself forth at his touch. All the +attempts to bring music out of metal or glass cylinders, glass threads, +slips of glass, or pieces of marble; or to cause strings to vibrate or +sound, in ways unlike the ordinary ways, seem to me to be interesting +in the highest degree: and what stands in the way of our real progress +in the discovery of the marvellous acoustical secrets which lie hidden +all around us in nature is, that every imperfect attempt at an +experiment is at once held up to laudation as being a new and utterly +perfect invention, either for vanity's sake, or for money's. This is +why so many new instruments have started into existence--most of them +with grand or ridiculous names--and have disappeared and been forgotten +just as quickly." + +"'"Your 'higher mechanics of music' seems to be a most interesting +subject," said Ferdinand, "although, for my part, I do not as yet quite +perceive the object at which it aims." + +"'"The object at which it aims," said Lewis, "is the discovery of the +most absolutely perfect kind of musical sound; and according to my +theory, musical sound would be the nearer to perfection the more +closely it approximated to such of the mysterious tones of nature as +are not wholly dissociated from this earth." + +"'"I presume," said Ferdinand, "that it is because I have not +penetrated so deeply into this subject as you have, but you must allow +me to say that I do not quite understand you." + +"'"Then," said Lewis, "let me give you some sort of an idea how it is +that all this question exhibits itself to my mind. + +"'"In the primeval condition of the human race, while (to make use of +almost the very words of a talented writer--Schubert--in his 'Glimpses +at the Night Side of Natural Science') mankind as yet was dwelling in +its pristine holy harmony with nature, richly endowed with a heavenly +instinct of prophecy and poetry; while, as yet, Mother Nature continued +to nourish from the fount of her own life, the wondrous being to whom +she had given birth, she encompassed him with a holy music, like the +afflatus of a continual inspiration; and wondrous tones spake of the +mysteries of her unceasing activity. There has come down to us an echo +from the mysterious depths of those primeval days--that beautiful +notion of the music of the spheres, which, when as a boy, I first read +of it in 'The Dream of Scipio,' filled me with the deepest and most +devout reverence. I often used to listen, on quiet moonlight nights, to +hear if those wondrous tones would come to me, borne on the wings +of the whispering airs. However, as I said to you already, those +nature-tones have not yet all departed from this world, fur we have an +instance of their survival, and occurrence in that 'Music of the Air' +or 'Voice of the Demon,' mentioned by a writer on Ceylon--a sound +which so powerfully affects the human system, that even the least +impressionable persons, when they hear those tones of nature imitating, +in such a terrible manner, the expression of human sorrow and +suffering, are struck with painful compassion and profound terror! +Indeed, I once met with an instance of a phenomenon of a similar kind +myself, at a place in East Prussia. I had been living there for some +time; it was about the end of autumn, when, on quiet nights, with a +moderate breeze blowing, I used distinctly to hear tones, sometimes +resembling the deep, stopped, pedal pipe of an organ, and sometimes +like the vibrations from a deep, soft-toned bell. I often +distinguished, quite clearly, the low F, and the fifth above it (the +C), and not seldom the minor third above, E flat, was perceptible as +well; and then this tremendous chord of the seventh, so woeful and so +solemn, produced on one the effect of the most intense sorrow, and even +of terror! + +"'"There is, about the imperceptible commencement, the swelling and the +gradual dying of those nature-tones a something which has a most +powerful and indescribable effect upon us; and any instrument which +should be capable of producing this would, no doubt, affect us in a +similar way. So that I think the harmonica comes the nearest, as +regards its tone, to that perfection, which is to be measured by its +influence on our minds. And it is fortunate that this instrument (which +chances to be the very one which imitates those nature-tones with such +exactitude) happens to be just the very one which is incapable of +lending itself to frivolity or ostentation, but exhibits its +characteristic qualities in the purest of simplicity. The recently +invented 'harmonichord' will doubtless accomplish much in this +direction. This instrument, as you no doubt know, sets strings +a-vibrating and a-toning (not bells, as in the harmonica) by means of +mechanism, which is set in motion by the pressing down of keys, and the +rotation of a cylinder. The performer has, under his control, the +commencement, the swelling out, and the diminishing, of the tones +much more than is the case with the harmonica, though as yet the +harmonichord has not the tone of the harmonica, which sounds as if it +came straight from another world." + +"'"I have heard that instrument," said Ferdinand, "and certainly the +tone of it went to the very depths of my being, although I thought the +performer was doing it scant justice. As regards the rest, I think I +quite understand you, although I do not, as yet, quite see into the +closeness of the connection between those 'nature-tones' and music." + +"'Lewis answered--"Can the music which dwells within us be any other +than that which lies buried in nature as a profound mystery, +comprehensible only by the inner, higher sense, uttered by instruments, +as the organs of it, merely in obedience to a mighty spell, of which we +are the masters? But, in the purely psychical action and operation of +the spirit--that is to say, in dreams--this spell is broken; and then, +in the tones of familiar instruments, we are enabled to recognise those +nature-tones as wondrously engendered in the air, they come floating +down to us, and swell and die away." + +"'"I think of the AEolian harp," said Ferdinand. "What is your opinion +about that ingenious invention?" + +"'"Every attempt," said Lewis, "to tempt Nature to give forth her tones +is glorious, and highly worthy of attention. Only, it seems to me that, +as yet, we have only offered her trifling toys, which she has often +shattered to pieces in her indignation. Much grander idea than all +those playthings (like AEolian harps) was the 'storm harp' which I have +read of. It was made of thick chords of wire, which were stretched out +at considerable distances apart, in the open country, and gave forth +great, powerful chords when the wind smote upon them. + +"'"Altogether, there is still a wide field open to thoughtful inventors +in this direction, and I quite believe that the impulse recently given +to natural science in general will be perceptible in this branch of it, +and bring into practical existence much which is, as yet, nothing but +speculation." + +"Just at this moment there came suddenly floating through the air an +extraordinary sound, which, as it swelled and became more +distinguishable, seemed to resemble the tone of a harmonica. Lewis and +Ferdinand stood rooted to the spot in amazement, not unmixed with awe; +the tones took the form of a profoundly sorrowful melody sung by a +female voice. Ferdinand grasped Lewis by the hand, whilst the latter +whisperingly repeated the words, + + "'"Mio ben, ricordati, s' avvien ch' io mora." + +"'At the time when this occurred they were outside of the town, and +before the entrance to a garden which was surrounded by lofty trees and +tall hedges. There was a pretty little girl--whom they had not observed +before--sitting playing in the grass near them, and she sprang up +crying, "Oh, how beautifully my sister is singing again! I must take +her some flowers, for she always sings sweeter and longer when she sees +a beautiful carnation." And with that she gathered a bunch of flowers, +and went skipping into the garden with it, leaving the gate ajar, so +that our friends could see through it. What was their astonishment to +see Professor X---- standing in the middle of the garden, beneath a +lofty ash-tree! Instead of the repellant grin of irony with which he +had received them at his house, his face wore an expression of deep +melancholy earnestness, and his gaze was fixed upon the heavens, as if +he were contemplating that world beyond the skies, whereof those +marvellous tones, floating in the air like the breath of a zephyr, were +telling. He walked up and down the central alley, with slow and +measured steps; and, as he passed along, everything around him seemed +to waken into life and movement. In every direction crystal tones came +scintillating out of the dark bushes and trees, and, streaming through +the air like flame, united in a wondrous concert, penetrating the +inmost heart, and waking in the soul the most rapturous emotions of a +higher world. Twilight was falling fast; the Professor disappeared +among the hedges, and the tones died away in _pianissimo_. At length +our friends went back to the town in profound silence; but, as Lewis +was about to quit Ferdinand, the latter clasped him firmly, saying-- + +"'"Be true to me! Do not abandon me! I feel, too clearly, some hostile +foreign influence at work upon my whole existence, smiting upon all its +hidden strings, and making them resound at its pleasure. I am helpless +to resist it, though it should drive me to my destruction! Can that +diabolical, sneering irony, with which the Professor received us at his +house, have been anything other than the expression of this hostile +principle? Was it with any other intention than that of getting his +hands washed of me for ever, that he fobbed us off with those +automatons of his?" + +"'"You are very probably right," said Lewis; "for I have a strong +suspicion myself that, in some manner which is as yet an utter riddle +to me, the Professor does exercise some sort of power or influence over +your fate, or, I should rather say, over that mysterious psychical +relationship, or affinity, which exists between you and this lady. It +may be that, being mixed up in some way with this affinity, in his +character of an element hostile to it, he strengthens it by the very +fact that he opposes it: and it may also be that that which renders you +so extremely unacceptable to him is the circumstance that your presence +awakens, and sets into lively movement all the strings and chords of +this mutually sympathetic condition, and this contrary to his desire, +and, very probably, in opposition to some conventional family +arrangement." + +"'Our friends determined to leave no stone unturned in their efforts to +make a closer approach to the Professor, with the hope that they might +succeed, sooner or later, in clearing up this mystery which so affected +Ferdinand's destiny and fate, and they were to have paid him a visit on +the following morning as a preliminary step. However, a letter, which +Ferdinand unexpectedly received from his father, summoned him to B----; +it was impossible for him to permit himself the smallest delay, and in +a few hours he was off, as fast as post-horses could convey him, +assuring Lewis, as he started, that nothing should prevent his return +in a fortnight, at the very furthest. + +"'It struck Lewis as a singular circumstance that, soon after +Ferdinand's departure, the same old gentleman who had at first spoken +of the Professor's connection with "the Talking Turk," took an +opportunity of enlarging to him on the fact that X----'s mechanical +inventions were simply the result of an extreme enthusiasm for +mechanical pursuits, and of deep and searching investigations in +natural science; he also more particularly lauded the Professor's +wonderful discoveries in music, which, he said, he had not as yet +communicated to any one, adding that his mysterious laboratory was a +pretty garden outside the town, and that passers by had often heard +wondrous tones and melodies there, just as if the whole place were +peopled by fays and spirits. + +"'The fortnight elapsed, but Ferdinand did not come back. At length, +when two months had gone by, a letter came from him to the following +effect-- + +"'"Read and marvel; though you will learn only that which, perhaps, you +strongly suspected would be the case, when you got to know more of the +Professor--as I hope you did. As the horses were being changed in the +village of P----, I was standing, gazing into the distance, not +thinking specially of anything in particular. A carriage drove by, and +stopped at the church, which was open. A young lady, simply dressed, +stepped out of the carriage, followed by a young gentleman in a Russian +Jaeger uniform, wearing several decorations; two gentlemen got down +from a second carriage. The innkeeper said, 'Oh, this is the stranger +couple our clergyman is marrying to-day.' Mechanically I went into the +church, just as the clergyman was concluding the service with the +blessing. I looked at the couple--the bride was my sweet singer. She +looked at me, turned pale, and fainted. The gentleman who was behind +her caught her in his arms. It was Professor X----. What happened +further I do not know, nor have I any recollection as to how I got +here; probably Professor X---- can tell you all about it. But a peace +and a happiness, such as I have never known before, have now taken +possession of my soul. The mysterious prophecy of the Turk was a cursed +falsehood, a mere result of blind groping with unskilful antennae. Have +I lost her? Is she not mine for ever in the glowing inner life? + +"'"It will be long ere you hear of me, for I am going on to K----, and +perhaps to the extreme north, as far as P----." + +"'Lewis gathered the distracted condition of his friend's mind, only +too plainly, from his language, and the whole affair became the greater +a riddle to him when he ascertained that it was matter of certainty +that Professor X---- had not quitted the town. + +"'"How," thought he, "if all this be but a result of the conflict of +mysterious psychical relations (existing, perhaps, between several +people) making their way out into everyday life, and involving in their +circle even outward events, independent of them, so that the deluded +inner sense looks upon them as phenomena proceeding unconditionally +from itself, and believes in them accordingly? It may be that the +hopeful anticipation which I feel within me will be realised--for my +friend's consolation. For the Turk's mysterious prophecy is fulfilled, +and perhaps, through that very fulfilment, the mortal blow which +menaced my friend is averted."'" + + +"Well," said Ottmar, as Theodore came to a sudden stop, "is that all? +Where is the explanation? What became of Ferdinand, the beautiful +singer, Professor X----, and the Russian officer?" + +"You know," said Theodore, "that I told you at the beginning that I was +only going to read you a fragment, and I consider that the story of the +Talking Turk _is_ only of a fragmentary character, essentially. I mean, +that the imagination of the reader, or listener, should merely receive +one or two more or less powerful impulses, and then go on swinging, +pendulum-like, of its own accord, as it chooses. But if you, Ottmar, +are really anxious to have your mind set at rest over Ferdinand's +future condition, remember the dialogue on opera which I read to you +some time since. This is the same Ferdinand who appears therein, sound +of mind and body; in the 'Talking Turk' he is at an earlier stage of +his career. So that probably his somnambulistic love-affair ended +satisfactorily enough." + +"To which," said Ottmar, "has to be added that our Theodore used, at +one time, to take a wonderful delight in exciting people's imaginations +by means of the most extraordinary--nay, wild and insane--stories, and +then suddenly break them off. Not only this, but everything he did, at +that time, assumed a fragmentary form. He read second volumes only, not +troubling himself about the firsts or thirds; saw only the second and +third acts of plays; and so on." + +"And," said Theodore, "that inclination I still have; to this hour +nothing is so distasteful to me as when, in a story or a novel, the +stage on which the imaginary world has been in action comes to be swept +so clean by the historic besom that there is not the smallest grain or +particle of dust left on it; when one goes home so completely sated and +satisfied that one has not the faintest desire left to have another +peep behind the curtain. On the other hand, many a fragment of a clever +story sinks deep into my soul, and the continuance of the play of my +imagination, as it goes along on its own swing, gives me an enduring +pleasure. Who has not felt this over Goethe's 'Nut-brown Maid'! And, +above all, his fragment of that most delightful tale of the little lady +whom the traveller always carried about with him in a little box always +exercises an indescribable charm upon me." + +"Enough," interrupted Lothair. "We are not to hear any more about the +Talking Turk, and the story was really all told, after all. So let +Ottmar begin without more ado." + +Ottmar took out his manuscript, and read: + + + + + "'THE DOGE AND THE DOGARESSA. + + +"'This was the title given in the catalogue of the works exhibited at +the Berlin Academy, in September, 1816, to a picture by that admirable +painter C. Kolbe, which attracted every one with such an irresistible +charm, that the space before it was always crowded with admirers. A +doge, in rich robes of state, with his dogaressa, equally richly +attired, were represented pacing forward on a balustraded balcony; he +an old man with grey beard, strangely mingled traits in his brown-red +face, indicative of strength, weakness, pride, and arrogance, as well +as kindliness; she, a young creature, with longing sadness and dreamy +desirings in her looks, and in the entire expression of her figure. +Behind them, an elderly lady, and a man holding a sunshade. Sidewards +on the balcony, a young man blowing a shell-shaped horn; and in front +of them, the sea with a richly ornamented gondola flying the Venetian +ensign, with two gondoliers on board of it. In the background the +ocean, alive with hundreds and hundreds of sails, and a view of the +towers and palaces of gorgeous Venice rising above the waves; to the +left San Marco distinguishable, and more to the right--towards the +foreground--San Giorgio Maggiore. On the frame of the picture were the +words: + + "'"Ah' senza amare + Andar sulla mare + Col' sposo del mare + Non puo consolare. + + "'"To sail upon the sapphire sea + With him, the consort of the ocean, + Where love is not, and cannot be, + Wakes in the heart no soft emotion." + +"'There arose, one day, before this picture, a somewhat idle discussion +as to whether, in painting it, the painter's intention had been merely +to portray a momentary situation (adequately represented by the +picture) of an old man, incapable, notwithstanding all his magnificence +and splendour, of satisfying the longings of a young and loving heart, +or to record an actual historical event. Weary of this discussion the +members of the group dispersed, till at length only two staunch lovers +of the noble painter's craft were left. + +"'"I do not know," the one of them began, "why it is that people spoil +all their own enjoyment by these perpetual childish explainings and +explainings. Not only do I consider that I see perfectly well what the +painter meant by his doge and dogaressa--the idea which he intended +them to express--but I am struck, and impressed, in a quite unusual +degree, by the shimmer of richness and power which is spread over the +whole of this work. Look at that flag with the winged lion, how it +seems to control the world as it flutters in the breeze. Oh! glorious +Venice!" + +"'And he began to repeat Truandot's riddle concerning the Lion of the +Adriatic. + + "'"Dimmi qual sei quella terribil fera," &c., &c. + +"'Scarcely had he finished doing this, when a sonorous male voice broke +in with Calaf's answer to the said riddle: + + "'"Tu, quadrupede fera," &c. + +"'Unnoticed by the friends, a man had taken up his position behind +them; a man of very distinguished appearance, having a grey cloak cast, +artist-like, over his shoulders, who was contemplating the picture with +sparkling eyes. A conversation commenced between them, and the stranger +said, in a tone which was almost solemn: + +"'"It is a strange mystery that, often, a picture dawns in a painter's +mind, of which the characters--previously mere irrecognizable, bodiless +mist, driving about in the atmosphere--seem, for the first time, to +assume form in his brain, and to find their home there, and, of a +sudden, the picture binds itself up with the past, or perhaps with the +future, and represents something which has happened, or is to happen +hereafter. Kolbe may not be aware himself, as yet, that in that picture +of his he has painted none other than the Doge Marino Falieri and his +wife, Annunziata." + +"'The stranger paused; but the two friends begged him to solve this +riddle for them as he had done that of the Lion of the Adriatic." + +"'So he said, "If you have the necessary patience, gentlemen, I will at +once give you the solution of the riddle, in the shape of the story of +Falieri. The question is, _have_ you the necessary patience? For I mean +to be exceedingly circumstantial; because, were I not to be so, I +should much prefer not to speak of these matters at all--though they +are as vividly present to my eyes as if I had actually witnessed them. +There is nothing strange in this; for every historian (and _I_ am a +historian) is a species of ghost, telling of things bygone." + +"'The friends accompanied the stranger to a room at some little +distance; where, without further prelude, he went on, as follows:-- + +"'"A long, long time ago--if I mistake not, it was in the month of +August of the year 1354--the great Genoese General Paganino Doria had +utterly routed the Venetians, and taken their town of Parenzo by storm. +In the gulf, close before Venice, his well-manned galleys were cruizing +up and down, like hungry beasts of prey running backwards and forwards, +watching how best to grasp their quarry. Deadly terror took possession +of the Signoria and populace. Everybody who could carry arms took to +their weapons or to their oars. They collected their forces and +treasure at the harbour of San Nicolo. Ships and trees were sunk, and +chains fastened together, to block the passage against the enemy. +Whilst the weapons and the armour clanged and clattered, and the heavy +masses went thundering down into the sea, agents of the Signoria were +to be seen on the Rialto wiping the perspiration from their pale +foreheads, and offering, in hoarse accents and with distracted faces, +cent, per cent. for ready cash; for even of that the troubled republic +was in urgent need. But it was decreed in the mysterious councils of +Eternal Providence that just at this season of the extremest trouble +and necessity the faithful shepherd of this distracted flock should be +taken away from them. The Doge, Andrea Dandulo, whom his people styled +'The dear little Count' (_Il caro Contino_)--because he was always kind +and good, and never crossed the square of San Marco without being +prepared with money or good advice for all who needed either--died, +worn out by fatigue and anxiety. And as those who are disheartened by +misfortune feel doubly every blow, which at another time they would +scarcely notice, the people were overwhelmed with sorrow when they +heard the bells of San Marco announcing in hollow tones of sadness the +death of their ruler. Their hope and stay was gone; they cried aloud +that they would have to bow their necks to the yoke of Genoa; although, +as concerned the warlike operations, the death of Dandulo did not seem +such a great disaster. For the little Count liked to live in peace and +comfort; he was fonder of watching the mysterious courses of the stars +than of studying the enigmatic turnings and windings of statecraft; he +knew better how to duly order an Easter procession than how to lead an +army to battle. The desideratum now was the choice of a Doge who should +possess both the generalship and the diplomatic skill necessary to +rescue Venice from the clutches of her enemy, more daring every day and +hour. The Senators met; but nothing was seen save troubled faces, eyes +fixed on the ground, and heads leaned on the hand. Where should a man +be found capable of grasping the helm with vigorous, strenuous hand, +and steering the vessel of the State safe through the storm? + +"'At length the oldest of the senators, Marino Bodoeri, began to speak. + +"'"Here," he said, "around us or about us, he is not to be found. But +turn your eyes to Avignon, to Marino Falieri, whom we sent to +congratulate Pope Innocent on his election. He might be better employed +now. If we make him Doge he will weather this storm. You will say he is +well on to his eightieth year, with his hair and his beard turned to +silver; that his vigorous aspect, his gleaming eyes, and the rosy tint +of his nose and cheeks are due (as evil tongues choose to say) more to +good Cyprus wine than to toughness of constitution. What matter! +Remember the brilliant courage he displayed when he was Proveditor of +the Black Sea Fleet. Think of the deserts which moved the procurators +of San Marco to reward him with the rich Countship of Valdemarino." + +"'Thus did Bodoeri paint Falieri's merits in the most brilliant +colours, and refute, in advance, all objections to him, till every vote +was at length given in his favour. It is true many had a good deal to +say of his violent temper, his lust for power, and his self-will. But +on the other hand it was urged, "It is because all _that_ has, in his +old age, passed away from him that we choose the aged--not the +youthful--Falieri." Hostile voices such us these fell silent as soon as +the populace, on hearing of his election, broke forth into boundless +rejoicing. In time of danger, disquiet, and anxiety, any decision, so +long as it is a decision, is looked upon as a divine inspiration. + +"'So the "dear little Count," with all his gentleness and kindliness, +was clean forgotten, and everybody cried: + +"'"By Saint Mark, this Marino ought to have been our Doge long ago; and +then we should not have had this presumptuous Doria upon our +shoulders." And maimed soldiers held up their arms, and cried: + +"'"This is that Falieri who vanquished Morbassan; this is the valiant +leader whose victorious banners waved in the breezes of the Black Sea." +Wherever the populace were collected some one would tell of old +Falieri's heroic deeds; the sky rang with wild shouts of joy, as if +Doria were beaten already. Moreover, Nicolo Pisani (who--heaven only +knew why--had sailed quietly off to Sardinia, instead of going with his +fleet to encounter Doria) came back at last. Doria withdrew from the +gulf; and what the return of Pisani's fleet had effected was +unanimously ascribed to the terrible name "Falieri." The populace and +the Signoria were seized by a sort of fanatical ecstasy at the +fortunate selection; and it was determined that the new Doge should be +welcomed on his arrival as if he were some messenger of heaven bringing +with him honour, wealth, and victory. The Signoria sent twelve nobles, +each escorted by a numerous and brilliant retinue, to Verona, where the +envoys of the Republic were to announce to Falieri, on his arrival, his +elevation to the leadership of the State. Fifteen richly decorated +galleys, prepared for the occasion by the Podesta of Chioggia, and +under command of his son, Taddeo Giustiniani, received the Doge and his +following at Chiozzo. He thence proceeded to St. Clemens (where the +Bucentoro was waiting for him) in a triumphal procession like those of +the mightiest and most victorious monarchs. + +"Just at this time, namely, when Marino Falieri was about to step on +board the Bucentoro (and this was on the evening of the third of +October, as the sun was beginning to set), a poor unfortunate fellow +was lying stretched out upon the marble pavement under the pillars of +the Palace. A few rags of striped canvas, whose colour had ceased to be +distinguishable, and which seemed to have belonged to a costume such as +the commonest sort of boatmen and porters wear, hung about his +attenuated limbs. Nothing in the nature of a shirt was visible save the +poor fellow's own skin, which peeped out everywhere, but was so fine +and white and delicate that the very noblest in the land might have +displayed it without shyness or shame. Also the very leanness of his +limbs set off the pureness of their symmetry. And when one saw the +bright chestnut locks, all wild and dishevelled, which shaded the +beautiful forehead; the blue eyes, darkened only by comfortless +poverty; the aquiline nose; the delicately formed mouth, of this +unfortunate, it was clear that it must have been some most adverse fate +which had sent this well-born stranger crashing down in amongst the +lower classes of the people. + +"'As we have said, this poor youth was lying in front of the pillars of +the Palace, with his head resting on his right arm, gazing motionless +far out to seaward with a fixed gaze, from which thought was absent. +One would have thought that life had left him, and that the death-agony +had turned him into a stone image, had he not sighed deeply now and +then, as in the most unutterable sorrow. This was probably from the +pain in his left arm, which he had stretched out on the pavement, and, +being wrapped in blood-stained rags, seemed to be badly hurt. + +"'All labour was at rest, the noise of business was silent; all Venice +was afloat in boats and gondolas, going to meet and welcome the +much-prized Falieri. Thus the unfortunate youth in question was sighing +forth his sufferings in uncomforted helplessness. But even as his weary +head sank back on the pavement, and he seemed near to fainting, a +hoarse, grating voice called, several times: + +"'"Antonio! my dear Antonio!" + +"At length he raised himself into a half-sitting position, and, turning +his head towards the pillars of the Palace, from behind which the voice +seemed to proceed, he said, in a faint, weary voice, scarcely audible: + +"'"Who is it who calls me? Who has come to cast my body into the sea? +For it will soon be all over with me." + +"Then an old, old woman, coughing and wheezing, and leaning on a stick, +came hobbling up to him, and, as she leant over him, broke out into a +repulsive, unpleasant kickering and laughing. + +"'"Silly boy!" she whispered; "going to die here, just when golden +good-fortune is dawning upon you? Look before you; look before you +there! That is all I ask of you! Look at those flames that light +up the evening sky. They are _zecchini_ for you. But you must +eat, dear Antonio; you must eat and drink. It is nothing but +hunger--fasting--that has brought you so low, and laid you down here +on the cold stones. Your arm is better now; better again now." + +"Antonio recognised in this old woman the strange beggar wife, who was +always sitting on the steps of the Franciscan Church, asking alms of +the pious, always chuckling and laughing as she did so; and to whom he +had often, from a strange indescribable inward inclination, thrown a +hard-earned _quattrino_: he had not a great many to spare. + +"'"Leave me in peace, crack-brained creature!" he said. "I suppose it +is fasting, more than the hurt, which makes me weak and miserable. I +haven't earned a single _quattrino_ for the last three days. I wanted +to go over to the monastery, to see if I could get a spoonful or two of +soup; but the comrades are all away. Not a soul would take me into his +boat for compassion. So I have fallen down here; very likely I shall +never get up again." + +"'"He-he-he-he!" snickered the old woman: "why despair at once and lose +heart? You are hungry and thirsty. There's help at hand for that. +Here's some nice dried fish, bought this morning at the Zecca. Here's +lemon-juice, and a nice white loaf. Eat, my son; eat and drink, my son! +and then we'll have a look at the wounded arm." + +"'She had taken the fish, the bread, and the lemon-juice out of the +sort of bag which she wore at her back, sticking up over her head +something like a cowl. As soon as Antonio had moistened his lips with +the lemon-juice his hunger awoke with redoubled might, and he eagerly +devoured the fish and the bread. The old woman meanwhile was busily +removing the bandages from his arm, when it was evident that, though +the hurt had been severe, it was healing now, fast. As she rubbed it +with a salve which she took out of a little box, warming it with her +breath, she said: + +"'"Who was it who gave you the blow, poor little son?" + +"'Antonio, refreshed, and aglow with new fire of life, had risen +upright. Raising his clenched right hand, he cried, with gleaming eyes: + +"'"That scoundrel Nicolo wanted to kill me, because he grudges and +envies me every _quattrino_ which any benevolent hand gives me. You +know that I used to gain a hard-earned livelihood by carrying cargo +from the ships and boats to the German's warehouse, the Fontego, as +they call it; you know the building, of course?" + +"'When Antonio pronounced the word "Fontego," the old woman began to +kicker and laugh in a horrible manner, and went on repeating the word +"Fontego, Fontego, Fontego," in a chattering, senseless way. + +"'"Silence that nonsensical laughter of yours, old lady, if I am to go +on with my story," Antonio cried. She was silent at once, and he +continued. + +"'"Well, I had earned a _quattrino_ or two, bought a new jacket, and +came among the gondoliers as one of themselves. And, because I was +always in good spirits, worked hard, and knew plenty of nice songs, I +earned many a _quattrino_ more than the others. And this awakened their +envy; they slandered me to my master, and he turned me away. Wherever I +went they cried "German dog! damned heretic!" after me; and three days +ago, when I was helping to haul a boat on shore near San Sebastiano, +they set upon me with stones and sticks. I defended myself like a man, +but that brute of a Nicolo hit at me with an oar, grazing my head, and +struck me so hard on the arm that he knocked me down. But now you have +filled me with a good meal, old lady; and there can be no doubt that I +feel your salve has done my arm good. See how I can move it; I shall be +able to row as well as ever almost directly." + +"'He had risen from the ground, and was swinging his hurt arm backwards +and forwards vigorously. But the old woman cackled and laughed loud +again, and cried, tripping and dancing about in narrow circles, in a +strange way: + +"'"Row! row! my little son! Row, like a man! It is coming! it is +coming!--the bright gold, glowing in grand flames! Row! row! like a +man!--just _once_ more, and then, never again." + +"'Antonio was paying no further attention to the old woman's +proceedings, for a splendid spectacle had now begun to be visible to +his eyes. Up from San Clemens the Bucentoro was advancing with +resounding stroke of oars, and the Lion of the Adriatic on her +fluttering standard; like some golden swan of powerful pinions, +surrounded by thousands of boats and gondolas, she seemed, as she +lifted her proud, royal head on high, to lord it over a jubilant +multitude which had arisen, with glittering heads, from the deep +abysses of the ocean. The evening sun was casting glowing rays over the +sea, and over Venice, so that everything lay steeped in naming fire. +But as Antonio, in utter forgetfulness of his troubles, was gazing at +this sight, the glow grew bloodier and bloodier. A sullen hum came +through the air, given back like some fearful echo by the deeps of the +sea. A storm came sweeping up on black clouds, shrouding everything in +thick darkness; the waves rose higher and higher, like hissing, foaming +monsters, threatening to overwhelm everything. The boats and the +gondolas were driven in all directions, like feathers before a gale. +The Bucentoro, unfit, from her build, to weather the squall, drove +hither and thither. Instead of the glad festive tones of the trumpets +and cornets, rose cries of terror from those in danger on board of her. + +"'Antonio looked before him in amazement. Close to him he heard a +clanking of chains. He looked down, and saw that there was a little +skiff made fast to the quay, bounding up and down on the surges. Like a +lightning-flash a thought struck his mind. He jumped into the skiff; +cast it adrift; took hold of the oars, and stood bravely out to sea, +making straight for the Bucentoro. The nearer he got to it, the more +distinctly he heard the cries for help of those on board-- + +"'"Save the Doge!--Save the Doge!" + +"'It is well known that, in squalls of this description, small boats +such as the one he was in are much more sea-worthy, and easier to +handle, than such large craft as the Bucentoro; and consequently many +of them came hurrying up from every direction to save the beloved +Marino Falieri. But it is the case, in this life, that the Eternal +Power always vouchsafes the success of a brave action to one alone, so +that others cumber themselves about it in vain. On this occasion the +rescue of the new Doge was allotted to Antonio, and therefore he, and +nobody else, succeeded in making his way, in his little fishing-boat, +to the Bucentoro. Old Falieri, well accustomed to dangers of this kind, +stepped with much coolness out of the magnificent but dangerous +Bucentoro into Antonio's boat, which bore him, lightly as a dolphin, +over the breaking waves, and landed him in a few minutes safe and sound +on the Piazza di San Marco. With dripping clothes, and great salt-drops +in his grey beard, the old man was taken into the church, where the +nobles, pale with alarm, concluded the ceremony of his triumphal entry. +The populace, as well as the Signoria, were wholly upset by this +unfortunate break-down of the triumphal entry. And, in addition to +this, the Doge, in his hurry and confusion, was led through between +the two columns where malefactors were usually put to death. In +consequence, Signoria and populace grew silent in the midst of their +rejoicing. The day, which had begun in such festivity, ended in sadness +and gloom. + +"'On the Doge's preserver nobody seemed to bestow a thought. Antonio +himself was not thinking about the matter; he was lying in the entrance +of the ducal palace, tired to death, half fainting from pain. It was +all the more marvellous to him when, as it was almost dark night, a +ducal halberdier took hold of him by the shoulder, and, with the words +"Come along, good friend," pushed him into the palace, and to the +Doge's chamber. The old man came up to him in a friendly manner, and, +pointing to several well-filled purses which were on the table, said: + +"'"You have behaved like a man, my good son. Here, take these three +thousand _zecchini_. If you want more, say so. But do me the favour +never to let me see your face again." + +"'As he spoke those latter words, sparks blazed from the old man's +eyes, and the point of his nose grew even redder than it was before. +Antonio did not see the old man's drift, but he did not let that +circumstance much trouble him; so he took up, with some difficulty, the +purses, thinking he had earned them very fairly. + +"'Shining in all the radiance of his newly-attained dignity, old +Falieri looked down next morning upon the populace, from one of the +windows of his palace, as they were crowding and thronging about, +practising warlike exercises and the carriage of weapons. Soon Bodoeri +who had been his most intimate friend from his earliest days--arrived; +and as Falieri was so absorbed in himself and in his grandeur that he +did not seem to notice him, he clapped his hands crying: + +"'"Hey, hey, Falieri! what are the sublime ideas brooding in that head +of yours, now that it wears the Doge's cap?" + +"'As if awakening from a dream, Falieri came to meet Bodoeri, +constraining himself to an appearance of friendliness. He felt that it +was to Bodoeri that he owed the cap in question, and his words had the +effect of being a slight reminder of that circumstance. But every +obligation pressed like an intolerable burden on his proud, overbearing +spirit, and as he could not turn upon the senior member of the Council, +and his own oldest friend, in the way in which he had sent Antonio +about his business, he constrained himself to a word or two of thanks, +and at once began to talk of the measures to be adopted against the +overweening enemy. + +"'Bodoeri gave a significant smile. "That," he said, "and the other +matters demanded of you by the State, we will maturely consider and +discuss, in full Council, an hour or two hence. I have not come here, +at this early hour of the day, to discover, with you, the measures +necessary for the checking of the presumptuous Doria, or for the +bringing to reason of Ludwig the Hungarian, whose chops are watering +for our Dalmatian sea-ports again. No, Falieri; I have been thinking of +yourself only--and, in fact, of what perhaps you would not imagine I +had been thinking of--of your marriage." + +"'"How could you think of such a thing?" said the Doge, in anger; and, +turning his back to Bodoeri, he looked out of the window. "It is a +long time to Ascension Day. By that time, I trust--the enemy being +conquered--victory, honour, new wealth, and brighter power will have +fallen to the share of the sea-born Lion of the Adriatic. My chaste +bride should find her bridegroom worthy of her." + +"'"Ah!" said Bodoeri; "you are speaking of the grand Feast of +Ascension, when you have to cast the golden ring from the Bucentoro +into the waves, and consider that you wed yourself to the Adriatic Sea. +But, Marino, you, who are the sea's kinsman, can you think of no other +bride than that cold, treacherous element, which you fancy you command, +but which rebelled against you in such a threatening manner only +yesterday? What pleasure can you imagine there should be found in the +arms of such a bride--a foolish, self-willed thing who, as soon as you, +gliding along in the Bucentoro, did but gently caress her chill, blue +cheek, rose up in storm and wrath? No, no, Marino; _my_ notion is that +you should marry the loveliest daughter of earth that can be +discovered." + +"'"My old friend," said Falieri, in a murmur, "this is a mere senile +dream of yours." As he spoke, he still looked out of the window. "An +old man of eighty, bent and worn with labour and anxiety, who has never +been married, can hardly be capable of love." + +"'"Stay," answered Bodoeri; "do not calumniate yourself. Does not +winter, for all his rawness and cold, at last stretch arms all longing +towards the beautiful goddess who comes to him borne on the wings of +the warm, gentle zephyrs? And when he clasps her to his chilled breast, +and the soft rapture runs through his members, where are his ice and +snow? You say you are nearly eighty; and it is true. But do you reckon +man's age merely by his years? Do you not hold your head as high and +walk with as firm a tread as you did forty years ago? Or perhaps you +feel (though I know you do not) that your strength has begun to fail; +that you have to wear a lighter sword; that a rapid pace wearies you; +that you cough and fetch breath as you mount the steps of the ducal +palace?" + +"'"By Heaven, I do not!" Falieri interrupted his friend, leaving the +window, and striding up to him with a rapid, vigorous step. "No, by +Heaven! I trace nothing of that." + +"'"Well then," said Bodoeri, "enjoy, with an old man's enjoyment, and +with all _your_ capacity for enjoyment, all the earthly pleasures which +are appointed for you. Take to you, as your Dogaressa, the wife whom I +have found for you; and in her the ladies of Venice will have to +recognise their first and foremost, in beauty and in every virtue, just +as the men must acknowledge you their master in valour, intellect, and +power." + +"'Here Bodoeri began to sketch the portrait of a lady; and he blended +the colours with such skill, and laid them on with such vividness, that +old Falieri's eyes sparkled, and his lips smacked as if he were +savouring beaker after beaker of fiery wine of Syracuse. + +"'"And who," he enquired, "is this paragon of loveliness?" + +"'"No other than my beloved niece," Bodoeri answered. + +"'"Your niece!" cried Falieri. "Why she was married to Bertuccio +Nenolo when I was Podesta of Treviso." + +"'"Ah," said Bodoeri, "you are thinking of my niece Francesca. But it +is her daughter whom I am talking of. You remember that the war brought +the rough, fierce Nenolo to his end, at sea. Francesca, in her sorrow, +immured herself in a convent at Rome, and I brought up little +Annunziata in deep retirement at my villa at Treviso." + +"'"What?" Falieri again impatiently interrupted; "you propose that I +should marry your niece's daughter? How long is it since Nenolo's +marriage? Let us see! Annunziata must be, at the outside, a child of +about ten! Nenolo's marriage was not even dreamt of when I was +appointed Podesta of Treviso; and that must be----" + +"'"Five-and-twenty years ago," cried Bodoeri. "Time has passed so +quickly with you that you forget how long that time was ago. Annunziata +is a girl of nineteen, beautiful as the sun, modest, gentle, +inexperienced in love, for she has scarcely seen a man. She will cling +to you with child-like affection, and utter devotion." + +"'"I must see her; I must see her," the Doge cried. The portrait of +her, limned by the astute Bodoeri, came back to his mind's eye. + +"'His wish was gratified that same day; for scarce had he returned from +the Council to his own abode when Bodoeri (who had abundant reasons of +his own for desiring to see his niece Dogaressa) brought the lovely +Annunziata to him in private. When old Falieri saw this beautiful young +creature he was astounded at her marvellous loveliness, and was +scarcely able, in stammering, unintelligible words, to ask her to marry +him. Annunziata, doubtless schooled beforehand by Bodoeri, fell on her +knees before the aged prince, with deep blushes on her cheeks. She took +his hand, pressed it to her lips, and said: + +"'"Oh, my liege! would you so far honour me as to raise me to your side +on this throne? I will revere you from the depths of my soul, and be +your true maid and servant till my life's end." + +"'Old Falieri was beside himself with rapture. When she took his hand +he felt all his members thrill; and then he began so to shake and +tremble with his head, and all his body, that he had to seat himself in +his great chair as quickly as ever he could. It seemed as though +Bodoeri's views concerning the greenness of the Doge's age were about +to be controverted. And he could not repress a strange smile which +twitched about his lips. The innocent Annunziata remarked nothing, and +there was no one present besides. It may have been that old Falieri +felt the undesirability of posing before the populace as the bridegroom +of a girl of nineteen; that a sense arose within him that there was a +certain risk in furnishing the Venetians--fond of fun and jesting--with +a subject such as this for their sallies; and that it was best to keep +the critical point of the date of his marriage in the shade. At all +events, it was determined, with Bodoeri's consent, that the wedding +should be celebrated in the profoundest secrecy, and that the Dogaressa +should, some days afterwards, be presented to the Signoria and populace +as having been long since married to Falieri, and recently come from +Treviso, where she had been waiting whilst he was absent on his mission +to the Papal Court. + +"'Let us turn our glance to this well-dressed young gentleman, +classically handsome, who is walking up and down the Rialto, with a +purse of _zecchini_ in his hand, talking with Jews, Turks, Greeks, and +Armenians; who turns aside his gloomy brow, stops, and at last steps +into a gondola and bids the gondoliers take him to the Palazzo di San +Marco. Arrived there, he strolls up and down, with folded arms, and +devious, uncertain step, with eyes fixed on the ground, unobservant, +not dreaming that many a whisper, many a clearing of the throat, from +many a window, and many a richly-draped balcony, are love-signals +directed to his address. It is not so very easy to recognize in this +youth the Antonio who, a few days ago, was lying in rags, poor and +miserable, on the marble pavement of the Dogana. + +"'"Little son!