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diff --git a/33697-h/33697-h.htm b/33697-h/33697-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0fb10da --- /dev/null +++ b/33697-h/33697-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,27171 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>The Children of the World.</title> +<meta name="Author" content="Paul Heyse"> +<meta name="Publisher" content="Worthington Co."> +<meta name="Date" content="1890"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +body {margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; background-color:#FFFFFF;} + + + +p.normal {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify;} +p.center {text-align:center; margin-top:9pt;} + + +p.section {letter-spacing:1em; text-align:center; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt;} +p.right {text-align:right; margin-right:10%;} + +p.continue {text-indent: 0in; margin-top:9pt;} +.text10 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:10%; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} +.text20 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:20%; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} + +.t0 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0em; margin-right:0px;} +.t1 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:1em; margin-right:0px;} +.t2 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:2em; margin-right:0px;} +.t3 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:3em; margin-right:0px;} +.t4 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:4em; margin-right:0px;} +.t5 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:5em; margin-right:0px;} +.t6 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:6em; margin-right:0px;} +.t7 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:7em; margin-right:0px;} +.t8 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:8em; margin-right:0px;} + +.quote {font-size:90%; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} +.dateline {text-align:right; font-size:90%; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center;} + +span.sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:100%} +.space {letter-spacing: 1em; text-align:center; margin-bottom:24pt; margin-top:24pt;} + + +hr.W10 {width:10%; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; + color:black;} + +hr.W20 {width:20%; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; + color:black;} + +hr.W50 {width:50%; margin-top:12pt; color:black;} +hr.W90 {width:90%; margin-top:12pt; color:black;} + +p.hang1 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:-3em;} +p.hang2 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:-3em; margin-bottom:24pt; font-size:90%; margin-top:24pt} + +.poem { + margin-top: 24pt; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt + } + .poem .stanza { + margin : 1em 0; + margin-top:24pt; + } + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Children of the World, by Paul Heyse + +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 Children of the World + +Author: Paul Heyse + +Release Date: September 10, 2010 [EBook #33697] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br> +<br> +<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Note:<br> +1. Page scan source: +http://www.archive.org/details/childrenworld00heysgoog</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="center"> +<img border="0" src="images/paulheyse.png" alt="Portrait of Paul Heyse"></p> +<p class="center">Portrait of Paul Heyse.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h1>THE CHILDREN OF</h1> + +<h1>THE WORLD</h1> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>PAUL HEYSE</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>"The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the<br> +children of light."</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>NEW YORK</h3> +<h2>WORTHINGTON CO., 747 BROADWAY</h2> +<h3>1890</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>Copyright, 1889, By</h4> +<h3>WORTHINGTON CO.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3><span class="sc">Barr-Dinwiddie<br> +Printing and Book-Binding Co.,<br> +Jersey City, N. J</span>.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD.</h1> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>BOOK I.</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">A few years ago, in the Dorotheen-strasse, in the midst of the +Latin +Quarter of Berlin, whose quiet, student-like appearance threatens to +become effaced by the growing elegance of the capital, a small, narrow, +unpretending two-story house, stood humbly, as if intimidated, between +its broad-shouldered neighbors, though every year it received a washing +of a delicate pink hue, and recently had even had a new lightning-rod +affixed to its ancient gable roof. The owner, an honest master +shoemaker, had in the course of time accumulated money enough to have +comfortably established himself in a new and far more elegant dwelling, +but he had experienced beneath this sharply sloping roof, all the +blessings of his life and though a man by no means given to sentimental +weaknesses, he would have thought it base ingratitude to turn his back, +without good reason, upon the old witnesses and protectors of his +happiness. He had, at one time or another, laid his head in almost +every corner, from the little attic chamber, where, as a poor dunce of +an apprentice, he had, many a night, been unable to close his eyes on +account of the pattering raindrops, to the best room on the first +story, where stood his nuptial couch, when, after a long and faithful +apprenticeship, he brought home, as head journeyman, the daughter of +his dead master. But he was far too economical to permit himself to +occupy these aristocratic quarters longer than six months, preferring +to live in the second story, unassuming as it was--the little house +having a front of but three windows--and there, two children had grown +up about him. These first-floor apartments were rented to a childless +old couple, to whom the owner would not have given notice to quit on +any account; for in the white-haired old man he honored a once famous +tenor, whom in his youth, he had heard and admired; while the little +withered old woman, his wife, had, in her time, been a no less +celebrated actress. They had already been pensioned twelve years, and, +without song or noise of any kind, spent their quiet days in their tiny +rooms, adorned with faded laurel-wreaths and pictures of their famous +colleagues. These celebrities, according to the ideas of the +proprietor, gave to his little house a certain artistic reputation, and +if there were customers in the shop at noon when the old couple +returned from their walk, he never failed to direct attention to them +and with boastful assurance to revive the fame of the two forgotten and +very shrivelled great personages.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the ground floor was the shop, over which a black sign bore +the +inscription in gilt letters: "Boot & Shoe Making Done by Gottfried +Feyertag." The shoemaker had ordered the large brown boot and red +slipper, which had originally been painted on the right and left side, +to be effaced, because it annoyed him to see them, when they no longer +represented the fashion. He kept up with the times in his trade, and +could not possibly alter his sign at every change of style. The shop, +he generally left to the management of his wife he himself spending +most of the day in the workroom, where he kept a sharp eye on his four +or five journeymen. A narrow entry led past the shop into a small, +well-kept courtyard, in whose centre stood a tall acacia-tree, three +quarters of which had died for want of air and sunlight, so that only +its topmost branches were still adorned with a few pale green, +consumptive-looking leaves, which every autumn turned yellow some weeks +before any other foliage. Here, in one corner, beside the pump, an +arbor had been erected by the head journeyman, for the daughter of the +house, when a school-girl; it consisted of a few small poles roughly +nailed together, and now overgrown with bean-vines, which bloomed most +dutifully every summer, but in the best years never produced more than +a handful of stunted pods. A little bed along the so-called sunny side +of the house contained all sorts of plants that seek the shade, and +thrive luxuriantly around cisterns and cellars; and in midsummer, when +the sun actually sent a few rays into the courtyard at noonday, the +little spot really looked quite gay, especially if the fair-haired +Reginchen, now a young girl of seventeen, were seated there reading--if +it chanced to be a Sunday--some tale of robbers from a book obtained at +a circulating library.</p> + +<p class="normal">A grey, neglected back building, only united to the front +house by the +bare adjoining walls, had also two stories, with three windows looking +out upon this courtyard; and a steep, ruinous staircase, which creaked +and groaned at every step, led past the ground floor, where the +workshop and journeymen's sleeping-rooms were situated, to the rooms +above. On the night when our story begins, this place was suffocatingly +hot. It was one of those evenings late in summer, when not a breath of +air was stirring no dew was falling, and when only the dust, which had +risen during the day, floated down in light invisible clouds, +oppressing with mountainous weight every breathing creature. A slender +young man, in a straw hat and grey summer clothes, softly opened the +door of the house, walked along the narrow entry on tip-toe, and then +crossed the stones with which the courtyard was paved. He could not +help seizing the pump-handle and cooling his burning face and hands +with the water, which to be sure was none of the freshest. But the +noise did not disturb any one; at least nothing stirred below or above. +He stood still a few moments and allowed the air to dry the moisture, +gazing meantime at the windows of the upper story, which reflected the +bright moonlight. Only one was open, and a large white cat lay on the +sill, apparently asleep. The windows in the first story were all open, +and a faint light stole out and illumined part of the trunk of the +acacia with a pale red glow.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was nothing remarkable in all this. Moreover, the +thoughts of the +lonely watcher beside the pump seemed to be far away from the narrow, +oppressive courtyard, in some fairy garden, for, with a happy smile he +sat down on a little stool in the bean arbor, and pulled to pieces a +withered leaf, upon which he had first pressed his lips. From the open +windows of the workshop in front of him he heard the loud snoring of +one of the journeymen, who had found the room in the rear too close, +and another seemed to be talking in his sleep. A smell of fresh +leather, cobbler's thread, and varnish, penetrated to his retreat, and +these odors, in connection with those coarse natural sounds, would have +disgusted any one else with this Midsummer Night's Dream. But the youth +in the straw hat could not seem to make up his mind to exchange the +hard seat under the scanty foliage for his usual bed. He had removed +his hat and leaned back against the wall, whose damp surface was +pleasant to his burning head. He gazed through the roof of poles at the +small patch of sky visible between the walls, and began to count the +stars. The topmost branches of the acacia gleamed in the moonlight, as +if coated with silver, and the opposite wall, as far as it was touched +by the pale light, glittered as if covered with thin ice or hoarfrost. +"Ah!" said the lonely man in the arbor, "life is still worth the +trouble! True, its brightest gift, fair as yonder stars, is as +unattainable as they--but what does that matter? Does not what we are +permitted to admire, what we can not forget, belong to us as much, +nay more, than if we had it in a chest and had lost the key?" The +striking of a clock in a neighboring steeple roused him from this +half-conscious, dreamy soliloquy. "One!" he said to himself. "It is +time to think of going to sleep. If Balder should have kept awake to +watch for me, though I expressly forbade it--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He rose hastily and entered the house. When he had groped his +way +cautiously up the rickety stairs and reached the landing on the first +story, he perceived to his astonishment that the door which led into +the rooms stood half open. A small dark ante-chamber led into a larger +apartment, lighted by a sleepy little lamp. On the sofa behind the +table lay a female figure, still completely dressed, absorbed in a +book. The light fell upon a sharply cut, sullen face, past its first +youth, with very dark hair and heavy brows, to which an expression of +power and defiance lent a certain charm. The reader's thick locks had +become unbound, and she wore a plain summer dress of calico, which left +her shoulders and arms bare. Not the slightest change of countenance +betrayed that she had heard the sound of the loiterer's footsteps, and +when he paused a moment in the entry and looked through the door, she +did not even raise her eyes from her book, or push back the hair which +had fallen over her forehead.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you still up, Fräulein Christiane?" he said at last, +advancing to +the threshold of the ante-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"As you see, Herr Doctor," she replied in a deep voice, +without being +in the least disturbed. "The heat--and perhaps also this book--will not +permit me to sleep. I was so absorbed that I did not even hear you come +in. Besides, it is quite time to go to sleep. Good night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"May I be permitted to ask, Fräulein, what book it is that +will not let +you sleep?" he said, still in the dark entry.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not?" was the reply, after some little hesitation. +"Besides, you +have a special right to do so, for it is your book. The proprietor of +the house, Meister Feyertag, borrowed it of you several weeks ago, and +yesterday told me so much about it, that I begged it of him for a day. +Now I can not leave it."</p> + +<p class="normal">He laughed, and stepped within the room. "So the wicked +rat-catcher, to +whose pipe all the men and women now dance, even though they often +declare his tunes horrible, has seized upon you also. You have +certainly just read the chapter on women, whose most striking portions +our worthy host daily quotes to his wife; and though it makes you +angry, you can not drive it out of your mind. The old sinner knows how +to begin: he hasn't read Göthe for nothing.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t4" style="text-indent:-3px">"'Doch wem gar nichts dran gelegen<br> +Scheinet ob er reizt und rührt,<br> +Der beleidigt, der verführt!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"You are mistaken," she replied, now sitting erect, so that +her face +was shaded by the green screen on the lamp. "True, I have read the +chapter, but it made no <i>special</i> impression upon me, either favorable +or otherwise It is a caricature, very like, and yet utterly false. He +seems to have known only the portion of our sex called 'females': 'tell +me with whom you associate,' etc. Well, we are used to that. But where +I have become inspired with a great respect for him, is from the +chapter entitled 'The Sorrows of the World.' I could, at almost every +sentence, make a note or quote an example from what I have myself +experienced or witnessed in others. And I also know why, +notwithstanding this, we like to read it; because he relates it without +a murmur, so calmly and in such a matter-of-course manner, that we see +it would be foolish to complain of it, or to hope for anything better +for our poor miserable selves, than is bestowed upon a whole world. You +must lend me his other books."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Fräulein," he replied, "we will discuss the question +further +some other time. You must not suppose that I am one of the professors +of philosophy who wish to silence this singular man. It is a pity that +he is not still alive to be asked the various and numerous questions, +from which he carefully retired to his sybarite seclusion in the Swan, +at Frankfort-on-the-Main. But be that as it may, it is too warm +to-night to philosophize. Throw Schopenhauer aside, Fräulein, and play +something for me,--the Moonlight Sonata, or any sweet, pensive harmony. +I should like to cleanse my ears from the ballet-music to which I have +been compelled to listen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You! listen to ballet-music?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; it sounds ridiculous, but nevertheless it is true. How +did it +come about? You know, at least by sight, our tyrant, the so-called +medical counsellor, my university friend and physician in ordinary. He +comes up to our hen-roost every day. Well, I have overworked myself a +little this summer, finishing a prize essay,--a haste that was most +unnecessary, since with my heresies I am safe from academical honors. +However, I gained the <i>second</i> premium,--a heavy head, with such +rebellious nerves that my state almost borders on a disordered brain, +or one of the mild forms of lunacy. A journey, or a few weeks on the +Rhigi, would be the best cure. But our physician in ordinary, for +excellent reasons, prescribed no such luxurious remedy. It would be +much cheaper, he thought, to let the manufactory of thought rest for a +while. He proposed to me to play cards, make a collection of beetles, +train a poodle, or fall in love. Unfortunately I had neither +inclination nor talent for any of these very simple and undoubtedly +efficacious remedies. So, early this morning, he brought me a ticket to +the opera-house: he always has acquaintances before and behind the +scenes. A new ballet was to be performed, to hear and see which would +repay even an old habitué, let alone a whimsical fellow like myself, +who had not entered a theatre for ten years. Well, I could not escape +the experiment. He who has a doctor for a friend must occasionally +submit to try new remedies, and a ballet is better than a silver tube +in one's stomach."</p> + +<p class="normal">He smiled,--a half-satisfied, half-mysterious smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Play me the Moonlight Sonata," he asked again. "Life is +beautiful, +Fräulein Christiane, in spite of all the sorrows of the world. What +lovely roses you have in that vase! Permit me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He took a small bouquet, which was standing on the table, and +pressed +it against his face. The full-blown flowers suddenly fell apart, and +the leaves covered the book.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! dear," said he, coloring with embarrassment, "I have done +a fine +thing now. Will you forgive me, dear Fräulein?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly, Herr Doctor, if you will be reasonable now, and go +up +stairs to sleep off your intoxication. For you are in a condition--You +must know how it happened."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I? I did not know--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Any better than to ask me to play for you at half-past two +o'clock in +the morning! We shall wake the people in the house, and others can see +us,--me from the opposite windows. And besides--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She had risen, and now repressed the rest of the words that +were on her +lips. After pacing several times up and down the heated room, which +contained little furniture except her bed, her piano, and a bookcase, +she pushed back her hair from her brow and shoulders, and folding her +bare arms across her chest, stood quietly at the window. A sigh heaved +the breast which had learned to keep a strict guard over its thoughts +and feelings. In this attitude she waited, with apparent calmness, for +him to take his leave.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must really seem a very singular person," he said, in a +frank, +honest tone. "We have lived in the same house for months, and the only +use I have made of this vicinity, was by my first and only visit, when +I begged you not to play during certain hours, which I had selected for +study. Now I enter your room in the middle of the night, and take the +liberties of an old acquaintance. Forgive me, on account of my +disordered brain, dear Fräulein, and--may you have a good night's +rest."</p> + +<p class="normal">He bent his head slightly, and left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as she heard him go up stairs, she hurried into the +little +ante-chamber, closed the outer door, bolted it, and then stood still a +short time, listening, with her trembling body pressed close against +the door, and her hands clenched on the latch. He walked slowly up a +few steps, and then paused again, as if he had suddenly become absorbed +in some dreamy thought. She shuddered, sighed heavily, and tottered +back into the sitting-room. Her dress seemed too tight for her, for she +slipped out of it like a butterfly from its chrysalis, and then in the +airiest night costume, sat down at the open piano. It was an old, +much-worn instrument, of very poor tone, and as she ran her slender +fingers lightly over the keys, it sounded in the entry outside like the +distant music of a harp.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man had just reached the topmost stair when he heard +it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There! she is playing the sonata, after all," he said to +himself. "A +strange, obstinate person. What can she have suffered from fate? +To-morrow I will take more notice of her. It's a pity she is so ugly, +and yet--what does it matter? There is a charm in her finger-tips. What +wonderful music!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He stood still a moment listening to the familiar tones, which +seemed +to express all the familiar thoughts that had been wandering in a +confused chaos through his mind. Suddenly he heard a voice from within.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that you, Edwin?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course it is I," he replied.</p> + +<p class="normal">The next instant he had opened the door and entered the room +which was +brightly lighted by the moonbeams.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">This room, termed by its occupants' friends "the tun," was a +large +three-windowed apartment, with walls painted light grey, a floor +scoured snow white, and over the windows instead of curtains, three +narrow green calico lambrequins of the simplest pattern. A desk stood +at the right-hand window, a small turning-lathe at the left, and in the +spaces between the casements two tall bookcases; there were two beds +placed against the wall, several cane chairs and small chests made of +white wood, and finally, a low, smoky ceiling, which here and there +showed large cracks, and threatened to fall. But the room, spite of +its simplicity, had an aristocratic air from the presence of two +copperplate engravings of Raphael's paintings, framed in plain +brown wood, that hung over the beds, and two antique busts on the +bookcases,--one a head of Aristotle, the other the gloomy-eyed, +stern-browed Demosthenes. Even the low stove was adorned with a piece +of sculpture at which no one is ever weary of gazing--the mask of +Michael Angelo's young prisoner, who, with closed lids, lets his +beautiful head sink on his shoulder as if weary of torture and longing +for sleep. Here, however, the moonlight did not reach: it merely fell +obliquely across the bed placed against the wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">On this bed, with his eyes fixed upon the door, lay a young +man, whose +pale features, almost feminine in their delicacy, were framed in a +wreath of thick, fair locks. It was difficult to guess his age from his +countenance, since the boyish expression of mirth that dwelt about his +mouth contrasted strangely with the mature beauties of the finely cut +features. He was wrapped in a light quilt, and a book lay open on the +chair beside him. When Edwin entered, he slowly rose and held out a +white delicately formed hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said he, "was it very fine? Has it done you good?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good evening, Balder," replied Edwin, "or rather, good +morning! You +see I do everything thoroughly, even rioting at night. But I see I must +not leave you alone again, child. I really believe you have been +reading by moonlight."</p> + +<p class="normal">A deep flush crimsoned the face of the recumbent youth. "Don't +be +angry," said he in a clear, musical voice. "I could not sleep; and, as +the lamp had burned out and the room was so bright,--but now tell me +About it. Has the remedy already produced an effect?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To-morrow you shall hear as much as you wish, but not a +syllable now, +to punish you for your carelessness in spoiling your eyes and heating +your head. Do you know that your forehead is burning again?" And he +passed his hand tenderly over the soft hair. "I will complain of you to +the physician in ordinary. And you don't seem to have touched your +supper; there is the plate with your bread and butter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wasn't hungry," replied the youth, letting his head fall +gently back +on the pillow. "Besides, I thought if you came home late, and, after +the unusual excitement, might perhaps feel inclined to eat something."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin brought the plate to the bed. "If you don't want me to +be +seriously angry, you artful fellow," said he, "you will have the +goodness to repair the omission at once. But to make it easier for you, +I'll take half myself. Heavens! what is to be done with such a +disobedient child? So divide fairly, or I'll complain of you to-morrow +to Jungfrau Reginchen, who will soon bring you to reason."</p> + +<p class="normal">Again a vivid blush crimsoned the young man's face, but Edwin +pretended +not to notice it. He had sat down on the bed, and was beginning to eat, +from time to time pushing a piece into his brother's mouth, who +submitted with a half smile. "The bread is good," said Edwin; "the +butter might be better. But that is Reginchen's weak point. Now a drink +as fresh as our cellar affords."</p> + +<p class="normal">He poured out a class of water, and swallowed it at a single +gulp. +"Balder," said he, "I am returning to truth and nature, after having +incurred the danger of being enervated by luxury. Just think, I had +some ice-cream at the theatre. It could not be helped; others eat it, +and a philosopher must become familiar with everything. Besides, it +wasn't worth the five groschen, for I learned nothing new, and only +regretted that <i>you</i> could not have it. Once, and no more, good night."</p> + +<p class="normal">While undressing, he said to himself, "This shameless moon! As +soon as +we have any extra money, we must get curtains, so that we can be able +to close our eyes on such nights. However, the illumination is very +moderate, compared to that of an opera-house. It took me so by surprise +as I entered the box, that I would gladly have retreated and seen the +whole spectacle from the corridor outside. Believe me, child, the +doorkeepers have the real and best enjoyment. To walk up and down in +the cooler passages over soft carpets, with the faint buzzing and +sighing of the orchestra in one's ears, interrupted at times by a +louder passage with the drums and trumpets, which, smothered by the +walls, sounds like a melodious thunder-storm, and often, when some +belated great lady rustles in, to obtain a glimpse through the door of +the Paradise of painted houris in tights, and the wonderful sunrises +and sunsets,--it is really an enviable situation, compared with that of +the poor mortals in the purgatory within, who, in return for their +money, are cooped up in plush, and must atone for the sins of the +Messrs. Taglioni, while feeling as if all their fine senses were being +hammered upon at once. A time will come when people will read of these +barbarities with a shudder, and envy us because we have nerves to +endure them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And yet you remained to the end."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I? Why yes; in the first place I had a very comfortable seat; +the box +to which my ticket admitted me is like a little parlor, and happened to +be almost empty. And then--but I will close the window. The air is +beginning to grow cool,--don't you feel it? Besides, your friend +Friezica has crept away."</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder made no reply; but though his eyes were apparently +closed, +steadily watched Edwin, who, in a fit of absence of mind had thrown +himself upon the bed only half undressed, and turned his face toward +the wall. A half hour elapsed without any movement from either. +Suddenly Edwin turned, and his eyes met his brother's quiet, anxious +gaze.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I see it won't do, child," said he. "For the first time in +our lives, +we are playing a farce with each other; at least I am, in trying to +keep something from you. It is very foolish. What is the use of a man +having a brother, especially one to whom he might be called married, +except to share everything with him, not only the bread and butter, and +whatever else he eats, but also what is gnawing at <i>him</i>. I will +confess what has happened, though it is really nothing remarkable; a +great many people have already experienced it; but when we feel it for +the first time in our own persons, all our 'philosophy, Horatio,' will +not permit us to dream what a singularly delightful, uncomfortable, +troublesome, melancholy,--in a word, insane condition it is."</p> + +<p class="normal">He had sprung from his bed and was now crouching on the foot +of +Balder's, half sitting, half leaning back, so that he was in shadow, +and looked past his brother at the opposite wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Prepare yourself to hear something very unexpected," he said, +still in +a tone which showed that he was making an effort to speak at all. "Or +do you already know all I wish to tell you, young clairvoyant? So much +the better. Then my confession will weary you, and at least one of us +will be able to sleep. In short, my dear fellow, it is very ridiculous +to say, but I believe it is only too true: I am in the condition which +our physician in ordinary desired, in order to cast out the devil by +Beelzebub; that is, I am in love, and as hopelessly, absurdly, and +senselessly, as any young moth that ever flew into a candle. Pray, +child," he continued, starting to his feet again and beginning to pace +up and down the room, "first hear how it came about, that you may +realize the full extent of my madness. You know that I am twenty-nine +years old, and hitherto have been spared this childish disease. It is +not necessary for everybody to catch the scarlet fever. As for the +natural and healthy attractions of the 'fair sex,' I was old enough +when our dear mother died, to feel that a woman like her would hardly +appear on earth a second time. For the daily necessities of living and +loving--which every human heart needs to retain its requisite warmth--I +was abundantly supplied in our brotherly affection, to say nothing of +the miserable, unamiable, and yet love-needing human race. And then, +ought a man to have for his profession the science of pure reason, and, +like any other thoughtless mortal, make a fool of himself over the +first woman's face he sees, without any cause except that the lightning +has struck him. Heaven knows why? It seems incredible, but I fear I +have accomplished the impossible."</p> + +<p class="normal">He sat down on the bed again, but this time so that his face +was turned +toward Balder. "I will allow you to study me thoroughly, without any +mercy," he said, smiling. "This is the way a man looks, who suddenly +becomes the sport of the elements,--whose reflection, wisdom, pride, +and whatever else the trash may be called, are of no avail. I always +shuddered when I read the story of the magnetic mountain. When I was a +boy, I thought, defiantly, if I had only been on the ship, I would have +set so many sails, sent so many men to work the oars, and steered in +such a way, that the spell would not have reached me. And so I thought +this evening, daring the whole of the first hour. But--</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t4" style="text-indent:-1px">'Tales of magic e'er so strange,<br> +Woman's wiles to truth can change.'</p> +</div> +<p class="continue">The helm is broken, the oars refuse their service, and the very portion +of my nature that was steel and iron, most resistlessly obeys the +attraction of the magnet, and really assists in making keel and deck +spring asunder."</p> + +<p class="normal">He leaned back again, and passed his hand over his brow. The +hand +trembled, and a cold perspiration stood on his forehead.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is only one thing I don't understand," said Balder, +moving aside +to make room for his brother; "why must all this be hopeless?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just listen, my boy, and you will understand all, even the +incomprehensible part, over which I am still puzzling my brains. For I +am no artist, and can only give you a poor, shadowy outline of a +certain face. I entered the box, which was perfectly empty, and I hoped +it would remain so. Clad in my fourteen-thaler summer-suit and without +gloves, I did not seem to myself exactly fit for society, and the +person who opened the box looked at me as if he wanted to say, 'You +ought to be up in the gallery, my friend, instead of in this holy of +holies, to which I usually admit only people belonging to the great or +<i>demi monde</i>.' I also did not like to sit down, simple as the matter +might seem to be, on a chair that was better dressed than I. However, +the mischief was done; I determined to assume a very elegant +deportment, such as I had noticed at private colleges in young +diplomatists, and hitherto had always considered mere buffoonery. So I +leaned back in my chair like an Englishman, and glanced now at the +stage, now at the parquet. As I have already said, there was such a +buzzing and fluttering down below, the poor creatures in white gauze +glittering with gold and huge wreaths of flowers tossed their arms and +legs about so wildly, and the violins quavered so madly, that I already +began to think: 'if this goes on long, <i>you</i> will go too.' Suddenly the +door of the box was thrown wide open; while I had squeezed through a +narrow chink, a young lady rustled in, a diminutive servant in livery +and high shirt-collar, which almost sawed off the youngster's huge red +ears, removed a blue silk cloak, the doorkeeper casting a contemptuous +glance at me, rushed forward, drew up a chair, and officiously put a +play-bill on the balustrade. The lady said a few words to the boy in an +undertone, then chose the corner seat nearest the stage, raised a tiny +opera-glass, and, without taking the slightest notice of me, instantly +became absorbed in her enjoyment of art.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I ought now to describe her to you; but description has its +difficulties. Do you remember the pastille picture from the Dresden +gallery, painted by a Frenchman,--I have forgotten his name,--stay, I +think it was Liotard; we saw a photograph of it in the medical +counsellor's book of beauty?--<i>la belle Chocoladière</i> was written +underneath. Well, the profile before me was something like that, and +yet very very different, far more delicate, pure, and childlike, +without any of the pretentious, cold-hearted expression of the +shop-girl, whose numerous admirers and constant practice in breaking +hearts had gradually transformed her face into a mere alabaster +mask. But the shape of the nose, the long lashes, the proud little +mouth,--enough, your imagination will supply the rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, the first quarter of an hour passed very tolerably. +From the +first moment I saw no one except my neighbor, who showed me only a +quarter of her face, charming as the tiny sickle of the moon; but to +make amends for that, I studied her dark brown hair, which without any +special ornament, was drawn in smooth bands over her white forehead, +and simply fastened at the back with two coral pins of Italian form. A +few short curls fell on the white neck, and seemed to me to have a very +enviable position, though they remained in the shade. As to her dress, +I am unable to say whether it was in the latest fashion, and according +to French taste, for I have not the necessary technical knowledge; but +a certain instinct told me that nothing could be more elegant, more +aristocratic in its simplicity; there was not the smallest article of +jewelry about her person, she did not even wear ear-rings; her +high-necked dress was fastened at the throat with a little velvet bow, +without a brooch. The hands which held the opera-glass--tiny little +hands--were cased in light grey gloves, so I could not see whether she +wore rings.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I had noticed that there was a universal movement when she +entered the +box. Hundreds of lorgnettes were instantly directed toward her, and +even the <i>première danseuse</i>, who was just making her highest leap, +momentarily lost her exclusive dominion over her admirers. But my +beauty seemed to be very indifferent to this homage. She did not turn +her eyes from the stage, at which she gazed with an earnestness, a +devotion, that was both touching and ludicrous. When the first act was +over, and a storm of applause burst forth, it was charming to see how +she hastily laid aside the opera-glass to clap her hands too, more like +a child when it wants another biscuit and says 'please, please,' than +an aristocratic patroness of the fine arts, who occasionally +condescends to join in the applause of the populace.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She had dropped her handkerchief, a snowy, lace-trimmed bit +of cobweb, +which could easily have been put away in a nutshell. I hastily raised +and handed it to her, muttering a few not particularly brilliant words. +She looked at me without the slightest change of expression, and +graciously bowed her thanks like a princess. Not a word was vouchsafed +me. Then she again raised her lorgnette, and, during the entire +intermission, apparently devoted herself to an eager study of the +various toilettes; at least her glass remained a long time turned +toward the opposite box, which was full of ladies.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would have given much to have heard her voice, in order to +discover +whether she was a foreigner; but no matter how I racked my brain, I +could think of nothing to say. Besides, she looked as if at the first +liberty I might take, she would rise with an annihilating glance, and +leave me alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was just working hard to concoct some polite remark about +ballets in +general and this one in particular, when the intermission ended and she +was again entirely absorbed in the spectacle below.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A thought flashed through my mind, which, as you will +acknowledge, did +me great credit, but unfortunately met with no success. I left the box, +ate the ice-cream already mentioned, and while wiping my beard, +strolled up and down the corridor several times as if weary of the +performance, and carelessly asked the doorkeeper if he knew the lady +who was sitting in the stranger's box. But he replied that this was the +first time he had ever seen her; the opera-house had been reopened +to-night with the new ballet. So, with my purpose unaccomplished, I +retired, and went back to my post.</p> + +<p class="center"><img src="images/p26.png" alt="I felt an electric shock to the +very tips of my toes."></p> +<p class="center">As she glided past me, I felt an electric shock to the very tips of my toes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Meantime my seat had been occupied; a very much over-dressed +foreign +couple, American or English nabobs blazing with jewels, had planted +themselves in the best seats beside the beauty. At first I was inclined +to assert my rights, but I really liked to stand in the dark corner and +seeing and hearing nothing of the elegant tastelessness around, gaze +only at the charming shape of the head, the fair neck with its floating +curls, slender shoulders, and a small portion of the sweet face. I +heard the gentleman address her in broken French. She replied without +embarrassment, in the best Parisian accent. Now I knew what I wanted to +learn. She was a natural enemy, in every sense of the word!</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I tell you, brother, that during the next two hours I +stood like a +statue, thinking of nothing except how one can live to be twenty-nine +years old, before understanding the meaning of the old legend of the +serpent in Paradise,--you will fancy me half mad. You wrong me, my dear +fellow, I was <i>wholly</i> mad--a frightful example of the perishableness +of all manly virtues. I beg Father Wieland's pardon a hundred times, +for having reviled him as a pitiful coxcomb, because he allows his +Greek sages, with all their strength of mind and stoical dignity, to +come to disgrace for the smile of a Lais or Musarion. Here there was +not even a smile, no seductive arts were used, and yet a poor private +tutor of philosophy lays down his arms and surrenders at discretion, +because a saucy little nose, some black eyelashes, and ditto curls, did +not take the slightest notice of him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you ought to go to sleep, child; I'll cut my story short. +Besides, +it must be tiresome enough to a third person. Five minutes before the +curtain fell for the last time she rose; some one had knocked softly at +the door of the box. As she glided past me, I felt an electric shock to +the very tips of my toes. This was a great piece of good luck, or I +should hardly have been able to shake off my stupor quickly enough to +follow her. Outside stood the gnome with the high shirt-collar and +tow-colored head, gazing at her respectfully with wide open eyes. The +little blue cloak was on his arm. She hastily threw on the light wrap, +almost without his assistance, though he stood on tip-toe, drew the +hood over her head, and hurried toward the stairs, the lad and my +insignificant self following her. Every one she passed started and +looked after her in astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At the entrance below stood an elegant carriage. The dwarf +opened the +door, made an unsuccessful attempt to lift his mistress in, then swung +himself up behind, and away dashed the equipage before I had sense +enough to jump into a droschky and follow it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Perhaps it is better so,' I thought, when I was once more +left alone. +Of what use would it be to follow her? And now I endeavored to become a +philosopher again in the most audacious sense of the word, namely, a +private tutor of logic and metaphysics, an individual most graciously +endowed by the government with permission to starve, <i>sub specie +acterni</i>,--from whom if he becomes infatuated with princesses, the +<i>veina legendi</i> ought to be withdrawn, since it is a proof that he has +not understood even the first elements of worldly wisdom.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There! you have now the whole story. I hoped to have been +able to +spare you the recital, trusting that the vision would vanish at +last, if I could cool my excited blood by rambling about a few +hours in the night air. But unfortunately I did not succeed. The +Lindens were swarming with lovers, the music still sounded in my ears, +shooting stars darted across the sky, and, above all, the sentimental +witching light of the moon, altering the aspect of everything which it +touched,--yes, my last hope is sleep, which has often heretofore cooled +the fever of my nerves. Look, the moon is just sinking behind yonder +roof; our night-lamp has gone out; let us try whether we can at last +obtain some rest."</p> + +<p class="normal">He rose slowly from his brother's bed, like a person who finds +it +difficult to move his limbs, passed his hand caressingly over the cheek +of the silent youth, and said: "I can't help it, child; I really ought +to have kept it to myself, for I know you always take my troubles to +heart far more than I do. It is this confounded habit of sharing +everything with you! Well, it is no great misfortune after all. We +shall be perfectly sensible--entirely cured of our folly--to-morrow, +and if anything should still be out of order, for what purpose has +Father Kant written the admirable treatise on 'the power the mind +possesses to rule the sickly emotions of the heart by the mere exercise +of will'?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He stooped, pressed his lips lightly upon the pale forehead of +the +youth, and then threw himself upon his bed. A few notes of the piano +still echoed on the air, but these too now died away, and in fifteen +minutes Balder perceived by Edwin's calm, regular breathing, that he +had really fallen asleep. He himself still lay with his eyes wide open, +gazing quietly at the mask of the prisoner on the stove, absorbed in +thoughts, which, for the present, may remain his secret.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">We have now to relate the little that is to be told of the two +brothers' former life.</p> + +<p class="normal">About thirty years before, their father, during a holiday +excursion, +had made their mother's acquaintance; he was then a young law-student +from Silesia, and she the beautiful daughter of the owner of a small +estate in Holstein, who had other views for his favorite child than to +give her to the first embryo Prussian lawyer, who had enjoyed a few +days' hospitality at his house. And yet no objections were made. All, +who knew the young girl, declared that it had always been impossible to +oppose her quietly expressed wishes; she had possessed so much power +over all minds, both by her great beauty and the gentle nobleness of +her nature, which in everything she did and said always seemed to hit +the right mark, with that almost prophetic insight into the confused +affairs of the world, which is said to have been peculiar to German +seeresses. What particular attractions she found in the unassuming +stranger, that she wanted him and no one else for her husband, was not +easy to discover. Yet to her last hour she had no occasion to repent, +that, with firm resolution, beneath which perhaps passionate emotions +were concealed, she had aided in removing all the obstacles that stood +in the way of a speedy marriage. As she herself brought little dowry, +except her wealth of golden hair, which when unbound must have reached +nearly to her knees, and as the young lawyer had still a long time of +probation before him ere he could establish a home of his own, they +would have had little happiness if both or either had considered +themselves too good for a subordinate position. The post of bookkeeper +in one of the largest institutions in Berlin had just become vacant. +When the young jurist applied for it, he was forced to hear from all +quarters that he was doing far from wisely in resigning his profession +and giving up all chance of rising to higher offices and dignities, +merely for the sake of an early and certain maintenance. He declared +that he knew what he was doing, and, as he had the best testimonials, +drove his competitors from the field, and, after a betrothal of a few +months, installed his beautiful young wife in the comfortable lodgings +assigned to the accountant.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ambition is only one phase of the universal human longing for +happiness. He who has his life's happiness embodied in a beloved form +at his side, can easily forget the formless dreams of his aspiring +youth, especially if, as was the case here, the joy which appears so +trifling to the eyes of the proud world nevertheless excites the envy +of those close at hand, and the narrow limits of the household horizon +do not bind down the soul. This, however, was chiefly owing to the +fair-haired wife. She had what is called a tinge of romance, a +dissatisfaction with the dry, bare reality of things around her, a +longing to gild the grey light of every-day existence with the +treasures of her own heart and a lively imagination, and amid the +oppressive uniformity of her household cares, retained a play of fancy, +that with all her toil and weariness kept her young and gay. She +herself said people ought to follow the example of the birds, who, +while building their nests, did not sweat as if working for daily +wages, but as they flew to and fro sang, eat a berry, or perhaps soared +so high into the air, that one might suppose they would never return to +their lowly bush. As this arose from a necessity of her nature, and she +never boasted of it, though she never denied it, her poetic taste built +a brighter world above this dreary, prosaic one, and was a source of +constant rejuvenation to her more practical husband. He never emerged +from the state of transfiguration that surrounds the honeymoon, and +even after he had been married many years, felt when sitting in his +office over his account-books, as much impatience to rejoin his beloved +wife, as he had ever experienced as an enthusiastic young lawyer, in +the earliest days of his love.</p> + +<p class="normal">In his circumstances there was no outward improvement; his +sons grew +up, and no promotion or increase of salary could be thought of. But +nevertheless their happiness increased, and their stock of youth, love, +and romance seemed to grow greater as the children grew. The mother, +who bore the beautiful name of Nanna, would not hear of calling her +first-born Fritz or Carl, but gave him the name of Edwin. But the boy +himself made no preparations to accommodate himself to the lyrically +adorned idyl of his parents. His outward appearance was insignificant +and remained so; a tall lad with awkward limbs, which were all the more +unmanageable because their master in the upper story was thinking of +very different matters than how he ought to move his arms and legs; +besides, the boy's mind was fixed upon other things than the fairy +tales his mother told him, or any of the elegancies with which she +surrounded her child. A thoughtful, analytic mind developed in him at +an early age; his mother, for the first time in her life was seriously +angry with her dear husband, declaring that the father's horrible +calculating of figures had gone to the child's head and entered his +blood. She tormented herself a long time in trying to efface this +instinctive taste, but was at last forced to relinquish her efforts +when the boy went to school and brought home the most brilliant +testimonials of his progress; yet a secret vexation still gnawed at her +heart, all the more unbanishable as for nine years he remained the only +child. At last she gave birth to a second, a boy, who promised to make +ample amends for the disappointment caused by the apparently sober, +prosaic nature of her oldest son. This child was in every respect the +exact image of his mother; beautiful as the day, with rich golden +curls; he liked nothing better than to be lulled to sleep with fairy +tales, cultivate flowers, and learn little stories by heart. The mother +seemed to grow young again in her radiant delight in the possession of +this innocent creature, to whom the name of Balder, the God of Spring, +appeared to her exactly suited. Any one who had seen her at that time, +would scarcely have believed her to be the mother of her older son, +the long-legged schoolboy with the grave, prematurely old face; so +young and smiling, so untried by life, did she look, that her fair +head seemed bathed in perpetual sunlight. But it was only a short +spring-time of joy. Balder had not yet commenced to distinguish between +poetry and reality, when his mother was suddenly attacked by a violent +nervous fever, and after a few days' illness, during which she +recognized neither husband nor children, she left them forever.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a blow which brought her husband to a state of despair +which +bordered upon madness. But upon the older boy the event had a strange +effect. There was, at first, an outburst of wild, passionate grief, +such as, from his steady, quiet temperament, no one would have +expected. Now it was evident how passionately he had loved his mother, +with a fervor for which he had never found words. Up to the time of the +funeral it was impossible to induce him to eat; he pushed away his +favorite dishes with loathing, and only a little milk crossed his lips +just before he went to bed. When he returned with his father from the +churchyard, and, himself like a corpse, saw in his father's face every +sign of breaking down under the misery of a happiness so cruelly +destroyed, while little Balder gazed in perplexity at him with his dead +mother's eyes, a great transformation seemed to take place in the older +brother's soul. His convulsed face grew suddenly calm, he pushed from +his forehead his thin straight hair, and, going up to his father, said: +"We must now see how we can get along without mother. You shall never +be dissatisfied with me again." Then he sat down on the floor beside +the child, and began to play with him as his mother used to do; a thing +to which, hitherto, with all his love for the little one, he had never +condescended. Balder stretched out his hands to him, and laughingly +prattled on in his merry way. The father seemed to take no notice of +anything that was passing around him. Weeks and months elapsed before +he even outwardly returned to his old habits.</p> + +<p class="normal">But even then there was not much gained. The portion of him +which had +been a calculating-machine faultlessly continued its work, but the +human affections were totally destroyed. Had not Edwin, with a prudence +wonderful in one so young, managed the affairs of the little household +when the old maid servant could not get along alone, everything would +have been in confusion. When, during the year after his mother's death, +the child had a fall which injured his knee so severely that he +remained delicate ever after, the last hope which Edwin had of seeing +the father take a firm hold of life vanished. He now showed that he had +only existed in the reflected lustre left behind by his beautiful wife +in the bright-eyed boy. When those eyes grew dim, he could no longer +bear the light of day. Without any special illness, he took to his bed +and never rose from it again.</p> + +<p class="normal">The orphaned children were received by one of their father's +relatives, +a well-to-do official in Breslau, who had a number of children of his +own, and could therefore only give his foster sons a moderate share of +care and support. They were sent to board in a teacher's family, and +fared no worse than hundreds of other parentless boys. Balder felt the +disaster least. He had a charm that everywhere won hearts, and his +delicate helplessness did the rest. People did not find it so easy to +get along with Edwin. A taciturnity and cool reserve, together with the +early superiority of his judgment, made him uncomfortable, and, as it +always gave him the appearance of not desiring love, people did not see +why they should force it upon him. Besides, among all to whom he owed +gratitude, there was not a single person to whom he desired to be bound +by any closer ties. Thus his little brother remained the sole object of +his affectionate anxiety, and it was touching to see how closely, +during his play hours, he kept him by his side, spending his scanty +stock of pocket-money solely for his pleasure, and shortening his hours +of sleep that he might devote his entire afternoon to the sickly child.</p> + +<p class="normal">Years elapsed. When Edwin went to the university, for despite +his +poverty and the burning desire for independence, he could not make up +his mind to begin any practical business, Balder was about eight years +old. He had been unable to go to school on account of his feeble +health, as his knee required constant care, and he could not have borne +to sit on the school-room benches. But notwithstanding this, he was far +in advance of most boys of his age, for he had had Edwin for a teacher, +who, by a far more rapid method than that of the schools, had always +pointed out the essential part of every lesson, and encouraged him +above all to develope his own powers. He succeeded in doing so most +wonderfully, without brushing from the boy's soul the bloom of the +enthusiasm inherited from their mother. His nature was utterly unlike +his brother's; instead of the keen dialectics with which Edwin broke a +path into the world of ideas, as a colonist uproots the primeval forest +with his axe, Balder's spirit rose aloft as if on wings, and soaring +above all intervening tree-tops, he found himself unwearied on the very +spot his brother had pointed out in the distance. It was the same in +everything connected with school wisdom, as in the mysteries life gave +him to solve in regard to men and circumstances. The sure, +instantaneous perception, the prophetic power we have described in his +mother, seemed born anew in him, and gave the beautiful face, framed in +his thick fair hair, and showing few traces of pain, a peculiar and +irresistibly winning expression. Besides, he was so kind-hearted, so +self-sacrificing, traits doubly rare in chronic invalids, in whom +anxiety about themselves becomes at last the sole interest, and almost +a sort of sacred duty. He was never heard to complain, and it really +did not seem to be a victory of resignation or heroism which he +obtained over himself, but rather a natural faculty of his soul to look +upon his sufferings and deprivations as a possession from which the +greatest gain must be derived, the only innocent speculation, and one +for which he had cultivated a masterly aptitude.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the time we have made the brothers' acquaintance, they had +lived +together in the shoemaker's back building, the so-called "tun," about +five years. Edwin had first gone to Berlin alone, in order to devote +himself exclusively to the study of philosophy and physical science, +for which he had little opportunity in Breslau. He had been unable to +resolve to enter into any money-making business, and his study of law +was a mere pretence. So when he found himself acting in direct +opposition to his benefactor's wishes, he thought it dishonorable to +continue to eat the bread of one with whose opinions he could not +coincide. Balder meantime remained in his old home, but as soon as +Edwin could support both, was to follow him to Berlin.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was not accomplished as speedily as the latter had at +first hoped. +Months elapsed before he could fit himself for a tutor, as the private +lessons he had undertaken robbed him of both time and patience. Then +followed anxieties about his first lectures, which, with great +difficulty, he obtained an opportunity to deliver, and which brought in +nothing. During all this time, his only intercourse with his brother +was by means of frequent letters, until at last he could bear the +separation no longer, and one Whitsuntide went to Breslau, to ask the +beloved youth if he felt strong enough to share his poverty. Balder +flushed to the roots of his hair with joyful agitation at this +question, which fulfilled the most secret wish of his heart. He had +only been withheld from making the proposal long before, by the fear of +becoming a burden to his brother. Now he confessed that he had quietly +made arrangements not to be entirely dependent on Edwin, though he +would have submitted to be supported by him more willingly than by any +one else. He had found an opportunity to learn turning, from a +neighbor, and in the space of a year the young apprentice had made so +much progress, that any master workman would gladly have engaged him +for a journeyman. With shamefaced consciousness, he showed Edwin +a number of pretty household utensils which he had made for his +foster-mother and the family of the teacher with whom he boarded. "I +see," said Edwin, smiling, "that I probably pursue the least lucrative +of all professions, and shall be doing a very good thing in forming a +partnership with my skillful brother. But wait, my lad, I won't fail to +add my contribution to the capital with which we begin. The next fee I +receive--I am coaching the weak-minded son of a count for his +examination--we will devote to the purchase of the best turning-lathe +that is to be found in all Berlin."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Day had long since dawned over the great city, and the little +house in +the Dorotheen-strasse prided itself upon remaining no whit behind its +more aristocratic neighbors in this respect. The occupants of the "tun" +were usually no late sleepers, and Balder in particular never failed to +hear the general alarm-clock of the house, the old pump-handle, which +sang a well-meant but monotonous morning song, when at six o'clock in +summer and seven in winter, Reginchen set it in motion to get her +father his glass of water for breakfast. At the same time the windows +in the workshop were opened, and the grumbling of the head journeyman, +who took advantage of the half hour before the master appeared, to make +the apprentices feel his importance, became audible. But as soon as the +master of the house, in his loose jacket and slippers, crossed the +courtyard, everything below was perfectly still. Indeed, though the +brothers had been unable to procure a watch, they had no occasion to be +at a loss to know the time, even during the day. Exactly one hour after +the first music of the pump, Reginchen appeared in the "tun" with the +well-beaten clothes and the breakfast. Punctually at nine o'clock a +window was opened in the second story, a yellow old face in a +night-cap, the once famous actress, stretched out a wrinkled little +nose to find out which way the wind was blowing, as her husband, the +tenor, though he no longer had occasion to spare his high C, could not +give up the habit of staying in the house when there was an East wind. +Precisely one hour after, the little man himself appeared at another +window which opened upon the courtyard, not lighted by the sun, to +shave with great deliberation and apply before the little mirror the +necessary cosmetics, which an old celebrity of the stage considers an +indispensable, nay, an incontestable proof of the dignity of his +calling. When eleven o'clock struck, the piano in the room below, +occupied by Fräulein Christiane, with whom we formed a passing +acquaintance in the first chapter, was opened, and a practised hand +struck a few notes by way of prelude to a singing-lesson, which, from +consideration for Edwin had been deferred to this time, when he usually +went to his lecture. Various pupils came to take lessons; of late, +twice a week a merry soubrette, belonging to one of the theatres in the +suburbs, appeared, who desired to practise her little parts in new +operettas, and drove her grave teacher to despair by a number of +blunders, musical and otherwise. As a loud conversation could be +heard through the open windows, almost word for word, Balder often +became an ear-witness to the most singular scenes, which afforded him a +glimpse of an utterly unknown world. Punctually at twelve o'clock the +dinner-bell rang, and was usually hailed by the pupil with a merrily +whistled street song, as the grateful feeling of release could be +expressed in no better way.</p> + +<p class="normal">The household clock performed its duty to-day as well as ever, +but the +occupants of the upper story in the back building seemed deaf to its +sounds. The pump's morning song died away unheard. No "come in" +answered the low knock an hour later, and, after a short delay and a +shake, of the head, the slender household sprite, hanging the clothes +on the banister of the stairs, glided down again with the breakfast. +Miezica, the white cat, which at the same time appeared at the window +to be fed by Balder, remained on the broad sill that ran from gutter to +gutter, staring into the room, where no living creature was yet +stirring. Not until the yellow top of the acacia-tree was gilded by the +rising sun--it must have been ten minutes past ten for the old tenor +was just beginning to powder himself--did Balder open his eyes, +astonished at the bright light that filled the room. He looked toward +Edwin; the latter gave no sign that the sunlight was too dazzling for +him to continue his dreams.</p> + +<p class="normal">Softly the youth rose and limped to the turning-lathe in the +corner, +where he noiselessly arranged a variety of tools, bits of wood, and +little bottles. He did not, however, begin to work, but taking a book, +became for a time absorbed in its contents. Suddenly the thoughts which +had kept him awake so long during the night, seemed to return. He laid +the book aside, opened a window, and leaned out into the already heated +air.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ere long a low knock at the door roused him from his reverie. +He glided +on tip-toe past the sleeper, and slipped through the half-opened door +into the dusky entry.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reginchen stood without; her round face, whose eyes and mouth +were ever +ready to bubble over with mirth, was turned toward him with a sort of +curious anxiety.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good morning, Reginchen," he whispered. "I can't let you in, +he is +still asleep. He did not go to rest until long after midnight; I am +glad the sun does not wake him. You have already been to the door +once--I overslept myself too, contrary to my custom--we talked so long +last night. I am sorry we have made you so much trouble, Reginchen. +Give me the waiter, I will carry the breakfast in."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is no trouble," replied the young girl, who when talking +to the +brothers always tried to correct her Berlin dialect as much as +possible, but without precisely solving the mystery of the dative and +accusative. "But you will be completely starved. Sha'n't I get you some +coffee? Cold milk on an empty stomach--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, Reginchen. I am used to it. You are always so +kind. Why +have you dressed so early to-day, Reginchen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young girl blushed as she smoothed her little black silk +apron and +the folds of a light muslin that had been freshly washed and ironed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is my birthday, Herr Walter," (she could not accustom +herself to +the name of "Balder.") "My mother gave me the apron, and the old +gentleman on the second floor, the garnet breastpin. I am going to +visit my aunt at Schöneberg after dinner, and so I wanted to ask if I +might bring your dinner up very early to-day. My brother will come for +me punctually at one o'clock."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your birthday, Reginchen! And I have forgotten it! Are you +angry with +me? My brother's sickness has given me so much to think of lately. You +know, Reginchen, I wish you all possible good fortune and happiness, +though my congratulations are late; but you are used to seeing me +limp."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How can you talk so. Herr Walter?" she replied, quietly +allowing the +firm little hand he had so cordially grasped to rest in his. "It makes +no difference whether a stupid thing like me, without education or +culture, is seventeen or eighteen. Father says women remain great +children all their lives; so whether they become older or not can be of +little consequence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is only joking, Reginchen. What would your father do +without you, +to say nothing of the rest of us in the house? So you are really +eighteen years old to-day? I wish I knew of something that would give +you pleasure; I should like to make you a birthday present."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't want any present," she replied, hastily turning away +and +putting her foot on the upper stair. "I have already had so many gifts +from you at Christmas and such times, and my mother always scolds and +says I am too large to receive presents from strange gentlemen. Hark! +she is calling me; I must go, Herr Walter."</p> + +<p class="normal">She darted down the steep staircase, like an arrow, and +Balder, who +remained at the top, heard her singing a song in a clear, childish +voice, as she skipped across the pavement of the courtyard in her +little slippers. As he took the waiter from the low attic stairs where +she had placed it, and limped softly back into the room, he +involuntarily sighed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Going up to his sleeping brother he gazed at him with +affectionate +anxiety. Edwin seemed to be slumbering quietly. His high, beautifully +arched brow was unwrinkled, a smile played around his lips, and his +delicate nostrils quivered slightly, as they always did when he made a +witty speech. His shirt was open at the throat, and a small gold locket +attached to a silk cord and containing a tress of his mother's golden +hair, was plainly visible. Balder wore one like it.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was about to retire to the window corner again, when a +hasty step +was heard on the stairs, and ere Balder could reach the door to stop +the new comer, an eager knock announced a visitor who knew himself to +be welcome at any hour.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come in!" said Edwin, as he slowly rose from his pillow, +still half +asleep. "That must be Marquard. Good heavens, it is broad daylight!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure!" laughed the new arrival. "It requires the +presence of a +despicable empiric like myself, to make the Herr Philosopher aware that +the sun is several hours high in the heavens. Well, how are you, +patient? Has the prescription wrought its work? I am almost inclined to +believe that the dose was too strong."</p> + +<p class="normal">Nodding kindly to Balder, he hastily approached the bed and +touched +Edwin's brow and temples before feeling his pulse. The keen, light gray +eyes gazed through a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles at a heavy gold +watch, and the youthfully round and regular, though somewhat pale face, +which on entering the door had worn an expression of the gayest +unconcern, now assumed a quiet, watchful air, while the elegant figure, +which was of about the medium height, leaned lightly on a chair beside +the bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Herr Medicinalrath," said Edwin, "your master work +has been +performed on me. Mother Nature, who may well fear you since you +irreverently pry into her most sacred secrets and scan all her little +weaknesses as through a microscope, seems, at your command, to have +once more taken pity upon me, and granted me sleep. All else will +follow as a matter of course; at least I already feel a truly wolfish +appetite. If you'll allow me. Doctor, I'll only put on the most +necessary articles of clothing, and go to breakfast at once, to relieve +Balder, who I see has again waited for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Probatum est</i>," laughed the doctor, pocketing his watch. "I +was +perfectly well aware, that for brains like yours, there is no better +narcotic than the mixture of folly, noise, and tights, we men of the +world swallow to excite us. I find your symptoms to-day far more +encouraging than yesterday, and, within a few days, I think I shall +repeat the dose. Hunger is a good symptom. But I don't see the +breakfast."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is standing on the table yonder," said Balder, quietly.</p> + +<p class="normal">The doctor stepped to the little table, which, covered with a +green +cloth, stood in the middle of the room, and gazed, with an +indescribable look of pity and horror, at the white pitcher, which +stood between two stoneware cups, while a tin plate beside it contained +two small rolls.