--my golden little son Antonio!--good-day! good-day!" the +old beggar-woman called out to him from the steps of St. Mark's, where +she was sitting, as he was pacing past her without taking any notice of +her. Turning quickly round and seeing her, he put his hand in his purse +and brought it out full of _zecchini_, which he was about to throw to +her. + +"'"Let your money stay where it is," she cried, with her usual cackling +laughter. "What do I want it for? Am I not rich enough? If you really +want to do me a kindness, get me a new hood; this one won't hold out +much longer against wind and weather. Yes! do that, my golden little +son. But keep away from the Fontego!--keep away from the Fontego!" + +"'He stared into her pale yellow face, where the wrinkles were all +twitching and working in a strange, gruesome fashion; and, as she went +on clapping her withered, "bony hands, and gabbling out, in a whining +tone, accompanied with her odd, repulsive chuckling, + +"'"Keep away from the Fontego!" + +"'Antonio cried, + +"'"Will nothing induce you to cease your idiotic nonsense, and behave +like a reasonable being, you old witch?" + +"'But the instant he uttered this, the old woman rolled from the top to +the bottom of the flight of lofty marble steps where she was sitting, +as if struck by a flash of lightning. Antonio darted up to her and +caught her in his arms, breaking her heavy fall. + +"'"Oh, little son! what a terrible word you used!" cried the old woman, +in a faint, tearful voice. "Oh! kill me rather than say that terrible +word again! Ah! you do not know how dreadfully you hurt me!--me, who +bear you so faithfully in my heart. Ah! you do not know----" + +"'She broke off suddenly, covered her head with the corner of her old +cloak, and sighed and whimpered as in the deepest sorrow. Antonio was +strangely moved: he took her in his arms, and carried her up the steps +to the portico of the church, where he set her down on a marble bench. + +"'"You were very kind to me," he said, releasing her head from the +folds of the cloak. "You were very kind to me. It is you whom I have to +thank for my good fortune. For if you had not helped me in my dire +necessity I should have been at the bottom of the sea at this moment. I +should never have rescued the Doge; I should never have got the +_zecchini_. But even if you never had done anything for me, I feel that +I must always have a strange, strong liking for you all my days, though +that extraordinary cackle of yours and your senseless style of +behaviour often make me feel plenty of inward gruesomeness with regard +to you. The fact is, old woman, that in the days when I was gaining a +mere livelihood by portering and rowing I always felt that I must work +harder than I otherwise should have had to do, just that I might have a +spare _quattrino_ now and then to give to you." + +"'"Oh, my Tonino! my golden little son!" she cried, lifting her +hands to heaven, so that her staff fell clattering down the marble +steps, and rolled far away; "oh, my Tonino! I know that, whatever +you think, you must always be devoted to me with your whole heart, +because----silence--silence--silence!" + +"'She bent stiffly down, in search of her staff; Antonio fetched it; +she leant her sharp chin upon it, and, fixing her eyes on the ground, +said, in a subdued, hollow voice: + +"'"Tell me, my child, have you no remembrance of the earlier time?--how +it passed?--how things were with you before you became a poor wretched +fellow here, scarce able to keep body and soul together?" + +"'Antonio heaved a profound sigh, sat down beside her, and said: + +"'"Ah, mother! I know but too well that my parents were in the most +prosperous circumstances; but as to who they were, or how I lost them, +not the faintest remembrance remains to me, or could remain to me. I +distinctly remember a tall, handsome man, who used to take me up in his +arms, and pet me, and give me sweetmeats; and also I recollect a kind, +pretty woman, who dressed me and undressed me, put me into a little +soft bed every evening, and was good to me in every way. They both +talked to me in a rich-sounding foreign language, and I myself used to +stammer many words of this language after them. In the days when I was +a boatman, my comrades--who hated me--used to say always that, from my +hair, my eyes, and the build of my body, I must be of German blood. I +think so too, and I have little doubt that the language of those people +who cared for me (I am certain the man was my father) was German. My +most vivid remembrance of those times is a picture of terror; of a +night when I was roused from a deep sleep by screams of anguish. People +were hurrying up and down in the house; doors kept opening and +shutting. I grew terribly frightened, and began to cry. Then the woman +who took care of me came rushing in, lifted me from my bed, stopped my +mouth, wrapped me in clothes, and ran with me from thence. From that +moment my memory is a blank, till I find myself again in a fine house, +surrounded by beautiful country. The image of a man comes out, whom I +called 'father,' and who was a stately gentleman, noble-looking and +kind. He, and every one in the house, spoke Italian. Once, when there +had been several weeks when I had not seen him, a day came when +repulsive-looking strangers arrived, who made a great disturbance, +turning everything upside down. When they saw me they asked who I was, +and what I was doing there. I said I was Antonio, the son of the house. +On my repeating this they laughed in my face, tore the clothes off my +back, and turned me out of doors, telling me that I should be beaten if +I showed my face there any more. I ran away, crying loudly. Scarce a +hundred paces from the house an old man met me whom I recognized as one +of my foster-father's servants. 'Come, Antonio; come, poor boy!' he +cried, taking me by the hand. 'That house is closed to both of us for +ever. We must do the best we can to get a bit of bread.' This old man +brought me here. Scarce had we come when I saw that he pulled out +_zecchini_ from his ragged doublet, and went up and down all day on the +Rialto, doing business, sometimes as a broker, sometimes as a merchant. +I had to be always close at his heels; and whenever he did a bit of +business, he always asked for a trifle for the _figliulo_, as he called +me. Everybody whom I looked boldly in the eyes would pull out a +_quattrino_ or two, which he used to pocket with much satisfaction, +stroking my cheeks, and saying he was saving them up to buy me a new +doublet. I was happy enough with this old man, whom people called +'Father Bluenose,' I don't know why. + +"'"You remember that terrible time when one day the earth began to +tremble; when the palaces and the towers wavered backwards and forwards +as if shaken to their foundations, and the bells tolled as if swayed by +invisible giant arms. It must be about seven years ago; or not quite so +long. Fortunately the old man and I escaped in safety from the house +where we were living; it fell almost about our ears. But this terrible +event was merely the announcement of the coming of the monster which +soon breathed its poison over town and country. It was known that the +plague, which had been brought to Sicily from the Levant, had reached +Tuscany. Venice was still free from it. One day Father Bluenose was +bargaining on the Rialto with an Armenian. They settled their business, +and shook hands warmly. Bluenose had sold some goods at a favourable +rate to the Armenian, and, as usual, asked for a trifle for the +'_figliulo_.' The Armenian--a big strong man, with a thick, curly beard +(I see him before me at this moment)--looked kindly at me, kissed me, +and took out a _zecchino_ or two, which he put into my hand, and which +I quickly pocketed. We took a gondola to go over to San Marco. As we +were crossing, the old man asked me to give him the money, and I don't +know why it was that I came to maintain that I ought to keep it myself, +because the Armenian had wished me to do so. The old man was angry; +but, as he was arguing with me, I noticed that his face took on a +horrible, earthy-yellow colour, and that he mixed up all sorts of wild +incoherent things in what he was saying. When we landed at the Piazza +he staggered about like a drunken man, till, just in front of the Ducal +Palazzo, he fell down dead. I threw myself on his body with loud +outcries of grief. The people came running up; but the terrible cry +'The plague! the plague!' broke out, and they all went scattering away +in every direction. At the same instant I was seized by a dull +stupefaction, and my senses left me. When I awoke from this condition I +found myself in a spacious chamber, on a little mattress, covered with +a woollen rug. Around me some twenty or thirty pale forms were lying, +on similar mattresses. Afterwards I learned that some compassionate +monks, who happened to be passing at the time of my seizure, finding +some traces of life in me, had taken me to a gondola and over to the +Monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore, where the Benedictines had +established an hospital. But how can I ever describe to you, old woman, +that moment when I came back to consciousness? The fury of the disease +had completely taken away from me all memory of the past. As if life +had suddenly come to some statue, I possessed only the consciousness of +the present moment, knitted on to nothing besides. You may fancy what +disconsolateness this condition--only to be called a consciousness +floating in vacant space, with nothing to hold on to--brought to me. +The monks could only tell me that I had been found beside Father +Bluenose, whose son I was supposed to be. My thoughts collected +themselves by slow degrees, so that I remembered something of my former +life. But what I have told you is all I know of it; nothing but one or +two detached pictures, without connection or coherency. Alas! this +disconsolate sense of being alone in the world keeps me from all +happiness, well as things are going with me now." + +"'"Tonino, my dear! content yourself with what the bright present-time +affords you," the old woman said. + +"'"Be quiet," he answered. "There is something more, which makes my +life wretched, continually tortures me, and will, sooner or later, be +my destruction. Ever since I awoke to consciousness in the hospital, an +unutterable longing, a yearning, which consumes my very heart, for a +something which I can neither name nor understand, has continually +filled my whole being. When I used to throw myself down at night on my +hard bed, poor and wretched, worn and broken by the bitter labour of +the day, there came a dream, fanning my fevered brow, and giving back +to me, in gentle whisperings, all the bliss of a brief moment of utter +happiness, which the Eternal Power permitted me to realize in my +fancy--for the consciousness that I did once possess it rests ever in +the depths of my heart. I sleep on soft cushions now, and bitter labour +no longer consumes my strength. But when I awake from my dream, or +when, in the waking state, the consciousness of that moment comes into +my soul, I feel that my poor, wretched existence is, to me, now as +then, an unbearable burden which I long to shake away from me. All +reflection, all researching, are in vain. I can not fathom what, so +gorgeously happy, occurred to me in my early life, of which the dim +reflected echo--incomprehensible to me, alas!--fills me with such +delight. But this delight becomes burning torture when I am compelled +to recognize the truth that every hope of finding that Eden again--nay, +of even searching for it--is over. Can there be traces of that which +has disappeared _without_ a trace?" + +"'Antonio ceased speaking, and sighed profoundly from the depths of his +heart. + +"'During his narration the old woman had borne herself as one who is +wholly carried away by the pain of another, and, like a mirror, +reflects every movement to which that other is constrained by his +suffering. + +"'"Tonino! dear Tonino!" she now said, in a tearful voice; "why do you +despair because something delightful, of which you have lost the +memory, happened to you in early life? Silly boy! Silly boy! Listen! +he, he, he." + +"'And she commenced her usual disagreeable kickering and laughing, as +she danced about on the marble pavement. People came--she crouched down +again--they gave her alms. + +"'"Antonio, Antonio!" she cried, "take me to the sea, take me to the +sea!" + +"'Antonio, scarce knowing what he was doing, lifted her in his arms and +carried her slowly across the Piazza di San Marco. As they went, she +murmured, softly and solemnly-- + +"'"Antonio, you see those dark stains of blood on the ground here? Yes, +yes; quantities of blood, everywhere! But he, he, he! out of the blood +grow roses--beautiful red roses! garlands for you, for your darling! +Oh, thou Lord of Life! what a beautiful angel comes to him, with the +loveliest smiles, opening her lily arms to take him to her heart! Oh, +Antonio, fortunate boy, play the man, play the man! and myrtle shall +you gather in the sweet evening tide. Myrtle for your bride--for the +virgin widow--he, he, he! Myrtle gathered in the red light of evening, +to blossom in the deep midnight. List to the whisper of the night wind, +to the longing sighs of the summer sea! Row! Row! Work your oar, +doughty boatman! Row, row! sturdily on!" + +"'Antonio was filled with a sense of deep awe at those words of the old +woman, which she murmured in a strange voice, different from her usual +one, chuckling all the while. They had come to the pillar which bears +the Adriatic Lion. The old woman, murmuring still, wanted to be carried +further; but Antonio, pained at her behaviour, and jeered at by the +passers-by on the score of this strange 'dama' of his, stopped, and +said, rather harshly-- + +"'"There, old woman! I shall set you down on those steps. Oh _do_ stop +that chatter of yours! I feel as though it would turn my head! It is +true you saw my _zecchini_ in the flame-pictures of the clouds; but +just for that reason, what are you chattering of an angel, a bride, a +virgin widow, roses, myrtles? Would you befool me, horrible creature, +so that some mad deed shall hurl me down into the abyss? A new cloak +you shall have, bread, _zecchini_, everything you want. But let _me_ +alone!" + +"'He was making rapidly off, but she seized him by the mantle, and +cried out in piercing tones-- + +"'"Tonino, my Tonino, only look at me carefully once again, or I must +crawl to the brink of the Piazza there, and throw myself into the sea." + +"'Antonio, to avoid drawing more enquiring regards upon him than those +which were bent upon him already, paused in his flight. + +"'"Tonino," she said, "sit down beside me here. It is breaking my +heart. I _must_ tell it to you. Oh, sit down here beside me!" + +"'He sat down therefore on the steps with his back turned to her, and +took out his pocket-book, of which the blank leaves shewed how little +attention he paid to his business transactions on the Rialto. + +"'"Tonino," she said, "when you look at this wrinkled face of mine, +does not the faintest gleam dawn within you of a sense that you may +have known me in your very early days?" + +"'"I have told you already," he answered, in a whisper like her own, +"that I feel drawn to you in a manner inexplicable to myself; but your +ill-favoured, wrinkled face has nothing to do with that. Rather, when I +look at your strange black flashing eyes, your pointed nose, your blue +lips, your long chin, your streaming ice-grey hair--when I listen to +your horrible cackling and laughing, and the strange, incoherent things +you say, I could almost turn from you with horror, and fancy that it is +some unholy art which you have at your command that draws me to you." + +"'"Oh, Lord of Heaven!" she cried; "what evil spirit of hell suggests +such thoughts to you? Ah, Tonino! the woman who cared for you and +tended you in your infancy, who saved your life on that night of +terror, was I!" + +"'In the sudden terror of his amazement he turned quickly round. But +when he looked in her horrible face, he angrily cried-- + +"'"Do you think you can befool me thus, you wicked old lunatic? The few +pictures from my childhood which remain with me are vivid and fresh. +That fine, handsome woman who took care of me--oh! I see her before my +eyes distinctly. She had a full face, with a rich colour, eyes with a +gentle, mild look in them, beautiful dark-brown hair, pretty hands; +she could not have been more than thirty; and you--an old hag of +ninety----" + +"'"Oh, all ye saints!" she interrupted, with sobs; "what am I to do to +get my Tonino to believe that I am his faithful Margareta?" + +"'"'Margareta'!" murmured Antonio; "'Margareta'! the name falls upon my +ear like music heard long ago, and long forgotten. But can it be +possible? It _cannot_ be possible." + +"'She went on more tranquilly, with eyes fixed on the ground, on which +she traced marks and figures with the point of her staff. "The tall, +handsome man who petted you, carried you in his arms, and gave you +sweetmeats really was your father, Antonio; and it _was_ the beautiful +rich-toned German that we spoke. He was a well-known merchant of +Augsburg. His beautiful wife died when you were born. He left the place +because he could not bear to stay where she was buried, and came to +Venice, bringing one, your nurse, your faithful foster-mother, with +him. On that terrible night, which you remember, your father sank +beneath a dreadful fate, which threatened you also. I managed to save +you. A Venetian noble adopted you; and as I had nothing to live on, I +was obliged to stay on in Venice. My father, a surgeon, whom people +accused of practising forbidden arts as well, taught me hidden +secrets of Nature. As we roamed through the fields and meadows he +told me the properties of many a health-giving plant, of many an +insignificant-looking moss, the hours when they ought to be gathered, +the different ways of mingling their juices. But to this knowledge was +added a special gift, with which Heaven, in its inscrutable providence, +has endowed me. I have the power of often seeing future events, as it +were, in a far-away dim mirror; and, almost without any will of my own, +at such times the unknown Power, which I cannot resist, constrains me +to speak what I thus see, in words often unintelligible to myself. Left +alone in Venice, abandoned by all the world, I bethought me of gaining +my bread by this power of mine. I cured the most dangerous diseases and +maladies in a very short time; and as the mere sight of me produced a +favourable effect upon the sick, a gentle stroking with my hands often +brought on a favourable crisis in a few moments. So my fame was soon +noised abroad through the place, and abundance of money flowed in upon +me. Then awoke the envy of the doctors, the _ciarlatani_, who sold +their pills and potions on the Rialto, the Piazza di San Marco, and the +Zecca, and poisoned the sick instead of curing them. They said I was in +league with the Evil One, and the superstitious folk believed them. +Soon I was apprehended, and brought before the ecclesiastical +tribunals. Oh, my Antonio! how terrible were the tortures with which +they tried to make me admit that this accusation was true. But I was +steadfast. My hair turned white, my body crumpled up to a mummy, my +feet and my hands were paralysed. Then came the rack--that most +ingenious of all inventions of the Spirit of Hell. And this dragged +from me an avowal at the thought of which I still shudder with horror. +They were going to burn me; but when the earthquake shook the +foundations of the palaces and the great prison, the doors of the +underground cell where I was opened of themselves, and I tottered out +of that deep grave through among the stones and rubbish. Ah, Tonino! +you called me an old hag of ninety; but I am scarcely more than fifty +at this day. This skeleton of a body, these crippled feet, this +snow-white hair--ah! not years, but unspeakable tortures transformed +the strong robust woman to a scarecrow in a few moons. And this +repulsive cackling laughter was forced out of me by that final terrible +torture, at the remembrance of which my hair still stands on end, and +my body burns as in a coat of red-hot mail. Ever since then it comes +upon me involuntarily, like a continual, irresistible spasm. Don't be +afraid of me any more, my Tonino. Ah, your heart told you long since +that you lay upon my breast as a little boy." + +"'"Woman," said Antonio, "I feel that I must believe you. But who was +my father? What was his name? What was the terrible destiny which +overwhelmed him on that awful night? Who was he who adopted me? What +was it which happened in my life that still controls all my being, like +some mighty spell from some strange, unknown world, so that all my +thoughts flow away from me into some dark ocean of night? Answer all +these questions, mysterious woman; and then I shall believe you." + +"'"Tonino," she said, "for your own sake I _must_ keep silence; but +soon, soon it will be time. The Fontego! the Fontego! Keep away from +the Fontego!" + +"'"Ah!" he cried angrily; "I want no more of your dark sayings, to +tempt me with your unholy arts. My heart will break! You _shall_ +speak--or----" + +"'"No, no," she pleaded, "don't threaten me! I am your nurse--your +foster-mother----" + +"'But, not waiting to hear further, Antonio rose and hurried quickly +away. From a distance he called to her, "You shall have your new cloak, +and _zecchini_ into the bargain, as many as you like." + +"'To see the old Doge Marino Falieri with his youthful consort was a +wonderful sight enough. He, strong and robust enough, no doubt, but +with his grey beard, and his bronzed red face covered with a thousand +wrinkles, stepping pathetically along, keeping his head and neck erect +with some difficulty; she, loveliness personified, an angelic +expression of goodness and kindliness in her heavenly face, charm, +irresistible in her longing eyes, nobleness and dignity on her open, +lily forehead, shaded by the dark tresses, sweet smiles upon lips and +cheeks, her little head bending in exquisite meekness; bearing her +slender figure gracefully and lightsomely as she moved along--a +beautiful creature, belonging to another, higher world. Yon know the +type of angel which the old painters had the skill to imagine and +represent. Such was Annunziata. No one who saw her could fail to be +amazed and enraptured. The hearts of the fiery youths among the +Signoria blazed up in brightest flame; each, as he surveyed the old man +with mocking glances, vowed in his own breast to play the Mars to this +Vulcan, at whatever cost. Annunziata was soon the centre of a group of +adorers to whose flattering speeches she listened in courteous silence, +without paying much heed to them, one way or another. Her angelic +purity had suffered her to form no other conception of her relation to +her aged, princely consort than to reverence him as her lord and +master, and cleave to him with the unconditional faithfulness of a +submissive handmaid. He was kind--nay, tender with her. He pressed her +to his icy breast, called her fond names, gave her every sort of costly +present; what more could she desire of him? what further claim had she +upon him? The idea of being faithless to him could take no form within +her. All that lay beyond the restricted circle of the relationship +above set forth was a foreign region, whose forbidden boundaries lay +shrouded in dark mist, unseen, undreamt of by this pure and pious +child. All suit for her favour was fruitless. But none of her adorers +was so violently fired by love for the beautiful Dogaressa as Michaele +Steno. Young as he was, he held the important and influential position +of a member of the Council of Forty. Building upon this, and upon his +personal beauty, he was certain of victory. Of old Falieri he felt no +fear. Indeed the latter seemed, as soon as he was married, to have +wholly laid aside his fierce ebullient irritability and his rough +untameable wildness of disposition. He would sit by the fair +Annunziata's side, dressed out in the richest attire, smiling and +smirking, appearing to ask people, with gentle glances of his grey eyes +(to which the tears would often rise), if any of _them_ could boast of +such a wife. In place of his former domineering style of talking, he +now spoke very gently, scarcely moving his lips, calling every one +"_Carissimo Mio_," and granting the most preposterous petitions. Who +would have recognized, in this tender, affectionate old man, that +Falieri who, in Treviso, on the feast of Corpus Christi, smote the +bishop on the face, in a rage--the conqueror of the formidable +Morbassan? This ever-increasing gentleness stimulated Michaele Steno to +the maddest undertakings. Annunziata had no comprehension of what +Michaele--who persecuted and pursued her continually with words and +glances--wanted of her. She maintained her uniform, gentle +peacefulness; and the very hopelessness engendered by this constantly +unchanging attitude of hers drove him to despair. He planned the vilest +measures. He succeeded in establishing a love affair with Annunziata's +most trusted lady-in-waiting, who at last allowed him to pay her +nocturnal visits. He thought this was a paving of the way to +Annunziata's own unprofaned chamber; but it was Heaven's will that this +vileness should recoil on the head of him who devised it. + +"It chanced, one night, that the Doge--who had just received the news +of Nicolo Pisani's having been beaten in the engagement with Doria at +Portelongo--was walking about the halls of the palace in much distress +and anxiety, unable to sleep. He saw a shadow, apparently coming from +Annunziata's chamber, creeping towards the staircase. He hastened up to +it; it was Michaele Steno, coming from his inamorata. A terrible +thought struck Falieri; with a cry of "Annunziata," he rushed at Steno +with a naked stiletto. But Steno--stronger and more active than +the old man--avoided the thrust, threw the Doge to the ground by a +smart blow of his fist, and dashed down the steps, laughing aloud, +and crying "Annunziata! Annunziata!" The old man raised himself, and +made for Annunziata's chamber, with flames of hell in his heart. +Everything there was silent as the grave. He knocked. A stranger +lady-in-waiting--not the one who usually slept near Annunziata's +room--opened the door. + +"'"What are my princely consort's wishes at this late, unwonted hour of +the night?" said Annunziata, in a calm, angelically sweet voice, as she +came out, hurriedly attired in a light night-robe. The old man gazed +hard at her--then raised his hands to heaven, and cried-- + +"'"No! It is impossible, it is impossible!" + +"'"What is impossible, my lord?" she asked, amazed at the Doge's +hollow, solemn accents. But Falieri, without answering her, turned to +the lady-in-waiting-- + +"'"Why is it you are sleeping here to-night instead of Luigia?" + +"'"Your Highness," the girl answered, "Luigia wished to exchange duties +with me to-night; she is sleeping in the front chamber on the +staircase." + +"The Doge hastened to the room indicated. Luigia opened to his loud +knocking, and when she saw her master's face glowing with anger, and +his eyes flashing fire, she fell on her knees and confessed her fault, +as to which an elegant pair of gentleman's gloves on a chair (their +perfume of ambergris betrayed their owner) left no room for doubt. Much +irritated at Steno's atrocious licentiousness, the Doge wrote to him +next morning, commanding him to avoid all approach to the palace and +the Dogaressa, on pain of banishment. Steno was furious at the +miscarriage of his deep-laid plot, and the shame of banishment from his +idol. And as he could not but see, from his enforced distance, that the +Dogaressa spoke gently and courteously (as was her nature) with other +young members of the Signoria, his envy and the wicked violence of his +passion made him think that she had refused to listen to him because +others had been before him, with better fortune. He had the effrontery +to speak of this loudly and in public. + +"'Whether it was that old Falieri heard of these shameless sayings, +that the remembrance of that night came to him in the guise of a +warning hint of destiny, or that, whilst fully convinced of his lady's +uprightness, and while savouring to the full all the comfort and +happiness falling to his share, he nevertheless saw, in a clear light, +the extent of the danger arising from the unnatural relations between +them, the fact was that he became sullen and irritable. All the +thousand demons of jealousy tortured him sorely. He shut Annunziata up +in the inner chambers, and nobody was allowed to see her. Bodoeri took +his grandniece's part, and took Falieri soundly to task. But he would +hear of no alteration in his system of conduct. + +"'All this happened shortly before Giovedi Grasso. Now it was the +custom that, on that great Festa, which the populace celebrated on the +Piazza di San Marco, the Dogaressa sat beside the Doge under a canopy +erected over one of the lesser galleries overlooking the Piazza. +Bodoeri reminded him of this, and thought and urged that if he excluded +Annunziata from taking her part in this ceremony, against all use and +wont, it would be in very bad taste, and he would be much ridiculed by +both Signoria and populace for his preposterous jealousy. + +"'Old Falieri's sense of honour suddenly woke up. "Think you," he said, +"that I am such an idiotic old fool as to hesitate to shew my precious +jewel, lest I should not be able to keep thievish hands at bay with my +good sword? No, old lord, you are mistaken. To-morrow I and Annunziata +shall cross the Piazza di San Marco, in habits of ceremony; the people +shall see their Dogaressa; and on Giovedi Grasso she shall receive from +the hands of the daring gondolier who lowers himself down to her +through the air the flowers which it is the custom she should so +accept." + +"'The old custom which the Doge was alluding to was that, on Giovedi +Grasso, some daring man of the people ascended, by ropes extending from +the water to the top of the tower of San Marco, in a machine in the +form of a little ship, and then shot down, with the speed of an arrow, +to where the Doge and Dogaressa were seated, and handed her a bouquet +of flowers. If the Doge were alone, it was handed to him. + +"'Next day the Doge did as he had said he would. Annunziata had to put +on her most gorgeous robes of state and pass, with Falieri, escorted by +the Signoria, and attended by guards and pages of honour, across the +crowded Piazza di San Marco. People shoved and crowded their lives out +almost to get a glance at the beautiful Dogaressa, and, when they saw +her, they thought they had been in Paradise, and beheld the loveliest +of all the angels therein. According to the nature of the Venetians, +amid all the wildest outbreaks of the maddest delight, plenty of +facetious and jocular sayings and rhymes were to be heard, touching +outspokenly enough on the theme of the old Falieri and his young wife. +He seemed to pay no heed to them, however, pacing along as pathetically +as you please at Annunziata's side, divested, for the time, of all +jealousy (although he saw glances of burning admiration bent upon her +on every side), every feature of his face smirking and smiling with +complacency. Before the principal gate of the palace the guards had +some difficulty in dividing the crowd, so that when the Doge passed in +with his consort there were only small groups standing about of the +better dressed citizens, whom it was not so easy to keep out of the +inner court. And, at the moment when the Dogaressa entered this inner +court, a young man, who was standing there in the pillared passage, +with a few other persons, suddenly cried, "Oh, Thou God of Heaven!" and +fell down senseless on the marble pavement. Everybody rushed up and +surrounded him, so that the Dogaressa could not see him. But when he +fell, a glowing dagger-thrust went through her heart; she turned pale, +and tottered; and nothing but the scent bottles of the women who +hurried up to her prevented her from fainting. Old Falieri, shocked and +terrified, wished the young man in question, and this attack of his, at +the devil, and helped his Annunziata--hanging her head, with closed +eyes, over her breast, like a wounded dove--up the stairway, into the +inner chamber. + +"'Meanwhile a strange sight was seen by those of the crowd who had +crushed into the inner court of the palace. The young man (who was +supposed to be dead) was about to be carried away, when an old, hideous +beggar-woman, in rags, came hobbling up with loud outcries of sorrow, +elbowed a passage for herself through the thickest of the crowd, and, +on reaching the young man, who was lying insensible, cried-- + +"'"Let him alone, you fools! let him alone! He is not dead." She +cowered down, took his head into her lap, and stroked his brow, calling +him by the fondest names. + +"At sight of the horrible, hideous face of the old hag bending over the +beautiful features of the young man, which seemed to be petrified in +death (whereas a repulsive muscular twitching played over hers); her +dirty rags fluttering above the handsome dress which he had on; her +withered, brown-yellow arms trembling about his brow and his bared +bosom, everyone thrilled with an inward horror. It seemed as though he +was lying in the arms of the grinning form of Death itself. The people +who were standing round crept, one by one, away, and but a very few +were left when at length he opened his eyes with a deep sigh. At the +old woman's request they carried him to the Grand Canal, where he was +placed in a gondola, and, with the old woman, conveyed across the water +to the house which she indicated as his dwelling. + +"'I need not explain to you that the young man was Antonio, and the old +woman the beggar who said she was his old nurse. + +"'When he had come to his senses, and saw by his bedside the old woman +(who had given him some strengthening drops), he said--after fixing for +a long while a melancholy gaze upon her--in a hollow voice, sustained +with difficulty: + +"'"You are with me, Margareta! That is well. Where should I find a +more faithful nurse? Oh! forgive me, mother, that I--a weak, foolish +boy--should have doubted, even for a moment, what you revealed to me. +Yes, yes! you _are_ that Margareta who nursed me. I always knew that it +was so. But the Devil confused my thoughts. I have seen _her_--it was +she--it was she! I told you that there was some dark spell within me, +controlling me in a manner that I could not comprehend. It has come +gleaming out of the darkness now, with noonday brilliance, to +annihilate me, in nameless rapture. I know all now--everything! Was not +Bertuccio Nenolo my foster-father, who brought me up at a country house +near Treviso?" + +"'"Ah, yes!" she said; "Bertuccio Nenolo it was, the grand sea-hero, +whom the ocean swallowed, just as he thought to place the laurel-wreath +on his brow." + +"'"Do not interrupt me," he continued. "Hear me patiently out. Things +went well with me while I lived with Bertuccio Nenolo. I wore fine +clothes. Whenever I was hungry, the table was always laid. When I had +said my three little prayers, I might go out and roam about in the +woods and meadows as I chose. Close to the house there was a dark wood +of pines, full of perfume and music. I lay down there one evening, as +the sun was sinking, weary with running about, under a great tree, and +gazed up at the blue sky. Whether it was the earthy scent of the herbs +that was the cause I do not know, but my eyes closed, and I sunk into a +dreamy reverie, from which I was roused by the sound of something +striking the ground close beside me, in the grass. I started up. A +child, with the face of an angel, was standing beside me. She looked +down upon me with a heavenly smile, and said in a sweet voice-- + +"'"How softly and quietly you were sleeping, you dear boy; and yet +death was very near to you--a horrible death." + +"'"Close to my breast I saw a small black snake, with its head +shattered. The girl had killed it with the branch of a nut tree just as +it was going to strike at me. I trembled, in a delicious awe. I knew +that angels often came from Heaven to rescue human beings from the +attacks of enemies. I fell on my knees. I raised my clasped hands. "Ah! +you are an angel," I cried, "whom the Lord hath sent to deliver me from +death! "The beautiful creature stretched her arms to me, and whispered, +with rosy blushes suffusing her cheeks-- + +"'"No, you dear boy! I am not an angel. I am only a girl--a child, like +yourself." + +"'"My reverential awe passed into unspeakable rapture. I rose; we +clasped each other in our arms; we pressed our lips upon each other's, +speechless, weeping, sobbing, in delicious, nameless pain. A voice, +clear as silver, culled through the trees, 'Annunziata! Annunziata!' + +"'"I must leave you now, you darling boy; my mother is calling me," +whispered the girl. An unspeakable pain pierced my heart. + +"'"Oh, I do so love you!" I sobbed out, while the girl's hot tears fell +burning on my cheeks. + +"'"I am so fond of you, darling boy," the girl cried, pressing a +parting kiss on my lips. + +"'"Annunziata!" the voice called again, and the girl disappeared among +the trees. Margareta! that was the moment when that mighty love flame +passed into my soul, which will for ever burn on there, always kindling +fresh flame. A few days after this I was driven away from that house. +Father Bluenose said (when I could never cease talking of the angel +that had appeared to me, whose sweet voice I heard in the rustling of +the trees, in the purling of the streams, in the mystic sighs of the +sea) that the girl could have been none other than Nenolo's daughter +Annunziata, who had come with her mother the day before, and had gone +away on the day following. "Oh, mother Margareta! this Annunziata is +the Dogaressa!" + +"'Antonio hid his face in his pillow, and sobbed and wept in +inexpressible pain. + +"'"Dear Tonino," the old woman answered, "be a man, and resist this +foolish pain bravely. No one should despair in love troubles. To whom +do Hope's golden blossoms bloom but to those who love? At evening one +docs not know what the morning will bring. What we see in dreams comes +to pass in our lives. The castle which floated in the clouds stands, +all in a moment, on the earth, bright and glorious. You do not believe +in my sayings; but my little finger tells me (and somebody else, I dare +say, into the bargain) that the bright banner of Love is coming +fluttering towards you, with gladsome wavings, over the sea. Have +patience, my son Tonino, have patience." + +"'In such sort did the old woman try to comfort poor Antonio, to whom +her words sounded like beautiful music. He did not allow her to quit +him any more. The beggar of the Franciscan porch disappeared, and in +her stead people saw Antonio's housekeeper, in good clothes, limping +about San Marco, and buying the household necessaries. + +"'Giovedi Grasso came; the fetes in celebration of it were to be more +brilliant than usual. In the middle of the lesser Piazza di San Marco a +lofty scaffold was erected for a special display of fireworks, of a +sort unseen hitherto, which a Greek, versed in the mysteries of such +matters, was going to exhibit. When the evening came, old Falieri +mounted to the gallery with his beautiful wife, mirroring himself in +the splendour of her loveliness, and of his own happiness, with radiant +glances, challenging all beholders to amazed admiration. Just as he was +about to seat himself on his throne, however, he saw that Michaele +Steno was in the same gallery, so placed that he had the Dogaressa +continually in his sight, and that she must necessarily see him. +Burning with wild anger and mad jealousy, Falieri screamed out +imperiously that Steno must be immediately turned out of that gallery. +Steno raised his arm at Falieri; but the guards forced him away, +gnashing his teeth in fury, and threatening vengeance with frightful +imprecations. + +"'Meanwhile Antonio, whom the sight of his beloved Annunziata had set +wholly beside himself, had made his way through the crowd, and, with a +thousand torments in his heart, was pacing alone in the dark night, up +and down beside the sea. He was thinking whether it would not be better +to extinguish the flame which consumed him in the ice-cold waves than +to be slowly tortured to death by inconsolable sorrow and pain. A small +thing would have made him throw himself into the sea. He was standing +on the last of the steps which led down to it, when a voice, coming +from a little boat, cried: + +"'"Ah! a fair good evening, Signor Antonio!" + +"'In the light reflected from the palace, Antonio recognised the merry +Pietro, one of his former comrades, standing in the boat, feathers and +gold leaf on his shining head-dress, his new striped jacket decked with +gay ribbons, and a great, beautiful bouquet of exquisite flowers in his +hand. + +"'"Good evening, Pietro," answered Antonio. "What grand folks are you +going to row to-night, that you are dressed so gaily?" + +"'"Well, Signor Antonio," said Pietro, getting up, so that the boat +rocked under him, "I'm going to earn three _zecchini_. I'm bound for +the top of the tower of San Marco, and then down again, to hand those +flowers to the beautiful Dogaressa." + +"'"Is not this to risk your neck, comrade Pietro?" Antonio enquired. + +"'"Well," said Pietro, "of course one risks one's neck more or less. +And then, _this_ time, one has to go up in the middle of all those +confounded fireworks! The Greek _does_ say that they won't singe a hair +of one's whiskers. Still----" and Pietro gave a shrug. + +"'Antonio had got into the boat beside him, and now saw that he was +close to the machinery, and the rope which rose out of the sea. Other +ropes, for moving the machinery, went disappearing off in the darkness. + +"'"Listen, comrade Pietro," said Antonio, after a brief silence; "would +it not suit you better to earn ten _zecchini_, and not risk your life?" + +"'"Of course," said Pietro, with a hearty laugh. + +"'"Well," said Antonio, "here are ten _zecchini_; change clothes with +me, and let me take your place. I'll go aloft instead of you. Do, now, +good comrade Pietro!" + +"'Pietro shook his head dubiously, and, weighing the money in his hand, +said: "You are very kind, Signer Antonio, to call a poor devil like me +your comrade still; and you are generous too. I want the money, of +course; but what one risks his neck for is the putting the flowers into +the beautiful Dogaressa's hand, and hearing her sweet voice. But +however, as it is _you_, Signer Antonio, be it as you wish." + +"'They changed clothes rapidly, and scarcely was this done when Pietro +cried, "Get into the machine; there goes the signal!" + +"At that moment the sea glowed with the flaming reflection of thousands +of flashes, and the shores re-echoed to thousands of crackling +detonations. Antonio flew up, with the rapidity of the storm-wind, +amongst the crackling, hissing fireworks, reached the gallery without +so much as a singe, and hovered before the Dogaressa, She had risen and +come forward; he felt her breath on his cheek--he handed her the +flowers; but, blissful as that instant was with the most unutterable +rapture of heaven, the burning torture of love seized him as with +red-hot arms. Out of his senses--mad with longing, rapture, torture--he +seized the Dogaressa's hand, pressed burning kisses on it, and cried, +in a tone of inconsolable sorrow, "Annunziata!" Then the machinery, +like a blind minister of destiny, tore him away from her, down to the +sea, where he fell into Pietro's arms--who was waiting for him in the +boat--stupefied and exhausted. + +"'Meanwhile in the Doge's gallery all was uproar and confusion. A +little written paper had been found, fastened to the Doge's chair, on +which were the following words, in the popular dialect of Venice: + + "'"Il Dose Falier della bella muier, + I altri la gode, e lui la mantien." + + "'"The Doge, old Falier, sits in state with the fair + Who of love takes her fill, while my lord pays the bill." + +"Old Falieri started up in glowing anger, and swore that the direst +punishment should be the lot of the person who committed this insulting +outrage. As he looked round him, his eyes lighted on Michaele Steno +standing below the gallery, on the Piazza, in the full blaze of the +illuminations. He immediately ordered the guards to seize him, as the +culprit. Every one protested against this order; for the Doge, by thus +yielding to his anger, was outraging both the Signoria and the +populace--interfering with the privileges of the former, spoiling the +Festa for the latter. The Signoria quitted their places, Bodoeri alone +remaining, and mingling with the populace, speaking eagerly of the +bitter insult to the Chief of the State, and trying to turn all the +anger upon Steno. Falieri had not been mistaken; for it was the truth +that Steno, when ordered away from the Doge's gallery, had hurried home +and written the paper in question, which he had afterwards fastened to +the Doge's seat when all eyes were fixed on the fireworks, and then +gone away again unnoticed. He had devised this resentful trick very +artfully and maliciously; it struck at the hearts of both Doge and +Dogaressa, wounding them to the core. He at once admitted his deed, +laying all the blame on the Doge, who had insulted him so bitterly in +the first instance. The Signoria had long been dissatisfied with a +chief who, instead of fulfilling the just expectations of the State, +daily gave proof that the fiery, warlike spirit in his chilled and +enfeebled heart was too much like the train of sparks which rush +crackling out of the rocket, but immediately die away into dead, +useless spots of black charcoal. In addition to this, his marriage to +his lovely wife (it had long been discovered that it had only taken +place after his appointment as Doge), and his jealousy, made him much +more the old "_Pantalone_" than the warlike general; so that the +Signoria, nourishing all this poison in their hearts, were more +disposed to side with Steno than with the Doge. The Council of Ten +referred the matter to the Council of Forty, of which Steno was one of +the chiefs. This Council decided that Steno had suffered enough +already, and that a month's banishment was ample punishment for his +offence. And this embittered Falieri afresh, and more strongly against +a Signoria which not only did not take his side, but punished repeated +outrages upon him as offences of the most trivial kind. + +"'Now, as it is wont to happen that a lover upon whom has beamed one +single ray of love-fortune goes on dreaming heavenly dreams for days, +weeks, and months, enwrapped in a golden shimmer, so could Antonio +scarce recover from his stupefaction of amazement at his instant of +bliss. The old woman had rated him soundly for his rashness, and +muttered and muttered unceasingly about the utter needlessness of what +he had done. But one day she came in skipping and dancing on her stick, +as she did when under the influence of her strange spell. She paid no +attention to Antonio's questions, went on chuckling and laughing, +lighted a little fire in the fire-place, set a little pan on it, cooked +a salve, throwing in ingredients from all sorts of phials, of various +shapes and colours, put it in a small box, and limped away with it, +snickering and laughing as she went. She did not return till late in +the evening, when she threw herself into an arm-chair, coughing and +wheezing. At last, as if coming to herself from great exhaustion, she +began: + +"'"Tonino! Tonino, my dear son, where have I been, do you think? Whom +have I been seeing? Try if you can guess!" + +"'Antonio stared at her, full of a strange presentiment. + +"'"Well," she continued, "I come from herself, from the beautiful dove, +the lovely Annunziata!" + +"'"Do not drive me frantic!" Antonio cried. + +"'"What? what?" she went on. "I am always thinking of you, my Tonino! +So, this morning, as I was bargaining in the pillared passage of the +Palace, the people were murmuring about the misfortune which had +befallen the beautiful Dogaressa. I asked and asked, and then a great +uncouth, red-looking fellow, who was leaning against one of the +pillars, chewing a lemon, said: 'Why, a little young scorpion tried his +teeth on the little finger of her left hand, and, you see, that got +into her blood a bit. But Signer Dottore Giovanni Baseggio went up to +her a few minutes ago; he will have the little hand off by this time +finger and all.' And just as the big fellow was saying this a great +scream sounded from the broad staircase, and a little, very little +gentleman came rolling down it like a ball, impelled by the kicks of +the guards, right in amongst our feet, crying and lamenting. The people +gathered round him, laughing loud. He struggled and stamped with his +legs, unable to rise; but the big red fellow ran and lifted the little +doctor, took him in his arms, and made off with him as hard as he could +(he still shrieking and howling) to the canal, where he put him in his +gondola, and rowed away with him. What I thought had happened was, that +when Signor Baseggio was going to put his knife into the pretty little +hand, the Doge had had him kicked downstairs. But I thought something +else besides. 