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pardon me," said he, "my science does not extend so far as to +enable +me to determine, by its mere appearance, the name of the strong broth +which awaits you here as your first meal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is pure, unadulterated milk, in which we dip the flower of +wheat," +said Edwin, who, having in the meantime hastily clothed himself, now +approached the table and filled both cups. "You are doubtless aware, +my dear fellow, that milk contains all the elements of nourishment +which--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Which a child in swaddling clothes needs till it cuts its +teeth! +Sacred Reason, what is the world coming to, when your ablest votaries, +the philosophers, confess themselves addicted to the most preposterous +habits and customs. Are you not startled, my lad, by the frightful +contradiction involved by your endeavor, amidst our exhaustive, +enervating civilization, which constitutes such a drain upon the blood +and marrow, to sustain yourself on the nourishment of stupid pastoral +tribes? In Berlin, too, where as you know, all the cows are infected +with the pallor of the Hegel philosophy, and where the watery fluid +they give is still further diluted at every pump. No, my dear fellow, +either I give you up as incurable, or you must decide at once upon a +radical change of habit, wash your face with this innocent fluid--an +admirable preventive of premature wrinkles--and moisten your inner man +at this time with a glass of port wine, to be followed by the +consumption of half a pound of roast meat. I'll wager that in a short +time there will be a change in your organism which will make itself +perceptibly felt if you visit the Berlin ballet too frequently. What +are you laughing at? I am perfectly serious."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is just why I laughed," said Edwin, as, standing by the +table, he +quietly broke his roll into the thin blue milk. "You forget, my dear +fellow, that I can only make use of prescriptions which are put up at +the pharmacy 'for lucky beggars.' Or do you happen to have it in your +pocket?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My professorship, or Balder's diploma as turner to the court. +With +your practice in such circles, you can not fail, if you are in earnest, +to help us to a brilliant career. But until then I deeply regret that I +can give you no prospect of a change of diet."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marquard looked around the room, and shook his head angrily, +as he +said: "But it is suicidal folly, absurd nonsense, to live as you do! +Balder, too, will never fare any better, so long as you squat here like +two old women, and fast till you are livid for lack of blood. +Professorship? Nonsense! With your views, you'll never get one to the +end of your days in our Christian German government. If you had only +learned some commonplace thing, so that you might be made useful +somewhere. However, you know something of arithmetic, don't you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The first four formulæ, and the rule of three."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No joking. You are a thorough mathematician. I will get you a +position +in a life insurance company, where they need some one for their +estimates of probabilities. Five hundred thalers at first. You need say +but one word."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rather <i>three</i>, my faithful Eckhart: Thank you, kindly. I can +not +endure the atmosphere of an office. But seriously, my dear preserver of +mankind, don't give yourself any trouble about me. I am incorrigible. +Every German must have a whim. Mine is to belong exclusively to myself, +shake as many nuts from the tree of life as I like, and waste as much +time as I can spare in cracking them and getting at the kernels. To +make a career is an occupation that robs one of a great deal of time, +and it is the same with the effort to become a millionaire in a +respectable way. Both, therefore, I must renounce, and since I have for +either as little talent as inclination, and can get along for a time in +this way, why should I fly into a passion because the Berlin cows have +deteriorated as much in the fabrication of milk as Prussian political +philosophy has deteriorated since the days of Father Kant? Except on +occasions when, by an Epicurean like yourself, unnatural desires are +created in us, we want for nothing in our 'tun,' and, moreover, have +something put aside for a rainy day; have we not, Balder?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The doctor was about to make some reply, but controlled +himself, and +seized his hat. "Adieu!" he growled, and went toward the door, but +paused on the threshold.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will allow me," he said harshly, "as I still have charge +of you, +to send you some medicine from my own pharmacy. I received a gift of +some excellent Bordeaux from a wine-dealer, on whom I performed a very +surprising cure, I will send you some on trial, and if you don't drink +half a bottle every noon--Balder may content himself with a glass--I--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will show me no farther friendship? Better not say that. It +would be a +pity: for your sake, because without our society you would sink +completely into empiricism and gluttony; and for ours, because we +should be compelled to deny ourselves the luxury of consulting a +physician. No, old fellow, I thank you very kindly for your +philanthropic design, but it is wiser for us to continue to cut our +coats according to our cloth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And these people wish to be elevated above ordinary +prejudices!" +exclaimed the doctor fiercely, putting on his hat. "If you really were +so elevated, you would not be too proud to accept a few pitiful drops +of wine from an old college friend! Go, you are perfect fools with your +idealism!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you are on the way to become as famous a doctor as old +Heim. At +least you already have the needful roughness!" laughed Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">The doctor heard him no longer; he had slammed the door and +was noisily +descending the stairs. Balder looked at his brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You ought not to have refused," said he. "He means kindly, +and he is +undoubtedly right: our diet is not fit for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you, too, are beginning to scold," said Edwin, drinking +the +remainder of his milk as if it were the most exquisite nectar. "But the +trump of doom would not disturb the serenity of my soul to-day. I am in +exactly the phlegmatic, abstract frame of mind, to which the most +difficult problems seem like child's play. It is a pity I have nothing +harder to elucidate than how it comes to pass that a crazy man can say +such clever things in his dreams, and yet on awaking be just as mad as +before."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have been most dutifully dreaming of the acquaintance I +made +yesterday; you remember, child, <i>la belle Chocoladière</i>. I discovered, +God knows how, that she was the daughter of a Polish countess and a +French <i>valet de chambre</i>; a thoroughly ignorant, vain, and not +over-virtuous creature. As she made merry over my defective French, I +quietly began to explain how grateful she ought to be that a sensible +man conversed with her at all. Then I talked long and very impressively +about the dignity of man in general and philosophers in particular; +something after the style of Wieland's sages, and she, after at first +looking as if she were grieving over her weaknesses and sins, suddenly +began to laugh loudly, danced around the room--in the style of the +rope-dancers we saw yesterday--hummed French songs of by no means the +most decorous nature, and altogether conducted herself in such a manner +that I grew more and more angry, and at last told her to her face that +I should consider myself the most contemptible fool and weakling on +earth, if I allowed her little nose and black eyelashes to turn my head +an instant longer. She now became very haughty, I still colder and more +bitter, she more bacchanalian, and I was just in the act of jumping out +of a low window into a beautiful and spacious garden, when she +coaxingly passed her hands over my face, and tried to smooth the angry +frown from my brow; then I awoke, and quickly perceived that +notwithstanding all the wisdom I had possessed in my dream, I had not +become one whit the wiser than I was when I went to bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But don't take the matter so much to heart, child," he +continued, as +Balder remained silent. "I can assure you that a hopeless passion +is no such terrible misfortune. I am perfectly positive that I shall +never see her again, but how long it will be before I think of +something else, I can't say. Yet it is one of the most delightful +experiences--this gentle consuming fire, this sacred defencelessness, +this introspection, joined to the consciousness of external +impressions; it is the true, immanent, and transcendent contradiction, +which is the veritable secret of all life, and of which man, with his +accustomed eminently respectable but imperfect knowledge of our being, +is seldom so keenly conscious. Some day, child, you too will experience +it, and then for the first time you will fully understand what I mean. +The head does not appear to work at all; the mill of ideas is stopped; +it has no more grist to grind. Very different nerve-centres appear to +have assumed control, and when I have overcome the first sense of +strangeness, it will be a very interesting psychological task--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Here the door was thrown open, and a new visitor interrupted +our +philosopher's attempt to make a virtue of necessity, and at least to +render useful to the cause of science, the sorrows of his heart.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">The new comer was a tall and very broad-shouldered young man, +who +carried a travelling-satchel and a shawl thrown over his shoulder; +unceremoniously tossing a faded brown felt hat on Balder's bed, he +nodded, and smiling called out a "good morning" to the brothers. The +first impression made by the ash-colored face, furrowed by several +scars, and the somewhat crooked mouth, was not particularly favorable. +An expression of bitterness or malice dwelt about the strongly cut +lips, and the teeth, which, in speaking, were fully revealed, increased +the fierce, unamiable look. But when the countenance was in repose, the +melancholy expression of the eyes predominated over the more ignoble +features, and the brow beneath the short bristling hair seemed to have +been developed by grave mental labor. His movements were restless and +impetuous, and his whole attire was that of a man who thought little of +his personal appearance, though his stately figure was well worthy to +command attention, had but a little care been bestowed upon it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, Mohr! Heinrich Mohr! What wind has blown you to us +again?" cried +Edwin, advancing to meet him and cordially shaking hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The same thoughtless whirlwind, I suppose, that tosses all +the +sweepings of humanity into confusion," replied the other. "It is only +those individuals, who possess a certain specific weight, that do not +change their places without special cause. You, for instance, I find in +the same old house where I left you three years ago. And, if I must be +honest, the only sensible reason I can give for venturing out of my +dull little birthplace back to this huge, clever, mad Berlin, was the +desire to see you again. After all, you have the most friendly faces, +and that you really seem to feel a sort of pleasure in being troubled +with me again, proves that you are still the same as of old."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you, too, seem to have altered little; less, perhaps, +than would +have been advisable," said Edwin, laughing.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr's only answer was a shrug of the shoulders. He threw down +his +satchel and went to the turning-lathe, beside which Balder was leaning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Still as conscientious as ever; trying to kill himself," he +muttered, +taking up some of the little articles which were waiting for the last +touches. "But I can't blame you, Balder. You at least accomplish +something every day, and only hurt your chest by bending and stooping. +Other people would be fairly beside themselves with impatience, if they +had to sit doubled up all day long turning their stock in trade. +Besides, it seems to me you have made considerable progress. You are an +enviable fellow, Balder."</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth looked at him with a smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Would that you could only convince Edwin of it!" he said; "he +is +always trying to persuade me to give up my trade. He won't believe that +to sit perfectly idle, and see everybody else work would kill me much +sooner."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Idle! As if you ever could be idle!" cried Edwin indignantly. +"As if +it were not the most insane obstinacy to refuse to accept from his own +and only brother, that which even he has means sufficient to procure--a +pitiful mouthful of bread! But we will let it pass, though it is the +only real annoyance of my life, and this hard heart might so easily +spare it me,--Basta! I will <i>not</i> be vexed to-day. So begin your +confession, my friend! To-day, at least, you are secure from any +moralizing on my part."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr having seated himself in a chair beside the open window, +had begun +to twist a cigarette, the materials for which he took from a tin box.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is absolutely nothing new to tell," he replied with +great +apparent indifference. "The old apothegm that no one can add one inch +to his stature, has been once more ratified, that's all. I left Berlin, +as you will remember, because I thought that the noise and bustle alone +prevented me from becoming a great man. 'Talent developes in a quiet +life.' Well, I've lived quietly enough with my old mother, but nothing +has developed. So, thinks I to myself, as no talent developes let us +try character--'character is formed in the current of the world'--and +so back I have come again, and have already selected a character to +which I intend to adapt myself. A match, Edwin!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He puffed huge clouds of very strong Turkish tobacco out of +the window.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So nothing came of the editing of the newspaper, from which +you +expected so much?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was a miserable sheet, children, a commonplace, +provincial, +gossiping little paper, in which appeared, twice a week, bad novels, +stolen from various quarters, or 'original contributions' by the +bürgermeister's daughter or chief customhouse officer's son, and lastly +charades and rebuses. However, all the citizens swore by it, and not a +syllable was lost. The right kind of fellow might have made something +of it, or at least in time have smuggled in something better, and, in +so doing, might himself have found room to grow. But there is the +point. After first turning up my nose at this narrowmindedness, I at +last discovered that I really could not do much better myself. You know +I always believed that if I could once form a correct appreciation of +my own powers, a thing not to be accomplished in the intellectual +ant-hill of Berlin, the world would be astonished. Well, I have really +arrived at this just appreciation, and for a long time have been unable +to endure myself! God be thanked, that my good taste yet remains to +save me from that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Still the same old Mohr, whose favorite pastime it is to +blacken his +character instead of washing himself white."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me go on, and don't suppose that I am making myself out +bad in +order that you may praise me the more. Besides, I don't <i>wish</i> to make +myself out 'bad'; I am really quite a passable fellow, neither stupid +nor tedious, with fair acquirements, and powers of judgment by no means +ordinary, <i>nota bene</i>, for what <i>others</i> do. If I were a rascal, I +might by means of them, accomplish something, open a booth for +criticism, for instance, and sell myself as dearly as possible. But the +misfortune is that I have, or at least had, the ambition to accomplish +something myself, and what is worse, desired to possess all sorts of +talents. I have a most decided capacity for becoming a mediocre poet or +musician, and in political articles, which appear to mean something and +really say nothing, I have yet to find my superior. You will say there +are many such wights. Certainly. But not many who have in addition such +an honest, devout envy of the real men who can accomplish something +genuine, such a loathing of all botching, such disgust when they have +caught themselves at it. It was this that drove me away from you. I +could not endure to see you all, each in his own field of labor, busy +tilling and planting and at last reaping,--real grain, whether much or +little--and stand by with my cockle-weed. I felt like spitting in my +own face from chagrin at my mediocrity in everything that is worthy to +be called work, achievement, getting on in the world, while in talking +I was a very hero. Now, however, I have discovered <i>that that is my +destiny</i>. A sorry creature, created by Nature through some malicious +whim, and condemned always to stick halfway at everything. But I will +spoil her jest; I will at least do something completely and well, and +in one point, at all events, I will reach virtuosoship."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't understand why this idea did not occur to you long +ago," +replied Edwin. "You were born for a critic, and as such can have as +much influence on the world and society, as if you were a poet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should be a fool!" exclaimed the other, tossing his +cigarette into +the courtyard, as he started up and clasped his hands behind his head. +"Attempt to improve the world, tell it plain truths in black and white, +which of course every one will apply to his worthy neighbor, try to +educate artists who fancy that thinking paralyses the imagination, or +tell truths to authors, who upon perusing them fail more signally to +comprehend themselves than when they penned their thoughts,--no, my +dear fellow, <i>vestigia terrent</i>. A certain Lessing tried all that a +hundred years ago, and broke his teeth on the hard wood. All these +philanthropic sacrifices make the world no happier, and only render the +individual wretched. The only pure and noble calling left for such a +superfluous mortal as myself to choose, is <i>pure envy</i>. In that I have +hitherto made considerable progress, and, as I said before, I expect to +attain in it a tolerable degree of eminence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Upon my word," laughed Edwin, "this is a novel way of +attaining +happiness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't laugh, wiseacre," sighed Mohr, impressively. "You see, +my child, +everybody in this miserable world, which all about us is so unfinished +and incomplete, is endeavoring to the best of his ability, at least to +perfect his own perishable self. The really gifted individuals have a +surplus, from which they impart a portion to others, and thereby help +them to patch up their poverty, and perhaps even scantily to complete +themselves. I, for my part, can only obtain repose when I fervently +envy every thing that is great, entire, exuberant. Through this envy I +shall become, in a certain sense, allied to it; for if I appreciated, +tasted, felt, and deserved to possess no portion, how could I envy it? +Only those things that are somewhat homogenous attract each other. And +when I have sat during an entire morning, thoroughly permeated with the +sense of my own insignificance, sincerely envying a Shakespeare, a +Goethe, or a Mozart, have I not fulfilled the purpose of my life better +than if I had spent the same time in composing a poor tragedy, some +wretched love-songs, or a mediocre sonata?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He went to the window and gazed at the top of the acacia-tree.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right," said Balder's clear voice. "Only you ought +not to give +the name of envy to what is really love, reverence, and the most +beautiful and unselfish enthusiasm."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Balder has hit the nail on the head, as usual," said Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr turned. The brothers noticed that he was winking rapidly, +as if +desiring to make way with a suspicious moisture.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It would be beautiful, if it were true," said he. "But this +is only +the bright side of my virtuosoship; it has its shadows too, and they +grow broader than I like. I can see nothing that is complete and in +harmony with itself, without envy; no self-satisfied stupidity, no +broad-mouthed falsehood, no snobbish faces. And as if these worthies +had really no right to be happy, the demon of envy induces me to say +something cutting, merely to show them their own pitifulness. Thus in a +short time I had all my worthy fellow-citizens about my ears, and +wherever I went was decried, avoided, and warned off like a mad dog. It +makes all the blood in my body boil, when I see how everywhere the +scamps get on in the world, and how the honest fellows, who don't use +their elbows, remain behind. You, for instance, if I had my way, should +be driving in a handsome coach with servants at your command, as +beseems the aristocracy of the human race. Instead of that, that +insignificant fellow, Marquard, whom I met below, has his equipage, and +graciously nods as he drives by, after reconnoitering me from top to +toe through his gold spectacles. Death and perdition, who can see such +things and not go wild--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't abuse our medical counsellor," said Edwin. "In spite of +all you +have said he is a good fellow, and his carriage would suit my trade and +Balder's as little as my slow-stepping scientific methods would suit +his empirical gallop. Besides--"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment they heard from the windows below, the first +bars of the +overture to Glück's "Orpheus."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr approached the window again, and listened attentively.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is playing?" he asked after a time, in an undertone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"One of the inmates of the house, a young lady of whom we know +little +more than that she gives music-lessons. Last night--I have not yet told +you of it, Balder--I found her absorbed in Schopenhauer's Parerga. She +spoke enthusiastically about the chapter on 'the sorrows of the world.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"Her music bears witness that in those sorrows she had had +experience," +said Mohr. "Women only play as she does when their hearts have been +once broken and then pieced together again. It is with them as it is +with old violins, which must be shattered several times before they +have the right resonance. But hush, it is growing still more +beautiful."</p> + +<p class="normal">He sat down on the window-sill, and, gazing without, became +completely +absorbed in listening. Balder worked noiselessly at his little boxes, +while Edwin had taken a book though his gaze became fixed upon one +page. It was so quiet in the room, that during the pauses in the music, +they could hear the stealthy footsteps of the cat, which had just +previously leaped into the chamber, and eaten the remnants of the +breakfast.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">About the same time that these things were occurring in the +back +building, the master of the house was in the shop talking with a +customer, who had just brought to be mended a pair of embroidered +slippers, carefully wrapped in an old newspaper.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was somewhat unusual for the shoemaker to be absent from +the +workroom at this time of day. But it was also, as the reader will +remember, an unusual occasion, Reginchin's birthday, and her mother, +who generally attended to the management of everything in the shop, was +obliged to give up the charge to her husband, in order to go into the +kitchen and mix the dough herself, for the usual birthday cake. She +would not relinquish this task, though there was a confectioner's shop +at the very next corner. For ever since Reginchin was four years old, +she had been very fond of a certain kind of home-made plumb-cake, and, +though she could rarely do anything exactly to her mother's mind, and +was continually subject to her criticism, the young girl was, as she +very well knew, the apple of her mother's eye, and, for her the good +woman would have gone through fire. So, hot as the day was, Madame +Feyertag stood without a murmur beside the servant at the fire, +allowing herself to be troubled but little by the principal anxiety +which usually rendered her unwilling to have her husband in the shop: +the jealous fear that some female customers might come in, and that the +shoemaker might find other feet, whose measure he would be obliged to +take, prettier than those adorned with the legitimate slippers of his +wife.</p> + +<p class="normal">To be sure the worthy man, though he might have been a sly +fellow in +his bachelor days, had given very little cause for such a suspicion +during twenty-three years of extremely peaceful married life. But +within a few months a change had taken place which attracted the +attention of his clever wife; a change not much apparent in his actions +and conduct, since he quietly continued his regular mode of life and +did not even oppose the before-mentioned slippers, but noticeable in +his language. She was already accustomed to hear him talk much of +progress, and inveigh against all tyranny, especially domestic slavery, +giving utterance to very forcible expressions, and this harmless +amusement she willingly countenanced, since all affairs of state and +family pursued, as before, their even course. But during the last three +months his revolutionary table-talk had changed its tone, and had been +steadily pointed against "women," of whom he repeated the most +malicious things, usually in strange, outlandish words. Perhaps he +had merely picked up these contemptuous epithets at the liberal +trades-union, to which he owed all his progressive ideas; and if so, it +was something to be thankful for. But except on certain festive +occasions, women were excluded from these meetings, and at the +entertainments a very decorous tone always prevailed, to say nothing of +the obligatory toast to the fair sex. So, when all at once in speaking +of "women," he used the word "females," and talked of the "sex" with a +shade of contempt, for which Madame Feyertag's person and conduct did +not give the slightest cause, nothing was more probable than that the +shoemaker had obtained his new knowledge of feminine nature in other +circles, and, perhaps led astray by some acquaintances formed in the +shop, had approached nearer to the light-minded portion of the sex than +could be at all desirable for the peace of the household. Since that +time, Madame Feyertag had kept a sharp eye on the secret sinner, no +longer permitting his presence in the shop, and had emphatically +forbidden the utterance of his offensive remarks, at least in +Reginchen's presence. For this restraint the worthy man indemnified +himself by talking all the more freely to others, and on this very +morning, when, contrary to his usual custom, we find him in the shop, +he was in the act of giving vent to the pent-up emotions of his heart. +Compelled to keep silence, his companion with some little surprise, +patiently submitted to the torrent of his eloquence. He was a little +old-fashioned gentleman, with a timid but lively manner, whose delicate +regular features bore an expression of such winning kindness that the +most casual observer could not fail to notice it; his was one of those +faces, which, in consequence of the delicacy of the skin, become +prematurely withered, and yet never grow old. A small grey moustache +endeavored in vain to give a martial air to the innocent childish face, +and the forehead, which, through baldness, seemed to reach to the crown +of his head, failed just as signally to cast upon its owner the air of +a deep thinker. Yet when any important subject was under discussion, +the mild eyes could sparkle with a strange fire, and the whole face +become transfigured with interest and excitement.</p> + +<p class="normal">This little man wore a neatly brushed but rather threadbare +coat, cut +in a fashion that had prevailed ten years before, and a large white +cravat, fastened with a pin containing a woman's picture. He had placed +upon the counter an old-fashioned grey hat, with a piece of crape +twisted around it, and, with both hands resting on his cane, he sat +opposite the shoemaker, who had just examined the slippers, and said +that they could be mended so as to look very well, only that a part of +the embroidery would be lost.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Spare as much of it as you can," pleaded the little +gentleman. "They +were my dead wife's last birthday gift; she worked them herself. I have +worn them constantly for five years; but I step so lightly that I don't +wear out many shoes. I suppose I am your worst customer," he added, +with an apologetic smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is of no consequence, Herr König," replied the +shoemaker; "it is +always an honor as well as a pleasure to work for you and your family, +not only on account of the high instep which you all have, but because +you are an artist and have an eye for shape. As for the durableness of +the shoes, that is not your fault, but the fault of the leather. But +wait till your daughter goes to balls. Good work is of no avail then, +Herr König; dancing shoes which are not as delicate and as easily +broken as poppy-leaves, do the shoemaker no credit."</p> + +<p class="normal">The little gentleman shook his head thoughtfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My daughter, I fear, will give you little opportunity to earn +money in +that article," said he, "She has no desire for any of the seemly +amusements which I would willingly grant her; her mind is filled with +her work and her father; she can't be induced to attend to anything +else."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well," said the shoemaker, drawing from his jacket a +little +silver snuff-box, which he offered the artist, "those things will come +as a matter of course. Young ladies always have some peculiarities, you +know; they do not forget the mother; but women are women, Herr König, +and there is no virtue in youth. True, you yourself still wear crape +around your hat; in your case constancy may be in the blood. But wait a +while. The will, Herr König, is master; the perception weak; of how +weak it is, we have sometimes little idea."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are mistaken," replied the other, fixing his eyes which +wore a +quiet, thoughtful expression upon the floor. "She has become perfectly +cheerful again, and I also, though every day I still miss my dead wife. +God does not like to see discontented faces, He has made the world too +beautiful for that. The crape--yes, I have kept it on my hat. Why +should I take it off, and when? It would seem very strange to me, to +say to myself on a certain day: From this time things shall no longer +be as they were yesterday; I will now remove this token of remembrance. +Should I thereby blot out the memory too? But even if her mother were +still alive, I do not think the child would be any different. She has a +very peculiar character."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be kind enough to permit me to differ from you," said the +shoemaker +with great positiveness, despite the courteous language he studiously +adopted. "Women--true women--have generally no character of their own, +but one that belongs in common to all the sex. For the sole object for +which they are in the world, is, to use Salvenia's words, only to +continue the species, or, as we term it, for propagation. A woman who +desires anything else, has something wrong about her; I say this +without intending to cast any reflections upon your daughter."</p> + +<p class="normal">The artist opened his little eyes to their widest extent. "My +dear +Feyertag, why do you say such strange things?" he said, naïvely. "Is +not a woman as much a creature of the dear God as we ourselves? formed +in his image, and endowed with soul and mind?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The shoemaker laughed, as if fully conscious of his own +superiority.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't take it amiss, Herr König," he said, "but that is an +exploded +opinion. Have you never heard of the great philosopher, Schopenhauer? +He will make you understand it thoroughly; he will prove as plainly as +that twice two make four, of what account is the so-called emancipation +of women."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't have much time to read," replied the little artist. +"But the +little you have told me does not render me anxious to become familiar +with an author who has thought so slightingly of the noblest and most +lovable portion of humanity. I prefer to say with my beloved Schiller, +'Honor to women'!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"'They spin and weave,'" replied, the shoemaker. "Yes, and +they +can do it very skillfully, and it is an extremely useful occupation. +But in other things, in the employments of men--this low-statured, +narrow-shouldered, broad-hipped, and short-legged sex, as Herr +Schopenhauer expresses it,--no, Herr König, men must not allow them to +become too strong. Propagation, nothing more. But <i>propaganda</i>, you +see, for the liberal and progressive, is our affair. For instance, +there is my wife; the best woman in the world! But if I did not now and +then show her that I am master, where should I be? I admit that during +the last few years, out of pure indolence, I have allowed her to do and +say more than was well. But Schopenhauer has brought me to myself. Now, +when she mistakes her social position, and wants to emancipate herself +too much, I say: 'Hush, Guste. You, too, were once an explosive effect +of Nature; but now the noise has died away, and the effect remains.' +Then she scolds about my worthless way of talking, as she calls it, but +no longer ventures to say anything, because she has not the least +suspicion what I really mean by it, and that it is in Schopenhauer. Ha! +ha! ha!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He chuckled with delight, and rubbed his broad hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How did you chance upon this mischievous book?" asked the +artist.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very naturally. In my back building lives a very learned +gentleman, a +philosopher by profession, and soon to become professor of philosophy. +One day, when he was not at home, the bookbinder's boy came and left in +my shop a whole package of freshly bound books, which I was to keep for +the Herr Doctor. It was after dinner, when I usually take a little nap. +So, half asleep, I aimlessly took the uppermost book in my hand, and +began to read at the place where it opened. Zounds, how my eyes flew +open! 'Upon females' was the heading of the chapter. I could not stop +till I had read the last lines. I tell you, Herr König, old King +Solomon, much as he knew about women, and propagation, and the +conception of species, might have gone to school to him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is Schopenhauer the author's name? And do you call him a +philosopher, +because he revives the old commonplaces about the other sex?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The little artist's eyes flashed as he uttered these words, +and he +seized his hat as if he were in a hurry to leave the shop.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is a philosopher, for the Herr Doctor himself says so; but +not +merely because of what he has written about women; the Herr Doctor +showed me another thick book. He said it treated of will and +perception; however, it was too heavy for me. If you would like to read +it, he will cheerfully lend it to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, I have not the slightest desire to make the +acquaintance of +a gentleman who holds and desires to spread such opinions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Herr Doctor? There you are very much mistaken, Herr +König. He +won't listen to a word about the essay on women, and says there is just +as much falsehood as truth in it. He is a bachelor, Herr König, and +what does a bachelor know about the conception of species? Besides, he +never associates with women, but devotes himself entirely to his +invalid brother. They might as well be in a monastery, Herr König; my +wife often says that if we were to advertise in the newspapers and +offer a reward of a hundred thalers, we could not find such another +couple of well-behaved young men in all Berlin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed? And learned too, you say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only the older one, the Herr Doctor. He has not much money, +because he +is at the university, and you are probably aware the minister of public +worship and instruction wants to starve out the whole university, and +then fill all the vacant places with pastors; there is but one opinion +about it in the trades union. But our Herr Doctor gives private +lessons, and his brother sells some of the little articles he turns; +they live on the proceeds always paying punctually the rent, and the +household bills for cooking and washing. Two young men, Herr König, to +whom immorality is something utterly unknown."</p> + +<p class="normal">The artist had laid down his hat again, and seemed to be +struggling +with some resolution.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Herr Feyertag," he said at last, "Do you know, I +think I +should like after all to make the acquaintance of your Herr Doctor. If +what you say is true, he is the very man for whom I have been looking a +long time. My daughter complains that she cannot continue her studies +alone. What she knows she learned from her mother. But since the latter +died, I have found her services indispensable at home, and I thought +her so clever that she could get on by herself if I only bought her +books. But it seems that she cannot dispense with regular instruction, +and now she is too old and too sensible to content herself with the +first instructor that offers, and recently, when she met a certain +young lady, a teacher who has given lessons in very aristocratic +families, she conversed with her so cleverly that the young woman +declared she could teach her nothing. So if your Herr Doctor is really +such a phoenix, and a true man besides--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If by 'phoenix' you mean insurance against fire, one can +never be +certain of that in young people, but I'll stake my life on his +goodness; everything else you must find out for yourself in case you +are really serious about giving your daughter--but that is none of my +business. My Regine can read and write, and that is enough to enable +her to get along with everything that does not concern propagation. +However, everybody has a right to his own opinion. If that is yours, +Herr König, you will probably find the Herr Doctor at home now. It is +vacation, and most of his private pupils are traveling."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I suppose," said the artist timidly, as he put on his hat and +followed +the shoemaker into the entry, "the price for the lessons will not be +exorbitant."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You need have no anxiety on that score," replied the +shoemaker, +shuttings the door of the shop. "If he were paid as he deserves, he +wouldn't need to climb my old back stairs, but could buy the handsomest +house on Unter der Linden. Turn to the left here, and then cross the +courtyard, Herr König, if you please."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Meantime the brothers had again been left alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as the music below ceased, Mohr took his hat. "To envy +this +happiness is one of my favorite occupations," he growled, twisting his +under lip awry. "I pity you for being able to listen to such a thing +quietly, without becoming filled with fiendish joy or rage, I tried to +express this mood in a somewhat rattling, but I think not wholly +meritless composition, which I call my <i>sinfonia ironica</i>. When I have +a lodging and a tin pan, I'll play it to you, and then read you my new +comedy: 'I am I, and rely on myself.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A great many pleasures at once, Heinz," said Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You need not fear the length of this <i>concert spirituel</i>. +Only two +bars of the symphony and an act and a half of the comedy are finished. +A man who is but half a man, never brings any work to completion."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fortunately, as you know, the half is more than the whole,"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shall give me a lecture on that subject very shortly, +Philosopher. +Adieu."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went out to search for lodgings in the neighborhood. His +mother, a +widow in easy circumstances, seemed to have provided him with +sufficient means to live for some time without work. At the pianist's +door he paused, and read on the little porcelain plate: "Christiane +Falk, music teacher." Within everything was still. He would gladly have +found some pretext to ring and to make her acquaintance; however, none +occurred to him, so he deferred it until a more favorable opportunity.</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder had returned to his work again. He seemed in great +haste to +complete a dainty little box of olive-wood, which contained all sorts +of implements for sewing.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the meantime Edwin was dressing.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was usually accomplished in the following manner: first +he hung a +small mirror, scarcely the width of his hand, on a nail in one of the +book shelves, just under Kant's critique of pure reason and Fichte's +religion of science, and then while passing a comb minus numerous teeth +through his hair and beard, gazed less into the little glass than +across at Balder. To-day, however, he did something more; he shortened +the hair on his temples and chin with a pair of scissors, and moreover +looked somewhat carefully to see whether it was cut evenly on both +sides. "I find," said he, "that familiarity with the ballet has +demoralized me. I am already beginning to be vain, and have discovered +all sorts of defects in my honest face, with which I have hitherto been +perfectly satisfied. We should have divided our good mother's beauty +between us more equally. But perhaps after all, it is better that the +inheritance has remained intact, rather than squandered upon two. Come, +give your artistic opinion, my boy, has not the plantation been very +much improved by mowing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should have spared the beard," said Balder. "It was very +becoming to +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't understand, child. It has been much too long for +some time, +even for a philosopher, and although, as in the times of Julius Cæsar, +no one must wander about on working days 'without some sign of his +occupation,' it is now vacation with me and I want to go out to-day as +an ordinary mortal, not as an object to startle women and children. +Come, make up your mind to accompany me. We will take a droschky, stop +at the confectioner's, where you must be treated to ice-cream to-day as +I treated myself yesterday, and afterwards--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To-day, Edwin? To-day--excuse me--I don't feel exactly +well--it will +be better to choose some other time--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He bent his glowing face over his work.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at this moment some one knocked, and the round, +good-natured face +of the owner of the house appeared in the doorway, for the little +artist had insisted upon his going first. In the half jocose, half +respectful manner, which he always adopted toward the brothers, he +introduced Herr König to them as a cultivated artist, and the father of +a daughter already highly educated, but who desired to pursue her +education still further. Immediately upon entering, the little +gentleman had become absorbed in looking at the copperplate engravings +and busts, and, seemingly, had forgotten the cause of his visit. But +when the shoemaker paused, and Edwin glanced smilingly at Balder, he +recollected himself and modestly told his errand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear sir," replied Edwin, "I really feel very much +honored, but I +do not yet know whether I am the man you seek, for I am not a +particularly good teacher, since I have not a particle of ambition to +become a pedagogue. For a thorough teacher is indifferent to the +calibre of his pupil's mind; the more idle, stupid, and destitute of +talent the scholar, the more eager should the teacher be to make +something out of him. I, on the contrary, still have too much to do for +myself, to be able to help others who have not at least the ability to +help themselves. I can indeed show the way, but the scholar must +perform the work. And as for young ladies, with all due respect for +your daughter, Herr König, how are these poor creatures, even if the +roads are smoothed before them and the goal pointed out, to journey +forward on their own feet, when from their earliest childhood, every +natural, firm, and steady step has been prohibited as unwomanly! They +trip and dance and glide and hover and soar, with variegated wings over +the green meadows of youth, but when they at last reach the highway of +sober life, they lean on a husband's arm, and expect to be supported +and carried forward by him. Excuse this uncourteous language, I have +experienced these things, and I do not see why I should not speak +openly. However, as I am now at leisure, if you will venture to try me +upon the recommendation of our landlord and foster father, I will make +an attempt to ascertain whether you are not deceived in me."</p> + +<p class="normal">He took his straw hat, and said in an undertone to Balder: +"Don't wait +meals for me again to-day, my boy, I may wander out somewhere into the +green fields, after I have made the acquaintance of this king's +daughter,<a name="div2_01" href="#div2Ref_01"><sup>[1]</sup></a> who is so eager for education."</p> + +<p class="normal">He passed his hand gently over the youth's hair by way of +parting, and +accompanied the two men down stairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he was alone in the hot street with the little artist, +the +latter said: "You have not far to go, Herr Doctor, I live on the +Schiffbauerdamm, and we can walk in the shade all the way. But, that +you may understand my daughter's peculiar course of education, allow me +to tell you something of my domestic affairs. Your landlord has made +you acquainted with my name. You have probably never heard it mentioned +before. My pictures are not remarkable performances, and for several +years past I have turned my attention more to wood engraving. A trade, +Herr Doctor, takes root in a firmer soil than art, though it may not +always be a soil so golden, and it becomes a father of a family, even +if the family consists of but two persons--however, I have never wholly +relinquished painting, adhering always to my own very modest style, +which in art circles, has even earned me a nickname. Just as there is a +cat-Raphael, and a velvet-and-hell Breughel, so I am called, owing to +my predilection for introducing old fences into my landscapes, the +zaun-könig.<a name="div2_02" href="#div2Ref_02"><sup>[2]</sup></a> Predilection?" he smiled as he continued, "that is not +exactly the right word either. God knows I would rather paint beautiful +woodlands, like Ruysdell, or clear, bright atmospheres like Claude +Lorraine, if my talent were but sufficient. But I always succeed best +in small, insignificant objects. So a bit of ground with stones, weeds, +and brambles, a clod of earth on which mother nature has developed her +productive powers as freely as if it were a world in itself, in +short what we call a 'foreground,' has always given me so much to +do--especially as I am somewhat near-sighted--that I have never arrived +at real landscapes. Well, everybody must cut his garment according to +his cloth. And when we reflect aright, do not God's power and glory +make themselves manifest in just as wonderful a guise behind a low +hedge or a garden fence, as in the romance of the primeval forest, or +the surpassing grandeur of the Swiss Alps? So what I do, I do because I +cannot help it; in short I work for my own edification, and try to +represent a small portion, a little corner or bit of creation, with so +much care and love, that in looking upon my work people may see that, +even this despised spot, God's breath has touched."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin had given but partial attention to these remarks, which +would +usually have interested him far more deeply. His thoughts were +wandering in vague, distant realms. But in order to say something, he +remarked: "And do you find purchasers for your pictures?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The little gentleman smiled, in a half-embarrassed, +half-conscious +manner.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said he, "I can't complain. I always dispose of at +least every +fourth or fifth picture; for, is it not strange! now-a-days everybody +must have his specialty; a work may be ever so worthless, but it will +possess some value, because its producer has had the courage not to +flinch or retreat from the path he has appointed for himself even if +the critics assail him with their deadly weapons. Yes, yes, it is +indeed surprizing to me, myself, but patrons of the fine arts have come +hither from Holland and from England, who wanted a real zaun-könig and +nothing better. So it is, that in the great economy of our creator, +every creature finds its appointed place, the mite as well as the +elephant.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I was going to tell you something about my domestic +affairs," +continued the little man. "You see, Herr Doctor, I have now been a +widower five years and seven months, but I cannot yet speak of my dear +wife without feeling, a perhaps unmanly or unchristian, but +nevertheless unconquerable grief. Therefore I will speak no further of +her, except that during the fifteen years I lived with her, there was +not an hour which I could wish effaced from my memory. She was a +Jewess, and I am a good evangelical Christian, but even that did not +cause a single moment of bitterness, for the God in whom we both +believed, was one and the same. As for our daughter, the mother agreed +that she should be educated as a Christian, and though she herself did +not wish to be baptised, she never tried to perplex the child. She was +buried in the Jewish churchyard, but that has never troubled me. The +spot to which this noble creature was carried for her eternal rest, is +<i>holy</i>, no matter whether it was consecrated by Christian minister or +Jewish Rabbi. Since she died, I can see that I have not been so pious +as when she was alive. The memory of her blends with all my thoughts of +heaven; I can no longer, as before, be alone in the presence of my God. +Ah well. He will not impute that to me as a sin."</p> + +<p class="normal">The artist paused a moment. His voice seemed to fail him, but +after a +moment he continued:</p> + +<p class="normal">"She has left me a daughter, who in many respects is very like +her; in +others not at all. She has far more independence, and often we do not +understand each other, and that never happened with her mother. The +child is nineteen years old, and--I will not praise her--but no one +could have a better heart, to say nothing of such a talent for drawing +and painting, that I only wonder how she came by it. In many things, +flower-pieces for instance, I am a bungler to her. I ought, long ago, +to have discountenanced her close application to it, that she might +have had more time for other things, I mean for intellectual culture. +But it gave her pleasure to think that she could earn something while +yet so young, and besides I was vain of her progress. Now, however, the +punishment has come. For some time she has been melancholy, because she +fancied that she was ignorant, or as she expressed it, that she had no +clear ideas. Now to me she seems clever and learned enough, and our old +friend, the widow of Professor Valentin, cannot understand what fault +she can find in herself, except perhaps, her somewhat singular opinions +on religious subjects. But I see that it is secretly destroying her +peace of mind, and, as I cannot help her myself, I have had recourse to +you, Herr Doctor, and, just because you are no pedantic schoolmaster, I +think you will soon discover what is the matter with the dear child."</p> + +<p class="normal">Meantime they had walked down Friedrichstrasse to the Spree, +and now +turned the corner to the right. "My house is only a few hundred paces +farther," said the artist. "It would be very difficult for me to make +up my mind to live in any other part of the city. People are always +speaking so contemptuously of our good Spree, and, to be sure, it is by +no means the proudest of our German rivers, nor the poorest just here, +in the midst of Berlin. But, to an artist's eye--apart from the +impression it makes in the open country, and especially in a romantic +spot like the Spreewald--can there be anything more charming than this +view of the canal, bridges, places of lading, water steps, and the +honest old Spree boats, lying so sleepily in the noonday sun, like +great fat crocodiles on the banks of the Nile? Look; the sailors have +already eaten their dinners; only here and there a thin blue column of +smoke, circles upward from some cabin chimney; the husband is lying on +deck, under a piece of sail near his cargo of coal, and his wife +sits beside him holding the baby in her lap, and brushing away the +water-flies. Notice how the brown wood is relieved against the pale +surface of the water, and behind it all, the bright sunlight effect. +See, too, the white Pomeranian, standing on the cabin stairs barking at +the little grey cat in the other boat? Here, in the midst of our +elegant capital, you have a fragment of Holland, as complete as you +could desire."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have been in Holland?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; I have never gone so far. But when one has seen their +pictures and +the excellent photographs that we have now--but stop a moment if you +please, I must show you something else."</p> + +<p class="normal">They had just passed some high houses and reached a place, +where a +narrow, ditch-like canal, bridged where the street crossed it, emptied +into the Spree. On one side stood the blank wall of a three-story +factory. Opposite was a low hut, very narrow in front, but extending +along the canal to a considerable depth. It seemed to have formerly +opened upon the quay, by a door beside its single window, but the door +was now walled up, and the window covered on the inner side by a dark +cloth. This decaying little house was connected by means of an iron +railing with its massive neighbor.</p> + +<p class="normal">The artist leaned over the railing and gazed up the canal, +whose dirty +brown water flowed so sluggishly, that it seemed stagnant and gave +forth a mouldering exhalation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of what does this remind you?" he asked, turning to Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean by 'this'?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, the canal, and yonder little bridge that connects the +two banks, +the post to which the clothes-line is fastened, and the atmospheric +effect and coloring of the stones, which we artists call <i>tone</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It bears a distant, but by no means flattering resemblance, +to Venice +and the Bridge of Sighs."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Right!" cried the little man, who in his earnestness, failed +to hear +the tinge of sarcasm in Edwin's remark. "True, I have not been in +Venice myself. But friends of mine, who have visited Italy, have +likewise been compelled to confess that this view was completely +Venetian, at least as the city is represented in Canaletto's pictures, +which, however, are doubtless somewhat cooler in tone, than the +reality. However, we are in Berlin, and it is only a harmless jest when +I talk of my lagune."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Your</i> lagune?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly. I live here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In this--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, in this hut: you need not swallow the word. To be sure +it is not +a doge's palace, this place where I have lived these twenty years, but +I would not exchange it for all the splendor of the old <i>sposo del +mare</i>, as the Venetians called their ruler. Besides, it is pleasanter +within than its exterior would lead one to expect. The door which is +now walled up, was formerly the entrance to a sailor's tavern, a +wretched, dirty wine-shop, and behind it were a few miserable rooms, +and a hole of a kitchen. Then came the stable and the wood-dealer's +shed, whose timber-yard, as you see, adjoins our little house. I had +just been married, and with all my treasures of hope and happiness, was +but a poor devil, when the host of this inn was arrested by the police +for concealing stolen goods and for other bad practices. The lumber +merchant would not have another dram-seller on his premises, and the +place was not exactly suitable for any one else. So I got it at a very +low price, had the door walled up to admit the light into my studio +from above, and though it has cost both toil and money to efface the +traces of the dirty inn--you shall judge for yourself if we have not at +last succeeded."</p> + +<p class="normal">Taking the lead, he conducted Edwin through a large gate +across the +spacious timber-yard. A narrow lane led between the huge piles of +odorous pine and beech wood, directly to the "hut," whose side view was +no more aristocratic than the front.</p> + +<p class="normal">"These six windows belong to me," said the artist with modest +pride. +Then he opened the low door and invited Edwin to enter.</p> + +<p class="normal">The interior of the old barrack, apart from a certain gloom +and +dampness, really did look more comfortable than one would have thought +possible from its exterior. An entry, painted in some light color, was +hung with etchings in plain wooden frames. A door, opposite, appeared +to open upon the canal.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Turn to the right, if you please," said the artist, "the +apartments on +the left are our sitting-room, my daughter's little room, a kitchen, +and a bed-chamber. Everything on the right belongs to art--according to +my modest style, for I sleep in my studio, and even in my dreams I +remain only the zaun-könig, and never fancy myself a Canaletto because +I live beside a lagune."</p> + +<p class="normal">As he concluded he opened the door of his studio.</p> + +<p class="normal">Certainly the low room no longer showed any trace of having +previously +sheltered drunken sailors, but to have painted Claude Lorraine +atmospheres there on gloomy days would have been a difficult matter. +Two windows opened upon the canal and the dark chimney of the next +house interposed itself between them and every ray of sunlight. At one +of these windows stood a low table, covered with the various tools of a +wood-engraver; at the other, a desk-like stand, before which sat a +young girl, absorbed in her work. Just in front of her a bouquet of +fresh flowers stood in a little vase, and she was evidently employed in +copying into the wreath which she was painting on a porcelain plate, +leaves and flowers from nature. On the walls hung all sorts of +sketches, interspersed with finished pictures which, even at a +distance, could not fail to be recognized as "genuine zaun-königs," +while on an easel not far from the first window, stood a new +half-finished landscape, over which the artist instantly spread a +cloth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must not see me too much in négligé," he said blushing. +"I usually +begin very awkwardly, and make a great many strokes on my little piece +of canvas, before any clear outlines appear. But here is my daughter, +Leah. She bears her mother's name. What are you going to say, my child? +You will be pleased with me, for I have brought you something that you +have long been wishing for."</p> + +<p class="normal">At her father's first words the young girl had arisen, but, on +perceiving the stranger she bowed modestly without moving from her +place.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was not conscious, dear father, of having particularly +desired +anything," she now said, gazing in surprise at the merry, mysterious +face of the little man, who seemed to be revelling in her perplexity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Not a teacher, child?' this very learned Herr Doctor will +not get to +the end of his Latin as quickly as the good young lady. But he wishes +to ascertain how far advanced you are, before saying whether he will +give you lessons. Come, come, you need not be frightened. The +examination won't kill you, even if you should be obliged to rack your +brains a little now and then. Am I not right, Herr Doctor?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young girl, whose complexion was usually pale, crimsoned, +and +remained silent, as if uncertain whether to take the matter in jest or +earnest. Edwin had time to observe her closely. She was taller than her +father, with a firm, slender figure, and seemed to resemble him in +nothing except the remarkably small size of her hands and feet. In the +beautiful, but perhaps rather high forehead, or in the large, dark eyes +which recalled her mother's race, there was no expression of +cheerfulness; but with the exception of the eyes there was nothing +Jewish in the face; the nose was perfectly straight, and the mouth +possessed a certain sensual fullness, which softened the sternness of +the other features. She had woven her thick black hair in braids, which +she wore in a singular fashion, crossed under her chin, so that the +pale oval face seemed set in a dark frame. A simple brown dress, worn, +despite the prevailing fashion, without crinoline, completed the +unusually grave appearance of the youthful figure.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the first glance Edwin perceived that he had reason to +congratulate +himself on the prospect of having such a scholar.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your father was but jesting," he said smiling. "Of course +there is no +necessity for a thorough examination. On the contrary, if you can +assure me, Fräulein, that you think yourself very ignorant, you shall +be spared any further questions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, <i>I</i> will confess that!" laughed her father. "But you +won't find +fault with the little knowledge she has acquired from school-books."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not at all," replied Edwin, as he approached the young girl +and looked +at her work. "You see, Fräulein, I once had to teach a young lady, who, +during the very first lesson, overwhelmed me with such a quantity of +learning, had so much to say about cuneated letters, Egyptian +mythology, besides relating various narratives about art and +literature, that, beside her, I seemed to myself like a child just +beginning its A, B, C. To be sure her wise little head was like a +lumber-room, where articles for the most varied and opposite uses are +stowed side by side without order or connection. But in her innocence +she had no suspicion of the existence of anything like clearness and +coherence, or cause and effect, in subjects and ideas. So I paid her +and her mother the compliment of saying that I found it impossible to +improve the young lady's education, and withdrew as speedily as +possible."</p> + +<p class="normal">The father and daughter were silent. Edwin, as if thinking of +entirely +different matters, walked about the room examining the sketches and +studies.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, my child?" the little artist spoke inquiringly; he was +growing +restless, for he did not exactly understand the state of affairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will not complain of me for a similar cause," the young +girl now +said, her voice trembling with suppressed excitement, while her eyes +sparkled with a strange light. "My case is exactly the reverse of that +young lady's. So long as my mother taught me, all study was a pleasure. +She did not make it easy; I was compelled to study out everything by +myself, and I never dared to repeat anything by rote, for she chided me +when she discovered it. Perhaps I did not learn much, or a great +variety; but everything made a strong impression upon me, and I have +not forgotten a word. But she died when I was yet very young, and +afterwards when I tried to get on by myself with the aid of books +everything seemed uninteresting, and I no longer took any pleasure in +study. And besides all this I must hasten to confess, Herr Doctor, +that, after all, you may not expect too much, that I have an actual +aversion to history and geography, and no ability to remember them. On +the contrary--but you are smiling. I expected as much; you did not +suppose it was so bad."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And for what have you a taste, Fräulein? What is it you +desire to +learn? Do not take offence at my smile. It only meant, that, at your +age, I was not very unlike you."</p> + +<p class="normal">She made no reply but cast a timid glance at her father. The +little man +seemed to understand it. He went to the other window, and busied +himself with his bits of wood.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should like," she now said in an undertone, fixing her dark +eyes on +the flowers in the vase, "I should like to have a clear idea of many +things which are now dark to my mind. Often when I am sitting quietly +at work, thoughts come that frighten me. Then they vanish again, +because I cannot detain and think them out. It is like being at night +in a strange neighborhood during a thunder-storm; for an instant a +flash of lightning reveals streets and alleys, and then, suddenly, all +is dark again. Or perhaps I read a passage in a book, over which I am +constantly compelled to reflect, longing to ask the author what he +meant, but no answer comes. I feel," she added in a still lower tone, +"that in many things I am unlike my dear father and a friend of ours, +the Fran Professorin Valentin, who is half a theologian, while I--well +it is not for lack of good will if I am not like her. But what I do not +understand has no existence for me, at least to contemplate it makes me +unhappy rather than happy, and yet when they say that the final secrets +of the world, and the divine thoughts, cannot be comprehended by the +human mind, I am obliged to concede the point. Only I can have no rest +until I learn whether we can know <i>anything</i>, and if so how much, or if +one, who unfortunately is unable to believe what she cannot understand, +must renounce all truth."</p> + +<p class="normal">She stopped suddenly, as her father made a movement as if to +rejoin +them, and with a hasty beseeching glance at Edwin, seemed to entreat +him not to violate the secret of the confessional.</p> + +<p class="normal">He smiled again and turned toward the innocent little man, who +approached. "My dear Herr König," said he, "your daughter has passed +the preliminary examination with great credit. I only hope that the +pupil may be as well satisfied with her teacher, as he expects to be +with her. So if it suits your convenience, we will begin to-morrow, and +I will come to you every other day at any hour in the afternoon which +you yourselves may select."</p> + +<p class="normal">The father looked at his daughter. "I thank you sincerely, +dear Herr +Doctor," said he. "See how the child's eyes are sparkling with +pleasure. Now in regard to your other conditions--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall make but one, my dear sir: that no one shall be +present during +the lessons. When I give private instruction, I always insist upon this +point. Either a public class-room, or entire privacy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unless you prefer some other place, Leah, you might receive +the Herr +Doctor in your sitting-room on the other side of the entry, where your +writing-table stands; but I think we had better show our friend the +whole house, that he may himself choose the best auditory."</p> + +<p class="normal">When Edwin took his leave a half hour later, he had seen every +nook and +corner in the little house; the niche in the sitting-room where the +bust of Leah's mother stood, the green sofa before it, the ivy at the +window, the steps leading to the lagune, where a pleasant-looking old +maid-servant was busy with her washing; glancing toward her young +mistress, she gazed curiously at the guest, who seemed to be +illustrating Jean Paul's pun about the <i>Lehrmeister</i>, who might become +a <i>Mehrleister</i>, Edwin himself would never have dreamed of such a +thing. He was very gay, and talked brilliantly as if among old +acquaintances. Later, when he had taken his leave, and found himself in +the street, he again paused a moment by the railing which ran alongside +of the canal; he no longer thought it incomprehensible that the +occupants of this insignificant "hut" would not have exchanged it for a +palace.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">But he had not strolled far from the quay, when these newly +made +friends vanished from his memory as suddenly as we blow out a candle, +and in their place appeared in most vivid hues, the vision of the +Unknown he had seen at the opera-house. The change was so sudden, that +he fairly started and stood still a moment to calm the beating of his +heart. If he had met her, bodily, on the lonely street, he could not +have been more astonished.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A bad prospect for amendment," he said to himself, with a +half +compassionate, half satisfied smile. He removed his hat and leaned over +the railing. Beneath him, the river flowed noiselessly on. A dead, +half-plucked bird floated past him, near a half-eaten apple. "Poor +thing," said Edwin, "you have endured to the end, and if not to be is +better than to be, you might be congratulated that never more will +bright-hued dainties tempt you, or hunger gnaw at your vitals when you +have naught else with which to satisfy its claims. Yet the sun is so +beautiful, and apples sweet to the taste, and I doubt not that your +worst nest was more comfortable than the filthy nothingness that bears +you away."</p> + +<p class="normal">He listened. Few persons and no carriages passed this spot, +but in the +distance he heard the hum and roar of the streets, through which rolled +the principal stream of traffic. It was pleasant to lose his own +identity in the vague sense of a manifold life, and yet at the same +time to bask in solitude. But, after a time, his enjoyment began to +pall. He turned back into the shade and walked slowly along the river +toward the neighborhood, where by passing through a few short side +streets, the zoölogical gardens may be reached. Here, too, it was +lonely at this noonday hour, and his old habit of strolling here and +there while thinking out a problem, had taught him all the paths in +which there was the least danger of meeting any one. But to-day he had +no desire to philosophize. On reaching his favorite spot, the +peninsula--not far from the marble statue of the king and the Louise +island, where a few weeks before he had developed his best thoughts for +the prize essay, he threw himself upon the grass in the dense shade of +the huge beeches and closed his eyes, that undisturbed he might devote +himself to his hopeless love dream.