'Quick! quick!' I thought; as quick as I could off home, +make my salve, and be off with it in my hand to the Palace. When I got +there with it, old Falieri was just coming down. He flashed out at me +with 'What is this old hag doing here?' I made a curtsey deep, deep +down to the ground as well as I could, and said I had a medicine which +would cure the beautiful Dogaressa very speedily. When the old fellow +heard that, he gazed steadfastly at me with most terrible eyes, and +stroked his grey beard smooth. Then he seized me by the shoulders, and +dragged me up to her chamber in such a way that I nearly fell down all +my length on the floor of it. Ah, Tonino! there lay the pretty young +creature stretched on her couch, pale as a corpse, sighing and groaning +with pain, and gently complaining, "Ah! I am certain I am poisoned +through and through!" But I set to work in a moment and took off the +stupid doctor's useless plaster. Oh, heaven! the beautiful delicate +hand! swollen, red as blood! Well, well! my ointment cooled it--eased +the pain. 'That is very comforting!' the little dove whispered. 'A +thousand _zecchini_ are yours if you save the Dogaressa,' old Falieri +cried, as he left the room. When I had been sitting there for three +hours, with the little hand in mine, stroking and nursing it, the +little soul awoke from a slumber into which she had fallen, and felt no +further pain. When I had put on a fresh bandage, she looked at me with +eyes sparkling with gladness. Then I said: + +"'"Ah, gracious Lady Dogaressa! you once saved a boy's life, when you +killed a serpent which was going to strike him while he was sleeping." + +"'"Tonino! you should have seen how her pale cheeks glowed red, as if a +beam of the evening sun had shone in upon them--how her eyes flashed +with sparkling fire." + +"'"'Ah! yes! old woman,' she cried. 'I was only a child, at my father's +place in the country. Ah! he was a dear, beautiful boy! Oh, how I think +of him still! It seems to me as if nothing happy had ever come into my +lot since that day.' + +"'"Then I spoke of you; told her that you were in Venice that your +heart is still full of all the love and blissfulness of that moment, +and that you risked your life on Giovedi Grasso merely to look into the +eyes of your guardian angel, and put the flowers into her hand." + +"'"'Tonino! Tonino!' she cried, enthusiastically; 'I knew it! I knew +it! I felt it! When he pressed his lips on my hand, when he called me +by my name--I did not know what it was that pierced my heart so +strangely. Perhaps it was happiness--but it was pain too. Bring him +here to me, the beautiful boy.' + +"'When the old woman said this, Antonio threw himself on his knees, and +cried out like one bereft of his senses: + +"'"Oh, Lord of Heaven! only let me not perish _now_, _now_, in my +terrible destiny, until I have seen her and pressed her to my heart." +He implored her to take him to the Dogaressa the very next day. But she +strongly advised him against this, inasmuch as old Falieri went to see +her almost hourly. + +"'Many days had elapsed. The Dogaressa was almost completely cured by +the old woman, but it was still impossible to take Antonio to see her. +The old woman comforted him as well as she could, always repeating how +she spoke with the Dogaressa of him whose life she had saved, and who +loved her so fervently. Antonio, tortured by a thousand torments of +longing, passed his time as best he might, in gondolas, and in +wandering about the Piazzas. His steps always led him, involuntarily, +towards the Ducal Palace. One day, by the bridge at the back of it, he +came upon Pietro, leaning on a gaily painted oar near a gondola, which +was dancing on the waves, made fast to a pillar. It was a small +gondola, but beautifully carved and ornamented, and flying the Venetian +standard almost as if it had been the Bucentoro. + +"'When Pietro saw his old comrade, he cried out, "A thousand fair +greetings to you, Signor Antonio! Those _zecchini_ of yours brought me +good luck." Antonio, thinking of other matters, asked what the luck +was, and learned nothing less than that Pietro took the Doge and +Dogaressa nearly every evening across to the Giudecca, in this gondola; +for the Doge had a country house there, over against San Giorgio +Maggiore. Antonio gazed hard at Pietro, and burst out quickly: + +"'"You can earn other ten _zecchini_, comrade, and more, if you like. +Let me take your place, and row the Doge over!" + +"'Pietro thought this could not be managed, as the Doge knew him, and +would trust himself to nobody else. But at length, when Antonio, in all +the wild passion which sparkled from his heart, tortured with a +thousand pains of love, swore that he would spring after the gondola, +and drag it over into the sea, Pietro cried, laughing: + +"'"Eh! Signer Antonio, how the Dogaressa's beautiful eyes have turned +that head of yours!" and agreed to take Antonio on board as his +assistant, under the pretext that he was unwell, and unable to do the +heavy work alone. For the Doge never thought the gondola went quick +enough. Antonio hurried away; and scarcely had he got back in a mean +suit of boatman's clothes, with his face stained brown, and a long +drooping moustache, when the Doge and the Dogaressa came down, both +splendidly dressed. "Who is this stranger?" the Doge asked; and it was +only when Pietro swore by all the saints that he was unfit to row that +day without somebody to help him that the Doge could be persuaded to +let Antonio remain. + +"'It is sometimes the case that the very excess of happiness so +invigorates the mind that it can control itself, and keep a command +over the fires of its passion, such that they shall not burst forth +visibly. Antonio managed to control himself (though he was so close to +Annunziata that the very hem of her garment touched him) by giving his +whole attention to his rowing, and avoiding any more adventurous +proceeding than an occasional rapid glance at her. Old Falieri chuckled +and laughed, kissed and stroked Annunziata's little white hand, and put +his arm about her slender waist. When they were half-way across, and +magnificent Venice was spread out before them with all her towers and +palaces, he raised his head and said: + +"'"Is it not a fine thing, my darling, to be on the sea with her ruler +and consort? Do not be jealous, sweet one, of this Lady of mine who +bears us on her bosom so meekly and submissively. Listen how sweetly +the waves plash and murmur! She is whispering words of love to the +consort who rules her. You, my darling, wear my ring on your finger; +but _she_ cherishes the betrothal ring which I cast to her in the +profoundest depths of her heart.' + +"'"How can the cold, treacherous sea be your consort, my noble lord?" +said Annunziata. "I cannot help a shudder at the thought of your being +betrothed to that arrogant, domineering element." + +"'Old Falieri laughed; his beard and chin went up and down. + +"'"Have no anxiety, little one," he said; "rest in your soft, tender +arms is sweeter than on the icy breast of that consort beneath us; yet +it is fine to float on the sea, with the sea's lord and master." + +"'As he spoke, distant music floated across the water, and the tones of +a soft male voice came near, singing the words-- + + "'"Ah, senza amare andar sulla mare, + Col sposo del mare non puo consolare." + +"'Other voices joined in, and the words were repeated again and again +till they died away over the sea at last, like the breath of the +breeze. Old Falieri seemed to pay no attention. He was telling +Annunziata, at much length, about the ceremony of the Doge's betrothal +to the sea, when he throws a ring into it from the Bucentoro on +Ascension Day. He spoke of the victories of the Republic, of the time +when the ceremony was first instituted, after the taking of Istria and +Dalmatia, under Peter Urseolus the Second. If the words of the song +made no impression on Falieri, the tale he told was utterly lost on the +Dogaressa. She sate with all her attention fixed upon the sweet tones +floating over the sea. When the song ceased, she gazed before her with +the expression of one who awakes from a dream, and is still striving to +see and understand its images. + +"'"_Senza Amare_," she whispered gently. "_Senza Amare_--_non puo +consolare_." Tears, like pearls, rose in her heavenly eyes; sighs +heaved her breast, which rose and fell, oppressed. Still chuckling and +laughing, the old Doge landed with her at the verandah of his house +opposite San Giorgio Maggiore, not observing Annunziata, how she stood +beside him in silence, moved by the dim sensations awaking within her, +her gaze, heavy with tears, fixed upon a distant realm. A young man, +dressed as a boatman, blew a shell-shaped horn, whose tones echoed far +over the waters. At this signal another gondola came up, a man, +carrying a sunshade, and a woman appeared, and, attended by them, the +Doge and Dogaressa went into the palace. The second gondola came to the +shore, and from it there landed Bodoeri and other persons, amongst whom +were merchants, artists, and people of the lower classes even. These +followed the Doge. + +"'Antonio could scarcely wait for the next evening, for he expected +some private message from his beloved Annunziata. At last, however, +the old woman came hobbling in, set herself down, coughing, in the +arm-chair, clapped her bony, withered hands two or three times, and +cried-- + +"'"Ah, Tonino! what has happened to our poor little dove? When I went +to her to-day, she was lying on her cushions, with half-shut eyes, +leaning her head on her arm, neither sleeping nor waking, neither ill +nor well. 'What has befallen you, gracious Lady Dogaressa?' I cried. +'Is it your wound, not quite whole yet, which is paining you?' But she +looked at me with eyes such as I had never seen in her, and scarce had +I peeped into these moist moonbeams than they hid themselves behind +silken lashes, as if amongst dark clouds. And then she heaved a deep +sigh, turned her beautiful face to the wall, and whispered softly, very +softly, but so mournfully that it went sharply to my very heart-- + +"'"'_Amare! Amare! Ah! Senza Amare!_' + +"'"I got a little stool and sate down beside her. I began to talk of +_you_. She hid her face in the cushions. Her breathing came quicker and +quicker, till it became sighing. I told her that you had been in the +gondola, disguised; that you were dying of love and longing, and that I +should bring you to her at once. + +"'"'No, no! for the love of Christ and the saints, I implore you tell +him I must never see him again--never! Tell him he must leave Venice +immediately.' + +"'"'Then my darling Tonino must die,' I interrupted. She fell back in +the most unspeakable pain, and sobbed, in a voice hidden in tears: + +"'"'"And I must die too, the bitterest of deaths!' Just then the old +Doge came in, and I was obliged to leave." + +"'"She spurns me," cried Antonio, in wild despair. "Away! away! to the +sea!" + +"'The old woman cackled and laughed as usual. "You silly child!" she +cried. "Do you not see that she loves you with the most fervent love +and torment that ever fired a woman's heart? Tomorrow night, when it is +dark, I will slip you into the Ducal Palace. You will find me in the +second gallery on the left of the great staircase, and then we shall +see what happens further." + +"'When Antonio crept up the great staircase the following evening, it +suddenly struck him that he was on the brink of a monstrous misdeed. He +could scarce mount the stair. He had to lean against a pillar close +before the indicated gallery. Suddenly a bright light shone round him, +and before he could move away, old Bodoeri stood before him, attended +by some domestics carrying torches. Bodoeri looked him in the face, and +said--"Ha! you are Antonio; I knew you were to be brought here. You +have only to follow me." Antonio, convinced that his meeting with the +Dogaressa had got wind, followed, with some hesitation. What was his +astonishment when, as soon as they had reached a chamber at some +distance, Bodoeri embraced him, and told him of an important duty which +was allotted to him that night, and which he was to execute with +courage and determination. But his astonishment turned to dread and +horror when he learned that a conspiracy had been formed against the +Signoria, with the Doge himself at its head, and that it had been +arranged, at Falieri's house at the Giuclecca, that on that very night +the Signoria should be overthrown, and Falieri elected Sovereign Duke +of Venice. + +"Antonio gazed at Bodoeri in speechless amazement. Bodoeri took the +youth's silence to be hesitation as to taking part in this fell deed, +and cried, in anger-- + +"'"Cowardly fool! you cannot now get out of this place. You must either +die or take up arms with us. But, before you decide, speak with _him_." + +"'A tall, noble form now advanced from the dark background of the +chamber. As soon as Antonio recognised the features of this man's face +he fell on his knees crying, "Oh, my father and benefactor, Bertuccio +Nonolo!" + +"'Nenolo raised him, took him in his arms, and said, in gentle tones-- + +"'"Yes, I am that Bertuccio Nenolo whom you believed to be buried in +the ocean depths, and who has just escaped from the captivity in which +he has been held by Morbassan; the same Bertuccio Nenolo who adopted +you, and could never have supposed that the silly servants whom Bodoeri +sent to take possession of the house (which he had bought) would have +driven you out into the world. Blind youth! do you hesitate to take up +arms against the despotic caste which murdered your father? Go to the +Fontego, and you will see the stains of your father's blood on the +stones of its flooring to this hour. When the Signoria made over the +building which you know by the name of the Fontego to the German +merchants, every one to whom chambers in it were allotted was forbidden +to take his keys away with him when he went on any journey. This law +your father contravened, and, by so doing, had rendered himself liable +to severe punishment. But when his chambers were opened, on his return, +a chest full of counterfeit Venetian money was found among his effects. +It was in vain that he protested his innocence; it was but too clear +that some malicious devil or other--very probably the Fontegaro +himself--had placed the chest there, with a view to your father's +destruction. The inexorable judges, satisfied with the evidence that +the chest had been found in your father's rooms, sentenced him to +death. He was executed in the court of the Fontego; and you would have +been no more if the faithful Margareta had not saved you. I, being your +father's most faithful friend, adopted you; and your father's name was +concealed from you that you might not, yourself, betray yourself to the +Signoria. But now, Anton Dalbirger, the time has come. Take up arms, +and avenge your father's shameful end." + +"'Antonio, inspired by revenge, swore fidelity to the conspirators. +It is known that an insult which Bertuccio Nenolo received from +Dandulo--who was at the head of the naval armaments--(he struck him on +the face during an argument)--moved him to conspire, with his +son-in-law, against the Signoria. Both Nenolo and Bodoeri desired that +Falieri should be raised to the supreme power, that they might rise +along with him. The arrangement was, that a rumour should be circulated +that the Genoese fleet was close outside the Lagoons; and that then the +great bell of San Marco should be tolled, in the night, to call the +populace to an imaginary defence. At this signal, the conspirators--who +were numerous, and in all quarters of the city--were to possess +themselves of the Piazza di San Marco and the principal parts of the +place, put the chiefs of the Signoria to death, and proclaim Falieri +the sovereign ruler of Venice. But it was not the will of Heaven that +this murderous project should be accomplished, and the fundamental +constitution of the State trodden under foot by aid Falieri's arrogant +pride. The meetings at the Doge's house had not escaped the notice of +the Council of Ten, although it had been impossible to learn anything +with certainty. One of the conspirators, a furrier from Pisa, had +qualms of conscience; he wished to save his friend Niccolo Leoni, a +member of the Council of Ten. He went to him in the evening twilight, +and implored him not to leave his house that night, whatever happened. +Leoni would not let the furrier go, and managed to extract from him an +account of the whole project. In company with Giovanni Gradenigo and +Marco Cornaro, he assembled the Council of Ten at San Salvador; and +there, in less than three hours, measures were concerted for the +thwarting of all the proceedings of the conspirators. + +"The duty allotted to Antonio was to go, with a troop, to San Marco, +and set the bell ringing. But when he arrived there he found the +building strongly occupied by troops from the arsenal, who stopped him +with their halberds. His followers dispersed, and he himself escaped in +the darkness. Close behind him he heard the steps of a man pursuing +him; then he felt himself seized. As he was about to run his captor +through the body, he suddenly, in the dim light, recognized him to be +Pietro, who cried-- + +"'"Save yourself, Antonio! get into my gondola. Everything is +discovered. Bodoeri and Nenolo are in the hands of the Signoria. The +Palace doors are guarded; the Doge is shut up in his rooms, watched +like a criminal by his own faithless body-guard. Away! away!" + +"'Half unconscious, Antonio suffered himself to be slipped into the +gondola. There were distant voices, clangour of weapons, one or two +cries of terror, and then, with the deepest darkness of the night, +heavy, soundless silence. + +"'Next morning the populace, broken with deadly fear, saw a terrible +spectacle, which made the blood in all veins run cold. During the night +the Council of Ten had passed sentence of death on all of the +conspirators who had been taken; they were strangled, and thrown down +to the Lesser Piazza di San Marco, from the gallery whence the Doge +used to witness the festivities--alas! where Antonio had hovered before +the beautiful Dogaressa when he handed her the flowers. Among the +bodies were those of Marino Bodoeri and Bertuccio Nenolo. Two days +afterwards old Marino Falieri was sentenced by the Council of Ten, and +executed on the so-called Giant Staircase of the Palace. + +"'Antonio had been creeping about, almost unconscious. He was not +apprehended, for no one knew that he was one of the conspirators. When +he saw Falieri's grey head fall, he awoke as from a heavy dream. With a +cry of the wildest terror, and a shout of "Annunziata!" he burst into +the Palace and ran through the galleries. No one stopped him. The +guards stared at him, like men stupefied with the horrors which had +been going on. The old woman came limping up to meet him, weeping, and +loudly lamenting. She took him by the hand. In a few paces he was in +Annunziata's chambers. She was lying senseless on the couch. + +"'Antonio rushed to her, covered her hands with glowing kisses, and +called her by the fondest and tenderest names. Slowly she opened her +beautiful eyes. She saw Antonio; but at first it cost her an effort to +realise who he was. But suddenly she rose, put both her arms about him, +pressed him to her heart, bedewed him with hot tears, kissed his +cheeks, his lips. + +"'"Antonio!" she cried, "my Antonio, I cannot tell you how I love you! +There is still a heaven here on earth! What are the deaths of my +father, my uncle, my husband, in comparison with your love! Oh, come, +let us fly from this scene of murder!" + +"'With bitterest sorrow and most fervent love, with thousand kisses and +thousand tears, they vowed eternal truth, and forgot the frightful +events of that terrible time. Turning their sight from earth, they +raised their eyes and looked into the heaven of love which had opened +to them. The old woman advised flight to Chiozza. Antonio wished to +gain the mainland, and thence reach his own country. Friend Pietro +found him a boat, and it was waiting for them at the bridge behind the +Palace. When it was night, Annunziata, deeply cloaked, crept down the +steps with her lover and old Margareta, whose cloak was filled with +jewel cases. They got on board; Antonio took the oars and away they +fled, at a rapid, vigorous rate. Before them upon the waters the bright +moonlight danced, like a gladsome herald of Love. + +"'When they reached the open sea a strange hissing and whistling began +to make itself heard in the air overhead; dark shadows gathered and +came over the bright face of the moon, hanging like gloomy shrouds. The +dancing shimmer the gleaming herald of Love--sank down into the dark +depths, pregnant with hollow thunders. A storm arose, and, in angry +rage, drove dark clouds before it. The boat laboured violently, and +plunged up and down. + +"'"Help! Oh Lord of Heaven!" the old woman screamed. Antonio, unable to +work the oars, clasped Annunziata to his heart. Animated by his burning +kisses, she pressed him to her heart in the most blissful rapture. "Oh, +my Antonio!" "Oh, my Annunziata!" they cried, heedless of the raging +tempest. Then the sea the jealous widow of beheaded Falieri--lifted up +her foaming billows, like great, gigantic arms, grasped the lovers, and +dragged them, with the old woman, down, down, to the fathomless abyss.' + +"When the man in the cloak had thus ended his tale, he rose quickly, +and left the room with strong, rapid steps. The friends looked after +him in speechless amazement, and then went back again to examine the +picture. The Doge still chuckled at them, in silly ostentation, and +senile vanity. But when they looked closely into the face of the +beautiful Annunziata, they saw that the shadow of a sorrow--unknown as +yet, merely in the form of a presentiment--was upon her lily brow; that +longing love-dreams shone under her dark eyelashes, and hovered about +her beautiful lips. From the distant sea a hostile power seemed to +threaten destruction and death; and from the misty clouds which lay +over San Marco, and partly concealed it, the deeper meaning of the +picture slowly dawned upon them, whilst all the sorrow of the love-tale +of Antonio and Annunziata filled their hearts with sweet awe." + + +The friends applauded this story, and unanimously voted that Ottmar had +utilised, in true Serapiontic fashion, the veracious history of the +proud and unfortunate Doge, Marino Falieri. + +"He spared himself no trouble over writing it," said Lothair. "For, +besides being inspired to it by Kolbe's picture, Le Bret's 'History of +Venice' was always open on his table, and he had views of the streets +and palaces of Venice hanging all about his room; heaven only knows +where he had got hold of them all. That is why the story is so bright +with local colouring." + +Midnight having tolled, the friends separated in the most genial frame +of mind, and in true Serapiontic manner. + + * * * * * + + SECTION FOURTH. + +Vincent and Sylvester having joined the Brotherhood, Lothair delivered +a long harangue to them, in which he set forth, in most entertaining +fashion, at great length, and with much minuteness, the duties +incumbent upon a true Serapion Brother. "And now," he concluded, "give +me your solemn word, dear and worthy novices of our Order, confirming +the same by solemn handgrip, that you will faithfully observe and +follow the rule of Saint Serapion; that is to say, that you will, at +all times, and in all circumstances, devote your every endeavour to +be--at the meetings of the Brotherhood--as genial, witty, kindly, and +sympathetic as may be in your power." + +"I, for my part," said Vincent, "enter into this undertaking with all +my heart. I mean to pay over my entire stock of brains and imagination +into the coffers of the Brotherhood; expecting to be therefrom, at +all times, and on all occasions, not only fed and supported, but +actually crammed. On every occasion when I purpose to come among you I +shall--according to the proverb--give my ape a full allowance of sugar, +that he may be sufficiently primed for the execution of the merriest +capers. And, inasmuch as our patron saint has acquired his fame and +glory from a decided _quantum_ of insanity, I shall copy him, in this +respect, to the utmost of my power, so that the Brotherhood may never +have to complain of an absence of this important element of their +being. I am prepared, if that should be your desire, to dish you up a +most varied and extensive assortment of the most interesting 'fixed +ideas.' I can imagine myself to be a Roman emperor, like Professor +Titel; or a cardinal, like Father Scambati. I can believe, like the +woman mentioned by Trallianus, that the universe is upheld upon my left +thumb; or that my nose is made of glass, and irradiates the walls and +the ceiling with beautiful prismatic colours. Also, I can think I am a +looking-glass, like the little Scotchman, Donald Munro, and reflect, +and copy all the glances, grimaces, and postures of those who look into +my face. More than this, I feel capable of convincing myself, as the +Chevalier D'Epernay did, that my anima sensitiva has shorn my head +bare, so that I shall merely have to rely upon the hair or two left on +my lips to inspire you with a certain amount of respect. As true +Serapion brethren, you will know how to indulge, and give due honour to +all these little delusions. And pray don't think of curing me, by +applying the remedies recommended by Boerhaave, Mercurialis, Antius of +Amyda, Friedrich Kraft, and Herr Richter; inasmuch as they all +prescribe a considerable amount of castration, or, at all events, +gentle slapping of the face, and boxing of the ears. And the fact is, +without doubt, that a certain amount of threshing has a beneficial +effect on both heart and mind, and awakens the activity of some of the +most important functions of the body. I just ask you, what would have +become of us--should we ever have learnt a single one of our lessons, +in the fifth form, but for a due amount of threshing? I recollect quite +well that when, at the age of twelve, I read the 'Sorrows of Werther,' +I went off and immediately fell in love with a young lady of thirteen, +and wanted to shoot myself. Luckily my father cured me of this +super-excitation of my heart on the system of treatment recommended by +Rhases and Valuscus de Taranta, who prescribed castigation as a +sovereign remedy for love. At the same time the old gentleman shed +warm, paternal tears of joy on discovering that I was not an ass: for +experience proves that love, in said animal, increases in proportion as +he is beaten." + +"Oh, most delightful of all fabulists!" cried Theodore. "How you are +caprioling and curvetting! Please to go on doing so always! Flash your +lightnings in amongst us whenever the atmosphere is growing sultry, in +all the quaintest of your phrases. And, above all, freshen our +Sylvester up a little; for, after his usual wont, he has not uttered a +single word as yet." + +"The fact is," said Ottmar, "that I can scarcely convince myself that +it really _is_ Sylvester who is sitting in that chair, smiling at us so +benignantly. It seems to me almost incredible that he can have come +away, so soon from his country dwelling, which he so much preferred to +our city life; and I keep believing that he is merely some pleasing +apparition, presently to vanish from our sight amongst those clouds +which he is blowing from his cigar." + +"Heaven forefend!" cried Sylvester, laughing. "Do you suppose that a +quiet, happy personage, such as I am, has assumed the form of an +enchanter, and is deluding honest folks with his mere _simulacrum_? Do +you think I have anything of the Philadelphia, or the Swedenborg about +me? If you blame me for my silence, Theodore, let me say that I am +sparing my breath because I want to read you a story, suggested to me +by one of Kolbe's pictures, which I wrote during my long stay in the +country. If it surprises you, Ottmar, that I have come back here, +although I am so fond of the quiet and the leisure of the country, +remember that, though the constant turmoil, and the endless, empty +business of this great town are uncongenial to my whole nature, still, +if I am to turn my being a poet and a writer to any account, I stand in +need of many incitements which I can meet with here only. The tale +which I wish to read to you--and which I believe to possess a certain +amount of merit--would never have been written if I had not seen +Kolbe's picture at the Exhibition, and then worked the affair out in +the quiet of the country." + +"Sylvester is right," said Lothair, "in seeking--as a writer of plays +and tales--suggestions and incitements in the whirl of city life, and +then in giving quiet leisure to his mind, in which to work those +suggestions out. Of course he might have seen the picture in the +country; but he would not have seen, there, the living characters whom +it inspired with life and movement, and into whom the people portrayed +in the picture passed and entered. A poet such as he is ought not to +retire into solitude. He ought to live in the most stirring and varied +society, so as to see, and grasp, its endlessly manifold aspects." + +"Ha!" cried Vincent, "as Jaques, in 'As You Like It,' calls out when he +sees Touchstone, + + 'A fool, a fool! I met a fool i' the forest, + A motley fool; oh, lamentable world!' + +So I cry 'a poet! a poet! I met a poet! He came stumbling out of the +third wineshop at high noon, looked up with his moist, drunken eyes at +the sun, and cried, in his inspiration "Oh, sweet, gentle moon, how +fall thy rays upon my heart, illumining, in marvellous sort, that +universe which lives and moves within this soul of mine. Lead on before +me, thou brave luminary, that I may steer my course to where experience +of life and knowledge of mankind stream towards my ken, in rich +abundance, for advantageous employment! Character-studies, lifelike +drawing--not possible without living models! Glorious drink! Noble, +splendid ardour, opening the heart and kindling the fancy! Yes, that +man eating sausages in there lives within my soul! He is tall and lean, +has on a blue frock coat with gilt buttons, English boots, takes snuff +out of a black lacquered snuff-box, speaks German fluently, and is +consequently a German, in spite of his boots and the Italian sausages; +a glorious, lifeful German character for my next novel! But, more +knowledge of mankind! More character!"' And with that my poet sailed, +with a fair wind, into the harbour of the fourth wineshop." + +"Stop! you Oliver Martext," cried Lothair. "I call you so, because you +have completely marred _my_ text. I know well enough what you are +driving at with your poet who collects experience of life in wineshops, +and by his man in the blue frock coat; and I don't care to expatiate +further on the Thema. But there are other, very different, people too, +who think that, when they have accurately described the personality +of this or that unimportant 'subject' they have drawn a strikingly +life-like character. The peculiar pigtail which this or that old man +wears--the colours in which this or that girl dresses--are not enough. +It requires a certain special faculty, and a penetrating eye, to see +the forms of life in their deeper individuality. And even this seeing +is not enough. It is the poet's spirit--that spirit which dwells within +every true poet--which brings the pictures which he has seen, in their +endlessly, infinitely, varied changefulness, as they have shown +themselves to him--on to the stage. And then, by a process like +chemical precipitation, those forms appear as _substrata_ belonging to +life and the world in their complete extension. Such are those +wonderful characters--wholly unconnected with place and time--whom +every one knows, and looks upon as friends, who move on amongst us for +ever, in perfect fulness of life. Need I instance Sancho Panza and +Falstaff? And as you, Vincent, spoke of a blue frock coat, it is rather +curious that forms, which a true poet has drawn in the way I have just +instanced, appear to _costume_ themselves of their own accord, just in +the way most appropriate to their characters." + +"Yes," said Ottmar, "and that is the case in actual life as well. +Doubtless we have all felt most distinctly, with respect to characters +we have met, that those people could not have been dressed differently, +to be in keeping with their inner being; that such and such a man could +not have had on another sort of hat or coat than he actually had. That +this is the case is not so wonderful, as that we should see that it is +so." + +"But don't you think it is only because we notice it, that it happens?" +interrupted Cyprian. + +"Oh! unapproachable subtlety!" cried Vincent. + +"I cordially agree with all that Lothair has maintained on this +subject," cried Sylvester. "Don't forget, however, that--besides our +meetings and conversations--there is another source of enjoyment which +I miss in the country--one which greatly penetrates and elevates me. I +mean the musical performances, the renderings of the glorious works of +musicians. This very day I heard Beethoven's Mass in C in the Catholic +Church. It made a deep impression on me." + +"And that," said Cyprian, moodily, "does not surprise me, just because +to have to do without things of the kind makes one enjoy them the more. +Hunger is the best sauce. To speak candidly, Beethoven--in his Mass in +C--has given us a very charming, I may, perhaps, say a genial, work; +but it is not a Mass. Where is the strict ecclesiastical style?" + +"I know, Cyprian," said Theodore, "you only care for the old composers, +and are horrified at the sight of a black note in a church-score; and +that you are unjustly strict and severe in your opinions about the more +modern church music." + +"At the same time," said Lothair, "I think there is too much of the +jubilant--of earthly rejoicing--in Beethoven's Mass. I should very much +like to know wherein the utter diverseness of the spirit in which the +masters have composed the different portion of the Mass lies; they +contrast with each other in their treatment of it so completely!" + +"Exactly," said Sylvester, "that is what has so often struck me, too, +as inexplicable. One would suppose, for example, that the words, +'_Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini_' could only be set in the same +sort of pious, tranquil style. Yet, I not only know that they have been +set in the most diverse manners by the greatest masters, but also +that--penetrated by the most diverse feelings--I can never think the +setting of them, by this or by the other great writer, to be in any way +a mistake. Theodore might, perhaps, enlighten us to this." + +"I should be glad to do so as far as I can," said Theodore, "but I +should have to deliver a little lecture on the subject, and I fear it +would be too serious to fit well in with the facetious tone in which +our conversation began." + +"It is true Serapionism that jest and earnest should alternate," said +Ottmar; "so please to deliver yourself confidently, Theodore, on a +subject in which we are all so deeply interested; except, perhaps, +Vincent, who knows nothing about music." + +Theodore accordingly went on, as follows: + +"Prayer and worship doubtless affect the mind according to its +predominant, or even momentary, mood, or tuning--as this results from +physical or mental well-being, comfort, happiness, or suffering. So +that, at one time, prayer or worship is inward contrition--even to +self-despite and shame, grovelling in the dust before the lightnings of +the Lord of the worlds, angry with the sinner; and, at another time, +vigorous elevation towards the infinite; child-like trust in the +mercy of the Omnipotent, anticipation of the promised bliss. The +words of the Mass present--in their cycle--merely the occasion--the +opportunity--or, at highest, the _clue_, for devotion, and will awaken +the due concord in the soul, according to its frame of thought at the +time. In the Kyrie, God's mercy is implored; the Gloria celebrates His +omnipotence and majesty; the Credo gives expression to the faith on +which the pious soul firmly builds; and after--in the Sanctus and the +Benedictus--the holiness of God has been exalted, and blessings +promised to those who approach Him in confident faith; prayer is +offered, in the Agnus and the Dona, to the Mediator, that He may send +down His peace and gladness to the believing soul. Now even (to begin +with), on account of this very universality (which in no way encroaches +upon the inner significance, and the deeper application which each one +lays into it, according to his own peculiar condition of mind and +conscience), the text lends and adapts itself to the most infinite +variety of musical treatment; and this is the reason why there are +Kyries, Glorias, &c., so widely dissimilar in character, tone, and the +rest. For instance, one has but to compare the Kyries in Haydn's Masses +in C major and D minor; also his Benedictuses. From this it follows +that the composer who (as ought always to be the case) sets to work, +inspired with true devoutness, to write a Mass, will let the individual +religious attunement of his own mind predominate (all the words being +ready to adapt themselves to that); not suffering himself to be led +away in the Miserere, the Gloria, Qui Tollis, and so forth, into a +many-tinted medley of the most heart-rending sorrow of the contrite +heart, with jubilant clangour and jingle. All works of the latter sort, +which, in recent times, there have been numbers of, carpentered +together in the most frivolous fashion, are abortions, engendered by +impure minds; and I reject them just as unhesitatingly as Cyprian does. +But I render deep admiration to the glorious church compositions of +Michael and Joseph Haydn, Hasse, Neumann, and others, not forgetting +the old works of the pious Italian masters, Leo, Durante, Benevoli, +Perli, and others, whose lofty, beautiful, noble simplicity, whose +wonderful power of impressing the very depths of the soul by their +simple modulations, wholly devoid of strikingness of display, seem to +constitute an art which is altogether lost in recent (and _most_ +recent,) times. Without desiring to adhere to the early, primitive, +pure church style, merely because what is holy disdains the varied +dress of mundane niceties of subtlety, one cannot--to begin with--doubt +that _simple_ music has a better effect, musically speaking, in +churches, than that which is elaborate; for the more rapidly notes +succeed one another the more they are lost in the lofty spaces of +buildings, so that the whole effect becomes confused and +unintelligible. Hence, in a measure, the grand effect of Chorales in +church. I unconditionally agree with you, Cyprian, as to the +superiority of the noble church music of ancient times over that +of recent date, just on account of its constantly maintaining its +truly holy style. At the same time, I think that the richness and +fulness which music has gained in more recent times--chiefly by the +introduction of instruments--should be made use of in churches, not to +produce mere idle display, but in a noble and worthy manner. Perhaps +the bold simile--that the old church music of the Italians holds +somewhat the same relation to that of the more modern Germans as Saint +Peter's at Rome holds to Strasburg Cathedral--may not be inapt. The +grandiose proportions of Saint Peter's elevate the mind, because it +finds them commensurable; but the beholder gazes with a strange inward +disquiet upon the Strasburg Minster, as it soars aloft in the most +daring curves, and the most wondrous interfacings of varied, fantastic +forms and ornamentation. And this very unrest awakens a sense of the +Unknown, the Marvellous; and the spirit readily yields itself to this +dream, in which it seems to recognise the Super-earthly, the Unending. +Now this is exactly the effect of that purely romantic element which +pervades Mozart and Haydn's compositions. It is easy to see that it +would not, now, be a very simple matter for a composer to write a +church composition in the lofty, simple style of the old Italians. +Without saying that the real, pious faith which gave to those masters +the power to proclaim the holiest of the holy in those earnest, noble +strains may probably seldom dwell in the hearts of artists in more +modern times, it is enough to refer to that incapacity which results +from the lack of true genius, and, similarly, from the absence of +self-renunciation. Is it not in the most absolute simplicity that real +genius plies its pinions the most wonderfully? But who does not +take delight in letting the treasure which he possesses glitter +before the eyes of all? Who is content with the approval of the +rare _knowers_--the few in whose eyes that which is truly good and +successful work is the more precious--or rather, the only precious, +work? The reason why there is scarcely what can be termed 'a style' +remaining, is that people have everywhere taken to employing the same +means of expression. We often hear solemn Themas stalking majestically +along in comic operas, playful little ditties in opera seria, and +masses and oratorios of operatic cut in the churches. Now the proper +application--ecclesiastically--of musical figuration, and all the +resources of instrumentation, demands a rare degree of genius, and an +exceptional profundity of intellect. Mozart--gallant and courtier-like +as he is in his two well-known Masses in C major--has, nevertheless, +solved this problem magnificently in his Requiem. For that is romantic +sacred music, proceeding from the depths of the master's heart and +soul; and I have no need to say how finely Haydn, too, speaks in his +Masses of the highest and holiest things; although he cannot be +acquitted of a good deal of trifling--writing for writing's sake--here +and there. As soon as I knew that Beethoven had written a Mass, and +before I had heard or read a note of it, I felt certain that, as +regards the style and general moulding, the master had taken old Joseph +Haydn as his model. Yet I found I was wrong, as regards the manner in +which he had apprehended the text of the Mass. His genius generally +prefers to employ the levers of awe and terror; so, thought I, the +vision of the super-earthly will have filled his soul with awe, and +this is what he will speak out in his music. On the contrary, the whole +work expresses a mind filled with childlike clearness and happiness, +which, building on its purity, confides in faith on the grace of God, +and prays to Him as to a father who wills the best for his children, +and hears their petitions. From this point of view, the general +character of the composition, its inner structure, and intelligent +instrumentation, are quite worthy of the master's genius, when +considered as a composition meant to be employed in the service of the +Church." + +"Still," urged Cyprian, "that point of view is, in my opinion, a wrong +one altogether, capable of leading to desecration of the highest +things. Let me explain my views about church music, and you will see +that I am, at all events, clear on the subject in my own mind. +What I think is, that no art proceeds so thoroughly out of the +spiritualization of mankind, and demands such pure and spiritual modes +and means of expression, as music. The sense of the existence of what +is highest and holiest, of that spiritual power which kindles the life +of all nature, utters itself audibly in music, which--(at all events +vocal music)--is the expression of the highest fulness of existence, +_i.e._, the praise of the Creator. Wherefore, as regards its special +inner life, music is an act of religious service, and its fountain-head +is to be sought, and to be found, only in religion in the Church. +Passing thence onwards into life, ever richer and mightier, music +poured forth its inexhaustible treasures over mankind, so that even the +secular (or, as it is sometimes styled, the 'profane') might, in +childlike delight, adorn itself in that splendour wherewith music +illuminated life, through and through, even in all its little, petty, +mundane relations. But, when thus adorned, even the secular appeared to +be longing for the heavenly, higher realm, and striving to enter in +amidst its phenomena. Just by reason of this, its special peculiarity +of nature, music could not be the property of the antique world, where +everything proceeded from corporalization manifest to the senses; it +had to be reserved for more modern times. The two opposite artistic +poles of Heathenism and Christianity are Sculpture and Music. +Christianity destroyed the former and created the latter (along with +painting, which is nearest akin to it). In painting, the ancients knew +neither perspective nor colouring; in music, neither melody nor harmony +(I use the word 'melody' here in its highest sense, to express an +uttering of inward feeling, without reference to words and their +rhythmic relationships). But beyond this particular imperfection, which +may perhaps indicate only the narrower footing upon which music and +painting at that time stood, the germs of those arts could not develop +themselves in that unfruitful soil; not until the advent of +Christianity could they grow gloriously, and bring forth flowers and +fruit in luxurious profusion. Both music and painting maintained their +place only in appearance in the antique world; they were kept down by +the power of sculpture, or rather they could take no adequate form amid +the mighty masses of sculpture. Both those arts were not in the least +what we now call 'music' and 'painting.' Just so sculpture disappeared +from bodily life by means of the Christian tendency which strives +against all corporeal embodiment to the senses, volatilising this into +what is spiritual. But the very earliest germ of the music of the +present day (in which was enclosed a holy mystery, solveable only by +the Christian world), could serve the ancients only according to its +essential characteristic specialty, namely, as religious cult. For +nothing else were, in those earliest times, their dramas, which +were festal representations of the joys and sorrows of a god. +The declamation of those dramas was supported by instrumental +accompaniments, and even this fact proves that the music of the +ancients was purely rhythmic, were it not otherwise demonstrable that +(as I have said already) melody and harmony, the two pivots on which +our modern music moves, were quite unknown to them. Therefore, though +Ambrosius, and afterwards Gregory, based Christian hymns, about the +year 1591, on ancient hymns, and that we come upon the traces of that +purely rhythmic music in what are called the 'Canto Fermo' and the +'Antiphones,' this is nothing but that they made use of germs which had +been handed down to them. And it is certain that a deeper study of that +ancient music can interest only the curious antiquary. Whereas, for the +practical musician, the most sacred depths of his glorious, truly +Christian art were laid open only when Christianity was shining in its +brightest splendour in Italy, and the mighty masters, in the +consecration of the highest inspiration, proclaimed the holiest +mysteries of religion, in tones before unheard. It is noticeable that, +not long afterwards, when Guido D'Arezzo had penetrated deeper into the +mysteries of the musical art, that art was misunderstood by the +uncomprehending, and thought to be a subject for mathematical +speculation, so that its true essence was utterly misapprehended, just +as it was barely commencing to unfold itself. The marvellous tones of +this spiritual language were awakened, and went sounding forth over the +world. The means of seizing them and holding them fast were discovered. +The 'hieroglyphics' of music (consisting as it does of an intertwining +of melody and harmony) were invented; I mean, the mode of writing down +music in notes. But soon this mode of indication passed cm rent for the +tiling indicated; the masters sunk themselves in harmonic subtleties, +and in this manner music, distorted into a speculative science, would +have ceased to be music when those subtleties should have attained +their highest development. Worship was desecrated by that which was +upon it under the name if music, although, to the heart penetrated by +that holy art, music itself was alone the true 'worship.' So that there +could be but a brief contest, which ended by the glorious victory of an +eternal verity over the untrue. Just when Pope Marcellus the Second was +on the point of expelling all music from the Church, and so depriving +divine worship of its most glorious adornment, the great Master +Palestrina revealed to him the sacred mystery and wonder of the +tone-art in its most individual and specially characteristic qualities. +And from that time music became the most specific feature of the 'Cultus' +of the Catholic Church. Thus it was that at that time the most profound +comprehension of the true inward life of music dawned and brightened in +the masters' pious hearts, and their inimitable, immortal compositions +streamed from their souls in holy inspiration. You, Theodore, well know +that the Mass for six voices, which Palestrina at that time--I think it +was in 1555--composed, in order that the angry Pontiff might hear real +music, became widely known by the title of 'Missa Papae Marcelli.' With +Palestrina commenced, indisputably, the most glorious era of ancient +ecclesiastical music, and, consequently, of all music. This lasted for +nearly two hundred years, maintaining its pristine pious dignity and +forcibility, although it cannot be denied that, even in the first +century after Palestrina, that lofty, inimitable simplicity and dignity +lost itself to some extent in a certain 'elegance' which the composers +began to aim at. What a master is Palestrina! Without the smallest +ornament, without anything approaching melodic sweep, his works consist +mainly of chords of the simplest kind, succeeding each other in perfect +concords of chords of the triad, by the forcibility and the boldness of +which consonances the mind is grasped with indescribable might, and +lifted up to the very highest love: _i.e._, the attunement and +consonance of the spiritual with nature (as promised to the Christian), +speaks itself out in the _chord_, which, consequently, came first into +existence under the Christian 'dispensation.' So that the chord, and +harmony (in contradistinction to mere melody), are the images and +expressions of spiritual union, and _communion_ of union, and +incorporation with the eternal, the ideal, which thrones above us, and +yet encompasses and surrounds us. Therefore the holiest, purest, most +ecclesiastical music must be that which flows from the soul as the +uncontaminated expression of the love in question, disregarding, nay +despising, all that is mundane. And such are Palestrina's simple, +majestic compositions, which, conceived in the highest fervour of piety +and love, proclaim the godlike with might and glory. To his music truly +applies what the Italians apply to the writings of many composers who +are shallow and miserable compared to him; it is, of a truth, 'music of +another world'--_musica dell' altro mondo_. Successions of consonant +perfect chords of the triad have nowadays become so strange and +unfamiliar to us, in our effeminacy, that many an one whose soul is +wholly closed to the holy sees nothing in them but helpless +unskilfulness of technical construction. But, looking away from those +higher considerations, and adverting merely to what we are used to call +'effect,' it is clear as day (as you said already, Theodore), that, in +a church, in a great resonant building, everything in the nature of the +blending of chord with chord by means of 'transition notes,' weakens +the power of the music. In Palestrina's music each chord strikes upon +the listener with all its force; the most elaborate modulations could +never affect the mind as do those bold, weighty chords, which burst +upon us like dazzling beams of light. Palestrina is simple, true, +childlike in piety; as strong and mighty, as genuinely Christian in his +works as are, in painting, Pietro of Cortona and Albrecht Duerer. For +him composition was an act of religion. But I do not forget the great +masters Caldara, Barnabei, Scarlatti, Marcello, Lotti, Porpora, +Bernardo, Leo, Valotti, and others, who all kept themselves simple, +dignified, and forcible. Vividly, at this moment, awakes in me the +remembrance of that Mass of Alessandro Scarlatti's for seven voices, +'Alla Capella,' which you, Theodore, once had sung by your own good +pupils under your own conductorship. It is a model specimen of the +true, grand, and powerful ecclesiastical style, although it has a +commencement of the melodic 'swing' which music had acquired by the +time it was written, 1705." + +"And the mighty Haendel," said Theodore, "the inimitable Hasse, the +profound and thoughtful Sebastian Bach; have you not a thought for +them?" + +"Certainly," answered Cyprian; "I reckon them among the sacred bands +whose hearts were strengthened by the power of faith and love. It was +this power which brought to them that inspiration by virtue of which +they entered into communion with the Highest, and were fired to those +works which serve not worldly aims, but are, of necessity, nothing but +praise of, and honour to, the loftiest things. This is why those works +of theirs bear the impress of veracious truth, and why no anxious +striving after 'effect,' no laboured apings of other things, defile and +desecrate that of the Heavenly which has revealed itself to them, pure, +and clear, and undefiled. This is why there is, in their writings, none +of those so-called 'striking' modulations, varied 'figurations,' or +effeminate 'melodies,'--none of those powerless, confusing rushes of +instrumentation, the object of which is to benumb the intelligence of +the listeners so that they may not detect the emptiness of this music. +Hence it is that only the works of the masters just mentioned (and of +the few in more recent times, who, like them, have remained true +servants of that faithful 'Church' which exists no more here below), +truly elevate and edify pious souls. Let me here mention the glorious +master Fasch, who belongs to the old pious times, and whose profound +and reverent writings have found so little favour with the frivolous +crowd that his Mass for sixteen voices could not be published for want +of due support. You would do me much injustice, Theodore, if you +supposed that my mind is shut up with reference to the more modern +music. Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven have, in very truth, unfolded a new +art, whose germ, perhaps, began to show itself in the middle of the +eighteenth century. It was not the fault of those masters that +frivolity and lack of comprehension prized the treasures already in +existence so lightly that coiners of false money tried to give to their +base metal the semblance of true currency. It is true that nearly in +the same degree in which instrumental music gained in importance, vocal +music became neglected, and that the complete disappearance of the +true old choral music (which the result of sundry ecclesiastical +changes--dissolution of the monasteries, and so forth), kept pace +therewith. Of course it is quite clear that, now, it is not possible to +go back to Palestrina's simplicity and grandeur, but it is still a +question how far our new gains and progress can be brought into use in +churches. The spirit which rules this world drives onward and onward +continually; and although the forms which are lost and gone can never +come back just as they were when they moved in our life-atmosphere, +what is true is everlasting, imperishable, immortal; and a wondrous +spiritual communion gently binds a mysterious band around the past, the +present, and the future. The sublime old masters are still alive, in +the spirit. 'They being dead, yet speak.' Their music has not died away +into silence, although in the roaring, tumultuous strife of the +ungovernable which has broken in upon us, it is difficult to hear it. +May the time of the fulfilling of our hopes be not far off! May a life +of piety, peace, and joy begin, when Music, plying her Seraph-pinions +freely and joyously once more, may enter upon her flight to the life +beyond this, to that world which is her home, and whence comfort and +salvation beam down into the unresting hearts of men." + +Cyprian spoke those words with an unction which showed that they came +truly from his heart of hearts. The friends, deeply moved by them, kept +silence for some moments. + +Then Sylvester said, "Although I am not a musician as Theodore and +Cyprian are, I can assure you that I have thoroughly followed all you +have said about Beethoven's Mass, and Church music in general. But, +just as Cyprian complains that it may almost be said that there is no +such person in existence at the present moment as a genuine +ecclesiastical composer, I think I might assert that it would be hard +to find a poet able to write worthy words for a Church composition." + +"Quite true," said Theodore; "and the German words published with this +very Mass of Beethoven's are but too clear a proof of it."[4] + +"But now," said Vincenz, rising from his chair, "like a second irate +Pope Marcellus, I banish all further talk about music from the chapel +of the Holy Saint Serapion. Both Theodore and Cyprian have spoken very +finely, but let me move 'the previous question'--let us return to the +strict rule of the Order, for which I, being a novice, am a great +stickler." + +"Vincenz is right," said Theodore. "Our dissertations have not been +very interesting to the unskilled in music, wherefore it is well to +bring them to a conclusion. Let Sylvester read us the tale he has +brought with him." + +This was agreed to, and Sylvester began, without further prelude, as +follows:-- + + + + + MASTER MARTIN, THE COOPER, AND HIS MEN. + + +Dear reader, doubtless you, like others, feel your heart swell with +emotion when you wander about some spot where the glorious monuments of +old German art bear witness, in eloquent language, to the brightness, +the pious, diligent industry, the truthfulness of beautiful days which +are no more. Does not it seem as though you were entering some old, +deserted dwelling? The pious book which the good house-father had been +reading is still lying open on the table; the mother's needlework is +still in the place where she left it; cherished presents, given on +birthdays, and other festivals, stand about in carefully-kept +cupboards. You feel as though some members of the household would come +in presently and greet you with cordial hospitality. But you wait for +them in vain. The ever-rolling wheel of time has carried them away. You +may give yourself up to the sweet dream which brings the old masters +back to you, so that you hear them talking to you with a pious energy +which goes to the very marrow of your bones. And it is then that you +begin to understand the deep meaning of their labours; for you are +living in their days, and you understand the period which produced them +and their works. But alas! what happens is, that just as you would +clasp this beautiful dream-image to your heart with loving arms, it +flies away coyly on the light clouds of the morning, scared at +the noise and uproar of the day, and you gaze at its vanishing +after-shimmer with eyes filled with burning tears. Hard beset by the +surges of the life around you, you wake suddenly from the beautiful +dream, and all that remains to you is the deep, endless longing which +penetrates your heart with thrills of sweet emotion. Feelings such +as those, dear reader, have at all times filled the breast of him +who writes those pages for you, when his way has led him to the +world-renowned town of Nuernberg. Delaying before the wondrous fabric +of the fountain in the market-place, or contemplating the monument in +St. Sebald, or the Pyx in St. Laurenz, or Albert Duerer's works of deep +meaning in the Rathhaus, he has yielded himself wholly to the sweet +dreams which took him back into the midst of the glories of the old +Imperial free-town; and many a picture of the doughty burgher-life of +those old days, when art and handicraft held out hands of help and +friendship to each other in eager emulation, has risen up in clearness, +and impressed itself on his mind with a peculiar pleasure and serenity +of cheerfulness. Let it please you, dear reader, to have one of those +pictures displayed to you. Perhaps you may look upon it with a sense of +pleasure and satisfaction, or even with genial smiles; perhaps you may +feel at home in Master Martin's house, and linger gladly amongst his +vats and barrels. At all events, may that come to pass which the writer +from the depths of his heart most cordially desires. + + + HOW MASTER MARTIN WAS ELECTED ONE OF THE CHIEFS + OF HIS GUILD, AND DULY RETURNED THANKS FOR THAT HONOUR. + +On the first of May of the year one thousand five hundred and eighty, +the Honourable Guild of Coopers in the free Imperial town of Nuernberg +held its solemn annual meeting, according to use and wont. A short time +previously one of its "Vorsteher," or presidents, had been carried to +his grave; so that it was necessary to appoint his successor. The +choice fell upon Master Martin, and, in truth, no one could equal him +in strong and elegant building of vats; nor did any one understand as +he did the keeping of wine in cellar; for which reason he had the +grandest lords and gentry for his patrons, and lived in the utmost +comfort; nay, in absolute wealth, so that the worthy town councillor, +Jacobus Paumgartner (who was president of the Guild), said, "You have +done right well, my worthy friends, to pitch upon Master Martin for +this appointment, which could not be in better hands. Master Martin is +highly esteemed by all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance, for +his great ability, and his profound experience in the art of storing +and caring for the noble wine. His ceaseless, honest industry, his life +of piety, in spite of the wealth which he has amassed, are an example +to you all." + +"So I offer you a thousand congratulations on your election, my dear +Master Martin." + +Thus saying, Paumgartner rose from his chair, and stepped forward a +pace or two with extended arms, expecting that Master Martin would +advance towards him in reciprocation. Upon which Master Martin pressed +his arms on the elbows of his chair, and raised himself as slowly and +heavily as his well-nourished "corporation" admitted of his doing; +after which, with equal deliberateness, he walked into Paumgartner's +hearty embrace, which he scarcely returned. + +"Well, Master Martin," said Paumgartner, a little astonished, "is there +anything not quite to your liking in having been elected Syndic?" + +Master Martin, as was his habit, threw his head well back, fingered his +paunch with both hands, and looked around the assemblage with his eyes +opened very wide, and his nether lip protruded; then, turning to +Paumgartner, he said: "My dear and worthy sir! how should it be +otherwise than to my liking that I receive what is my just due? Who +despises the reward of his hard work? Who sends from his door a bad +debtor who comes at last to pay the money he has owed so long? My good +friends"--here he turned to the Masters--"it has struck you at last, +has it, that _I_ ought to be elected Syndic of our Honourable Guild? +What, think you, are the qualifications you expect in your Syndic? +Ought he to be the best hand at his work?--Go and look at my two-fudder +vat, hooped without firing, my great masterpiece there, and then come +and tell me if e'er a one of you can boast of a piece of work its equal +in strength and beauty. Should your Syndic be a man of money and +property?--Call at my house, and I will open my chests and my coffers, +and you shall gladden your eyes with the sight of the glittering gold +and silver. Should he be honoured and esteemed by high and low, great +and small?--Ask our honourable gentlemen of the Council; ask Princes +und Lords all round our good town of Nuernberg; ask the Right Rev. +Bishop of Bamberg; ask them all what they think of Master Martin--and I +don't think you will hear much to his disadvantage." + +With which Master Martin patted his fat corporation with much +complacent contentment, twinkled his half-closed eyes, and, as all were +silent, and only a half-suppressed throat-clearing, of a somewhat +dubious character, was audible here and there, he continued as follows: + +"However, I perceive--in fact I am well aware--that I ought now to +return thanks, to the best of my ability, that it has pleased the Lord +at last to enlighten your minds to make this election. Certainly, when +I am paid for my work, or when my debtor returns me the sum he +borrowed, I always write at the bottom of the receipt, 'With thanks. +Tobias Martin, cooper in this town;' so I return you all my hearty +thanks that you have paid off an old debt by electing me your Syndic. +For the rest, I promise that I will perform the duties of my office +with all truth and faithfulness; that I shall ever be ready to stand by +the Guild, or any of its members, in word and deed, in time of need, to +the utmost of my power. It will be my heart's earnest desire to +maintain our Honourable Company in all the honour and dignity which it +possesses at present; and, dear friends and Masters, I invite you, one +and all, to dinner on Sunday next, when, over a good glass of +Hochheimer, Johannisberger, or whatever other good wine out of my +cellar you may prefer, we may consider and discuss what further may be +expedient for our common advantage. Once more, consider yourselves all +cordially invited." + +The faces of the Honourable Society, which had darkened considerably at +Martin's arrogant words, now brightened again, and the gloomy silence +was succeeded by lively conversation, in which much was said concerning +the eminent merits of Master Martin, and of his celebrated cellar. +Every one promised to appear on the Sunday, and gave his hand to the +newly-elected Syndic, who shook them all cordially,--and he even +pressed one or two of the Masters just the least little bit against his +waistcoat, as if he half thought of embracing them. + +The meeting dispersed in the best of humour, and the highest spirits. + + WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THAT, IN MASTER MARTIN'S HOUSE. + +It so chanced that Master Jacobus Paumgartner, on his way to his own +dwelling, had to pass the door of Master Martin's house; and when they, +together, had reached the said door, and Paumgartner was about to +proceed on his way, Master Martin, taking off his little cap and bowing +as low as he could, said to the Councillor: "Ah! if you would not think +it beneath you, my dear and honoured sir, to step into this poor house +of mine for a brief hour; if you would but be so very kind as to grant +me the opportunity of profiting by, and delighting in, your wise +conversation." + +"I am sure, Master Martin," said the Councillor with a smile, "I shall +only be too happy to accept your invitation to come in; though how you +can call your house a poor one I cannot imagine. I know well that the +wealthiest of our citizens do not surpass you in the costliness of your +furniture and appointments. It is only the other day that you have +finished those additions to your house which have made it one of the +finest specimens of street architecture in all this famous town, of +which it is one of the ornaments; of the interior arrangements I say +nothing, for I am aware that of them no nobleman in the land need be +ashamed." + +Old Paumgartner was right; for when the brightly-waxed and polished +door, all over rich brass-work, was opened, the spacious entrance-hall, +with its beautifully-inlaid floor, fine pictures on the walls, rich +carpets, and elegant cabinets and chairs, was seen to be like some fine +drawing-room; so that everyone willingly obeyed the instructions which, +according to an old-world custom, were inscribed on a tablet hung up +close to the door, in verse, as follows: + + "Those who, in entering, these steps ascend + Should see that their shoon shall not sully the floor; + Or then let them elsewhere their footsteps wend, + That so there shall be no distress on their score + A person of judgment doth know--without this-- + What, in such matter, his duty is." + +It was warm weather, and the air in the rooms, now that the evening +twilight was falling, was heavy and steamy; for which reason Master +Martin took his guest into the cool, spacious "best kitchen;" such at +that time was named the apartment which, in the houses of wealthy +merchants, was indeed furnished like a kitchen, but, at the same time, +adorned not for use, but solely for display--with all manner of costly +implements of household necessity. As soon as they came in, Master +Martin cried loudly, "Rosa! Rosa!" The door presently opened, and Rosa, +Master Martin's only daughter, entered. + +Gracious reader! I must here ask you to call to remembrance, as vividly +as you can, the masterpieces of our grand Albrecht Duerer. Let those +beautiful virgin forms which he has pourtrayed, instinct with grace and +suavity, sweetness, gentleness, pious meekness, rise before you. Think +of the noble, tender shapes; the pure, rounded foreheads white as snow; +the rose-tint suffusing the cheeks; the delicate lips, red as cherries; +the eyes, looking far away, in dreamy longing, half shadowed by the +dark lashes, as moonlight is by thick leafage. Think on the silky hair, +carefully gathered and knotted. Think on all the heavenly beauty of +those virgin forms, and you will see the lovely Rosa. He who relates +this tale cannot hope otherwise to pourtray her. Let me, however, +remind you of another grand painter into whose soul a ray from those +ancient days has penetrated: I mean our German Master, Cornelius. Just +as he has made Margaret (in his illustrations to Goethe's mighty +'Faust') appear, as she says-- + + "I'm not a lady; nor am I fair," + +such was Rosa, when she felt constrained, bashfully and modestly, to +evade the ardent advances of some admirer. + +She now bent low before Paumgartner, in child-like deference, took his +hand, and pressed it to her lips. The old gentleman's pale cheeks +glowed. As the radiance of the evening sky fading away into darkness, +brightens up suddenly for a last moment, gilding the dark foliage ere +it sinks into night, so did the fire of youth long-perished flash up in +his eyes. "Ah, Master Martin!" he cried, "you are a wealthy, prosperous +man, but by far the most precious gift that Heaven has bestowed on you +is your charming Rosa. The sight of her makes the hearts of us old +fellows beat, as we sit at the Council Board: and if _we_ can't turn +our eyes away from her, who can blame the young gallants if they stand +staring like stone images when they meet her in the street; or see only +_her_ in church, and not the parson? What marvel that, when there is a +_fete_ in the common meadow, they drive the other girls to despair, by +all running after _your_ daughter, following _her_ exclusively with +their sighs, love-looks, honeyed speeches? Master Martin, you are well +aware you may pick and choose among the best patrician blood in the +country-side for your son-in-law, whenever you have a mind." + +Master Martin's face crumpled up into sombre folds. He told his +daughter to go and bring some fine old wine; and when she, blushing +over and over as to her cheeks, and with eyes fixed on the ground, had +hurried away for it, he said to old Paumgartner:-- + +"Ay, honourable sir! it is no doubt the truth that my daughter is +gifted with exceptional beauty, and that Heaven has made me rich in +that respect as well as in others; but how could you speak of it in the +girl's presence?--and as to an aristocratic son-in-law, that's all +moonshine." + +"Nay, nay, Master Martin," answered Paumgartner; "out of the abundance +of the heart, the tongue speaketh,' you know. _My_ old sluggish blood +begins to dance in my veins when I look at Rosa; and there can't be +much harm in my saying what she must know well enough to be true." + +Rosa brought the wine, and two magnificent goblets. Martin drew the +great table, richly carved, to the centre of the room; but just as the +old fellows had taken their places, and Martin was filling the goblets, +a tramping of horses was heard in front of the house. Some cavalier +seemed to be drawing bridle; his voice was heard ringing loud in the +hall. Rosa hastened to the door, and came back to say that the old Lord +Heinrich, of Spangenberg, was there and wished to speak with Master +Martin. + +"Well!" said Martin, "this is really a wondrous lucky evening, since my +good friend--my oldest patron and customer--has come to pay me a call. +New orders, no doubt; something fresh to lay down in the cellar." With +which he made off as glibly as he could, to greet the new visitor. + + + HOW MASTER MARTIN EXTOLLED HIS CALLING ABOVE ALL OTHERS. + +The wine of Hochheimer glittered like pearls in the beautiful, cut +goblets, and opened the hearts, and loosened the tongues of the three +old fellows; and old Spangenberg, advanced in years, but still glowing +with life and vigour, served up many a quaint tale and adventure of his +younger days; so that Master Martin's paunch waggled heartily, and he +had, times without end, to wipe tears of irrepressible laughter from +his eyes, Paumgartner, too, forgot his senatorial gravity more than +usual, and gave himself thoroughly up to the enjoyment of the noble +liquor and the entertaining talk; then Rosa came in with a pretty +basket, whence she brought out table-linen, dazzling as snow. She +tripped here and there with housewifely eagerness; laid the table, and +covered it with all sorts of well-flavoured dishes, appetizing of +odour, and begged the gentlemen, with sweetest smiles, not to disdain +what had been got ready in haste. The laughter and the flow of +conversation ceased. Paumgartner and Spangenberg could neither of them +move his eyes away from the beautiful girl, and even Master Martin +watched her housewifely activities with a smile of satisfaction, as he +leant back in his chair with folded hands. When Rosa would have left +them, old Spangenberg jumped up as briskly as a youth, took her by both +shoulders, and cried over and over again, with tears in his eyes, "Oh +thou good, precious angel!--thou sweet, kind, charming creature!" Then +he kissed her three times on the forehead, and went back to his chair +in deep reflection. Paumgartner drank a toast to her health. + +"Ay!" began Spangenberg, when she had left the room; "ay, Master +Martin! Heaven has, in that daughter of yours, bestowed on you a jewel +which you cannot prize too highly. She will bring you to great honour +one day. Who--be he of whatsoever condition he may--would be otherwise +than only too happy to be your son-in-law?" + +"You see," said Paumgartner; "you see, Master Martin, the noble Herr +von Spangenberg thinks exactly as I do. Already I see my darling Rosa a +nobleman's bride, with the rich pearls in her lovely fair hair!" + +"Dear, dear! good gentlemen!" cried Master Martin, looking quite out of +temper, "why should you persist in talking about a matter which has not +even begun to enter my thoughts? My daughter Rosa is only just +eighteen; she is too young to be thinking of a husband; and how +matters may come to pass hereafter, I leave wholly in God's hands. +But thus much is certain that neither a noble nor any other man shall +have my daughter's hand, save and except that cooper who proves +himself, to my satisfaction, to be the most utterly perfect master of +his craft--always supposing that my daughter loves him; for I am not +going to constrain my darling daughter to anything whatever in the +world, least of all to a marriage that does not please her." + +Spangenberg and Paumgartner looked each other in the face, much +astonished at this remarkable statement of the Master's. Presently, +after clearing his throat a good deal, Spangenberg began: + +"Then your daughter is not to marry out of her own class, is she?" + +"God forbid that she should," answered Martin. + +"But," continued Spangenberg, "suppose some doughty young Master +belonging to some other craft--say, a goldsmith, or perhaps a talented +young painter--were to come wooing your daughter, and pleased her very +specially, much more than any of her other wooers, how were it then?" + +Master Martin answered, drawing himself up, and throwing back his head: + +"'Show me,' I should say, 'show me, my good young sir, the two-fudder +cask that you have built as your masterpiece.' And if he couldn't do +that I should open the door politely, and beg him, as civilly as I +could, to try his luck elsewhere." + +Spangenberg resumed: + +"Suppose the young fellow said, 'I cannot show you a small-scale piece +of work such as you speak of; but come with me to the market-place, and +look at that stately building, reaching its pinnacles proudly up to the +skies. That is my masterpiece.'" + +"Ah, my good sir!" Martin interrupted impatiently; "what is the good of +your taking all this trouble to alter my determination. My son-in-law +shall belong to my own craft, and to no other; for I look upon my craft +as being the most glorious that exists on earth. Do you suppose that +all that is necessary to make a cask hold together is to fit the hoops +on to the staves? Ah! ha! The glory and the beauty of our craft is that +it presupposes a knowledge of the preservation and the nursing of that +most precious of heaven's gifts--the noble wine, that so it may ripen, +and penetrate us with its strength and sweetness, a glowing spirit of +life. Then there is the build of the cask itself. If the build is to be +successful, we have to measure and calculate all the curves, and the +other dimensions, with rule and compass with the utmost accuracy. +Geometers and arithmeticians we must be, that we may compute the +proportions and the capacities of our casks. Ah, good sir, I can +tell you my very heart laughs within my body when I see a fair, +well-proportioned cask laid on to the end-stool, the staves all +beautifully finished off with the riving knife and the broad-axe, and +the men set to with the mallets, and 'clipp, clapp' ring; the strokes +of the driver. Ha! ha! that is merry music. There stands then the work, +perfect; and well may I look round me with a dash of pride when I take +my marking-iron and mark it with my own trade-mark on the head of the +cask--my own mark, known and respected by all genuine vineyard-masters +in the land. You spoke of architects, dear sir. Very good; a grand, +stately house is a fine work beyond doubt. But if I were an architect, +and passed by one of my works, and saw some dirty-minded creature, some +good-for-nothing, despicable wretch who had happened to become the +owner of that house, looking down at me from one of the balconies, I +should feel a shame at the bottom of my heart; I should long to dash +that work of mine to pieces from sheer annoyance and disgust. Nothing +of that sort can ever happen to me, for in my works dwells ever the +very purest thing on earth--the noble wine. God's blessing on my +craft!" + +"Your encomium," said Spangenberg, "was admirable, and heartily felt on +your part. It is to your honour that you hold your craft in high +esteem. But please be patient with me if I do not leave you in peace +even now. Suppose one of the nobility did actually come and ask you for +your daughter. Sometimes, when a matter really comes very close to one, +much in it begins to assume a different appearance to what one +thought." + +"Ah," cried Martin a little warmly, "what could I say, except with a +polite bow, 'Honoured sir, if you were but a clever cooper; but, being +as you are----'" + +"Listen further," said Spangenberg. "If some fine morning a handsome +noble were to come on a splendid charger, with a brilliant following +all in grand clothes, and rein up at your door and ask for Rosa for his +helpmate?" + +"Hey! hey!" cried Master Martin more impetuously than before; "I should +run as fast as I could and bolt and bar the door. Then I should cry and +shout, 'Ride on your road, your lordship. Roses such as mine do not +bloom for you. I dare say my cellar and my cash-box please you well, +and you think you may have the girl into the bargain. Ride on your +road.'" + +Old Spangenberg rose up, his face red as fire. He leaned both hands on +the table and looked down before him. "Well," he began, after a short +silence, "this is my last question, Master Martin. If the young noble +at your door were my own son, if I myself were at your door with him, +would you bar the door? Would you think we had come only for the sake +of your cellar and your cash-box?" + +"Most certainly not," answered Master Martin. "My honoured and dear +sir, I should open the door politely to you; everything in my house +should be at your and your son's command. But as regards Rosa, I should +say, 'Had it pleased Heaven that your noble son had been a clever +cooper, no one on earth would have been more welcome to me as a +son-in-law than himself. As it is, however----' But why should you +plague me with all those extraordinary questions, honoured sir? Our +delightful conversation has come to an end, and our glasses are +standing full. Let us leave the questions of the son-in-law and Rosa's +marriage on one side. I drink your son's good health. People say he is +a fine handsome gentleman." + +Master Martin took up his goblet, and Paumgartner followed his example, +saying "A truce to captious conversation; here's to your son's health." + +Spangenberg touched glasses with them, and then said, with a forced +laugh, "You saw, of course, that I was only speaking in jest. My son, +who has only to ask and have amongst the best and noblest in the land, +were a raving lunatic to come here begging for your daughter." + +"Ah, my dear sir," answered Martin, "even were it jest I could answer +it in no other manner, without loss of my proper self-respect. For you +must confess, yourselves, that you are aware that I am justified in +holding myself to be the best cooper in all the country-side; that all +that can be known as to wine, I know it; that I hold faithfully by the +wine-laws framed in the days of our departed Emperor Maximilian; that, +as a pious man, I hate and despise all godlessness; that I never burn +beyond an ounce of sulphur in a two-fudder cask, which is needful for +the preservation thereof. All this, dear and honoured sirs, you can +sufficiently trace the savour of, in my wine here." + +Spangenberg, resuming his seat, strove to assume a happier expression +of countenance again, and Paumgartner led the conversation to other +topics. But as the strings of an instrument, when once they have gone +out of tune, stretch and warp more and more, and the master cannot +evoke from it the well sounding chords which he could produce before, +nothing that those old fellows tried to say would harmonise any longer. +Spangenberg called his servants and went away depressed and out of +temper from Martin's house, which he had come to in such a jovial mood. + + + THE OLD GRANDMOTHER'S PROPHECY. + +Master Martin was somewhat concerned at his old friend and patron's +having gone away annoyed. He said to Paumgartner, who had finished his +last goblet and was leaving too: + +"I really cannot make out what the old gentleman was driving at with +all those odd questions; and why should he be so vexed when he went +away?" + +"Dear Master Martin," answered Paumgartner, "you are a fine, grand, +noble, upright fellow, and you are right to set a value on what, by the +help of God, you have brought to such a prosperous issue and carried on +so well, and what has been a source of wealth and fortune to you at the +same time. Still, this should not lead you to ostentation and pride, +which are contrary to all Christian feeling. In the first place, it was +hardly right in you to set yourself above all the other masters at the +meeting to-day as you did. Very likely you do know more of your craft +than all the rest of them put together; but to go and cast this +straight in their teeth could only give rise to anger and annoyance. +And then your conduct of this evening; you surely could not have been +so blind as not to see that what Spangenberg was driving at was to find +out how far your headstrong pride would really carry you. It could not +but have hurt the worthy gentleman sorely to hear you attribute any +young noble's wooing of your daughter to mere greed for your money. And +it would have all been well enough if you had got back into the right +road when he began to talk about his own son. If you had said, 'Ah, my +good and honoured sir, if you were to come with your son to ask for my +daughter (an honour on which, certainly, I could never have reckoned), +I should waver in the firmness of my determination.' If you had said +that, what would have been the consequence, but that old Spangenberg, +quite forgetting his previous wrongs, would have smiled, and got back +into the fine temper he was in before." + +"Scold me well," said Master Martin; "I deserve it, I know. But when +the old gentleman spoke such non sense, I really could not bring myself +to give him any other answer." + +"Then," Paumgartner continued, "this silly notion of yours that you +won't give your daughter to anybody but a cooper. Was ever such +nonsense heard of? You say your daughter's destiny shall be left in +God's hands, and yet you go and wrest it out of God's hands yourself, +by deciding that you will choose your son-in-law out of one limited +circle. This may be the very destruction of both her and you. Leave off +such unchristian, childish folly, Master Martin. Commit the matter to +the Almighty. He will place the right decision in your daughter's pious +heart." + +"Ah, my dear sir," said Master Martin quite dejectedly, "I see now, for +the first time, how wrong I was not to make a clean breast of the whole +business at once. You, of course, suppose that it is merely my high +opinion of the cooper's craft which makes me resolve never to give Rosa +to anybody but a master cooper. But that is by no means the case; there +is another reason. I can't let you go away until I have told you all +this. You shall not pass a single night, even, with a bad opinion of me +in your mind. Sit down again; I beg it as a favour. See, here is still +another bottle of my oldest wine; Spangenberg was too much offended to +taste it. Sit, and stay but a few minutes longer." + +Paumgartner was surprised at Master Martin's friendly insistance, which +was not in his usual nature. It seemed as if something lay heavy on his +mind which he felt eager to be clear of. When Paumgartner had resumed +his seat, and taken some of the wine, Master Martin commenced as +follows: + +"You are aware, dear sir, that my beloved wife died soon after Rosa's +birth from the effects of a difficult confinement. My own grandmother +was still alive at a great age (if one can call it being 'alive,' to be +stone deaf, quite blind, scarcely able to speak, paralysed in every +limb, and completely bedridden). My Rosa had been baptized, and the +nurse was sitting with her in the room where the old grandmother lay. I +was so sorrowful, and (when I looked at the child) so wonderfully +happy, and yet so sad--I was so deeply touched that I found it +impossible to do any work, and I was standing, sunk in my thoughts, +beside my grandmother's bed, envying her, and thinking how well for her +it was that she had done with earthly pain. And as I was so looking +into her pale face, all at once she began to smile in the strangest +way; her wrinkled features seemed to smooth out, her pale cheeks took +on a colour; she sat up in her bed and stretched her powerless arms as +she had not been able to do for a long time, and, as if suddenly +inspired by some miraculous power, she called out distinctly, in a +soft, sweet voice, 'Rosa! darling Rosa!' The nurse gave her the child. +She took it and dandled it in her arms. But now, my dear sir, picture +my amazement, nay, my terror, when the old lady began, in a strong, +clear voice, a song, in the lofty, joyful 'manner' of Herr Hans +Berchler,[5] host at the sign of the Spirit, in Strasbourg, to the +following effect:-- + + "'Little maiden, with cheeks of roses, + Rosa, hear The decree. + Never yield thee to dread or doubting, + Set God fast in thy heart. + Let not vain longings deride thee. + He prepares thee a brightsome dwelling, + Streams, of sweet savour, flowing therein, + Beauteous angels, singing full sweetly. + Pious of soul, + List to the truest of wooing, + Loveliest promise of love. + A House, resplendent and gleaming, + He whom thy heart goeth forth to + Shall to thy dwelling bring. + Needless to ask of thy father. + This is thy destined lord. + For this House, into thy dwelling + Bringeth good fortune and bliss. + Keep thine eyes open, then, maiden; + Watchful thine ears for the true word to come. + God's truest blessing be on thee, + Walking thy flowery way.'" + +"And when the old grandmother had sung this song, she put the child +gently and carefully down on the bedcover, and laying her withered, +trembling hands upon its forehead, whispered words which were wholly +unintelligible, though the inspired and sublime expression of her face +showed that she was praying. Then she sunk back with her head on the +pillow, and as the nurse lifted the child she gave a deep sigh--she was +gone." + +"A wonderful story," said Paumgartner. "Still I don't see how this +prophetic song of the old grandmother has any connection with your +obstinate determination to give Rosa to nobody but a master cooper." + +"What can be clearer," said Master Martin, "than that the old lady, +specially enlightened by the Lord during the last moments of her life, +declared in prophecy how matters are to go with Rosa, if she is to be +happy and fortunate? The wooer who is to bring wealth, luck and +happiness into her dwelling with a beautiful House; who can that be but +a clever cooper, who shall finish his masterpiece, the beautiful House +of his building, in my workshop? In what other house do streams of +sweet savour flow up and down but in a wine-cask? And when the wine is +working it rustles, and hums, and plashes; and that is the singing of +the angels as they float on the tiny ripples. Ay, ay! no other +bridegroom did the old grandmother mean but the master cooper. To that +I pin my faith." + +"Good Master Martin," said Paumgartner, "you interpret the old lady's +words after your own manner; but I cannot altogether agree with your +interpretation, and I still maintain that you ought to leave the whole +matter in the hands of God, and in your daughter's heart: for the true +meaning and the proper deciding of it most certainly lie hidden there." + +"And I, as far as I am concerned," said Master Martin, "stick to my own +opinion, that my son-in-law shall be none but a clever cooper. This I +hold to, for once and for all." + +Paumgartner was beginning almost to lose his temper over Martin's +obstinacy. But he controlled himself, and rose from his chair, saying: + +"It is getting late, Master Martin; I think we have had as much wine +and as much conversation as are good for us." + +And, as they were making for the door, there appeared a young woman +with five boys, of whom the eldest might have been scarcely eight, and +the youngest scarcely half a year old. The woman was weeping and +sobbing. Rosa hastened to meet them, crying, "Ah! Heavens! Valentine +must be dead. Here are his wife and children." "What? Valentine dead?" +cried Master Martin, much shocked, "Oh, what a misfortune! What a +misfortune! My dear sir, Valentine was the best of all my workmen; a +hardworking, good, honest fellow. A short time ago he hurt himself +dangerously with an adze, during the building of a big cask. His wound +got worse and worse; he fell into a violent fever, and now he has had +to die in the prime of his years." Master Martin went up to the +disconsolate woman, who was bathed in tears, lamenting that she must +perish in misery and distress. + +"What think you of _me_?" asked Master Martin. "Your husband came by +his death in my service, and do you suppose I am going to abandon +you in your need? God forbid! You all belong to my house henceforth. +To-morrow, or when you choose, we will bury your husband, poor fellow, +and then you and your boys go to my farm before the Lady-gate, where my +great workshop is, and be there with my men. You can look after the +housekeeping; I will bring up those fine young boys of yours as though +they were my own. More than that, your old father shall come and live +here too. He was a grand journeyman cooper while he had strength in +his arms for the work. If he can't wield the mallet now-a-days, +or the notching-tool, or