</p> + +<p class="normal">Despite his twenty-nine years, his feelings were precisely +similar to +those which fall to the lot of every one when attacked by his first +schoolboy love: the sensation of yielding to violence, of quite +forgetting self, and of being borne away on a flood-tide of passion, is +so strong and so delightful, that it swallows up all other emotions and +impulses, and the thought of possession, or even the desire for a +responsive feeling, can scarcely arise,--or, if at all, not in the +first stages, and in such a virgin soul as that of our philosopher. The +very unexpectedness, aimlessness, and unreasonableness of this event, +was to him, o'erwearied with arduous toil over abstruse thoughts, like +bathing in a shoreless sea, where, floating, he suffered the waves to +buoy him above the fathomless depths.</p> + +<p class="normal">A hoarse hand-organ close by, which suddenly began to play the +"Prince +of Arcadia," roused him rudely from the reverie in which time and place +were both forgotten. He sprang to his feet, and sought some escape from +the intrusive, soulless sounds. In a modest restaurant, where only a +few plain citizens were drinking coffee, he hurriedly ate his dinner, +and then as the seats were beginning to fill with afternoon guests, he +hastily departed, whither he did not himself know; he was only vaguely +conscious of a repugnance to appearing in broad daylight, in so +helpless a condition, before the brother to whom the preceding night he +had frankly confessed his state of mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">So glancing about him, he walked diagonally through the +shrubbery, +without any definite purpose, until he entered a broader avenue, when +he suddenly stood still, and with a cry of joyful astonishment gazed at +some distant object. It was at nothing more remarkable than a red and +white striped summer waistcoat, which, as the sun was shining full upon +it, was plainly visible. But it contained a little figure that he +readily recognized; a boy about fourteen years old, who wore a +high collar, a stiff cravat, a leather-colored livery jacket, and +knee-breeches of the same material. The youngster was sitting on a +bench in a droll old-fashioned attitude; he had placed his shining +oil-skin hat beside him, and was engaged in smoothing his light +hair with a little brush, glancing from time to time into a small +hand-glass.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin would have recognized this boy among a crowd of +miniature +lackeys, but he had not time to look at him long. Just as he took a few +paces forward, fully determined to question him concerning his +mistress, a slender figure in a light summer dress and broad Florentine +straw hat rose from the next bench, which was concealed by a drooping +branch, glanced over her shoulder at the boy, and then holding in one +hand the book she had been reading, and carrying a parasol lightly over +her shoulder, she walked rapidly toward the main avenue which runs from +the Brandebourg gate directly through the Zoölogical Garden.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her motions were so rapid that the little fellow in the large +gaiters +found it difficult to overtake her, and even Edwin was compelled to +take long strides. As he passed the bench where she had been sitting, +he saw a ribbon lying on the ground, which, in her hasty departure, she +seemed to have lost. He picked it up; it was a white satin book-mark, +the ends trimmed with gold fringe, and somewhat clumsily embroidered in +blue and black beads with the well-known symbols of faith, hope, and +charity. This discovery detained him a moment. Meantime its owner had +already reached an elegant carriage, which had been waiting for her +outside, the little page had opened the door, the lady entered without +his assistance, the horses started, and the light equipage rolled +toward the city at a rapid pace.</p> + +<p class="normal">But today Edwin had not only better fortune than on the day +previous, +but also the presence of mind necessary to seize his opportunity. An +empty droschky was moving lazily down the road; he threw himself into +it and promised the driver a double fare, if he would overtake the +carriage and not lose sight of it.</p> + +<p class="normal">They drove through the gate, down Unter den Linden, turned to +the right +into Friedrichstrasse, and then to the left into the Jägerstrasse, +where the equipage stopped before a pretty new house. The little +servant climbed down from the box like a monkey, opened the door, and +followed the lady, who had sprung lightly out, into the house, the +carriage driving off at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin dismissed his droschky at the corner of the street, and +now with +a throbbing heart walked past the house several times on the opposite +side of the street, gazing at the open windows to see whether the +charming face would not appear at one of them. But there was nothing to +be seen, except in one of the rooms on the second story a flower-stand +containing magnificent palms and other broad-leaved plants, and at the +window near by a large bird-cage with glittering gilded wires. Here, +then, was where she lived. He had in his pocket the best possible +excuse for introducing himself, and yet for a long time he could not +summon up courage to enter the house and mount the stairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he at last nerved himself to this, he lingered a few +moments at +the door, trying to recall his somewhat rusty French, in case she +really should not understand German. Then he felt ashamed of his boyish +timidity and pulled the bell so vigorously, that it pealed loudly +through the silent house.</p> + +<p class="normal">The door was instantly opened, the striped waistcoat appeared, +and its +owner stared at the noisy visitor, with a disapproving expression in +his round, watery blue eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be kind enough, my little fellow," said Edwin, "to inform +your +mistress that some one desires to speak to her, and to return something +she has lost."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whom have I the honor--?" asked the well-trained dwarf.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The name is of no consequence. Do as I have told you."</p> + +<p class="normal">The boy disappeared, but returned in a short time, during +which Edwin +heard no French spoken, and said: "The young lady begs you to walk in +here a moment."</p> + +<p class="normal">As he spoke he opened the door of a small ante-room, furnished +only +with a few elegant cane chairs and a dainty marble table, on which lay +a book and fan.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is your name, my boy?" Edwin asked the little fellow, as +he +seated himself with much apparent self-possession.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My real name is Hans Jacob, but my mistress calls me Jean."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Isn't this your first place, little Jean Jacques? You seem to +be a +precocious genius."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My first service was with a baron; then I learned to ride, +and I had +the reins to hold when he got out of the cabriolet, for he drove, +himself. Here there is only a hired coachman."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And how long have you lived with this young lady?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just a fortnight. It's a very easy place, I have every Sunday +to +myself; there is a chambermaid too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can you speak French, Jean Jacques?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The boy blushed. Edwin seemed to have wounded his pride.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The young lady speaks German," he replied. "But there is her +bell. I +must go."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin mechanically took up the book that lay upon the little +table. +"Balzac!" said he. "'Père Goriot.' After all, she is probably a +wandering Pole or Russian; they speak all languages, and drink in +Balzac, with their mother's milk."</p> + +<p class="normal">He rose and glanced into the adjoining room. The little +<i>salon</i>, into +which the light struggled, through heavy crimson curtains, was rendered +still darker by the wide spreading leaves of the palms. Before the +mirror a parrot was swinging in a ring, without uttering a sound. The +walls were dark, the ceiling wainscoted with brown wood, and on the +black marble mantlepiece stood a heavy <i>verde antique</i> clock. The +brightness and spaciousness of the next apartment, into which he could +obtain but a partial glimpse through the open door, seemed greatly +enhanced in comparison with this. Tent-like hangings with gilded rods, +a portion of a dainty buffet with glittering silverware, and directly +opposite to the door a little table covered with dishes, but, so far as +he could see, furnished with but one plate. Besides these things, he +noticed the constant chirping and fluttering of the birds in the great +cage.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin had had ample opportunity, while teaching the young +members of +noble families, to compare the furnishing of the "tun" with the +luxurious arrangements of city houses. Hitherto the contrast had never +been painful to him. To-day, for the first time, he seemed to himself +as he chanced to glance into the mirror, like the shepherd in the fairy +tale, who wandered into a magic castle. Any attempt to improve his +costume he gave up as hopeless, but he was about to draw from his coat +pocket the gloves which he usually carried there, when the opposite +door of the little ante-room unclosed, and the beautiful, bewitching +creature entered, followed by the dwarf.</p> + +<p class="normal">She paused upon the threshold with an air of indignant +surprise, then +turning to the boy she seemed to give utterance to some reproof, from +which he defended himself in a whisper. Thus Edwin had time to look at +her, and to recover from his own embarrassment.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her beauty was really so remarkable, that she might have +unsettled the +brains of a far more discerning admirer of womankind than our +philosopher. He had described her tolerably well to his brother the +preceding night, but here in the broad light of day, she seemed to him +to have assumed an entirely different appearance; her complexion was +more brilliant, her eyes wore a more dreamy expression, and she seemed +to possess a quiet, careless indifference, such as we see in children +who, loving nothing and hating nothing, are troubled at nought. +Moreover the light dress that enwrapped her like a cloud was +particularly becoming, and her hair, with the familiar little curls on +the neck, seemed darker from the contrast.</p> + +<p class="normal">She greeted the stranger with a scarcely perceptible bend of +the head. +"Herr--?" she began, and looked at him inquiringly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pardon me, Fräulein," he replied in an unconstrained manner, +which he +feigned with very tolerable skill, "I have been unable to deny myself +the pleasure of taking advantage of a lucky chance, and of presenting +myself in person as the honest finder of your property. Besides, I +hoped I might not be entirely unknown to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You? To me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I had the pleasure last evening of sitting next you in a box +at the +opera-house during the first act of the ballet."</p> + +<p class="normal">A hasty glance from her wondering eyes scanned his face. "I do +not +remember it," she said curtly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I must endure the mortification," he replied smiling. +He was +really glad that she treated him so coldly. His pride, which had been +intimidated by her beauty, suddenly awoke and aided him to recover his +equanimity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have something to return to me?" she now said in a +somewhat +impatient tone. "I have not missed anything, but may I ask you, sir, to +tell me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He drew the white satin ribbon from his pocket, and held it +out to her. +A sudden change took place in her cold bearing. She approached him, and +her eyes sparkled with childish delight. "Ah! that," she exclaimed, +"yes, indeed, that does belong to me. I must have dropped it scarcely +an hour ago, and so have had no time to miss it. Thanks--a thousand +thanks. It is a keepsake."</p> + +<p class="normal">She took it from his hand, and in so doing vouchsafed him her +first +friendly glance, then with a bow which resembled a sign of dismissal, +she moved a step backward toward the door. But he remained motionless +in the same spot.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know, Fräulein," said he, "that an honest finder is +entitled to a +suitable reward. Would you think me presumptuous, if I asked you to +answer a question?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whether you embroidered the bookmark yourself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why do you wish to know that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"From a certainly very indiscreet curiosity; because I should +draw from +it all sorts of inferences about the character of the fair owner. You +know, Fräulein, the style reveals the individual, and we must judge +those who do not write books by some piece of handiwork."</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked at him quietly, as if she considered it beneath her +dignity +even to let him perceive that his jesting tone annoyed her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is not my work," she replied; "under other +circumstances, I +should have been very indifferent to its loss, for it is not even +pretty. But it is a present from my youngest sister, who put it in my +hymn-book the day I was confirmed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Strange!" he said, as if to himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is strange?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That book-marks, as well as books, have their destinies. From +a +hymn-book to Balzac!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Balzac? How to you know--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg your pardon, Fräulein; while I was waiting for you, I +opened +yonder book. Do you read French works from preference?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Her eyes again rested on him with an expression of +astonishment. This +stranger, who was evidently only seeking some pretext to question or +intrude himself upon her, was making her uncomfortable. But while +meeting his calm gaze, she could find no words to dismiss him abruptly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," she replied. "My father accustomed me to French +literature; he was a German it is true, but he lived a long time in +Paris. His books recalled old memories."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And do you like them? 'Père Goriot,' for instance?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He at least interests me. The French is so pure, and--the +style is so +good. To be sure, many things make me angry. Those heartless daughters, +who so quietly permit their old father to ruin himself for them--it is +horrible."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, Fräulein," he eagerly replied. "I am glad that is +your +opinion. Good style, but bad music. Yet it is strange what a clever +author can do. If we met such people in real life, I think we should +refuse to associate with them. In books we submit to the most +disagreeable society."</p> + +<p class="normal">She seemed about to make some reply, but at that moment a +chambermaid +entered and said a few words in a low tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will come directly," answered her young mistress, and then +turned to +Edwin. "Excuse me, sir, I am called away. Accept my best thanks again. +Jean, show the gentleman to the door."</p> + +<p class="normal">The lad instantly stepped forward, but Edwin did not seem to +notice +him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should like to ask one more question," said he.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir--?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I obtained a glimpse of your charming rooms through the open +doors. +Everything that the most capricious fancy can desire seems to be +supplied, with the exception of what is to me a necessity of life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mean--?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A small library. Even the copy of Balzac, I see you have +ordered from +a circulating library. Pardon my frankness, Fräulein, but I do not +understand how such beautiful fingers can touch a book which has +already been on so many tables and passed through so many hands of +doubtful cleanliness."</p> + +<p class="normal">He saw her blush and cast an almost startled glance at the +book on the +little marble table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have not been here long," she replied, "and as yet have +given no +thought to procuring books."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then permit me to put my little stock at your disposal. True, +it is +not very rich in French literature, but if you have no aversion to +German books--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know so little about them," she replied with evident +embarrassment, +which lent to her features a still greater charm than their former +aristocratic indifference. "There was not much conversation on +literature in my parents' house. Just think, I have scarcely read +anything by Gœthe."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So much the better, for great pleasures are then in store for +you. If +you have no objection, I will take the liberty of bringing you a few +volumes to-morrow." She seemed to reflect upon the proposal. "I cannot +possibly permit you to take so much trouble for a total stranger. I +will send to a bookseller."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you afraid that I shall again intrude upon you in +person?" he +asked, pausing at the door. "I promise, Fräulein, that I will only +consider myself your messenger, and deliver the books at the outer +door. Or have you no confidence in my discretion, because I honestly +confessed my curiosity?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked at him intently a moment, and then said: "very +well, bring +me what you please; I shall be grateful. Adieu!"</p> + +<p class="normal">With these words, she slightly bent her head and disappeared +in the +adjoining room. No choice was left Edwin but to retire also.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he reached the entrance-hall of the house and the door +had closed +behind him, he paused and closed his eyes, as if to collect his +thoughts. Again he saw her standing before him in her beauty and with +her haughty ease of manner, and a great sorrow, he knew not why, +overpowered him. Little as he knew of life in the great world, or the +<i>demi monde</i>, he was convinced that all was not right with this +enchanted princess, since she merely dwelt like a rare bird in a gilded +cage, no longer her own mistress. Then again when he thought of her +calm, wondering, childish eyes, and of the little proud mouth and the +full lips, which quivered slightly when she was considering an answer +to one of his questions, it seemed impossible to attach a thought of +guilt or depravity to this mysterious life.</p> + +<p class="normal">His own passion at the moment was completely forgotten in his +unselfish +interest in her fate. And yet he did not know much more about her than +he knew an hour before. Not even her name, for it was not on the door. +And from whom could he inquire about her, even if he had not an +instinctive aversion to all underhanded measures?</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at that moment fortune again befriended him.</p> + +<p class="normal">A stout middle-aged woman in a bonnet and shawl, with a little +basket +on her arm, slowly descended the stairs; it was with evident surprise +that she saw a stranger lingering in the hall, and, with the air of one +responsible for the order of the house, she asked whom he wished to +see. He replied that he had only brought back an article belonging to +the young lady within, which he had found, and that he was just +leaving; then pausing a few steps before her, as she followed him on +foot, he murmured absently: "What a pity!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this the woman stopped also, standing with one arm akimbo. +"What is +a pity?" she asked. "What do you know about my lodgers, sir, that you +dare to make use of such a sympathizing expression. I beg, sir, to +inform you that there is no one in my house who stands in need of +pity."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," he said frankly, "I meant no harm. But, judging from +her +surroundings, the young lady seems to belong to an aristocratic family, +and yet she lives so secludedly; who knows what sad reasons--"</p> + +<p class="normal">As he spoke he began to descend the steps; the woman, however, +stood +still, leaned against the banister, seemingly unable to resist the +temptation to display her superior knowledge of the world.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aristocratic?" she said with a slight shrug of the shoulders. +"Gracious me! It's all in her clothes, and Heaven knows how long the +finery will last. I suppose you think the silk curtains, and the +elegant furniture, and the silver all belong to her! Only hired, my +dear sir! They don't even belong to me, for I have never rented +furnished rooms; one can easily lose one's good name through people who +don't even own their own beds. My name is Sturzmüller, and I've had +this house these ten years; I'm a widow I'd have you know, and no man +can breathe a word against me, and as for the aristocratic young lady +up stairs, if I don't soon find out all about her, I'll ask her a price +that will astonish her. I want no lodgers over whom people shake their +heads and say 'it is a pity'!"</p> + +<p class="normal">So saying she walked sturdily down stairs past Edwin, and +seemed to +have finished all that she had to say.</p> + +<p class="normal">But now it was his turn to pause.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you, too, do not know what to make of this wonderful +vision?" he +asked in feigned surprise, while his heart beat violently from +excitement. "Surely she has not concealed her name!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The woman turned and looked again at her interrogator, as if +to judge +from his appearance if he was really as innocent as his questions would +imply, or some cunning spy who wanted to draw her out. But his honest +face, as well as his plain yet respectable attire, appeared to allay +her suspicions.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Her name!" she muttered. "What do I care for a name? Toinette +Marchand--can't anybody call herself that and yet in reality bear a +name quite unlike it? Besides, it's none of my business what my lodgers +call themselves, provided I know where they come from and what they +are. But this one, why, would you believe it! during all this fortnight +I am not a whit the wiser as to whether she is really a respectable +person, or a bit of plated ware; you understand? The truth is, I rented +the rooms in the second story to Count ----, --but I must not mention +his name--who had them furnished in this way, for a cousin, he said. +What he meant by a 'cousin' one can easily guess, but we can't reform +the world, sir, and if I were to play conscience-keeper to my lodgers, +I should have enough to do. So at last everything was finished, as +pretty as a doll's house; it must have cost the count a pile of money! +and, after all, the cousin snapped her fingers at him and gave him the +slip. It was some one belonging to the opera-house, the valet +afterwards told me; a light-minded creature, who ran away one fine day +with a Russian. Well, it was all the same to me. I received my rent +regularly every quarter, could walk over the beautiful carpets in the +empty rooms if I chose, and was not even obliged to connive at a breach +of morality. But one fine morning--I was just watering the palms on the +flower-stand--the count came marching in with a beautiful Frenchwoman, +not the cousin, but--who? Ah, that is the question. He treated her very +respectfully, but while she was looking around he told me, in a +whisper, to represent that the furniture would be rented with the +apartments, but to charge no more than twelve thalers a month. Well, I +was ready enough to have my rent increased if she wanted to pay that +amount, and besides that price is very low for five such rooms, with a +kitchen and cellar. The young lady was charmed with them, took +possession at once, and ordered her trunks to be brought from the +railway station, I was to provide a servant to bring her meals from the +restaurant, the maid and the little footman she hired herself. Well, +since then though I've often asked whether I could be of any service, I +have never exchanged twenty words with her. Did you ever hear of such a +thing? So haughty and hardened at her age?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the count?" said Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is the strangest part of all. Since that first day, when +he went +away directly, he hasn't set his foot across her threshold. I haven't +even caught a glimpse of the valet, from whom I might have learned +something. Heaven knows what has happened--perhaps they quarreled at +the very beginning. However, it seems to trouble her very little; she +certainly lacks nothing,--horses and carriages, the most elegant +dresses, tickets to the theatre,--well, my good sir, you and I don't +pay for it, so it's no concern of ours. But something's wrong, that's +certain. Nothing times nothing is nothing, and I've never had anything +of the kind happen to me. You won't believe me, but she never permits a +living soul in the shape of man to cross her threshold. Not at any hour +of the day or night, I tell you, for though I live on the third story, +I know every cat that goes in and out, and besides her maid is by no +means close-mouthed. Now I put it to you, would one so young, as +handsome as a picture, and with so much money, be so much alone if +there wasn't something to conceal, something for the new 'Pitaval,' you +understand,--no, no, I won't have such proceedings in my house; +'everything open and above-board,' that's my motto, for what would be +the use of a good character, if some fine day the police should come in +upon me! But you will make no bad use of what I have said; I could not +help speaking out, and my words and acts needn't shun the light. Yes, +yes, dear sir, there is much to be learned from God's word."</p> + +<p class="normal">While uttering these sentences, broken by numerous pauses, she +had +reached the street door; here, taking a friendly farewell of Edwin, she +crossed the street to a shop.</p> + +<p class="normal">He, too, turned away. He had not the courage to look back at +the second +story windows from the other side of the street; the fair occupant +might think it strange that he was still hanging about the house. And +yet how much he would have given, for even a fleeting glance which +might dispel the dense cloud of suspicion and sorrow, which during the +loquacious gossip of the landlady had fallen more and more heavily on +his heart.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Meantime Reginchen's birthday had been celebrated in the +Dorotheen-strasse.</p> + +<p class="normal">First of all came the dinner in her parents' great +sitting-room, at +which, as usual, the journeymen and apprentices were present. Madame +Feyertag insisted that, before coming to the table, each should wash +his hands at the pump, and brush his jacket. To-day this ceremony, +which frequently was somewhat hurried, was performed with a +thoroughness that proved the homage each offered his master's daughter +to be no mere formality, but an offering from the heart. The head +journeyman had even availed himself of his superior social position, so +far as to appear with a bouquet, which, with a few well-chosen words, +he presented to the blushing child. Madame Feyertag pretended not to +notice this. She seemed to have some suspicion that the worthy man +might consider it a standing tradition in the family, that the head +journeyman must marry the master's daughter, and though she herself had +experienced the blessings of such a <i>mésalliance</i>, she hoped for a +better match for her only daughter. The shoemaker had no such +aspirations. When he reflected upon the past, he remembered very +different attentions, which even without any festal occasion, he had +paid the female members of his master's family. He was in a very good +humor, eat three large pieces of the famous plum cake, and finally +ordered two bottles of wine to be brought from the cellar, in which he +drank Reginchen's health in a speech, that spite of the strange +admixture of fatherly tenderness and incomprehensible allusions to +Schopenhauer, was admired by all the journeymen as a pattern of +oratorical art.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet despite all this, the solemn meal did not last more than +half an +hour, and it was exactly half-past twelve when the little heroine of +the day, according to her usual custom, carried the brothers' dinner up +to the "tun." The low price which they paid for their board did not +admit of their being served with food more dainty than that with which +the people in the workroom were forced to content themselves, but +Madame Feyertag, who had a kind heart and felt an almost maternal +solicitude for Balder on account of his beauty and delicate health, +always remembered to keep some of the best pieces for her boarders +before supplying her own people.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Reginchen entered the second story room, delighted with +the +festivities of the day, and proud of the large piece of birthday cake +that fell to the brothers' lot, she was surprised to find no one but +Balder, who was sitting at his turning-lathe, and who, at her +appearance, hastily concealed something in the pocket of his working +blouse. She was afraid that, as had often happened, she would be +obliged to carry the dinner down again to be kept warm, and her +brother, the machinist, was to come for her precisely at one. But when +Balder told her that Edwin would not dine at home to-day, she +brightened up again, laid the table quickly and as daintily as the +simple dishes would permit, and placed in the middle the plate of cake, +which she had adorned with a few flowers from the head journeyman's +bouquet. Then she stood before her work with an expression of +mischievous delight, and called to Balder to sit down and not let the +dinner grow cold.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Reginchen," said the youth, as he limped forward with an +embarrassed air, "I have no beautiful flowers like George. Nothing +green and blooming grows upon my bench, you know. But, I too, should +like to recognize your eighteenth birthday to the best of my ability, +and that not by merely eating your nice cake. Will you accept as a +keepsake this little box, which I have made myself? I am sorry that you +will have to fill it for yourself, for I have not had time to buy +thimble, silk, needles, and all the other things it should contain."</p> + +<p class="normal">He drew forth the dainty polished article, and handed it to +her, +opening it as he did so, that she might see the inside. A flush of joy +crimsoned her round blooming face. But she thought it due to her good +breeding, not to accept the gift at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! Herr Walter," she said, smoothing her fair hair with both +hands,--it was a habit she had when embarrassed,--"Did I not beg you to +make me no more presents? My mother will scold again, for she thinks +you work too much already, and that you ought to take more care of +yourself. You must have toiled for weeks over such a pretty thing as +this--and I--it is too good for me--it is <i>too</i> lovely--is it really +mine? If I only knew what I could do--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shall I tell you, Reginchen?" he said, and his pale cheeks +flushed +also--"sit down opposite me a little while; it is so dismal to eat +alone, and I should like to feel merry on your birthday, else how could +I enjoy the cake your kind mother has sent? If you leave me alone I +dare say I shan't be able to touch a mouthful of it, out of pure sorrow +for my own loneliness on such a holiday."</p> + +<p class="normal">He had a voice that was hard to resist, and the young girl was +so full +of compassion for his situation and so full of childish delight in her +gift, that she instantly pushed a chair up to the little table and sat +down opposite him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I really ought not to stay here any longer than is necessary +to bring +up the dinner and afterward to carry down the dishes again," she said, +with a roguish affectation of secrecy. "But my mother won't be on the +watch to-day. She doubtless thinks I am making ready for the excursion, +but Fritz won't be here before one. He has only obtained leave to be +away for the afternoon, and has to come all the way from Moabit. Pray +do tell me, Herr Walter, how can you bear to live as you do? But you +are letting the soup get cold."</p> + +<p class="normal">She eagerly pushed toward him the dish, for which he seemed to +have no +special desire, and with the most charmingly officious coquetry she put +the spoon into his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To live so?" he repeated, smiling, as he ate the soup. "I +don't know +how a man could live any better. A dinner before me fit for a prince, +while the sun shines on the green leaves before the open window, and +the little hostess herself condescends to serve me--I should be a +monster of ingratitude if I could desire anything better."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! nonsense," replied the young girl shaking her head. "You +are only +joking, you know very well what I mean. Is it not almost two years +since you have been out of the house? It would kill me to stay in the +same place all the time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because you are a little wagtail, Reginchen. Or must I not +call you +that any more, now that you are eighteen years old? But I think you +will retain all your life the same activity that you showed five years +ago when we came here and when you carried my brother's books up-stairs +one by one, to enable you to run up and down more frequently. Now +jumping, you see, is not exactly my forte. But there is one peculiarity +about the pleasures a man enjoys: if he can't pursue them himself, they +are kind enough to come to him, and the happy hours that I have passed +up here during the last five years cannot be counted."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because, as mother always says, you are so moderate in your +wants, and +so contented with everything."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! not at all, Reginchen. Your kind mother has a false +opinion of me. +On the contrary, I am very much spoiled, I am by no means contented +with everything, and that is the very reason that I have no desire to +go out among the crowd of rude, coarse people, who are nothing to me, +to witness their self-torment in their endeavor to kill time, and to +lose the consciousness of their miserable, paltry, joyless lives; how +by means of bustle and fine dressing they try to appear to be something +which they are not, and standing on a huge pile of thalers which they +have scraped together Heaven knows how, attempt to pass themselves off +as great men. And now compare my life with all that, Reginchen: +constantly in the society of such a brother, possessing a few good +friends, just enough not to forget that even the best of men are not +Edwins, so well taken care of in such a pretty, comfortable house, with +no anxieties, and--besides--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He hesitated and his color heightened. "Will you pass me the +plate of +greens, Reginchen?" he asked, to conceal his embarrassment.</p> + +<p class="normal">She did not seem to notice it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is all very well," she said. "But, Herr Walter, are you +not +always sick, and do you not have to bear a great deal of pain? And +health, it is said, is the greatest blessing."</p> + +<p class="normal">He pushed back his plate and looked at her with such a light +in his +blue eyes, that she grew a little embarrassed in her turn, and secretly +wondered whether she had said anything stupid or childish. To-day, for +the first time, she felt ill at ease in this gentle, cheerful presence, +confessing to herself, however, at the same time, that he was really +very handsome, as her mother had always said, and as, before, she would +never admit, since all sickness and repose was distasteful to her +bright, active temperament.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Reginchen," he said, "you are eighteen years old to-day, +and it +is allowable for me to tell you, that many, nay most things, which +people repeat among themselves, are the very opposite of the truth. +Health, for instance, which is considered a necessary condition to +happiness, affords no more and no less than any of the other gifts so +commonly desired: wealth, talent, beauty, and so forth. Whether or not +these blessings will make a man happy, depends mainly upon whether he +knows how to use them. I was once acquainted with a man who never had +even a finger ache. But he did not value the gift of health, +principally because he had never been sick, regarding it as he regarded +respiration as a matter of course; his health, moreover, gave him an +opportunity to make life a burden to himself and every one about him, +because he had never learned to restrain his rude strength. It was not +until he met with an accident, and was dependent, in his pain and +helplessness, upon others, did he learn anything about human love and +the thousand little joys of life, which he had formerly despised. Yet, +Reginchen, I don't wish to persuade you to exchange with me. It would +be hard for such a wagtail to be compelled to limp about, or to sit +still. But sincerely as I hope that all your life you may keep your +perfect health, yet I am sure that should it be otherwise, you would +learn to understand me, and perceive--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Here he was interrupted by a knock at the door. A servant +entered, and +casting a sly inquisitive glance at the young pair who seemed so +absorbed in each other, dragged a basket into the room: "Dr. Marquard +had sent the medicine he mentioned, and would call in a few days to see +whether it had produced the proper effect."</p> + +<p class="normal">When he departed with a roguish "Wish you joy!" Balder rose, +exclaiming: "Well, Reginchen, won't you confess now, that I am one of +the luckiest fellows under the sun? If I had two sound legs like Edwin, +who knows where I might be wandering at this moment. But instead of +that, here I am enjoying an enviable hour, celebrating your birthday +with a cosy dinner in the company of the heroine of the occasion, with +flowers and plum cake for dessert, and, just at the right moment, when +the conversation was growing a little serious, some excellent wine +arrives, with which we may drink ourselves merry again. You need not +get a corkscrew. Here is an auger on my bench. Do you know, we two will +do a charity in opening one of these bottles. The wine is really +intended for Edwin; he is to drink it to strengthen him. But this +otherwise perfect mortal is somewhat hard to manage in certain things. +He would be quite capable, from pure obstinacy, of sending back the +whole basket,--though it comes from an old friend,--because our +finances will not usually permit us to indulge in this luxury. So I +must make him believe the wine was prescribed for me as well as +himself, and as we share everything, he will finally drink it with me. +Come, Reginchen. You will have to content yourself with a tumbler, we +have not yet reached the dignity of crystal drinking-cups. Your +<i>health</i>, and may that blessing be accompanied by so many others, that +you will never be able to discover how paltry a possession it is in +itself alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">He handed her a glass, and they clinked them merrily together +after a +little hesitation on Reginchen's part; she feared the wine would go to +her head. She only sipped a little, but Balder emptied his glass at a +single draught, and then stepping quickly to the open window, and +before she could understand what he was about to do, he threw the empty +glass down into the courtyard where it was shattered in pieces.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens," she exclaimed, "what are you doing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Celebrating your birthday, Reginchen," he answered gaily, +approaching +her and taking her hand. "May I not prove not only that I am very well, +but that I am also rich enough to throw something away? He who has +something to spare cannot be in want. And now farewell, dear Reginchen; +I hear your brother's voice down stairs. When wearied with pleasure you +lie down to rest to-night, remember that some one less light-footed +than you, rejoices that you came into the world eighteen years ago +to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">In spite of the warning that she must go, he held her hand so +firmly +that her blush grew deeper and deeper. Suddenly, with a quick turn of +the wrist she broke away from him, and hastily collecting the dishes, +said: "I will bring you a bouquet of cornflowers, if they are still in +bloom. Good-bye, Herr Walter, and thank you again for your beautiful +present. My mother is right: you are the best man in the whole world."</p> + +<p class="normal">With these words she ran out of the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">He listened till the sound of her quick steps died away below, +then a +shadow of sorrowful thought flitted over his face. He went to a drawer +that was constructed in the lower part of his turning-lathe, and +unlocking it, took out a portfolio containing scattered leaves which +seemed to be covered with verses. Turning them over he read a little +here and there for a time, then placing Reginchen's almost untasted +glass of wine before him, he sat down, and occasionally taking a sip +from the glass, began to write a poem.</p> + +<p class="center"><img src="images/p84.png" alt="Reginchen and Balder"></p> + + +<p class="center">Reginchen and Balder.</p> + +<p class="normal">About an hour elapsed in this manner. His delicate, almost +girlish +features grew brighter; from time to time, with an eager gesture, he +tossed back his thick fair hair, gazed out at the sun-gilded top of the +acacia-tree and up at the patch of blue sky, that peered in upon him +over the old roof. Happiness, repose, and a divine cheerfulness beamed, +the longer he wrote, on brow and cheeks.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t5">They say I am ill. And it well may be;</p> +<p class="t5">Yet I feel no sorrow, from pain am free.</p> +<p class="t4">The current of life flowing swiftly on</p> +<p class="t5">In sunlight I see,</p> +<p class="t4">And sit on the shore, where the flowers bloom.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t5">Oh! murmur of waves, soft breeze that blesses,</p> +<p class="t5">Air, water, light,--how sweet your caresses!</p> +<p class="t4">Do you not beckon to me from the boat,</p> +<p class="t5">Child with gold tresses?</p> +<p class="t4">Ah! yes, she beckons--and onward will float!</p> +<p class="t4"> </p> +<div style="margin-left:5em"> +<p class="t6">If ye fade from sight,</p> +<p class="t7">Oh! star-like eyes,</p> +<p class="t6">And bereft of light,</p> +<p class="t7">Vain are my sighs,</p> +<p class="t6">Joy's radiant glow</p> +<p class="t6">E'en 'mid my woe</p> +<p class="t7">Will aye remain.</p> +<p class="t4"> </p> + +<p class="t6">Oh! blessed sun</p> +<p class="t5">Of love and purity,</p> +<p class="t5">Glad soul, from guile so free,</p> +<p class="t6">How bright thy rays!</p> +<p class="t5">My flower of life unfolds to thee--</p> +<p class="t6">Thou dost not dream--how short its days!</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="normal">Again, for a short time, he rested, employing his pen +meanwhile by +sketching a framework of flowers and vines for the verses; he had +written the stanzas without a single erasure or the alteration of a +rhyme. This was no art-exercise which he pursued in order to fancy +himself a poet, (on the contrary, he declared that the real poet was +Edwin, only that he was too proud to let his light shine); it was only +a kind of soliloquy, and by writing down these improvisations, instead +of merely murmuring them to himself, he simply increased and prolonged +his solitary pleasure. He always carried in his own pocket the key of +the drawer where he kept the papers, and even Edwin, from whom he +usually had no secrets, was not permitted to touch this hidden +treasure.</p> + +<p class="normal">He now took another sheet, and wrote the following lines:--</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t6">To <i>this</i> lot assigned,</p> +<p class="t6">This joy once possessed,</p> +<p class="t6">Say, can one so blessed</p> +<p class="t6">On earth be sad?</p> +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t6">To cool my heart's fire,</p> +<p class="t7">By answering love,</p> +<p class="t6">To feel the desire,</p> +<p class="t7">Man's brother to prove;</p> +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t6">Firm in purity,</p> +<p class="t7">By beauty inspired,</p> +<p class="t6">Ere of life weary</p> +<p class="t7">By death required;</p> +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t6">The great mystery</p> +<p class="t7">Vaguely believing,</p> +<p class="t6">Germs of truth in the</p> +<p class="t7">Soul's depths perceiving,</p> +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t6">Truth-germs unfolding</p> +<p class="t7">In the light given,</p> +<p class="t6">Joyfully holding</p> +<p class="t7">The rain from heaven,</p> +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t6">A spark of divine fire</p> +<p class="t7">Into the heart hurled,</p> +<p class="t6">Kindles with pure desire</p> +<p class="t7">A child of the world.</p> +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t6">To <i>this</i> lot assigned,</p> +<p class="t6"><i>This</i> joy once possessed,</p> +<p class="t6">Say, can one so blessed</p> +<p class="t6">On earth be sad?</p> + + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Yet hours may come when the spirit will fail,<br> +Petty cares, like a swarm of flies, assail;<br> +Midst the current of life, with gasping breath,<br> +Waiting I stand, for the summons of death.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Doubting, I question if earth is to me<br> +So grand, so blissful a reality;<br> +Outweighing all the burdens of my life,<br> +My aimless days of fruitless toil and strife.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Sternly denied the brightest joys of earth,<br> +My homely toil no laurel-wreath is worth;<br> +If, wearied of the slowly passing time,<br> +A child should break the clock, would'st call it crime?</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">O death!--but hark! now a bright footstep nears,<br> +Bright eyes are sparkling, and a glad voice cheers;<br> +My sinking spirit, roused from inward strife,<br> +No longer asketh--Shall I live this life?</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">He sat still for some time with a smile on his lips, then his +face grew +graver and he sighed, as if to relieve his oppressed heart and to shake +off some thought that troubled him. On the paper that lay upon his +knees his pencil sketched a profile, which was unmistakably Edwin's. +The thoughts that occupied his mind seemed again to crave utterance in +words, but just at that moment he heard some one come up stairs with a +familiar, heavy tread. A slight shade of annoyance flitted across his +brow, he hastily thrust the portfolio back into the drawer, carefully +locked it, and then resumed his work at the turning-lathe, but the +visitor who now entered with a melancholy "Good evening, Balder," +beheld a friendly face, in which there was no sign of the youth's +unwillingness to be disturbed in his solitary intercourse with the +muses.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">The new comer was a singular-looking person of middle height, +clad in +coarse but neat clothes, who looked like a workman just returning from +his labor. The insignificant form was surmounted by a compact head, +adorned with thick shining black hair and beard, which seemed to +harmonize with the body as little as the large hands and feet. Yet the +homely pale face was rendered attractive by its expression of innocent, +almost childlike simplicity, and if the melancholy man, which seldom +happened, opened his thick red lips in a smile, fine white teeth +glittered through the coal-black whiskers, and the eyes under the heavy +brows could beam with a glance at once so soft and so fiery that it +might well win a maiden's heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such was the expression with which, when he met Balder and +when no +cloud darkened his honest mind, he used to gaze at the youth, for whom +he cherished a really enthusiastic, almost sentimental tenderness. He +never expressed it in words, of which he was usually very sparing, but +even to the most superficial observer it was touching to see what power +the youth's warm, sunny nature exerted over his rough, bushy-haired +companion, so many years his senior. It was a real "secret love," which +year by year had increased in strength and enthusiastic ardor, and +which would have found no test too severe. All the grace and harmonious +charms of life that had been denied to himself, he loved in this +beautiful, noble young friend, and in so doing had almost become a +little faithless to the other brother, who possessed older claims to +his friendship.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Edwin was carrying his portfolio to school for the first +time, a +slender timid little fellow, who was going the same way and belonged to +the same class, joined him. He was the seventh son of a surgeon, +Franzelius by name, who lived in the neighborhood; he could with +difficulty support his family, and yet his principal ambition was to +send them all to college. By means of free instruction, gratuitous +board and stipends, this was at last accomplished, and toward it +Edwin's parents had done their part, by supplying Reinhold, the +youngest, their son's daily companion, with his dinner. But even +Edwin's patient efforts to thaw his shy schoolmate, were not entirely +successful. The wretched life which was lived in his parent's home +seemed to oppress his heart more and more, when he returned from the +table of kind people in easy circumstances, to a house where it was +necessary to count the outgoing of every penny. At a very early age he +began to reflect upon the difference in the division of worldly goods, +though without bitterness, for he neither conceived nor cherished any +unattainable desires. It was rather his parents' anxious fears that +constantly made him ponder over the mystery; how had these great +discrepancies arisen, how they might perhaps be remedied, until +good-natured and unselfish as he was, he would, even as a boy, fly into +the most violent passion at the bare mention of his fixed idea. When, +in studying Roman history, he came upon the Agrarian laws and the times +of the Gracchi, he composed an essay, in which with boyish impetuosity +he defended the most revolutionary opinions, gaining for himself the +nickname of "Franzelius Gracchus," which clung to him as long as he +remained at school.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the fate that befell the brothers dissolved the school +friendship, +until many years after, Edwin met this half-forgotten comrade in +Berlin. In outward appearance he had changed very much. The thin, shy +boy, had become a sturdy, black-bearded, defiant youth, a person whom +all well-bred and well-dressed people would avoid in the street, +especially in winter, when a coarse red shawl, which he wore twisted +around his neck, contributed not a little to the oddity of his +appearance. In mind and disposition he had remained exactly the same; +awkward, silent, and gentle, but as soon as his fixed idea was touched, +would burst into a flood of stormy eloquence that swept all before it. +Edwin had also had occasion, in student circles, to perceive how the +same man, who in a small company could scarcely finish his sentences +properly, and in individual debate was easily confused and silenced, +would fearlessly address a crowd. He had a vehemently dogmatic mind, +together with the nature of a true agitator, and he liked to utter the +few cardinal principles of his belief in full, ringing tones, but he +required for his encouragement, the echo of listening multitudes. Then +the deeper water, in which he felt at ease, supported and bore him on, +while, when out of the channel, he instantly became uncertain, and from +diffidence, especially in the presence of Edwin's intellect and +knowledge, he easily yielded, and ceased firing his heavy rhetorical +artillery.</p> + +<p class="normal">But it was not only Edwin's superiority that attracted him. He +had +become warmly attached to his old friend for a very different reason. +That he should now find the latter--whom as the petted child of parents +in comfortable circumstances, he had always beheld on the farther side +of a wide social gulf--dependent on his own exertions, and living +almost as plainly as he himself lived, secretly afforded him pleasure, +much as he wished him all possible prosperity. It threw down the +barriers between them and placed him on the same footing as his former +schoolfellow, but he was completely melted when Balder, whom he had +known and petted as a little boy, joined his brother, and with his +turning-lathe took up likewise the character of a "workman" in the true +sense of the word. According to his father's desire he himself had +studied law and had passed his first examination very creditably. +But as soon as old Franzelius closed his eyes, Reinhold with his +Gracchus-like scorn, became faithless to his career, apprenticed +himself to a printer, and regularly served his time. Now for the first +time his heart burst its bonds. He felt himself, in affliction, the +equal of his brothers "the workmen," and resolved to devote all his +energies to the improvement of their lot.</p> + +<p class="normal">While at the university he had devoted himself to the study of +political economy and various similar subjects, albeit in his somewhat +cursory way; so now, for the furtherance of his object, he embodied in +small pamphlets or sometimes even in single sheets brief discussions on +what he considered the vital questions of the proletarian. These +impetuous essays, written sometimes in a very <i>dilettante</i> style, he +composed and printed himself in his leisure hours and distributed +gratuitously among the working population, over which by degrees he +obtained great influence. He brought the brothers also these little +"fire brands," as he called them, with which he endangered the fields +of the Philistines, and was delighted when Balder, in his gentle way, +examined each one, though often arguing against them, while Edwin +accepted the pamphlets with a good natured jest, but could rarely be +drawn into a discussion.</p> + +<p class="normal">For Edwin was sincerely attached to the worthy fellow. He +could still +see him sitting in the jacket that had been given him, at his beautiful +mother's table, timidly taking the smallest portions from the dishes +offered. But keenly alive to the nature and connection of intellectual +questions, he possessed moreover, a mind as dogmatically intrenched, as +the agitator's was inaccessible, and so willingly avoided useless +discussions. Yet he always felt that something was amiss, if he did not +see at the usual time the honest, somewhat care worn face, that always +incited him to a brilliant display of fireworks in the shape of little +witticisms and old school boy jokes, until the thick lips under the +bushy beard parted, the white teeth glittered, and the lines between +the heavy eye-brows grew smooth. Then the gloomy enthusiast could sit +down at the brother's table and share their frugal supper, with as much +childish pleasure as if no social questions were disturbing his soul.</p> + +<p class="normal">But to-day an unusually dark shadow rested upon his brow which +contrary +to custom even Balder could not succeed in dispelling. He evidently had +some trouble, which, with his usual slowness, he could not instantly +put into words. Blundering around the room and wiping his broad +forehead with a flowered handkerchief, he had at last fallen into a +deep reverie before the table on which the plate of plum cake still +stood. Balder had invited him to eat some, and related what a great +occasion, Reginchen's birthday, had been celebrated by this luxurious +revelry. The singular man had remained perfectly mute, seated himself +at the table with a heavy sigh, and resting his head on his hands +stared as persistently at the nice slices of cake as if they revealed +to him the solution of the social problem, as the arcanum of the world +flashed upon Jacob Böhmen from a tin dish. Balder had given up talking +to him; he was accustomed to such moods and perfectly satisfied to work +at his turning lathe and devote himself to his own thoughts.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such was the state of affairs in which Edwin found them, when +an hour +after he returned home. At first he was vexed not to see Balder alone; +he was very anxious to give vent to the feelings of his oppressed soul. +He greeted his old friend somewhat curtly, then went up to Balder, +passed his hand over his head, and said: "Have I been away long? I want +to read over the dissertation, excuse me, Franzel."</p> + +<p class="normal">With these words he went to his desk, took out a printed +volume, and +the three men in the quiet room remained at silent as the two had been +before.</p> + +<p class="normal">Who knows whether they would have found their tongues as +speedily, if +Mohr had not appeared again. He had found lodgings and came to get his +traveling bag. He entered with a very bright face, but drew down his +under lip when he perceived Franzelius. After a few disagreeable +quarrels they had carefully avoided each other, as their natures +necessarily could not harmonise: Mohr, who with cynical frankness, +confessed that he always thought only of himself, and Reinhold, the +philanthropist, who never considered his own advantage and +unhesitatingly sacrificed to his ideal dreams the small degree of +comfort he might have procured.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why," said Mohr, nodding carelessly to the young printer, "is +Bruin +here too? Well, how fares the regeneration of mankind? I should think +that since the foundation of the artificial hatching establishments, we +had advanced considerably nearer to the ideal state when every one will +have a chicken in his Sunday pot."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--I have no reply to make to such frivolous questions," +muttered the +other in his beard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Still the same quarrelsome old chanticleers," laughed Edwin, +closing +his book. "Do me the favor, children, not to begin to hiss at once, as +fat does when it meets fire. I'll put up with these wordy battles in +winter, when they may at least result in warming us. But in such +beautiful weather as this----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hear, hear the wiseacre!" cried Mohr. "Well, then, to do +honor to the +wonder that a philosopher has a clever, practical thought, I'll swear +to keep a truce for this evening. Come, let us smoke a cigar of peace +in one of the public gardens, for I'm worn out with hunting for +lodgings. But I've found what I wanted, a quiet neat little house only +ten doors from your 'tun,' kept by an old maid, who during the first +hour told me the story of her three broken engagements. So the day is +mine, and without neglecting any duty to humanity, I can devote it to +you and my thirst. So where shall we go? After being away three years, +I no longer know where to get good liquor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is not yet familiar with the rules of the household," said +Edwin, +glancing at Balder. "You must know, Heinz, that we never go out in the +evening, and remain at home still more regularly in the afternoon. The +stairs leading to our hen-roost are too steep for Balder, and as when +all three windows are open, we have no reason to complain of want of +air----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Merciful Gods!" interrupted Mohr in a tone of horror, which +warned by +a glance from Edwin, he instantly tried to convert into one of +drollery--"have you shut yourselves up here like oysters? Well, a +sedentary life has its attractions, and the air in the 'tun' does not +seem to be quite so dry as formerly. At any rate the best plum cake +grows here, and I see yonder a dozen red heads, with whose assistance +one can hold out for a while."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A basket of wine?" asked Edwin "In spite of my positive +refusal----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Marquard sent it, he would take no denial," said Balder. +"And," he +added blushing, "as I felt a little weak toward noon, I opened a +bottle."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Weak, child?" cried Edwin, forgetting everything else, as he +hastily +approached him. "Was it your old pain, or some new trouble? And why do +I first hear of it now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It wasn't worth mentioning, Edwin. But Marquard was right, I +felt +better at once. The wine seems very pure and good, you ought----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So much the better, if it agrees with you. And you're right, +I don't +see why we should not drink our old friend's wine. If <i>we</i> had it, and +<i>he</i> needed it, wouldn't it be a matter of course?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Franzelius looked at him with sparkling eyes. One of his pet +theories +was that of possessing all property in common, a theory which he +practised until he had reduced himself to the barest necessaries. +Meantime Mohr had again filled Balder's glass from the already opened +bottle. He emptied it at a single draught, then poured out more wine +and offered it to Franzelius.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very fair," said he. "Your health, Franzelius Gracchus. Let's +drown all +quarrelsome and murderous inclinations for to-day, and commence the +business of making mankind happy, with ourselves."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you," replied the printer, "I shall never drink wine, +so +long----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? No wine? Then you're no true friend of the people. +They're +always thirsty. But no matter! I'll forgive Marquard his carriage and +patronizing bow, for the sake of his cellar. If he himself has but +mediocre ability as a man and a doctor, his wine is excellent, real St. +Julien.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where's our other glass?" said Edwin, looking around the +room. "We +really have another, Heinrich, and in a carouse of three tipplers----"</p> + +<p class="normal">The flush on Balder's cheeks deepened, and he stooped as if he +were +searching for the missing glass on the floor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of what consequence is the glass?" cried Mohr, who meantime +had +attacked the cake and now had his mouth full. "The liquor's the main +thing, whether we drink it from the cask, the bottle, or a broken cup. +My friends, let me tell you that this is the first pleasant hour, that +spiteful quean, Fate, has bestowed upon me for the last three years. +I'm glad to be once more among people who fare worse than they deserve. +I know this is true of you and myself. As for our philanthropist, he at +least shows a face that will dull the sharpest sting of envy. Upon my +word, Franzel, you look as if things were going wrong. Has Delitzsch +passed you to-day without lifting his hat? Did a dozen blood-thirsty +millionaires spring from the earth during the last shower? Or were you +called upon at the last workmen's meeting, instead of making fine +speeches, to tear your breast like the pelican and let a fountain of +real St. Julien gush forth, and did you fail to accomplish the trick?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I see I'm only in the way here," replied the printer, +glancing at Mohr +with an expression of indescribable contempt. "I'll not intrude any +longer."</p> + +<p class="normal">He nodded to Balder and walked hastily toward the door, but +Edwin +seized his hand and detained him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop!" said he. "We shall not let you go so, Mohr is +incorrigible. But +there's something the matter with you, Franzel, I see it in your face, +and by our old friendship--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The angry man compressed his lips still more firmly, and said +after a +long pause: "Why should I speak of it? Ruin takes its own course."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ruin?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why yes, sometimes sooner, sometimes later, what does it +matter? And +we can only rejoice that it should proceed from this cause. It shows +in the clearest manner to what our diseased form of government has +come--and where it will arrive, if--supposing that--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused again. The friends looked at each other inquiringly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I'm one too many here," said Mohr phlegmatically, rising +and +seizing the bottle--"I've no objection to drinking this paltry heeltap +in your courtyard."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have no secrets," muttered the gloomy visitor. "What has +happened +took place in public; the consequences which still fear the light will +soon be noised abroad. A cry of indignation will resound through +Germany, when it is known that even now, in the light of the nineteenth +century--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, man," interrupted Edwin, "torture has certainly been +discarded in +the nineteenth century, and yet for the last fifteen minutes you have +been applying the thumb-screws of curiosity. Out with it; <i>what</i> has +happened, and <i>what</i> consequences still fear the light?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then, if you must know: I was at the workingmen's educational +union +yesterday--" (Mohr coughed, glanced at Edwin, and then comfortably +sipped his wine)--"There was to have been a lecture on the nature and +value of education, but the speaker was taken sick and begged to be +excused. We were just considering what was to be done, when a new-comer +rose, a guest whom no one knew. He had a strange, half humble, half +scornful Jesuit face. 'Would the company permit him to make a short +address?' The request could not be refused, and he instantly began to +speak with a boldness that surpassed everything that could have been +expected from his priestly appearance. 'Education? A dangerous thing, +at least as the children of the world were accustomed to understand it. +The devil, who goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may +devour, is a highly cultivated man, not easily caught by modern +enlightenment. His proverb is: Education gives liberty, and knowledge +rules the world. Yes indeed, the world! So the tempter said to the +Lord: "All these things will I give unto thee, if thou wilt fall down +and worship me!"--But "<i>my</i> kingdom is not of this world"--and so on, +the well known litany--<i>True</i>. education desires to know nothing of the +so-called treasures of science, which morth and rust may corrupt. He +who is fitting himself for heaven, provides for the one thing that is +necessary, the'--well, you're doubtless willing to be spared the +sermon. When it was over, the honest fellows sat bewildered and +thunderstruck. The old habit, acquired in childhood, still lingered: no +debate in church!--and even the president seemed to think we ought not +to take issue with a guest. But the man had assailed our society in the +most offensive way, and were we to be silent? So I began to speak. I +was just in the mood, and besides it's a subject to which I've devoted +a great deal of thought, I was glad to give the whole society a full +discourse from the text: Disparage only reason and science! Well I need +not waste any words on the subject among ourselves. But never has it +been so clear to me, as in that hour, what a crime those persons +commit, who seek to disgust men with the earth, in order to prepare +them for what they call heaven. You know I am the last to favor the +current talk about utility. These people make the means the end, +and if they achieved their object and arranged the world according to +their plan--who that did not consider it the highest aim of life +to get his stomach satisfied and know the multiplication table by +heart, would wish to live in it? But just because there are higher +things--transcendent earthly joys, intellectual pleasures, art, poetry, +and all other lofty delights--well, you know what I think, and can +imagine how indignation against the foes of all earthly happiness +loosened my tongue. The assailer of education and heir of heaven grew +red and pale by turns. When I at last paused, and all clapped their +hands and burst into a shout of assent, he attempted to reply. But the +president would not permit him to utter another word, so he soon +slipped quietly away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has enough!" I thought, "but I was not yet satisfied. I +meant to go +into the next house and write a pamphlet, in which I intended to prove +by referring to history, what boundless injury the belief in +immortality does the world. And last night I did sit down and write a +few sheets, the first outline of the essay; for I was too excited to +grasp the subject properly, and one must not shake the retort when +anything is going to crystallize. But it seems I'm to have plenty of +leisure; for when I went home to dinner to-day, my landlord, the +cabinet maker, said that some policemen had been there, had inquired +very particularly about me, and had noted down the answer. The man +looked as if he wanted to say 'six weeks <i>investigation</i> and then +exile.' He's quite right. I know them; they've long kept an eye on me, +I made them uneasy, but they could find no cause of arrest. Now the +priests will take up the matter, and then good bye! So, as I have no +inclination to leave my place vacant, I shall for the present not seek +my usual bed, but try once more how it seems to sleep in the open air."</p> + +<p class="normal">"With your consciousness of being a second Gracchus for a soft +pillow!" +exclaimed Mohr, pledging him in the glass of wine. "You must live, +noble mortal, until the last millionaire is hung with the entrails of +the last priest, which will probably occur about the same time as the +death of the Wandering Jew."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your jeers do not wound me," replied the printer impetuously. +"There +are people who consider all the great questions that affect the welfare +of mankind a mere jest, and never think seriously of anything except +their own dear selves."