the hooping-iron, or take his stroke at +the grooving-bench, why he can manage to turn out hoops with the +rounding-knife. Whether or not, into my house he comes with the rest of +you." + +Had not Master Martin held the woman up, she would have fallen at his +feet overwhelmed with emotion. The elder boys hung upon his doublet, +and the two youngest, whom Rosa had taken in her arms, held out their +little hands to him, as if they understood what he said. + +Quoth old Paumgartner, smiling, with tears in his eyes, "One can't be +vexed with you, Master Martin," and he betook himself to his dwelling. + + + HOW THE TWO YOUNG JOURNEYMEN, FRIEDRICH AND + REINHOLD, MADE EACH OTHER'S ACQUAINTANCE. + +The evening was falling as a young journeyman, very handsome and +distinguished-looking, Friedrich by name, was lying on a little grassy +hillock, shaded by leafy trees. The sun had set, and rosy flames were +shooting up from the deep abyss of the western sky. The famous town of +Nuernberg could be distinctly seen in the distance, broadening out in +the valley, its proud towers stretching up into the evening red, which +darted bright rays, streaming on to their summits. The young mechanic +had his arm propped upon his bundle, or travelling knapsack, and was +gazing down into the valley with longing eyes. He plucked a flower or +two from the grass, and cast them into the air towards the sunset sky; +then once more he gazed mournfully before him, and the hot tears came +to his eyes. At length he lifted his head, stretched out his arms, as +if he were embracing some beloved form, and sang the following song, in +a rich, tuneful voice: + + "Again, again I see thee, my own beloved home, + My faithful heart has never lost + The faintest trace of thee. + Rise on my sight, oh roseate sheen; + Fain would I see nought else but roses. + Love's own blossoms, glow on my heart, + Gladden my bosom, cheer my soul. + Ah, swelling heart, and must thou break? + Beat firm through pain and sweetest joy. + And thou, thou golden evening sky, + Be thou to me a faithful herald; + Bear down to her my sighs and tears + And tell her, should I die, my heart + Dissolved in love unchanging." + +When Friedrich had finished this song, he took some wax from his +bundle, warmed it in his breast, and began to model a beautiful rose, +with its hundreds of delicate petals, in the most skilful and artistic +manner. As he worked at it, he kept singing detached phrases of his +song; and, thus absorbed, he did not notice a handsome lad who had been +standing behind him for a considerable time, eagerly watching him as he +worked. + +"My friend," said this young fellow, "that is an exquisite piece of +work you are doing." + +Friedrich looked round, startled. But when he saw the stranger's kindly +dark eyes, he felt as if he had known him long. So he answered, with a +smile, "Ah, my dear sir, how can you care to look at this trifle, which +serves to pass a little of my time on my journey?" + +The stranger answered, "If you call that flower, so accurately studied +and copied from nature, and so tenderly executed, a 'trifle,' a +plaything, you must be a remarkably finished and accomplished artist in +that line. You delight me in a double sense. First, your song, which +you sung so charmingly (in the tender 'Letter-Mode' of Martin +Haescher), went quite to my heart; and now I have to admire your +masterly skill in modelling. Whither are you bound to-day?" + +"The goal of my journey," answered Friedrich, "lies there before our +eyes. I am bound for my home there, the renowned town of Nuernberg. As +the sun is far beneath the horizon, I shall pass the night down in the +village there; but I shall push on as early as I can in the morning, +and be in Nuernberg by noon." + +"Ah, how well that falls in," cried the lad; "I am bound for Nuernberg +too. I shall pass the night along with you in the village, and we can +go on together in the morning. So let us talk together a little." + +The lad, whose name was Reinhold, threw himself down on the grass +beside Friedrich, and went on as follows: + +"If I do not mistake, you are a splendid metal-worker. I see that by +your style of moulding. You work in gold and silver, do you not?" + +Friedrich looked sadly down, and began, quite dejectedly: + +"Ah, my dear sir, you take me for something much higher and better than +I really am. I must tell you candidly that I learnt the craft of a +cooper, and I wish to go and work with a well-known master of that +craft in Nuernberg. You will despise me that I do not model and cast +glorious images, figures, groups, and only shape hoops for casks and +barrels." + +"This is delightful," cried Reinhold, laughing aloud. "The idea of _my_ +despising you for being a cooper, when I am nothing else myself!" + +Friedrich looked at him fixedly; he did not know what to think. +Reinhold's dress was like anything rather than that of a journeyman +cooper on his travels. The doublet of fine black cloth trimmed with +velvet, the delicate lace cravat, short sword, barret cap, with long +drooping feather, seemed more appropriate to a well-to-do merchant; and +yet there was a certain wonderful something in the face and whole +bearing of the lad which excluded the idea of a merchant. Reinhold saw +Friedrich's doubts; he opened his knapsack, and brought out his +cooper's leather apron and case of tools, crying, "Look _there_, +friend; have you any doubt now as to my being your comrade? I dare say +my clothes may strike you a little; but I come from Strassburg, where +the coopers dress like gentry. Certainly, like yourself, I once had +ideas of something different; but now I think the cooper's craft the +finest in the world, and I have based many of my fairest life-hopes on +it. Is not this _your_ case, too, comrade? But it almost seems to me as +if some dark cloud-shadow had come over the happiness of your life, +preventing you from looking around you with any gladness. Your song was +all love-longing and sorrow; but there were tones in it which seemed to +come shining out of my own breast, and I feel as though I knew +everything which is imprisoned within you. That is all the more reason +why you should tell me all about it. As we are going to be intimate +friends and companions in Nuernberg, confide in me." Reinhold put an arm +about Friedrich, and looked him kindly in the eyes. + +"The more I look at you, you charming fellow," Friedrich said, "the +more I am drawn to you. I distinctly hear a wondrous voice within me +echoing a monition of my soul, which tells me you are my true friend. +So I _must_ tell you everything. Not that a poor fellow such as I has +anything really important to confide to you, but merely because the +breast of a true friend has room for a man's sorrows; and, from the +first moment of our acquaintance, I felt that you are the truest friend +I possess. I am a cooper now, and I may say I know my craft well. But +all my devotion was given to another--perhaps a better--art. From my +childhood my desire was to be a silversmith, a great Master in the art +of modelling and working in silver, such as Peter Fischer, or the +Italian, Benvenuto Cellini. I worked at this with fervent zeal, under +Master Johannes Holzschuer, the famous silversmith in my native town, +who, although he did not himself cast images of the kind I refer to, +had it in his power to give me instruction in that direction and +province. Into Herr Holzschuer's house came, not seldom, Herr Tobias +Martin, the master cooper, with his daughter, the beautiful charming +Rosa. I fell in love with her, without quite being aware of it myself. +I left home, and went to Augsburg, to learn image-casting properly, and +it was not till then that the love-flames blazed up in my heart. I saw +and heard only Rosa. I loathed every effort, every endeavour that did +not lead to _her_; so I started off upon the only path which _did_ lead +to her. Master Martin will give his daughter to no man save the cooper +who, in his house, shall make the most perfect masterpiece which a +cooper can produce, and whom at the same time his daughter shall look +upon favourably into the bargain. I cast my own art on one side, I +learned the cooper's craft, and I am going to Nuernberg to work in +Master Martin's workshop. That is my object and intention. But now that +my home lies before me, and Rosa's image glows vividly before my eyes, +I could swoon for hesitation, anxiety, dread. I see _now_ the folly of +my undertaking clearly. Can I tell whether Rosa loves me, or ever will +love me?" + +Reinhold had listened with even closer attention. He now rested his +head on his arm, and, placing his hand over his eyes, asked, in a +hollow, gloomy voice: + +"Has Rosa ever given you any sign that she cares for you?" + +"Ah," said Friedrich, "when I left Nuernberg, Rosa was more a child than +a girl. She certainly did not dislike me. She used to smile charmingly +on me when I never wearied of gathering flowers and making wreaths in +Herr Holzschuer's garden. But----" + +"Well, there is some hope in that case," Reinhold cried out suddenly, +so violently, and in such an unpleasant, yelling tone, that Friedrich +felt almost frightened. Reinhold started to his feet, the sword at his +side rattled, and as he stood drawn up to his full height, the evening +shadows fell on his pale face, and distorted his gentle features in +such an ill-favoured sort that Friedrich cried, in real anxiety: + +"What has come to you so suddenly?" + +As he spoke he stepped backward, touching Reinhold's bundle with his +foot. A sound of strings rang forth of it, and Reinhold cried, angrily: + +"Don't smash my lute, you villain!" + +He took the instrument from his bundle and struck its strings stormily, +as if he would tear them in pieces. But soon his touch upon them grew +soft and tuneful. + +"Let us go on down to the village, brother! I have here a fine remedy +against the Evil Spirits which stand in our way, and are in opposition +principally to _me_." + +"Why should Evil Spirits stand in our way, dear brother?" asked +Friedrich. "But oh! your playing is beautiful, Please to go on with +it." + +The gold stars had come forth in the dark azure of the heavens; the +night-wind was breathing in soft whispers over the perfumed meadows; +the streams were murmuring louder; the dark trees of the forest were +rustling all round in the distance. Reinhold and Friedrich went down +into the valley, playing and singing; and clear and bright, as on +shining pinions, their songs of Love and Longing floated on the breeze. + +When they reached their night-quarters, Reinhold threw his lute and his +knapsack down, and pressed Friedrich stormily to his heart. Friedrich +felt burning tears upon his cheek; they came from Reinhold's eyes. + + + HOW THE TWO YOUNG JOURNEYMEN, REINHOLD AND FRIEDRICH, + WERE RECEIVED INTO MASTER MARTIN'S HOUSE. + +When Friedrich awoke the next morning, he missed his new friend, who +had thrown himself down by his side on the straw bed; and as he saw +neither the lute nor the bundle, he thought Reinhold, for reasons to +him unknown, had left him and taken another road. When he went out, +however, he saw Reinhold with his lute under his arm, and his knapsack, +bat dressed quite differently to what he had been the day before. He +had taken the feather from his cap, was not wearing his sword, and had +on a homely citizen's doublet, of sober hue, instead of the velvet +slashed one he had previously. + +"_Now_, brother," he cried, with a kindly smile, "I am sure you see +that I really am your comrade and fellow-journeyman. However, I must +say you slept wonderfully well for a man in love. Look how high the sun +is. Let's be off at once." + +Friedrich was silent and thoughtful; he scarcely answered Reinhold, or +paid any attention to his jests, for he darted about hither and thither +in the highest spirits, shouting aloud, and throwing his cap into the +air; but even he became quieter as they approached the town, quieter +and quieter. + +"I cannot go any further, I am so anxious, so uncertain, so filled with +delicious unrest," said Friedrich, throwing himself down as one +exhausted, when they had all but arrived at the gates of Nuernberg. +Reinhold sat down beside him, and after a time said:-- + +"Last night I must have seemed to you to be a very strange creature, +good brother, but when you told me of your love, and were so +disconsolate, all manner of absurd nonsense came into my head, making +me feel confused. I think I should have gone crazy at last, had not +your singing and my lute driven the evil spirits away. This morning, +when the first rays of the sun awoke me, all my sense of enjoyment in +life had come back to me. I went out, and as I strolled up and down +amongst the trees, all manner of glorious thoughts came into my mind; +the way in which I had met you--how my whole heart had so turned to +you. I remembered a pretty tale of a matter which happened some time +ago in Italy when I chanced to be there. I should like to tell it to +you, as it shows very vividly what true friendship can accomplish. It +so happened that a certain noble prince, a zealous friend and protector +of the Arts, offered a valuable prize for a picture, the subject of +which, very interesting, and not over-difficult to treat, was duly +announced. Two young painters, who were united in bonds of the closest +friendship, determined to compete for this prize. They were in the +habit of working together; they told each other their respective ideas +on the subject, showed each other their sketches for it, and talked +much together as to the difficulties to be overcome. The elder of the +two, who had more experience than the other in drawing and grouping, +had soon grasped the idea of his picture, had sketched it, and was +helping the younger with all his power; for the latter was so +discouraged at the very threshold of his sketch for the picture, that +he would have given up all idea of going on had not the elder +unceasingly encouraged him, and given him advice and suggestions. Now +when they began to paint their pictures, the younger, who was quite a +master of colour, was able to give the elder many suggestions, which he +skilfully adopted and availed himself of; thus, the elder had never +coloured a picture so well, and the younger had never drawn one so +well. When the pictures were finished, the masters embraced each other, +each of them inwardly delighted with the work of the other, and each +convinced that the well-earned prize belonged of right to the other. +The younger, however, was the gainer of the prize; upon which he cried +out, thoroughly ashamed: 'Why should I have it? What is my merit +compared to my friend's? I could not have accomplished anything worthy +of praise but for his help.' But the elder said: 'And did you not help +me with valuable counsel and advice? No doubt my picture is by no means +bad; but you have got the prize, as was proper. To strive towards the +same goal, bravely and openly, that is real friendship. Then the laurel +which the victor gains honours the vanquished too. I like you all the +more for your having laboured so doughtily, and brought me, too, honour +and renown by your victory.' Now, Friedrich, that painter was right, +was he not? Would it not rather truly and intimately unite than +separate true friends to strive for the same prize, honestly, openly, +genuinely, to the utmost of their power? Can petty envy or hatred find +place in noble minds?" + +"Never!" answered Friedrich; "assuredly never! We are now loving +brethren; very likely we shall both ere long set to work to turn out +the great Nuernberg 'masterpiece'--the two-fudder cask, without +firing--each on his own account. But heaven forfend that I should be +able to trace in myself the faintest tinge of envy, if yours, dear +brother Reinhold, should be a better one than mine." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Reinhold. "What does your 'masterpiece' signify? +You will soon make _that_, I have no doubt, to the admiration of all +competent coopers; and let me tell you that, as far as concerns the +measurements, the proportions, curves, etc., you have found in me your +man; moreover, you can trust me as to the choice of the timber, staves +of red oak, felled in the winter, free from worm-holes, red or white +stripes, or blaze-marks--that is what we will seek out. You can trust +my eye; I will give you the best possible advice about everything, and +my own 'masterpiece' will be none the worse for that." + +"But, heaven help us," cried Friedrich, "why should we talk about +'masterpieces,' and which of us is going to succeed there? Is that what +we are going to contend for? The real 'masterpiece' is winning Rosa; +how are we to set about that? My head reels at it." + +"Well, brother," cried Reinhold, still laughing; "really we were not +saying anything about Rosa at that moment; you are a dreamer. Come +along, let us get to the town, at all events." + +Friedrich rose, and walked along, perplexed in mind. As they were +washing and brushing themselves in the inn, Reinhold said: + +"For my part, I don't know in the least what master I am going to work +with. I don't know a creature in the place, so I was thinking that +perhaps you would take me with you to Master Martin's, dear brother; +perhaps he would give me work." + +"You take a weight from my heart," answered Friedrich; "for if you are +with me I shall find it easier to overcome my anxiety and my +uneasiness." + +So they set out together stoutly for the house of the renowned cooper, +Master Martin. + +It happened to be the very Sunday on which Master Martin was giving his +great official dinner in honour of his appointment, and it was exactly +dinner-time. Thus, when Reinhold and Friedrich crossed Master Martin's +threshold, they became aware of a ringing of wine-glasses, and the +confused buzz of a merry dinner-company. + +"Ah!" said Friedrich, despondingly; "I fear we have come at an +unfortunate time." + +"I think just the contrary," said Reinhold; "for Master Martin will be +in a fine temper, after all that good cheer, and disposed to grant our +requests." + +And presently Master Martin--to whom they had caused their coming to be +announced--came out to them, in festal attire, and with no small amount +of rubicundity of nose and cheeks. As soon as he saw Friedrich, he +cried out, "Aha, Friedrich, good lad, thou art home again! That is +well; and thou hast betaken thyself to the noble cooper-craft, too! No +doubt Herr Holzschuer makes terrible faces when thy name is mentioned, +and says a really great artist is spoilt in thee, and that thou couldst +very likely have cast all sorts of little niminy-piminy figures, like +those in St. Sebald's--that, and trellis-work, such as there is in +Fugger's house in Augsburg. Stupid stuff and nonsense; thou hast done +the proper thing in turning to what is right; many thousand welcomes to +thee." With which Master Martin took him by the shoulders and embraced +him, according to his wont when highly pleased. Friedrich completely +revived at Master Martin's kind reception of him. All his bashfulness +abandoned him: he not only laid his own desires before Master Martin, +fully and unhesitatingly, but begged him to take Reinhold into his +service too. + +"Well," said Master Martin, "you could not possibly have come at a +better time; there is heaps of work, and I'm greatly in need of men. +You are both heartily welcome. Take off your bundles and come in; +dinner is nearly done, but there is room at the table, and Rosa will +take every care of you." And Master Martin went in with the two +journeymen. + +The worthy and honourable masters were all seated there, Herr +Paumgartner in the place of honour. Their faces were all aglow; +dessert was just served, and a noble wine was pearling in the great +drinking-glasses. Matters had arrived at a point when each of the +masters was talking, very loud, about something different from all the +others, yet they all thought they quite followed and understood; and +now one, and now another, laughed loud, without quite knowing why or +wherefore. But when Master Martin, with Friedrich and Reinhold in +either hand, announced that those two fine young journeymen, with good +certificates, the sort of fellows after his own heart, had come +offering to work for him, all grew silent, and everybody looked at the +handsome lads with a pleasant satisfaction. Reinhold glanced round him +with his clear eyes, almost proudly; but Friedrich cast his down, and +toyed with his barret-cap. Master Martin gave the two lads places at +the bottom of the table. But they were the most glorious places of all, +for presently Rosa came and sat down beside them, carefully helping and +serving them with exquisite dishes and delicious wines. All this made a +delightful picture to behold. The beautiful Rosa, the handsome lads, +the bearded masters, one could not but think of some shining morning +cloudlet rising up alone on a dark background of sky; or, perhaps, of +pretty spring flowers, raising their heads from melancholy, colourless +grass. Friedrich could hardly breathe for rapture and delight; only by +stealth did he now and then glance at her who was filling all his soul. +He stared down at his plate; how was it possible for him to swallow a +morsel? Reinhold, on the other hand, never moved his eyes (from which +sparkling lightnings flashed) from the girl. He began to talk of his +far travels in such a marvellous style, that she had never heard +anything like it before. All that he spoke of seemed to rise before her +eyes in thousands of ever-changing images; she was all eye, all ear. +She did not know where she was, or what was happening to her when +Reinhold, in the fire of his discourse, grasped her hand and pressed it +to his heart. "Friedrich," he cried, "why are you sitting mum and sad? +Have you lost your tongue? Come, let's clink our glasses to the health +of this young lady, who is taking such care of us here." Friedrich +took, with trembling hand, the tall goblet which Reinhold had filled to +the brim, and which, as Reinhold did not draw breath, he had to empty +to the last drop. "Here's to our brave master!" Reinhold cried again, +filling the glasses; and once more Friedrich had to empty his bumper. +Then the fire-spirit of the wine permeated him, and set his halting +blood a-moving, till it coursed, seething and dancing, through all his +veins. "What a blissful feeling," he whispered, as the glowing scarlet +mantled in his cheeks; "I cannot express how delightful; never did I +feel so happy in all my life before." + +Rosa--to whom those words might, perhaps, convey another sense smiled +on him with marvellous sweetness, and he, befreed from all his +bashfulness, said: "Dear Rosa, I suppose you don't remember me at all, +do you?" + +"Now, Friedrich," answered Rosa, with downcast eyes; "how could it be +possible that I should forget you so soon? At old Herr Holzschuer's I +was only a child, certainly, but you did not think it beneath you to +play with me; and you always talked of such charming things. And that +beautiful little basket of silver wire which you gave me one Christmas, +I still have, and shall always prize it as a precious keepsake." Tears +stood in the lad's eyes, in the intoxication of his happiness. He tried +to speak; but only the words, "Ah, Rosa! Dear Rosa!" came out of his +heart like a deep sigh. Rosa went on to say: "I have always wished most +heartily that I might see you again, but that you should take to the +cooper's craft, I never could have imagined. Ah! when I think of the +beautiful things you used to make at Herr Holzschuer's, it is really a +shame that you do not keep to your own art." + +"Ah, Rosa," said Friedrich, "it was all for your sake that I was +faithless to my own beloved art." Scarcely were the words spoken than +he would fain have sunk into the ground with shame and alarm. The most +unintentional of avowals had come from his lips. Rosa, as if she saw it +all, turned her face away from him. He strove in vain for words. +However, Herr Paumgartner rapped on the table loudly with a knife, and +announced to the company that Herr Vollrad, a worthy master-singer, +would favour them with a song. So Herr Vollrad stood up, cleared his +throat, and sung such a beautiful song in Hans Vogelsang's "golden +tone," that all hearts throbbed for joy, and even Friedrich recovered +from his serious embarrassment. After Herr Vollrad had sung other +beautiful songs, in various other "tones" or "manners,"--such as the +"sweet" tone, the "crooked horn" manner, the "flowery paradise" manner, +the "fresh orange" manner, etc.,--he said that, should there be +any at the table who knew anything of the gracious craft of the +master-singers, he should now be so good as to sing a song. At this +Reinhold rose, and said that, if he might be permitted to accompany +himself on the lute, after the Italian manner, he too would be happy to +sing a song, keeping, however, in it wholly to the German "modes." No +one saying anything to the contrary, he got out his lute, and after +preluding a little in the loveliest way, went on with the following +song:-- + + "Where is the little fount, + Where springs the flavourous wine? + Deep in the ground. + There found, + All men may see with joy its golden glory shine. + Who found it, thought it out, + With doughty might and thews, + With craft and careful skill? + Who but the cooper! + None but he can build + The precious fount and source." + +(With a little more to the same effect.) This song pleased everyone +beyond measure, but none so much as Master Martin, whose eyes beamed +with joy and delight. Without attending to Herr Vollrad--who spake more +than was necessary concerning that "manner" of "Herr Mueller's" which +the journeyman had "hit off by no means badly"--Master Martin rose, +and, lifting his glass on high, cried: "Come here--thou--proper cooper +and fine master-singer--come here! with me--with thy master--shalt thou +empty this glass!" + +Reinhold had to do as he was told. As he came back to his seat he +whispered to the thoughtful Friedrich, "_You_ must sing now, what you +snug last night." + +"You are mad," Friedrich cried, in anger. But Reinhold spoke out to the +company, in a loud voice, saying:-- + +"Honourable gentlemen and masters, my dear brother Friedrich here knows +much more beautiful songs and has a far finer voice than I. But the +dust of the journey has got into his throat, so that he will sing to +you in all 'manners' on another occasion." + +Then they all begun praising and applauding Friedrich as if he had +actually sung, and some of the masters even thought his voice was finer +than Reinhold's. Herr Vollrad (after another glass) thought, and said, +that Friedrich caught the beautiful German "modes" even better than +Reinhold, who had just a little too much of the Italian school about +him. But Master Martin threw his head back, smote his breast with his +fist till it resounded again, and cried-- + +"Those are _my_ men--mine, I say! Master Tobias Martin, the Cooper of +Nuernberg's men." + +And all the masters nodded their heads, and said, as they savoured the +last drops out of their tall drinking-glasses-- + +"Aye, aye, it is so! All right! Master Martin's, the Cooper of +Nuernberg's fine, clever men." + +At last they all went home to bed; and Master Martin gave each of his +new journeymen a nice bright chamber in his house. + + + HOW A THIRD JOURNEYMAN CAME TO MASTER MARTIN'S + AND WHAT HAPPENED THEREUPON. + +After Friedrich and Reinhold had worked with Master Martin for a week +or two, he observed that, as regarded measurements, rule and compass +work, calculations, and correctness of eye, Reinhold was probably +without a rival. But it was otherwise as concerned work at the bench +with the adze or the mallet. At those Reinhold soon wearied, and the +work would not progress, let him exert himself as he would. Friedrich, +on the other hand, hammered and planed away sturdily, and did not get +very tired of it. What they both had in common, however, was a +refinement of manner, to which there joined themselves, chiefly at +Reinhold's instigation, much innocent merriment and witty fun. Moreover +(especially when Rosa was by) they did not spare their throats, but +sang many a beautiful song, often together, when their voices went +delightfully. And when Friedrich, turning his eyes to Rosa, would tend +towards falling into a melancholy and sentimental strain, Reinhold +would immediately strike in with a comic ditty of his own devising, +which began-- + + "The vat is not the zither--the zither not the vat," + +so that old Martin had often to drop the tool which he had in his hand +raised in act to strike, and hold his sides for inward laughter. On the +whole both the journeymen, but especially Reinhold, stood high in +Master Martin's favour; and one might almost fancy that Rosa too +sometimes found a pretext for lingering oftener and longer in the +workshop than perhaps she otherwise would have done. + +One day Master Martin went thoughtfully to his workshop outside the +town gate, where work was carried on in the summer-time. Friedrich and +Reinhold were just beginning a small cask. Master Martin placed himself +before them with folded arms, and said:-- + +"I really cannot tell you, you two dear lads, how thoroughly I am +satisfied with you. But I find myself in a considerable predicament. +People write to me from the Rhine country that as regards crop this +present year is going to be more blessed than any that has gone before +it. A certain wise man has said that this comet which has appeared in +the sky so fertilises the earth with its wonderful rays, that it will +give forth all the heat which genders the noble metals out of its +deepest depths, which will so stream and exhale up into the thirsting +vines, that they will yield crops upon crops brimful of the liquid fire +which has heated them. It seems there has not been such a lucky +'constellation' for well on to three hundred years. Very good; hence +will spring great abundance of work. And, moreover, the Bishop of +Bamberg has written to order a large vat. We shall not be able to +finish it, so that I shall have to be looking out for another +journeyman hand--a good one. All the same, I don't want to bring the +first comer out of the street amongst us. And yet what's to be done? I +see no choice. If you happen to know of a good hand anywhere whom you +would have no objection to work with, say the word, and I'll send and +get him though it should cost me no small sum." + +Scarce had Master Martin said this, when a young man of tall, powerful +figure cried in at the door, in a loud voice, "I say, is this Master +Martin's?" + +"Yea," said Master Martin, stepping up to the young man, "verily it is; +but there's no occasion to shout in that murdering sort of style. That +is not the way to come at people." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the young man. "I see you are Master Martin +yourself. You answer exactly to the description of him given to me--the +fat corporation, the imposing double chin, the flashing eyes, and the +red nose. My best respects to you, Master Martin." + +"Well, sir," said Master Martin, greatly irritated, "and what may your +business with Master Martin be?" + +"I am a journeyman cooper," the young man answered, "and all I want is +to know if you can give me a job of work here." + +Master Martin took a step or two backward in sheer amazement at the +notion that, just when he had made up his mind to look out for another +hand, one should appear and offer himself; and he scanned the young man +closely from head to foot. The latter met his gaze with which flashed. +Now, as Master Martin observed the broad chest, athletic build, and +powerful hands of the young man, he thought to himself, "This is just +the stout, strong-built sort of fellow that I want." And he asked him +for his certificates. + +"I have not got them with me," the young man said, "but I will soon get +them. In the meantime, I give you my word that I will do your work +faithfully and honourably. That must suffice for the time." And +therewith, without waiting for Master Martin's leave, he strode into +the workshop, threw down his barret and his bundle, tied on his apron, +and said, "Now then, Master Martin, tell me what to set about." + +Master Martin, puzzled by this cool manner of setting about matters, +had to take thought with himself for a moment. "Well," he said, "my +lad, to show us that you are a trained cooper, set to with the notcher +upon that cask there at the end stool." + +The stranger journeyman accomplished the task told off to him with +remarkable force, skill, and rapidity. And then, loudly laughing, he +cried, "Now, master, have you any doubt that I am a trained cooper? +But," he continued, as he strolled up and down the shop examining the +tools, timber, &c., "you seem to have a good deal of queer stuff about +here. Now here's a funny little bit of a mallet. I suppose your +children amuse themselves with that. And the broad-axe yonder, that's +for your apprentice boys, I presume; isn't it?" With that he whirled +the great heavy mallet--which Reinhold could not wield, and which +Friedrich could only use with difficulty--up to the rooftree, did the +like with the ponderous broad-axe which Master Martin worked with, and +then rolled great casks about as if they had been bowls; and, seizing a +thick unshaped stave, he cried, "Master, this seems good sort of +oak-heart. I reckon it will fly like glass!" and banged it against the +grindstone, so that it broke right across into two pieces with a loud +report. + +"My good sir," Master Martin cried, "all I beg of you is, don't smash +up that two-fudder cask there, or bring the whole workshop down about +our ears. You might make a mallet of one of the rafters; and, by way of +a broad-axe to your liking, I'll send to the Town Hall for Roland's +sword, three ells long." + +"That would do for me nicely," said the young man, with sparkling eyes. +But presently he cast them down, and spoke in a gentler tone: + +"All I was thinking, dear Master Martin, was that your work needed men +of thews and sinews. But perhaps I was a little hasty in swaggering as +to my strength. Take me into your employ all the same. I will do what +work you give me in first-rate style, you will see." + +Master Martin looked him in the face, and had to own to himself that he +had probably never seen nobler or more thoroughly honest features. +Indeed he felt somehow that the young man's face stirred up a dim +remembrance of someone whom he had known and esteemed for a very long +time. But this would not become clear, although, for this cause, he at +once agreed to employ the young man, merely stipulating that he should +produce proper certificates to prove that he belonged to the craft. + +Reinhold and Friedrich meanwhile had finished setting up the cask at +which they were working, and were putting on the first hoops. At such +times they were in the habit of singing, and they now begun a pretty +song, in the "goldfinch manner" of Adam Puschmann. At this Conrad (such +was the new-comer's name) shouted out from the planing bench where +Master Martin had set him to work, "Ugh! what a cheeping and chirping. +Sounds as though the mice were squeaking about the shop. If you're +going to sing, sing something that will cheer a fellow up and put some +heart into him to go on with his work. I sometimes sing a thing of that +sort myself." With which he commenced a rough, wild hunting song, full +of "Hulloh!" and "Hussah!" And he imitated the cry of the hounds and +the shouts of the people in such a thundering, all-penetrating voice, +that the workshop shook and resounded. Master Martin stopped both his +ears with his hands, and the boys of Frau Martha (Valentine's widow), +who were playing in the workshop, hid themselves in terror amongst the +timber. Just then Rosa came in astonished, nay terrified, at the +prodigious shouting, for "singing" it could not be called. Conrad was +silent the moment he saw Rosa. He rose and went up to her in the most +courteous manner, saying, in a soft voice, and with gleaming fire in +his bright brown eyes: "Beautiful lady, how this old working cabin +beamed with roseate splendour as soon as you entered it. Ah! had I but +seen you a little sooner I should not have offended your ears with my +rough hunting song." He turned to Master Martin and the workmen, and +cried, "Hold that abominable noise, every one of you! Whenever this +beautiful lady deigns to show herself here, hammers and mallets must +stop. We will hear only her sweet voice, and listen with bowed heads to +such commands as she may deign to issue to us--her humblest servants." + +Reinhold and Friedrich gazed at each other in amazement; but Master +Martin shouted with laughter, and said, "Well, Conrad, I must say you +are the very drollest rascal that ever put on an apron. You come here, +and seem to be going to set to work to smash the whole place to atoms, +like some great lumbering giant. Next you bellow till we're all obliged +to hold our ears; and, by way of a worthy _finale_, you treat my little +daughter here as if she were a lady of quality, and you her page, in +love with her." + +"I know your lovely daughter quite well, Master Martin," answered +Conrad unconcernedly; "and I tell you she is the most glorious lady +that walks the earth, and would to heaven that she would permit her +most devoted servitor to be her Paladin!" + +Master Martin held his sides. He nearly suffocated himself before he +made way for his laughter by dint of wheezing and coughing. He then +managed to get out a "Good! very good! my dear young sir. Take my +little girl Rosa for a lady of quality, if you will, but just get back +to your work at the bench there." + +Conrad stood rooted to the spot with eyes fixed on the ground; rubbed +his forehead, and said softly, "So I must." He did as he was ordered. +Rosa sat down on a small barrel, as she usually did when she came to +the workshop. Reinhold and Friedrich brought this barrel forward for +her as they were wont to do; and then they sang together (as Master +Martin bade them) the pretty song in which Conrad had interrupted them. +The latter went on with his task, silent and thoughtful. When the song +was ended Master Martin said, "Heaven has endowed you two dear lads +with a precious gift. You have no idea how much I honour the glorious +Art of Song. In fact I once wanted to be a Master-singer myself. But it +wouldn't do. I could make nothing of it, try as hard as I might. With +all my endeavours I earned nothing but derision and jesting, when I +tried my hand at the master-singing. I always made wrong 'annexations' +or too many syllables, In fact there was always something askew +with it. Well, well! you will make a better job of it. What the +master couldn't manage, his men will. Next Sunday there will be a +master-singing at the usual time, after noonday service, at Saint +Catherine's Church; and there you two, Reinhold and Friedrich, may gain +praise and honour by means of your beautiful art. For before the +head-singing, a free-singing will be holden, open to strangers, at +which you may try your skill. Now, Herr Conrad" (Master Martin called +over to the planing bench), "mightn't you mount the singing stool too, +and treat them to that beautiful hunting song of yours?" + +"Don't jest, good master," answered Conrad, without looking up; +"there's a place and time for everything: while you are edifying +yourself at the Master-singing, I shall go in search of my own +pleasure, to the Common Meadow." + +Things turned out as Master Martin had expected. Reinhold mounted +the singing stool and sang songs, which could not be classified as +being any special "tones" or "manners," but which delighted all the +Master-singers, albeit they were of opinion that, though the singer +committed no actual errors, yet a certain "outlandish," or foreign style, +which they could not quite define themselves, somewhat detracted from +their merit. Soon after, Friedrich seated himself on the singing stool, +took off his barret, and, after looking before him for a second or two, +cast a glance at the assembly (which darted through Rosa's heart like a +glowing arrow, so that she could not help sighing deeply), then began +such a glorious song, in the tender "tone" of Heinrich Frauenlob, that +all the masters declared unanimously that none of them could surpass +this young journeyman. + +When evening came, and the singing was over, Master Martin, by way of +thoroughly completing the enjoyment of the day, betook himself with +Rosa to the Common Meadow. Reinhold and Friedrich were allowed to go +with them. Rosa walked between the two. Friedrich, in a state of great +glorification by reason of the praise of the Master-singers, ventured, +in the intoxication of his blissfulness, on many a daring word, which +Rosa, drooping her eyes modestly, did not seem to wish to hear. She +turned the rather to Reinhold, who, after his wont, chattered and made +many a lively jest and sally, not hesitating to sling his arm round one +of hers. When they came where the young men were engaged in divers +athletic sports (some of them of knightly sort), they heard the people +crying, over and over again, "He has won again!--nobody can stand +before him! There! he wins again!--that strong one!" When Master Martin +had pressed his way through the crowd, he found that all this shouting +and acclamation were to the address of none other than his own +journeyman, Conrad, who had excelled everybody at running, boxing, and +throwing the javelin. Just as Master Martin came on the scene, Conrad +was challenging all-comers to a bout of fencing with blunted rapiers, +and several young patrician "bloods," skilled at this exercise, +accepted; but he very soon conquered them all, with little difficulty, +so that there was no end to the laudation of his strength and skill. + +The sun had set; the evening sky was glowing red, and the twilight +rapidly falling. Master Martin, Rosa, and the two journeymen had seated +themselves beside a plashing fountain. Reinhold told many delightful +things concerning far-away Italy; but Friedrich gazed, silent and +happy, into Rosa's beautiful eyes. Then Conrad approached, with slow +and hesitating steps, as if he had not quite made up his mind whether +to join the others or not. So Master Martin called out: "Come along, +come along, Conrad! You have held your own bravely; just as I like my +journeymen to do. Don't be bashful, my lad; you have my full +permission." Conrad flashed a penetrating glance at the master, who was +nodding to him condescendingly, and said, in a hollow tone: "So far, I +have not asked your permission whether I might join you or not. On the +whole, it was not to _you_ that I was thinking whether I should come, +or otherwise. I have laid all my opponents prostrate in the dust in +knightly play, and what I wanted to do was to ask this beautiful lady +if she would not mind giving me, as my guerdon, those flowers which she +wears in her breast." With which Conrad knelt on one knee before Rosa, +looked her honestly in the face with his clear brown eyes, and +petitioned, "Give me the flowers, if you will be so kind, fair Rosa; +you can hardly refuse me." Rosa at once took the flowers from her +breast, and gave them to him, saying, with a smile, "I am sure such a +doughty knight deserves a prize of honour from a woman; so take my +flowers, although they are beginning to wither a little." Conrad kissed +them, and placed them in his barret cap; but Master Martin rose up +crying, "Stupid stuff and nonsense! Let's get away home; it'll soon be +dark." Martin walked first; Conrad, in a courtier-like fashion, gave +Rosa his arm, and Reinhold and Friedrich brought up the rear, not in +the best of temper. The people who met them stopped and looked after +them, saying: + +"Ey! look there!--that is Master Martin, the rich cooper, with his +pretty daughter and his fine journeymen; happy folks, these, I can tell +you!" + + + HOW FRAU MARTHA CONVERSED WITH ROSA ABOUT THE THREE JOURNEYMEN. + CONRAD'S QUARREL WITH MASTER MARTIN. + +Young girls are wont to live over again all the enjoyments of a festal +day, in detail, on the subsequent morning, and this secondary feast +seems then almost more delicious to them than the original itself. Thus +did the fair Rosa sit pondering on the subsequent morning alone in her +chamber, with her hands folded in her lap, and her head hung down in +reverie, letting spindle and needle-work rest. Probably she was +mentally listening again to Reinhold and Friedrich's singing, and again +watching the athletic Conrad vanquishing his adversaries, and receiving +from her the victor's prize. Now and then she would hum a line or two +of some song; then she would say, "My flowers, do you want?" and then a +deeper crimson mantled in her cheeks; flashes darted through her +half-closed eyelids, faint sighs stole forth from her innermost breast. + +Frau Martha came in, and Rosa was delighted to have the opportunity of +giving her a circumstantial account of all that had happened in Saint +Catherine's Church, and afterwards in the Common Meadow. When she had +finished, Martha said, smiling, "Well, Rosa dear, you will soon have to +make up your mind which of those three brave wooers you are going to +choose." + +"What are you talking about, Frau Martha?" Rosa cried; "I haven't got +any wooers." + +"Come, come," answered Martha, "don't pretend that you don't know +what's going on. Anybody who has got eyes, and is not as blind as a +mole, sees well enough that all the three, Reinhold, Friedrich, and +Conrad, are over head and ears in love with you." + +"What an idea!" cried Rosa, hiding her eyes with her hand. + +"Come, come," said Martha, sitting down beside her and putting an arm +about her; "you bonny bashful child, take your hand away; look me +straight in the face, and then deny, if you can, that you have known +for many a day that all the three of them are devoted to you, heart and +soul! You see that you _can't_ deny it. It would be a miracle if a +woman's eye should not see a thing of that sort in an instant. When you +come into the workshop, all their eyes turn away from their work, to +you, and everything goes on in a different way, three times as +swimmingly. Reinhold and Friedrich begin singing their prettiest songs; +even that wild fellow Conrad turns quiet and kindly. They all try to +get beside you; and fire flashes out of the face of whichever of them +has a kind glance or a friendly word from you. Aha! little daughter! +you are a very fortunate girl to have three such charming fellows +paying attention to you. Whether you will ever choose either of +them--and, if so, which--of course I cannot tell, for you are good and +nice to them all; though I--but silence as to that! If you were to come +to me, and say, 'Frau Martha, give me your advice,' I should freely +answer, 'Doesn't your own heart speak out quite clearly and distinctly? +Then _he_ is the one. Of course, they're all pretty much alike, to +_me_. I like Reinhold, and I like Friedrich too; and Conrad as well, +for the matter of that; and still I have some objections to every one +of them. Aye! the fact is, dear Rosa, when I look at those three young +fellows at their work, I always think of my dear husband. And I must +say, as far as the work which he did went, everything which he did was +done in a different style to theirs. There was a swing and a _go_ about +it: you saw that his heart was in it; that he wasn't thinking of +anything else. But _they_ always seem to unto be doing it for the +doing's sake, as if they all had something else at the bottom of their +minds all the time; as if the work was a sort of task which they had +taken up of their own accords, and were sticking to as well as they +could, against the grain. I get on best with Friedrich. He is a nice, +straight-forward fellow. He seems more like _us_, somehow. One +understands whatever he says. And what I like about him is, that he +loves you in such a silent sort of way, with all the bashfulness of a +good child; that he hardly dares to look at you, and blushes whenever +you say a word to him." + +A tear came to Rosa's eye. She rose, turned to the window, and said: +"Yes, I am very fond of Friedrich too; but you mustn't think too little +of Reinhold, either." + +"How should I?" said Martha; "he's the nicest-looking of them all, by +far and away. When he looks one through and through, with his eyes like +lightning, one can hardly bear it. Still, there is a something about +him so strange and wonderful, that I feel a little inclined to draw +back from him in a sort of awe. I think the master must feel, when he +is at work in the workshop, as I should if somebody brought a lot of +pots and pans all sparkling with gold and jewels into my kitchen, and I +had to set to work with them as if they were so many ordinary pots and +pans. I shouldn't dare to touch them. He talks, and tells tales, and it +all sounds like beautiful music, and carries one away. But when I think +seriously about what he has been saying after he has done, I haven't +understood a word of it, really. And then, when he will sometimes joke +and jest just like one of ourselves, and I think he is only one of us +after all, all of a sudden he will look up at one so proudly, and seem +such a gentleman, that one feels frightened. It is not that he ever +swaggers, as plenty of the young gentlefolks do; it's something quite +different. In one word, it strikes me--God forgive me for saying +it!--that he must have dealing with higher powers; as if he really +belonged to another world altogether, Conrad is a rough, overbearing +sort of fellow, but he has something cursedly aristocratic about him, +too, which doesn't go a bit well with the cooper's apron; and he goes +on as if it were his place to give orders, which everybody else had to +obey. In the little time that he has been here, you see he has got so +far that even Master Martin himself has to obey him, when he roars at +him with that thundering voice of his. But then, at the same time, +Conrad is so good-humoured, and so thoroughly straight-forward and +honourable, that one can't be vexed with him. In fact I must say that, +in spite of his wildness, _I_ like him better than Reinhold, almost; +for though he _does_ often speak roughly, yet one always understands +what he is saying. I would wager he has once been a soldier, however he +may pretend to disguise himself now. That's why he knows so well about +weapons, and the knightly exercises, which become him so well. Now tell +me, truly and sincerely, Rosa dear, which of them do you like the +best?" + +"Don't be so crafty with me, Frau Martha," Rosa replied. "One thing is +certain--that I don't feel at all as you do about Friedrich. It is +quite true that he is of quite a different sort to the others. When he +talks, it seems as if some beautiful garden opened upon one, full of +lovely flowers, blossoms, and fruit, the like of which are not to be +found on earth; but it delights me to look into this garden. And many +things strike me quite differently since Reinhold has been here. Many +things which were dim and formless in my mind have grown so distinct +and clear, that I can see them and understand them perfectly." + +Frau Martha got up, and, as she departed, she threatened Rosa with +uplifted finger, saying, "Well, Rosa! I suppose Reinhold is to be the +one: I never should have dreamt he would have been." + +"I beg and pray you, Martha dear, neither dream, nor anticipate +anything. Leave it all to the future. What the future brings will be +the will of Heaven, and to that we must all submit with resignation." + +Meanwhile things were very stirring in Master Martin's workshop. To +enable him to execute all his commissions he had taken on fresh hands +and a few apprentices, and there was such a banging and hammering going +on that it was audible far and wide. Reinhold had made out all the +measurements for the Bishop of Bamberg's great vat, and set it up so +cleverly that Master Martin's heart laughed in his body, and he cried +out, over and over again, "_that_ I _do_ call a piece of work! that's +going to be a cask such as I never turned out before--always excepting +my _own_ masterpiece." The three journeymen, hooping the cask, were +hammering till the whole place rang. Old Valentine was shaving away +busily with the hollowing-cramp. Frau Martha, with her two youngest +children in her lap, was sitting just behind Conrad, while the others +were playing and chasing each other about with the hoops. It was such a +merry, boisterous affair altogether, that nobody noticed the incoming +of old Master Johannes Holzschuer. However, Master Martin went up to +him, and asked him courteously what might be his will. + +"Well," said Master Holzschuer, "I wanted to see my dear Friedrich +again, who is working away so hard there. But, besides that, Master +Martin, I want a fine cask for my cellar, and I was going to ask you to +turn me one out. See! _there_ is just the sort of cask I want--that one +your men have in hand there, let me have that one. You have but to tell +me the price." + +Reinhold, who, being a little tired, was resting, said on his way on to +the scaffold again, "Ah, dear Herr Holzschuer, you will have to forego +your fancy for this cask; we are making it for the Bishop of Bamberg." + +Master Martin, folding his arms behind his back, advancing his left +foot, and lifting his head proudly, blinked at the cask with his eyes, +and said somewhat boastfully, "My dear master, you might know by the +choiceness of the timber, and the superiority of the workmanship, that +a masterpiece such as this is a thing for a Prince-Bishop's cellar +alone. My journeyman Reinhold has said well. But when we have got the +vintage off our hands, I will turn you out a tidy little cask, such as +will be suitable for your cellar." + +Old Holzschuer, annoyed with Master Martin's conceit, thought, for his +part, that his money was just as good as the Bishop of Bamberg's, and +that he would probably get as good value for it elsewhere; and he said +so. Master Martin, overwhelmed with anger, contained himself with +difficulty. He scarcely dared to offend old Holzschuer, friend of the +Council as he was, highly esteemed by all the town. But just at that +moment, Conrad was making such a tremendous hammering with his mallet +on the cask that the whole place was ringing and resounding; and Master +Martin's boiling wrath ran over, so that he spluttered out, with a +shout, "Conrad--dunderhead that you are--don't whack away in that +blind, furious style, man! You'll ruin that cask on our hands +altogether." + +"Ho! ho! you funny little master," Conrad cried, looking round with an +angry face, "why shouldn't I?" and set to work again, hammering at the +cask with such violence that the largest of the hoops burst with a +"clirr," knocking Reinhold off the narrow board of the scaffold, +whilst, from the hollow sound which followed, it was evident that one +of the staves must have sprung as well. Overcome with rage and fury, +Master Martin seized the stave which Valentine was shaving at, and, +with a loud roar of, "Cursed hound!" dealt Conrad a heavy blow with it +across the back. + +When Conrad felt the blow, he turned quickly round, and stood for a +moment as if unconscious, and then his eyes flamed with wild anger; he +gnashed his teeth, howled out, "Struck!" got down, with one spring, +from the scaffold, seized the broad-axe which was on the ground, and +aimed with it a tremendous stroke at the master, which would have split +his skull, had not Friedrich drawn him aside, so that it missed his +head; but it fell on his arm, whence the blood at once streamed out. +Martin, stout and unwieldy, lost his balance and stumbled over the +bench, at which an apprentice was working, and on to the ground. All +the rest now threw themselves around Conrad, who was raging, and +wielding the bloody broad-axe in the air, yelling, in a terrible voice. + +"To Hell with him!--to Hell with him!" + +Exerting all his gigantic strength, he sent them flying from him in all +directions, and was raising his weapon for a second stroke, which would +certainly have given Master Martin his quietus as he lay coughing and +groaning on the ground, but Rosa, pale as death, appeared at the door; +and the moment Conrad saw her, he paused like a stone image, with the +uplifted weapon in his hand. Then he threw it away far from him, struck +his hands together in front of his breast, cried--in a voice which went +to every one's heart--"Gracious God of Heaven! what have I done?" and +darted out of the building. Nobody thought of following him. + +Master Martin was now set on his legs again, by dint of some effort, +and it was found that the blade of the broad-axe had struck the fleshy +part of his arm without doing very much mischief. Old Master +Holzschuer, whom Martin had dragged over also in his fall, was got out +from amongst the timber; and Frau Martha's children, who were +frightened and crying, were pacified. Master Martin was much +confounded; but on the whole thought that if that devil of a wicked +fellow had only not damaged the beautiful _cask_, he himself was not +much the worse. Carrying chairs were brought for the old gentlemen, for +Herr Holzschuer was more or less the worse for his tumble, too, and +expressed a very mean opinion of a calling which was carried on where +there were so many lethal weapons at hand, advising Friedrich to return +to the beautiful metals, and the modelling, and that the sooner the +better. + +When the world was wrapt in twilight, Friedrich, and with him Reinhold, +who had been hard hit by the hoop, and felt sore in every bone of his +body, crept, very unhappy, back to town. At the back of a hedge they +heard a low sobbing and sighing. They stopped: and presently a tall +figure rose from the earth, which they at once recognised to be Conrad; +and they started back, alarmed. "Ah! don't fear me, you dear fellows!" +Conrad cried. "You think I am a diabolical, murdering dog; but I really +am nothing of the kind. Only I couldn't help myself. I was _obliged_ to +dash the life out of that fat old master--shiver all the bones in his +body--settle the hash of him; oh! come along back with me now, and let +me do it properly! Ah! no!--no, no! The whole thing is over! you won't +see me any more. Give my deepest homage to the beautiful Rosa, whom I +love so dearly, so dearly. Tell her I will wear her flowers on my heart +as long as I live, and that they shall be upon me when I--but perhaps +she may hear of me again yet. Good-bye! good-bye! dear old friends and +comrades!" With which he ran off across the fields without a stop. + +"There's something very strange about that young fellow," Reinhold +said. "We can't judge what he does by every-day standards. Perhaps the +future may unravel this mystery which so weighs on us now." + + + REINHOLD LEAVES MASTER MARTIN'S HOUSE. + +Master Martin's workshop was now as melancholy a place as it had once +been merry. Reinhold, unable to work, remained in his room. Master +Martin, with his arm in a sling, railed and rated unceasingly on the +subject of his late evil, unintelligible journeyman. Rosa and Frau +Martha with her children avoided the scene of the mad attempt, so that +Friedrich's hammer on the wood sounded mournful and hollow, as he went +on, finishing the job by himself. + +Soon his heart was filled with the deepest sorrow. For he fancied he +now saw very clearly that what he had long dreaded was the truth. He +was _sure_ that Rosa loved Reinhold. It was not only that all her real +friendliness, besides many a sweet word, had all along been given to +him; but it was proof sufficient that, now that Reinhold was unable to +come to the workshop, she never thought of leaving the house, either, +doubtless, to nurse and take care of her lover. On Sunday, when +everybody went out to make holiday, and Master Martin--now nearly +well--asked him to go with Rosa and him to the meadow, he declined, and +went off alone to the village on the height, overpowered with grief and +love-anxiety. There, where he had first met Reinhold, he laid himself +down on the flowery turf, and, as he thought how the beautiful Star of +Hope, which had shone before him on all his journey home, had now--at +the goal--vanished suddenly into the deepest night--how all his +undertaking was now like the vain effort of a dreamer who stretches his +longing arms to embrace empty images of air--the tears came to his eyes +and rolled down his cheeks on to the grass, and the flowers, which hung +their little heads as if in sorrow for his bitter fortune. He scarce +knew how it came that the sighs which heaved his distracted breast took +the form of words and music. But he sang the following song:-- + + "My star of hope! ah! whither hast thou fled? + Alas! for me, slid down beneath the marge, + To rise, in splendour, upon happier hearts. + Thou trembling night-wind! smite upon this breast, + And waken there the bliss which bringeth death, + That so my heart, surcharged with tears of blood, + May break, in longing ne'er to be assuaged. + Dark trees! oh, tell me what mysterious words + Ye whisper thus, in loving confidence. + And ye, gold hems of heaven's wide-spread robe, + Why shine ye down on me benignantly? + Show me my grave! there is my hope's fair haven! + There, and there only shall I rest in peace." + +It sometimes happens that the deepest sorrow, if it can but find tears +and words, dissolves into a mild, painfulness of melancholy, so that +perhaps even a gentle shimmer of hope begins then to beam faintly +through the heart. And thus it was that Friedrich felt wondrously +consoled and strengthened after he had sung this song. The evening +wind, and the dark trees which he had invoked, rustled and whispered as +if with voices of comfort. Golden streaks appeared in the dark sky like +sweet dreams of coming glory, and happiness still afar off. He rose, +and walked down to the village. There he felt as if Reinhold was +walking by his side as he had been when he first met him. All that +Reinhold had said came back upon his mind. When he remembered +Reinhold's story of the two painters who had tried for the prize, +scales seemed to fall from his eyes. It was quite clear that Reinhold +must, ere then, have seen, and loved, the fair Rosa. Nothing but this +love had taken him to Master Martin's house in Nuernberg, and, by the +painter's contest, he had meant nothing but his own and Friedrich's +rivalry as regarded Rosa. Friedrich listened once more to what Reinhold +had then said; that "to strive towards the same goal, bravely and +openly, was true friendship, and must truly, in the depths of their +hearts, rather unite than separate real friends; for nobleness or +littleness never can find place in hearts which are true." + +"Yes, friend of my heart!" Friedrich cried aloud, "to thee will I turn +without reserve. Thou thyself shalt tell me if all hope is over for +me." + +It was broad day when Friedrich knocked at Reinhold's door. As all was +silent within, he opened it--it was not fastened, as it generally +was--and entered. When he did so, he stood transfixed like a statue; +for there stood, on an easel before him, a full-length portrait of +Rosa, in all the pride of her beauty, lighted up by the rays of the +rising sun. The mahl-stick on the table, where it had been thrown +down--the colours still wet--showed that the portrait had just been +worked upon. + +"Rosa! Rosa! oh, Father of Heaven!" Friedrich cried. Reinhold tapped +him on the shoulder, and asked him, with a smile, what he thought of +the picture. Friedrich pressed him to his heart saying: + +"Ah, glorious fellow! mighty artist!--it is all clear to me now. You +have gained the prize for which I--wretch that I am! was bold enough to +try. What am I, compared to you; what is _my_ art, to _yours_? Alas! I +had great ideas in my mind, too! Don't laugh me altogether to scorn, +dear Reinhold. I thought w hat a glorious thing it would be to make a +mould model of Rosa's beautiful form in the finest silver. But that, of +course, would be mere child's play. But as for _you_!--how she smiles +on one, in all the pride of her loveliness!--Ah, Reinhold! happiest of +men! what you said long ago has now come true. We have striven for the +prize. You have won it. You could not _but_ win. But I am still yours, +with all my soul! I must get away; I could not bear to stay here. I +should die if I saw Rosa again. Forgive me this, my dear, dear, +glorious friend! This very day--this very moment--I must away into the +wide world, whithersoever my love-sorrow--my inconsolable misery--may +drive me." With which he would have left the room; but Reinhold held +him fast, saying gently: + +"You shall not go, because things may possibly turn out far otherwise +than you suppose. It is time, now, that I should tell you what I have +kept silence about hitherto. That I am not a cooper at all, but a +painter, you probably now have gathered; and I hope the portrait has +proved to you that I am not one of the worst. When I was very young, I +went to Italy, the land of art; and there it chanced that some great +masters took an interest in me, and fanned the sparks which smouldered +within me into living fire. Thus I soon rose to some eminence, and my +pictures became celebrated all over Italy. The Grand Duke of Florence +took me to his Court. At that time I did not care to know anything of +the German School of Art, and, without having seen any German pictures, +I talked largely of the woodenness, the bad drawing, and the hardness +of your Duerer and your Cranache. However, one day, a dealer brought a +small Madonna of old Albrecht's into the Duke's gallery, which went to +my heart in a wonderful manner; so that I completely turned away from +the luxury of the Italian school, and at that hour determined to see +for myself, in my native Germany, those masterpieces on which my +thoughts were now bent. I came to Nuernberg here; and when I saw Rosa, +it seemed to me as though that Madonna which beamed so brightly in my +heart were walking the earth. In my case, just as in yours, dear +Friedrich, all my being flamed up in a blaze of affection. I saw and +thought of nothing but Rosa. Even art was only precious in my sight +because I could go on drawing and painting Rosa hundreds of times, over +and over again. In the unceremonious Italian fashion, I thought I +should have no difficulty in approaching her, but all my efforts in +this direction were vain. There was no way of getting introduced, in +honour, to Master Martin's house. At last I thought of going and +straight-forwardly announcing myself as one of her wooers, when I heard +of Master Martin's determination to give her to nobody but a real, +doughty, Master-Cooper. On this, I came to the, rather Quixotic, +resolve that I would go and learn coopering at Strassburg, and then +betake myself to Master Martin's workshop. The rest I left to Heaven's +will. How I carried out my resolution, you know; but you have still +to learn that, a few days ago, Master Martin told me I should make +a first-rate cooper, and should be very acceptable to him as a +son-in-law; for he saw well enough that I was trying to gain Rosa's +favour, and that she liked me." + +"How could it be otherwise?" Friedrich cried. "Yes, yes; she will be +yours. How could I, most wretched of creatures, ever hope for such +bliss!" + +"My brother!" said Reinhold, "you forget that Rosa has by no means yet +confirmed what wily Master Martin fancies he has seen. It is true she +has always been very charming and kindly with me; but that is not +exactly how a loving heart displays itself. Promise me, my brother, to +keep yourself quiet for three days more, and work in the shop as usual. +I might go back again there now, too; but since I have been busy at +this picture, that miserable handicraft sickens me inexpressibly. I +_cannot_ take a hammer in my hand again, come what will! On the third +day I will tell you distinctly how matters stand between me and Rosa. +If I should really be the fortunate man to whom she has given her +heart, you may depart; and you will learn that time heals the very +deepest wounds." + +Friedrich promised to abide his destiny. + +On the third day (Friedrich had carefully shunned the sight of Rosa) +his heart trembled with fear and anxious expectation. He crept about +the workshop like one in a dream, and his awkwardness was such as to +give Master Martin occasion to scold angrily, in a way unusual with +him. Taking things all round, something seemed to have come to the +master which had taken away all satisfaction from him. He talked much +of wicked artfulness and ingratitude, without further explaining what +he was driving at. When evening came at length, and Friedrich was going +back to town, near the city-gate he saw a man on horseback meeting him, +whom he at once knew to be Reinhold. As soon as this latter caught +sight of him he cried out: "Ha, ha! here you are!--just as I wished!" +He got off his horse, threw the reins on his arm, and took his friend +by the hand: "Let us stroll along together for a while," he said; "I +can tell you now how my love-affair has turned out." + +Friedrich noticed that Reinhold was dressed as he had been when they +first met, and that the horse had a valise on him. Reinhold was looking +rather pale and troubled. "Good-luck to you, brother-heart!" he cried, +somewhat wildly. "You can go on hammering lustily away at your casks, +for I am clearing out of your way. I have just said good-bye to the +lovely Rosa, and worthy old Martin." + +"What!" cried Friedrich, who felt a kind of electric shock go through +him. "You are going away! when Master Martin wants you for a +son-in-law, and when Rosa loves you?" + +"Dear brother," answered Reinhold, "that is what your jealousy has led +you to imagine. It has turned out that Rosa would have married me, from +mere filial obedience, but that there is not a single spark of +affection for me in that ice-cold heart of hers. Ha, ha! I should have +been a celebrated cooper! Shaven hoops on week-days with my +apprentices, and taken my worthy housekeeper-wife on Sundays to St. +Catherine's or St. Sebald's to service, and then to the meadow in the +evening, one year after another, all my life long." + +"Well, you needn't jest over the simple, innocent life of the good +townspeople," cried Friedrich, interrupting Reinhold in his laughter. +"It's not Rosa's fault if she does not really love you. You are so +angry--so wild!" + +"You are right," said Reinhold; "it is only my stupid way of behaving +like a spoilt child when I feel annoyed. You will understand that I +told Rosa of my love for her, and of her father's good-will. The tears +streamed from her eyes; her hand trembled in mine; she turned away her +face, and said, 'Of course I must do as my father wishes.' That was +enough. This strange vexation of mine cannot but have enabled you to +read my inmost heart. You see that my efforts to gain Rosa were the +result of a deception, which my mistaken feeling had prepared for +itself. As soon as I had finished her portrait, my heart was at rest; +and I often felt, in an inexplicable manner, as though Rosa had really +been the picture, and the picture the real Rosa. The mean, wretched, +mechanical handicraft grew detestable to me; the common style of life, +and the whole business of having to get myself made a Master-Cooper, +and marry, depressed me so that I felt as if I were going to be immured +in a prison and chained to a block. How could that heavenly child whom +I have worn in my heart--_as_ I have worn her in my heart--ever become +my wife? Ah, no! she must for ever be resplendent in the master-works +which my soul shall engender; in eternal youth, delightsomeness, and +beauty. Oh, how I long to be working at them! How could I ever sever +myself from my heavenly calling! Soon shall I bathe once more in thy +fervid vapours, glorious land! home of all the arts!" + +The friends had reached the point where the road which Reinhold meant +to follow turned sharp off to the left. "Here we part!" he cried. He +pressed Friedrich warmly to his heart, sprang into the saddle, and +galloped away. + +Friedrich gazed after him, in silence, and then crept home, filled with +the strangest thoughts. + + HOW FRIEDRICH WAS DRIVEN OUT FROM MASTER MARTIN'S WORKSHOP. + +The next day Master Martin was labouring away at the Bishop of +Bamberg's cask, in moody silence; and Friedrich too, who was now only +feeling fully what he had lost in Reinhold, was not capable of a word, +far less of a song. At last Martin threw down his hammer, folded his +arms, and said in a low voice: + +"So Reinhold has gone too! He was a great, celebrated painter, and +merely making a fool of me with his coopering. If I had but had the +slightest inkling of that when he came to my house with you, and seemed +so handy and clever, shouldn't I just have shown him the door! Such an +open, honest-looking face! and yet all deceit and falsehood! Well! he +is gone; but _you_ are going to stick to me and the craft with truth +and honour. When you get to be a doughty Master-Cooper--and if Rosa +takes a fancy to you--well! you know what I mean, and can try if you +can gain her liking." With which he took up his hammer, and went busily +on with his work. Friedrich could not quite explain to himself why it +was that Master Martin's words pained his heart--why some strange, +anxious dread arose in him, darkening every shimmer of hope. Rosa came +to the workshop, for the first time for long, but she was deeply +thoughtful, and (as Friedrich remarked to his sorrow) her eyes were red +from weeping. "She has been crying about _him_; she loves him;" a voice +in his heart said; and he did not dare to raise his glance to her whom +he loved so unutterably. + +The cask was finished; and then, and only then, Master Martin, as he +contemplated that highly successful piece of work, grew cheerful and +light-hearted once more. "Ay, my lad," he said, slapping Friedrich on +the shoulder, "it is a settled matter that, if you can turn out a right +good master-piece, and win Rosa's good will, my son-in-law you shall +be. After that you can join the Coopers' Guild, and gain much renown." + +At this time Master Martin's commissions so accumulated that he had to +hire two new journeymen, capital workmen, but rough fellows, who had +picked up many evil habits during their long years of travel, as +journey-men away from home. In place of the old merry talk, the jokes, +and the pretty singing which used to go on in the workshop, nothing was +to be heard there now but obscene ditties. Rosa avoided the place, so +that Friedrich only saw her at long intervals, and when he then looked +at her with melancholy longing, and sighed out, "Ah! dearest Rosa! if I +could but talk with you again! if you would only be kindly with me as +you used to be when Reinhold was here!" she would cast her eyes +bashfully down, and murmur, "Have you anything to say to me, dear +Friedrich?" But he would stand transfixed and speechless. The lucky +moment would pass, as quick as lightning which flashes in the evening +sky, and has vanished ere one has noticed it almost. + +Master Martin was now all insistence that Friedrich should set to work +on his "Master-piece." He had himself chosen, in his workshop, the +finest, cleanest, most flawless timber, which had been stored there for +over five years, and had not a vein or a streak in it; and nobody was +to give Friedrich the slightest hand in the job except old Valentine. +More and more intensely disgusted with the whole thing as Friedrich now +was, on account of those brutes of journeymen, the thought that all his +future life hung upon this piece of work almost stifled him. The +strange sense of dread and anxiety which had developed itself in him +when Master Martin had lauded his faithful devotion to the craft, took +shape, now, more and more clearly. He felt convinced that he would come +to the most utter and shameful failure in an occupation completely +repugnant to his whole nature, filled as it was with the love of his +own art. Reinhold, and Rosa's portrait he could not drive out of his +mind; at the same time, his own branch of Art shone upon him in the +brightest splendour. Often, when the terrible sense of the full +wretchedness of the trade he was engaged in was like to overpower him +as he was working at it, he would pretend to be unwell, and hurry off +to the church of St. Sebald, where he would gaze for hours at Peter +Fischer's marvellous monument, and then cry out, like one enchanted, +"Oh, Father of Heaven!--to conceive, to execute such a work as +that--could there be anything on earth more glorious!" and then when he +had to go back to his staves and hoops, and remember that by means of +them, only, Rosa was to be won, the very devil's glowing talons seemed +to touch his heart, and he felt as if he must perish in the terrible +misery of it all. Reinhold often appeared to him in dreams, bringing to +him lovely designs, in which Rosa was worked in, and displayed now as a +flower, now as a beautifully winged angel. But there was always a +something wanting. Reinhold had forgotten to put a _heart_ in Rosa's +image; and that he added himself. _Then_ all the flowers and leaves of +the design seemed to begin moving and singing, and breathing out the +most delicious odours; and the noble metals reflected Rosa's form +as in a gleaming mirror, seeming to stretch her longing arms to her +lover--but the image would vanish in dim vapour, and the beautiful +Rosa, herself, seemed to be clasping him to her loving heart, all +blissful desire. His feelings towards the miserable coopering work grew +more and more terribly unendurable, and he went for aid and consolation +(as well as for advice) to his old master, Johannes Holzschuer. This +master allowed Friedrich to set about a little piece of work, for which +an idea had occurred to him, and for the carrying out of which, and +providing himself with the necessary gold and silver, he had saved up +the wages which Master Martin gave him, for many a day. + +Thus it came about that Friedrich, who was so very pale that there was +but too much reason to believe (as he gave out) that he was suffering +from strongly-marked consumptive symptoms, scarcely ever went to Master +Martin's workshop, and that months elapsed without his having made the +very slightest progress with his master-piece, the great two-fudder +cask. Master Martin pressed him to work at least at much as his +strength would permit him, and Friedrich was at length compelled to go +once more to the hateful cutting-block, and take the broad-axe in hand +again. As he was working, Master Martin came up and looked at the +staves he had been finishing. He grew red in the face, and cried out-- + +"Why, Friedrich! what do you call this? A nice job and a half! Are +those staves turned out by a journeyman trying to pass as master, or by +an apprentice-boy who has only been a day or two in the shop! Bethink +yourself, man; what demon has entered itself into you? My beautiful oak +timber! The great masterpiece indeed! Clumsy, careless, goose!" + +Overcome by all the hellish torments which were burning in his heart, +Friedrich could contain himself no longer. He sent the broad-axe flying +with all his force, and cried, "Master, it's all over! If it costs me +my life--if I perish in misery unnamed, I cannot go on labouring at +this wretched handicraft another minute. I am drawn to my own glorious +Art with a power which I cannot withstand. Alas! I love your Rosa +unutterably--as no other on earth can love her. It is for her sake +alone that I have gone through with this abominable work in this place. +I know I have lost her now. I shall soon die of grief for her. But I +cannot help it. I must go back to my own glorious Art, to my own dear +master, Johannes Holzschuer, whom I deserted so basely." + +Master Martin's eyes shone like flaming tapers. Scarce able to +articulate for anger, he stammered out-- + +"What! you too! lies and cheatery! impose on _me_--talk of a 'miserable +handicraft!' Out of my sight, you shameless scoundrel--get out from +here!" with which he took Friedrich by the shoulders and chucked him +out of the workshop. + +The derisive laughter of the other journeymen and the apprentices +followed him. But old Valentine folded his hands, looked thoughtfully +at the ground, and said, "I always saw that good fellow had something +very different in his head from casks." + +Frau Martha cried a great deal, and her children lamented over +Friedrich, who used to play with them, and bring them many a nice piece +of sweet-stuff. + + + CONCLUSION. + +Notwithstanding Master Martin's anger with Reinhold and Friedrich, he +could not but admit that, with them, all happiness and joy had fled +from the workshop. His new journeymen caused him nothing but vexation +and annoyance every day. He had to give himself trouble over every +trifling detail of the work, and had difficulty in getting the very +smallest matter done as he wished it. Wholly worn out with the worries +of the day, he would often sigh, "Ah, Reinhold! ah, Friedrich! how I +wish you had not deceived me so shamefully! Oh that you had only gone +on being doughty coopers, and not turned out to be something else!" +This went so far, that he often thought of giving up business +altogether. + +He was sitting one evening in a gloomy frame of mind of this +description, when Herr Jacobus Paumgartner, and with him Master +Johannes Holzschuer, came in unexpectedly. He felt sure their visit +related to Friedrich, and in fact Paumgartner soon led the conversation +to the subject of him, and Master Holzschuer began to extol him in +every possible way, stating his opinion that with Friedrich's talents +and diligence he would not only become a first-class goldsmith, but +actually tread in Peter Fischer's footsteps as a modeller of eminence. +Then Herr Paumgartner set to work to vehemently inveigh against the +undeserved treatment that the poor fellow had received from Master +Martin, and they both of them urged the latter that, if Friedrich +should turn out a goldsmith and modeller, he should give him Rosa to +wife, provided she should be really fond of him. Master Martin allowed +them both to finish what they had to say; then he took off his cap and +answered with a smile, "Worthy sirs, you speak strongly in favour of +the lad, who has--all the same--deceived me in a shameful manner. I +forgive him that, however, but you must not expect me to alter my firm +decision, on his account. It is not the slightest use asking me to give +him my Rosa--completely out of the question." + +Just then, Rosa came in, pale as death, with eyes red from crying, and, +in silence, placed glasses and wine on the table. + +"Very well!" said Holzschuer; "then I suppose I shall be obliged to let +Friedrich have his way, and leave this place altogether. He has just +finished a beautiful piece of workmanship at my atelier, which--if you +will allow him, Master Martin--he wishes to offer to Rosa as a I; Bake. +I have got it with me; look at it." + +He produced a small silver goblet, beautifully and artistically +ornamented all over, and handed it to Master Martin, who was a great +admirer and "amateur" of such things. He took it, and looked at it on +all sides with great admiration; in fact it would have been difficult +to meet with a more beautiful piece of silver-work than this little +vessel, where lovely vine-branches, with tendrils, interwoven with +roses, were twining in all directions, whilst from among the grapes and +the roses, beautiful angels were peeping, and others, embracing, graven +inside it, on its gilt sides and bottom; so that when wine was poured +into it, those angels seemed to hover up and down, in charming play. + +"A very pretty thing indeed!" Master Martin said. "Beautiful work about +it! I shall be glad to take it, if Friedrich will allow me to give him +twice its worth in good gold pieces." + +So saying, Master Martin filled the cup with wine, and set it to his +lips. + +Here the door opened gently, and Friedrich, with the deadly pain of +parting for ever from her he loved best on earth in his white face, +came in at it. As soon as Rosa saw him, she gave a bitter cry of "Oh, +my own dearest Friedrich!" and threw herself half-fainting on his +breast. + +Master Martin set the cup down, and when he saw Rosa in Friedrich's +arms, he opened wide eyes, as if he were seeing ghosts. Then he took up +the cup again without a word, and looked down into it. "Rosa," he cried +in a loud voice, rising from his chair, "do you really love Friedrich?" + +"Ah!" said Rosa in a whisper, "I cannot hide it any longer--I love him +as my life! My heart was broken when you sent him away." + +"Take your wife to your heart then, Friedrich, Yes, yes, I say +it--_your wife_," Master Martin cried out. + +Paumgartner and Holzschuer looked at each other, lost in amazement; but +Master Martin, holding the cup in his hands, went on, and said, "Oh +Father of Heaven! has not everything turned out exactly as the old lady +prophesied it should? 'A House resplendent and gleaming he shall to thy +dwelling bring; streams of sweet savour flowing therein; beauteous +angels sing full sweetly; he whom thy heart goeth forth to needless to +ask of thy father, this is thy Bridegroom beloved!' Oh fool that I have +been! this is the bright little House! here are the angels, the +bridegroom! Aha! gentlemen, my friends and patrons--my son-in-law is +found!" + +Whosoever has at any time been under the spell of an evil dream, and +thought he was lying in the deep, black darkness of the grave, and then +has suddenly awakened in the bright spring-time, all perfume, sunshine +and song, and she who is dearest to him on earth has come and put her +arms about him, while he looked up into the heaven of her beautiful +face--that person will understand how Friedrich felt--will comprehend +the exuberance of his blissfulness. Unable to utter a word, he held +Rosa fast in his arms as if he would never let her go, till she gently +extricated herself from his embrace, and led him to her father. He then +found words, and cried: + +"Oh, dear master, is this really true, then? Do you give me Rosa for my +wife, and may I go back to my own art?" + +"Yes, yes, believe it!" answered Master Martin. "What else is there +that I can do? You have fulfilled my mother's prophecy, and your +masterpiece will never be finished." + +Friedrich smiled, transfigured with happiness, and said: "No, dear +master, you will allow me to finish my masterpiece, and then I will go +back to my smelting-furnace. For I should enjoy finishing my cask, as +my last piece of coopering-work." + +"So let it be then, my dear, good son," cried Master Martin, with eyes +sparkling with joy. "Finish your masterpiece, and then, for the +wedding!" + +Friedrich kept his word. He duly finished his two-fudder cask, and all +the masters averred that it would be hard to meet with a prettier piece +of work; at which Master Martin was highly delighted, and thought that, +all things considered, heaven could scarcely have awarded him a better +son-in-law. + +The wedding-day had come at last. Friedrich's cask-masterpiece, full of +noble wine, and garlanded with flowers, stood on the house-floor. The +Masters of the craft, headed by Herr Paumgartner, duly arrived, with +their wives, followed by the Master-Goldsmiths. The procession was just +setting out from St. Sebald's church, where the wedding was to be, when +a blast of trumpets sounded in the streets, and horses were neighing +and stamping in front of Master Martin's house. He hastened to the +balcony window, and there he saw Herr von Spangenberg drawing up, in +front of the house, in festal array. A few yards behind him rode a +young cavalier, a grand-looking young gentleman, on a spirited charger, +with a sword at his side, and tall plumes waving in his barret-cap, +which sparkled with jewels. At the cavalier's side Master Martin saw a +most beautiful lady, also splendidly attired, and riding a palfrey as +white as new-fallen snow. Pages and servants in fine liveries formed a +circle about them. The trumpets ceased to sound, and old Baron von +Spangenberg cried out, "Ha, ha! Master Martin. I am not come here on +account of your cellar or your gold-ingots, but because it is Rosa's +wedding-day. Will you let me come in, dear Master Martin?" + +Master Martin, remembering what he had said that night so long ago, was +somewhat put out, but hastened down to welcome the party. The old Baron +dismounted, and came in, with courteous greetings. Pages hurried up, +offering their arms to help the young lady to dismount; her cavalier +gave her his hand, and followed the old Baron. But as soon as Master +Martin looked upon the young cavalier, he started back three paces, +clapped his hands and cried, "Good heavens! 