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why not, you preacher in the wilderness? Charity begins +at home. +Until I have taken care of my own dear self, where am I to find time +and courage to look after my neighbor, or provide for mankind at large? +These things are too weighty, my noble fellow, to be exhausted by the +first eloquent pen, and and that's why I wish you a long life, so you +can at least be able to study the subject at leisure."</p> + +<p class="normal">Franzelius cast a compassionate glance at him. "So in all ages +selfishness has intrenched itself behind a hypocritical modesty," he +grumbled. "If no one wished for or did better things, before he knew +the <i>best</i>, we should still be in the condition of the lake-dwellers. +And must an idea for which hitherto only our holier instincts speak, I +mean which cannot yet be mathematically proved--and with which the +world after all would be--for when the smallest thought concerns all +mankind--Edwin will know what I mean."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God understands you, and that's enough; see Sancho Panza at +the right +place," jeered Mohr.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you intend to do now, Franzel?" interrupted Edwin, +who during +the whole conversation had been sitting on the window sill, stroking +Balder's cat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's a secondary consideration. Tell me instead whether you +approve +of what I have done?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will that undo it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"As if I would recall it! But you know I value the thought, +that we +three at least--even if others have a different opinion--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused and looked at Edwin almost timidly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What I <i>think</i>," replied the latter, "is no secret to you. +But I am +firmly persuaded of many truths, and yet should hesitate a long time +before demonstrating them to a crowd of strangers. However, why should +we discuss the matter? You will do what you cannot leave undone, and as +you have very enthusiastic ideas about the equality of men, even in +their powers of thought--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He who does not work for all, works for none, or at least +only for +himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pardon me, my dear fellow. That's a false conclusion. You +yourself +will not deny that the division of labor is a useful arrangement. Well +then, one begins from below, another from above. If I convince ten of +the best minds, give them even a little light in regard to the hardest +problems, does not my work in time aid others also? Mens' gifts are as +different as their ambitions."</p> + +<p class="normal">Franzelius was about to make some reply, but restrained +himself with +evident effort, and only said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you, Balder? Are you too of the opinion, that only a mad +ambition +urges me to let the little light that is in me shine before the +multitude?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You misunderstood Edwin," replied the youth, limping up to +him and +gently unclasping his hand from the door latch. "We all know that you +forget yourself in the cause. But he thinks it would be better for the +<i>cause</i>, if you were more patient. All fruits do not ripen at the same +time. Come, don't let us part so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you, you--could you have kept silence under such +provocation?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush!" Mohr suddenly exclaimed. "Don't you hear her?"--Then +as if +speaking to himself, he added in a scarcely audible tone: "it's enough +to tame wild beasts and socialistic democrats. Eternal Gods! how that +woman plays."</p> + +<p class="normal">The four men in the upper room actually kept so quiet that not +a note +of the improvisation below was lost. Franzelius had thrown himself into +the chair beside the bed, on which Balder sat with his lame leg crossed +over the other. Edwin was still seated on the window sill, and Mohr +leaned over his glass, with his head resting on his hands, and fairly +groaned with delight.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the music ceased, he rose. "My friends," said he, "I +think it is +our duty to offer this lady some attention. I will go down and invite +her to drink a glass of wine with us to her health."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you mad, Mohr?" laughed Edwin. "She's a respectable +person, and +will think you have already more glasses of wine in your head than is +good for your senses."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr looked at him with an air of comical dignity, and twisted +his +crooked under lip still more awry. "She's an artist," said he, "no +common-place, pedant of a woman. Here are four friends of art--I +generously include you, Franzel, as you at least kept quiet while she +was playing, though you were probably thinking of your social discords. +I'll wager it will be an honor and pleasure to her--give me a decent +hat--or no, I'll go bare-headed, like an inmate of the house. It will +be less formal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've impudence enough for it. Well then, ask her to bring a +glass +for the festal banquet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She shall drink out of mine," replied Mohr, who was already +at the +door. "I'll run the risk of her guessing my thoughts."</p> + +<p class="normal">They heard him go down stairs and ring the bell.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's really going to do it," cried Balder, hastily rising +from his +seat. "What will she think of us?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Franzelius rose too. "I'll go," said he. "I have not +sufficient +self-control to endure Mohr's jokes and witticisms in the presence of a +lady. Will he be here often now? In that case, I prefer to take my +leave until--until you too are tired of a man, who never takes anything +seriously."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wrong him," replied Edwin. "Fire and water are two +equally stern +elements, although one accomplishes by heat what the other does by +cold:--destroys and vivifies like every power."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm! If you don't freeze meantime--Farewell."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And where are you going to spend the night?" asked Balder.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There are plenty of benches in the Thiergarten."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wouldn't let you go, Franzel," whispered Balder, as he +reached the +threshold. "You have already camped here many a night. But--Edwin +sleeps so badly now. The least thing disturbs his nerves."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, Balder. Don't be anxious about me. Good night!"</p> + +<p class="normal">They heard him go down stairs, and directly after Mohr came +slowly up. +He entered the room with a face deeply flushed, but apparently calm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Our philanthropist has gone," said he. "I believe I drove him +away. +I'm sorry; he thinks I don't like him and he's very much mistaken. On +the contrary, I do him the honor to envy him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For what?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because he's possessed, not only with his mania about +persecution, +which makes a man just as happy as if he believes himself an +unappreciated genius, but because he has a demon that drives him about, +speaks from his lips, hides within him, and keeps him warm--while I, a +mere husk without kernel or substance--foh!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And our artist?" asked Edwin after a pause. "Did she not wish +to enjoy +either the honor or the pleasure?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's late," replied Mohr, looking at his watch, "too late to +open a +second bottle, I'll seek my virgin couch."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He evades us," laughed Edwin, turning to Balder. "She has +disappointed +his expectations. Ah! Heinz, I could have told you that before; this +muse is not a beauty. Her fingers promise more than her features give."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Talk about what you understand. Philosopher," replied Mohr, +seizing +his hat. "Let her be what she likes and look as she chooses: she's a +whole hearted woman."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you receive satisfactory proofs of that in three +minutes?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Probably. At least it's a fresh proof that I can accomplish +nothing +whole, and even in a stupid prank don't go beyond the most pitiful +half-way measures. It's actually crushing. I wish you a good nights' +rest----"</p> + +<p class="normal">When he had gone and the brothers were at last alone, Edwin +confessed +his day's adventures. Balder too might have had many things to tell, +but not a word in relation to the birthday festival crossed his lips. +And yet he was secretly reproaching himself for having a secret from +his brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">This night they fell asleep earlier, though Balder did not +close his +eyes until the shutting of a well known little window in the front +buildings told him that Reginchen had returned from her excursion in +safety.</p> + +<p class="normal">Several of the verses he had written in the afternoon again +passed +through his mind, and softly repeating them he lulled himself to sleep +with his own melodies.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">When Marquard paid his usual visit to the "tun" the following +morning, +he found everything in the household exactly the same as usual. In +spite of the late hour at which Reginchen returned from the country, +she had been at the pump at six o'clock, and an hour after carried the +brothers their blue milk and cleared up the room, but without talking +much; for kindly as Edwin treated her, she felt a great awe of him and +became terribly embarrassed at his most innocent jest.</p> + +<p class="normal">The brothers also, according to old habit, had begun their day +very +silently. When the doctor entered, Balder was sitting at his turning +lathe, making a set of ivory chess-men. Marquard talked to him for some +time with apparent unconcern, asked about one thing and another and +felt his pulse, but gave no prescription, except that he must drink the +wine regularly.</p> + +<p class="normal">But on the stairs, when Edwin was accompanying him down, he +suddenly +turned and said in a low tone: "You must not let the lad go on so. This +stooping and keeping shut up in the house won't do, he will weaken his +chest over that confounded turning lathe. If I were in your place, I +should assert my authority."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In my place," sighed Edwin, shrugging his shoulders. "My dear +fellow, +if you were in my place, that is, not a physician, but a philosopher, +you would know that there is no authority which can transform a man's +nature. Have I not tried every stratagem to get him out? When I +attacked him on his weakest, or rather his strongest side, his +brotherly love, and represented how dull it was for me to go out +without him, you ought to have seen the efforts he made to be a gay +companion, in order to cheer my walks and rides. But I know him too +well. I saw how he suffered from the noise and bustle of the streets, +and even when we once drove to Tegel, he was only comfortable while we +were alone. When we arrived, we found a crowd of school girls playing +graces, various mothers and aunts knitting, several pairs of lovers, in +short the usual Berlin pleasure seekers. As soon as possible he urged +me to return. You must know that it annoys him when people stare at +him, and he is exposed to this more frequently than any one else; he +attracts attention everywhere by his beauty and his lameness, and +moreover because he has an expression in his eyes unlike any other +mortal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish he were less peculiar; we should keep him longer."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin stopped, seized Marquard's arm and whispered: "you +fear--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing--and everything. His texture is so delicate, a fly +might tear +it. But possibly it is more tenacious than we think," he added, as he +felt Edwin's hand tremble on his arm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The wine you sent did him good," he said. "I thank you; it +was a kind, +philanthropic thought. I can not wish him different from what he is +now. He would no longer be the same, if he had the nerves and muscles +of a groom. And would he be happier? You don't know how happy he is, +what a boundless capacity he has for transfiguring all the poverty +around us by the wealth of his own soul, transmuting common dust into +gold. If <i>I</i> gave him no cause for anxiety, he would have scarcely +anything to desire."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have a word to say to you about yourself too, Philosopher. +I alluded +to it a short time ago in your room, but Balder was present, who is +just like a girl; there are certain things which cannot be mentioned +before him. Listen man, this disorder of your nerves is entirely your +own fault; it's a sin and shame for you to permit that sponge, the +brain, to exhaust the best strength of the rest of your organization. +How can there be any balance of power? I tell you your whole trouble is +to be cured in one way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You may be right, Fritz," replied Edwin quietly, as they +crossed the +courtyard. "But you see it's the same with this medicine, as with the +one you just prescribed for Balder. We have not the natures to take it, +and if we should force ourselves to do so, the disease would attack a +more vital spot."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nature, nature!" burst forth the doctor, looking almost +fiercely at +his friend through his gold spectacles. "I'll answer for it, my son, +that your excellent nature, which you have tormented so long with your +cursed abstract idealism, that it no longer ventures to grumble--would +instantly recuperate and grow merry again, if you would only for once +dismount from the high horse of speculation and rely upon your own good +common sense. Deuce take it! A healthy fellow like you living on +locusts and wild honey, like the hermits in the Theban deserts, and if +a woman passes by your cave, exclaiming: <i>Apage, Satanas!</i> I had +trouble with you even at the university. But now you seem to wish to +continue this course, until nature, so shamefully abused for the sake +of mere mind, is overstrained and fairly crazed with impatience."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A very clever pathological lecture," replied Edwin smiling. +"I will +request the continuation in our next; there is always something to be +learned. But for all that, Fritz, you wont get a kuppel'pelz<a name="div2_03" href="#div2Ref_03"><sup>[3]</sup></a> from +me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nonsense! Who's talking about any such thing? But if <i>I</i>, +with my +constantly increasing practice, can find time for little romances, in +which the mind has employment--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And also the heart, my boy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, the heart too, for aught I care, though that muscle is +greatly +overestimated, and with all your sentimentality, only fit for a +dangerous hypertrophy. I'm now on the track of a little witch--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A fair Helen or Galatea?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aristocratic, my son, and unfortunately very +unapproachable--so far. +But what am I thinking about? You must have already made her +acquaintance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Didn't you sit beside her in the box, day before yesterday? +At least +the doorkeeper told me she always took the same place."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin turned pale.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have a faint recollection of it," he replied. "Didn't she +sit very +far front, and have brown hair, a very fair complexion, blue eyes--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Black or brown, my son. But we must mean the same person--and +I, +magnanimous mortal that I am, solemnly renounce all my claims in your +favor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you must lend me your carriage, to continue this love +affair +properly," said Edwin, forcing a smile, "for one can hardly pay +attention to this princess as a private tutor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You need have no anxiety on that score. To be sure I don't +know the +will-o'-the-wisp very well, she baffled all my conversational powers. +But haughtily as she turns up her little nose--by the way it's a nose +to rave over--there is evidently something wrong about her. Young +ladies who go to the theatre alone, find their company home afterwards. +But I will discover in whose cage this bird of paradise has its +nest--yesterday I unfortunately came across an old Geheimrath, who +wanted to consult me about his liver, just as I was going to follow the +proud little nose. If it is as I suspect, you shall see, my son, what a +base materialist is capable of doing for his friends."</p> + +<p class="normal">Laughing merrily, he sprang into his light carriage, took the +reins +from the coachman and drove rapidly away.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin looked after him. He could not be angry; only yesterday +he had +himself weighed possibilities and struggled with impressions, which +placed this mysterious creature in no more favorable light. But to hear +these thoughts expressed by another, as a matter of course, gave him a +feeling akin to physical pain.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had taken two volumes of Göthe to carry to her. Now he +thought it +would be the wisest course to avoid her house, her presence, and any +further intercourse with her. But her face rose before his memory for a +moment, her voice sounded in his ear, and all hesitation was over. +Suppose she was better than she seemed? And what would she think of the +strange man, who had at first forced himself so eagerly upon her, and +then never appeared again?</p> + +<p class="normal">But at least he would not see her to-day, and therefore merely +handed +the books to the striped waistcoat, and in reply to the boy's question +whether he would come in, answered dryly: "It was not necessary, he +would bring the next volumes at the end of the week."</p> + +<p class="normal">As he went down stairs, he praised himself for his resolution +and +determined not even to look up at her windows. But this was beyond his +strength. He even remained standing on the shady side a moment, as if +uncertain which way to go, and allowed his eyes to wander, apparently +by chance, toward the windows with the palms and the bird cage. He +fancied he saw something moving behind the drawn curtains. The +thought that it might be a man's head shot through his heart like a +burning-iron. He closed his eyes and walked on.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had promised to commence his lessons at the little house in +the +lagune to-day. As he mechanically turned his steps in that direction, +it seemed almost impossible to retain any connected thoughts. Besides, +the interview with the little artist and his daughter appeared as far +behind him as if months had intervened, and was a matter of as much +indifference as the people who passed him. He resolved to merely go +there, excuse himself for to-day, and shake off the whole engagement he +had undertaken, as best he could.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the reception he met with in the little house, baffled his +designs.</p> + +<p class="normal">The artist, clad in his thread-bare velvet coat, with a +barette shaped +cap set jauntily over his left ear, was standing in the door-way, and +as soon as he saw Edwin approaching between the wood piles, turned back +into the entry, calling: "He's coming, he's coming!" Then he hastily +advanced to meet him, took his hand in both of his, and said: "So I've +won my wager, and can exult over my wise child, who for once was not so +clever as her old father."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What was your wager?" asked Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whether you would come or not. Leah said you had only +promised, in +order to avoid telling us to our faces, that you did not wish to teach +such an ignorant pupil. With all your kindness, you glanced around you +in such an indifferent way--looked so absent, and in a certain sense +weary--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear sir," interrupted Edwin, "your daughter deserved to +win the +wager for her penetration. I <i>am</i> somewhat weary and absent-minded, my +head is revenging itself because I have racked my brains too often, and +the injuries it received cannot be quickly healed. In fact, if it were +not for you and your daughter, I should be wiser to defer our lessons +till a more favorable time. But if you prefer--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leah! Leah!" cried the little artist, darting forward into +the house. +"Where are you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young girl was just coming out of the studio, in the same +plain +brown dress she had worn the day before. Her black eyes greeted Edwin +with a quiet, almost wondering glance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hear, Fräulein," he said in a jesting tone, "that you have +lost a +wager on my account. You thought I would not come again, and as people +usually believe what they desire--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She gazed at him with a look, that entreated him to spare her +embarrassment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's true," she said blushing, "and I'm very much frightened +to think +that I must confess to some one <i>how</i> ignorant and bewildered I am. I +was so anxious last night, that I could scarcely sleep."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Than we must relieve you as quickly as possible," he answered +smiling. +"I will make any wager that you will sleep admirably to-night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you also know what is the forfeit of our bet?" cried the +artist +merrily rubbing his hands: "the loser was to paint you something, you +may rejoice that you will have a picture by Leah, instead of one of my +wretched daubs. You see virtue is its own reward."</p> + +<p class="normal">They had entered the studio, which to-day seemed far more +neatly +arranged. Instead of the desk with its painting apparatus, a table +containing only writing materials and a portfolio, stood at Leah's +window. But there was a fresh bouquet of flowers on the sill, tall +dahlias and asters whose bright colors mingled as if they wished to +conceal the dull grey of the bare wall outside.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We thought you would be more undisturbed here, than in the +sitting +room on the other side of the entry. Well; and so the hedge-sparrow is +turned out of his nest by his unfilial off-spring!" said the old man, +gently stroking the young girl's cheek. "My dear Herr Doctor, believe +me: one may fare badly with spoiled children, but the real tyrants are +the good, well behaved ones. It's a worse slavery than that of the most +henpecked husband. Well, adieu, child, and be industrious; meantime I +will make some studies from the back of the house near the stable as I +have long intended. It's just the right light."</p> + +<p class="normal">He kissed her on the forehead and left the teacher alone with +his +pupil.</p> + +<p class="normal">When at the end of an hour he returned, he heard Edwin's deep, +musical +voice, and would gladly have listened a moment to learn the subject +under discussion, but such a course was repugnant to his delicacy, and +besides he hoped to hear how the lesson had passed off from the young +girl herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin rose as the little man entered. "Have I remained too +long?" he +asked. "I hope Fräulein Leah will bear witness that I have not tired +her."</p> + +<p class="normal">Leah said nothing. She was standing before the little table +like a +person just roused from a dream. The portfolio was unopened, the pen +had not been dipped into the ink.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin asked whether he could not see the sketches. "No, no," +replied +the little artist, "they are only for myself. And to-day in particular +I have worked with my eyes, rather than my hand. I will only tell you," +he added, smiling mysteriously; "that I am attempting something which +will probably exceed my powers. I have long been anxious to make a +picture of our lagune. You cannot imagine what charms of coloring the +old muddy, dirty canal often displays, of course in a favorable light. +I have also been experimenting with a little foreground I shall need, +nay which will form the principal part of the picture, for I shall not +succeed very well with the water. A week ago one of the wood piles was +removed, which has stood for years directly in my way, since it +obstructed the best view of the wall and quay. And see, that has +revealed a fence, before which the prettiest weeds grow so luxuriantly, +that I shall have scarcely any alteration to make. If I succeed, it +will be my best picture, and may perhaps mark a new era in my +development."</p> + +<p class="normal">He rubbed his hands contentedly and went up to his daughter. +"I hope, +child, you have not become such a learned woman, that you forgot to +offer the Herr Doctor any refreshment. You really have forgotten? Then +I will do so at once--we have a bottle of excellent port wine in the +house--a present from our good friend, the professor's widow. By the +way, dear Doctor, I wanted to ask you something: you must do me the +favor to pay her a visit. We are so much indebted to her for Leah's +education--she was really a little piqued because I engaged a teacher +for the child without first introducing him to her. The best woman in +the world, and in many respects, that is in church history and the +positive divinity, exceptionally well educated. You will not regret +taking the short walk--she lives in Louisenstrasse--if I accompany +you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"With pleasure, dear Herr König," replied Edwin. "But let me +make the +acquaintance of the giver before I taste her gift. Fräulein Leah has +learned to-day, that a Greek philosopher believed that the earth rose +from the water, so for to-day I will take only a glass of water. Next +time we will see whether there is truth in wine."</p> + +<p class="normal">Leah brought the glass of water, but was so silent, that her +father +before going away, asked anxiously if she were ill. "I never felt +better," she replied with a radiant glance from her beautiful, calm +eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Shaking his head, the little man went out, accompanied by +Edwin, who +took leave of his pupil with a cordial pressure of the hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Herr Doctor," said he when they were in the open air, +"is it +not strange that a father cannot understand his own child? Certainly +every human being is a fresh marvel from the hand of God. This is not +like our other experiences, which are only a copy of our own natures +and enlighten us in regard to ourselves, our strength or weakness. Only +the great masters can have a similar feeling, when from the breath of +divine art something new appears, which resembles nothing in the world, +and surprises the artist himself. I believe that Raphael, when his +Sistine Madonna was completed, did not understand her much better than +I do my daughter. Yes, yes, my dear friend, these are transcendent +mysteries; we can only pray and thank God that we are considered worthy +to experience them."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">The Frau Professorin Valentin lived in a pretty new house, and +occupied +large neat rooms, which however, to an artistic eye, with all their +tidiness had a somewhat gloomy, cheerless air. She received Edwin in +the largest and plainest of all; the little artist had not accompanied +him upstairs, he wanted to deliver a few engraved blocks to the person +who had ordered them. The stately, fair-haired woman must have been +remarkably pretty in by-gone years, and even now, though considerably +over forty, her bright eyes and white teeth possessed a youthful charm, +especially when she laughed. She was sitting with five or six +seamtresses among mountains of calico and linen, from which she was +cutting children's dresses and underclothes. She received her visitor +like an expected guest, and ushered him into a smaller apartment, her +real home, as she called it, which was fitted up with a writing table, +book cases, a flower stand, and all sorts of pretty trifles. Over the +sofa hung the portrait of a hypochondriacal rascal looking man with +grey hair, from whose wrinkled brow and compressed lips it was easy to +perceive that the care of his digestion had been the principal +occupation of his life.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My late husband," said the lady, as if introducing Edwin and +the +picture to each other. "I have been a widow ten years, but you will +find everything here just as it was in his life time, this room (she +opened a door to allow Edwin to look in) was his study, and contains +his whole library, though as he was a mathematician, I can read none of +his books. But they were his pets and his pride, and I think that +picture would fall from the wall if one should ever get into a +stranger's hands. If I had my way, the sooner I got the horrible things +out of the house the better I should like it. They cost me tears enough +when he could use them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tears?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr Doctor, you're a learned man too, I hope you will +do better +some day and not say like my late husband: 'first my books, and then my +wife.' And yet he married me for love and not mathematics. But after +two or three years, although I had not grown exactly ugly, he found +those horrid triangles and hexangles, and the queer plus and minus +signs, far more attractive than the blue eyes and round cheeks of his +young wife. Well, I do not complain, I had foreseen it and knew what I +was doing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But aside from this jealousy, which you share with so many +women, you +must have enjoyed a great deal of happiness in these rooms, or you +would not have so religiously kept them in the same condition."</p> + +<p class="normal">The widow looked at him with a searching side glance, as if +she wanted +to ascertain whether he was not too young to be trusted with any +confidential disclosures. His honest face, and frank, open bearing, +untinged by any shade of intrusiveness, seemed to please her. He was +quite different from the other young literati, whom she had seen with +her husband. Her quick, womanly penetration enabled her to perceive at +once, that she was in the presence of one of those rare men, who are +really as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're still a young man, my dear Herr Doctor," she replied +without +the least sarcasm in her tone; "I don't know whether you have yet had +the experience that certain natures are exceptions to the general rule, +and do <i>not</i> pursue happiness, but become their own tormentors. +Although very young when my dead husband offered me his hand, I +was wise enough to know that I should not find what is called +happiness with him. He who is to render another happy, must be +capable of happiness himself. My poor Valentin was the most wretched +self-tormentor that can be imagined, and without knowing it or wishing +to do so, he tortured every one around him. I calculated upon this with +mathematical certainty, as I now tell you. And yet I preferred him to +all others, for he gave me a task, a constant, daily and hourly work to +perform in myself, and taxed all my strength, which is very great and +always longs to overcome every obstacle. Now nothing is more difficult +than to conquer one's self; I was then a spoiled, petted creature, +every one loved me, I coquetted with old and young, with my own heart, +nay, God forgive me, with our Lord Himself. How it happened that my +eyes were suddenly opened and I said to myself: 'You're a silly doll, +you will ruin an immortal soul if this continues--' is too long a +story. Enough, that as my heart had remained steadfast and honest, I +resolved to try my fate with a very peevish or unhappy man. It will +probably be no indiscretion, if I tell you that my dear old friend +König was my suitor at the same time; we still joke about the fact that +I was his first love. When you become better acquainted with this man, +you will confess that it would be difficult to find a happier person or +a more loving Christian. If I had become his wife, I should have lived +in Paradise. But this was exactly what I did not desire. I felt that to +be treasured all my life by such an excellent man, would finally have +spoiled me. Well, with Valentin I often had more of the contrary than +was agreeable; but I have never regretted it. And now sit down by me, +Herr Doctor, and tell me a little about my foster child, Leah."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I tell you, Madame? Nay, it would greatly interest me to +learn from +<i>you</i> something about the childhood and early education of my pupil, +who seems to be somewhat reserved."</p> + +<p class="normal">A sorrowful smile flitted over the lady's pleasant, cheerful +face. "If +I could answer that question satisfactorily, you would hardly be +sitting beside me now," she replied. "But excuse me a moment, I'm +wanted in the other room."</p> + +<p class="normal">One of the seamstresses had appeared in the doorway. Frau +Valentin left +Edwin, and he heard her in the next room giving orders and directions +in her clear, positive manner. Then she returned.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I always have my hands full," she began. "As I unfortunately +no longer +have any household cares, I willingly take as much of the work of the +different clubs and societies to which I belong, as others wish to +discard. Ah! Doctor, it affords a great deal of pleasure to have a +crowd of deaf and dumb or neglected or orphaned children thank you for +their warm, new clothes; yet a single child of one's own, who need not +even be deaf and dumb or neglected, or even specially grateful, would +bestow a very different kind of happiness. A substitute is never the +thing itself. And that's the very reason why it makes me so sad, that +the only child I could love almost as my own, avoids me so strangely; +she's not cold or ungrateful, but I learn nothing about the best things +that may be in her nature, and cannot impart the best of mine, since +she does not know how to receive them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you speaking of my pupil?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Frau Professorin did not answer immediately; she sat in +silence +gazing into vacancy, with her pretty white hands folded in her lap.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No one has ever caused me so much trouble," she continued, +"and +yet she has so much amiability, goodness, unselfishness, and +independence. But that's just it, the one thing needful, the one thing +lacking--you're a philosopher, my dear Doctor, but I hope not one of +those whose knowledge has deprived them of faith. And this strange +girl--it is not the pride of superior knowledge that makes her +unbelieving; no one has a more modest opinion of her own acquirements. +But it's in the blood. You ought to have known her mother, whose +character she has inherited, trait for trait. Nothing has ever been +more mysterious to me, than how my old friend, the artist, who has such +a living need of God, could be so happy with this woman, who made no +secret of her want of religion, and once when I asked her the direct +question, frankly acknowledged: 'that she really did not know whether +there was any God at all.' She would not have denied it; but I never +disclosed it, I don't know whether she made such confessions to her +husband, but I almost think he would not have been puzzled by them; he +loved her very dearly. And to be sure, no one could help loving her; I +was unable to do so myself, long after I had given up trying to lead +her to the light which has guided me through all the depths and +shallows of this world. To be sure the fact that she was a Jewess, +rendered it difficult for her to obtain a knowledge of the truth. But +if she had only been a devout Jewess! I respect all genuine +convictions. But she, on the contrary, confessed to me with the calmest +possible face, that she knew no more of all the mysteries of life in +her thirtieth year than she did in her tenth; she did not <i>understand</i> +either this world or the next, and had no desire to fathom their +secrets; her beautiful, bright, thoughtless present, with her husband +and child, was all sufficient. I fairly started when this was first +uttered so plainly. What is this miserable twilight of our earthly +existence, if no ray from above warms and brightens it until we reach +the full light? And besides, hers was no shallow, sensual nature; or +how would she have been able to value so highly, love so fondly, her +delicate high-minded husband? But perhaps it was precisely because <i>he</i> +remained all his life as little understood by her, as she was by him, +that they were so fondly attached to each other. Possibly she felt a +secret longing for the peace of the children of God, and he, that +desire to save which does not renounce the most darkened nature and +ever seeks the lost! Besides, she was far from despising or jeering at +anything others held sacred, and took it as a matter of course that her +child should be educated in the religion of its father. As she herself +had none, and probably sometimes felt a horror of this nothingness, she +did not wish to sin against her daughter. But it was of no avail. +Nature is too powerful. I fear if the daughter were asked to answer a +plain question upon her conscience, she would be found to believe +little more of her catechism than her mother did."</p> + +<p class="normal">The bell, which rang in the entry outside, interrupted the +conversation. "Unfortunately we shall be interrupted," said the lady, +hastily drying her eyes, which were wet with tears. "I requested you to +call upon me, because as I said before, I love the child almost as +fondly as if she were my own flesh and blood. You must tell me, dear +Herr Doctor, what you are going to do with her, that I may be satisfied +you will not make the evil still worse."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall give her no religious instruction," replied Edwin, +rising. "I +am not a theologian. But the philosophy to which I devote myself, has +led as many to a personal God as away from Him. No knowledge can +replace or destroy the needs of the soul, from which all religion +springs. My psychology can quietly let alone what philosophers term +predestination, and I am the last who would wish to divert any human +mind from the path that leads to peace--though it certainly is not my +office to dabble in the business of the missionaries."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Valentin looked at him intently as he uttered these +words. "I do +not fully understand you," she said, holding out her hand. "But this I +do know; you are a good, sincere, warm-hearted man. You will do the +child no harm, for that only comes from the wicked."</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at this moment a maid entered and announced: "Herr +Candidat +Lorinser."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How fortunate!" exclaimed the Fran Professorin, and then +turned to +Edwin. "Now you must stay a little longer. You will make an +acquaintance that will interest you more than an old woman who only +hopes to be a good Christian like thousands of others."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">"Don't be repelled by the first impression," she added in an +undertone. +"I too was obliged to conquer a slight prejudice, but all trees do not +have the same bark. This man's good qualities lie in the depths of his +nature."</p> + +<p class="normal">The person thus announced now entered with a hasty bow, cast a +quick, +strangely penetrating glance at Edwin, and then with an awkward manner, +like a boy aping a grown man for the first time, kissed Frau Valentin's +hand. When she pronounced Edwin's name, he bowed with studied courtesy, +but instantly threw himself on the sofa as if utterly exhausted, took +no further notice of this new acquaintance, but with the most entire +absence of constraint as if availing himself of his privileges in the +house, tore off a black cravat knotted around his thick neck, and began +to comfortably sip a glass of wine, which Frau Valentin poured out for +him, at the same time relating in a low, harsh voice, the result of +various errands and commissions, which despite the heat, he had +executed for his hostess.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin had plenty of leisure to observe him, and found the +warning not +to allow himself to be discouraged by the first impression, very +necessary. If he had followed his own inclinations, he would not have +breathed the same air with this singular saint a moment longer. Now he +remained and determined to make a study of him.</p> + +<p class="normal">He who looked more closely at the strongly marked forehead, +broad nose, +and large, ever moving lips, could not help thinking the face a +striking one, and in its rare moments of repose even attractive. Bushy, +unkempt hair hung over the rounded temples, but the beard was closely +shaven and the cheeks thus acquired a bluish tint. What most repelled +Edwin was that the Herr Candidat either kept his eyes fixed intently on +the floor, or else let them wander aimlessly over the ceiling, without +noticing the persons in the room except by a hasty side glance. +Moreover a bitter smile constantly hovered around his lips, while he +was silent, but instantly disappeared when he began to speak. Then an +almost fanatical sternness lowered on his black brows, a firm decision +and imperious implacability, although he expressed himself in the +mildest and gentlest words.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was nothing remarkable about his black clothes, which +were cut in +the usual style, but he wore shoes that enabled him to move almost +noiselessly, and a brown straw hat with a black ribbon a hand's breadth +wide.</p> + +<p class="normal">After relating the result of his visits to the sick and poor +and +meantime drinking a second and third glass of wine, he looked at an +unshapely silver watch he had drawn from the heart pocket of his black +coat, and hastily rose, saying that his minutes to-day were numbered. +In reply to Frau Valentin's jesting remark, that it was strange a +person who, like him, always lived in eternity, never had any time, he +did not even answer with his usual smile. On reaching the door, after +not having addressed a single word to Edwin, he said suddenly: "I shall +consider it an honor to accompany you, Herr Doctor, if you will wait +until I have said a few words to our excellent friend alone. Business +matters!" he added, looking quietly at his patroness. The latter seemed +to have expected something of the kind, and without any sign of +curiosity led the way into the late mathematician's study, whither +Lorinser followed her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin's feeling of dislike had grown so strong, that he could +scarcely +control it sufficiently to wait for the Herr Candidat. He could not +understand a word of what was being said in the next room, and only +heard enough to gather that Frau Valentin grew angry, but Lorinser +speedily soothed her; then a box was opened and money counted out on a +table. Directly after both re-appeared in the sitting room, the +professor's widow evidently out of humor and with deeply flushed +cheeks, Lorinser following her in the calmest possible mood. He kissed +his hostess' pretty hand and whispered something, that Edwin did not +hear, but would not permit her to accompany him to the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">The seamstresses were sitting quietly at work in the large +room. The +youngest was a slender brunette, with thick, shining hair, and +beautiful black eyes. As Lorinser passed, Edwin thought he saw the girl +blush and bend lower over her work, but the Herr Candidat seemed to +take no more notice of her than the others.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they had reached the street, and walked on side by side +for some +distance in silence, Lorinser suddenly stood still, removed his hat, +and casting an absent glance at the clouds, said: "You must not +misjudge me. This sort of practical religion, this busy attempt to earn +heaven by making ourselves useful to our fellow mortals, is thoroughly +repugnant to me, and if I allow myself to be used as a tool, it is only +to have some kind of method in the madness. This course or conduct may +be everything you please, warm-hearted, useful, a necessity to certain +natures, but it is as different from true <i>religion</i>, as all human +worship is unlike the genuine service of God."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have only made Frau Valentin's acquaintance to-day," +replied Edwin. +"But she did not give me the impression that she was one of those +persons who hope to engage a place in heaven by their good works. She +cannot imagine any worship--and therefore certainly not the service of +God--without active exertion."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You express her views exactly," said the other, as he +withdrew his +eyes from the clouds and fixed them again on the earth. "To act is a +temporal thing; to be, to behold, to commune with ourselves--only thus +can we here, though imperfectly, attain a conception of the Infinite. +It is possible that in a purer and more sensitive husk than the one we +now have, organs may grow, by means of which we can take an active +share in the inexpressible energy of the Deity, become in a certain +sense co-workers with God. Here below the highest point we can reach, +is: an ecstatic realization that we possess God. Everything that +perplexes us, procures our powers room to develop, tempts us, so to +speak, from resting in God to rely on ourselves, no matter how useful +it may be in a <i>worldly</i> point of view, is a sin against the Holy +Ghost, a crime against our own souls. I do not know how far your +philosophy will enable you to follow me."</p> + +<p class="center"><img src="images/p114.png" alt="Lorinser suddenly stood still."></p> +<p class="center">Lorinser suddenly stood still, removed his hat, +and cast an absent glance at the clouds.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To the most extreme consequences of your view of the world, +which +extend to the familiar mystical quietism," replied Edwin with a calm +smile. "This is not the first time I have encountered such a mixed +temperament--you are undoubtedly phlegmatic---choleric--and therefore +my philosophy is not perplexed about the formula. The only thing new +and not quite intelligible, is how any one with such views can become a +clergyman, accept an office as the servant of religion, which calls +itself the religion of love."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are perfectly right. And I also am too honest a man to +consent to +the pitiful compromises and casuistries, which most clergymen drag with +them through life as galley-slaves do the chains which grow into their +flesh. I wish to have nothing to do with the so-called established +church, and abhor or pity the delusion that religion can be managed in +bulk, like a joint stock company, on whose terms a deed of partnership +is drawn up. There has never been a revelation, which has come from +heaven to earth as of universal validity. <i>At every moment</i> the fulness +of God's mercy is revealed anew, the Son of Man dies again, sinful +mortals are saved once more by the Saviour's blood. But no one knows or +perceives anything of this, except those, who have not exchanged the +gold of their love for God, for the base coin of the so-called love for +one's neighbor, only to be beggars when God demands a sacrifice. We +have only one neighbor, God himself. Our lives are nothing but an act +of mercy on the part of the Creator, who by means of a temporary +separation from him, arouses the wish, the desire, the passionate +longing for a re-union, and thereby affords us the first conscious +delight of sinking back into eternity. The souls who never attain to +this, are, as it were, only the dark elements in the nature of God, and +in the great crucible of time will be separated from the purer ore and +cast aside like dross."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go on," said Edwin after a pause, as his companion relapsed +into +silence. "I make no reply, because I have perceived it is utterly +useless to work against such a fantastic condition of the soul. But I +am always interested in watching this singular state of profound +thought, which does not rest until having reached the highest pitch, +the overstrained powers suddenly relapse into a voluptuous repose."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lorinser paused again and cast one of those side glances, +which so +strangely distorted his features, at his companion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I see you have a tolerably good theoretical knowledge of the +matter," +said he. "Perhaps you may also be nearer the experience than you +suppose. The unsatisfactoriness of the usual sensible analysis of the +problem of life, must have long since been evident to you, as well as +every other honest thinker. But most men, when they come to the point +where their world is nailed up with boards, are modest enough to see +the bounds of all human knowledge here, and turn back again like good +sheep, who hit their heads against the sides of their pen. My dear sir, +the fence is not so high, that with proper headway it cannot be +overleaped, and the bound is so far from being a <i>salto mortale</i>, that +the true life only begins on the other side. God is transcendent. If we +are to approach him, we must <i>spring upward</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And do you believe that this leap depends solely upon our own +inclinations?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not entirely. Not every one, even if dissatisfaction gnaws at +his +soul, has obtained the power to lend his spirit wings. There are +natures, like those of our good Frau Valentin, who lack the necessary +elasticity. But where it does exist, it can, like any other power, be +strengthened and steeled."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should be greatly obliged," said Edwin smiling, "if when +occasion +offers, you would give me farther instruction in these gymnastics. But +I have now reached my home. I must not ask you to take the trouble to +go in with me. The old staircase is dark and steep, and one is obliged +to grope his way step by step, an easier operation for a dialectician +of my stamp, than for him who without assistance soars through the +seven heavens."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lorinser did not seem to hear the jest. His eyes were intently +fixed +upon a female figure, which had approached the house from the other +side a short time before them, and with a hasty bow to Edwin entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is that lady?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"One of the lodgers in our house, a very talented musician, +who lives +in great seclusion, so great that I can tell you no more about her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you allow me to look in upon you a moment?" replied +Lorinser, +stepping into the entry before Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder looked up from his book in surprise, when his brother +entered +with his singular companion. His soft, expressive eyes rested on the +strange face for a short time, but soon seemed to have perceived all he +thought worthy of notice, and remained persistently fixed on the +sunlight that bathed the branches of the acacia tree.</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth's appearance was evidently more attractive to +Lorinser. He +instantly directed the conversation back to his mystical experiences, +revelations, and divine joys, as he termed them, and turning with +unconcealed admiration toward Balder, declared that he seemed specially +fitted by nature to penetrate the depths of these secrets. He would, if +permitted, introduce him to other chosen spirits, by whom disclosures +would be made that would render his present relations to life, shallow +and profitless.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin contented himself with now and then throwing in a +sarcastic +question, which Lorinser merely noticed by a shrug of the shoulders, +but Balder, who met all his entreaties with unmoved composure, answered +shortly, that he was not in the habit of going out and felt no longing +for any other wonders than those revealed by his senses and quiet +thoughts.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will think differently, when you are farther initiated," +replied +Lorinser. "I can boldly assert, that without suspecting it, you are in +an unusual degree a child of God. The hour will come--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Here he was interrupted by the entrance of Reginchen, who +brought the +brothers their dinner. Lorinser only vouchsafed her a passing glance, +and the dishes she carried did not seem to him sufficiently choice to +induce him to remain longer. He begged permission to come again at an +early day, and withdrew smiling at Balder, who did not perceive it, as +he was limping around the room helping Reginchen set the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear me," said the fair haired girl, as the retreating +footsteps +glided over the stairs, "what a queer gentleman that is! I'd rather +have mother scold me half a day, than listen to his husky voice and +hear him creep about as if he had on felt slippers, for half an hour. +It's fortunate he never looks any one straight in the eye, for if he +did nobody could endure it, at least not I. Did you notice, Herr +Walter: the whites of his eyes are like mother of pearl, or the +quicksilver in our thermometer. He looks very ghostly, not like +anything human."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You foreboding angel!" cried Edwin laughing. "But don't be +afraid of +him, Reginchen. This godly fellow won't come again very soon; he saw +that he had no power over our souls, and our flesh--I mean the +excellent piece of meat your mother has sent up to us to-day--did not +tempt his appetite."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope you may be right," said Balder. "But I'm afraid we +shall not +get rid of this gloomy guest so quickly; he's only watching for a more +favorable opportunity to steal in again, though I don't understand what +he hopes to find here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We'll wait till he does, and if necessary use our right to +close our +doors. He has left us his card: 'Unter den Linden, No. 10.' Of course +in the most fashionable locality. The children of God, who neither sow +nor reap, since their Heavenly Father feeds them, can afford themselves +every luxury, while we children of the world--but you're right, +Reginchen, the dinner will get cold. Come, child, let me pour you out a +glass of wine. I'll take water myself, to cool my indignation over the +false prophet."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Meantime Lorinser had only crept down one flight of stairs and +stopped +before the door on the second story. He read the name on the small +sign, listened a few minutes, and then gently pulled the bell.</p> + +<p class="normal">Christiane opened the door and gazed in surprise at the +stranger, whom +she had just seen with Edwin. His penetrating gaze rested on her a +moment, then he raised his eyes toward the ceiling of the entry, as if +solely interested in the spiders' webs.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fräulein Christiane Falk?" said he.</p> + +<p class="normal">She made an almost imperceptible bow. "What do you want, sir?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you allow me to come in a moment, the errand that brings +me to +you can hardly be discussed here--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She drew back a step from the threshold to admit him. In an +instant he +had crossed the ante-room and entered the half sitting room half +bedroom, to which we were introduced the night that this story opened. +Its appearance in the broad daylight was not much more cheerful, than +by the feeble rays of the little lamp. The walls were hung with faded +tapestry, but destitute of pictures. The floor was uncarpeted, there +were no flowers, none of the hundred trifles with which lonely women +adorn their rooms and endeavor to supply the lack of human +companionship; nothing but a quantity of books on the bureau, the +volume of Schopenhauer on the table before the sofa, and numerous +sheets of music scattered in disorder over the piano. The whole +produced the impression that there were no bright eyes here, to whom +life was pleasant for the sake of its charms.</p> + +<p class="normal">The face of the occupant only too plainly confirmed the +testimony of +the mute objects around her.</p> + +<p class="normal">The features were unlovely, harsh, and no longer youthful, the +brows +almost met over the light grey eyes, the hair, thick but not soft, hung +over the pale brow like a heavy shadow. The only charm in this stern +visage, the full mouth with its dazzlingly white teeth, had a decided +approach to a mustache, and by its habitual expression of gloomy +defiance seemed to contradict the idea that this face could ever wish +to please. The same avoidance of all desire for comeliness was visible +in the dress. But even the most clumsy folds could not wholly conceal +the fact that the masculine head was placed on a most exquisite female +figure.</p> + +<p class="normal">She stood quietly by the table, opposite to Lorinser, who +without +waiting for her invitation, had thrown himself upon the little sofa and +was scanning the apartment with his lightning like side glance. With a +careless gesture of the hand he invited her to sit down beside him, but +she remained standing motionless, with folded arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Honored Fräulein," said he, "I have heard so much of your +talent, my +friend Doctor Edwin, your fellow lodger, has just confirmed it so +warmly, that it seems to me like a direct interposition of Providence +that I have now found my way to you. My business can be stated in two +words. Some friends who were not satisfied with the public worship of +the church, have for some time arranged a quiet service of their own, +in which music occupies an important part. The lady who formerly played +the harmonium, has gone away. There is no one among us who could take +her place, so I undertook to provide a substitute. I thought of you, +Fräulein. That you are no virtuoso of the common stamp, but a person to +whom the mysterious nature of true, genuine music is revealed, I see by +a single glance at that book, in which I read the names of Bach and +Glück, and--allow me to speak frankly--one look into your eyes, which +beam with a deeper radiance than those of ordinary women. Those eyes +bear witness that your music is your religion. I will not conceal from +you that this point of view does not yet seem to me the highest one. To +me, music is only a stepping stone to divine happiness, though +certainly one of the nearest to the throne of the Eternal. However, I +am not here to preach to you. Besides, no one in our circle will annoy +you by the supposition that you will share our devotions. But for what +you give us, you will in every sense be richly rewarded. I only beg to +tell you on what conditions--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And suppose I could not consent upon any condition?" she +quietly +interrupted.</p> + +<p class="normal">He seized the book that lay on the table before him, turned +the leaves +without apparently taking any notice of their contents, and after a +short pause replied:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will perhaps think differently, Fräulein, when I tell you +that you +need not attend these religious exercises in person. The instrument +stands in a room, which is divided from the hall where we assemble by a +tolerably large apartment. You will play as if to yourself, and not a +whisper of what takes place in the little congregation outside, will +reach your ears. In this way both you and we will be spared any mutual +annoyance, and only share what is alike to all."</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked at her with a keen, searching glance. She was gazing +into +vacancy, and seemed to be considering how far she should reveal her +most secret feelings to this stranger. A bitter expression suddenly +flitted over her lips, and her brows contracted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pardon me," she said hastily, "if I must decline under any +circumstances, to take part in what is called divine service. My +reasons for so doing I may be permitted to keep to myself. I doubt +whether they would be understood, far less appreciated by you, and I am +not accustomed to be faithless to my convictions, even for the large +fee you intimate I should receive."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your reasons?" he said smiling, as he rose and approached +her. "Will +you permit me to read these reasons, or rather this one motive from +your brow?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked at him in astonishment and retreated a step, as if +to +protect her personal freedom. He stood still and again gazed steadily +at the ceiling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The one reason that you will take no part in any religious +service, +is: that you have no God whom you desire to serve," he said in the +frankest possible tone, as if he were speaking of something that was +quite a matter of course.</p> + +<p class="normal">She did not answer immediately. The man's amazing assurance +seemed to +intimidate her. She was forced to arm herself with her old defiance ere +she could reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you really read it from my brow, or only in the book on +the +table?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Fräulein," he answered kindly, "if I had had the +honor of a +longer acquaintance with you, you would expect me to be able to solve +so easy an enigma without such aid. The author of that book, believe +me, with all his atheism, knew more of God than you do--at least at +this time, for he knew that which alone leads to Him, and which so far +as I see, has hitherto remained unknown to you, and therefore renders +the natural estrangement from God you share with countless others, so +harsh and apparently necessary: <i>sin</i>. You need not answer yes or no. +I'm sure of it: whatever errors and weaknesses have entered your life, +you have never known sin, <i>that</i> sin which alone arouses in the wilful +heart the need, the longing for redemption, the burning sense of our +own weakness and baseness, which makes us thirst for God and is at last +stilled by the dew of mercy. Do you smile, Fräulein? This language +seems to exaggerated to express the naked truth. Some day you will +remember it, and no longer smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," he continued as if in sudden agitation, pacing up and +down the +room with hasty strides. "I will not give you up. I have felt too +strongly attracted toward you, from the first words that fell from your +lips, to be able to go away now and say to myself: this strong, +beautiful soul will never find the way to the holy of holies. Even such +a powerful guide as music will only lead you to the threshold. Believe +me, my dear Fräulein, I too have had similar experiences; I too once +said like you: the God who has created heaven and earth and myself, is +too great for my love, too distant for my longing, too silent for my +confidence. And why should I have desired to approach him? What did I +lack, so long as I had <i>myself</i>, my virtue, my worldly pleasure, my +good works? Not until the day when I first became familiar with sin, +when I had lost <i>myself</i>, did I learn how near this far off being can +come, how eloquently he can console, how lovingly he can draw you to +himself. Since that time all the sorrows of the world, of which that +bewildering book speaks, have seemed to me mere child's play in +comparison to the misfortune of being sufficient to ourselves and +attempting to fight our way through the unconquerable horrors of +existence, by means of common place honesty, courage, and innocence, +the trivial 'always practice truth and justice.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">He remained standing before her and held out both hands, but +she +continued to keep her arms folded over her breast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't understand you," she replied, "and moreover do not +know why I +should take the trouble to understand you--above all, why <i>you</i> should +take the trouble to attempt to aid me in your own way. I do not feel at +all sick, and what I need to make me <i>happy</i> neither man nor God can +give. If the sense of your sinfulness has made you long for a +'Saviour,' I do not envy you this happiness. I am a lonely woman; I +have nothing but myself, my pride, my obstinacy, if you choose to call +it so. If I must lose this, must become a worm and wallow in the +mire--then to be sure I too might probably succeed in crawling to the +cross. But I do not desire a God, who must draw me to himself through +sin and disgrace! If he cannot clasp his honest, upright creatures to +his heart, I prefer to remain a step child."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You <i>prefer</i>." said Lorinser in a low, but very impressive +tone. "If +you always <i>can</i> do so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is to prevent me from being faithful to myself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"One who is stronger than our wills: the devil."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am too old for nursery tales."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! my dear child," he replied, "there are nursery tales +which we +first experience, when our infant's socks are laid aside and we have +discarded the nurse's milk for sound human reason. Have you never +learned that some power is exerted over our wills by a sudden, as it +were magical influence? Has no eye ever bewitched you, no voice ever +set your blood on fire, no hand ever destroyed your defiant obstinacy +by a single touch?"</p> + +<p class="normal">A deep flush suddenly suffused Fräulein Falk's dark face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How do you presume to play the part of an inquisitor toward a +lady +whom you see for the first time?" she vehemently burst forth. "Be kind +enough to leave me, sir, our conversation has taken a turn--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She drew back as if to leave the way to the door open. He +smilingly +took his hat from the table, but remained standing in the middle of the +room, waving it carelessly to and fro, with his eyes fixed upon the +floor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wrong me," said he. "I am not so indiscreet as to seek to +force +myself into your confidence. What I said was aimed at people in +general. Inspired poets and sentimental children of the world talk of +the magic of love. As if these things were not perfectly natural, so +natural that the power exercised over the will has been very properly +compared to chemical processes. The word magic can only be used when +unnatural--supernatural things occur. If you follow the promptings of +your inclinations, your blood, your nature, even were it along the +worst paths, to the greatest injury of yourself and others--is there +any witchcraft in it? Error, weakness, perversity--I repeat it--are +very human evils, and do not lead to God. But to be urged on to what is +most foreign, hostile to your nature, to be forced, in dread and +horror, to do what you abhor, to be faithless to what is dearest--you +see, Fräulein, that this only occurs under the influence of a powerful +spell, the only one that still remains in this enlightened world, and +whose consequences God scuds his pardoning mercy to destroy or efface: +<i>the magic of sin</i>. I beg your pardon for having troubled you so long. +Perhaps I shall frequently have the pleasure of conversing with you +about these mysteries."</p> + +<p class="normal">He bowed with the look and smile of a man, who has tamed a +fierce +lioness and can now venture to enter her cage alone. She stood +speechless, and made no motion to accompany him to the door. Her arms +hung loosely by her side, her chin drooped on her breast, her eyes were +closed as if she had given herself up to gloomy thoughts.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr and Franzelius were just going up the narrow stairs, as +Lorinser +closed Christiane's door behind him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Coming from different directions, they had met at the outer +door, and +unwelcome as the encounter was to both--for Mohr, who had his play in +his pocket, would also have liked to see the brothers alone--each was +too awkward or too proud to avoid the other.</p> + +<p class="normal">They had bowed in silence, and Mohr had allowed the printer to +precede +him. When they now met Lorinser on the stairs, Franzelius stepped aside +like a person who unexpectedly treads upon a toad. The incident even +made him forget his unfriendly relations with the eternal joker, and +pausing on the landing he looked after the rapidly retreating figure, +saying in a tone of the most intense abhorrence:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you see that man, Mohr?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He came out of the young lady's room. Who is he? Where did +you make +his acquaintance, Gracchus?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's the same malicious hypocrite who made that speech before +our +society. It's a pity the thought occurred to me too late, I might have +thanked him for the information he gave the police."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or helped him down stairs a little faster; he seems to have +scented +this <i>esprit de l'escalier</i>!" Mohr replied, essaying to jest, but +instantly added with a gloomy brow, "What did the pale rascal want +there? Couldn't she have shut the door on him, as well as better +people?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A bed-bug makes its way everywhere."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're right, Franzel!" replied Mohr with an angry laugh. +Then +twisting his under lip awry, muttered: "Eternal Gods! I would not have +believed that a man could fall low enough to envy a bed-bug!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>BOOK II.