'tis Conrad!" + +The cavalier smiled, and said, "Yes, yes, Master Martin, I am your +journeyman Conrad. You must pardon me for having given you that nasty +wound. By rights, dear master, I ought to have sent you to kingdom +come; you must see that yourself--however, things have all turned out +differently." + +Master Martin, in some confusion, answered that he "thought it was just +as well that he had _not_ been sent to 'kingdom come,' and that he +hadn't much minded the little bit of cut with the broad-axe." + +As Master Martin now entered with his new guests the chamber where the +bridal-pair were, with the others, everybody acclaimed delight at the +beauty of the lady, for she was so exactly like the bride that she +might have been her twin-sister. The cavalier went up to the bride +courteously, saying, "Beautiful Rosa, I hope you will permit Conrad to +be present at your wedding. You are no longer vexed with the wild +thoughtless fellow who so nearly cost you a great sorrow?" + +As the bride, the bridegroom, and Master Martin looked from one to +another in utter perplexity, the old Baron cried out, "Well, well! +suppose I must help you out of your dream. This is my son, Conrad, and +there is his beautiful wife, whose name is Rosa, the same as the +bride's. Remember, Master Martin, our conversation, when I asked you if +you would refuse to give me your Rosa even to my son. It had a special +purpose. The boy was over head and ears in love with your Rosa. He got +me persuaded to throw all consideration to the winds, and agree to act +as his mediator--his go-between. But when I told him how you had shown +me the door, he went and sneaked into your service in the most foolish +way, as a cooper, to gain Rosa's heart, with the view, as I suppose, of +carrying her off from you. Well! you cured him with that swinging blow +you gave him on the back, and thanks to you for that, inasmuch as he +has found a noble lady, who may perhaps be really the Rosa he had in +his heart from the beginning." + +Meanwhile the lady had saluted the bride with the gentlest courtesy, +and placed round her neck a rich pearl-necklace, as a wedding-gift. + +"Look, dear Rosa," she said, taking some withered flowers from amongst +the fresh ones she wore on her breast, "those are the flowers which you +once gave to my Conrad as a prize of victory. He kept them faithfully +till he saw me. But then he was false to you, and let me have them. +Don't be angry." + +Rosa, blushing deeply, and casting her eyes modestly down, answered, +"Ah! my lady, how can you speak _so_? He never could have cared for +_me_, certainly. _You_ were his love alone; and because I happen to be +called Rosa, too, and am--as these gentlemen say--a little like you, he +made love to me, thinking all the time of you." + +The procession was about to start for the second time, when a young +gentleman came in, dressed in the Italian fashion, all in slashed black +velvet, with a fine gold chain and a collar of rich lace. + +"Oh, my Reinhold," cried Friedrich, and fell upon his neck; and the +bride and Master Martin, too, rejoiced, and cried out, "Here is our +beloved Reinhold come!" + +"Did I not say, my dearest friend," said Reinhold, cordially returning +the embraces, "that everything would turn out gloriously for you after +all? Let me celebrate your wedding day with you. I have come a long +distance to do so. And as an everlasting memorial, hang up in your +house the picture which I painted for you, and which I have brought +with me." He called without, and two servants came in carrying a large +painting, in a magnificent gold frame, representing Master Martin in +his workshop, with his journeymen, Reinhold, Friedrich, and Conrad, at +work on the great cask, with Rosa just come in at the door. Everybody +was amazed at the truthfulness and the splendid colouring of this work +of art. + +"Ah," said Friedrich, "_that_ is _your_ cooper's masterpiece. Mine is +downstairs. But I shall turn out another." + +"I know," said Reinhold, "and you are a fortunate man; stick to your +own art; very probably it is better suited to domesticity and the like, +than mine." + +At the wedding dinner Friedrich sat between the two Rosas, with Master +Martin opposite to him, between Reinhold and Conrad. Paumgartner filled +Friedrich's goblet to the brim with noble wine, and drank to the health +of Master Martin and his grand journeymen. The goblet went round, and +first Baron von Spangenburg, and after him all the worthy masters +drained it to the same toast. + + +When Sylvester had finished his reading, the friends were unanimous in +their opinion that the tale was worthy of the Serapion Club, and they +particularly admired the pleasingness of the general tone which +characterised it. + +"I suppose," said Lothair, "that I am fated always to be the one to +pick a hole or two. But I can't help it. To my mind, Master Martin +smacks too much of his origin; I mean, of the picture which suggested +him. Sylvester, inspired by our great Kolbe's painting, has shown us a +splendid collection of other pictures; and, though the colouring of +them is delightful, still, they are nothing but pictures; they never +could become situations, in living movement, as the narrative of the +drama demands that they should do. Conrad, with _his_ Rosa, and +Reinhold as well, come in at the end merely that Friedrich's wedding +feast may be pleasant and proper, as it ought to be. On the whole--as +far as Conrad is concerned--if I did not know your simpleness of heart, +Sylvester--if you had not, all through your tale, striven with good +success to be always true and straight-forward, well! I should have +been inclined to say that--in your Conrad--you had wished to be +ironical over those wondrous characters who, in many of our modern +novels, play leading parts--a sort of hash-up of loutishness, +'_galanterie_,' barbarism, and sentimentality who call themselves +'chivalrous,' but of whom, I fancy, there never was a prototype, any +more than of those 'blusterers' whom Veit Weber and his followers used +to portray, knocking everybody into minced meat, right and left, on +every occasion." + +Vincent said: "You have brought in the 'Berseker fury' certainly, with +admirable effect. But it is unpardonable in you to have allowed a +nobleman's back to be blued and blacked by the hoop of a cask, without +the blue and blacked aristocrat having broken the head of the dealer of +the blow. He might have begged his pardon politely afterwards, or +applied an Arcanum which would have mended his head in a moment; after +which he would have been aware of a distinct increase in his wisdom. +The only gentleman whom you can quote as a prototype is the valiant +knight Don Quixote, who got many a sound licking, notwithstanding his +magnanimity, braggery, and chivalry." + +"Blame as much as you please," said Sylvester, laughing. "I leave +myself entirely in your hands; but let me say that where I find +consolation is in the verdicts of those charming ladies to whom I read +my 'Master Martin,' and who expressed thorough delight with the whole +affair, and overwhelmed me with praise." + +"Praise of that sort, from beautiful lips," said Ottmar, "certainly is +wholly irresistible, and capable of leading many a romancer into +wondrous follies, and scriptorial capers of every kind; but, if I am +not mistaken, Lothair promised to finish this evening of ours with one +of the productions of his fantastic dreamery." + +"Yes," answered Lothair. "Recollect that I undertook to write a second +story for my sister's children, and to be less wild, and more peaceable +and 'childlike,' than I was in 'Nutcracker and the King of Mice.' The +story is here, and you shall hear it." + +Lothair then read:-- + + + + + THE STRANGER CHILD. + + BARON VON BRAKEL OF BRAKELHEIM. + +There was once a noble gentleman named The Baron Thaddeus von Brakel, +who lived in the little village of Brakelheim, which he had inherited +from his deceased father, the old Baron von Brakel, and which, +consequently, was his property. The four rustics, who were the other +inhabitants of the village, called him "your Lordship," although, like +themselves, he went about with his hair badly combed, and it was only +on Sundays when he went to the neighbouring country town to church, +with his lady and his two children (whose names were Felix and +Christlieb)--that he substituted for the coarse cloth jacket, which he +wore at other times, a fine green coat and a scarlet waistcoat with +gold braid, which became him well. The same rustic neighbours, when any +one chanced to ask, "How shall I find my way to the Baron von +Brakel's?" were wont to reply: "Go straight on through the village, and +up the hill where those birches are; his Lordship's castle is there." +Now everybody knows that a castle is a great and lofty building, with a +number of windows and doors, to say nothing of towers and glittering +weathercocks; but nothing of this sort could be discovered on the hill +where the birches were, all that was to be seen there being a +commonplace little ordinary house, with a few small windows, which you +could hardly see anything of, till you were close upon it. Now it is +often the case that, at the portal of a grand castle, one suddenly +halts, and--being breathed upon by the icy air which streams out of it, +and glared at by the lifeless eyes of the strange sculptured figures +which are fixed, like fearful warders, on the walls--loses all desires +to go in, preferring to turn away. But this was by no means the case, +as regarded Baron von Brakel's abode. For, first of all, the beautiful +graceful birches, when one came to them, would bend their leafy +branches like arms stretched out, to greet him, their rustling leaves +whispering a "Welcome, welcome among us!" And when one reached the +house, it seemed as if charming voices were calling, in dulcet tones, +out of the bright, windows, and everywhere from among the thick dark +leafage of the vine which covered the walls up to the roof: "Come, +come, and rest, thou dear weary wanderer; here all is comfort and +hospitality." This was also confirmed by the swallows, twittering +merrily in and out of their nests; and the stately old stork looked +down, gravely and wisely, from the chimney, and said: "I have passed my +summers in this place now for many and many a year, and I know no +better lodging in all the world; if it weren't for my inborn love of +travel, which I can't control--if it weren't so very cold here in the +winter, and wood so dear--I should never stir from the spot." Thus +charming and delightful, although not a castle, was Baron von Brakel's +house. + + + VISITORS OF DISTINCTION. + +Madame von Brakel got up very early one morning, and baked a cake, into +which she put a great many more almonds and raisins than even into her +Easter cake, for which reason it had a much more delicious odour than +that one itself had. While this was in progress, the Baron von Brakel +thoroughly dusted and brushed his green coat and his red waistcoat, and +Felix and Christlieb were dressed in the very best clothes they +possessed. The Baron said to them: "You mustn't run about in the wood +to-day, as you generally do, but sit still in the room, that you may +look neat and nice when your distinguished uncle comes!" + +The sun had emerged, bright and smiling, from the clouds, and was +darting golden beams in at the window; out in the wood the morning +breeze blew fresh, and the finch, the siskin, and the nightingale were +all pouring out their hearts in joy, and warbling the loveliest songs +in chorus. Christlieb was sitting silent, deep in thought, at the +table, now and then smoothing and arranging the bow of her pink sash, +now and then industriously striving to go on with her knitting, which, +somehow, would by no means answer that morning. Felix, into whose hands +papa had put a fine picture-book, looked away over the tops of the +pages towards the beautiful Birchwood, where, every other morning but +this, he might jump about for an hour or two to his heart's content. +"Oh! isn't it jolly out there!" sighed he to himself; and when, in +addition, the big yard-dog, Sultan by name, came barking and bounding +before the window, dashing away a short distance in the direction of +the wood, coming back again, and barking and growling afresh, as if he +were saying to Felix, "Aren't you coming to the wood to-day? What on +earth are you doing in that stuffy room?" Felix couldn't contain +himself for impatience. "Oh, darling mamma, do just let me go out, only +for a little!" he cried; but Madame von Brakel answered, "No, no, stay +in the room, like a good boy. I know very well how it will be; if you +go, Christlieb must go too, and then away you'll both scamper, helter +skelter, through brush and briar, up into the trees. And then, back +you'll come, all hot and smirched, and your uncle will say, 'What ugly +country children are these? I am sure no Brakels, be they big or +little, can ever be like that.'" + +Felix clapped the book to in a rage, and said, as the tears of +disappointment came into his eyes, "If our grand uncle talks of ugly +country children, I'm sure he never can have seen Peter Vollrad or +Annie Hentschel, or any of the children in the village here, for I know +there couldn't be prettier children anywhere than they are." "I'm sure +of that," said Christlieb, as if suddenly waking from a dream; "and +isn't Maggy Schulz a beautiful child too, although she hasn't anything +like as pretty ribbons as mine." "Do not talk such stupid nonsense," +said their papa, "you don't understand what your uncle means, in so +saying." + +All further representations to the effect that just this day, of all +others, it was so very glorious in the wood were of no avail, Felix and +Christlieb had to stay in the room, and this was all the more painful +because the company cake, which was on the table, gave out the most +delicious odours, and yet might not be cut into until their uncle's +arrival. "Oh! if he would but come! if he would but only come!" both +the children cried, and almost wept with impatience. At last a vigorous +trampling of horses became audible, and a carriage appeared, which was +so brilliant and so richly covered with golden ornamentation, that the +children were unspeakably amazed, for they had never beheld the like of +it before. A tall and very thin man glided by help of the arm of the +footman, who opened the carriage door, into the arms of Baron von +Brakel, to whose cheek he twice gently laid his own, and whispered +mincingly, "_Bon jour_, my dear cousin; now, no ceremony, I implore!" +Meanwhile the footman had also aided a short stout lady, with very red +cheeks, and two children, a boy and a girl, to glide down to earth from +the carriage (which he performed with much dexterity), so that each of +them came to their feet on the ground. + +When they were all thus safely deposited, Felix and Christlieb came +forward (as they had been duly prepared by mamma and papa to do), +seized each a hand of the tall thin man, and said, kissing the same, +"We are very glad you are come, dear noble uncle;" then they did the +same with the hands of the stout lady, and said, "We are very glad you +are come, dear noble aunt;" then they went up to the children, but +stood before them quite dumfounded, for they had never seen children of +the sort before. The boy had on long pantaloons, a little jacket of +scarlet cloth covered all over with golden knots and embroidery, and a +little bright sabre at his side; while on his head was a curious red +cap with a white feather, from under which he peeped shyly and +bashfully with his yellow face, and his bleared, heavy eyes. The girl +had on a white dress--very much like Christlieb's, but with a frightful +quantity of ribbons and tags--and her hair was most curiously frizzed +up into knots, and twisted upon the top of her head, where there was, +besides, a little shining coronet. + +Christlieb plucked up courage, and was going to take the little girl's +hand; but she snatched it away in a hurry, and put on such an angry +tearful face, that Christlieb was quite frightened, and let her alone. +Felix wanted to have a closer look at the boy's pretty sabre, and put +out his hand to it, but the youngster began to cry, "My sabre, my +sabre, he's going to take my sabre!" and ran to the thin man, behind +whom he hid himself. Felix grew red in the face, and said, much +annoyed: "_I_ don't want to take your sabre--young stupid!" + +The last two words were murmured between his teeth, but Baron von +Brakel seemed to have heard all, and was much put out about it, for he +fingered his waistcoat nervously, and said, "Oh, Felix!" The stout lady +said, "Adelgunda! Herrmann! the children are doing you no harm; do not +be so silly." The thin gentleman saying, "They will soon make +acquaintance," took Madam von Brakel by the hand, and conducted her to +the house. Baron von Brakel followed him with the stout lady, to whose +skirts Adelgunda and Herrmann clung. Christlieb and Felix came after +them. + +"The cake will be cut now," Felix whispered to his sister. "Oh, yes! +oh, yes! yes!" answered she delighted. "And then we'll be off into the +wood," continued Felix. "And not bother more about these stupid +stranger things," added Christlieb. Felix cut a caper; and then they +went into the room. Adelgunda and Herrmann might not have any of the +cake, because their papa and mamma said it was not good for them; so +each of them had a little biscuit, which the footman had to produce +from a bag which he had brought. Felix and Christlieb munched bravely +at the substantial piece of cake which their dear mamma had given to +each, and enjoyed themselves. + + + THE FURTHER PROGRESS OF THE VISIT OF THE + DISTINGUISHED RELATIVES. + +The thin gentleman, whose name was Cyprianus von Brakel, was first +cousin to the Baron Thaddeus von Brakel, but a personage of far greater +distinction. For, besides bearing the title of count, he wore upon +every one of his coats--aye, even on his dressing-gown--a great silver +star. Thus it had happened that when, about a year before, he had paid +a flying visit one afternoon to his cousin, Baron Thaddeus--but alone +that time, without the stout lady (who was his wife) and without the +children Felix had said to him, "Please tell me, uncle, have you been +made _king_ now?" For Felix had seen a picture of a king in his +picture-book with just such a star on his breast, and naturally thought +his uncle was one, since he wore this mark of royalty. His uncle had +laughed much at the question on that occasion, and replied, "No, dear +child, I am not the king, but I am the king's most faithful servant and +minister, who rules over a great many people. If you belonged to the +line of the Counts of Brakel, perhaps you might one day wear a star +like this one of mine. As it is, you are only a simple 'von'--a baron, +and cannot expect to come to very much." + +Felix did not understand his uncle in the slightest, and his father +thought it did not much matter whether he did or not. The uncle told +his fat lady how Felix had thought he was the king; on which she +ejaculated, "Sweet, delightful, _touching_ innocence!" + +And now Felix and Christlieb had to come forward from the window, where +they had been eating their cake with much kickering and laughter. Their +mother wiped the cake-crumbs and raisin-remnants from their lips, and +they were handed over to their gracious uncle and aunt, who kissed +them, with loud ejaculations of, "Oh, sweet and darling nature! oh +rural simplicity!" and placed big cornets of paper in their hands. +Tears came to the eyes of Baron Thaddeus von Brakel, and to those of +his wife, over this condescension of their grand kinsfolk. Meanwhile +Felix had opened his paper-cornet, and found in it bonbons, at which he +set to work to munch vigorously, in which Christlieb followed his +example. + +"My boy! my boy!" cried his gracious uncle, "that is not the way to do +it; you will destroy your teeth! You must suck them gently till the +sugar dissolves in your mouth." But Felix laughed, and said, "Gracious +uncle! do you think I am a baby, and haven't got teeth to bite them +with?" With which he put a bonbon in his mouth and gave it such a bite +that everything rattled and rang. "Delicious naivety!" the fat lady +cried. The uncle agreed; but drops of perspiration stood on Baron +Thaddeus von Brakel's forehead. He was ashamed of Felix's lack of +polish; and the mother whispered to the boy hurriedly, "Don't make such +a clattering with those teeth of yours, ill-bred boy!" This put poor +Felix into a state of utter consternation, for he didn't know he was +doing anything wrong. He took the half-eaten bonbon out of his mouth, +put it into the paper parcel again, and handed the whole thing back to +his uncle, saying, "Take your sugar away with you again!--that's all I +care about, if I mayn't eat it." Christlieb, accustomed to follow +Felix's example in all things, did the same with _her_ paper-cornet. +This was too much for poor Baron Thaddeus, who cried out, "Ah! my +honoured and gracious cousin! do not be annoyed with the silliness of +those simple children. Really, in the country, and in our straitened +circumstances, alas! who could bring up children in the style in which +you have brought up yours?" Count Cyprianus smiled a gracious smile as +he glanced at Herrmann and Adelgunda. They had long since finished +eating their biscuit, and were now sitting as mum as mice upon their +chairs, without the slightest motion of either their faces or their +limbs. The fat lady smiled too, and lisped out, "Really, dear cousin, +the education of our children lies nearer our hearts than anything in +the world." She made a sign to Count Cyprianus, who immediately turned +to Herrmann and Adelgunda, and asked them all sorts of questions, which +they answered with the utmost readiness. The questions were about +towns, rivers, and mountains, many thousands of miles off, and having +the oddest names; also they could tell what every sort of animal was +like, which was to be found in the remotest quarters of the globe. Then +they spoke of plants, trees, and shrubs, just as if they had seen them +themselves, and eaten of the fruits. Herrmann gave a minute description +of all that had happened at a great battle three hundred years ago, or +more, and was able to cite the names of all the Generals who had taken +part in it. At length Adelgunda even spoke of the stars, and stated +that there were all sorts of beasts, and curious figures, in the sky. +This made Felix quite frightened and uneasy; he got close to his +mother, and whispered, "Ah, mamma! dearest mamma! what is all that +nonsense that they're blabbering about?" "Hold your tongue, stupid +boy!" his mother replied. "Those are the Sciences." + +Felix held his peace. + +"Astonishing!" cried Baron Thaddeus. "Quite unparalleled! at their time +of life!" And Fran von Brakel sighed out, "Oh, Jemini! what little +angels! What in the world is to become of _our_ little ones, out in the +country here!" + +Baron Thaddeus now joining in his wife's lamentations, Count Cyprianus +comforted their hearts, by promising to send them, shortly, a man of +much erudition, and specially skilled in the education of children. + +Meanwhile the beautiful carriage had driven up to the door, and the +"jaeger" came in with two great bandboxes, which Herrmann and Adelgunda +took and handed to Felix and Christlieb. Herrmann, making a polite bow, +said, "Are you fond of playthings, _mon cher_?--here I have brought you +some of the finest kind." Felix hung his head. He felt melancholy; he +did not know why. He held the bandbox in his hands, without expressing +any thanks, and said in a murmur, "I'm not '_mon cher_,' and I'm not +'you'; I'm 'thou.'" And Christlieb was nearer crying than laughing, +although the box which Adelgunda had handed her was giving forth the +most delightful odours, as of delicious things to eat. The dog Sultan, +Felix's faithful friend and darling, was dancing and barking, according +to his wont; but Herrmann was so frightened at him that he hid himself +in a corner and began to cry. "He's not touching _thee_," Felix cried. +"He's only a dog. What art thou howling and screaming about? You know +all about the most terrible wild beasts in the world, don't you?--and +even if he were going to set upon you, haven't you your sword on?" + +But Felix's words were of no avail. Herrmann went on howling till the +servant had to take him in his arms and bear him off to the carriage. +Adelgunda, suddenly infected by her brother's terror--or heaven knows +from what other cause!--also began to scream and howl, which so +affected poor Christlieb that _she_ began to cry too. Amid this yelling +and screaming of the children, Count Cyprianus von Brakel took his +departure from Brakelheim; and so terminated the visit of those +distinguished relations. + + + THE NEW PLAYTHINGS. + +When the carriage containing Count Cyprianus von Brakel and his family +had rolled down the hill, Herr Thaddeus quickly threw off his green +coat and his red waistcoat; and when he had, as quickly, put on his +loose jacket, and passed his big comb two or three times through his +hair, he drew a long breath, stretched himself, and cried, "God be +thanked!" The children, too, got out of their Sunday clothes, and felt +happy and light. "To the wood! to the wood!" cried Felix, executing +some of his highest jumps. + +"But don't you want to see what Herrmann and Adelgunda have brought you +before you set off?" said their mother. And Christlieb, who had been +contemplating the boxes with longing eyes even while her clothes were +being changed, thought that _that would_ be a good thing to do first, +and that it would be plenty of time to go to the wood afterwards. Felix +was very hard to convince of this. He said, "What that can be of any +consequence can that stupid pump-breeked creature have brought us?--and +his ribbony sister into the bargain? About the 'sciences,' as you call +them, he clatters away as finely as you please. He talks about bears +and lions, and tells you how to take elephants, and then he's afraid of +my dear dog Sultan; has a sword on, and goes and crawls under the +table!--a nice sort of sportsman _he_ is!' + +"Ah, dear, good Felix! just let us see, for a minute or two, what's +inside the boxes." Thus prayed Christlieb; and as Felix always did +anything he could to please her, he at once gave up the idea of being +off to the wood immediately, and patiently sat down with her at the +table on which the boxes were. The mother opened them; and then!--oh! +my very dear readers! you have all been so happy when, at the time of +the yearly fair, or at all events at Christmas, your parents and your +friends flooded you with presents of every delightful kind. Remember +how you danced for joy when pretty soldiers, and little fellows with +barrel-organs, beautifully-dressed dolls, delightful picture-books, and +all the rest, lay and stood before you. Such great delight as was then +yours, Felix and Christlieb now experienced. For a really splendid +assortment of the loveliest toys came out of those boxes, and all sorts +of charming things to eat as well; so that the children clapped their +hands again and again, crying, "Oh, how nice that is!" One paper parcel +of bonbons, however, Felix laid aside with contempt; and when +Christlieb begged him not to throw the glassy sugar out of the window, +as he was going to do, he gave up that idea, and only chucked some of +the bonbons to Sultan, who had come in wagging his tail. Sultan snuffed +at them, and then turned his back on them disdainfully. + +"Do you see, Christlieb," Felix cried, "Sultan won't have anything to +do with the wretched stuff." + +But, on the whole, none of the toys caused Felix such satisfaction as a +certain little sportsman, who, when a little string which stuck out +beneath his jacket was pulled, put his gun to his shoulder and fired at +a target which was stuck up three spans in front of him. Next to him in +his affections stood a little fellow, who made bows and salaams, and +tinkled on a little harp when you turned a handle. But what pleased him +more than all those things was a gun made of wood, and a hunting +hanger, of wood also, and silvered over; also a beautiful hussar's +busby and a sabretasche. Christlieb was equally delighted with a finely +dressed doll and a set of charming furniture. The children forgot all +about the woods, and enjoyed themselves over their playthings till +quite late in the evening. They then went to their beds. + + + WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE NEW PLAYTHINGS IN THE WOOD. + +Next day the children began where they had left off the night before; +that is to say, they got out the boxes, took forth the toys, and amused +themselves with them in many ways. Just as had been the case the day +before, the sun shone brightly and kindly in at the windows; the +birches, greeted by the sighing morning breeze, whispered and rustled; +the birds rejoiced in loveliest songs of joy. Felix's heart was full of +his sportsman, his harper, his gun, and sabretasche. + +"I'll tell you what it is," he cried; "it's much nicer outside! Come, +Christlieb, let's be off to the woods!" + +Christlieb had just undressed her big doll, and was going to put its +clothes on again, a matter of the greatest moment and interest to her, +for which reason she would rather not have gone out just then, and +said, in a tone of entreaty, "Hadn't we better stay here and play a +little longer, Felix dear?" + +"I'll tell you what well do, Christlieb; we'll take the best of our +toys out to the woods with us. I'll put on my hanger, and sling the gun +over my shoulder; and then, you see, I shall be a regular sportsman. +The little hunter and the harper can come with me, and you can take +your big doll and the best of your other things with you. Come along, +let's be off." + +Christlieb hastened to dress her doll as quickly as possible, and then +they both made off to the wood with their playthings. There they +established themselves in a nice, grassy place; and after they had +played for a while, and Felix was making his harper tinkle his little +tune, Christlieb said, "Do you know, Felix, that harper of yours +doesn't play at all nicely. Just listen how wretched it sounds out here +in the wood, that eternal 'ting-ting, plang-plang.' The birds peep down +from the trees as though they were disgusted with that stupid musician +who insists on accompanying them." Felix turned the handle more and +more strenuously, and at length cried, "I think you're right, +Christlieb. What the little fellow plays sounds quite horrible. I'm +quite ashamed to see those thrushes there looking down at me with such +wise eyes. He must make a better job of it." With which Felix screwed +away at the handle with such force that crack! crack! the whole box on +which the harp-man stood flew into a thousand splinters, and his arms +fell down broken. + +"Oh, oh!" Felix cried. "Ah! poor little harper!" sighed Christlieb. +Felix looked at the broken toy for a minute or two, and then said, +"Well, he was a stupid, senseless chap, after all. He played terribly +poor music, and made faces, and bowed and scraped like our cousin +Pump-breeks;" and he shied the harp-player as far as he could into the +thicket. "What I like is my sportsman here," he went on to say. "He +makes a bull's-eye every time he fires over and over again." And he +kept on making him score a long succession of bull's-eyes accordingly. + +When this had gone on for some time, however, Felix said, "It's stupid, +all the same, that he should always make bull's-eyes; so very +unsportsmanlike, you know--papa says so. A real sportsman has got to +shoot deer, hares, and so forth, running. I can't have this chap going +on aiming at a target; mustn't be any more of it; one gets weary of it; +won't do." And Felix broke off the target which was fixed up in front +of the shooting-man. "Now then," he cried, "fire away into the open." + +But it was in vain that he pulled at the thread; the little man's arms +hung limp and motionless; the gun rose no more to his shoulder--his +shooting was at an end. + +"Ha! ha!" Felix cried; "you could shoot at your target indoors; but out +in the woods here, where the sportsman's home is, you can't, eh? I +suppose you're afraid of dogs, too; and if one were to come you would +take to your heels, gun and all, as cousin Pump-breeks did with his +sword, wouldn't you? ugh! you stupid, useless dunderhead;" with which +Felix shied him into the bushes after the harp-man. + +"Come, let's run about a bit," he said to Christlieb. "Ah, yes, let +us," said she; "this lovely doll of mine shall run with us too; that +will be fun." + +So Felix and Christlieb took each an arm of the doll, and off they set +in full career, through the bushes, down the brae, and on and on till +they came to a small lake, engarlanded with water-plants, which was on +their father's property, and where he sometimes shot wild-duck. Here +they came to a stand, and Felix said, "Suppose we wait here a little. I +have a gun now, you know, and perhaps I may hit a duck among the +rushes, like father." + +At that moment Christlieb screamed out, "Oh! just look at my doll; +what's the matter with her?" + +Indeed, that poor thing was in a miserable condition enough. Neither +Felix nor Christlieb had been paying any attention to her during their +run, and so the bushes had torn all the clothes off her back, both her +handsome legs were broken, and of the pretty waxen face there was +scarcely a trace remaining, so marred and hideous did it appear. + +"Oh, my poor, beautiful doll!" wept Christlieb. + +"There, you see!" cried Felix; "those are the sort of trashy things +those two stupid creatures brought and gave us. That doll of yours is +nothing more or less than a stupid, idiotic slut. Can't so much as come +for a little run with us but she must get her clothes all torn off her +back, and herself spoilt and destroyed. Give me hold of her!" + +Christlieb sorrowfully complied, and could scarcely restrain a cry of +"Oh, oh!" as he chucked the doll, without more ado, into the pond. + +"Never mind, dear!" Felix said, consoling his sister. "Never mind about +the wretched thing. If I can only shoot a duck, you shall have all the +beautiful wing feathers." + +A rustle was heard amongst the rushes, and Felix instantly took aim +with his wooden gun. But he moved it away from his shoulder speedily, +saying--"Am I not a tremendous idiot myself?" Looking reflectively +before him for a few minutes, he continued softly-- + +"How can a fellow shoot without powder and shot? And have I either the +one or the other? And then, could I put powder into a wooden gun? +What's the use, after all, of the stupid, wooden thing? And the +hunting-knife! wooden, too. Can neither cut nor stab. Of course my +cousin's sword was wooden as well! That was why he couldn't draw it +when he was afraid of Sultan. I see what it all comes too. Cousin +Pump-breeks was making a fool of me with his playthings, which only +make-believe to be things, and are nothing but useless trumpery." With +which Felix shied the gun, the hunting knife, and finally the +sabretasche into the pond. But Christlieb was terribly distressed about +her doll, and Felix himself couldn't help being annoyed at the way +things had turned out. And in this mood of mind they crept back to the +house; and when their mother asked them what had become of their +playthings, Felix truthfully related how they had been deceived in the +harper, the gun, the sabretasche, and the doll. + +"Ah! you foolish children!" cried Frau von Brakel, half angry; "you +don't know how to deal with nice toys of the kind." + +But Baron Thaddeus, who had listened to Felix's tale with evident +satisfaction, said, "Let the children alone; at the bottom, I am very +glad they are fairly rid of those playthings. They didn't understand +them, and were only bothered and vexed by them." + +Neither Frau von Brakel nor the children understood what the Baron +meant in so saying. + + + THE STRANGER CHILD. + +Soon after those events, Felix and Christlieb had run off to the wood +very early one morning. Their mother had impressed upon them that they +were to be home very soon again, because it was necessary that they +should stay in the house and read and write a great deal more than they +used to do, that they might not lose countenance before the tutor, who +was expected very soon. Wherefore Felix said, "We must jump and run +about as much as we can for the little while that we are allowed to +stay out here, that's all." So they immediately began to play at hare +and hounds. + +But that game, and also every other that they tried to play at, very +soon only wearied them, and failed to amuse them after a second or two. +They could not understand why it was that, on that particular day, +thousands of vexatious annoyances should keep continually happening to +them. The wind carried Felix's cap away into the bushes; he stumbled +and fell down on his nose as he was running his best. Christlieb found +herself hanging by her clothes in a thorn-tree, or banged her foot +against a sharp stone, so that she had to shrink with pain. They soon +gave it all up, and slunk along dejectedly through the wood. + +"Let's go home," said Felix; "there's nothing else for it." + +But instead of doing so, he threw himself down under a shady tree; +Christlieb followed his example; and there the children lay, depressed +and wretched, gazing at the ground. + +"Ah!" said Christlieb; "if we only had our nice playthings." + +"Bosh!" growled Felix; "what the better should we be? We should only +smash them up and destroy them again. I'll tell you what it is, +Christlieb. Mother is not far wrong, I suspect. The playthings were all +right enough. But we didn't know how to play with them. And that's +because we don't know anything about the 'sciences,' as they call +them." + +"You're quite right, Felix, dear," Christlieb said; "if we knew the +'sciences' all by heart, as those dressed-up cousins of ours do, we +should still have your harp-man and your sportsman; and my poor doll +would not be at the bottom of the duck-pond. Poor things that we are! +Ah! we know nothing about the 'sciences'!" + +And therewith Christlieb began to sob and cry bitterly, and Felix +joined her in so doing. And they both howled and lamented till the wood +re-echoed again, crying, "Poor unfortunate children that we are! we +know nothing of the 'sciences.'" + +But suddenly they ceased, and asked one another in amazement-- + +"Do you see, Christlieb?" "Do you hear, Felix?" + +From out the deepest shades of the dark thicket which lay before the +children, a wonderful luminousness began to shine, playing like +moonlight over the leaves, which trembled in ecstasy. And through the +whispering trees there came a sweet musical tone, like that which we +hear when the wind awakens the chords slumbering within a harp. The +children felt a sense of awe come over them. All their vexation had +passed away from them; but tears of a sweet, unknown pain rose to their +eyes. + +As the radiance streamed brighter through the bushes, and the +marvellous music-tones grew louder and louder, the children's hearts +beat high: they gazed eagerly at the brightness, and then they saw, +smiling at them from the thicket, the face of the most beautiful child +imaginable, with the sun beaming on it in all its splendour. + +"Oh, come to us!--come to us, darling child!" cried Christlieb and +Felix, as they stretched their arms with indescribable longing towards +the beautiful creature. "I am coming!--I am coming!" a sweet voice +cried from the bushes; and then, as if borne on the wings of the +morning breeze, the Stranger Child seemed to come hovering over to +Christlieb and Felix. + + + HOW THE STRANGER CHILD PLAYED WITH FELIX AND CHRISTLIEB. + +"I thought I heard you, out of the distance, crying and lamenting," +said the Stranger Child, "and then I was very sorry for you. What is +the matter, you dear children?--what is it you want?" + +"Ah," Felix said, "we didn't quite know what it was that we _did_ want! +But now, as far as I can make out, what we wanted was just you +yourself." "That is it!" Christlieb chimed in; "now that you are with +us, we are happy again. Why were you so long in coming?" + +In fact, both children felt as though they had known and played with +the Stranger Child for a long time already, and that their unhappiness +had been only because this beloved playmate was not with them. + +"You see," Felix said, in continuation, "we really haven't got any +playthings left; for I, like a stupid fool, went and destroyed a number +of the very finest, which my cousin Pump-breeks gave me, and I shied +them away. Never mind; we shall play somehow for all that." + +"How can you talk so, Felix," said the Stranger Child, laughing aloud. +"Certainly the stuff you threw away wasn't of much value; but you, and +Christlieb too, are in the very middle of a quantity of the most +exquisite play-things that were ever seen." + +"Where--where are they?" Felix and Christlieb cried. + +"Look round you," said the Stranger Child; and Felix and Christlieb +then saw how, out of the thick grass and the wool-like moss, all sorts +of glorious flowers were peeping, with bright eyes gleaming, and +between them many-coloured stones and crystalline shells sparkled and +shone, while little golden insects danced up and down, humming little +gentle songs. + +"Now we will build a palace," said the Stranger Child. "Help me to get +the stones together." And the Stranger stooped down and began choosing +stones of pretty colours. Felix and Christlieb helped, and the Stranger +Child knew so well how to set the stones up on one another that soon +there arose tall columns, shining in the sun like polished metal, while +an aerial golden roof vaulted itself over them at the top. Then the +Stranger Child kissed the flowers which were peeping from the ground; +when, with sweet whisperings, they shot up higher, and, embracing each +other lovingly, formed sweet-scented arcades and covered walks, in +which the children danced about, full of delight and gladness. The +Stranger Child clapped hands; and then the golden roof of the palace, +which was formed of insects' golden wings vaulted together, went +asunder with a hum, and the pillars melted away into a plashing silver +stream, on whose banks the varied flowers took up their stations, and +peered inquiringly into its ripples, or, moving their heads from side +to side, listened to its baby pattering. Then the Stranger Child +plucked blades of grass, and gathered little twigs from trees, strewing +them down before Felix and Christlieb. But those blades of grass +presently turned into the prettiest little dolls ever seen; and the +twigs became delicious little huntsmen. The dolls danced round +Christlieb; let her take them up in her lap, and whispered, in delicate +little voices, "Be kind to us!--love us, dearest Christlieb!" The +hunters shouted, "Halloa! halloa! the hunt's up!" and blew their horns, +and bustled about. Then hares came darting out of the bushes, with dogs +after them, and the hunters banging about. This was delightful. + +Then all disappeared again. Christlieb and Felix cried, "What has +become of the dolls? where are the hunters?" The Stranger Child said, +"Oh, they are all at your disposal; they are close by you at any moment +when you want them. But hadn't you rather come on through the wood a +little now?" "Oh, yes! yes!" cried Felix and Christlieb. The Stranger +Child took hold of their hands, crying, "Come; come!" + +And with that they went off. But it could not be called "running," +really, for the children floated along, lightly and easily, through +amongst the trees, whilst all the bird's went fluttering along beside +them, singing and warbling in the blithest fashion. All of a sudden up +they soared, far into the sky. "Good morning, children! Good morning, +Fritz, my crony!" cried the stork in the by-going. + +"Don't hurt me! don't hurt me!" screamed the hawk. "I'm not going to +touch your pigeons." And he swept away as hard as his long wings would +carry him, alarmed at the children. Felix shouted with delight, but +Christlieb was frightened. "Oh, my breath's going!" she cried; "I shall +tumble!" And just at that moment the Stranger Child let them all +three down to the ground again, and said: "Now I shall sing you the +Forest-Song, as a good-bye for to-day. I shall come again to-morrow." +Then the Child took out a little horn, of which the golden windings +looked almost as if made of wreaths of flowers, and began to sound it +so beautifully that the whole wood echoed wondrously with the lovely +music of it, whilst the nightingales (which had come up fluttering as +if in answer to the horn's summons, and were sitting on the branches, +as close as they could to the children) sang their sweetest songs. But +all at once the music grew fainter and fainter, till nothing of it +remained but a soft whisper, which seemed to come from the thicket into +which the Stranger Child had disappeared. "To-morrow!--to-morrow I come +again!" the children could just hear, as if from an immense distance. +They could not give themselves any explanation of their feelings, for +never, never had they known such happiness and enjoyment before in +their lives. + +"And, oh, I wish it were to-morrow now!" they both cried, as they +hastened home as hard as they could, to tell their parents all that had +happened to them. + + + WHAT BARON VON BRAKEL AND HIS LADY SAID, AND WHAT + HAPPENED FURTHER. + +"I could almost fancy the children had dreamt all this," the Baron said +to his wife, when Felix and Christlieb, full of the Stranger Child, +could not cease from talking of all that had happened--the +delightsomeness of their new friend, the exquisite music, the wonderful +events generally--"but then," said the Baron, "when I remember that +they could not both have dreamt just the same things at the same time, +really, when all's said and done, I cannot get to the bottom of it +all." + +"Don't trouble your head about it, dear," said Frau von Brakel. "My +idea is that this Stranger Child was nobody but the schoolmaster's boy, +Gottlieb, from the village. It must have been he that ran over, and put +all this nonsense in the children's heads. We must take care that he is +not allowed to do it any more." + +The Baron, was by no means of his wife's opinion; and, with the view of +getting better at the rights and wrongs of the affair, the children +were brought in and made to describe minutely what the child was like; +how it was dressed, and so forth. With respect to its appearance, both +Felix and Christlieb agreed that its face was fair as the lilies; that +it had cheeks like roses, cherry lips, bright blue eyes, locks of +golden hair, and that it was more beautiful altogether than words could +tell. As regarded its dress, all they knew was that it certainly had +not a blue-striped jacket and trousers, or a black leather cap, such as +the schoolmaster's Gottlieb wore. On the other hand, all they said of +its dress sounded utterly fabulous and absurd. For Christlieb said its +dress was wondrous beautiful, shining and gleaming, as if made of the +petals of roses; whilst Felix maintained that it was sparkling golden +green, like spring-leaves in the sunshine. Felix further said that the +child could not possibly have any connection with such a person as a +school master, because it was too deeply acquainted with sportsmanship +and woodcraft, and must consequently belong to some very home and +head-quarters of forest lore, and was going to be the grandest +sportsman ever heard of. "Oh, Felix!" Christlieb broke in, "how can you +say that dear little girl could ever be a sportsman? She may, perhaps, +know a good deal about that too, but I'm sure she knows a great deal +more about house-management; or how should she have dressed those dolls +for me so beautifully, and made such delightful dishes?" Thus Felix +thought the Stranger Child was a boy, and Christlieb, a girl; and those +contradictory opinions could not be reconciled. + +Fran von Brakel thought it was a pity to go into nonsense of this kind +with children; but the Baron thought differently, and said: "I should +only have to follow the children into the woods, to find out what +wondrous sort of creature this is that comes to play with them; but I +can't help feeling that if I did I should spoil what is for them a +great pleasure; and for that reason I don't want to do it." + +Next day, when Felix and Christlieb went off to the wood at the usual +time, they found the Stranger Child waiting for them; and, if their +play had been glorious on the former day, this day the Stranger Child +did the most miraculous things imaginable, so that Felix and Christlieb +shouted for rapture over and over again. It was delicious and most +enjoyable that, during their play, the Stranger Child talked so +prettily and comprehendingly with the trees, the bushes, the flowers, +and the brook which ran through the wood, and they all answered so +understandably that Felix and Christlieb knew everything that they +said. + +The Stranger Child said to the alder-thicket, "What is it that you +black-looking folks are muttering and whispering to each other again?" +and the branches took to shaking more forcibly, and they laughed and +whispered "Ha, ha, ha! we are delighting ourselves over the charming +things that friend Morning-breeze was saying to us when he came +rustling over from the blue hills, in advance of the sunbeams. He +brought us thousands of greetings and kisses from the Golden Queen; and +plenty of wing-waftings, full of the sweetest perfume." + +"Oh, silence!" the flowers broke in, interrupting the talk of the +branches. "Hold your tongues on the score of that flatterer, who is so +vain about the perfumes which his false caresses rob us of. Never mind +the thickets, children; let them lisp and whisper; look at us--listen +to us. We love you so, and we dress ourselves out, day by day, in the +loveliest colours merely to give you pleasure." + +"And do we not love _you_, you beautiful flowers?" said the Stranger +Child. But Christlieb knelt down on the ground, and stretched out her +arms, as if she would take all the beautiful flowers to her heart, +crying, "Ah, I love you all, every one of you!" Felix cried, "I love +you all, too, flowers, in your bright dresses. Still I dote upon green, +and the woods, and the trees. The woods have to take care of you, and +shelter you, bonny little things that you are." + +Then came a sighing out of the tall, dark fir-trees; and they said, +"That is very true, you clever boy; and you are not to be afraid of us, +when our cousin, the storm, comes rushing at us, and we have to hold a +rather strenuous bit of argument with that rough customer." + +"All right," said Felix. "Groan, and sigh, and snarl as much as you +like, you green giants that you are; _then_ is when the real woodsman's +heart begins to rejoice." + +"You are quite right there," the forest brook plashed and rustled. "But +what is the good of always hunting--always rushing in storm and +turmoil? Come, and sit down nicely among the moss, and listen to me. I +come from far-away places, out of a deep, dark, rocky cleft. I have +delightful tales to tell you; and always something new, wave after +wave, for ever and ever. And I will show you the loveliest pictures, if +you will but look properly into this clear mirror of mine. Vaporous +blue of the sky--golden clouds--bushes, flowers and trees, and your +very selves, you beautiful children, I draw lovingly into the depths of +my bosom." + +"Felix and Christlieb," said the Stranger Child, looking round with +wondrous blissfulness, "only listen how they all love us. But the +redness of the evening is rising behind the hills, and the nightingale +is calling me home." + +"Oh, but let us just fly a little, as we did yesterday," Felix prayed. + +"Yes," said Christlieb, "but not quite so high. It makes my head so +giddy." + +Then the Stranger Child took them by the hands again, and they went +soaring up into the golden purple of the evening sky, while the birds +crowded and sang round them. That was a shouting and a jubilating! In +the shining clouds Felix saw, as if in wavering flame, beautiful +castles all of rubies and other precious stones. "Look! look! +Christlieb!" he cried, full of rapture, "look at all those splendid +palaces! Let us fly along as fast as we can, and we shall get to them." +Christlieb saw the castles too, and forgot her fear, as she was not +looking down, this time, but up before her. + +"Those are my beloved air-castles," the Stranger Child said. "But I +don't think we shall get any further to-day.". + +Felix and Christlieb seemed to be in a dream, and could not make out at +all how they came to find themselves, presently, with their father and +mother. + + + CONCERNING THE STRANGER CHILD'S HOME. + +In the most beautiful part of the wood beside the brook, between +whispering bushes, the Stranger Child had set up a most glorious tent, +made of tall, slender lilies, glowing roses, and tulips of every hue; +and beneath this tent Felix and Christlieb were sitting with the +Stranger Child, listening to the forest-brook as it went on whispering +the strangest things imaginable. + +"I'll tell you, darling boy," Felix said, "I can't properly understand +all that he, there, is saying; but I somehow feel that _you_ could tell +me, clearly and distinctly, what it is that he goes on murmuring. But +most of all I should like you to tell me where it is that you come +from, and where it is that you go away to, so fast, so fast, that we +never can make out how you do it." + +"Do you know, sweetest girl," said Christlieb, "our mother thinks you +are the schoolmaster's boy, Gottlieb." + +"Hold your tongue, stupid thing!" Felix cried. "Mother has never seen +this darling boy, or she wouldn't have talked about the schoolmaster's +Gottlieb. But come now, tell me where it is that you live, dear boy; +fur we want to go and see you at your home in the winter time, when it +storms and snows, and nobody can trace a track in the woods." + +"Yes, yes!" said Christlieb. "Tell us, like a darling, where your home +is; and all about your father and mother, and more than all, what your +own name is." + +The Stranger Child looked very thoughtfully at the sky, almost +sorrowfully, and gave a deep sigh. Then, after some moments of silence, +the Stranger Child said, "Ah, my dears, why must you ask about my home? +Is it not enough for you that I come every day and play with you? I +might tell you