</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">He who undertakes to tell a "true story"--and ours is as fully +attested +as any a novelist ever gathered from family archives--he who represents +life, as it is experienced, not imagined, must be prepared for all +sorts of objections and contradictions. The most improbable events, as +is well known, are those which most frequently happen, and on the other +hand nothing meets with less credence than that which nobody doubts; +though there are exceptions to the rule. Even on the stage we are not +accustomed to have a lover play a character part, any more than it will +be obvious to the readers of this entirely veracious history, when we +report the authentic fact that Edwin, faithful to his voluntary vow, +actually waited until the end of the week before he again entered the +dangerous house in Jägerstrasse, nay that he even put his resolution to +a still harder test, by waiting until the afternoon and occupying +himself during the morning as usual. Our knowledge of the age he had +attained before being attacked by love, only renders the matter the +more incredible, as childish diseases are always more violent when +contracted in riper years. We have as yet seen too few tests of his +philosophy, of the influence of this stern science upon his character, +to be able to derive any explanation of his stoical abstinence. But +whatever share it may have had in his conduct, when on that Saturday +afternoon, he at last entered the memorable street, he found himself in +anything but a philosophical mood. The hand with which he stroked +Balder's hair trembled perceptibly; instead of the two little volumes +of Wilhelm Meister he intended to put in his pocket, he only took the +second, and the volume which with its mysterious beauties might almost +bear away the palm from her own Balzac. He answered Feyertag, who +endeavored to draw him into a learned conversation as he crossed the +courtyard, so confusedly, that the worthy man was greatly delighted and +told his wife the Herr Doctor, was beginning to feel a proper respect +for his intelligence; he had said things to him to-day so terribly +learned, that they were almost incomprehensible.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the way, our by no means heroically disposed hero +endeavored to be +prepared for an emergency, which he considered almost as a favor of +fortune--that he might not find her at home, or be refused admittance. +He resolved to bear this like a man and make no attempt to bribe or +learn anything from the striped waist-coat. But when the solemn boy +received him with the words: "The young lady is at home and begs the +gentleman to walk in"--it seemed as if it would have been utterly +impossible for him to go away without seeing her.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he entered the little red parlor, she was standing before +the +table at which she appeared to have been writing, and came forward to +receive him with the frankest cordiality, as if he were an old +acquaintance who had been long expected. The repellant coldness had +vanished from her face, only a certain look of abstraction frequently +recalled her former expression. She thanked him for having kept his +promise and even brought her something new again. "But," she added, "I +must not give you any farther trouble, especially if you continue to +act as you did the first time, and leave the books at the outer door. +You can surely make a better use of your time, than in running errands +for a stranger, and I cannot promise you that a closer acquaintance +will repay you for your trouble."</p> + +<p class="normal">He answered with a few courteous words that betrayed none of +the +thoughts passing in his mind. Her presence had again produced so +strange an impression, that he needed a short time to regain his +composure. To-day, in her simple dress of crimson silk, with her hair +wrapped in braids around her head and again utterly devoid of ornament, +she seemed even more bewitching than when he first saw her. Yet there +was a timidity almost bordering upon sadness in her voice and +movements, that was contagious and overawed him more than her former +careless ease.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You would certainly have gone away to-day too, if I had not +expressly +invited you in," said she. "But it would not have required so much +discretion to convince me that you are an exception to the usual rule. +I saw in the first fifteen minutes of our acquaintance, that you were +not like other men, from whose importunity it is difficult for a +solitary girl to protect herself. That is why I am glad to see you +again and thank you in person. I live so entirely alone, and although +it is my own wish, the days are long and the necessity of hearing some +voice except the twittering of the birds and the meaningless remarks of +the servants, soon forces itself upon one. Besides, we like to discuss +what we have read. To be sure--" she added hesitatingly, tapping the +book that lay beside her portfolio with her rosy finger--"to speak of +what you have lately brought me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What have you read?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A great many of the poems; I was familiar with almost all +from seeing +them in collections, some even when I was at school. But in reading +them together I now realize their beauty, at least so far as I +understand them. But--Werther--you will scarcely believe that although +I am twenty-one this is the first time I have read it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What an enviable person!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"How so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I devoured it at fifteen, when I was far too young and +verdant to +enjoy that most beautiful and mature of all the works ever written for +young people."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps I'm already too old," she said blushing, "or still +too young. +For--it will seem very foolish and perhaps incomprehensible to you: I +had some difficulty in getting through it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is," she hastily corrected herself, "I found certain +things +wonderfully beautiful, the spirit, the clearness, the lofty, melancholy +thoughts, and what a living thing nature seems to become--I have copied +many passages to read again. But the whole, the work itself--you will +surely think me childish or heartless, if I confess that I was not in +the least affected when Werther shot himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">He gazed into her black eyes with a quiet smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not even as much by Père Goriot" said he.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," she answered in an undertone. "I cannot help it, nothing +makes +any impression upon me unless I can imagine it might happen to myself. +This good Père Goriot, who is so ill repaid for all he does for his +daughters, the daughters themselves, who have an actual passion for +spending a great deal of money and living in fabulous luxury, I can +understand very well. I too had a father who would have sacrificed +himself for me if necessary, as I would have done for him, and it is by +no means strange to me that people can set their hearts on a thousand +beautiful things which only the rich should possess. But that a man can +no longer live, because he--because he is in love--with somebody's +wife--is a thing of which I have no idea. Why do you look at me so? +Don't you believe me? You can do so safely, I always say what I think."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm only looking at you," he replied, "because I do not know +how to +reconcile your words, which I do not doubt, with your face and your +twenty-one years."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not consider it a tasteless compliment: but with such a +face, I +should hardly think a person could live twenty-one years in the world, +without at least perceiving in others, what mad follies a man +desperately in love may commit. And have you never been moved when you +made some one unhappy, even if your own heart remained untouched? You +have probably known nothing of hunger except from hearsay, and yet the +sight of misery touches you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," she answered thoughtfully; "but you're mistaken, +if you +suppose I have never suffered want myself. There have been times--but +that's my own affair. On the contrary, the love that has been offered +me has either seemed untrue and ridiculous, or excited actual horror +and loathing, never compassion."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin's surprise increased at every word, whose sincerity he +could not +doubt. But if it were as she said and her grave innocent gaze +confirmed--how had she come to these suspicious lodgings in such more +than doubtful company? What, if she had nothing to repent, was the +cause of this avoidance of men, this mysterious love of solitude in one +so young and independent?</p> + +<p class="normal">He noticed that she looked surprised at his silence, and in +order to +make some remark, said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you place so little value on the passion, which since the +beginning +of creation has, with hunger, been the motive power of the world, your +purveyor of romances certainly has a difficult task. Or would you +prefer novels of the latest style, which only contain enough love not +to frighten the owners of circulating libraries?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," she replied laughing, "I'm not quite so spoiled. Dear +me, what I +read aloud to my dear father was always French literature, which often, +as I noticed by his making me skip a chapter, was by no means fit for a +young girl. But do you know what I don't understand? Why the authors +don't have a better appreciation of their advantages and write only +stories which contain very elegant, rich, brilliant scenes, handsome +parks, castles, numerous servants, and fireworks, concerts, and balls +every night. I should never weary of such books, as when a child I +could always read over and over again the fairy tales, in which a fairy +or magician builds in a single night a splendid palace of gold and +jewels, with the horses' mangers of silver, and their hoofs studded +with diamonds. Ought not poetry to describe a fairer world than this, +which with all its <i>petites misères</i>, is only too familiar to us? +Instead of that, village tales have now become fashionable, and all the +fuss, is made about them. Who can be interested in reading how Christen +seeks a wife and obtains now a well-kept farm, and now a neglected one? +And the principal point is always about a few hundred thalers more or +less; when they are obtained, the story ends. That--you must not be +offended by my frankness--is what seemed so strange to me in Werther: +narrow commonplace surroundings, ordinary, provincial people, and the +heroine--I will say nothing about the bread and butter--but has she a +lofty, noble soul? Does she love Werther or not? And if she does--but +you're smiling. I'm probably saying very stupid things. Teach me, if it +seems worth while. It's so tiresome always to think for one's self, in +doing which of course one is always right."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Fräulein," said he, "I have hitherto had very little +inclination to disturb people who were in perfect harmony with +themselves, even if I felt differently. Why should they not have the +right to devote their attention solely to the beautiful and brilliant? +I only wish you might belong to the favored few, who during their whole +lives never see the wrong side of the world. He who has once become +familiar with it, is certainly interested in finding even amid the +narrow, commonplace limits of this miserable existence treasures and +blessings, which fill his heart and make his life lovely. But you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are very much mistaken," she gravely interrupted. "I have +already +told you that I too know what it is to sit in the shadow and feel no +ray of warmth from the sun that illumines the fairy castles of others. +But it is for that very reason, that I do not wish to be reminded in +books of what I have already had a sufficient experience of in my life, +and found by no means amusing or poetical. And however it maybe with +outward cares, their charms and pleasures; the inward poverty, the +miserable, half developed, embittered, starved feelings, the oppression +beneath which human souls drag out such a painful existence--will you +assert that these also are fitting themes for the poet's art?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He was just beginning to reply, with a sense of secret +surprise at the +gloomy, dismal feeling underlying her words, when the striped waistcoat +appeared at the door of the dining room. The dwarf had evidently just +brushed his tow colored wig, fastened his cravat tighter, and drawn on +a pair of white cotton gloves, which only made his short hands more +clumsy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pardon me for not interrupting the regular routine of my +day," said +the beautiful girl, suddenly adopting a gayer tone. "That is my tyrant. +Small as he is, and submissive as he pretends to be--if I'm not +punctual at my meals, I lose his favor. The young man can vie in good +sense and faithfulness with many grown persons, but his stomach is +still a child's and must have its dues every two or three hours, or he +gets very ill-natured. But I may venture to invite you to be my guest. +The restaurant provides me with such an abundant supply of food, that +even Jean sometimes gives up the task of attempting to eat the portion +I leave. You have already dined? But you will at least give me your +society; for my usual company, to which I will introduce you directly, +is only a make-shift."</p> + +<p class="normal">She preceded him into the little dining room, where the boy +nimbly +pushed a second chair up to the daintily spread table. But before the +young girl sat down, she went to the bird cage and opened the gilded +door. "There," said she, clapping her hands three times as if for a +signal, "there they come flying out. Some of them understand the order +of proceedings and will instruct the new comers--those shy ones at the +back that will not venture out. You must not suppose I take pleasure in +shutting up the poor things; I buy new ones almost every day, mere +native birds, as you see, just to feed them here a little while, and +then after they have given me their society at dinner, I let them fly +away again. Many, to be sure, will not go; but I am not to blame for +that. Whoever voluntarily resigns freedom for good food and care, must +accept imprisonment cheerfully. <i>Tu l'as voulu!</i>"</p> + +<p class="normal">He listened to her quietly as a part of the gay feathered +flock darted +out of the cage and fluttered around the table and corners of the room, +while the others remained timidly within. The window stood wide open; +some of the most insignificant in appearance, after hesitating a +moment, whetting their beaks on the sill and trying their wings, soared +out into the open air with loud chirps and twitterings. The remainder, +among which a beautiful gold-finch was the most attractive, crowded +about the side-board and covered dishes on the table, in eager +expectation of the good things they were to receive.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't object to being alone all day," said the young +mistress, +taking her seat and motioning Edwin, with a gesture of charming +authoritativeness, to sit down in the opposite chair, "but it is +horrible to eat alone. One never feels so inhuman, selfish, and hard +hearted, as when one is putting one piece of food after another into +one's mouth entirely by himself. I always begin to think of the +hundreds of thousands who have nothing to eat, and the thought disgusts +me with my favorite dishes, so that I can scarcely half satisfy my +hunger. But now look at this unruly rabble. How they quarrel and +scuffle over every little crumb, and the greatest eater there, the +little magpie, grudges the black bird every mouthful. Will you be +quiet, you ugly thing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She took a silver salt spoon and tapped the bird, that was +giving +itself such airs, gently on the back, but without making any special +impression upon him, and then cut some little biscuits which had been +served with the dessert, into pieces, strewed sugared almonds over +them, and divided these dainties between half a dozen little plates, +which she placed in a circle on the table. The greedy birds instantly +assembled around their food; only a few timid ones that remained on the +side board preferred to take the crumbs she threw them, while the +boldest perched on the edge of the dish of fruit, and rioted +undisturbed on the magnificent pears and peaches.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meantime she herself began to eat, after vainly urging Edwin +to do so, +and finally insisted that he must at least try some of the sweet +Spanish wine, of which she only sipped a little from a slender crystal +glass to drink his health. She ate in the same manner, tiny morsels +which she took from her plate with the silver fork, and while busily +talking, partook a little more freely of four or five vegetables and +one sweet dish, but scarcely touched the meats. Edwin jestingly asked +if she were a vegetarian. She requested him to explain the word, which +she did not understand. "That's an excellent system," she said with a +thoughtful nod, "I'm really a born vegetarian, without knowing it until +to-day, and have often been laughed at in consequence. See that +partridge, how sadly it thrusts its roasted beak into its own larded +breast! I cannot look at it without reproaching myself for the happy +creature's early death. And I was not even personally acquainted with +the poor thing. But I could never have the heart to eat the chickens my +mother had fed herself. She called it affectation! Dear me, my appetite +in those days was far too healthy to allow me to be sentimental at the +expense of my stomach. Now I have little enough and believe I could +live upon bread and fruits."</p> + +<p class="normal">As she said all this with a mixture of innocent gayety and +womanly +consciousness, while her manner toward her guest was one of the most +perfect ease--he became more and more doubtful what to think of this +mysterious creature. He had had very little intercourse with ladies who +had seemed particularly worthy of notice. Face to face with this +problem, which even experienced connoisseurs of women had given up, all +his psychological wisdom was of no avail. But some secret feeling, +which would not be stifled, told him that whatever perverted, noxious, +or dangerous things there might be in this girl's character or fate, +the depths of her nature were pure and true, and even the open coquetry +with which she had entered into the rôle of a fairy among her enchanted +princes in the cage, had a tinge of innocent fancy, and suited her as +well as the ribbons and spangles of the child, who in play decks itself +to represent a princess.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have grown so quiet," she said, paring a peach and +placing half of +it on his plate, "that I see there is something about me of which you +do not approve,--perhaps the frankness with which I treat you like an +old acquaintance. Say so openly; true, I shall not be able to change my +manner, but I don't wish to impose any constraint upon you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am reflecting," said he, "upon the strange chance which has +brought +me to this place. Is it not really like a fairy tale, that I am here in +your society, while you do not even know my name, and I nothing more of +you than yours?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She raised the silver fruit knife she held in her hand, and +with a +roguish, mysterious expression, pressed it to her laughing lips. "Let +that pass," said she, "it has all come about by natural means, without +any magic or sorcery. But for that very reason, it is better to enjoy +it so long as it lasts, and not spoil it by reflections and +investigations."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will it last?" he asked gravely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A little longer, a few weeks perhaps, who knows? +Afterwards--what will +come afterwards nobody can tell. But if it seems like a fairy tale, be +kind and wise enough to let it remain so, do not seek to penetrate any +farther into my life, so that I shall be forced to explain the +connection. There's nothing very remarkable concealed in it, at least +nothing particularly pleasant or cheerful. I'm really glad that I have +made your acquaintance; I was too much alone, and in my situation I +must beware of all persons whom I cannot implicitly trust. Why I have +confided in you, I do not know; but so it is, and I should really be +grieved if you did not think well of me, or if you were deterred from +coming again in consequence of my frank expressions of opinion in +regard to the various things I read or experience. And you must not +come too often. I do not wish to cause gossip among the people in the +house; but two or three times a week about this hour, before it is time +to go to the theatre--only you must not first get your dinner at home. +Will you promise me that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She rose and held out her hand, which he hastily grasped and +pressed +cordially in his own.</p> + +<p class="normal">"May the meal be blessed to you!" she said smiling. "We always +said +that in my parent's house, and I miss it here. Jean has too much +respect for me, and the birds cannot be taught to do it. So I shall see +you again soon, and you will bring Göthe's other works, of which you +have spoken?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He bowed silently, involuntarily placing his hand on his +heart, and in +a very puzzled mood left her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just as he emerged from the house, a light carriage drove up; +the +gentleman, who had himself held the reins threw them to the servant +sitting behind and sprang out with the laughing exclamation: "Doctor, +are you mad?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Marquard! Is it you? Have you a patient in this house?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only one, who as I see, is making my efforts superfluous by +taking the +cure into his own hands. Or have you not just come from <i>her</i>?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"From her? I don't understand you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hypocrite! As if I did not see the fire in your heart burning +through +your vest" (Marquard was fond of quoting from Heine.) "My dear fellow, +you won't find it so easy to deceive an old diagnostician of my stamp. +But how the deuce did you get on her track again?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let's walk a few steps down the street," said Edwin coloring. +"The +windows are open, every word can be heard up stairs."</p> + +<p class="normal">He seized the doctor by the arm and drew him away, relating in +an +undertone the story of the lost book-mark, and leaving it in doubt +whether the accident had brought him here to-day for the first time. +"And you," he hastily concluded. "How did you discover that our +neighbor in the box at the theatre lived here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"By means of the vein I laudably struck," declaimed the +doctor. "The +renewal of my acquaintance with this fair Sphinx is only two days old, +and I fear it will not long survive the third. Day before yesterday, +while visiting a patient in one of the opposite houses, I was suddenly +summoned from his bedside; a boy was dangerously ill; I must come as +soon as possible to the very house before which we just met. How I +scaled the staircase and entered the second story rooms on the wings of +my professional duty--a doctor is an enviable person, Edwin! All doors +open to him, while to you ordinary mortals they only unclose when you +knock as honest finders of property, or--rascally seekers. Imagine my +joyful surprise, when the fair enigma who had so icily dismissed me in +the box, now hastily approached and in the confusion of terror claimed +my assistance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Was she ill?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not she herself But she has a lad in her service, a +ridiculous little +fellow, who had already amused me greatly when he summoned me from the +other side of the street. The mysterious stranger--who at any rate +seems to have a kind heart, especially for minors--had allowed her +footman to invite a younger brother to dine with him, and the two +precocious men of the world had consumed a bottle of Cape wine and +smoked some horrible cigars. The striped waistcoat's stomach, already +hardened to such sins, endured the orgy without injury, while the +hopeful Jean junior lay like a broken lily on his brother's bed, and +had frightened the young lady, who had not the least suspicion of the +cause--the young tipplers had carefully put the bottle away--almost to +death. Now I could not possibly do Jean--who was leering significantly +at me, and had taken me into his confidence on the way--the injury of +making light of the case. Besides, successful cures of difficult cases +are a greater recommendation to a young physician, than the treatment +of the sickness that follows a drunken spree. So I took the pallid +scamp to his unsuspicious parents in my own carriage, and yesterday +reported his rapid progress toward convalescence. I'm now just in the +act of giving the second bulletin; but as, when I left him, the patient +was eating pears and dumplings with the best possible appetite, and his +noble patroness intends to visit him herself, you can understand that I +shall not be able to pay many more visits to the fairy castle; for +which I am very sorry--especially on your account, since according to +promise--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have just told you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That you're a Cato or a Plato, whichever you prefer. +Meantime--even +without having felt your pulse--I see by your whole appearance, that +you're on the direct road to remain so no longer. My best blessing on +your conversion, old boy, and better luck than has fallen to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you may suppose that during my visit yesterday, I made +every +effort to appear not only the experienced physician, but also the +profound connoisseur in female hearts and female beauty. <i>Oleum et +operam</i>, my dear fellow! A statue, I tell you, a marble Sphinx would +have been more moved by my engaging manners. This young glacier in +Brussels lace remained as unapproachable as on the first evening, and +will you believe it: even my secret ally, Jean the Little, who ought to +be grateful--is a <i>rocher de bronze</i> in everything that concerns his +mistress. The maid, my last hope, did not appear. So I'm just as wise +to-day as I was before, or rather still more stupid, for all my +experience and psychology have not helped me to understand our solitary +beauty, or make up my mind whether she belongs to the great world, the +<i>demi monde</i>, or no world at all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There can be no lack of people who will help you on the +trail."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps others know more," said the doctor, as he paused and +cleaned +his spectacles. "Meantime, as I told you just now: I give her up. I +hereby relinquish her to you for the second time and forever, and swear +by yonder turrets, that it does not even cost me an effort. She's an +amphibious creature, a beautiful, faultless young serpent, just fit +to drive men mad. I prefer warm, red blood. I've discovered some +one--curiously enough in your house--a soubrette, who takes lessons +from your piano-playing young lady--not by any means so exquisite or +princess like as our sphinx, but to make amends--you know 'we don't cry +for the moon' unless we are incorrigible idealists and star gazers, +like certain people."</p> + +<p class="normal">He laughingly shook hands with Edwin and entered the house +before which +his carriage was waiting.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Ever since the day mentioned in the last chapter, Edwin had +become a +regular dinner guest at the house in Jägerstrasse. He came every third +day, but could never be induced to encroach upon little Jean's share of +the remains of the meal any farther than he had done the first time. He +dined as it were symbolically, by dipping a biscuit in the dainty glass +which the young hostess filled with Spanish wine. If she asked him why +he would never gratify her by really eating, he pleaded his old +fashioned custom of dining at noon. In reality, his feelings rebelled +against being so luxuriously entertained in the fairy castle, after +having merely been a spectator at the scanty meal in the "tun." +Besides, he was now separated from Balder so often and so long, that he +wished at any cost to keep their cosy dinner hour, where jesting with +Reginchen roused him a short time from his reveries. Yet it happened +more and more frequently, that his evenings were not spent at home. +True, his fair friend always dismissed him just before she went to the +theatre, and neither invited him to accompany her nor gave him any hope +of seeing her afterwards. But the hour spent in talking with her, +during which he played the part of the calm, clever thinker, her "wise +friend," as she jestingly called him, left his soul in a state of +agitation, a fever of doubt, longing, gloom, and happiness, which he +was forced to calm by long, lonely walks, before he could associate +with others again.</p> + +<p class="normal">He knew also that Balder was rarely alone at these times, Mohr +came +almost every evening to chat, to play chess with him, or to sit at the +open window and listen to Christiane's piano. He declared that this +music and Balder's golden mane were the only domestic medicines that +afforded him any relief, when he had a particularly violent attack of +his chronic self-contempt. He often brought some of his verses with him +or a scene of his famous comedy: "I am I, and rely on myself," to get +the youth's opinion, but could never make up his mind to read them +aloud. Now and then Franzelius also appeared, but soon went away again +if he met Mohr. To be sure the latter, at Balder's request, made the +most earnest efforts to curb his mocking tongue and to spare the fiery +tribune of the people, who was so helpless when in a small company. But +his mere presence annoyed the irritable fellow, especially as he +imagined that since Mohr's return some secret barrier had arisen +between himself and Balder. He loved the youth more than any other +human being, and knew that no one understood him better. Now he was +jealous of every smile that Mohr's quaint manner won from his darling, +and in his stupidity and dullness, felt doubly at a disadvantage in the +presence of the cynical jester, who nevertheless was an object of scorn +to him, as a drone among the working bees.</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder, with his delicate sensibility, would probably have +been even +more careful than usual to soothe his wounded friend; but he was very +anxious, and his thoughts, even while the two young men were with him, +secretly followed his brother along the unknown paths, of which he had +such a superficial knowledge. Not that Edwin would have concealed where +he went, and that he was daily becoming more and more ensnared by the +magic of this singular relation, but he could not reconcile his mind to +confess the full extent of his weakness, for in so doing he would have +been obliged to have acknowledged it to himself, and against such an +acknowledgement all the pride and manliness in his nature struggled.</p> + +<p class="normal">How contemptible he appeared to himself when at night, after +he had +wandered about, long and aimlessly, he again turned his steps toward +the house in Jägerstrasse, instead of going home, to stand on the +opposite side of the street pressed against the wall in some dark +corner, until her carriage brought her back from the theatre, and then +to wait hour after hour at his post, to see whether the door would not +open again and allow some more fortunate person admittance or egress, +until the light behind her curtain vanished, and every thing around him +was hushed to repose in the coolness of the autumnal night, except the +fever in his blood. How he cursed the hour which had first brought him +to her presence, and made the firmest resolutions to put an end to this +madness and never cross that fatal threshold again!</p> + +<p class="normal">But the next, day would find him once more at the little +table, envying +the birds that pecked their food in happy ignorance and in freedom from +suffering like his.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young girl herself seemed to have no suspicion of how +little +prudence her "wise friend" possessed. She treated him on the tenth day +exactly as she had done on the first, with the same frank cordiality, +the same careless confidence; as if it were impossible he could ever +become more distant or approach her nearer. When he came and went, she +gave him her hand like an old friend, scolded him if he kept her +waiting, questioned him, after she had once discovered that his nerves +were disordered, most sympathizingly about his health, and urged him to +use all sorts of remedies and medicines, of which she had read or +heard. More than once she acknowledged that she did not understand how +she had ever got through the long days before making his acquaintance, +and only dreaded the moment when he would grow weary of wasting his +time on such a foolish, ignorant girl, though to be sure the tone in +which she had expressed this fear was not very grave. But though she +must have been perfectly aware of her own powers of attraction, the +idea that any deeper feeling might bind him to her never seemed to +enter her head. The longer he watched her, the more he became convinced +that in speaking of love as she had, she had given utterance to her +real opinions. It actually appeared to her like a sort of madness, by +which weak minds were sometimes attacked. How a sensible man, who came +to see her every third day, brought her solid books and said very +clever things, could be seized by it, would evidently have been +incomprehensible to her.</p> + +<p class="normal">He perceived all this, recognized the hopelessness of his +concealed +longing, the improbability of ever thawing the ice that surrounded her +like a protecting wall. He had once asked what there was about him to +inspire her, usually so reserved to every one, with so much confidence +in him. She laughed, and shaking her head declared that that was a +secret she intended to keep to herself, and when, contrary to his usual +custom, he pressed her for an answer, she confessed that neither his +honest face, nor anything he had said, had given her the assurance that +he would not abuse her confidence, but--and here she looked at him with +a bewitchingly droll, half timid, half doubtful smile on her face, as +if wondering whether he would take it amiss--the fact that he wore no +gloves, and did not pay any more attention to his dress when he made +the second visit, than when he first called to return her the bookmark.</p> + +<p class="normal">He laughed, but was obliged to exert considerable self +control, to +treat as a jest a matter that was far from being one to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">He distinctly perceived that she only preferred him because, +as a being +belonging to a totally different sphere, she thought him perfectly +harmless. In the seclusion of her life, a visitor who, like him, +brought her amusement without making any special claims, was very +welcome, and the fact that he meantime remained as much a stranger to +her, as she to him, only increased the charm of this intercourse. +Besides, a man who always visited her in the same grey summer suit and +without gloves, was safe from the least suspicion of desiring any +closer relation.</p> + +<p class="normal">There were moments when he could not help being grateful to +her +honesty, for not leaving him in doubt about the impassable gulf between +her worldly desires and needs and his own, when he suddenly shrank from +the mere thought that she could ever return his passion, as if such a +return would be a terrible misfortune. Aside from all the mystery that +surrounded her, how could he ever hope to harmonize his fate and +Balder's, their cheerfully endured poverty, his duties to his +profession, with the life she led, and which alone could be +satisfactory to her, since she expressed no wish to change it. He only +needed to imagine her in the place of Reginchen, who brought them their +dinner, and to transport to the "tun" the form of his enchantress, with +the striped waistcoat and his silver dish behind her, to measure the +abyss of impossibility that yearned between them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus weeks elapsed, without any change, either for the better +or worse, +having taken place in their intercourse. To be sure he did not always +find her in the same mood; oftentimes he even thought he perceived that +she had been weeping, or she greeted him with a look of surprise, as if +it were difficult for her to recall her thoughts from some distant +scene to him and what he brought. But a few words from Edwin were +sufficient to clear her brow and transform her once more into the +frank, friendly child that, with all her pampering and the strange +independence of her life, she really was. She fairly provoked him to +sometimes catch her in a piece of carelessness or failure in etiquette, +and then he treated her with condescending, sarcastic composure, as if +she were a person not fully accountable for her actions. But he +carefully avoided letting her feel his superiority in any other than a +jesting manner. If, as she was fond of doing, she roved in fancy, with +strange transitions of thought, over the world and mankind, life and +death, time and eternity, he could sit for fifteen minutes, tattooing +an apple in fantastic designs with a silver fruit knife, and listening +in silence. It always vexed her that he did not seem to think it worth +while to contradict her, and declared that even if he laughed aloud and +derided her, it would be less impolite than to sit silently smiling, +while she was talking about the most serious matters. If the wind were +blowing, or a fountain plashing, he could not adopt a more indifferent +air--"Was it his fault?" he answered laughing, "that in her presence he +often felt as strange an emotion as in that of nature, whose manifold +voices frequently rippled over him with similar elementary power, +without his feeling called upon to make any reply? He would seem to +himself a ridiculous pedant if he tried to talk logic to the woodland +birds, and reason to the waterfalls."</p> + +<p class="normal">And yet, when he came again, it almost always happened that +the +conversation went back to the same point at which it had been broken +off the last time. Then they exchanged parts, and it was his turn to +give utterance to his thoughts and rhapsodize undisturbed over the most +important questions. It was the strangest dialogue in monologues that +can be imagined, since twice four and twenty hours usually elapsed +between question and answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">Was the cause of this, his fear of making the contrast between +their +natures too perceptible, the dread that any dispute must instantly part +them forever, while he still considered it almost a duty, when the +matter had once more become indifferent to her, not to withhold his +opposition or deny his opinion. Or did he suspect that he should lose +all mastery over himself, if he obtained more and more control over her +and gradually harmonized and assimulated the heterogenious traits in +her character? And what was the use of this daring venture? What +was to be hoped for, even in the best case? To tame a gazelle, an +antelope--what can it avail in a zone and on a soil that are not +created for tropical animals--</p> + +<p class="normal">It was on a gloomy afternoon in September, the first autumn +rain was +falling, and the wind sweeping chilly through the empty street, the +windows were closed and a little fire was burning on the hearth, though +rather for the pleasure afforded by the sight of the bright flames, +than through any necessity for warmth. The beautiful girl, who had +often boasted that she had never been really sick, complained of a +slight headache, sent away the carriage which was to convey her to the +theatre, and threw herself on the sofa in the little red dining room, +with her feet toward the flames, whose red flickering light lent some +color to her pale cheeks.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Read something aloud to me, Doctor," she said. "If I fall +asleep over +it, so much the better. But don't choose Hermann and Dorothea; I don't +wish to offend you, as we have already quarrelled over it once, and yet +I can't help being lulled to sleep by the wonderful verses, as if I +were in a cradle, gladly as I would keep awake to listen to the +beautiful story. Do you know that I consider this Dorothea a very +enviable person, nay I have really never found the fate of any heroine +in a novel happier than hers? Poor, orphaned, homeless--she suddenly +comes into possession of a farm, and is loved and petted, and it all +comes about as naturally as if such a thing might happen any day! She +must have been very charming," she added after a pause, "I always +imagine her tall and slender, with raven hair and grey eyes, a black +ribbon round her fair neck, and ear rings with a red stone, which is +really only a bit of glass--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"By the way," he interrupted, "I have long wanted to ask you +something: +why do you wear no earrings or jewelry of any kind?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because I am too poor to get large diamonds or real pearls, +and I do +not care for any other ornaments."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Too poor?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes indeed, much too poor, far poorer than you perhaps +suppose, at any +rate poorer than Dorothea, who possessed the greatest treasure, +contentment. I, on the contrary--do you suppose I should have +considered it a happiness to become Frau Hermann?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you had really been in love with him--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked at him quietly, as if trying to discover whether he +was in +earnest, and then said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're a singular person. Wisdom does not seem to be any +protection +against folly, and you take no notice of the existence of anything that +does not accord with your system. How often must I explain to you, that +I have no idea of what you call being in love. And see, even in your +Dorothea, though created by a poet--and falling in love plays so +prominent a part in all poetry--yet I can discover no trace of this +singular condition. She meets a young man, who leads her from the +street into his house and wishes to make her his wife. As he seems kind +and good, and promises to become one of those persons who are +represented as pattern husbands--why should she say no, especially as +the pastor and doctor and provincial customs are not at all repulsive +to her? And that's just why I envy her. I, on the contrary--but please +throw a few sticks of wood on the fire; it's going out."</p> + +<p class="normal">He did as she requested, and was kneeling before the hearth +kindling +the flames anew with a dainty pair of bellows, when a noise and +altercation arose in the entry, which attracted his attention. The +whinning voice of little Jean, eagerly arguing with a deep bass, was +distinctly audible, then the door of the ante-room was thrown open, and +the disputants approached the little drawing room; the stranger, with a +rude laugh, pushed aside the boy, who endeavored to prevent his +entrance, there was a knock at the door, and without even waiting for a +reply, a tall fellow in a rich huntsman's livery, boldly entered, as if +entirely at home.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young lady had hastily started up and was gazing at the +intruder in +speechless alarm. Edwin had also risen from his knees, with the bellows +still in his hand, and was just in the act of accosting the man, when +the latter, with an elegant bow to Toinette, drew a letter from his +pocket and laid it on the little table before the sofa.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beg pardon, Fräulein, if I have disturbed you," he said +casting an +insolent glance at Edwin, "but the Herr Count expressly commanded me to +deliver this note into your own hands."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did not my servant tell you--?" Toinette interrupted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That his young lady was not at home, yes; and also that she +wished to +receive no notes, and preferred not to know the Herr Count, as she had +already intimated by not answering the letters His Excellency sent +through the post office--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leave this room at once," fell with great difficulty from the +lips of +the pallid girl, "and if you venture to come again and force an +entrance in this way--I shall find some means to protect my rights in +this house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pardon me, Fräulein," said the impudent fellow, with a saucy +grin, +"but no one has any rights in a house except the person to whom it +belongs. If it is agreeable to my lord the count, to have his servant +turned out of a house, or the doors shut in his face, when His +Excellency is, so to speak, the tenant--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Insolent rascal!" Edwin burst forth. "Did you not hear what +the young +lady told you? I've not the honor of your master's acquaintance. But if +he's a gentleman, it cannot be his intention to have a lady insulted by +a boorish lackey!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The man, with cool impertinence, measured the person who so +unexpectedly addressed him from head to foot.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I, sir, have not the honor of your acquaintance," he +retorted. +"But as for my conduct, no one but the Herr Count has a right to call +me a boor. There is the letter, and now I can go, as I have done my +errand. I had no idea of insulting the young lady, that would have been +entirely against my orders. But to have the first stranger--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin involuntarily raised the little weapon he held in his +hand, but +the next instant recollected himself. The bellows fell on the floor, he +passed close by the man, opened the drawing room door, and fixing a +firm glance on the suddenly intimidated lackey, exclaimed: "Be off!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The man lingered an instant longer, then with another bow to +Toinette, +slowly retreated.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will inform His Excellency," he said on the threshold, +"that the +young lady had no time to answer the Herr Count's letters, because she +had gentlemen visitors."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin closed the door behind him. They heard the fellow laugh +loudly +and joke with Jean as he went away, as if nothing had happened.</p> + +<p class="normal">A death-like silence pervaded the little drawing room. The +beautiful +girl sat motionless on the sofa, with her eyes fixed upon the fatal +letter, which still lay unopened on the table, and her pale hands +folded in her lap. Edwin stood at the door, his hand still raised in +the threatening gesture with which he had motioned the insolent fellow +to leave the room. Not until he heard the outer door close, did he +suddenly move, as if he had shaken off an incubus, and quietly +approached the silent Toinette.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you have the kindness to explain this scene, Fräulein?" +he asked +in a voice from which every trace of agitation seemed to have vanished. +As she did not immediately reply, he continued:</p> + +<p class="normal">"May I hope that you will introduce me to this count, who +apparently +has some right to compel you to read his letters?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She was still silent. At last she timidly raised her eyes and +gazed at +him beseechingly. The look penetrated to his inmost soul.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I beg you to ask me no farther questions, to trust me as +before--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should not refuse your request," he answered dejectedly, +"but I +should take leave of you at once--never to return."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because I do not desire to visit in any house in the capacity +of a +guest, without knowing who is the head of it. I do not wish to expose +myself to the possibility of having the master instead of the servant, +appear before me someday, and hearing that it does not suit his +pleasure that you--should receive gentlemen visitors."</p> + +<p class="normal">She seemed to reflect a moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're right, my friend," she now answered. "I owe it to you +to +explain all this, or rather I owe it to myself. What must you think of +me? But I will not relate this long and sorrowful story to-day, or here +in this place. Besides, your visit has already been greatly prolonged; +it will soon be dark. Come to the gold-fish pond in the Thiergarten, +where the statue stands, at eleven o'clock to-morrow morning. It's very +lonely there then; I've often sat under the trees with a book at that +hour and not see three people pass. In that spot I will tell you all. +If the charm our game of hide and seek has had, vanishes as soon as you +know your friend's very commonplace and prosaic story--you yourself +have willed it to be so. But that you may have a pledge of my sincerity +at once--take this unlucky note away with you and keep it for me until +to-morrow. We will read it together--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She rose and extended her hand, which, absorbed in gloomy +thoughts, he +grasped and held firmly in his own. "I need no pledge," he replied. +"Perhaps it would be best if I--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I should bid you farewell forever," he was going to say. +But he had +not the courage to do so. He gazed into her eyes, which were again as +unclouded, nay, which sparkled as brightly as ever, and mechanically he +took the little note she held out to him. Then he bent over her hand +and kissed it--long and passionately; it was the first time he had ever +pressed his lips to her cool, soft fingers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To-morrow!" said he. "Keep your promise!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And suppose that the skies should fall during the night," she +answered +smiling. "But sleep calmly. What I have to say to you, is only worth +knowing because you are still ignorant of it. Oh! my friend, I fear you +will yet regret having destroyed the spell by your question, if from +to-morrow the fairy tale is ended and Cinderella again sits in the +ashes!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">When, soon after, Edwin returned home, passed Christiane's +door, behind +which he heard loud, eager voices, and climbed the dark stairs, he was +glad that neither Mohr's nor Franzelius' voice could be distinguished +in the "tun." He was longing for an hour alone with his brother, and +therefore the surprise was all the more unwelcome when he found Balder +with his usual companions. Mohr was sitting opposite him before the +chess board, which they had placed on one corner of the turning lathe, +to take advantage of the last fading daylight. He had set a bottle of +Rhine wine--a small stock of which he had stored in the cellar of the +house, that he might not drink at the brothers' expense--on the window +sill, and seemed so absorbed by the wine, the game, and the smoke of +his cigarette, that he scarcely noticed Edwin's entrance. Franzelius +was sitting in the middle of the room astride a chair on whose back he +had clasped his broad hands, and rested his chin, while his gloomy eyes +stared intently at the bust of Demosthenes on the book case. He, too, +scarcely turned his head toward the new comer, and the greeting he +vouchsafed him sounded more like the growl of a watch dog, than any +human tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin was no more disposed to talk. He stood behind his +brother's chair +a moment, stroked his thick hair several times, and then went to his +desk, where he apparently began to read the newspapers. Once, however, +he turned toward the chess players and said: "It would probably be +better, Heinrich, if you would sacrifice your tobacco, which smells +horribly, on the altar of friendship. The time for open windows is +over, and Balder has already coughed three times."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr instantly opened the window and tossed the cigarette into +the +courtyard.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then all four were silent, until Balder rose saying: "A wooden +king +can't be expected to be checkmated more than five times. Besides, it's +a hopeless task to play with you. You're a master of the art."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I <i>am</i> good for something!" laughed Mohr scornfully as +he tossed +the little pieces Balder had turned into the box. "Master of an art in +which persons of the least brains are often the greatest virtuosos. +Nay, it is still a question whether a talent for chess is not a sort of +disease, a hypertrophy of the power of conbination. You see, Edwin, I, +for instance--if this organ were in a normal state--should have made +more progress in my play. I plan the finest chess problems through five +acts, and when I afterwards examine them narrowly, they are mere wooden +figures, no living creatures. Basta! I vow not to touch knight or +bishop for a month, until I have arranged my comedy."</p> + +<p class="normal">He emptied his glass and then slowly poured the remainder of +the wine +from the bottle into it. "Good evening, Edwin," said he. "We've not had +the pleasure of seeing you in the 'tun,' for a long time. Even to-day +your thoughts seem to be far away--like our worthy philanthropist's, +who has not spoken ten words since he's been here."</p> + +<p class="normal">The printer rose from his seat with a violent jerk, passed +both hands +through his bushy hair and said: "It's true: I'm perfectly aware that +I've long been a tiresome guest here. Therefore--and for one other +reason--I hope our <i>feelings</i> are still the same--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What fancy have you taken into your head now?" said Edwin, +still +absorbed in his newspaper.</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder had limped up to Franzelius and grasped his hand. "I +was going +to ask you, Reinhold," he said in an undertone, "to come some day in +the morning; you will then find me alone, and I should like to say +something about your last essay--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The other turned away. "No," he muttered, "it's better so, +wiser to put +an end to this once for all. I'm glad Edwin is here too. I wanted to +say it before, but you were so absorbed in the game: I shall take leave +of you to-day--for an indefinite time--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fools call it forever," quoted Mohr. "What devil has taken +possession +of you, Caius Franzelius? Do you want to found a colony of workmen +among the red-skins on the Schultze--Delitz'schen principles? Or are +you going to the Salt Lake of Utah, to disgust the Mormons with their +immortality! Or--stop, now I have it--he can't endure the sight of a +man who drinks Rhine wine, while the camels in the desert of Sahara +often cannot get even muddy water."</p> + +<p class="normal">The printer seemed about to make some angry reply. Edwin +anticipated +him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't know what you are doing," said he. "If you part +from old +friends, you must have some good reasons for doing so, for they are +wares that are not to be bought in every market. It would be kinder, +Franzel, to inform us of these reasons. Who knows whether they're so +well grounded, as you imagine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you, Edwin," replied the other in a faltering voice. +"I'm glad +it's not a matter of entire indifference to you whether or not our +intercourse is given up, little pleasure as it has afforded during the +last few weeks. As for my reasons--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm quite ready to forsake this locality, if unrestrained +intercourse +is desired," said Mohr quietly, rising.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's nothing personal to be said," replied the gloomy +visitor. "The +fact that we do not understand each other--unpleasant as it often is to +be the butt of your frivolous jests--could not induce me to remain away +from the 'tun' entirely. The matter is far more serious; to tell the +whole story in a few words: I've decided to publish a newspaper, which +is to acknowledge and defend my principles more plainly and openly than +my fugitive sheets have hitherto done. It is to appear twice a week +under the name of: 'The Tribune of the People.' I thank you for the +nick-name, Mohr, which I have now made a title of honor. The prospectus +will break with the last remnants of superstition and traditional +delusions, and as the rich have good reasons for preserving these +traditions, since they stir up the water in which they want to fish, it +will appeal expressly to the poor and miserable. I have recognized this +as my life task, for which I am ready to make every sacrifice--even the +hardest."</p> + +<p class="normal">As he uttered these words he looked at Balder, but instantly +averted +his eyes and pretended to be searching for his cap.</p> + +<p class="normal">The brothers were silent, but Mohr went up to him, laid both +hands on +his shoulders, and said: "Franzel, although you don't like me, you must +allow me before these witnesses to declare my respect for you. I envy +you such a life task, although I consider it perfect folly. At least +change the title. Your readers will hardly be sufficiently well versed +in Roman history, to distinguish the difference between tribune and +tribunal. Besides, why should we lose the pleasure of your society on +that account? I will even offer to be a coworker: in case you, as I +hope, issue a feuilleton, I should not be disinclined to write a few +brilliant aphorisms--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Cease this jesting!" Edwin indignantly interrupted. "Franzel, +what +does this mean? Because you're going to establish a newspaper, must we +clasp hands in an eternal farewell? You may do what you cannot leave +undone. Are we our brother's keeper? Or have we hitherto found fault +with all your sayings, to which we could not assent?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," replied the printer, as he thrust his huge hands into +his +pockets. "But that's the very reason; you must be as safe in the future +as you have been in the past, so far as it depends upon me. +Unfortunately, I'm only too well aware that we shall no longer agree as +well on many subjects, as we have done hitherto. But I'm determined to +burn my ships; there shall be no more evasions, no half-way measures. +The people at the helm cannot endure them. There will be trouble, they +will use their usual coarse means--arrests, searching of houses, +seizure of papers, watching for conspirators. I do not want to subject +you--for I go nowhere else so often--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They can seal up all my papers," said Mohr dryly. "The +mediocrity of +talent, to which they all bear culpable witness, is at least not +dangerous to the state. On the contrary, the less genius one possesses, +the more useful he is as a tax-paying individual, a sheep in the +flock."</p> + +<p class="normal">Franzelius seized his cap.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will do us no harm," said Balder. "Let us take the risk. +What +could they find here? As I know Edwin--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I too would see them enter with the greatest composure," +observed +Edwin smiling. "No, Franzel, your fears are visionary so far as we are +concerned. Can you not, in case of necessity, even swear that I have no +tendencies toward socialism, but on the contrary am an incorrigible +aristocrat, for which you have often reproached me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And if they question you about your catechism, will you deny +it? Will +you deny that our principles are the same, and that we only differ in +opinion as to whether the times are yet fully ripe for them? You are +silent; now you see--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Scientific convictions are somewhat different from public +speaking, +and the police, thank God, no longer meddle with the freedom of thought +of a private tutor of philosophy. But since we have come to this +point--once more and, as it seems, for the last time: do you take me +for a coward, Franzel?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You! How can you even--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or do you not believe that I would be drawn and quartered, +rather than +deny my convictions? Well then, if you think me a man of whose +friendship you have no cause to be ashamed, let me tell you this: what +you are about to do, appears to me little more judicious, than if you +wanted to set before an infant that had not yet cut its teeth, a roast +chicken instead of its mother's milk or some of Liebig's preparations, +with which it had hitherto appeased its hunger. If any one attempted to +do that to my child, I should certainly forbid him the house, or at +least endeavor to make his premature diet harmless."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You talk so, because you don't know the people," Franzelius +burst +forth, "They are no longer children, their teeth are cut, and their +eyes open; where this is not the case, we will help them, offer hard +food that they may cut their teeth on it, instead of cooking the +traditional children's porridge, perpetually lulling them to sleep with +baby talk, when they are grown men, and the leading strings of +guardians--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't get angry unnecessarily!" Edwin interrupted. "Who of us +wishes +to check the natural growth of the mind, instead of aiding it according +to its powers? But what you have in view, is a forced, premature +culture, your demagogical enthusiasm is a hot house, and that is why I +repeat: make no useless sacrifices, which must not only ruin yourself, +but many of your foster children. You cannot carve an Apollo from every +block of wood; not every one who ties on a leather apron and earns his +bread by the sweat of his brow, will be able to grasp the idea of the +fall of man which a follower of Kant or Spinoza can form. Why, when +there are so many crying wants of a coarser nature to be satisfied, do +you desire to create needs for our less gifted brothers? Why show them +what they lack, when, after they have with difficulty learned to feel +their needs, you can only give them such very doubtful assistance? You +aim to produce an artificial thirst, and then all you can offer them to +assuage it, is a pear; for the fountains that flow for us, will, as +matters now appear, long remain sealed to them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Edwin is right!" exclaimed Mohr, speaking for the first time +without +his sarcastic curl of the lip. "The people are asleep, dreaming all +sorts of things, and Franzelius Gracchus goes about like Macbeth, and +murders sleep. I've never understood how anybody can be so inhuman as +to rouse a person who is slumbering. But that's the preaching of these +humanitarians! You're just as selfish as the priests. For the sake of +making the people see, you drum them out of bed at three o'clock in the +morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And suppose they are grateful to us for it? Suppose a +nightmare has +oppressed or bad dreams tormented them?" exclaimed the printer +vehemently. "And that's just the case with the people. Their sleep +under the night cap of superstition is no longer so sound and +refreshing as it was a hundred years ago. All sorts of voices have +startled them, and now they are slumbering in the dusk of morning and +do not know whether it is time to rise. But why do I talk of this to +you? You don't understand the times, you've never felt the pulse throbs +of humanity stir your heart, with all your knowledge and good, +intentions, you're--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Say no more, Franzel," whispered Balder. "You're excited; why +should +we utter angry words in the parting hour,--if you really intend to take +leave of us? That we shall meet again, and before much time has passed, +I'm perfectly sure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You--I will never lose you!" murmured the deeply agitated +enthusiast, +in a tone audible only to Balder. "You're right," he added aloud. "It's +sad enough to feel that our paths must diverge. We should not make the +inevitable unnecessarily difficult. Farewell, Edwin. I could almost +envy you the power of keeping to yourself what you consider an +intellectual possession; for to be sure, 'he who is foolish enough not +to guard his own heart'--but--it's useless: <i>alus inserviendo +consumor</i>. Adieu, Mohr. With you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He was about to add something, but thought better of it and +left the +room. On reaching the entry he paused a moment, as if waiting for some +one. He was not disappointed. Balder followed him, on the pretext that +he had something more to say. But he only pressed his hand in silence, +then threw his arms around his neck, hastily released him again, and +Franzelius stumbled down the stairs, like a man whose head is heavy or +whose eyes are closed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's obeying his evil genius!" said Edwin, shaking his head. +"I've +seen the fit coming and vainly endeavored to stay it. But water will +flow down hill."</p> + +<p class="center"><img src="images/p150.png" alt="Balder's farewell to Franzelius in the stairwell"></p> +<p class="center">Balder's farewell to Franzelius in the stairwell.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will soon come to a level and remain stagnant for some +time," +muttered Mohr. "I'm sorry for the poor fellow! Believe me, Edwin, it +was always disagreeable to me to be continually compelled to make fun +of him. At heart I not only respected, but liked him. He has exactly +what I lack, and because he is not ambitious of distinction, he is +indifferent to his own worth. He takes himself just as he is--I believe +if he thought he was a superior person liable to be admired in society, +he would indignantly ostracise himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder re-entered the room and they talked of other things; +Mohr +inquired about the private lessons Edwin was giving the young +hedge-princess, as Leah was called in the "tun." But Edwin, whose +thoughts were entirely engrossed with the confession his mysterious +friend had promised to make on the morrow, gave very absent replies: he +was explaining the history of philosophy from his own books. He told +her without any oratorical flourishes, how the secret of the universe +had been differently reflected in various human brains, how thoughtful +minds had endeavored to interpret it and expressed the inexpressible in +formulas more and more profound. "I have now come to ideology," he +concluded, "which to one who possesses so deep an intellect as this +girl, can afford a great deal of pleasure, and be comprehended without +much difficulty. I'm amazed to see what progress she makes in +Aristotle. Yet, after all, it only confirms the proposition that where +a real need exists, the organs for it are formed, as the feeling of +hunger always asserts itself when a creature possesses a stomach. It's +a pleasure to see this girl listen. She has long languished for +knowledge, now she fairly revives like a thirsty plant in the summer +rain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Congratulate the Frau Doctorin," laughed Mohr.</p> + +<p class="normal">The brothers' eyes involuntarily met.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We're now just coming to Plato," Edwin forced himself to +answer in a +jesting tone. "Whether my pupil, in spite of her studies of hedges and +lagunes, has sufficiently elevated thoughts to develop a taste for our +'tun' philosophy, I greatly doubt."</p> + +<p class="normal">Meantime Franzelius, walking slowly down stairs, as if every +step cost +him a fresh resolution, had just reached the front of the house. When +he came to the glass door that led into the shop, he suddenly stopped.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the chair behind the show window, where Madame Feyertag was +usually +enthroned, sat Reginchen. It was already very dark in this corner, for +the gas in the shop was usually not lighted in summer, and September, +according to the Feyertag calendar, belonged to the summer months; yet +notwithstanding this, the printer had perceived at the first glance who +it was that sat in the corner knitting a stocking.</p> + +<p class="normal">He seemed to struggle with himself a moment, then softly +opened the +door and with a: "Good evening, Fräulein Reginchen!" entered the shop.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! dear, how you frightened me!" cried the young girl, +starting from +her seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg your pardon," stammered Franzelius, "I ought to have +knocked. +But I have so many things to think of--sit still, Fraulein Reginchen, +I--I only wanted--I came--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He clutched his cap convulsively in one hand, and was brushing +the brim +with his elbow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My mother has gone out," said Reginchen, to make a little +conversation. "But father is still in the work room. If you want to +speak to him--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh no--but allow me--" He picked up the knitting she had +dropped, but +in so doing let his cap fall, and as she now stooped for it, their +heads came in contact somewhat violently. He blushed crimson, but she +burst into a merry laugh.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's owing to the short days," said she. "But father is +anxious to +save the gas. I drop so many stitches!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then both were silent again.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last the printer, pausing before the case of ladies' shoes +and +gazing into it as intently, as if he were endeavoring to count each +individual pair, said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're fortunate, Fräulein Reginchen. You can stay in this +house. I--I +must--from to-day I shall--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you going away on a journey, Herr Franzelius?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Fräulein Reginchen, or rather yes!--it amounts to the +same thing. +I--I'm glad I've met you--I should like--I didn't want to leave without +a farewell--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you going away for long?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No one can tell--perhaps I shall never return. Fräulein +Reginchen, I +cannot hope--you know I--I have always revered you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She laughed again in her merry childish way; but if the shop +had not +been so dark and he had looked at her, he would probably have noticed +the deep blush that suffused her face. "Oh gracious!" she exclaimed. +"Revered! No one ever did that before. A stupid creature like me, who +can't do anything and doesn't understand anything, as mother tells me +every day--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't know your own worth, Reginchen, and that's the best +proof of +it--I mean that it's no false worth. But excuse me for telling you this +so bluntly: It's the first--and last time. And of course you--if I +don't come back--will never give me another thought."</p> + +<p class="normal">The prudent child seemed to know that silence is sometimes the +best +answer. She coughed several times, and then said: "Where are you +going?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wherever the winds and waves carry me!" he replied with +sorrowful +pathos, and then paced heavily up and down the shop.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you're going to sea! Dear me, how frightened I should be! +Do you +know, Herr Franzelius, I shall tremble every time that the east wind +blows and the window panes rattle and the gas lights flicker--and +you'll be on the angry sea--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you really do that, Fräulein Reginchen?" he asked +hastily, +pausing before her. "If you were in earnest--but no, why should you +give yourself useless anxiety about a man who can never--to be sure, +I--it will be a real cordial on my journey--and I wanted to say +something else: I should like to take a keepsake to remember you and +this hour."