that my home lies behind those distant hills, which are +like dim, jagged clouds. But though you were to travel day after day, +for ever and ever, till you were standing on those hills, you would +always see other, and other ranges of hills, further and further away, +and my home would still be beyond them; and even if you reached them, +you would still see others further away, and would have to go to them, +and you would never come to where my home is." + +"Ah me!" sighed Christlieb. "Then you must live hundreds and hundreds +of miles away from us. It is only on a sort of visit that you are +here?" + +"Christlieb, darling," the Stranger Child said; "whenever you long for +me with all your heart, I am with you immediately, bringing you all +those plays and wonders from my home with me; and is not that quite as +good as if we were in my home together, playing there?" + +"Not at all," Felix said; "for I believe that your home is some most +glorious place, full of all sorts of delightful things which you +bring--some of them--here with you. I don't care how hard you may say +the road is to your home, I mean to set out upon it this minute. To +work one's way through forests--by difficult tracks--to climb +mountains, and wade rivers, and break through all sorts of thickets, +and clamber over rugged rocks--all that is a woodsman's proper +business, and I'm going to do it." + +"And so you shall!" said the Stranger Child, smiling pleasantly; "for +when you put it all so clearly before you, and make up your mind to it, +it is as good as done. The land where I live is, in truth, so beautiful +and glorious that I can give you no description of it. It is my mother +who reigns over that country--all glory and loveliness--as queen." + +"Ah, you are a prince!" "Ah, then, you are a princess! the two children +cried together, amazed, and almost terrified. + +"I am, certainly," the Stranger Child replied. + +"Then you live in a beautiful palace?" Felix cried. + +"Yes," said the Stranger Child. "My mother's palace is far more +beautiful than those glittering castles which you saw in the evening +clouds; for the gleaming pillars of her palace are all of the purest +crystal, and they soar, slender and tall, into the blue of heaven; and +upon them there rests a great, wide canopy; beneath that canopy sail +the shining clouds, hither and thither, on golden wings, and the red of +the evening and the morning rises and falls, and the sparkling stars +dance in singing circles. Dearest playmates, you have heard of the +fairies, who can bring about the most glorious wonders, as mortal men +cannot; now, my mother is one of the most powerful fairies of all. All +that lives and moves on earth she holds embraced to her heart in the +purest and truest love; although, to her inward pain, many human beings +will not allow themselves to come to any knowledge of her. But my +mother loves children most of all; and thence it is that the festivals +which she holds in her kingdom for children are the most splendid and +glorious of all. It is then that beautiful spirits belonging to my +mother's kingdom, and to her royal palace, fly deftly through the sky, +weaving and combining a shining rainbow, from one end of her palace to +another, gleaming in the most brilliant dyes. Under those rainbows they +build my mother's diamond throne, all of nothing but diamonds--diamonds +which are, in appearance and in perfume, like lilies, roses, and +carnations; and when my mother takes her place on her throne, the +spirits play on their golden harps and their crystal cymbals, and to +those instruments the court singers of her court sing with voices so +marvellous, that one could die of rapture to hear them. Now, those +singers are beautiful birds, bigger even than eagles, with feathers all +purple-red, such as you have never seen the like of. And as soon as +their music begins, everything in the palace, the woods, and the +gardens moves and sings; and all around there are thousands of +beautiful children in charming dresses, shouting and delighting. They +chase each other amongst the bushes, and throw flowers at each other in +play; they climb trees, where the winds swing them and rock them; they +gather gold-glittering fruit, which tastes as nothing on earth does; +and they play with tame deer and other charming creatures which come +bounding up to them from among the trees; then they run up and down the +rainbows, or they ride on the golden pheasants, which fly up among the +gleaming clouds with them on their backs." + +"How delightful that must be!" Christlieb and Felix cried with rapture. +"Oh, take us with you to your home! We want to stay there always!" + +But the Stranger Child said, "I cannot take you with me to my home; it +is too far away. You would have to be able to fly as far and as +strongly as I can myself." + +Felix and Christlieb were very sorry, and cast their eyes sadly down to +the ground. + + + THE WICKED MINISTER AT THE FAIRY QUEEN'S COURT. + +"And then," the Stranger Child continued, "you might not be as happy as +you expect at my mother's court. Indeed, it might be a misfortune for +you to go there. There are many children who cannot bear the singing of +those purple-red birds, glorious as it is: it breaks their hearts, and +they are obliged to die immediately. Others, who are too pert and +adventurous in running up and down the rainbows, slip, and fall; and +there are many who are so stupid and awkward, that they hurt the gold +pheasants when they are riding on them. Then those birds, though they +are good-tempered and kind-hearted, take this amiss, and they tear +those children's breasts open with their sharp beaks, so that they fall +down from the clouds bleeding. My mother is very very sorry when +children come to misfortune in those ways, although it is all their own +fault when they do. She would be only too happy if all the children in +the world could enjoy the pleasures of her court and kingdom. But, +although there are plenty who can fly strongly enough and far enough, +they are often either too forward, or too timid, and cause her only +sorrow and pain; and that is why she allows me to fly away from my +home, and take to nice children all sorts of delightful playthings, as +I have done to you." + +"Ah," cried Christlieb, "I am sure I could never do anything to hurt +those beautiful birds! But to run up and down a rainbow, that I am +certain I never could. I shouldn't like that." + +"Now that would be just what I should delight in," Felix said; "and +that is the very reason why I want to go and see your mother, the +queen. Couldn't you bring one of those rainbows here with you?" + +"No," the Stranger Child said, "I could not do that. And I must tell +you that I have only been able to come to you by stealing away from +home. Once on a time, I was quite safe every where, just as if I were +at home, and my mother's beautiful kingdom seemed to extend all over +the world; but now that a bitter enemy of hers, whom she has banished +from her kingdom, is going raging about everywhere, I cannot be safe +from being watched, pursued, and molested." + +"Well," Felix cried, jumping up, and shieing the thorn-stick which he +was cutting into the air, "I should like to come across the fellow who +would do anything to harm you! He would have to do with me in the first +place; and then I should send for father, and he would have him taken +up and put in the tower." + +"Ah," the Stranger Child said, "powerless as my bitter enemy is to harm +me when I am at home, he is terribly dangerous when I am not there, and +neither sticks nor prisons can protect me from him!" + +"What sort of a nasty creature is it, then," Christlieb inquired, "that +can do you so much harm?" + +"I have told you that my mother is a mighty queen," the Stranger Child +said; "and you know that queens, like kings, have courts and ministers +belonging to them." + +"Yes, yes," said Felix. "My own uncle, the count, is one of those +ministers, and wears a star on his breast. Do your mother's ministers +wear stars like him?" + +"No," the Stranger Child said; "not exactly that; for most of them are +shining stars themselves, and others of them do not wear any coats on +which they could stick things of the sort. I must tell you that my +mother's ministers are all powerful spirits, either hovering in the +sky, or dwelling in the waters, doing, and carrying out everywhere what +my mother orders them to do. Once, a long while ago, there came amongst +us a stranger, who called himself Pepasilio, who said he was very +learned, and could do more, and accomplish greater things, than all the +others of us. My mother took him in amongst the ranks of her other +ministers; but his natural spite and wickedness very soon developed +themselves and came to light, Not only did he strive to undo all that +the other ministers did, but he set himself specially to spoil all the +happy enjoyments of children. He had pretended to the queen that he, of +all others, was the very spirit who could make children glad, and +happy, and clever; but instead of that, he hung himself with a weight +of lead on to the tails of the pheasants, so that they could not fly +aloft any more; and when the children climbed up the rose-trees, he +would drag them down by the legs, so that they knocked their noses on +the ground and made them bleed; and any that were jumping and dancing +he dashed down to the ground, to go crawling wretchedly about there +with downcast heads. Those who were singing he crammed all sorts of +nasty stuff into the mouths of, so that they had to stop; for singing +he could not abide. As for the poor tame beasts, he always wanted to +eat them, instead of playing with them, for he said that was what they +were meant for. The worst was, that with the help of his followers, he +had a way of smearing all the beautiful, sparkling precious stones of +the palace, the many-tinted glowing flowers, the roses and lilies, and +even the shining rainbows, with a horrible black juice, so that all the +glory and the beauty of them was gone, and everything became sorrowful +and dead. And when he had accomplished this, he would out with a loud +ringing laugh, and say that everything was now just as he wished +it to be. But when, at last, he declared that he did not consider my +mother to be queen at all, and that the rule really belonged to him +alone,--and when he went hovering up in the shape of an enormous fly, +with flashing eyes, and a great trunk, or snout, sticking out, all +about my mother's throne, buzzing and humming in an abominable +manner,--then she, and all the rest of her court, saw that this +malignant minister, who had come amongst us under the fine name of +Pepasilio, was none other than Pepser, the morose and gloomy King of +the Gnomes. But he had foolishly overestimated his power, as well as +the bravery of his followers. The ministers of the Air department +surrounded the queen, and fanned perfumed breezes towards her, whilst +the ministers of the Fire department rushed up and down in billows of +flame, and the singers (whose bills had been cleaned out) chanted the +most full-voiced choruses, so that the queen neither saw nor heard the +ugly Pepser, neither could she be aware of his evil-smelling breath. +Moreover, at that moment, the pheasant prince seized him with his +glittering beak, and gripped him so strenuously that he screamed with +agony and rage; and then the pheasant prince let him down to the earth +from a height of three thousand ells, so that he could not stir hand or +foot till his aunt, and crony, the great blue toad, took him on her +back, and so carried him home. Five hundred fine sprightly children +armed themselves with fly-flappers, with which they banged Pepser's +horrible followers to death, when they were still swarming about +intending to destroy all the beautiful flowers. Now, as soon as Pepser +was gone, all the black juice which he had covered everything over +with, flowed away of itself, and everything was restored, and was soon +beaming and shining, and blooming as gloriously as ever. You may +imagine that this horrid Pepser has no more power in my mother's +kingdom. But he knows that I often venture out, and he follows me +everywhere, in shapes of every kind, so that, wretched child that I am, +I often do not know where to hide myself in my flight; and that is why +I often get away from you so quickly that you cannot see what becomes +of me. Therefore things must go on just as they are; and I can assure +you that if I were to try to take you with me to my home, Pepser would +be sure to lie in wait for us, and kill us." + +Christlieb wept bitterly over the danger to which the Stranger Child +must always be exposed. But Felix said, "If that horrible Pepser is +nothing but a great fly, I'll soon be at him with father's big +fly-flapper; and if once I give him a good crack on the nose with it, +Aunty Toad will have a job to get him home, I can tell her." + + + HOW THE TUTOR ARRIVED, AND HOW THE CHILDREN WERE + AFRAID OF HIM. + +Felix and Christlieb ran home as fast as they could, crying, as they +went, "Ah! the Stranger Child is a beautiful prince!"--"Ah! the +Stranger Child is a beautiful princess!" They wanted, in their delight, +to tell this to their parents; but they stood at the door like marble +statues when they found the baron meeting them there with a stranger at +his side, an extraordinary-looking personage, who muttered to himself, +half intelligibly, "Ah, a nice pair of gawkies those are, it seems to +me!" + +The baron took him by the hand, saying, "This gentleman is the tutor +whom your gracious uncle has sent. So say, 'How-do-you do, sir?' to him +properly." + +But the children looked askance at the man, and could move neither +hand nor foot. This was because they had never seen such an +extraordinary-looking creature. He was scarcely more than half a head +taller than Felix; but he was stumpy and thick-set, and his little +weasened legs formed an astonishing contrast with his body, which +was stout and powerful. His shapeless head was almost to be called +four-square, and his face was almost too ugly altogether. For not only +was his nose much too long and sharp-pointed to suit with his fat, +brownish cheeks, and his wide mouth, but his little prominent eyes +glittered so alarmingly that one hardly liked to look at him. Moreover, +he had a black periwig crammed on to his four-cornered head; he was +clad in black from top to toe, and his name was "Tutor Ink." + +Now, as the children stood staring like stone images, their mother got +angry, and cried, "Good gracious, children, what are you thinking of? +This gentleman will take you for a pair of raw country gabies! Come, +come; give him your hands!" + +The children, taking heart of grace, did as their mother bade them. But +as soon as the tutor took hold of their hands, they jumped back with a +loud cry of "Oh! oh! It hurts!" The tutor laughed aloud, and showed a +needle which he had hidden in his hand, to prick the children with. +Christlieb was weeping; but Felix growled, in an aside, "Just you try +that again, little Big-belly!" + +"Why did you do that, dear Mr. Tutor Ink?" the baron asked, rather +annoyed. + +The tutor answered, "Well, it is my way; I can't alter it!" With which +he stuck his hands in his sides, and went on laughing, till at length +his laughter sounded as ugly as the noise of a broken rattle. + +"You seem to be a person fond of your little jokes, Master Tutor Ink!" +the baron said. But he, and his wife, and most particularly the +children, were beginning to feel very eery and uncomfortable. "Well, +well," said Tutor Ink, "what sort of a state are these little crabs +here in? Pretty well grounded in the sciences? We'll see directly." +With which he began to ask questions of Felix and Christlieb, of the +sort that their uncle and aunt had asked of their cousins. But, as they +both declared that, as yet, they did not know any of the sciences, by +heart, Tutor Ink beat his hands over his head till everything rang +again, and cried, like a man possessed, "A pretty story indeed! No +sciences! Then we've got our work cut out for us. However, we shall +soon make a job of it." + +Felix and Christlieb could both write fairly well, and, from many old +books which their father put in their hands, and which they were fond +of reading, they had learned a good many pretty stories, and could +repeat them. But Tutor Ink despised all this, and said it was stupid +nonsense. + +Alas! there was no more running about in the woods to be so much as +thought of. Instead of that, the children had to sit within the four +walls of the house all day long, and babble, after Tutor Ink, +things which they did not in the least understand. It was really a +heart-breaking business. With what longing eyes they looked at the +woods! Often it was as if they heard, amidst the happy songs of the +birds, and the rustling of the trees, the Stranger Child's voice +calling to them and saying, "Felix! Christlieb! are you not coming any +more to play with me? Oh, come! I have made you a palace, all of +flowers; we will sit there, and I will give you all sorts of beautiful +stones, and then we'll soar into the air, and build ourselves +cloud-castles. Come! oh come!" + +At this, the children were drawn to the woods with all their thoughts, +and neither saw nor heard their tutor any longer. But he would get very +angry, thump on the table with both his fists, and hum, and growl, and +snarl, "Pim--sim--prr--srr knurr kirr--what's all this? Wait a little! +"Felix, however, did not endure this very long; he jumped up, and +cried, "Don't bother me with your stupid nonsense, Mr. Ink; I must be +off to the woods! Go and get hold of Cousin Pumpbreeks; that's the sort +of stuff for _him_. Come along, Christlieb! The Stranger Child is +waiting for us;" with which they started off. But Tutor Ink sprang +after them with remarkable agility, and seized hold of them just +outside the door. Felix fought like a man, and Tutor Ink was on the +point of getting the worst of it, as the faithful Sultan came to +Felix's help. Sultan--generally a good, kindly-behaved dog took a +strong dislike to Tutor Ink the moment he set eyes on him. Whenever the +tutor came near him, he growled, and swept about him so forcibly with +his tail that he nearly knocked the tutor down, managing deftly to hit +him great thumps on his little weazened legs. So Sultan came dashing +up, when Felix was holding the tutor by the shoulders, and hung on to +his coat-tails. Master Ink raised a doleful yell, which brought up the +baron to the rescue. The tutor let go his hold of Felix, and Sultan let +go his hold on the tutor's coat-tails. + +"He said we weren't to go to the woods any more," cried Christlieb, +weeping and lamenting. And although the baron gave Felix a good +scolding, he was very sorry that the children might not go wandering, +as they used, amongst the trees and bushes, and told the tutor that he +wished him to go with them into the woods for a certain time every day. + +The tutor did not like the idea at all. He said, "Ah, Herr Baron, if +you had but a sensible piece of garden, with nicely-clipped box, and +railed-in enclosures, one might go and take the children for a little +walk there of forenoons! But what in all the world is the good of going +into a wild forest?" + +The children did not like it either, saying, "What business has Tutor +Ink in our darling wood?" + + + HOW TUTOR INK TOOK THE CHILDREN FOR A WALK IN THE + WOODS, AND WHAT HAPPENED ON THE OCCASION. + +"Well, Master Ink, isn't it delightful in our wood here?" Felix said, +as they were making their way through the rustling thickets. Tutor Ink +made a face, and answered, "Stupid nonsense! There's no road. All that +one does is to tear one's stockings. And one can't say or hear a word +of sense, for the abominable screaming noise the birds are making." + +"Ha, ha! master," said Felix, "I see you don't know anything about +singing! And I daresay you don't hear when the morning wind is talking +with the bushes, and the old forest brook is telling all those +delightful tales." "And you don't even love the flowers," Christlieb +chimed in; "do you, master?" + +At this the tutor's face became of even a deeper cherry-brown than it +was usually; and he beat with his hands about him, crying, "What +stupid, ridiculous nonsense you are talking! Who has put such trash in +your heads? Who ever heard that woods and streams had got the length of +engaging in rational conversation? Neither is there anything in the +chirping of birds. I like flowers well enough when they are nicely +arranged in a room in glasses. They smell then; and one doesn't require +a scent-bottle. But there are no proper flowers in woods." + +"But don't you see those dear little lilies of the valley, peeping up +at you with such bright, loving eyes?" Christlieb said. + +"What? what?" the tutor screamed. "Flowers--eyes? Ha, ha! Nice 'eyes' +indeed! The useless things haven't even got what you would call a +smell!" With which Master Ink bent down and plucked up a handful of +them, roots and all, and chucked them away into the thickets. To the +children it seemed, almost, as if they heard a cry of pain pass through +the wood. Christlieb could not help bitter tears, and Felix gnashed his +teeth in anger. Just then, a little siskin went fluttering close past +the tutor's nose, alighted on a branch, and began a joyous song. "That +is a mockingbird, I think!" said the tutor; and, taking up a stone, he +threw it at the poor bird, which it struck, and silenced into death; it +fell from the green branch to the ground. + +Felix could restrain himself no longer. "You horrible Tutor Ink," he +cried, "what had the bird done to you that you should strike it dead? +Ah, where are you, you beautiful Stranger Child? Oh come! only come! +Let us fly far, far away. I cannot stay beside this horrible creature +any longer. I want to go to your home with you." Christlieb chimed in, +sobbing and weeping bitterly, crying, "Oh, thou darling child, come to +us, come to us! Rescue us, rescue us! Tutor Ink is killing us, as he is +killing the flowers and the birds." + +"What do you mean by the Stranger Child?" Tutor Ink asked. But at that +instant there came a louder whispering and rustling amongst the bushes, +mingled with melancholy, heart-breaking tones, as if of muffled bells +tolling in the far distance. In a shining cloud, which came sailing +over above them, they saw the beautiful face of the Stranger Child, and +presently it came wholly into view, wringing its little hands, whilst +tears, like glittering pearls streamed down its rosy cheeks. "Ah, +darling playmates," cried the Stranger Child, in tones of sorrow, "I +cannot come to you any more. You will never see me again. Farewell, +farewell! The gnome Pepser has you in his power. Oh, you poor children, +good-bye, good-bye!" and the Stranger Child soared up far into the sky. +But, at the children's backs, there began a horrid, fearsome sort of +buzzing and humming, and snarling and growling; and lo! Tutor Ink had +taken the shape of an enormous frightful-looking fly. And the horrible +part of the thing was, that he had a man's face at the same time, and +even some of his clothes on still. He began to fly upwards, slowly and +with difficulty, evidently with the intention of following the Stranger +Child. Felix and Christlieb, overpowered with terror, ran away out of +the wood as quickly as they could, and did not so much as dare to look +up to the sky till they had got some distance off. When they did so, +they could just perceive a shining speck in the sky, glittering amongst +the clouds like a star, and apparently coming nearer, and downwards. +"That's the Stranger Child," Christlieb cried. The star grew bigger and +bigger, and as it did, they could hear a braying of trumpets; and +presently they saw that the star was a splendid bird, with wondrous +shining plumage, coming soaring down to the wood, flapping its mighty +wings, and singing loud and clear. "Ha!" cried Felix, "this is the +pheasant prince. He will bite Master Tutor Ink to death. The Stranger +Child is saved and so are we! Come, Christlieb; let us get home as fast +as we can, and tell father all about it." + + + HOW THE BARON TURNED TUTOR INK OUT OF DOORS. + +The baron and his spouse were both sitting before the door of their +simple dwelling, looking at the evening-red, which was beginning to +flame up from behind the blue mountains in golden streamers. They had +their supper laid out on a little table: it consisted of a noble jug of +splendid milk, and a plate of bread-and-butter. + +"I don't know," the baron began, "where Tutor Ink can be staying out so +long with the children. At first there was no getting him to go out at +all to the wood, and now there's no getting him back from it. He's +really a very extraordinary fellow, this Tutor Ink, taking him all in +all. I sometimes almost wish he had never entered our doors. To begin +with, his pricking the children with that needle was a thing that I +cannot say I liked; and I don't think his knowledge of the sciences +amounts to very much, either. He plappers out a lot of stuff that +nobody run make head or tail of, and can tell you what kind of +spatterdashes the Grand Mogul puts on; but when he goes outside, he +can't tell a lime-tree from a chestnut; and his behaviour has always +struck me as being most remarkable." + +"I feel just as you do, dearest husband," said Frau von Brakel; "and, +glad as I was that your great cousin should interest himself about the +children, I feel quite sure, now, that he might have done it in other +and better ways than by saddling us with this Tutor Ink. As regards his +knowledge of the sciences, I don't pretend to give an opinion; but I +know that the little black creature, with his little weeny legs, is +more and more disagreeable to me every day. He has such a nasty way of +gobbling things. He can't see a drop of beer at the bottom of a glass, +or the fag-end of a jug of milk, but he must gulp them down his throat; +and if he finds the sugar-box open, he's at it in a moment, snuffing at +the sugar, and dipping his fingers in it, till one has to clap to the +lid in his face; and then away he darts, humming and buzzing in a way +that's most disgusting and abominable." + +The baron was going to carry this conversation further, when Felix and +Christlieb came running home through amongst the birches. + +"Hurrah! hurrah!" Felix kept shouting, "the pheasant prince has bitten +Master Tutor Ink to death!" + +"Oh, mamma dear," cried Christlieb, "Master Tutor Ink is not a Tutor +Ink at all! What he really is, is Pepser, king of the Gnomes; a great, +monstrous fly, but a fly with a wig on, and shoes and stockings!" + +The parents gazed at the children in utter amazement, as they went on +excitedly telling them all about the Stranger Child, whose mother was a +great fairy queen; and of the Gnome King Pepser, and his combat with +the pheasant prince. + +"Who on earth has been cramming all this nonsense into your heads?" the +baron asked over and over again. "Have you been dreaming? or what in +the name of goodness has happened to you?" However, the children +declared, and stuck to it, that everything had happened just as they +told it, and that the horrible Pepser, who had given himself out as +being Master Ink, the tutor, must be lying killed in the wood. + +Frau von Brakel struck her hands over her head and cried, in much +sorrow, "Oh, children, children, I don't know what on earth is to +become of you, when fearful things of this sort come into your heads, +and you won't let yourselves be persuaded to the contrary!" + +But the baron grew very grave and thoughtful. "Felix," he said, "you +are really a very sensible boy now; and I must admit that Tutor Ink has +always, from the very first, struck me as being a very strange, +mysterious creature. Indeed, it often seemed to me that there was +something very queer about him, which I could by no means get to the +bottom of; he is not like the common run of tutors at all. Your mother +and I are by no means satisfied with him, particularly your mother. He +has such a terribly liquorish tooth of his own, there's no keeping him +away from sweet things! And then he hums and buzzes in such a +distressing way! Altogether, I can assure you he wouldn't have been +here much longer. No! But now, my dear boy, just bethink yourself +calmly; even if there were, really, any such nasty things as gnomes +existing in the world, could (I ask you now to think it over calmly and +rationally), _could_, I say, a tutor really be a fly?" + +Felix looked his father steadily in the face with his clear blue eyes, +as he repeated this question. "Well," said Felix, "I never thought very +much about that; in fact, I should not have believed it myself, if the +Stranger Child had not said so, and if I had not seen, with my own +eyes, that he is a horrible, nasty fly, and only pretends to be Tutor +Ink. And then," continued Felix, while the baron shook his head in +silence, like one who does not know quite what to say, or think, "see +what mother says about his fondness for sweet things. Isn't that just +like a fly? Flies are always grabbing at sweet things. And then, his +hummings and buzzings!" + +"Silence!" cried the baron. "Whatever Tutor Ink may really be, one +thing is certain; that the pheasant prince has not bitten him to death, +for here he comes out of the wood!" + +At this the children uttered loud screams, and fled into the house. + +For, in truth, Tutor Ink was approaching out of the wood, up the path +among the birches. But he was all wild-looking and bewildered, with +sparkling eyes, and his wig all touzled. He was buzzing and humming, +and making great springs, high off the ground, first to one side, then +to another, banging his head against the birches till you heard them +resound. When he got to the house, he dashed at the milk-jug and popped +his face into it, so that the milk ran over the sides; and he gulped it +down, making a horrible noise of swallowing. + +"For the love of heaven, Master Ink," cried Fran von Brakel, "what are +you about?" + +"Are you out of your senses?" said the baron. "Is the foul fiend after +you?" + +But, regardless of those interrogations, Master Ink, taking his +mouth from the milk-jug, threw himself down bodily on the dish of +bread-and-butter; fluttered over it with his coat-tails, and, somehow, +made such play over it with his weazened legs, that he smoothed it down +all over. Then, with a louder buzzing, he made for the house-door; but +he couldn't manage to get into the house, but staggered hither and +thither as if he was drunk, banging against the windows till they +rattled and rang. + +"I'll tell you what it is, my good sir!" cried the baron. "This is +pretty behaviour! Look out, or you'll come to grief before you know +where you are!" And he tried to seize Master Ink by the coat-tails; but +Master Ink always managed to elude him, deftly. Here Felix came running +out, with his father's big fly-flapper in his hand; and he gave it to +the baron, crying, "Here you are, father; knock the horrible Pepser to +death!" + +The baron took the fly-flapper, and then they all set to work at Master +Ink. Felix, Christlieb, and their mother took table-napkins, and made +sweeps with them in the air, driving the tutor backwards and forwards, +here and there; whilst the baron kept letting drive at him with the +fly-flapper, which did not hit him, unfortunately, because he took good +care never to stay a moment in the same place. And wilder and wilder +grew the chase. "Summ-summ----simm-simm----trr-trr," went the tutor, +storming hither and thither; "huss-huss," went the table-napkins, +pursuing the foe; "klip-klap" fell the baron's strokes with the +flapper, thick as hail. At last the baron managed to hit the tutor's +coat-tails; he fell down with a groan. But just as the baron was going +to get a second stroke at him, he bounced up into the air, with renewed +and redoubled strength, stormed, humming and buzzing, away through the +birches, and was seen no more. + +"A good job," said the baron, "that we're well rid of horrible Tutor +Ink: never shall he cross my threshold again." + +"No; that he shall not!" said Frau von Brakel. "Tutors with such +objectionable manners can do nothing but mischief, when just the +contrary ought to be the case. Brags about his 'sciences,' and then +goes flop into the milk-jug. A nice sort of a tutor, upon my word!" + +But the children laughed and shouted, crying, "Hip-hip, hurrah! It's +all right now! Father has hit Tutor Ink a good one on the nose, and +we've got rid of him for good and all." + + + THAT WHICH CAME TO PASS IN THE WOOD, AFTER TUTOR + INK WAS GOT RID OF. + +Felix and Christlieb breathed freely again now. A great weight was +taken off their hearts. Above all things, there was the delicious +thought that, now that the horrid Pepser was gone, the Stranger Child +would be sure to come back, and play with them as of yore. They hurried +into the wood, full of sweet hope and happy expectancy. But everything +there was silent and desolate. Not a merry note of finch or siskin was +to be heard; and in place of the gladsome rustling of the bushes and +the joyous voice of the brook, sighs of sorrow seemed to be passing +through the air, and the sun cast only faint and feeble glimpses +through the clouded sky. Presently great dark clouds began to pile +themselves up; thunder muttered in the distance; a storm-wind howled, +and the tall fir-trees creaked and groaned. Christlieb clung to Felix, +in alarm. But he said, "What's come to you? What are you afraid of? +There's going to be a thunderstorm. We must get home as fast as we can; +that's all!" + +So they set off to do so; but somehow--they didn't know why--instead of +getting out of the wood, they seemed to keep getting farther and +farther into it. The darkness deepened: great rain-drops fell, faster +and faster, thicker and thicker, and flashes of lightning darted hither +and thither, hissing as they passed. The children came to a stand by +the edge of an impassable thicket. "Let's duck down here for a little, +Christlieb," said Felix; "the storm won't last long." Christlieb was +crying from fear, but she did as Felix asked her. Scarcely had they sat +down among the thick bushes, however, when nasty, snarling voices began +to speak, behind them, saying: + +"Stupid things! Senseless creatures! You despised us; didn't know how +to treat us--what to do with us. So now you can do your best without +any playthings, senseless creatures that you are!" Felix looked round, +and felt very eery and uncomfortable when he saw the sportsman and the +harper rise up out of the thicket into which he had thrown them, +staring at him with dead eyes and struggling and fighting about them +with their hands. Moreover, the harper twanged on his strings so that +they gave out a horrible, nasty, eery clinkering and rattling; and the +sportsman went so far as to take a deliberate aim at Felix with his +gun; and both of them croaked out, "Wait a little, you boy and you +girl. We are obedient pupils of Master Tutor Ink: he'll be here +directly, and then we'll pay you out nicely for despising us." +Terrified--regardless of the rain, which was now streaming in torrents, +and of the rattling peals of thunder, and the gale which was roaring +through the firs--the children ran away from thence, and came to the +brink of the pond which bordered the wood. But as soon as they got +there, lo and behold! Christlieb's big doll, which Felix had thrown +into the water, rose out of the sedges, and squeaked out, in a horrible +voice, "Wait a little, you boy and you girl! Stupid things! Senseless +creatures! You despised me; didn't know what to do with me--how to +treat me. So now you can get on without playthings the best way you +can. I am an obedient pupil of Master Tutor Ink's: he'll be here +directly, and then you'll be nicely paid out for despising me." And +then the nasty thing sent great splashes of water flying at Felix and +Christlieb, though they were wet through already with the rain. + +Felix could not endure this terrible process of haunting. Poor +Christlieb was half dead, so they ran off again, as hard as they could; +but soon, in the heart of the wood, they sank down, exhausted with +weariness and terror. Then they heard a humming and a buzzing behind +them. "Oh, heavens!" cried Felix; "here comes Tutor Ink, now!" At that +moment his consciousness left him, and so did Christlieb's too. + +When they came back to their senses, they found themselves lying on a +bed of soft moss. The storm was over, the sun was shining bright and +kindly, and the raindrops were hanging on the glittering bushes and +trees like sparkling jewels. The children were much surprised to find +that their clothes were quite dry, and that they felt no trace of +either cold or wet. "Ah!" cried Felix, stretching his arms to the sky; +"the Stranger Child must have protected us." And then they both called +out so loud that the wood re-echoed: "Ah, thou darling child, do but +come to us again! We do so long for you; we cannot live without you!" +And it seemed, too, as though a bright beam of light came darting +through the trees, making the flowers lift up their heads as it touched +them. But though the children called upon their playfellow yet more +movingly, nothing made itself seen. They crept home in silence and +sadness. But their parents were very glad to see them, having been +exceedingly anxious about them during the storm. The baron said, "It is +a good thing that you are home again; for I confess I was afraid that +Tutor Ink was still hanging about somewhere in the wood, and on your +track." + +Felix related all that had happened in the wood. "That is all stupid +nonsense," their mother said. "If you are to go dreaming all that sort +of stuff in the wood, you shan't be allowed to go there any more. +You'll have to stop at home." And indeed--although, when they begged +that they might be allowed to go back there, their mother yielded--it +so came about that they didn't care very much about doing it. Alas! the +Stranger Child was never there; and whenever they got far into the +wood, or reached the bank of the pond, they were jeered at by the +harper, the sportsman, and the doll, who cried to them, "Stupid things! +Senseless creatures! You must do without playthings. You didn't know +how to treat us clever, cultivated people--stupid things, senseless +creatures that you are!" + +This being unendurable, the children preferred staying at home. + + + CONCLUSION. + +"I don't know," said the baron to his lady one day, "what it is that +has been the matter with me for the last few days. I feel so queer and +so odd, that I could almost fancy Tutor Ink has put some spell upon me. +Ever since the moment when I hit him that crack with the fly-flapper, +all my limbs have felt like bits of lead." + +And the baron did really grow weaker and paler, day by day. He gave up +walking about his grounds; he no longer went bustling about the house, +cheerily ordering matters as he used to do; he sat, hour after hour, in +deep meditation, and would get Felix and Christlieb to repeat to him, +over and over again, all about the Stranger Child; and when they spoke +eagerly of all the marvels connected with the Stranger Child, and of +the beautiful brilliant kingdom which was its home, he would give a +melancholy smile, and the tears would come to his eyes. + +But Felix and Christlieb could not reconcile themselves to the +circumstance that the Stranger Child went on keeping aloof from them, +leaving them exposed to the nasty behaviour of those troublesome +puppets in the thicket and the duck pond, on account of which they did +not like now to frequent the wood at all. + +But one morning, when it was fine and beautiful, the baron said, "Come +along, children; we'll go to the wood together, you and I. Master Ink's +nasty pupils shan't do you any harm." So he took them by the hands, and +they all three went together to the wood, which that day was fuller +than ever of bright sunshine, perfume, and song. When they had laid +themselves down amongst the tender grass, and the sweet-scented +flowers, the baron began as follows:-- + +"You dear children, I have for some time had a great longing to tell +you a thing, and I cannot delay doing so any longer. It is, that--once +on a time--I knew the beautiful Stranger Child that used to show you +such lovely things in the wood, just as well as you did yourselves. +When I was about your age, that child used to come to me too, and play +with me in the most wonderful way. How it was that it came to leave me, +I cannot quite remember; and I don't understand how I had so completely +forgotten all about it till you spoke to me about what had happened to +you, and then I didn't believe you, though I often had a sort of dim +consciousness that what you told me was the truth. But within the last +few days, I have been remembering and thinking about the delightful +days of my own boyhood, in a way that I have not been able to do for +many a long year. And then that beautiful magic-child came back to my +memory, bright and glorious, as you saw it yourselves; and the same +longing which filled your breasts came to mine too. But it is breaking +my heart! I feel, and I know quite well, that this is the last time +that I shall ever sit beneath these bonnie trees and bushes. I am going +to leave you very soon, and when I am dead and gone, you must cling +fast to that beautiful child." + +Felix and Christlieb were beside themselves with grief and sorrow. They +wept and lamented, crying, "No, no, father; you are not going to die! +You have many a long year to be with us still, and to play with the +Stranger Child along with us." + +But the next day, the baron lay sick in his bed. A tall, meagre man +came and felt his pulse, and said, "You'll soon be better!" But he was +not soon better. On the third day, the Baron von Brakel was no more. +Ah, how Frau von Brakel mourned! How the children wrung their hands and +cried, "Oh, father! our dear, dear father!" + +Soon, when four peasants of Brakelheim had borne their master to his +grave, there came to the house some horrible fellows, almost like Tutor +Ink in appearance, and they told Frau von Brakel that they must take +possession of all the piece of land, and the house, and everything in +it, because the deceased baron owed all that, and more besides, to his +cousin, who could wait no longer for his money. So that Frau von Brakel +was a beggar, and had to go away from the pretty little village of +Brakelheim, where she had spent so many happy years, and go to live +with a relation not very far away. She and the children had to pack up +whatever little bits of clothes and effects they had left, and with +many tears take their leave, and set forth upon their way. As they +crossed the bridge, and heard the loud voice of the forest stream, Frau +von Brakel fell down in a swoon, and Felix and Christlieb sank on their +knees beside her, and cried, with many sobs and tears, "Oh, unfortunate +creatures that we are! Will no one take any pity on us?" + +At that moment the distant rushing of the forest stream seemed +to turn into beautiful music. The thickets gave forth mysterious +sighs, and presently all the forest streamed with wonderful, sparkling +fires. And lo! the Stranger Child appeared, coming forth out of the +sweet-smelling leafage, surrounded by such a brilliant light and +radiance, that Felix and Christlieb had to shut their eyes at the +brightness of it. Then they felt themselves gently touched, and the +Stranger Child's beautiful voice said, "Oh, do not mourn so, dear +playmates of mine! Do I not love you as much as ever? Can I ever leave +you? No, no! Although you do not see me with your bodily eyes, I am +always with you and about you, helping you with all my power to be +always happy and fortunate. Only keep me in your hearts, as you have +done hitherto, and neither the wicked Pepser, nor any other adversary, +will have power to harm you. Only go on loving me truly and +faithfully." + +"Oh, that we shall--that we shall!" the children cried. "We love you +with all our souls!" + +When they were able to open their eyes again, the Stranger Child had +vanished; but all their pain was gone from them, and they felt that a +heavenly joy and gladness had arisen within their hearts. Frau von +Brakel recovered slowly from her swoon, and said, "Children, I saw you +in a dream. You seemed to be standing in a blaze of gleaming gold, and +the sight has strengthened and refreshed me in a wonderful way." + +Delight beamed in the children's eyes, and shone in their cheeks. They +related how the Stranger Child had come to them and comforted them. And +their mother said, "I do not know how it is that I feel compelled to +believe in this story of yours to-day, nor how my believing in it seems +to have taken away all my sorrow and anxiety. Let us go on our way with +confidence." + +They were kindly received and welcomed by their relatives, and all that +the Stranger Child promised came to pass. Whatever Felix and Christlieb +undertook was sure to prosper, and they and their mother became quite +happy. And, as their lives went on, they still, in dreams, played with +the Stranger Child, which, never ceased to bring to them the loveliest +wonders from its fairy home. + + * * * * * + +"No doubt," said Ottmar, when Lothair had finished, "your 'Stranger +Child' is more purely a story for children than your 'Nutcracker.' +Still, pardon me for saying so, you haven't been able to refrain from +introducing a certain number of your confounded flourishes, such as no +child could see to the bottom of." + +"I," said Sylvester, "have long been acquainted with the little +Devilkin that sits on Lothair's shoulder like a tame squirrel. He can't +shut his ears to the strange things which the creature whispers to +him." + +"At all events," said Cyprian, "he ought to call those stories, 'Tales +for Children, great and small,' instead of 'Tales for Children.'" + +"Or," added Vincent, "'Tales for Children, and those who are not +children.' In this way the entire world would be able to take them up +and form their own opinion of them." + +They all laughed, and Lothair, in comic anger, declared that in his +next he would give full rein to his inspiration, regardless of +consequences. + +Midnight having struck, the friends said good-night, and separated in +the happiest of moods. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: The time of Napoleon's Prussian operations is here meant. +Hoffmann passed through this in early life.--TRANS.] + +[Footnote 2: This untranslateable expression means, "Sentence of death +is pronounced."--TRANSLATOR.] + +[Footnote 3: + "Darling! remember well, + When I have passed away, + How this unchanging soul + Loves Thee for aye! + Though my poor ashes rest + Deep in the silent grave, + Ev'n in the urn of Death + Thee I adore!"] + + +[Footnote 4: I have omitted the words in question, as not now +possessing much interest.--TRANS.] + +[Footnote 5: A celebrated master singer; as were also others, +subsequently mentioned as composers of "tones" or "manners" of +song.--TRANS.] + + + + + + + + + END OF VOLUME FIRST. + + + + + * * * * * + LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS. LIMITED. + DUKE STREET. STAMFORD STREET. S.E. AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET. W. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Serapion Brethren,, by +Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SERAPION BRETHREN, *** + +***** This file should be named 31820.txt or 31820.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/8/2/31820/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, scans provided by the Web Archive + +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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