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A keepsake?"--she involuntarily glanced at her knitting work, +at which +he too was looking intently. "I'm just at the heel," she said, "and I +suppose you'll not wait till it's done."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Fräulein Reginchen," he replied, "don't think me so +presuming as +to ask for such a gift--your own handiwork--so unceremoniously. But--if +I could find any of your father's work--but I've an ugly foot, which is +hard to fit with ready made boots--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I could take your measure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, you might do that; but no, Reginchen, in the first place +I would +not accept such a service from you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would do it willingly, besides, I'm accustomed to it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no! A creature like you, and such an unlucky mortal as +I--but if I +could find a pair already made--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked around the walls, sighed, passed his hand through +his hair, +seemingly endeavoring to avoid her glance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have not the smallest foot in the world," said the girl, +looking +at his coarse boots with the eye of an connoisseur. "If it were only as +long in proportion as it's wide. But it's so short beyond the instep, +it would be hard--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Won't it? Two elephants' feet!" said the printer laughing +bitterly. +"We men of the people, who don't tread as often as we're trodden upon, +didn't need to have such big feet. But it's no matter. Who knows when +our turn will come. Well, Fräulein Reginchen, if you can't--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wait," she exclaimed, starting up and opening the show +window, "I +think I can find something for you; that is, if you can use jack-boots. +But as you're going to sea--"</p> + +<p class="normal">--"At least through fire and water.--Show me the jack-boots, +Fraulein +Reginchen."</p> + +<p class="normal">He sat down on a low stool and watched her, as she nimbly +leaned +forward into the show window, dislodged with considerable difficulty +two huge boots paraded there as models, and placed them in the shop. +During this operation he again sighed, as if suffering. While, assisted +by Reginchen, he tried on the boots, which fitted admirably, that is +were much too large, he did not utter a syllable; but when with his +feet cased in the huge polished coverings he stood before her as if +rooted to the floor, he drew out his blue checked pocket handkerchief, +wiped his forehead, and slowly replacing it, said: "Ask your father to +send me the bill with the old boots. And now, Fraulein Reginchen, one +thing more: take care of my friends up stairs as before--especially +Balder. He--perhaps you don't know it--won't live to be very old; at +least while he is here, let him know only love and kindness--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He turned away because his voice failed, and furtively wiped +his eyes +with his cap.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good Heavens!" cried the young girl in terror, "what are you +saying? +Herr Walter--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush!" replied Franzelius putting his broad fore-finger on +his lip. +"You're a kind hearted, sensible girl--you'll keep it to yourself Oh! +Fraulein Reginchen, if it were not for that, if it were not for many +things--of which you have no suspicion--Heaven knows I--I would make no +secret of my feelings, and tell you--but no! Love him, Reginchen, as +much as you can. Will it be hard for you to love Balder?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Again she made no reply. The question seemed to her a +dangerous one. He +was looking at her with a strange expression of anxiety and love; +suddenly he caught both her hands in his huge palm, clasped them so +closely that she with difficulty restrained a cry of terror, and burst +forth: "If there is such a thing as an angel, you are one. Farewell. +Think--forget--you have never had a better friend than I! I only wanted +to bid you farewell--Fraulein Reginchen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He tore himself away and tramped out of the shop in his +gigantic boots +as hastily as if he feared to remain longer, lest spite of these firm +pillars, he might lose his centre of gravity and fall at the feet of +the shoemaker's little daughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reginchen looked after him through the show window. Often as +she had +laughed at him, she could not do so to-day, she was much more ready to +cry. No one had ever spoken to her so before. She had longed perceived +that he liked her, and even prided herself a little upon that fact, +because she thought he must be unusually learned, as he was always +occupied in printing. But that he "revered" her, that he thought her +almost an angel--! And what did he mean in speaking so about Herr +Walter?</p> + +<p class="normal">She sat down again in her chair in the corner. "I'll commence +to-night +to knit a pair of stockings for him to take on his journey," she +thought. "If only I can get them done! His feet are so awfully big."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">About the same hour Lorinser was sitting on the little leather +sofa in +Christiane's room, with his knees half drawn up on the seat, and his +long arms stretched along the back, like a person who is making himself +comfortable, because he does not intend to go very soon. Although it +was already so dark that faces could scarcely be distinguished, no lamp +stood on the little table. But from one of the windows in the front of +the house gleamed a faint light, which frequently moved and fell upon +the pale face of the man on the sofa, revealing the expression of eager +expectation stamped upon the strongly marked features. Whenever the +light flitted over Lorinser's countenance, the strange smile appeared +on the mobile lips, and he lowered the eyes, which so long as it +remained dark, followed every movement of the woman who, with her arms +folded across her breast as usual, was pacing up and down the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly she paused at the window, opened it a moment gasping +for +breath, and then turned toward the silent man on the sofa.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How people forget the flight of time when they are talking," +she said. +"I see it has grown dark. Excuse me, Herr Candidat, my hours are so +regularly apportioned--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wish to send me away, Fräulein Christiane," he said +making no +preparation to move from his comfortable position. "I have really +forgotten the true cause of my visit, in your musical revelations, +which have afforded me a glimpse of depths hitherto unsuspected. So +what answer can I give the baroness?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is any positive answer required?" she said. "Why should I +have told +you how I prize music, except to explain that I will never become a +drawing room teacher, that I would rather starve than share in the +universal sin of the jingling, bungling profanation of what I hold +sacred?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And yet you do not disdain to give lessons to a soubrette?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"How do you know?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because--well, because I've enquired about you. I must be +able to +answer for a person whom I recommend to houses like that of the +baroness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well. I will tell you why I take this frivolous +creature; from a +motive which will be perfectly obvious to you, as you too are +interested in home missions:--to save a soul."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You want to transform this stage princess, who has already +passed +through so many hands, into a saint? You're jesting."</p> + +<p class="normal">Christiane laughed, a short, hollow laugh, utterly destitute +of mirth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you take me for?" she asked. "To make a person +something which +I myself neither am nor desire to be! And what has her mode of life to +do with me? I'm willing to allow everybody to be happy in their own +way. What I call saving her soul, is giving her an idea of true music. +The girl has the most enviable talents, voice, ear, passion, the +genuine, the natural musical sympathy, which in all such compositions +instantly opens to her the real meaning of the author or the part, so +that she not only repeats the notes, but reproduces the whole meaning +to the life. This is rare, even among those who consider themselves +great artists, and are paid as such. And that's why this stage princess +as you choose to call her, is too high for Offenbach, and, indeed, +perfectly capable of interpreting Mozart and the other great masters."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And if you succeed, do you really believe that this rescued +soul will +be made any happier?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who can tell? I merely do what lies in my power. Happy! If +music alone +could give happiness, few would possess such joy as mine. But it's only +a substitute, perhaps the most powerful and noble, but not the real +thing, not happiness itself. Of that I'm perfectly sure; I've had time +to experience it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what do you consider real happiness?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She was silent a moment, not as if it were difficult to +answer, but as +if considering whether she owed the questioner any reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then in a tone of cold resignation she said suddenly:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Real happiness? I only know because I have never tasted it. +Real +happiness can be nothing but to sacrifice ourselves without losing +ourselves, because we find ourselves again in something better than we +are; to forget self in another, without fear of being ashamed of it, +because that other at the same moment is thinking only of what we +ourselves forget. You'll not understand me, and no matter if you don't. +I'll light the lamp."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You speak of love," he said quietly. "I understand you, +because the +same happiness you hope to find in earthly love, opens before us +children of God in the bliss of eternity. Did I not tell you just now, +that you must forget yourself to find yourself again in God, that there +was no other redemption? Now you come to meet me half way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I shall never be able to traverse the other half," she +said +bitterly. "Pray don't let us recur to that conversation. Once +more--it's late. I've work to do."</p> + +<p class="normal">Still he did not move from his crouching position on the sofa.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't be narrow-minded," he said quietly. "It doesn't suit +you. You +have a larger nature than ordinary women; what's the use of these half +allusions, this shame-faced, prudish reserve, where the point in +question is the happiness of your life? If I could only really help +you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You? No one can help me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Except God, and he who leads you to Him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not understand you. Have I not told you plainly enough, +that I +feel no longing for your God and his pardoning grace? All I can do for +him, is not to hate him; though he has placed me in this world as I +am."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As you are? And how are you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've just said it yourself: I'm no ordinary woman. I don't +know what +could be more sad for a girl. And really: ever since the tale of a dear +God became improbable, ever since it dawned upon me that we poor human +animals only move about in the great throng of creation and have no +more claim to any special tenderness, than the thistles in the field, +which the donkey gnaws, or the donkey that the miller's boy cudgels, +I've become somewhat calmer. No one is to blame because I'm a joyless, +ugly, lonely woman, with a man's face, except perhaps my parents, who +died long ago and couldn't atone for it; the good people certainly did +not know what they were doing, when they gave <i>me</i> life."</p> + +<p class="normal">She poured forth these words in harsh, scornful tones, as one +relates +something that has long angered one, busying herself, while so doing, +in lighting the little lamp with the green shade which she now placed +on the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think you've heard enough," she added dryly. "You're now +convinced, +Herr Candidat, that such a mangy sheep would make a poor figure among +the gentle flock you lead to pasture, so I beg you in the future not to +trouble yourself about my temporal and eternal welfare."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly I have heard enough," answered Lorinser opening his +eyes so +suddenly upon her, that the metallic lustre of the whites, subdued by +the green lamp light, seemed ghostly, "though you have really told me +nothing more, than I knew at the first glance. You're mistaken if you +think such confessions are new to me or repel me. They always proceed +from an exceptionally powerful nature, and grace can work only where +there is strength. Gentle, unselfish souls have nothing to oppose and +so nothing to gain. But since I have fully understood your nature, it +would be of great value if you would trust me sufficiently to disclose +the external circumstances among which you have become--no, have +remained, what you were from the beginning; I mean, your history, the +events of your life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My history?"--she laughed. "I have none, or what I have has +already +been told you. My face is my history, my heavy eye-brows and the +shadow on my upper lip are my destiny. My father happened to look as I +do, and was considered a stately, interesting man. But I should have +been wiser to choose the face of my mother, who was by no means filmed +for her beauty, but must have been exactly what I am not, a thorough +woman. At least she made all sorts of innocent conquests. I, on the +contrary, though I was neither stupid nor had unwomanly manners--I +mean when I was a young girl; for I now go about boldly, like an old +student--although my talents early attracted attention among my +father's colleagues--he was one of the court musicians,--never made a +conquest in all my life. That is, I might have married two or three +times; but it was for very different reasons than love. One wanted to +give concerts with me, another, who was an elderly man and tired of his +bachelor life, needed a housekeeper, and that she should be ill-favored +he rather preferred than otherwise. He thought he would be all the more +sure of her faithfulness and self-sacrificing gratitude, in return for +his making her a married woman. The third--but why should I tell you +these disgusting tales, which at first deeply humiliated me. And though +I might have learned from them what my mirror had not then taught me, I +was mad enough always to select as the objects of my secret adoration, +the handsomest, most agreeable, and most admired men, who never cast a +glance at me. I had artist's blood in my veins, I could not help being +filled with enthusiasm about everything that was lovable, charming, and +distinguished, even if my heart should burst in consequence. But now I +have reached my thirty-fourth year; youth with its foolish desires for +love-sorrows, yearnings, anxieties, and honey that turns to gall, may +well have raved itself calm. Do you wish to know more of my story? I am +very sorry; but unfortunately I have nothing to tell of love +adventures, broken vows, wanderings from the path of virtue. +Unfortunately, I say. They would have made a change in the dreary grey +of my days and years, a few blood red spots, a stain effaced with +thousands of tears. Instead of that, I'm an old maid in the fullest +sense of the word, and your 'magic of sin' has no power over my +beggarly pride. Can you even imagine a bright, interesting, exciting +romance with such a frontispiece?"--She suddenly removed the green +shade and raised the little lamp to her face, which she turned full +upon him in the bright glare.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's a matter of taste," he replied without the slightest +change of +countenance. "For instance, I for my part have always preferred faces +full of character to smooth, meaningless ones, which might nevertheless +be considered very charming, pretty, and attractive. Superficial +sweetness nauseates me. To feel strength, bitterness, even icy scorn +and hatred melt in the glow of passion, always seemed to me more +desirable than the sentimental fusion of two harmonious souls. The +woman who is to attract me, must have something of the devil in her. +Put down the lamp Fräulein Christiane. It is illuminating charms which +under some circumstances might become dangerous, and as I am at present +entirely indifferent to you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment the bell was violently pulled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thanks for the interruption," said Christiane in a subdued +tone, that +the person outside might not hear; "I should have given you an answer, +which perhaps would have seemed altogether too unwomanly. Now I shall +dismiss you without ceremony, and indeed--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The bell rang again. Lorinser had put his feet on the floor, +but did +not seem inclined to leave his corner.</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked at him with a glance of indescribable astonishment +and +anger, then took the lamp and went into the ante-room to open the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr was standing outside; his face was deeply flushed, and +his eyes, +as soon as the door opened, strove with a keen, intent gaze, to pierce +the darkness within; but his manner was perfectly unembarrassed, almost +formal.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg a thousand pardons, Fräulein," he said, "for having +knocked at +your door a second time at so unseasonable an hour, but if I violate +ceremony, to an artist my errand will plead my excuse. I only beg +fifteen minutes conversation;--Have you a visitor?" he continued, as he +suddenly perceived the figure of a man in the adjoining room. "So much +the better, that will prevent all thought of indecorum. Will you allow +me to enter? There's a disagreeable draught on these stairs. Or shall I +interrupt you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not in the least," replied Christiane, with a very gloomy +expression, +as she slightly bent her head. "To be sure I've not the honor of your +acquaintance--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"As a friend of your fellow lodgers up stairs, I thought I had +a sort +of right to introduce myself to you. A short time ago, in a merry mood, +I made an unsuccessful attempt to do so, though my friend Edwin tried +to prevent me. You cannot have condemned it so severely as I did +myself, so soon as I came to my senses."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have no recollection, sir--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So much the better. It was quite dark in the entry. Today, by +the lamp +light, permit me to introduce myself to you: plain Heinrich Mohr; I +scorned to buy a doctor's title. A man usually who has nothing to make +him must have some distinction."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you be kind enough to inform me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She was still standing in the ante-room with the lamp in her +hand, as +if she wished to get rid of him as quickly as possible, while he from +time to time cast eager glances into the sitting room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will come to the point at once," said he leaning against a +chest of +drawers which stood near the door. "What I have to propose, is no +secret and requires no privacy. Unfortunately, it is tolerably well +known to all who are aware of my existence--but will you not sit down, +Fraulein? To stand so--" He made a movement toward the door of the +sitting room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you. I'm not tired."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nor I. So to proceed: I'm unfortunately endowed with all +sorts of +mediocre talents. One would be enough to make a man who is no fool, but +possesses a critical judgment, thoroughly unhappy. In the arts bungling +even is worse than in medicine. What does it matter if a few men die +more or less? But to corrupt or lower the standard of art, is a sin +against the divinity of genius. Don't you think so too, Fraulein?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked at him intently, without opening her lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But," he continued, "there's a false modesty too. Many a +great man +would never have believed in his own talents, if kind friends had not +discovered them. Other gifts are, as it were, trampled under foot in +the crowd, through malice and envy--men are very envious, Fraulein, +Germans especially. I allude of course to the common envy of trade, +which is no more allied to the ideal, high-souled envy, than a +toad-stool is to a truffle--in short it's not easy for every man to +know what's in him. My eyes have gradually been opened to the fact that +my talent for rhyming amounts to nothing. But music, music! I play the +piano very poorly and my voice is like a raven's; but in regard to the +gift of composition, it always seems to me that I can compare very +favorably with the shallow composers of waltzes, or writers of street +songs. As for yourself, Fräulein--pardon me for having listened to +your playing; you confided your musical confessions to the quiet +courtyard--I--I have the deepest reverence for your talent--for--how +shall I express it?--for the strong nature expressed in your style of +playing. Now you see--I have just finished--for a long time I have been +engaged on a great composition, which I have sometimes called--it's +only a fancy, or rather a bad joke--my <i>sinfonia ironica</i>. You +understand: so far, none of it has been written out, but in my head +everything is as good as ready for the press--except the +instrumentation. Musicians to whom I've now and then played parts of +it, have usually been bigoted adherents of some particular school. I +must confess that I gave none of them credit for really entering into +the spirit of the work. With you the case is wholly different. I would +wager, that if you would only give me an hour--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir," she interrupted, "you over-estimate my knowledge and +judgment. I +sincerely regret--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pray do me the favor, Fräulein, not to condemn me unheard. I +ask +nothing more than that you will listen to the first few bars, where the +irony is still in the stage of oppression and grief--C. minor, which +afterwards changes into F.--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've never been able to understand the so-called language of +music," +she answered curtly. "So it would be better--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you dislike the title? Very well! I'll give it up. It +shall merely +be absolute music, like any other. I'll submit to hear Wagner all the +days of my life, intensified one day in the week by Offenbach, if the +first bars do not prove that the rest is at least worth hearing. You +<i>must</i> allow me to play the introduction on your piano--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He did not wait for her permission, but hastily entered the +sitting +room, so that there was nothing left her but to follow with the lamp.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lorinser was still sitting in the sofa corner. His eyes were +fixed on +the ceiling and he seemed so lost in thought that he did not notice the +new comers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Christiane set the lamp heavily on the table, as if she wished +to rouse +him by the rattling of the shade.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Allow me to introduce you to each other, gentlemen," she said +coldly. +"Herr--what is your name?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heinrich Mohr, Fräulein. A name hitherto very obscure, but +which you +will perhaps help to some moderate distinction. But an introduction is +scarcely necessary. I already have the honor of knowing that +gentleman."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lorinser fixed his piercing eyes on the other's face and then +carelessly replied: "I didn't know I had the pleasure of your +acquaintance before."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's a matter of course," replied Mohr, approaching the +little table +and raising the shade from the lamp. "The acquaintance has hitherto +been entirely on my side. Besides, with the exception of a casual +meeting in the entry, it's still very recent; it dates from last +night."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lorinser rose. He seemed to find the full glare of the lamp +objectionable.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Last night," said he. "You must be mistaken."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear sir," replied Mohr with eager courtesy, "he who +possesses so +marked a face as yours, may be certain that no one will ever mistake +his physiognomy, though to be sure, I only saw it for about five +minutes through a window on the ground floor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir, allow me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I'll take my oath before a magistrate, that it was you +whom I saw +in very lively society--it was a house in König's stadt--you'll +recollect. You must know, Fraulein, that I'm still poet enough to +prefer night to day. I usually wander aimlessly about the streets till +after midnight; to be sure one doesn't always see the brightest side of +men, but if you wish to know them thoroughly--and they are so +incautious! They fancy if the curtains are down, they can show their +weaknesses great and small in secret. As if there were not chinks and +cracks in blinds and curtains, and one tiny insignificant little hole +was not enough to afford a view of a whole room, as a single word often +gives a glimpse of the inmost depths of hypocritical souls."</p> + +<p class="normal">"An extremely poetical fancy, to peep through curtains," +Lorinser +remarked, seizing his hat. "Unfortunately this time you've made a +mistake in the person, as I could prove, if it were worth while to take +the trouble, or the lady could by any possibility be interested in it. +Meantime, as you are about to occupy yourselves with musical exercises +my presence is superfluous--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He bowed to Christiane and walked toward the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">She turned to Mohr, who was watching Lorinser with a +mischievous +glance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must request you to excuse me to-day," said she. "If your +ironical +symphony is anything more than a jest--you will always find me at home +in the morning, between twelve and one o'clock."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr did not make the slightest attempt to request a short +respite for +himself and his composition. The musical object of his visit seemed to +have entirely escaped his attention, for his eyes were sparkling with +delight at the thought of having driven Lorinser from his sofa corner. +He took a cordial but respectful leave of Christiane, and followed the +Herr Candidat, who silently walked out into the entry.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the stairs they passed; Lorinser seemed to wish to give +Mohr the +precedence. "Pray go on," said Mohr in the most cordial tone, "I'm +perfectly at home here. But perhaps you may prefer not to come up these +steep stairs too often. You might get hurt. The house where I saw you +yesterday is better lighted at any rate."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lorinser half turned and said in a tone of suppressed fury: +"You're +very much mistaken, sir, if you expect to intimidate me by such paltry +expedients. I deny having any knowledge of the place where you pretend +to have seen me; but I suspect from the tone you assume, that the +company was by no means the best. Well I confess, that for a man who, +in a lady's presence, denounces another and tries to represent him as a +person who visits bad houses--for such a spiteful and slanderous spy, I +repeat I've no feeling but profound contempt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you," replied Mohr dryly. "If you had assured me of +your esteem, +I should have taken it more to heart. Besides, my worthy friend in the +dark, I shall throw a little light on your path, should you show any +disposition to continue your visits to this lady, whom you already know +quite too well; I should be forced to speak still more plainly. I don't +see why I am to withhold my information against an individual of your +stamp, who visits workmen's societies for the purpose of denouncing to +the police any speaker that may not happen to suit him. I have the +honor to wish you a good night."</p> + +<p class="normal">He raised his hat with mock respect and pointed out the path +across the +courtyard, but did not follow, until the stealthy steps of Lorinser, +who in helpless rage could only exclaim, "we shall meet again," had +died away in the hall leading through the front of the house. Then he +looked up at Christiane's lighted windows. "This time at least I did no +half way work!" he said in a well satisfied tone. "She will thank me +for it some day. That singular woman is a whole-hearted creature."</p> + +<p class="normal">If he could only have seen what the object or his adoration +was doing +in her lonely room! After the two men went out, she had hastily, as if +to re-consecrate a sanctuary that had been profaned by evil spirits, +taken from her bureau a small carved frame containing a photograph, and +placed it like an altar picture on the table, so that it was brightly +illumined by the lamp. Then she drew up a chair, sat down before it, +and gazed at it in silent devotion. But her stooping posture becoming +uncomfortable at last, she glided down from the chair upon the floor, +and knelt, with her chin resting on the table and her eyes fixed with +enthusiastic fervor on the little card. The pictured face gazed quietly +into vacancy seeming to deprecate homage, and it bore the familiar +features of--our Edwin.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">The following day was cloudy and dismal. When at the appointed +hour +Edwin arrived at the Thiergarten, he found it completely deserted. The +autumn rain was trickling drearily down, the trees, which had hitherto +still retained something of their summer aspect, now hung their heads +and seemed to realize that the sunny illusion could no more be retained +than their yellow leaves which were beaten down by the rain drops. Very +dreary looked the gold-fish pond, its surface bestrewn with withered +foliage, through which here and there a spot of deeper crimson +betokened the presence of some fish that snapped at a water-fly and +then indignantly retreated to the bottom again. Even the statue of +Venus looked as mournful in the falling rain as if she were reflecting +with horror that the time would soon come when a mantle of snow would +rest on her bare shoulders, and a crow, pecking at her diadem, scream +the harsh song of the Northern winter into her ear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She will not come," Edwin said to himself, after pacing up +and down +once or twice under his umbrella. "The weather is too disagreeable. +Besides, perhaps she knows the contents of the Count's letter only too +well, and it was merely a gentle way of getting rid of me. Then--what +am I to do then. Did she expect me in that case, to open the letter and +read what she could not tell me?"--He drew the note from his pocket and +again glanced at the address: "'Mademoiselle Antoinette Marchand.' No, +if she does not come, has not the courage to come--the fish yonder +shall keep the secret."</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment a carriage rolled along the avenue and stopped +before +the open space at the end of the pond. The striped waistcoat swung +himself down from the box, and out sprang the beautiful girl, wrapped +in a long black silk cloak, with the hood drawn over her head like a +nun, looking, with her sparkling eyes and slightly flushed cheeks, more +lovely than ever. She nodded to Edwin from the distance and smiled so +frankly that all his doubts suddenly vanished, and he secretly begged +her pardon for them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've kept you waiting," she said, as she hung lightly on his +arm. "But +my coachman made <i>me</i> wait. I suppose he did not think the weather +suitable for driving. However, I am here now, and it's all the better +that it rains; no one will disturb us; I shall not be interrupted in my +confession and my 'wise friend's' moralizing and head-shaking will have +no hindrance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have I ever shown a decided inclination that way?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, but I fear when you know me better--! True, it is said: +'that +which can be comprehended can be forgiven.' But how are you to +understand me? Hitherto you have taken me for heaven knows who, at any +rate, for some very peculiar person, with good reasons for keeping her +incognito. Now when you learn how simply everything can be explained, +won't you think it your duty to guide me back to the paths of wisdom +and self-sacrifice, which will lead me straight to an early grave? If I +had not seen this conclusion foreshadowed so plainly, how gladly I'd +have told you long ago what you're now to hear for the first time!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Try me and see whether I'm not less stern than my vocation," +he forced +himself to reply in a jesting tone. "I, like you, am no adept in +self-denial, where I feel that I have to assert a natural right, and +therefore I lack the first requisites of a moralist. What a foolish awe +you have of a poor private tutor! I know professors of philosophy who +have done the most absurd things."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, no!" she said earnestly, gazing down at the wet +gravel, over +which she was lightly walking. "You don't understand it. You and I are +made of very different material. Can you understand why the little fish +are better off down in that dark water, than if you bade them to the +most luxurious couch of lilies and rose leaves? Every creature lives in +its own element, and perishes in an alien one. Don't you see, that I +too can philosophize?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She paused, and for some time walked thoughtfully beside him, +while the +solemn boy following some twenty paces behind under a large umbrella, +trod carefully in the dainty footprints made by his young mistress. The +carriage waited in the avenue beyond.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last she paused a moment, looked him full in the face with +a +mischievous expression in her large dark eyes, and said: "Before I +betray to whom you have given your arm, Won't you tell me what you have +taken me for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would not hesitate a moment," he answered smiling, "but +indeed you +wrong me. Because I have confessed myself a philosopher, you believe me +foolish enough always to fancy things different from what they appear. +Thank God, I understand my own interests better. I'm glad when I +encounter something which banishes thought, and allows me to dream, as +when I listen to beautiful music, enjoy a spring day, or the fragrance +of clusters of roses. My thoughts--why should I deny it?--have been +very much engrossed by you, perhaps more than was well. But the idea of +imputing any blame to you has never occurred to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">She laughed. "You're only evading the question. But no matter +what good +or evil qualities you have attributed to me: I am neither an +aristocratic lady, nor an adventuress, but the very prosaic child of +'poor but honest parents.' Do you remember, in your boyhood, hearing of +a ballet dancer on the Berlin stage called Marchand? But how should +you? My father--he was a Frenchman--was still in the prime of life, +when he had an unlucky fall from a flying trapeze, which forever shut +him out from the field of his art, with all its joys and honors. He +took this so much to heart, that he never wished to see or hear of the +theatre, and voluntarily retired into exile in a miserable little abode +in the Mark. Here he married my mother, and had three daughters beside +the oldest, myself. One died young, but the two others married worthy +burghers and became happy wives. Things did not prosper so well with me +unfortunately. I never was like the others, and my good mother had a +great deal of trouble with me. Perhaps she'd have been more successful +in teaching me if she'd shown me more love, but though possessing the +kindest heart in the world, she was always cold, stern and formal to +me, and as my father only spoiled me the more, you can imagine what +sort of training I received. I once heard it whispered that I was not +my mother's child. But although in such a small place nothing remains a +secret, and everybody knows his neighbors' business by heart, I never +discovered what was meant by the hasty words, and almost believe it was +only said in explanation of my mother's coldness, which was noticed +even by strangers. Perhaps she was jealous of the love my father +lavished upon me; for her aversion increased with years, in exact +proportion as I grew prettier and my father petted me more. Besides, +none of my sisters were like me. You ought to have known my father, in +order to be able to understand and forgive him for idolizing me. When a +very young man, he had gone through the best dancing school in Paris, +and the impressions made by the last brilliant days of the Empire never +left him. He always wore pumps and a white cravat, and when he felt +particularly happy, told us tales of Paris, the entertainments he had +witnessed at court--of course only from a corner of the gallery--the +duchesses and marquises to whom he had given lessons, their beauty, +grace, and the luxury that surrounded them, concluding usually with a +heavy sigh, as he looked around our miserable room: '<i>Ils sont passés, +ces jours de fête!</i>"</p> + +<p class="normal">"This always affected my mother unpleasantly, and my sisters +listened +to these constantly repeated tales without any special pleasure. They +had very little imagination, and were completely absorbed in the petty +cares and joys of the present; but these fairy like descriptions so +filled my mind, that the wretched reality of my life became more and +more distasteful to me. I dreamed of nothing but magnificence and +splendor, a luxurious existence without any cares, and of kings and +princes paying court to me. I gave grand names to my dolls, constantly +practiced speaking French, which my father approved, and when one day +at dinner, the conversation turned upon what each of us wanted to +become. I, precocious little ten-year-older, exclaimed: 'I will be a +duchess!'</p> + +<p class="normal">"My mother angrily reproved me: 'it was wicked pride, I must +try to +become good and pious, modest and industrious'--you can probably +imagine all I heard. My father was perfectly silent. Afterwards when I +was alone with him, he drew me, still violently weeping into his arms, +kissed my wet eyes, and said only: '<i>Sois tranquille, ma mignonne. Tu +vas gáter tes beaux yeux avec ces larmes.</i>' From that day, at home and +at school, whenever any one wanted to tease me, I was called 'Duchess +Toinette.' But I was not at all annoyed; on the contrary I liked the +nickname far better than the simple 'Toni,' my mother usually called +me. After a time as I became more sensible and perceived that my +father's little pension would not enable us to live in ducal style, I +might have lost this sickly desire for royal luxury, and in time +learned to be satisfied with a modest income, like my sisters. But +unfortunately there was a constant temptation close at hand. For years, +our little city had been under the rule of a petty prince, and the +ancestral castle still stood in all its magnificence on a wooded +height, which could be climbed in ten minutes. The prince himself had +been suddenly killed in the prime of life, while hunting. The solemn +funeral, which all the inhabitants flocked to attend, was the first +memorable spectacle that had left a lasting impression on my childish +brain. Since that time, the princess had lived in the castle with +her children, a pretty little boy some years older than I, and +several daughters. The household was maintained in the same style as +before, and after the year of mourning had expired, new guests and +entertainments brought fresh gayety.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure, we plebeian children only witnessed these things +through +the railing of the park, or if we could slip in, through the lofty +windows that looked out upon the garden. But it was more than enough to +give new food to my ducal dreams. The superb toilettes, the countless +candles, the graceful curtseys, smiles, whispers, and flirtations, +which I witnessed for hours, with my face pressed against a window +pane, fairly intoxicated me. I would gladly have spent my life in the +midst of such surroundings, and something told me I should have +harmonized with them well. At least I did not understand my sisters, +who always grew red and foolish if any of the strangers in their walks +about our little city condescended to exchange a few gracious words +with us children, who were standing curiously outside the gates. I +always had an answer ready and made my little curtsey so easily, that +more than once the ladies noticed me particularly, and exchanged with +each other in French, flattering words about my looks, not a syllable +of which escaped me.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My father, who went to the castle, as he gave dancing lessons +to the +princess' children, often repeated the compliments that had been paid +me there, and held me up as a pattern to my sisters. Of course this was +not agreeable to them or their mother, and often caused unpleasant +scenes. Often he brought home all sorts of dainties, confectionary, and +rare fruits. The butler was his god-father. This again made my mother +angry and with reason; for since I had tasted these delicacies, our +simple fare, of which there was often scarce enough, was far too coarse +for me, and I preferred to push away my plate and fast, rather than to +eat a dish that didn't suit me. At such times I satisfied myself with +the fruits and berries to be found in the garden and woods, and it was +only strange that, in spite of all this, I did not grow thin or weak, +but retained the fair complexion and red cheeks which, as I plainly +perceived, were the envy of the rouged countesses and princesses.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And some one else there was who admired them; this was no +less a +personage than His Highness, the little prince. He was an odd little +mortal then, and I think will always remain so; thin and fragile as if +made of porcelain, and equally stiff and polished, with a doll's face +that would have been very pretty if one could only have believed it +alive. And in an equally lifeless manner, as if he feared he might +break while doing it, he paid court to me. We had met him once in the +park, a horde of children dashing through the shrubbery with loud +hurrahs; catch, and hare and hounds, were our favorite games. He had +come there, Heaven knows how, without his tutor, and we suddenly grew +quiet, more on account of his uncanny stiffness and fashionable dress, +than from respect. But he was inclined to be especially gracious, to me +in particular condescension itself, and I, stupid little monkey, prided +myself upon it not a little. Dear me, I was only ten years old, but the +idea of being a duchess was firmly impressed upon my mind, and I +actually believed that he would marry me and realize all my fairy +visions. So for several years this absurd secret flirtation, which +wearied as much as it flattered me, continued, until at last the +princess discovered it. To be sure, my chivalrous little lover declared +that he had never had any intention of making me his wife, but merely +his mistress. In spite of this precocious discrimination, however, it +was thought better to break off the childish intimacy once for all; so +I again became a duchess in anticipation, and even my father was no +longer permitted to enter the castle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I remember, after this time, that is when I was grown up, but +one +occasion when I again saw the park and even the interior of the castle. +Some cousin or nephew of my kind father came to visit us, for whom, +during the few days of his stay every effort was made to place our +usual homely mode of living in the most endurable light. As we could +give him no special entertainment at home, we were obliged to make +excursions abroad, and it fortunately happened that the princess and +her children had gone to some springs. So under the care of the butler, +we visited all the rooms, into which hitherto I had only peeped. My +father was delighted to be able to mount his hobby, and constantly +related how this, that, and the other had been handsomer, richer, or +more tasteful in Paris. I could only gaze in silent astonishment, and +yet it seemed to me as if all this were a matter of course, and I, if +only permitted to do so, could use these costly articles as carelessly +as if born in such a sphere. On the following day, the cousin stammered +out a confused proposal of marriage, and, to make his worthy person +more agreeable to me, described the charms of his own home--he had an +oil cloth manufactory in a tolerably large city. I should like now to +recall the expression with which I gave him a positive refusal. It was +certainly one of which no full blooded duchess would have had cause to +be ashamed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! if I could not have my faithless porcelain prince, I +would never +take the first plain workman I met. When the cousin departed, my mother +looked at me with sincere sorrow. 'Poor thing,' said she. 'You're not +to blame, because others' (she meant my father) 'have turned your head. +But tell me, for what are you really waiting'--I answered that I was +waiting for nothing and for no one, and only desired to be permitted to +live as I was doing:--this was only half true. You may well suppose +that I was waiting for no lover, for I have frankly told you that up to +this time I have been unable to discover any talent for sentiment in my +nature. But to continue to live as I was--no, I could not have endured +it forever.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My father grew old and feeble, and many other little +perquisites +ceased, besides the dancing lessons at the castle, for which he had +been handsomely paid. As the time hung heavy on his hands and he could +read to himself very little, one of us was obliged to spend half the +day in reading aloud his favorite romances, thereby neglecting her +work, which to be sure brought in a very small income. But why should I +entertain you with the details of these petty household wants? A man +can never imagine all the embarrassments, all the secret tears and +vexations of a young girl who is obliged to deny herself the +necessaries of life to save the money required for the trifles she +deems still more necessary, and especially one who has so much taste +and love for luxury, that when the hard won finery is at last finished, +she would rather tear it all off and go about in her Cinderella garb, +because the articles obtained by so many struggles are still so poor. +That is, the dress was really not so bad, for with a few yards of white +muslin and some bows of ribbon a girl can look very well, especially at +sixteen or eighteen, and with a face like the one God had bestowed upon +me. But unfortunately, I continued to remember the real elegance, the +Parisian toilettes I had seen at the castle, the beautiful fans and +flowers, real laces and rustling satin robes, which my few pennies +could never obtain. You shake your head, my wise friend. But consider, +that a trout obstinately insists upon living in clear, fresh water, and +no philosophy will induce him to be satisfied with a stagnant pond, +where other very estimable fish are perfectly comfortable.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then--what had I to lead me out of these weaknesses and +follies +and make amends, if the fairy tale of which I dreamed, should never +come true? You, my dear friend, have your thoughts, your ambition, your +pride. But I--knew nothing thoroughly. How should I? Where could I have +learned it? What had I been taught? To speak French, to play the piano +a little--for the young chorister, who gave me lessons, tried to drown +himself in the river on account of a hopeless love for me, and then +married the pastor's daughter, who came up just at the right moment and +shrieked for help, and of course the lessons were not continued. Sewing +I had always hated, for it is absurd to suppose that embroidering, +knitting stockings, and making shirts, can really render any human +being happy, or compensate for unsatisfied desires--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She paused a moment and gazed sadly into vacancy. A sigh +heaved her +bosom and made her nostrils quiver. "How cold it is!" she said, drawing +her cloak closer around her. "Come, we will walk a little faster. Where +was I? Oh yes; I was talking about knitting and sewing and everything +connected with them. How often I've heard and read that a girl will +find her vocation, her life-long happiness in love and marriage. I saw +this confirmed in my sisters, who though younger than I, had their +little love experiences much sooner, and patiently endured the tedium +of knitting and sewing, since their minds were not idle, but wove the +fairest dreams among the meshes and cross-stitches. Then they married +utterly insignificant people, but were perfectly satisfied, and +continued to labor with hands and heads for their husbands and +children. But I--my prince had married, too, in accordance with his +rank, and quite without agitation, as beseems porcelain figures, at +least so I heard, and I still stayed with my old parents, waiting to +ascend my ducal throne.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I ought to be there now, and after all it would be better for +me, than +to wander about here in the rain with you and talk of things that are +hopeless. But these poor, dear parents, to whom I was a source of great +anxiety--even my father shook his head sadly when my birthday came +round--were both taken from me in a single week, and with them the only +visible object in life of which I was conscious.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fortunately the butler, whom my father's will named as my +guardian, +was a sensible man. He perceived that he could not persuade me to +remain quietly in the little house from which my parents had been borne +to their graves, waiting to see if any one would come and take me away. +He suggested, as I still had an unconcealed desire to know something of +the world, that an advertisement for the situation of governess or +companion should be inserted in several of the Berlin papers. A place +soon offered that seemed very suitable. A baroness wrote to ask if I +would take charge of the education of her two little daughters and +assist her in housekeeping, as she was in delicate health. Nothing more +than I had learned was required; masters and mistresses were engaged +for all the difficult branches of study.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This was like a deliverance to me. To live in a large, +elegant house, +make tea at the evening receptions, show that in spite of my provincial +origin I could vie in elegance and manner with my lady in Berlin--now +that you know me, you can understand what a tempting prospect this +afforded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I persuaded my guardian to pay me my share of our little +inheritance +and the net proceeds of our furniture at once. I intended to keep the +few hundred thalers for pocket money in the great city, or use it at +once if my outfit should not be presentable. During the year that I +wore mourning for my parents and was alone nearly all day, I had put my +wardrobe in order as well as I could. But who could tell what the +baroness would say to it? Well, I needn't have troubled myself about +her. I liked her very well, and also the house and children---I could +not have desired anything better. But unfortunately I pleased her too +well; for scarcely had we exchanged a few words, during which she +scanned me from head to foot, when she said with the greatest +cordiality: 'My dear Fräulein, I regret having given you unnecessary +trouble. But you're far too pretty, to enter a house where there are +grown up sons and a great many young people going in and out. You would +turn the heads of some or perhaps all of them, and there would be +murders and homicides to pay. Don't take my frankness amiss, but I know +my circle, and moreover am ready to indemnify you for breaking the +engagement.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"There was nothing to take amiss, and so fifteen minutes after +I was +again standing in the street below, entirely alone, and without even +knowing the name of a hotel where it would be proper for me to stay; +for in my bewilderment, I had not thought of asking the baroness, who +seemed very anxious to get rid of me before the aforesaid grown up sons +came home.</p> + +<p class="normal">"On one course, however, I was positively determined: not to +go back to +my former poverty in the little nest of gossips, where on Sundays the +very flies dropped from the walls out of pure weariness, and during the +week nothing was talked about but cooking, washing and saving--I would +rather have drowned myself. And who missed me at home? Who needed me? +Who would have been particularly glad to see me again? I should only +have found malicious faces, taunts, and probably even heard evil +interpretations of my unlucky expedition.</p> + +<p class="normal">"As for the first time in my life, I walked in perfect freedom +through +the streets, and the elegant ladies rustled past me, the carriages +rolled through the Unter den Linden, and the shop windows glittered +with the most beautiful things, like a bazar in the Arabian Nights, or +the enchanted cave of Xaxa, while I moved through the throng on the +loveliest of summer days with a treasure in my pocket such as I had +never before possessed, and for which I was accountable to no one--the +thought suddenly darted through my mind: 'for once in your life see how +rich, aristocratic people feel, whose left hands do not know how much +their right hands throw out of the window. Live for once in plenty, +deny yourself nothing, show the stupid money that has accidentally +wandered into your pocket and for which you care so little, how you +despise it, though you are only a poor girl and must earn your bread! +If you were very avaricious and put your five or six hundred thalers in +a savings bank, the paltry interest you would receive would not make +you happy. When all has gone as lightly as it came, it will still be +possible to creep back into the yoke. Then you will at least have +experienced how happier mortals feel perhaps'--and I spoke as if some +of my mother's nature stirred within me--'perhaps you will fare like +the apprentices in a confectioners shop: become surfeited with luxury, +and afterwards be satisfied to return to narrow, commonplace +surroundings.' Well I had now decided that I would for once be Duchess +Toinette in earnest. But as I was a perfect stranger, and did not know +a single human being:--who knows whether I might not have lost the +courage to execute my plan. A little country girl cannot change herself +into a great lady in the twinkling of an eye, even if she has five +hundred thalers to use for the purpose. But chance came to my +assistance. I had traveled to Berlin in a first-class carriage. I had +long desired to try one, and while making our short excursions about +the neighborhood always felt secretly ashamed and irritated because we +were compelled to use a third-class conveyance. Now I could gratify my +desire, and was very comfortable in my plush armchair, until a +gentleman, who occupied the coupé with me, commenced a conversation +which threatened to become a little dangerous. He was a very elegant, +aristocratic young man, whose servant came to the carriage at every +station to ask his masters' orders.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I made such short answers to his gallant speeches, that he +probably +perceived he must adopt a different tone with me. From that moment he +was courtesy and attention itself, and treated me as a high-born dame, +though I did not conceal the object of my visit to the city. When we +stopped, he took leave expressing the hope of seeing me again in a few +days at the baroness' house, where he was a frequent visitor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This was a matter of perfect indifference to me then. His +Excellency, +the Count, as his servant called him, did not interest me in the least. +But now suddenly, as I wandered through the streets racking my brains +to decide what I was to do next, I heard a well known voice--it was the +count's. He greeted me very courteously, asked how I had found the +baroness, and when he had been informed of my fate kindly consoled me. +I need feel no anxiety, I could not fail to obtain a similar and even +more desirable position; he would himself make inquiries among all his +acquaintances, and in the first place, as I told him my difficulty +about finding suitable lodgings, he could recommend me to very pleasant +rooms which he had once rented for a relative. She had afterwards +decided not to take possession of them, as she had changed her plans; +but they were still empty, and the landlady was a very worthy woman, +with whom I would be very comfortable.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course this intelligence was very welcome to me. I only +insisted +that I would not avail myself of the fact that the lodgings had already +been paid for one quarter in advance, but remain my own mistress and be +indebted to no one.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He at last assented to this, and treated me in every respect +in a +modest and almost deferential manner. Yet I half regretted having +allowed him to accompany me to the house. The landlady seemed +surprised, and then---he would know where I was to be found. Who could +tell whether he might not become annoying? And besides my incognita was +destroyed. But my fear was groundless. On the day after I was settled, +I received a note from him; he was unfortunately obliged to forego the +pleasure of inquiring about my welfare in person, as his father's +sudden illness compelled him to set out for his estates at once. I +acknowledge that I felt very much relieved. I was really entirely free +from control, and could regulate my life as I chose.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What that would be, if directed by my taste, you have known +me long +enough to be aware, although here and there various trifles were +lacking. When I opened my box of ornaments, the contents did not look +exactly like crown jewels. If I heard of a poor family, I could only +show my generosity by the gift of five thalers. And then--I was quite +too lonely. When people wish to live in ducal style, a little court +must not be lacking. After I had lived entirely by myself for two +weeks, I fortunately made your acquaintance. Then I was perfectly +satisfied, and no longer feared the return of the count, although he +wrote me letters, in which he abandoned his formal style of address and +gradually became warmer and warmer. He confessed that even anxiety +about his father's life had been unable to drive my image from his +memory, begged for one line to assure him that his attentions were not +wholly indifferent to me, described his state of mind in more and more +exaggerated colors, and the more resolutely I left these foolish +epistles unanswered, the more passionate they became. This was all that +was wanting to completely disgust me with the acquaintance. I gave my +little Jean orders to receive no more letters, and if a gentleman whose +appearance I described, ever called upon me, not to admit him under any +circumstances.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And now this scene of yesterday! I could not sleep half the +night from +pure indignation. What does he imagine? For what must he take me, if he +expects by this bold intrusion--for the servant had his orders--to +obtain any concessions! Oh! these men, and what they call love! Am I +not right when I fear this mad passion, which makes positively +dangerous, people otherwise well-bred. And you--you have become +perfectly silent and not interrupted me once. Speak at least, or I +shall be forced to believe that you think me not only a poor fool, but +a poor sinner."</p> + +<p class="normal">She hastily withdrew her hand from his arm and stepped out +from under +the umbrella. The rain had nearly ceased, a faint ray of sunlight +pierced the grey autumnal mist, she threw back her hood and revealed +her face, deeply flushed by her eager words and rapid pace.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Fräulein," he said smiling, "confession for +confession: the +fool and sinner stands before you. But he hopes for absolution. It was +beyond human power to solve unaided an enigma so simple and yet so +singular. Besides, I must now confess--that 'worthy woman,' your +landlady--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What! Do you know her? What do you know about her? Oh I pray +do not +leave me in ignorance any longer!" she exclaimed with anxious haste.</p> + +<p class="normal">He soothed her for she had suddenly grown very pale. "We must +not talk +so loud," said he, "little Jean's great ears have approached nearer to +us--" She again took his arm and turned hurriedly into one of the side +avenues. "Well? Well?" she urged. "Oh my God, I had no suspicion of +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">He now told her all that he had heard from the woman, the +previous +destination of the rooms, the understanding between the landlady and +the count, the dangers to which in her unsuspicious ignorance, she had +exposed herself. "I myself," he concluded, "although often anxious when +I thought of the mystery that surrounded your life--believe me my dear +friend--only needed to see you enter the room, hear your voice, your +laugh, to be perfectly satisfied, fully convinced, that nothing base +could ever have dominion over you. I was much more inclined to believe +you to be in reality what you were only feigning to be: a true princess +in disguise who would again re-ascend her throne some day and then +appoint the faithful servant, who during her exile had often chatted +away her cares and <i>ennui</i>, to some position that would require no +gloves, such as court book-inspector, or private secretary, or even +chief bird feeder to Her Highness Duchess Toinette."</p> + +<p class="normal">She did not seem to hear the jest. The sweet face was bent +steadily +toward the ground, the little hands trembled. She suddenly paused +again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the letter?" she asked, without looking at him, "Did you +bring it +with you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He drew it out of his pocket. "It did not disturb my +slumbers," he +answered smiling. "Shall we destroy it unread and throw it into the +pond among the withered leaves?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No. Read it. Read it aloud." He broke the black seal and read +the +following lines:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Honored Fraulein:</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>You persist in refusing me a reply. I see that you put no +faith in my +written assurances of devotion, and if it were possible for anything to +increase the strength of my love, it would be this proof of your proud +reserve, I will henceforth spare you my letters, as I shall soon be +able to reaffirm all my professions verbally, and then I hope to remove +all your doubt of the sincerity of my passion. The event I feared has +happened, my father died to-night, That the first lines I write after +this heavy loss, are addressed to you, will prove better than any words +could do, that all my hopes in life are bound up in your image, that my +happiness or misery is in your hands. Whether, in my present condition, +you will deem me worthy of kinder treatment I must humbly wait for you +to decide.</i></p> + +<p class="continue" style="margin-left:50%">"<i>Ever yours</i></p> + +<p class="right">"Franz Count R----</p> + +<p class="normal">"If the man is to be judged from his style, we have been hasty +in +making the master responsible for his boorish servant," observed Edwin +in a jesting tone, as he folded the letter and handed it to her. "Will +you not at least condole with your faithful knight?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mechanically she took the black-edged sheet, but her face +remained +perfectly immovable. "Come," she said after a pause. "It's beginning to +rain again. I don't feel very well. Take me back to the carriage. Oh! +it's horrible! horrible! horrible!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He consoled her as well as he could.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Suppose he offers you his hand and a count's coronet," he +said, at the +same moment feeling a sharp pang in his heart that almost stopped his +breath.</p> + +<p class="normal">She did not seem to hear him, but shook her curls back from +her face, +so that her hair escaped from its confinement and rolled in luxuriant +masses from beneath her hood. Then she threw back her little cloak as +if suffocating. "Has it grown so hot?" she asked, "or is it only--but +let's walk faster. I can scarcely wait till I'm at rest--and alone! No, +no, you're not in my way, certainly not, I know what I owe you. But +that--that--there are things we can only conquer when we can close our +eyes and cry like little children. Do you know, my dear friend--I +should like--But why speak of it? You can't understand. To-morrow will +be your day, won't it? Yes, it was yesterday that you remained with me +and that insolent man--but we'll say no more about it. I shall expect +you to-morrow. Farewell for to-day. Forgive me for not asking you to +drive home with me. But it's better so--besides, I don't know what I'm +talking about--I--oh God!" She pressed her hand to her brow and paused +a moment, as if her head realed. Edwin ventured to draw her closer to +him, "My dear, dear child, compose yourself," said he. "What has +happened? What is lost?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She instantly regained her composure, "Nothing," she murmured. +"I thank +you very much for all your friendship. So to-morrow--and farewell!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She held out her hand and looked at him, apparently quite calm +again, +and then entered the carriage; the dwarf climbed nimbly up to the box, +and Edwin saw her bend forward and look at him with a long, earnest +gaze as she drove away. Then he remained alone in the grey day with his +gloomy thoughts.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Why was he so much more hopeless after her frank confession, +than +before? He now knew that his feelings had not deceived him, that the +equivocal circumstances in her position had nothing to do with her real +nature. Besides, nothing seemed to stand between them, no older rights +and claims of any third person, no contrast of rank or wealth. She was +as poor as he, as dependent, of equally humble origin, and when this +artificially woven fairy dream had passed away, which must soon happen, +she would be helpless in a strange world, where a friend and protector +must be more to her than anything else. True--for the moment he had no +thought of asking any woman to share his life. But hitherto he had +neither desired nor expected such an acquisition to his existence. If +the matter now became serious, why should he not be man enough to work +himself out of the "tun" and provide more spacious quarters for three +persons? If the matter should become serious! But that was what he +could not believe after her confession, as readily as before. He had +never seen more clearly that all his fire was blazing against a rock, +that not even a suspicion of his state of mind had yet dawned upon her. +To have heard the saddest story of sin, despair, and a lost youth, +would have disheartened him less than this cool, unapproachable +innocence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sadly he returned home, drenched to the skin, having purposely +exposed +himself to the rain to cool the fever raging within. While undressing +he told Balder everything, even his utter hopelessness. "And yet, after +all, it is best as it is," he concluded, "when I've once got over it. +Could we receive a duchess here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder did not understand all this. To him the very thought +that any +one could refuse a kingdom for the sake of loving and being loved by +Edwin would have been incomprehensible to him. He eagerly began to +contradict him and to build castles in the air. "Let her once be poor +again," said he. "Then she'll feel what treasures still remain. +Besides, she's no commonplace person, and still so young; how much she +can learn. And you're a good teacher. What have I not learned from +you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, <i>you</i>, child," sighed Edwin smiling and stroking his +hair. He was +going to add something, but Mohr came in and told his adventure of the +preceding day with that fine fellow, the mysterious Lorinser, and how +the hope of establishing a musical intercourse with Christiane had +given him so much energy, that he had written out the first bars of his +famous symphony that very morning. He was in excellent spirits and +according to his usual custom let off a shower of fireworks in the +shape of sarcasms and quaint remarks, with which, to be sure, he was +the only person amused, as the brothers only laughed from sympathy.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they had sat together for some time, Edwin went to his +pupil. +Hitherto he had always felt a sense of comfort in the little house on +the lagune. His passionate restlessness passed away, the young girl's +great calm eyes, which rested so eagerly on his lips, had driven away +all melancholy, so that he grew eloquent and cheerful, and unfolded to +her the ancient sages' world of thought until long after the hour +devoted to the lesson had expired. But to-day, for the first time, this +beneficent spell failed. He was forced to plead illness and depart +before the lesson was over, to Leah's evident regret.</p> + +<p class="normal">The next day was "his day," but his impatience drove him to +the house +in Jägerstrasse early in the morning. He started, when he saw the +landlady's broad face look peevishly out of one of the windows in the +second story. He darted breathlessly up stairs and pulled the bell. His +suspicion was confirmed. No striped waistcoat appeared, the shining +glass eyes of the solemn boy did not welcome him. Instead, the landlady +herself, without looking at him, sulkily opened the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whom do you want?" she grumbled. "Fräulein Toinette Marchand? +I'm +sorry. She has moved. Ah! so it's <i>you</i>? That alters the case. What do +you say to it? You must know more than any of the rest of us, who were +not thought good enough for the least explanation--Or do you bring some +order? Pray walk in. I can make myself entirely at home here once +more."</p> + +<p class="normal">She allowed Edwin to enter and then followed him into the +familiar red +drawing room. Everything was unchanged: the flowers was there, the +parrot was on the perch, only the bird cage stood open and empty, and +the bronze clock on the marble mantel piece no longer ticked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just think," said the woman, evidently glad to pour out her +heart to +some one who was half initiated into the secret, "she came home +yesterday in a droschky--the first time she did not have her hired +carriage, and the boy Jean came directly up to me and asked me to come +down to the young lady. When I entered, I found her maid already +packing. She herself was standing in the middle of the room, staring +straight before her, as if she were troubled about something. When I +spoke, she instantly recollected herself. She was obliged to leave the +city at once, she said, and as she should not return to these rooms, +wanted to pay me the rent. 'Leave the city,' said I. 'Good gracious! +and so suddenly? And where are you going, if I may ask?' For I thought, +after all the police will make a descent upon me, the secret, the crime +she has committed is now discovered, and she wants to get away that she +may not be caught napping. But then--she looked so haughty and +composed, and did not address a single word to me more than was +absolutely necessary, and yet I'm the landlady. As she went away in the +midst of the quarter, it was fair, she said, that she should pay for +the full three months--though she'd not been here quite four weeks--and +counted out thirty-six thalers on the table. I could consider it so +much profit. For everything else--though, dear me, she'd given me no +trouble at all--she laid three louis d'ors on the table, and the maid +too had her full quarter's wages and a handsome present. Then she went +to the birds--the parrot belonged to the count--opened the door of the +cage, fed them, and said: 'You'll let them go free,' and with a +flashing glance and a nod of the head went down stairs to the droschky +Jean had been sent to fetch, and on which her trunk was already +strapped. She took the boy with her, but to what depot she ordered the +man to drive--neither I nor the maid could hear. Mercy, what will the +count say when he comes back, for I promised I would keep her for him, +and he said 'you shall not lose by it, Madame Sturgmüller.' His servant +was here yesterday, 'How had the young lady behaved?' he asked. 'Who +was that gentleman with her'--he meant you. Well, I said no more than I +knew--that you only came to dine and always seemed very quiet and +brought her books. Then he laughed. 'They're probably studying +something very beautiful, Madame, and if I tell my master, the +count--' 'Well,' said I, 'why does he leave her all alone? Such a young +thing--idleness is the beginning of all love affairs.' But he shook his +head and wanted to know nothing about it. Now, tell me, my dear sir, +what does all this mean? Merciful God, if I should be obliged to go +before a jury after all--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin, in spite of his sadness, could not help smiling. He +denied all +knowledge of Toinette's movements, and his evident alarm at not finding +her, proved his sincerity. He had never inquired into her +circumstances, and where she had so suddenly vanished was as +incomprehensible to him as to the landlady. He walked, the woman +constantly talking to him, through all the pleasant rooms that suddenly +seemed so desolate and lifeless, and for the first time entered the +sleeping apartment, where the traces of a hasty departure were still +visible. On the toilette table, among various empty boxes, stood a +small bottle in which there was still a little essence of violet, a +perfume of which she had been particularly fond. He took advantage of a +moment when he was unobserved, to appropriate the useless relic. With +what strange emotions he stood beside the bed and gazed at the snow +white pillows on which her head had rested. "She was a beautiful girl," +said the woman. "Even the most envious must admit that, and no princess +could be more stately. But mark my words, sir: one of these days her +name will appear in the papers, not on the first page where the +arrivals and departures of the aristocracy are announced, but among the +miscellaneous news, accidents and sentences of imprisonment for ten +years or for life. Why shouldn't she have waited for the count, who's +such a charming gentleman? If a girl has a good conscience, she doesn't +try to be peculiar, but is neither better nor worse than other mortals. +Believe me, I know the world, and haven't rented rooms for ten years to +the very best class of lodgers for nothing."</p> + +<p class="normal">A feeling of inexpressible loathing overpowered Edwin. He +hastily +turned away, promising to call again some other time, and left the +house, in the deepest melancholy.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">She had not left a line for him, not even a note to say +farewell; it +was too much kindness to say: 'I'm going for such and such reasons, to +such and such a place.' He was of so little importance to her, she was +so utterly indifferent to what he must feel at her sudden +disappearance. No nomad who strikes his tent, leaves his camping ground +without casting a glance toward the fire where he prepared his meals, +the spring that refreshed him, although he knows he shall find +the same friendly elements everywhere. And he, whom she had called +"friend";--what a horribly cold heart, that can prize the best +treasures so lightly, leave the most unselfish devotion in the lurch so +carelessly, like a bottle of perfume, which was pleasant to the senses, +but which can be bought in any shop.</p> + +<p class="normal">And on a creature of such a shallow mind, such an icy heart, +he had for +weeks lavished his thoughts and opinions; nay his very anguish when he +had determined to break loose from her bonds, told him only too +distinctly that it would be long ere the task could be accomplished. +The more violently he strove to accuse her, the more victoriously the +image of his upbraided friend, with her artless expression and the last +earnest gaze the dark eyes had fixed upon him, rose before his fancy, +and he at last perceived that he only reproached her in order to have a +pretext for constantly occupying himself with her. He at last concluded +a sort of truce with his passionate grief. It was still possible that +she might write as soon as she was settled again. Had she not one of +his books, Hafiz, from which he had last read aloud to her at table? To +be sure, she might think he had given it to her, like the little copy +of Hermann and Dorothea. And if not, why should the possession of a +borrowed book disturb her, when she was in the habit of not even +returning hearts into which she had glanced once or twice?</p> + +<p class="normal">For the first time, he failed to tell Balder all that was +occupying his +thoughts, and merely said that she had given up her rooms, but would +probably send him her new address.</p> + +<p class="normal">This intelligence did not seem to trouble Balder much. He +avoided +saying so, but in his heart he almost wished that this might be the end +of the adventure, for from what Edwin had said of the lady, it seemed +more and more doubtful whether this passion, which made the grave, +self-contained man so helpless, would ever compensate for the sacrifice +of his repose. Much as he desired to do so, he could feel no affection +for this singular being. His beau ideal of loveliness was in every +respect the exact opposite of this dazzling vision. But he said +nothing, for he was well aware that words would be spoken in vain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A little note from the Frau Professorin Valentin came while +you were +away. The zaunkönig left it in the shop himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin absently opened and read it. It contained a request to +visit the +writer in the course of the day if possible, as she wished to speak to +him about a very important matter.</p> + +<p class="normal">He threw down the sheet, took up a volume of some work on +physical +science, and began to read. Balder, who was working industriously at +his turning lathe--he had reason to be industrious, since of late, +unnoticed by Edwin, the state of their strong box had become very +critical--saw plainly that he did not turn the page, but did not +venture to rouse him from his reverie. What could he have said to +console him?</p> + +<p class="normal">Evening came. The Frau Professorin's note seemed forgotten. +But when +Balder reminded him of it, Edwin started up and said he would attend to +the matter at once; he was curious to know what important news could +come to him from that quarter. So he left the room, with a dry "Adieu!" +Seldom, as we know, did he part from Balder without a jest or a +brotherly caress, but the spell of melancholy was too strong for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Since his first visit, he had only seen the estimable lady a +few times +in the zaunkönig's studio, from which she instantly retreated when he +came to give his lesson. She seemed very kindly disposed toward him, +with a motherly cheerfulness, which often, on her brightest days, +reminded him of his own mother; so he noticed it the more plainly, when +she now met him with anxious seriousness and a certain degree of +formality.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Herr Doctor," said she, "I begged you to come to see me +because I +wished to discuss a matter which has caused me grave anxiety. Do you +know that you've cost me a sleepless night?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're too kind," he answered smiling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm entirely in earnest. I should have to like you much less +than I do +if my opinion of you could be a matter of indifference to me. Tell me, +is it true? Are you really the author of this essay, or have you a +namesake, for whose opinions you are not responsible?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She took out a green volume, which she had carefully locked up +in her +writing desk. It was a number of a philosophical magazine, to which for +several years Edwin had been a contributor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So far as I'm aware," he answered in a jesting tone, "my +parents have +had but one son Edwin, who devotes himself to philosophy. Let me see. +'Examination of the proofs of the existence of God.' Certainly that's +mine. It's to be continued. It was left unfinished on account of my +foolish prize essay."</p> + +<p class="normal">He laid the book on the table, and now looked at his +companion, who was +sitting opposite to him with the most heartfelt expression of pitying +surprise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So it's really yours!" said she. "And these views, these +principles--you've not yet renounced them?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know of what principles you speak, Madame. So far as +I can +remember, I refrain from making any hypothesis of my own, and limit +myself entirely to a critical investigation of the opinions that have +been advanced by others."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes. So it appears! But can he who so coolly, in his own +opinion, +annihilates the logical proofs of an eternal truth, be expected to +cherish the desire, to say nothing of the conviction, that this truth +will endure, difficult as it might be to find reasons for it, or proofs +which would incontestably establish to the reason its indisputable +existence?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I might take that as a compliment to my essay," he answered, +"although +coming from a woman's mouth, it cannot of course be understood in that +sense. Among scientific men, an investigation is thought the more +worthy of credence, the fewer traces it bears that its author set about +the task with a desire to find a certain result, or with even a +previously formed conviction. In my department, especially, much +greater progress would have been made, if even in the minds of its +masters passion and prejudice had not dimmed the pure mirror of +experience and clearness of thought."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Greater progress!" cried the excited lady, letting both hands +fall +into her lap in sudden horror. "But for Heaven's sake, what progress +can be made, to what can you wish to turn your attention after you have +so successfully reached absolute nothingness?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And suppose I expected to prove," he answered smiling, "that +this +nothingness is just as fruitful as the other nothingness, from which, +as pious men tell us, God created the world? But I'll not begin to +philosophize here. Even if I could hope, in a short conversation, to +make you understand that to which I have devoted the labor of a +life, I should still prefer to keep silence. You're in harmony with +yourself--what more can you desire? I, whose wants are so different, am +also at peace with myself. Is it not better to rest satisfied with +that, each respecting the other's mode of thought and feeling? +Wherefore drag to light the differences about which we can never agree, +instead of rejoicing over what we possess in common? It's so easy to +dispute, and so difficult to become reconciled again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You think me intolerant," she replied eagerly, while a faint +color +tinged her pretty, delicate face. "But my Creator knows I am not. I +confidentially believe that in our heavenly father's house there are +many mansions. I honor every true, genuine conviction, even if ever so +widely different from mine. My best friend, Leah's mother, was a +jewess. My daily visitor, the Herr Candidat--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Lorinser?" Edwin dryly interrupted. "Ah! yes, now I +understand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's a matter of very little consequence; I know the people +with whom +I'm dealing. There are persons who take special delight in denouncing +others, of course for the greater honor of God, of Christian love, and +of eternal truth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wrong him; to be sure he brought me your essay, but it +was in +consequence of a conversation in which I was compelled to admit that I +was wholly in the dark about your opinions, and had not become much +wiser from Leah's very guarded remarks. Do not suppose I'm blind to the +faults and weaknesses of this singular man. I do not share his +exaggerated mystical views. But even his errors, which arise from an +ardent heart, seem more honorable, or to express myself more plainly, +are more in sympathy with my nature, than--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Than a man's honest confession that he knows nothing at all +about +certain things."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If it were only that! But must he, who knows nothing, or +desires to +know nothing about that which is revealed to all who thirst for +information, makes a business of shaking the faith, rendering the +ground unsteady beneath the feet of those who do have the knowledge, or +think they have?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If he really believes he is serving humanity, why should he +not do +what he thinks productive of good? To be sure, I should not undertake +this business. I've not the temperament for it, the friendly +importunity, nor any of the other qualities that are necessary to make +proselytes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have not? And this treatise--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is not written for those who know or think they know, but for +persons, +who like me, are still seeking truth, perhaps doubting whether it will +ever be possible certainly to know, and meantime think themselves +justified in using the boundaries between knowledge and faith for a +work which must tend to the advantages of both provinces."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," she said, as she suddenly rose, "we shall make no +progress in +that way. You're my superior in dialectics, and I see it's only +chivalrous in you to avoid the contest. But answer one question +plainly: is it really true that you not only have no God, but do not +even feel any sorrow for it, any sense of something wanting, of +cheerless desolation and loneliness, when you survey a world, from +which to you the breath of a personal Creator has vanished?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And suppose I really did feel neither sorrow nor want, and +yet did not +find the world utterly cheerless?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She gazed at him with a steady look, as if she were obliged to +weigh +such an answer before she could fully understand it. Her eyes grew dim, +she retreated a step and sank down on the chair which stood beside the +sofa.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You poor, poor mortal!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We agreed not to philosophize, Madame," he answered smiling. +"But, +even in ordinary conversation, I suppose one may be permitted to remind +the other of contradictions in which he has involved himself. Does he +who has just told you that he feels no want, needs no consolation, seem +poor in your eyes? Then see how ill it fares with the toleration of +which you boasted. You allow every form of faith to exist, except that +which acknowledges it has nothing that resembles a creed. The jew, the +mussulman, the fire-worshipper, the idolater, who sees his God in a +stock or stone--all seem respectable to you, and none so poor as an +honest seeker after truth, who studies nature and his own heart, and +cannot think all the signs and wonders he there beholds explained, when +he uses for them a formula which means anything or nothing. Can you +really consider it of any importance, that I should use the same word, +if to me it expresses something totally different? Do you feel allied +to an idolater, because in his language he gives a block of wood the +same name that to you in yours, means the creator of heaven and earth? +Would you not, though you might respect his conviction, have greater +reason to say to him: 'Poor, poor mortal!'--?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Blessed are the poor in spirit!'" she replied. "You +certainly will +not question those words, neither will you deny that every religious +feeling springs from the consciousness of our own incompleteness, that +he who lacks nothing, who is sufficient unto himself, cannot know the +loftiest emotion: devotion to something loftier, richer, stronger--the +ideal of what is highest and noblest, which we call God. And therefore +the idolater stands nearer to me than the atheist. He shares with me +the human need of worshipping, of bowing before some powerful, +inscrutable being. Is he to blame if his ideas of this dim power are so +narrow and gloomy, that in order to be able to reverence something, he +forgets that he carved these gods himself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly not," replied Edwin gravely. "As little as you are +to blame, +for adoring a God you have carved yourself or rather suffered others to +fashion. Oh! my honored friend, do not be angry with me, but the +difference between the poor doll that the south sea islander believes +to be the creator of the world, and the God of our ordinary +christianity, does not seem to me great enough to create such a stir. +Are not both carved after <i>our</i> pattern, one more rudely, the other +more delicately, the former bedecked with barbaric finery and painted +in gaudy hues, the latter, according to the taste of our times, adorned +with more or less art and fantastic splendor, but always a work of our +own minds? I will not speak of those really poor mortals, whom you also +will hardly call blessed or think specially well fitted for their +heavenly kingdom: of those who, under the forms of the Christian faith, +practise the grossest idolatry, the merest image worship. But how do +even the most enlightened, the most intellectual, who take the +scriptural words 'God is a spirit' in the most solemn sense, imagine +this spirit? In their holy zeal, they ascribe to it every quality that +seems worthy of honor and love in themselves or others. And this ideal +being, which they have created in their own image, and only endowed +with the thoughtlessly collected attributes of omnipotence, +omniscience, and omnipresence, this God-man or man-God, they set on a +throne somewhere in space, give him the world for a globe, and the +lightning for a sceptre, and are perfectly convinced that in the +fullest power and majesty, he will guide the stars on their courses, +and decide the destinies of mortals with mercy and justice. And +meantime the sorrows of the world take their course, evil reigns, the +unequal distribution of blessings still exists, and the all-merciful, +omniscient, all-righteous, and omnipotent God, does not move his little +finger to effect a change; his most eager devotees must seize upon very +common place, earthly means to keep the world in its grooves; but where +these are not enough, where the whole cannot sufficiently protect the +individual, then arises the old sardonic consolation: 'Help yourself, +and God will help you.' So we're again thrown back on ourselves. It is +still our strength, our intellect, our good purposes! And yet earnest +men, who have their doubts about the contradictory stories concerning +the government of the world by a God who is just and good according to +human ideas, are blamed if they seek to help themselves through life by +their own efforts, and at the same time try whether they cannot make +things harmonize without nursery tales." He had risen and was pacing up +and down the room in increasing excitement.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You reject the good with the bad," she replied shaking her +head. "Who +denies the imperfection of our ideas of the supreme being? Who asserts +that our human images and comparisons describe his real nature? They +are all mere make-shifts, a species of flying machine to enable us, who +are denied wings on earth, to approach as near him as possible? Do you +wish to deprive the poor mortals who languish in the dust, of this +solace?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I? You're again forgetting that I wish to deprive no one of +his +religion, nor arouse in any one who is satisfied higher desires; nor to +seek to guide him to what affords me happiness. Let them soar as high +as they wish and can; but they, too, ought to permit the plain +pedestrian, who climbs the rough path to the summit step by step, to +move quietly on his way, and not throw stones at him from their +balloons."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who does so? Who, that has understood the law of love, the +most sacred +tenet of our religion?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He approached her and took her hand, exclaiming eagerly: "Not +you, my +honored friend. You will not cease to include in your prayers, the man +who acknowledges that he does not join in the words, 'we all believe in +one God.' Perhaps you will prefer not to associate with him, as with +all our love for our neighbor, we do not choose an outcast for a +companion. But ask yourself, how many of your brothers and sisters in +faith have advanced so far in toleration that they will not only permit +every one to be happy in his own way, but even endure those who feel no +desire for what is called heavenly bliss, who see the circle of their +duties and privileges, toils and joys, coupled here on earth, and do +not wish to be more perfect, wiser, or more immortal than one can +become with human intellect and powers? Yet the word 'godless' is still +the harshest that can be said of a fellow man, and people speak of +envy, hatred, revenge, and malice, as traits natural to humanity. But +all neighborly love is refused the poor fellow creature, who confesses +that he can form no idea of a personal ruler of the world, according to +the human pattern, and the one word 'atheist' is sufficient to forever +brand the most peaceful citizen, the noblest philanthropist, the most +earnest seeker after truth. Yet we talk of an age of enlightenment! We +boast of our freedom of thought, our scientific triumphs, and even men +of science fear to express their deepest thoughts in their works, even +those which are not even intended for the masses, in order to be sure +of their peace, if not of their lives! Their real, inmost conviction, +they whisper like some guilty secret into the ears of those whom they +have recognized as kindred spirits, while childish folly, criminal +stupidity, are permitted to display themselves in every street, and the +holiest things are used by cunning speculators for very worldly +purposes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What am I to answer?" said the Frau Professorin, with an +expression of +the deepest anxiety. "You yourself are noble and pure enough in your +intentions, to be permitted without danger to your social duties, to +disclaim what we call duties toward God. But what would be the +consequence with the great majority, whose 'sensibilities are not so +delicate, to whom piety, unconscious devotion to an inscrutable being, +nay if you will, the <i>fear</i> of God, is a necessary check to their +sensual natures, if you suddenly left them to themselves, and relieved +them of all responsibility? Or what compensation can you offer nobler +souls, of deeper feelings, that feel a need of sanctification, to make +amends for a destroyed or diminished confidence in the love of God? My +dear friend, if you had ever enjoyed the deep bliss of knowing yourself +a child of God, you would willingly overlook the vagueness, the +childish narrowness, that to pure reason this idea may seem to contain, +and understand that it is natural to consider innovators dangerous, or +even to strive to crush as enemies of mankind, those who threaten to +deprive their brothers of this consolation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I understand, I excuse it--and yet I ask that it may cease," +replied +Edwin, "for really the danger with which the children of the world +threaten the children of God, is a purely imaginary one. The offence we +give is very harmless. No mind which, in your sense of the word, is +religiously disposed, will endure to think of the world without a +personal Creator. No seduction can take place where the germ of the +fall did not previously exist. And the vacillating or utterly frivolous +cannot be of so much importance to you as peace and tolerance. I cannot +forsee the future, but I have a conviction that the time will never +come, when all men will declare that they are of age and have outgrown +the childhood that renders them happy, any more than that political +freedom will ever become a necessity to all. Only let people cease to +measure differences in viewing the world by moral standards, to +regulate for the individual his capacities and wants, God and the +world, to call him to account for mere opinions which have a very +slight influence upon his actions. To be sure, those ideas of God, +freedom, immortality, which even the free thinkers of the last century +recognized as an inalienable possession of mankind, have at last, in +popular opinion, been called in question by our intrusive, persistent +investigation. But I'm as sure as of my own existence, that a time will +come when honest children of the world will be permitted, without +suspicion, to renounce that trinity also, and is not the hope of +contributing to such a future worth the toil of the noblest? Then for +the first time the word tolerance will have attained its full sense; +then conversations like ours will be conducted without the slightest +tinge of vehemence or bitterness, which have blended here and there +with our words to-day, and for which I in particular, as a philosopher, +who ought to have learned to be patient and trust to time, sincerely +beg my honored friend's pardon."</p> + +<p class="normal">He bent toward her, took her hand, and raised it to his lips. +She +absently permitted him to do so, absorbed in thoughts which she +apparently could not express in words. He had already reached the door, +when she said sudden:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does Leah know these opinions of yours?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused. A dull pain, a feeling of regret, overpowered him, +which he +did not know how to explain. "We have never discussed these questions," +he replied, "or as school children say, we've not yet <i>come</i> to them. +We're still at the Greek philosophers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But when you progress so far, shall you tell her openly what +you +think?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly, as openly as I have told you. Surely if I showed +no reserve +toward you by your personal request and as a matter of friendship, to +my pupil, I should believe myself to be fulfilling a sacred duty in +speaking plainly. For this knowledge her nature yearns; she will digest +it, it will be transmuted into a part of her blood. Could you be so +intolerant, so envious, as to seek to deprive this excellent girl of +what will be a positive benefit to her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">For a moment she was silent. "I must be perfectly frank with +you," she +said, and the embarrassment which flushed her cheeks gave her a winning +expression. "My old friend, Leah's father, asked me to question you +about your belief. He found one of his daughter's exercise books, in +which were certain expressions and sentences that startled him. He +himself is entirely destitute of dogmatic fanaticism, as I've already +told you, but he is a true child of God, and is now alarmed and grieved +to discover that his only daughter aims to be no different from her +teacher: an upright child of the world. Therefore--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I understand," Edwin interrupted with a bitter smile. "You +need +proceed no farther with his apology. Give my compliments to the worthy +gentleman, who will not permit his child to eat from the broad dish, +because his own mouth is formed to take nourishment from the narrow +bottle. But from what I know of the girl, she will find proper +sustenance in spite of this guardianship, though with rather more +difficulty. The only loser will be myself. Those grave thoughtful eyes +always had a good influence over me. But I might have known it would +come to this some day, so--without ill-feeling--farewell."</p> + +<p class="normal">She called to him to detain him. But he had already passed +through the +ante-room, without ill-feeling, as he had himself said, but not without +a sense of bitter sorrow. "And these are the best of them!" he +murmured. "If such things happen when the wood is green, what marvel is +it that the dry, dead branches and knots, which can nevermore put forth +leaf or blossom, crackle so merrily when a heretic is to be burned!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He returned home and spent the remainder of the evening in +quiet +conversation with Balder, with whom he soon regained his lost +cheerfulness, though the shadows would not wholly vanish from his +sorely wounded soul. Both slept very little that night. When the pump +handle creaked the next morning, they had been up a long time. Balder +at his turning lathe, and Edwin wandering about the room, now and then +turning the leaves of a book, both silent, as they usually were during +the first part of the day.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reginchen brought up with the breakfast tray a carefully +folded package +and a letter. They had just been left for Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he had unfastened the strings and broken the seal, a +beautiful +porcelain plate appeared, on which was painted a bouquet of corn +flowers, poppies, and wheat; on the edge, in gold letters, was the +inscription: "A memento from a grateful pupil." There was also a sealed +book, without any address, but the letter was from the old gentleman, +and ran as follows:</p> + +<p class="normal">"My Deeply Honored Friend:</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>You already know what I have to communicate in these lines, +which in +consequence of the great esteem, and love I have always felt for you, I +can hardly force my pen to write, I have never presumed to suppose that +I alone possess the truth; but to secure to my child the happiness that +I have enjoyed in my own life, is a matter that lies very near my +heart. If peace does not come to her when sought in my way, I shall not +forbid her to seek it in another; but I think she's still too young to +clearly perceive the right path, and therefore I would rather leave her +for a time without a guide, than see her moving along a road I think +dangerous. Nevertheless, I shall always be grateful to you for having +so kindly devoted your time to her. My daughter, who desires to be +respectfully remembered to you, begs you to accept the accompanying +specimen of her work--the forfeit of the wager you perhaps still +remember. A book, in which she was in the habit of keeping an account +of her progress with you, I will beg you to take charge of for a time, +as I do not wish her to return to these studies at present, and cannot +expect her to entirely give up the pages which are precious in her +eyes. And now farewell, dear Herr Doctor. May you ever be prosperous +and remember with the old affection,</i></p> + +<p class="normal" style="text-indent:50%">"<i>Your sincerely grateful</i></p> + +<p class="right">"Philipp König."</p> + +<p class="normal">Enclosed in another envelope was a sum of money, not very large in +itself, but munificent considering the circumstances of the man who +lived in the little house on the lagune. Edwin instantly sat down at +the table, sealed up the money again and wrote the following lines:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Honored Friend and Patron:</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Deeply as I regret that my visits to your house which had +become so +pleasant must be so suddenly discontinued, I cannot help respecting the +motive which prompted your letter, and in all friendship bid you and my +dear pupil farewell--until we meet again! Thank your daughter most +warmly for her beautiful work of art, which affords me the greatest +delight. But I do not understand how you imagine yourself to be in my +debt. You cannot expect me to accept a fee for my small beginning at +teaching, any more than you would call upon a customer to pay for a +half finished picture.</i></p> + +<p class="normal" style="text-indent:50%">"<i>With kindest regards, yours</i>,</p> + +<p class="right">"E."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There," said he to Balder, "we've done with that too! I can put the +little bottle of violet perfume on this painted plate--two frail +mementoes of a life and memories quite out of place in our tun. Come, +child! We'll get to work again. Everything flows steadily on; ought not +certain memories to find their way also to the great ocean?"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>BOOK III.</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">A fortnight had elapsed. The autumnal storms, which had burst +over the +country, had stripped the last withered leaf from the top of the acacia +tree, and the little garden with its shade loving plants, as well as +the dry tendrils of the bean vines, were destroyed by the ceaseless +rain.</p> + +<p class="normal">Even in the "tun," whose inmates usually possessed the art of +making +the sunlight within shine all the more brightly in the stormiest +weather, a strangely dull, sorrowful mood had prevailed, like the +autumn mists which float over forest and meadow, and are only now and +then lighted by a noontide sunbeam. A dull oppression weighed upon +Edwin's mind, and with all his manliness he was unable to shake it off. +This mysterious silence and disappearance caused him more pain than the +sharpest break in his life, the most open renunciation on the part of +the beloved being. He hourly felt that all must be past, but he could +not yet realize it to be at an end. It was as if he carried a bullet in +his body very near the vital organs, and until it was extracted, no one +could tell whether he would survive or bleed to death.</p> + +<p class="normal">Besides, now that he again spent more time in the house, he +became very +anxious about Balder. During the time of his futile love-making, when +he had often only seen his brother at dinner or late in the evening, +the latter had succeeded in concealing the fact that his time was +divided between arduous toil and complete exhaustion. Now it could no +longer be hidden. Marquard, whom Edwin instantly called in to prescribe +for a first severe attack of pain in the chest, shook his head very +angrily over the unpardonable carelessness which had permitted matters +to go so far. He forbade Balder to make the slightest exertion, and +during some of the stormiest days kept him in bed. Balder smilingly +protested against his tyranny, and declared that he did not suffer at +all; nay that he could breathe more freely and easily when in his +stooping posture at the turning lathe. He would doubtless have +carefully avoided acknowledging that, when at work, he could more +easily forget the anxiety about his health which daily became more +pressing. But it was useless. Edwin saw through the ambiguous words, +especially as, roused from his long dream, he had now discovered for +the first time that during the last few weeks Balder must have done +double work to defray the current expenses. This was all that was +needed to make the recollection of the time so hopelessly lost, still +more painful and bitter. "Careless children ought never to be left +alone," he said reproachfully, crushing back tears of sorrow for his +brother and rage against himself. "Now you have accomplished a fine +piece of business, worked shamefully hard that I might not only play +the fool the more undisturbed, but become your murderer into the +bargain. Oh! child, all the duchesses in the world, who might want to +make me their court-fool, would not outweigh a single hair from your +thick locks, though they really might lose a few handfuls without +injury. Instead of taking up my station on the nearest street corner, +as was my duty, and waiting to see if some one would give me work, I've +wasted my days in the most worthless way, playing the courtier, while +you--fie! A fine brotherly love on both sides! One idles enough for +two, and thoughtlessly allows himself to be fed at the expense of the +other, who meanwhile works for two so recklessly that he almost +deprives himself of life, and the idler of his only brother."</p> + +<p class="normal">He would not allow himself to be quieted, until he had carried +the +dearest things he possessed, a few dozen of his most valuable books, to +an antiquary, and thus defrayed the most pressing necessities for +several weeks. Besides this, as the lectures had not yet commenced, he +plunged headlong into all kinds of remunerative work, criticisms upon +new books and contributions to scientific journals, and remained +persistently at home all day long, with the exception of a short +afternoon walk, never losing thought of Balder amid all his work. No +one interrupted this strict seclusion except the faithful doctor, Mohr, +who came daily for several hours to play chess, and Reginchen, who +brought up the meals.</p> + +<p class="normal">Some change seemed to have taken place in the child, which +transformed +her whole nature in a mysterious, but very charming manner. She no +longer sang and glided about like a young bird, or even prattled in her +half childish, half motherly way to Balder, whom she now had to nurse; +but the thoughtful, somewhat absent and sorrowful expression her +countenance now wore, undoubtedly suited it better than her former +wholly unshadowed mood. She seemed to have grown an inch taller, her +face was perceptibly narrower, her cheeks less blooming, but suffused +with a delicate glow from within. Moreover she was often found, as if +spell-bound, standing still in the midst of a task gazing steadily into +vacancy. When Balder asked what she was thinking about, she blushed +crimson and laughed in an embarrassed way, but the next instant her +face again wore a strangely quiet expression, such as no one had ever +seen before.</p> + +<p class="normal">Even Edwin, who usually noticed her but little, remarked her +altered +manner. "Our little house swallow is thinking of building a nest," said +he. "You'll see, Balder, before next spring she'll leave us to become +her own mistress. It's a pity! I can't imagine the tun without this +wandering ray of sunlight."</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder was silent. He had long been uneasy about the matter. +Little as +he was in the habit of thinking of himself, this time, with a joyous +terror that for some moments threatened to burst his heart, he could +not help believing that he was the author of this change. On the very +day Franzelius bade them farewell, the young girl had asked him to lend +her Schiller's poems. She had heard so much about them, she wanted to +see if they would please her as well as her cousins and the head +journeyman. The book was in Balder's locked drawer; he had pressed in +it a flower from a small bouquet she had once brought him when she came +home from a walk. The verses he had written on her birthday were also +there, but he did not think of them when he took out the volume. +Afterwards, when it was too late, he had recollected them, and as the +verses expressed somewhat plainly what for years he had carefully +hidden in his heart, he could scarcely doubt that they would now do +their duty and reveal all. Probably it might have been so, but for that +twilight hour in the shop, when the state of another equally reserved +soul had suddenly become clear to her. There was only room for one +thought at a time in her head and heart, and therefore, as her love for +literature was not very great, she had not taken out the borrowed book +she had placed in her work table, and had no suspicion what a secret +she would have learned. Even in her leisure hours, she did not have +much time for reading. Whenever she was left to herself, she eagerly +knitted the before-mentioned stockings, whose unusual size could not +fail to remind her for many days of the lucky fellow destined to own +them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder, however, who knew nothing of all this, could not help +interpreting in his own favor the altered manner of the child he +secretly loved, especially as since he required her care, she had +become at once more devoted and more reserved. His first emotion at +this supposed discovery was, as has been stated, one of joyful alarm. +Having renounced all the happiness of healthy men, he had never thought +such an event possible, nay scarcely desirable. He looked upon himself +as a passing guest at the table of this world, who could only taste the +various dainties, and who after a short enjoyment of the pleasures of +the feast, a modest sip from the beaker of earthly joys, must silently +slip away. That he might take his place there with the others, join in +the festivities till midnight, and drain the last dregs of the wine +cup, was something of which he had not dared to think. He had yielded +the more freely to a feeling of happy hopelessness, because he thought +himself sure, of standing in no one's way by so doing. This fair, +innocent child, in the exuberance of perfect health, possessed exactly +what he lacked; that she had grown up in the insensibility of pure +nature, without intellectual wants, culture, or training, while every +expression, every gesture revealed strength, freshness, and the most +joyous good nature, attracted him to her as one is attracted toward an +object always longed for and always withheld. When she entered his +room, he forgot his sufferings and banished the thought of the future, +since she herself seemed to be satisfied with the present and the +pleasures it contained; therefore the thought that any change could +take place in this familiar, unconstrained intercourse had hitherto +never occurred to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now he was suddenly thrown into a state of bewilderment in +which he was +no longer in harmony with his own heart, since that which had hitherto +filled it with such pure and calm emotions, now appeared sinful, and +certainly was the source of many sorrows.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he had reached his twentieth year and the feeling of +delight must +needs outweigh all sadness. Almost insensibly, the hopes he believed +long since buried, again appeared before his eyes. Why should not a +miracle be performed in his case as well as in so many others, and +nature summon her wondrous powers of healing, especially as the soul +was now ready to assist? And if it should really prove that the +strength of manhood was to make amends for the sufferings of his youth, +how beneficent was the star which had enabled him to find in this +little spot, the treasure that would make him rich for all time.</p> + +<p class="normal">This belief became more and more fixed in his mind, so that he +submitted to all the remedies prescribed without opposition and with +far more patience than usual, and he even, often as a loving word to +Edwin or Reginchen hovered on his lips, strictly observed the +prohibition against speaking. He would lie half the day in a reverie, +his eyes fixed upon the sorrowful plaster mask of the prisoner opposite +him, composing verses which he hastily wrote down as soon as Edwin's +back was turned. Even his old regret that he could not make up his mind +to confess his secret to his brother, who never had one from him, no +longer troubled him. When he had grown strong again and could at last +go out into the world and cast aside all his premature renunciation of +self, he would pour out his happiness, and compensate Edwin tenfold for +what he had lost.</p> + +<p class="normal">All these thoughts had passed through his mind, while the +leaves of the +acacia were falling off, and Edwin wandered about with a wound that +would not heal. The oppressive stillness that pervaded the tun, seemed +to have affected the other lodgers in the house as well; they appeared +to be in that uncomfortable, chilly autumn mood, in which man, like +nature, gradually becomes silent, until the crackling flames in the +stove beget encouragement and the lips of human beings once more +unclose. Christiane's piano emitted no sound. The head journeyman, +whose grumbling and scolding often echoed in the air as long as the +windows of the work shop remained open, was no longer heard. In the +rooms occupied by the old couple no one opened a window to look at the +thermometer, which hung on the shady side of the house. They well knew +it was no weather for a once famous tenor to expose his throat to the +air. Even Herr Feyertag was in a bad humor, although an unusual number +of jack-boots were ordered and business was very prosperous. His son, +who had imbibed from Franzelius all sorts of wild communistic ideas, +caused him a great deal of anxiety, and out ran with seven league boots +that worthy citizen and man of progress, his father. All such cares +seem doubly threatening in the autumn rain, and we are the more +inclined to believe the end of the world is coming, when the summer +sunlight has long lulled us into forgetfulness of all anxiety.</p> + +<p class="normal">But suddenly this consoler seemed inclined to return for a +time to +celebrate another festival. When Edwin opened his eyes one morning, the +brightest blue sky was smiling into the tun, and the atmosphere was as +still and soft as if ashamed of all the stormy misdemeanors of the last +few weeks. As good things, like evil ones, rarely come singly, this +morning also brought all sorts of unexpected pleasures. First came a +letter containing money to discharge a debt long since given up as +hopeless, the fee for a private lecture on Hegel's philosophy, which +Edwin had given a sceptical Russian. The auditor had suddenly +disappeared, and Edwin supposed him to be either in Paris or Siberia. +But he had preferred to make his peace with the Lord, and had now +obtained a position in St. Petersburg, from whence he sent double the +fee. Edwin was just forbidding Balder (who in his delight suddenly +broke his vow of silence and insisted that the money must be devoted to +buying back the books that had been sold) to meddle with the financial +department of the tun, which now, since Balder by his secret earnings +had basely betrayed the confidence reposed in him, was to be +exclusively in Edwin's hands, when Marquard came in, and after +carefully examining the patient, declared him out of danger for this +time. He cautioned him however, against any excitement or bodily +exertion, which would again open the scarcely healed wounds Then he +turned to Edwin: "I wish I could be as well satisfied with you," he +said, looking sharply into his face, "but I must confess that your +appearance, your pulse, your whole condition, don't suit me at all. A +few more days of this stooping, drudging, and brooding, and we shall be +just where we were the evening of the ballet. Deuce take it! I'd rather +prescribe for a whole cholera hospital, than a single thinking patient, +who's always opposing Mother Nature, and by his pondering and +cogitations during the day, tears into lint the repairs she makes in +his nerves at night. Or is--you have no secrets from Balder--your crazy +abstract love affair at the bottom of it? That was all that was +wanting! How far have you progressed with the little princess in +Jägerstrasse? Still the 'fir and the palm' longing and yearning in +anxious pain?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If the matter is of scientific interest to you," replied +Edwin with a +totally unembarrassed face, "you may as well know that the story ended +before it had fairly begun. I should be strongly inclined to put the +apparition in the category of delusions of the senses, if it were not +for the perplexing circumstance that the phantom which so mysteriously +appeared and vanished, was visible to you also."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marquard looked at him with a sly twinkle in his bright blue +eyes. "May +I feel your pulse again?" he said dryly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because it's a matter of scientific interest to me, to see +whether a +philosopher, who makes truth his trade, can tell a lie without any +quickening of his pulse. Besides, I can if you desire, go my way and +pronounce you incurable. I should then come here only as court +physician to the younger branch." He seized his hat and cane as if to +go.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I really don't understand," replied Edwin, as he quietly +continued to +cut the leaves of a book, "why I should take the trouble to lie to such +an infallible diagnostician! In all seriousness, I've not seen the fair +mystery in Jägerstrasse for a fortnight or more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For a very natural reason," retorted Marquard laughing: +"because for a +fortnight or more the beauty has lived in <i>Rosenstrasse</i>. Oh! you +sophist! You strangle the truth and salve your conscience with the +snares of your formal logic."</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder looked at Edwin, who had turned deadly pale. The book +fell from +his hand, his lips moved but no sound came from them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There sits the detected sinner," cried the doctor in a +jeering tone. +"Ah, my son, lying and deceit are all very well if one is careful not to +be caught in them. Besides, I am the last person to attempt to force a +confidence, which is not voluntarily bestowed. Good morning!" Nodding +to Balder, he left the room and stumbled grumbling down the steep dark +staircase. When he had almost reached the bottom, he heard some one +call him and Edwin came leaping down.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Marquard, one word more!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I only wanted to tell you--you may think what you please, but +it's the +plain truth--I thought she had left the city. What do you know about +her? Is it anything more than a freak of the imagination, that she is +living in Rosenstrasse--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the third house from the corner, on the right hand side as +you come +from the long bridge. Of course on the second story. I was driving past +the house yesterday afternoon, when it was still quite light, and +instantly recognized her, as in spite of the infernal weather, she was +standing at an open window. There are not two such faces. So, with a +half sad, half wearied expression--thinking partly of Edwin, and partly +of a velvet cloak--she leaned against the casement, and absently +scattered bread-crumbs to the sparrows in the street. Suddenly she +started back and shut the window. She might have seen me looking up, +perhaps she even recognized me. However, as I had resigned her to you +once for all--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, Marquard. Adieu!"</p> + +<p class="normal">So saying, Edwin left the doctor standing on the dark stairs +and +hastily ran up again, without hearing the expression of astonishment +which the latter sent after him.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he returned to the tun, he endeavored to assume a +cheerful +expression, and even laughed heartily, as if Marquard had told him some +comical story.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's all right," he said to Balder. "The tragi-comedy is to +have an +after piece. What do you say to that, child? We'll recommend the +subject to Mohr for a fantastic story, the title will be promising: +'The Ghost in Rosenstrasse.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"All will yet be well," replied Balder gently, repressing a +sigh. "Such +a parting was unnatural, and who knows whether you both would not have +suffered too severely in the trial. Now no harm is done except that she +too must have suffered in having been deprived of you a week."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! you flatterer!" exclaimed Edwin, who was pacing up and +down the +room with his hands in his pockets. "Deprived of me? And what compelled +hex to be deprived of me, except her own free ducal will? Oh! child, +child, don't let us call X, U to each other! The matter stands simply +thus: I knew nothing of her, and she neither wished nor wishes to know +anything of me. And now see, my dear child, what a pitiful weakling +man, and especially your wise brother is! Instead of being satisfied +that this fortnight's silence is meant as a discharge, he will not be +content to rest until he has received his dismissal in due form, if in +any way he can obtain another audience.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see," he continued, while Balder was silently trying to +calm his +fears at this new turn in the state of affairs, "we have our boasted +free will and the admirable categorical imperative mood, the standard +specifics for all attacks of moral fevers. I can solemnly assure you, +Balder, I'm no coward, no such pitiful weakling, that I would not +swallow the bitterest medicine, if I knew it would cure me. 'You can, +because you ought!' Certainly, I can force myself not to steal, murder, +commit adultery, or break any other of the ten commandments, because I +know they are in themselves half holy, half salutary, and the world +would be out of joint if we did not hold in check certain desires for +our neighbor's purse, life, wife, or anything else that is his. But +<i>here</i>, in my case--what do you command, Herr Imperative Mood? What do +you desire, Herr Free Will? That it looks ill for <i>meum esse +conservare</i>, if I simply baffle this longing and stay away, I have +sufficiently experienced during the last fortnight. Whether matters +will be worse if I see her again, who can tell? So I think I'll go +there and ask her whether she thinks me a fool or a man over wise, for +again playing with heat and cold which have given me chilblains +already?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fortunately we're rich young men again," he added smiling. +"For +although she esteems me very highly because I visit her without gloves, +it might seem quite too magnificent if I should call in a straw hat at +the end of October. I will spend something on myself, child, and even +look around for a respectable winter overcoat. My old one has gone +Heaven knows where with Franzelius, who wore it for a Sunday coat."</p> + +<p class="normal">He could devote no more attention to his books, but while +talking to +Balder in a half earnest, half satirical tone, made as careful a +toilette as is possible when a man possesses but one suit of clothes, +and finally, with his huge paper shears clipped his beard before the +tiny mirror. "I should really like to know," he said, while engaged in +this operation, without looking at Balder, "whether I should be less +indifferent to her, if I were a handsome young fellow like you, so that +she could be vain of me, or rather see her natural love of beauty +satisfied by my insignificant self. That I shall ever be necessary to +her, is not to be hoped. But to be an elegant superfluity, like a +parrot, or a piano on which she doesn't even know how to play--the +prospect wouldn't be very glorious, but for lack of a better. There, +the bushes have been pruned till they're fit to appear at court. I look +quite ghostly; this fortnight has been hard upon me. But perhaps it +will touch her: 'heart-sick, pallid, and true.' Good bye, my boy. I'll +bring back all sorts of things for dinner."</p> + +<p class="normal">He was so strangely agitated that he embraced Balder, kissed +him on the +forehead, and then rushed out of the room, humming in his powerful +"transcendental" voice--as Mohr called it--"<i>la donna è mobile</i>."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">His first errand was to a hatter, his second to a ready made +clothing +store. When, though the October sun was shining warmly, he took his way +toward the Rurfürsten Bridge in his new winter overcoat, he could not +help laughing at his shadow, which he could scarcely recognize in its +present stately contour. He crammed the large pockets with oranges, of +which Balder was very fond, bought all sorts of trifles for him, and +seemed to himself very brave and resolute, in using so much self +constraint as to lengthen the long distance to Rosenstrasse by his +numerous delays. He even felt capable of maintaining perfectly his self +control, if it should chance that he never saw her again. When he at +last knocked at her door, he considered it a great proof of his +courage, that he went to meet danger so boldly.</p> + +<p class="normal">The third house from the corner on the right hand side--now he +was +standing before it. The early hour, which was by no means suitable for +visiting, did not trouble him in the least. Yet he willingly allowed +Mohr, who happened to meet him just in front of the house, to drag him +away for some distance, and listened patiently to his contemptuous +criticism of a new tragedy which had created a great <i>furore</i> the +evening before, and which was a wretched abortion, badly pieced out +with stolen fragments. What was at this moment, the "degeneration of +the German stage" to him! what even his friend's hopes that his +"<i>sinfonia ironica</i>" would at last obtain recognition, since a very +able musician--he did not say it was no other than Christiane--was +sincerely interested in it. They saw Franzelius on the other side of +the street, engaged in an eager conversation with a dirty fellow in a +blue blouse. He recognized them, but pulled his cap farther over his +face and looked away. Mohr was just beginning to criticize the first +number of the "Tribune of the People," which he had with him and which +he declared to be an infallible remedy for melancholy. But Edwin +suddenly turned away, and under the pretence that he had a lesson to +give in that house, hastily retraced his steps as if to make up for +lost time, and went up the steps without delay.</p> + +<p class="normal">His heart beat even more violently than at his first visit to +her. On +reaching the landing, he tried several times in an undertone, to see if +he had breath enough to say good morning. But not until he had gazed at +the bell handle for at least ten minutes, did he feel sufficiently +composed to ring and ask the old woman who opened the door, if Fräulein +Toinette Marchand was in.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She lives here," was the reply, "but it is so early that she +isn't +dressed yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She will probably see an old friend," replied Edwin quickly, +and +without heeding the woman's gesture of denial he crossed the threshold. +At the same moment, one of the doors leading into the corridor opened, +and the beautiful face, looking twice as charming in a lace morning cap +as it had ever seemed before, suddenly appeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">She recognized him instantly; an involuntary movement of the +head told +him that her first thought was to refuse to see him, but the next +instant she changed her mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it <i>you</i>!" she exclaimed, but without betraying any +surprise in the +tone. "I half expected you; I know no one can escape destiny. Come in. +You will doubtless excuse my cap."</p> + +<p class="normal">He silently followed her into a neatly furnished room. His +emotion was +so great, that he vainly strove to utter a few indifferent words, and +as if exhausted by a long walk, he sank down into one of the chairs +beside her sofa. Neither did she seem to know what tone to adopt. +Standing beside a flower stand, which however contained no exotics like +the one in Jägerstrasse, she busied herself in pulling off the yellow +leaves, and in binding up a drooping tendril.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had time to look at her. She was attired, in a simple +morning dress, +which displayed her supple figure to even more advantage than her usual +costume, and the little cap on her wavy brown hair gave her a somewhat +matronly air, which contrasted most charmingly with the pale, childish +face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My change is very much for the worse, don't you think so?" +she asked, +still busied with the flowers. "This plush furniture--it's said to be +an elegant apartment, but in comparison to the really stylish +appearance of the old rooms, looks like a mere lumber shop. However, I +can pay this quarter's rent and live among respectable people. But tell +me, how did you discover me? I thought, as I had discharged the +carriage, and no longer allowed the dwarf, who begged most pitifully to +be kept, to wear livery, I could live here in the most complete +incognita--so long as my money lasted. You were angry with me because I +vanished so suddenly, were you not? Look into my face and tell me +frankly, whether you were really angry or not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She had turned hastily toward him and was now gazing at him +with +beseeching, mischievous eyes, as if she no more doubted the falsity of +her words, than that he would be weak enough to show mercy before +justice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Fräulein," said he, trying to smile, "as you have, +unfortunately, never permitted me to show you any kindness, I've not +ventured to take the liberty of being angry with you. I had forced +myself upon you, you took the first opportunity to get rid of +me--that's so natural, that a man needn't be your 'wise friend' to +understand it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! no," she answered thoughtfully, "that's not exactly it. +Do you +know that I've more than once commenced a note to you, to tell you +where I was to be found. Then I tore it up again. Silence seemed to me +wiser for us both; wiser for me, that I might wean myself in time from +that most dangerous luxury: a friend; and wiser for you, because some +day you might get tired of being my '<i>wise friend</i>,' and then the +affair would end in a way I would fain spare you. You smile. So much +the better, if you find no danger in it. Besides, it would now be too +late; you've found me again, probably your friend the doctor, who saw +me at the window yesterday, tattled. I'm very glad you're here. You +can't imagine what tiresome hours I've spent, almost always sad or +listless."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where did you wish to go?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, where? That was just the question. Back to my +commonplace +poverty--ah! at the thought a cold shudder ran over me, as if I were +about to jump into a marsh and sink up to my neck. To stoop to the yoke +of a governess, here in the city, where I've lived as a great lady, +seemed terrible too. So I shall live on in this way a few weeks longer, +and then when the last louis d'or is exhausted, close my eyes, and dare +a plunge--into the great nothing. Or do you believe that there is a +something?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," he answered quietly. "And for that very reason, it seems +to me +folly to hastily throw away the something we possess here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hastily? How long is one to wait? When would you permit a +person, who +did not find this something worth the trouble it costs, to take refuge +in nothing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"When he quite despairs of being anything in the world, of +making +himself useful or giving pleasure to himself or anybody else."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then--in that case, you might without hesitation sign my +passport +for departure. For that <i>I</i> am an utterly useless creature, and at the +utmost can only afford Jean Jacques a little pleasure when I give him +five groschen to feast at a cake shop--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The tears that she had vainly endeavored to repress, burst +forth, yet +she did not turn away from him, but stood at the little table before +the sofa, resting both slender hands on its polished surface as if to +support herself, while large drops fell from her black lashes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin watched her with the deepest sympathy. He was obliged to +use the +greatest self control, to refrain from standing up and clasping her in +his arms, to console her as one would a child.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you did not endure my presence simply for the sake of my +wisdom," +he said as calmly as possible, "I would give you the most absurd +proofs, that your existence was a necessity of life to some one besides +Friend Jean, a blessing, a source of joy, though to be sure not wholly +unclouded. But aside from all nonsense: you must not go on so, +Toinette. You're quite right: one who lives so during the day, at last +passes out of the day into the night that has no morning. I see that +I've come just at the right time. Courage, child, courage! Permit me to +tell you that you don't yet understand the life you wish to cast +away. No indeed," he continued, as she gazed at him through her tears +with a look of surprise, which seemed to say: 'yet I've experienced +enough'--"you know only want and affluence; but there are a thousand +steps between, on which a sensible person can sit down very comfortably +and accommodate himself to the world. To be sure, he must possess one +thing to make life endurable anywhere."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mean a contented heart?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heaven forbid, my dear friend! It should be a very much +spoiled, +exacting heart; do you suppose, for instance, mine would take a +predilection so easily? But it will not matter if the heart is needy +and rich at the same time--that wonderfully contradictory condition +called love, when we know not which is most blessed, to give or to +receive, where we are never satisfied with giving and receiving, and in +this absurdly delightful and nonsensically clever occupation, have no +time to consider the rest of earthly things, plush furniture or wooden +chairs, because the whole question of wealth or poverty has been +transferred to another province."</p> + +<p class="normal">He relapsed into silence, and eagerly watched the effect of +his words. +Her tears had ceased to flow, and she was gazing absently and dreamily +into vacancy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't understand you, and you can't understand me," she +answered +with a scornful shake of the head. "How often must I tell you, that +I've no talent for what you call 'love!' As in this present world, both +in reality and romance, everything seems to turn upon it as a pivot, +you must easily understand, that I do not suit such a world. No, things +can't go on so, long. And really, if I were not so cowardly, and did +not fear <i>pain</i>--but that will, always restrain me until life becomes +still more unendurable, and the feeling of loneliness and desolation at +last increases to a physical anguish keener than all other."</p> + +<p class="normal">He rose and took her hand. "Dear Toinette, you're in a morbid, +over-excited state, and must allow your friend to cure you. Will you +trust yourself to me? You shall not swallow any bitter draught, or have +your heart cut out, that we may see what this obstinate little muscle +wants ere it can do its duty like a thousand others. I'll show you a +little of the world, teach you how it is constituted on an average and +how men bear with each other and till the void of which you complain, +on week-days and holidays. To-morrow will be Sunday. I should think we +might do like nine-tenths of our fellow citizens, and take advantage of +the fine weather for a little excursion into the country.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Willingly. But where shall we go?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's my affair. I must beg you to leave the whole +arrangement to me. +Fortunately you have dismissed your carriage, so you will leave the +striped waistcoat at home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Poor boy! Why don't you give him a share in the pleasure?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because private tutors are not able to go out to amuse +themselves with +a train of attendants. I'll persuade my brother to accompany us +instead. I hope you don't object."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I! Didn't I tell you long ago, how curious I've always been +to see +what kind of a brother you have."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You'll make the acquaintance of a very charming young fellow, +and I +warn you in advance, do not allow it to be too evident that you like +him much better than your pedantic friend. With all my brotherly love, +I won't answer for it that I should not feel a certain degree of +jealousy. But many things which you think 'wise' and don't understand +in me, will perhaps become clearer when you've seen a man like Balder. +By the bye, you'll not wear a very magnificent dress? I hope to show +you that the fewer ducal pretensions people make, the more royally they +can amuse themselves."</p> + +<p class="normal">She smiled. "You're a good man, to take so much trouble about +a poor, +incurable creature. Do whatever you choose, you shall have unlimited +authority to improve me as much as you can."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To-morrow morning at ten, then! Farewell, most august +friend."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're graciously dismissed, worthy friend and marshal of the +royal +household." With a bow of mock condescension, she gave him her hand, +which he raised to his lips with smiling reverence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And until to-morrow morning, neither poison nor dagger!" he +cried on +reaching the doorway, shaking his finger.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll hold out until then," she answered gaily. "Out of +curiosity to +see your brother."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">"It's true! Rinaldo is in the old chains again!" exclaimed +Edwin, as he +entered the room where Balder sat alone, sunning himself in the window. +He was apparently unoccupied, for he had hastily locked up the volume +in which he had been writing verses, when he heard Edwin's step in the +courtyard below, nevertheless the reflection of his poetic dreams still +lingered in his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you found her?" he asked. "How did she appear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Exactly as usual, neither cordial nor repellant. Oh! child, +if you +could but solve this problem! How can one long for grapes, which not +only hang too high, but are after all merely painted. If, in the moon, +there live creatures resembling men, who breath a special atmosphere, +and have in their veins some vital ichor different from our blood, they +may appear like this girl. Something of the true woman is lacking, and +yet she possesses everything that hundreds of others need to attain the +full meaning of womanhood. My brain aches with trying to understand the +mystery."</p> + +<p class="normal">He threw himself into a chair before the table, now set for +dinner, and +drank a glass of water.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And shall you go to her every day as before?" asked Balder +sadly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"As long as I can hold out. As long as it lasts. For I fear +she will +ultimately become such a mystery to herself, that she will commit some +mad act. I proposed to cure her, to make life dear to her, to transform +Mephistopheles, 'first of all I must bring her into better company.' +But I don't imagine I shall succeed in finding a life purpose for her, +a task which will really warm her heart, fill her days, and of which +she can dream at night. Ah! if she only had a brain like that of my +little hedge princess Leah! But that's the strangest thing of all: +she's clever and yet entirely without any craving for knowledge; +without prejudices and perfectly indifferent to the opinions of others, +kind hearted without any interest in mankind; gay without being +contented, bright without being warm--and I, as a punishment for my +sins, am condemned to lavish as much heart's blood upon this strange +specimen of her sex, as if I were attempting a moral transfusion, +instead of the physical one that has long been tried. You'll see, +child: when I've once succeeded in replacing the moon-lymph in her +veins with warm, earthly human blood, the first dandy that comes along +will reap the advantage, and I shall have to pocket the disappointment. +However, perhaps your clairvoyant eyes will solve the enigma more +easily than I."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--how should I--?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I promised to take her into the country to-morrow and to +bring you +with me. She's very anxious to make your acquaintance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're joking, Edwin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not at all. I should like to know what impression she makes +upon +perfectly unprejudiced persons. In spite of my own folly, I'm sure that +you're not in love with her. If you become really dangerous to her +peace of mind, so much the better, let her experience for once what the +feeling is and I'll endure the inevitable disappointment with dignity. +Seriously, child, I should like to see what she's worth 'between +brothers.' Besides, you ought not to decline, for Marquard thinks a +drive in this air would do you a great deal of good."</p> + +<p class="normal">A pause ensued. Balder gazed silently into vacancy and did not +seem +disposed to give an immediate answer. At last he said: "You must not +take it amiss, Edwin, but I can't go with you; surely you know it will +be better for me to stay at home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Better? For whom?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For all. I should only be a burden if I were obliged to limp +about +everywhere with you--and then--I've been in ladies' society so little. +I should be either very stupid, or say something awkward which would +embarrass you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin had risen and now stood directly before him. "Can you +look me in +the eyes, you cunning hypocrite?" he exclaimed. "As if you could ever +do or say anything awkward! I know exactly why you don't want to go: +you think I'm only taking you out of brotherly love and courtesy, and +would really much prefer being alone with my cold sweet heart. But this +time, dear searcher of the heart, you're entirely wrong. I assure you, +by all that a private tutor holds sacred: you'll do me a favor by +making one of this party. Besides, I've exhausted my Latin, and fear if +we're alone she'll discover it and give her tutor lover his discharge +in good earnest."</p> + +<p class="normal">He knew what a trump he was playing, in representing the +affair as a +sacrifice Balder was to make for him. But the latter, contrary to his +expectation, remained firm in his refusal, and as he pleaded the +sensitiveness of his chest, Edwin was compelled to desist from urging +him. The real reason: that he was longing for a day when he could give +himself up to his love dream undisturbed and also see Reginchen alone, +he certainly did not confess to Edwin, perhaps not even to himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">The next morning dawned as clear and bright as could be +desired for a +Sunday excursion. Punctually at ten o'clock Edwin entered Toinette's +room. She came toward him with unfeigned cordiality, attired in a more +simple dress than any he had yet seen, and laughed when she noticed his +astonished face. "Is this right?" she asked. "This is the costume in +which Duchess Toinette walked about her native city, when she had no +court philosopher, court dwarf, or court splendor. I hope you're not +courtier enough or tasteless enough to think this countrified garb +pretty. Even my landlady, who has usually been very well satisfied with +me, was horrified at the idea of my going into the country with my +cousin--that's what you are now--in such a dress. But I've undertaken +to cure you, as well as to be cured by you. You shall confess that +beautiful things are beautiful and ugly ones ugly, and that we may make +necessity a virtue or even a jest, but never a happiness or a +pleasure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm afraid your cure will fail," he answered laughing. "You +might +crawl into a turtle's shell and still please me, if only your head and +hands peeped out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you're an incorrigible courtier!" she replied, shaking her +white +finger at him. "But where did you leave your brother?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He told her that he had vainly endeavored to induce him to +come with +them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've probably described me to him as something very +horrible," she +answered thoughtfully, "to the life, as I seem to <i>you</i>, a heartless, +brainless, finery-loving creature. Well, perhaps he'll form a better +opinion of me when he sees me with his own eyes; for I must make his +acquaintance, that's settled. But now come. I feel a childish delight +in the anticipation of this drive. We won't keep the carriage waiting."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The carriage? Plebeian country parties set off from the city +gate in a +wagon. But you must be contented to walk there on your august little +feet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well. You shall have no cause to complain of me."</p> + +<p class="normal">She tied under her chin the strings of an old and somewhat +shabby +velvet hat, which however was very becoming to her young face, and +called to Jean to bring her cloak. The boy came and saluted Edwin with +the same solemn stiffness as usual. He was dressed in a common black +suit, and only the high shirt collar recalled the livery. When the +young lady told him that he might have his time until six o'clock in +the evening and go to visit his parents, his thick lips curled for a +moment in a joyful grin, but instantly resumed an expression of solemn +respect. Then they left the house, and Toinette leaned lightly on +Edwin's arm. The streets were full of people in their Sunday attire, +elegant equipages rolled past them, the air was still, and when they +crossed the bridge, all the windows of the old castle glittered in the +autumn sunlight. Toinette paused before a huckster who was selling +fruit.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's improper to eat in the street," she whispered to Edwin. +"But just +for that very reason you must buy me one of those beautiful apples. I +feel as if I were masquerading. Why shouldn't we take advantage of our +disguise? Or must people stare at plebeian picnics?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heaven forbid!" he answered. "Eating is the main object. And +as for +the propriety--you see I wear no gloves today."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But unfortunately, a terribly respectable hat. If the shops +were not +closed, I should make you oblige me by buying a new one at once. I +liked your looks much better before; but it's no use now. We must both +appear like scarecrows among the pretty Sunday toilettes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then the birds will at least keep away from these grapes," he +answered +laughing, as he handed her a paper horn full of the fruit. "I'll put +the apples in my pocket. Good Heavens! Here are the oranges I bought +for Balder yesterday. What shall we do with all these blessings? Ah! +here comes a droschky. Now we can eat our breakfast more comfortably."</p> + +<p class="normal">He signed to the driver and helped his companion in. Just as +he was in +the act of entering the vehicle, he saw Leah approaching with her +father. The old gentleman's face was as bright as ever, but his +daughter looked somewhat paler, and for the first time Edwin noticed +with surprise the dark brilliancy of her eyes and the grace of her +walk. They also recognized him, the young girl with a sudden blush, the +father, after a hasty movement as if to rush up to him, restraining +himself. Then they went on in the stream of pedestrians, while Edwin +entered the droschky and called to the driver: "To Charlottenburg!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who was the beautiful girl to whom you just bowed?" said +Toinette, +turning to look after her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A former pupil. Do you think her beautiful? I confess I was +somewhat +struck by her appearance to-day. During the time I taught her, till +within a few weeks ago, I noticed nothing remarkable in her face, +except that she has very wise, earnest eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">Toinette made no reply and seemed lost in thought. After a +time she +said. "And what did you teach her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you'll not repeat it, to injure the child's character: in +philosophy. To be sure it didn't last long."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In philosophy? Is that a suitable study for us women? I +thought it was +only fit for men."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So most men think, and that's why my little philosopher would +find it +hard to get a husband, if it should be noised abroad that she had taken +lessons from me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That danger, as you know, would not frighten me, if you would +take me +for a pupil. But I fear I should disgrace you. I've learned too little +and read too many novels."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Novels are not the worst introduction to philosophy. Don't +you think +that Père Goriot affords more food for the thought, than many a text +book placed in the higher schools for girls and which does not contain +a syllable about what is called life?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It depends upon who reads it. I've had a great many thoughts. +But they +were so sad that they cannot have been the right philosophy, at least +not yours; for you're always cheerful, so the world must wear quite a +different aspect to you in your wisdom, from what it does to me in my +stupidity."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very possibly," he said smiling. "But we must first prove it. +You must +tell me your thoughts, and I will tell you mine. Afterwards we'll see +against which there are the fewest objections."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And is there nothing more in philosophy? Did you make no +farther +progress in your lessons to that young lady?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! no. I began with her at the A. B. C, told her how, from +the most +ancient times, thoughtful men had demonstrated the relations of things +in the world and what singular dreams about origin and decay, soul and +body, gods and spirits they had had. I'll wager that if you had +listened, you would not have been bored; for you have a tendency toward +melancholy, and philosophy is like a magic lantern; the clear outlines +of the pictures of the world it conjures up can only appear on a dark +background, but on that dark background is thrown the real brightness, +the light that brings cheerfulness and peace, while the common every +day sunlight, like ordinary human reason, is only sufficient for the +every day restless flickering dawn."</p> + +<p class="normal">She made no reply and gazed steadily into vacancy with a +charmingly +thoughtful expression.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a pause she said: "And is any real goal reached? After +pondering +over everything, do we know something definite, something that cannot +be called in question?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes and no. We arrive at what we have longed to know, the +fact that +there are secrets of which our narrow minds can never have anything +more than a dim idea, although certain philosophers, who take the +chimeras of their own brains for the revelations of omniscient truth, +venture to give information even in regard to them. But is it not a +gain to learn how much we are capable of knowing, and where the ever +shrouded abysses lie? And the way along these--can you not imagine that +it would be as refreshing and full of enjoyment, as to wander amid +lofty mountains, among glaciers and ice fields, past ravines and +waterfalls that seem completely inaccessible?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes indeed," she replied, "if one is sure footed and not +predisposed +to giddiness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The strength will increase on the way, if one is not a +cripple when he +leaves home. And then in addition to the pleasure of looking around, +seeing the world, and drawing one's breath freely, do you know what +other benefit will be received?" She looked at him inquiringly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In order to climb up, we throw away much of the useless and +troublesome lumber we've dragged about in our shallow, thoughtless +existence, and when we have reached the heights and arrived so much +nearer to heaven and its stars, we learn to dispense with all this +trash and despise it. The atmosphere is rarefied, and earthly things, +viewed from the mountain tops, shrivel so incredibly that on coming +down, we see the dearest objects and most beloved friends with very +different eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"By which they would hardly be the gainers. And then we should +be more +unhappy than before."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," he answered with an expression of quiet joy, as he +thought of +Balder, their boyhood, and all their struggling life in the bare tun. +"What is really good and true, little as it may be prized by fools, +appears for the first time in all its beauty, as allied to all the +noble things we have experienced and learned far above the plane of +every day life. You ought to make the attempt; I don't believe you +would regret it. Besides," he added smiling, "my alpenstock and +mountain shoes will always be at your service."</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked earnestly into his face. "You think I don't see +your aim. +You want to destroy or disgust me with what you call my vanity, but +which is really just as much a part of myself, as my brown hair, my +white teeth, and my dark eyes. Very well, we'll make the trial. Begin +the lesson at once; of course you must first tell me your thoughts, +then you shall hear mine. So: 'in the beginning God created Heaven and +earth'--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He laughed and took a bunch of grapes from the paper horn that +lay on +the opposite seat of the carriage. "What are you thinking of?" he +answered in a jesting tone. "This is Sunday, and we're going on an +excursion into the country. What would you say of a banker who +accompanied a lady to Charlottenburg and talked to her on the way about +stocks and bonds? To-morrow, if you feel inclined to listen, I'll read +you as many lectures as you desire. With you, I shall at least run no +risk, as in the case of my other pupil, of being discharged by an +orthodox father and a theological aunt, on account of dangerous +theories. And I'm not afraid of wearying you! For in the first place I +can't imagine any novel so interesting as the history of truth, and +secondly you know my weakness in being unable to look at you long +without talking stupid nonsense."</p> + +<p class="normal">She shook her finger at him again. "Don't let me repent that I +didn't +take little Jean with me for a chaperon, because I thought you a knight +without fear and without reproach. And now we'll eat our breakfast."</p> + +<p class="normal">Meantime the droschky was moving on in that contemplative trot +which +distinguishes the Berlin droschky horses above all others of their race +and calling, over the broad road on which, during the last few weeks, +the trees in the Thiergarten had strewed all their autumnal foliage. In +spite of the beautiful weather, the foot paths on each side were +entirely deserted, for the real stream of pleasure-seekers does not +pour out of the city gates until the afternoon. They passed only +solitary couples, so absorbed in themselves that they did not notice +the two who drove by them eating grapes. Now and then, a carriage +dashed past their phlegmatic horse. Whenever this occurred, Edwin saw +that Toinette made an impatient movement and wrapped herself more +closely in her cloak. The air was soft, almost still, but her ducal +blood seemed chilled by the slow pace at which they moved. He laughed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I see clearly that your habit of being drawn by four horses +makes you +impatient of this half way style. Shall we dismiss our carriage and +continue our way on foot?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She instantly assented, called to the coachman to stop, and +without +waiting for Edwin's assistance sprang out as lightly as a feather. She +did not even take his arm, but walked swiftly beside him, still holding +in her hand the horn from which she was eating the last grapes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why mayn't I give you my arm?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look at those other couples," she answered petulantly. "Is +there +anything more out of taste than the sentimental custom of keeping step? +Either the gentleman must take little mincing steps like the lady, or +she must accommodate herself to his pace by making long strides, which +is still more ugly. And all this because they love each other! We have +not even that excuse, so let each walk as is most comfortable. You +can't lose me, for I haven't a groschen in my pocket. If I ran away +from you, I should be obliged to starve."</p> + +<p class="normal">He laughed and said that was not the mode of death usual among +duchesses, especially when they had such black eyes; to which she +retorted that her duchy was hanging up in the closet at home; if she +sold it she could scarcely live on the proceeds a fortnight, and even +for that length of time not in a style suitable to her rank. Such were +the harmless jests with which they amused each other as they walked on; +he had never seen her in such gay spirits, and it was happiness enough +for him, after his long separation from her, to be permitted to walk +beside her and look at her every movement. It was so charming to see +her eat the grapes, and when the paper was empty bite an apple with her +little white teeth. She had removed her gloves and untied the strings +of her hat and the sunlight falling through the bare branches flickered +over her lovely face.</p> + +<p class="normal">On reaching the first of the long row of villas, she stopped +to +rearrange her dress. It was even more lonely here. Most of the houses, +on account of the early commencement of autumn, had already been +deserted; in the gardens of the pleasure resorts, the Pagoda and +others, tables and benches still stood awry, as they had remained +during the long rains, and the yellow leaves were not even brushed +away. But all this dreariness and inhospitality could not damp the +spirits of our young pair. Toinette--and especially Edwin--were +delighted to have the beautiful castle garden all to themselves.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's strange," said the young girl as they walked through the +silent +avenues and at last paused beside the famous carp pond, where to-day +the broad heads of the fishes were scarcely visible beneath the thick +covering of yellow leaves--"I always feel happiest and gayest when +everything around is very grey and dreary. When anything was going on +in my little native city, a ball or a shooting match, or any kind of +festivity, I always felt very melancholy among the happy cake-eating +crowd. And in our castle park, which is almost as ancient and venerable +as this, and has a great many places where it's not safe to go, I've +wandered about half a day like a little deer, and been perfectly at +home. Do you see now that I'm nothing out of my fine clothes, that it's +from no coquetry that I prefer to wear velvet rather than calico? Here, +for instance, even beside you, I feel too poor and shabby for these +royal avenues. You smile. Say what you please, it may be vain and +foolish and brainless, but it's natural to me, and I can't help it, I +shall carry it with me to the grave."</p> + +<p class="normal">Meantime they had reached the mausoleum of Frederick William +III. and +his beautiful queen. The invalid soldier who guarded it was asleep on a +bench, and when wakened seemed greatly surprised to see visitors so +early, but Edwin gave him a large fee, and he opened the silent hall of +death without objecting. Edwin did not enter it for the first time; but +the magical solemnity of the dusky room had never moved him so deeply, +as on previous visits he had been admitted with a crowd of strangers. +Now the light fell through the blue dome upon the silent marble figures +and the young fresh girl at his side, who could not resist the spell of +the place, and mutely, with a strangely eager expression, as if +expecting some solemn event to happen, gazed for a long time at the +glorified image of the royal lady. Edwin at last approached her, and in +a whisper asked if she were ready to go. She did not hear him and +remained spell bound by the fascination of the place, until the door +keeper rattled his keys and reminded them it was time to leave. Then, +as if longing for some hand to lead her back to life out of the regions +of the dead, she took Edwin's arm and even in the sunlight that shone +upon the park walked beside him a longtime in silence, absorbed in her +own thoughts. He too kept silence, though his heart was burning. Never +had she seemed so lovable, so far above all other women whom he had +even known, as during her quiet reverie in the blue soft twilight. He +had to use the utmost self control to speak of any thing but his +passion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm really grateful to you," he began, "for being so deeply +affected +by that solemn spot. Scarcely any other place hallowed by art and +association, has ever so moved me. Surely the fate of those two human +beings has its influence too in the silence, the thought of so much +dignity in misfortune, so much unassuming goodness on the throne, so +much affection in the simplest form. Neither was intellectual or highly +cultured. But in the decisive moment their innate nobility put the +right words in their mouths, the right resolution in their hearts, and +their thoroughly plebeian sense of duty always made them appear truly +royal in the high position in which they were placed. And then--isn't +it touching to think how this prosaic, sober, almost awkward monarch, +devoted himself to his beautiful wife with an ideal love which +outlasted death, and while building barracks and living simply and +frugally in the plainest palace in his capital, was constantly thinking +how he could have this house of death still more magnificently adorned +by the greatest masters, because it contained his wife's heart and with +it all the poetry of his life. Then at last he ordered his own effigy +to be placed beside hers, wrapped in the simple soldier's cloak he had +preferred to the purple mantle, that even in death, he might remain +faithful to himself and to her. Isn't there greatness in so much +humility, and more true royalty in this unassuming figure than in all +the boastful imperial pomp of this great conqueror?"</p> + +<p class="normal">At first she did not answer. Not until they approached the +gate of the +park and she drew her hand lightly from his arm to put on her gloves, +did she say: "You're perfectly right; the only true nobility is to +remain faithful to one's self. The common run of mankind concern +themselves much about their neighbors' opinion, imploring their advice +as to the guidance of their lives, but he who has the germ of a noble +nature lives and dies by the light of his own inward grace and is +sovereign of himself. As for these rules of living, they are pitiful +torments which evil unhappy meddlesome people have invented to sour the +life of their fellow mortals. He who thrusts his neck under the yoke +deserves the bondage. One can grow old in such a servitude and yet +never know what it is really to live."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">The clock struck two as they entered the square before the +castle. +"What shall we do now?" she asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have now no more important task than to eat the best +dinner we can +get. I hope the table in the Pagoda has made some progress in +civilization since my student days, when I used to revel in the famous +<i>katteschale</i>. However, it's Sunday, and Charlottenburg knows the duty +it owes the capital."</p> + +<p class="normal">When they entered the handsome hotel, in whose lower rooms a +somewhat +motley company were already drinking coffee, a waiter came toward them +and after a hasty glance at Toinette, showed the young couple the way +to the second story. If they wished to dine alone, they would find +empty rooms and tables there--</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's no help for it," said Edwin laughing, "they evidently +suspect +you of a desire to enjoy my society alone; you'll have to reconcile +yourself to it. But we'll drink our coffee in the open air, and then +you can make up for the conquests you can't celebrate at dinner."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went up stairs beside her and opened the first door, which +led into +a comfortable room. She sat down without ceremony on the little sofa, +removed her hat and cloak, and assured him that in spite of the second +breakfast of fruit which she had eaten, she was already very hungry. +Edwin seated himself opposite her and took up the bill of fare. Amid +all sorts of jests, they began to select their favorite dishes, and he +could not help remembering their little dinners in Jägerstrasse. He +inquired about her birds. She now had a dozen sparrows for boarders, +she said, and would rather hear nothing about those delights of the +table. She had afterwards learned that even the restaurant had been in +the conspiracy against her, and had only charged her half price. She +would soon be reduced to Lotte's bread and butter. "But we won't talk +about that to-day," she said suddenly, "it'll come soon enough."</p> + +<p class="normal">She rose, yawned, and began to look at the lithographs that +hung on the +walls. "You see," said she, "if we had brought the dwarf with us, we +should have been better served."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The waiter seems to think we shall be satisfied with our +young love. +Wait a moment, I'll go down myself, enter into a tender relation with +the cook, and bribe some ministering spirit to devote himself +exclusively to us." He left the little room and hurried down stairs. +Just as he was turning the corner, he ran against a gentleman who was +rushing up. Their mutual apologies died on their lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You here, Edwin?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Marquard!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No less a personage," laughed the physician. "And in the best +of +company. But you--is Balder here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was impossible to persuade him, unfortunately. You know +him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you're alone? Well, you shall join our party at any rate. +It's +entirely composed of your acquaintances, except my little suburban +nightingale. Just think, the dear innocent child wouldn't compromise +herself by taking an excursion with me <i>tete-a-tete</i>. She insisted that +her friend Christiane must go too, or she would stay at home. Now the +excellent musician is really very disagreeable to me, for the express +reason that she trains young and lively talent to virtue and Sebastian +Bach. But what was I to do? The little one laconically told me we would +be taken for husband and wife, wedded in true burgher fashion, and I +gave up the point. So I went to Fräulein Christiane to invite her, +wondering in case she accepted, whom I should ask as the fourth man--a +pleasure party of three is absurd of course. I thought of you for a +moment. Would you have come? Well, when I went into her room, I found +Heinrich, the dissatisfied, sitting at her piano, talking his +contradictory little tattle. Do you know I think he has designs in that +quarter despite the ugliness of his sweetheart. What could I do but +offer him the fourth seat in the carriage? I hoped he would say no, for +as you're aware, he can't endure me. But <i>quod non</i>! he eagerly +accepted, and so far everything has passed off charmingly. We're in +high spirits, even before the champagne, and what fire-works of wit +will be let off afterwards no one can tell. You'll come in just at the +right moment, and on the way home it'll be so much the better, if we +can't all find seats in one carriage."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're very kind," answered Edwin, smilingly releasing +himself from +the grasp of his friend who wanted to drag him away at once. "But I've +brought a companion too, and it's doubtful--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whom? Surely not--? Oh! you deepest of all +philosophers--'yesterday on +a proud steed, to-day shot through the heart'--the princess?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin nodded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I let myself be deluded into giving him the address +yesterday--well done! So we won't disturb you, but leave the fir and +palm to themselves."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're very much mistaken," said Edwin with a half sigh, +"True, as +regards the temperature, tropical vegetation doesn't ill suit me, if +palms only didn't mean victory; for in spite of our apparent intimacy, +her highness is still as much surrounded by ice as ever. I really +believe the best way to prevent the chill from finally producing the +sleep of death, will be to bring her to you--if she's inclined to come, +which I scarcely doubt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bravo! I'll prepare the ladies. A relative of yours? A little +cousin +from the country."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For aught I care. I pass for her cousin in the Rosenstrasse."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Capital! I'll answer for <i>our</i> cousins. They'll be somewhat +jealous, +which will make our attentions rise in value, in other respects we +shall be extremely agreeable. So in five minutes. The last room in the +rear on this corridor. And the dinner's <i>my</i> affair."</p> + +<p class="normal">He left Edwin at the door of his room and brushing his thin +locks with +a small pocket brush and humming a tune, returned to his friends.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ladies," said he, as he entered the room where Mohr and the +two girls +sat at a neatly laid table, "I must beg your pardon for a somewhat +arbitrary act. A friend of mine with a very charming and highly +respectable cousin are close beside us, under the same roof. I asked +him to join us, he's already acquainted with two of you, as he is no +less a personage than our friend Edwin, the philosopher."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Another</i> admirer of our musician?" exclaimed Mohr. "I ought +to +protest against it; I had subscribed for all the musical enthusiasm +that would be developed to-day, since Maquard adores in artists only +the charms of women. But be it so! This Edwin is an old friend of mine, +and moreover deeply in debt to Fräulein Christiane for her daily free +concerts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Isn't he a tall man with light hair, not exactly handsome, +but +interesting when he doesn't wear his old straw hat?" asked the little +singer in a gay, twittering voice, from whose speaking tones one would +never suppose that it could compass two octaves. At the first glance +she looked strikingly pretty, but on a closer inspection one perceived +that the features of the round face were not really harmonious, the +large eyes and turned up nose, the sentimental mouth and sensual chin +formed a strange contrast, and even her toilette was a bold composition +of all sorts of fantastic fragments. She wore a tolerably ancient black +velvet dress, which had once belonged to a much more stately prima +donna, a singular looking scarf of tulle and lace, a breast pin with a +photograph of a little terrier, ear-rings of coarse Roman mosaic, and +in her hair which was cut short and curled in little rings over her +head, a gold circlet. Her movements were sometimes very quick, +sometimes slow and languid. Only when she laughed, in doing which she +was apt to open her mouth a little too far, did the expression appear +to which her more intimate acquaintances alluded, when they called her +a "good follow," with whom "no one could get angry."</p> + +<p class="normal">Beside this wild singular creature, Christiane's dark face, +framed in +its thick black hair, looked more gloomy even than usual, but gained a +certain characteristic nobility, especially as the extreme simplicity +of her dress contrasted advantageously with the theatrical costume of +the singer. She had been sitting in silence when Marquard entered. At +Edwin's name she started, but even then said nothing, merely nodding +when Mohr asked if he should place a chair for the new guest on her +other side; mechanically she smoothed the folds of her dark red woolen +dress and passed her hand over her eyes. Adèle had told her she +sometimes wore an evil, malignant expression, when her thick eye brows +were not perfectly smooth. This was generally a matter of indifference +to her, but to-day she did not want to look still more frightful than +she was by nature.</p> + +<p class="normal">They listened to the sounds from the entry. At last the +opposite door +opened, and Mohr started up to meet the new couple. When Toinette +entered, the singer also rose and approached her, more to show her +dainty figure than from any special cordiality. She saw at the first +glance that she was entirely thrown into the shade by the new face, and +could only console herself with the recollection of her toilette, which +she considered extremely <i>comme il faut</i>, while the cousin's looked +very provincial. Christiane greeted Edwin's relative with a silent bow +of the head. She had turned pale when she saw the charming girl. A +sudden weight rested upon her soul and stifled the words in her throat, +she would have liked to rise and turn her back upon these unsuspecting +people. But she must endure it. When Edwin addressed a few friendly +words to her, and without asking any questions, took the chair at her +side, the color returned to her cheeks, and she could say in an +indifferent tone that she was very glad to have the pleasure of meeting +him at last. He reminded her of the night when he had found her +absorbed in Schopenhauer's Parerga, and apologized for not having +continued the moonlight conversation by sunlight, on the plea of having +had a great deal of work to do. But it was one of the "sorrows of the +world," that we can often make the least use of the blessings that lie +so close at hand. Meantime the soup was brought, and Marquard did the +honors. The meeting with Edwin and his beautiful companion had put him +in the gayest spirits, and he treated Toinette with a humorous +formality, the cause of which the others did not suspect. Not a word +betrayed that he had made her acquaintance before. He inquired about +the condition and events of her native city, and asked how she liked +Berlin and its inhabitants. The little farce amused the young girl too, +and she merrily entered into it. Moreover she had the delicate tact to +make herself particularly agreeable to Adèle and Christiane, so that +after the first glass of champagne the singer, like the "good fellow" +she was, touched glasses with her, declared that she had taken a great +fancy to her, would go to see her in the city and in return Toinette +must go to the theatre every evening that she appeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">Christian also could not deny the charm of the new +acquaintance, though +she certainly felt no pleasure in it. Never had she seemed to herself +so destitute of every grace, as beside this bewitching vision, who +appeared gradually to win even her old admirer, Mohr, though he had at +first been embarrassed in the presence of his old friend's "relative," +who had so suddenly appeared. He became more and more eloquent, and in +his own original fashion poured forth a multitude of quaint sayings, +which he at last addressed almost exclusively to Toinette, perceiving +that his grave neighbor only absently shook her head at his most daring +paradoxes. Marquard, after fulfilling all the duties of a host toward +his guests, comfortably gave himself up, without making any special +exertion to be witty, to a low toned conversation with his little +flame, and only sometimes condescendingly laughed at Mohr's jests, as +if amused by the singular folly of a man who is making an entirely +useless display. For a time Mohr allowed him to laugh and only +occasionally dealt him a satirical thrust. But as he did not spare the +wine and moreover gradually became heated by his own words, his real +feelings toward the comfortable, self-satisfied man of the world, whom +as we know, he accredited with a tolerably shallow brain and cold +heart, at last burst forth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My honored friends," said he, as he rose and lifted his full +glass, "I +will beg your permission to speak for five minutes on a subject that is +of interest to all. We sit here so cozily either liking each other or +wishing we did. At any rate this modest little orgie is calculated to +excite the envy of the so-called gods, since six people are on a +tolerably green bough of sustenance, washing from their souls all +anxieties about the present and future life, in, I trust, unadulterated +champagne, and thus losing fear as well as love for gods and devils. As +for the envy of the former, I'm far from making it a reproach to them. +On the contrary, as I have no special reason to feel any great esteem +for them, since they've shown little friendship toward my insignificant +self, it's this envy alone that partially reconciles me to them. These +poor devils of gods, who, like us, can't always do as they please, thus +show a truly human side; for, my friends, profound thought and mature +experience have taught me, that what is truly human, full of genius, +and so to say god-like in our race, as well as the human side of the +gods, is <i>envy</i>. You stare at me, Fräulein Adèle, and seem to be asking +your neighbor whether I'm always in the habit of expressing such crazy +opinions, or only when I've been drinking sweet wine. But you're +mistaken; I'm as sober as he is, innocent nightingale; for tell me +yourself, would you be the charming creature you are, the spoiled child +of the boards, the much photographed, much slandered, much adored +<i>Adèle</i>, if you did not feel a deep envy of the happy mortal called +<i>Adelina</i>, the divine Patti? Without this envy, which has accelerated +your flight to higher and higher spheres, you would still be twittering +imperfect couplets, as on your first debut. But for envy of the great +champions of thought, our friend Edwin would now be a well paid +professor of logic, reading stupid volumes year in and year out. But +for this envy, our artist, Fräulein Christiane, would never have poured +her whole soul into her finger tips, nor I, her unworthy neighbor at +table, extorted from my reluctant brains one of the most remarkable +compositions of the day, the famous <i>sinfonia ironica</i>. Fräulein +Toinette too, whom I have not yet the honor of knowing very well, +has--I read it in her black eyes--received her share of this hereditary +virtue. For what is envy, except that which people usually call +religion: the confession of our imperfections and distress, and the +longing for improvement, to reach a higher round in the ladder, which +we already see attained by loftier natures. Must we not feel better +disposed toward the so-called gods, when we think that they too are not +satisfied with themselves, that they too cherish unattained and forever +unattainable longings for the joys of mortals, for a dinner in the +Pagoda in pleasant society, bubbling over with wit and <i>Cremant rosé</i>? +That they will go so far as to maliciously desire to destroy such joys, +is a degeneration of the virtue of envy, of which I do not approve, but +from which no virtue is safe. On the contrary, nothing can more deeply +offend gods and men, than to meet certain souls who have never felt the +bliss of a noble envy, who in their sublime self-satisfaction, deride +or condemn every one who is not so well pleased with himself, who does +not draw his face into such well satisfied lines, and when he is +cleanly shaved pat himself delightedly on the back, and say to himself: +'You're a famous fellow!' My friends, I know what's due to the company. +I refrain from all personalities. But when I see certain brows, one in +particular, which begins to be prematurely bald, a brow that has the +effrontery--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He had spoken louder and more rapidly, fixing his eyes more +and more +steadily and defiantly on Marquard, who submitted to this singular +apostrophe with the utmost good humor; but at the last words, the smile +suddenly died on his lips. He again filled his glass, and rattled his +knife on an empty one that stood beside it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ladies and gentlemen," said he, "as we have no president, who +could +call any one abusing the freedom of speech to order, everyone must look +out for himself. I take the liberty of interrupting the honored orator, +because he's in the act of doing something for which I certainly should +not envy him: disturbing the beautiful harmony that pervades this +circle, by making to one of its members, who though perhaps unworthy is +certainly not obstreperous, exactly the reverse of a declaration of +love. I have the honor of being intimately acquainted with this member, +and know that our friend, Heinrich Mohr, has always used his right +not to think him agreeable. I have never disputed that right, though +I myself formerly held a different opinion and thought this man +whose soul was destitute of envy, a very lovable fellow. Since +that time"--here he cast a glance of comical pathos at his fair +neighbor--"I have found myself mistaken in this view, but for very +different reasons. I will not enter upon the intellectual controversy +about the virtue of envy. Friend Mohr will at least admit, that there +are exceptions to the rule. I, my friends, have studied so much natural +history, that I know the ostrich would not become any more perfect if +it envied the falcon its wings, and the sparrow would be a singular +fanatic if it practised solfeggi to outdo the nightingale. If therefore +I early renounced the cultivation of talents I did not possess, and +like a true realist, endeavored to take the world and myself as we are, +it should rather be imputed to me as a virtue, especially as I have +risen to a tolerable height in the admiration and enjoyment of gifts +denied me, and moreover possess a few valuable qualities, such as for +instance the ability to order a good dinner, to brew a punch, and to +write prescriptions for intermittent fever. And now, after this +effective little correction, I propose that we drink the ladies' health +and beg Fräulein Adèle to use her exquisite voice in singing away the +last remnant of discord."</p> + +<p class="normal">A loud clapping of hands, for which Adèle herself gave the +signal, +rewarded this speech, during which Mohr had slowly reseated himself and +emptied his glass in little sips. Refilling it, he turned toward +Marquard with a peculiar twinkle in his keen grey eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I heartily assent to the proposal," said he, "but must first +place on +record a short personal observation, namely that I was a great donkey. +The ladies will pardon the rude expression, since I doubt not, they are +convinced of its truth. Fritz Marquard, I hereby declare that you're +right in patting yourself on the back and thinking yourself a famous +fellow. From this day I beg you to grant me your friendship, and hope +to give you proofs of mine--"</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t4" style="text-indent:-1px">"And if a man has fallen<br> +Love guides him back to duty--"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">sang Adèle, as she sprang from her seat and glided to an old +piano that +stood in one corner of the room, and which was sometimes used for +little dancing parties. She hastily opened it, struck a few notes, and +called Christiane to try it more thoroughly. Meantime Marquard had +crossed over to Mohr and cordially shaken hands with him; Edwin and +Toinette also rose, lights and a fresh bottle of wine were brought in, +and amidst the bustle of coming and going Christiane hastily ran her +hands over the keys, and commenced Weber's "Invitation to the waltz." +The room became quiet. Edwin had carried two chairs into a window +recess, which was illumined by the last crimson rays of the autumnal +sunlight. Without a word from him, Toinette took one chair and he sat +down beside her. He had scarcely spoken to her at the table, but he had +listened to her every word, and little as he appeared to look at her, +had often turned his eyes with delight upon the delicate profile and +black lashes. But now as she gazed out at the bare treetops, bathed in +the crimson glow, with her head and shoulders likewise steeped in the +radiance of the sunset, her lips parted as if her very soul were +absorbed in the lingering beauties of the day, he forgot his self +control, and gazed steadily into her face. The room was quite dark; two +candles only illumined the table still crowded with the empty bottles +and half filled glasses, and lighted up Marquard's pleasant features, +as he sat alone smoking his cigar and looking intently through the +round glasses of his gold spectacles at the piano. Mohr had thrown +himself down on a stool beside the musician, Adèle was tripping lightly +up and down the room, singing to herself in a low tone and sometimes +with a coquettish gesture throwing at her friend, who continued to +smoke phlegmatically, a grape, from the cluster which, in bacchanalian +fashion she had fastened to the gold circlet on her head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have been very charming to-day," Edwin whispered to +Toinette. "I +thank you for the conquests you have made of my friends. I'm vain +enough to think you did it partly for my sake. If Balder had only seen +you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because I always think of him, whenever anything pleases me; +because I +wish him to share my pleasures with me. Have you never had the same +feeling toward your sisters?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would gladly have felt it, but I never could succeed. Each +thought +only of herself, her few miserable trinkets, her lovers, and the next +casino-ball. I really think sisters are scarcely capable of what you +call brotherly, love. But hush; she's beginning to sing. Who would have +supposed there was so much music in the queer little doll!"</p> + +<p class="normal">In fact a flood of melody now filled the room, as Adèle sang +Pergolese's morning serenade:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t4">"Tre giorni son che Nina<br> +Al letto se ne sta."</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">Christiane accompanied her. The worn out instrument under her +hands was +fairly transformed, and gave forth tones of which it had probably +scarcely been capable in its best days. When the charming little song +was finished, Marquard rose and solemnly kissed the singer's hand. +"Brava, bravissima! You're the singing-bounding-lion-teaser in the +fairy tale."</p> + +<p class="normal">"An <i>in</i>cantatrice!" cried Mohr from his dark corner after +having made +a terrible noise applauding alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Spare your enthusiasm, gentlemen," laughed the saucy girl, +turning on +her heel. "There are better things in store! And the lion's share of +the lion teaser belongs to my strict teacher. Now: 'Ye who know the +instinct of the heart--'" and without waiting for the accompaniment, she +began the aria she had shortly before studied with Christiane.</p> + +<p class="normal">The musician accompanied the song only with single chords. She +was now +sitting completely in the dark, having shaken her head in reply to +Mohr's question whether she would have a light. Her thoughts were far +from Pergolese, Mozart, and all her other musical saints. Above the +piano hung an old fashioned oval mirror, directly opposite to the +window in whose recess Edwin and Toinette were sitting. As the sunset +glow slowly died away, she could distinctly see the expression with +which Edwin's eyes rested upon the calm face of the beautiful girl. +During dinner, her first jealous pain at meeting him with such a +charming companion had almost disappeared, for he had not paid any +particular attention to his lovely cousin. Now it suddenly flashed upon +her, that this indifference had been, only a mask, and a feeling of +inexpressible bitterness overpowered her, when she recalled the +pleasure she had felt at the courteous kindness with which he had +treated her. Now, sitting opposite the stranger in the crimson sunset, +what a different language his eyes spoke! With the prophetic insight of +a hopeless passion, she perceived that he loved this girl. And she +could not even hate him for it. For had not the stranger every charm +she lacked? To be sure, the keen eyes of jealousy told her that he met +with no response to his feeling, the response that he deserved, and +that she would have given. This cold blooded enchantress, even while +Edwin's eyes were fixed upon her profile as a supplicant gazes upon the +miracle-working image of a saint, could look unmoved at the dry +branches without; her hand did not touch his, which he had laid on his +knee as if seeking it, her soul--if she had one--where was it? And he, +why did not his pride rebel against serving here without wages, when +elsewhere he might have ruled? But rule over what? she asked herself. A +heart which no one had ever tried to conquer, which no one seemed to +consider a boon to possess, he least of all. Had he not lived under the +same roof with her for years, and not felt the slightest desire to +approach the woman who daily spoke to him in harmonies, poured forth +her inmost feelings in accents so intelligible to him?</p> + +<p class="normal">It was this feeling that now overpowered her, and in addition +to all +the exciting emotions of these hours, the gayety, and the unusual +indulgence in wine, fairly intoxicated her senses. A wild, fiendish +rage took possession of her soul. When the aria from Mozart was over, +she said curtly: "You are not in good voice, child; the champagne is +beginning to revenge itself. You mustn't sing another note, or you'll +be terribly hoarse to-morrow." And without heeding Marquard's +remonstrance, she commenced a stormy improvisation. A string broke with +a rattling sound--she did not notice it; a second and third--she played +steadily on. Mohr, who had pushed his chair behind hers, while Marquard +sat in the darkness on a little sofa beside Adèle, was in a perfect +delirium of ecstacy. He had never heard her play so before, and was +musician enough to say to himself that the greatest masters would be +delighted if they could hear her improvise in such a mood. More than +once he turned toward the two couples and enthusiastically tossing his +long arms, endeavored to attract their attention to what this wonderful +genius was producing. But he seemed to be alone in his admiration, at +least to Marquard as he incessantly whispered in the ear of the singer, +this remarkable playing seemed nothing more than the roaring of a +storm, and Edwin, at this moment, believing himself unnoticed as the +light without had at last wholly died away, had caught a curl of +Toinette's hair and was holding it in his hand. Now he cautiously bent +forward and pretending to fasten the string of the curtain, hastily +pressed the soft tress to his lips. At the same moment the fourth +string snapped, a sharp discord rang through the powerful passages, and +the player started up pushing back her chair. "No more!" she cried in a +hollow tone. "It's killing me! Air! Air!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For God's sake, Fräulein, what is the matter!" exclaimed +Mohr, who had +also sprung to his feet. "You're tottering, you'll faint--here, lean on +me--shall I get you some water, take you into the open air?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, it's over! Leave me! Why do you seize me so rudely? +I'm well, +perfectly well--at least I shall be perfectly well when I'm alone. The +wine, the music, the darkness--give me my hat and cloak, I'll go out +into the air a moment, then it will all pass off."</p> + +<p class="normal">In the greatest perplexity he did as she requested, but she +had spoken +in so low a tone that the others scarcely noticed what was passing at +the piano. Marquard alone hastily cast a glance at her. "Is the +champagne revenging itself on you too?" he called in a jesting tone. +"You ought to drink a cup of coffee, it will soothe your nerves. Or is +genius made giddy by its own lofty flights?" There was no reply Mohr +accompanied her to the door. "Stay here," she whispered imperiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you'll come back again?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"When this feeling has passed away." With these words she left +him, and +in a greatly agitated mood he returned to the piano. It gave him +pleasure to sit down in her chair and touch the same keys over which +her hands had just dashed. But he did not play; only now and then he +softly struck a chord, as if to caress the strings she had handled so +roughly. Besides he listened constantly, but nothing stirred, and after +a time he knew that she was not coming back again.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly he started up. "My friends," said he, "Fräulein +Christiane has +taken French leave of us. But as it's growing very dark and she did not +feel particularly well, I think it would be better for me to follow and +if necessary offer my services as escort, in case she cannot find a +carriage. Marquard, will you attend to matters here and tell me +tomorrow my share of the reckoning, Fräulein Christiane's expenses of +course included. Good night and a pleasant evening!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Before any one could reply, he put on his grey felt hat and +disappeared +also. Half an hour later two droschkys drove away from the Pagoda. The +first was occupied by Marquard and Adèle, the second by Edwin and +Toinette. The first, whose windows were closed to shut out the cool +evening air, and which seemed in no hurry to reach its destination, +soon turned off from the highway into the darker avenues of the +Thiergarten as if with the intention of leaving its companion behind. +In the second carriage the window on Toinette's side was open, although +the breeze was somewhat damp and chilly. But the beautiful girl said +she liked it, that the music had gone to her head, and in fact her +cheeks were burning. As they drove on, talking about the people with +whom they had spent the last few hours, the conversation gradually +became less fluent and finally ceased, the moon rose above the tree +tops, and aided by the extreme clearness of the autumn air soon cast a +bright silvery light over the trees by the way side and the stones on +the road. It was charming to gaze into the more densely shaded portions +of the park, where mysterious lights and shadows played, where now a +statue appeared in dazzling whiteness, and anon a black clump of +shrubbery defied the power of the light. Edwin had looked out of his +window for a long time, absorbed in thoughts which were both sad and +cheerful. Once he fancied he saw a female figure walking swiftly along, +which as he bent forward seemed to perceive him and hastily retreated +farther into the shadow of the trees. He turned to Toinette, to tell +her his supposition that Christiane had preferred to traverse the long +distance to the city on foot, and made the discovery that his companion +had fallen asleep. The moonlight was flickering over her little hands, +that lay ungloved in her lap. In the dim light that surrounded her +head, he could see her white teeth glitter as she smiled. For a time he +restrained himself, though the pulses in his temples throbbed +violently, but at last this smile on her lips was stronger than all his +resolution. He cautiously bent toward her, and after a pause of five +minutes, during which he felt her breath on his eyes, lightly pressed a +kiss on the half parted lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">She instantly awoke, so suddenly that he drew back in alarm, +glowing +with blushes. "Where are we," she whispered. "Dear me, what bright +moonlight! I believe I've been asleep. It's very impolite, isn't it? +But people are wearied even by pleasure. I haven't enjoyed myself so +much for a long time."</p> + +<p class="normal">She talked gaily on; He could not discover whether she had +felt the +kiss or thought she had only dreamed of it. To be sure, he had not +noticed that she returned it.</p> + +<p class="normal">One more short hour, and he helped her out of the carriage in +Rosenstrasse. She thanked him cordially and repeatedly for the +delightful day. "We'll continue the cure to-morrow," she called, just +as she was closing the door of the house. With these words she +dismissed him, and absorbed in blissful dreams, he pursued his way home +through the quiet streets.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<br> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t4">Beloved Sun,<br> +To all benign,<br> +Hold in thy heart<br> +This child of thine!</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Sleeping I lay<br> +In fevered dreams,<br> +Softly thou com'st,<br> +With healing beams;</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Hov'ring gently<br> +With smile so bright,<br> +Flooding my lone cell<br> +With golden light,</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Till the prisoned soul<br> +From bondage free,<br> +Like opening buds<br> +Unfolds to thee.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Forcing thy way<br> +Over the towers,<br> +Mid roofs, through tree tops,<br> +Among green bowers,</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Caressing me gently<br> +Powerful one!<br> +Folding me closely<br> +Beneficent Sun!</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Few earthly joys<br> +Have fallen to me,<br> +All I possess<br> +Are given by thee;</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Refreshing fruit<br> +Thou dost bestow,<br> +And strengthening bread<br> +As white as snow;</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Another gift<br> +The maiden fair,<br> +With rosy cheeks<br> +And golden hair--</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Thou mak'st her bloom,<br> +Child of the sun,<br> +A joy and blessing<br> +To me alone,</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">To this frail form<br> +A halo lend,<br> +Till she draws near<br> +On me to tend.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Of her bereft,<br> +Hopeless I sigh,<br> +Nothing remains<br> +Only to die,</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">So that thine eye<br> +Alone may keep,<br> +Watch over my grave,<br> +And dreamless sleep.-- +</div> + +<p class="normal">The sheet on which these verses were written, lay on Balder's +knees. +Soon after Edwin left him, he had seated himself at the window in the +sunlight, and began his holiday by taking a sheet of paper and pouring +forth the feelings that filled his soul. We know that he was never +happier than when his heart of its own accord began to sing, and his +hand could scarcely write fast enough to seize the melodies he heard.</p> + +<p class="normal">But to-day he was particularly happy. His unusual capacity for +finding +pleasure in everything, even the smallest trifle, seemed heightened by +the joy of convalescence. He gazed through the closed window a long +time at the white cat, that lay on the sill blinking sleepily, sunning +itself, and pretending not to see the sparrows that ventured close up +to it. A small white cloud was drifting slowly across the blue sky. He +became absorbed in the spectacle, as if he beheld the most wonderful +pictures, until his eyes ached from staring at the radiant heavens; +then he rose and walked slowly through the room, drawing the lame foot +after him almost as if he were dancing, and from time to time pressing +to his lips the last of the oranges Marquard had recently brought him, +to drink in the fragrance and juice at the same time. Sometimes he +thought of his brother, and how pleasantly the hours must be passing +with him, sometimes of Reginchen, whose voice was distinctly audible in +the front of the house, as she sat at the open windows of the kitchen +working and singing to herself; then he paused before Edwin's book +shelf, drew out at random one of the volumes, with all of which he was +familiar, and read half a page only to restore it to its place again to +meditate on what he had read. He even took up his tools as if to use +them, but remembered that he had promised Edwin to rest at least a +week. True, he considered this rest very unnecessary, for he had never +felt stronger and better, or breathed more freely.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Reginchen brought up his dinner at noon, she noticed his +unusual +gayety and cheerfulness. "Your sickness has done you good, Herr +Walter," said she.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," he answered smiling, "it was your nursing, Reginchen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, it's all the same," she answered. "But why didn't you +go into +the country with the Herr Doctor? (she always gave Edwin this title.) +No one who's well would stay at home to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you going into the country too, Reginchen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I indeed! I'm the house dog to-day. My parents went to a +christening +at eleven o'clock, the journeymen of course all went off too, and +there's nobody in the house except the old couple; <i>she's</i> sick, and +<i>he</i> to keep her company is sick and cross, too. You may think I am +joking; but just ask their girl. If he even has a cold, she worries so +that she can neither eat nor drink, and is obliged to go to bed. It's +comical, isn't it, but very pleasant to see two old people still so +fond of each other."</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Still?' I should think people would love each other more and +more the +longer they knew each other."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly! The longer the dearer. But it isn't always so. +Would you +like to grow old, Herr Walter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If the people I love grow old with me, certainly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shouldn't," she answered. "I used to think nothing could be +worse +than to die. But now--you'll laugh at me--I am often fairly disgusted +with life, though I can complain of nothing. I feel so oppressed and +anxious, and nothing pleases me; I wish for I know not what, and fear I +know not why. You're so clever, Herr Walter. What is the cause of +this?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Reginchen"--and he seized her hand and gazed into the +frank face +which was turned toward him with innocent curiosity. He was seeking for +words to intimate to her, that it was the exuberance of youth and the +yearning desire for love which disgusted her with her everyday life; +perhaps he meant to summon courage to confess that he too had the same +feelings. But she suddenly withdrew her hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Didn't you hear? The old lady has rung for me; heaven knows +what she +wants. Her girl has gone, because it's her Sunday out, and there's +nobody to wait on her but me. Eat your dinner, Herr Walter, perhaps if +I have time, I'll come up again for five minutes. You're altogether too +lonely, and on Sunday too!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She glided out of the room. He was almost glad that they had +been +interrupted. What could he have said to her, without entirely betraying +himself? And if she had learned his feelings and confessed her love for +him what would have followed? Would it not have been a betrothal, and +must not Edwin have been told? And yet it seemed impossible that any +one should know of this wonderful fairy dream. And could it be +possible? He thought of his delicate health, his seclusion from the +world, his youthfulness--he had seen but twenty years--was he one to +step forward, like other men, and say: "here's a girl whose husband I +wish to become, with whom I desire to found a home, and--rear +children!" As this thought passed through his mind though entirely +alone he blushed crimson and shook his head. Then he sat down to the +table, and as he ate the simple food with a good appetite, his +confidence in his destiny increased and he became very well satisfied +and silently resolved if she came up in the afternoon, to tell her that +he thought he knew what she desired and feared:--To give her heart to +another heart, and lose her own life to celebrate a joyful resurrection +in another.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he had long finished his dinner, and the cat had licked +the plates +so clean that they shone in the sun, and still his little housekeeper +kept him waiting. For the first time in his life he felt a weary +impatience that he could not dispel. He heard the clock strike four and +then five; the sunlight faded, and he suddenly felt an eager desire to +get out of the desolation of his "tun" into the open air. How long it +was since he had had the blue sky over him, or even put his head out of +the window! A feeling of exultation thrilled his heart, as he took his +old black cloak and cap from the chest of drawers, and thus equipped +glided lightly down stairs. His heart throbbed as violently as if he +were setting out on a long and dangerous journey, and yet he was not +going out of the house at all, but only down into the courtyard, where +he would wait till the young girl came, glide up behind her, and see +her astonishment at finding him below.</p> + +<p class="normal">In spite of the gathering twilight, the air in the courtyard +was very +mild, as if a remnant of the warmth of the sun which during the day had +shone into the space between the four walls, still lingered there. Not +a breath of air was stirring, and there was no sound either in the +house or street. Balder felt almost like a boy who is playing hide and +seek, as he entered the arbor covered with the yellow and almost +leafless bean vines, sat down on the little bench, and noticed that no +one coming from the front of the house could see him, as the poles were +so close together and the black pump intervened. Besides he wrapped +himself carefully in his cloak and turned up the collar, so that not +even his fair hair could betray him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Absorbed in fantastic dreams he sat waiting for Reginchen. +What would +Edwin say, when he came home and heard that Balder had had his +excursion too. But the best part of it he must not be allowed to guess. +Or should he confess to-day? If he had really been as happy as he +hoped, and talked with her heart to heart--would he be able to conceal +his joy? Would it not sparkle in his eyes, flush his cheeks, and burst +from his lips of its own accord?</p> + +<p class="normal">He determined to let matters take their course and to follow +the +dictates of his heart. If she would only come! She could not have +forgotten her promise, but what detained her so long? He was weary with +anxious longing, and yet he did not venture to look for her in the +house. Who could tell whether he should find her alone?</p> + +<p class="normal">And yet she was alone, even after he had been sitting in the +arbor for +half an hour. She had had a great many things to do for the old couple +upstairs; finally after taking up the tea tray she had been dismissed, +and now for the first time remembered her promise, but at the same +moment it occurred to her that she had not yet looked at the volume of +Schiller, which must be returned in a few days. If he questioned her, +it would be very shocking to know nothing about the poems; what could +he think except that she did not care for the improvement of her mind? +So she sat down in the dark shop, whose half open door, admitted +nevertheless light enough to read, laid the little book in her lap and +took her knitting in her hand, for she thought it a waste of time to +read without working. But she did not open the volume; her thoughts +wandered far away to him of whom for weeks she had heard nothing, even +through her brother. She would have liked to send him the stockings, +which had long been finished, and then if he were in earnest--"he does +not really love me," she sighed to herself. "But if he knew how often I +think of him--he is such a good man!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She remembered his sturdy figure and dark, honest face, with +its black, +bushy beard, so distinctly, that she could not help laughing, even at +the moment when she secretly acknowledged her love. But she had a great +respect for him on account of his trade of printer, which she supposed +to be the most learned of all. Besides she knew through her brother +that he composed all sorts of essays, which were very fine and always +eagerly seized by the workmen. That such a clever and remarkable man +should in her presence be as confused as a boy, not even daring +to tell her he loved her, flattered her innocent and very modest +self-consciousness not a little; nay it really touched her when she +thought how dearly he must love her, that he did not seek some more +distinguished and highly educated person. In return she meant to love +him truly and faithfully and to learn a great deal, and thought it her +duty, above all, to at least read Schiller, though she did not exactly +understand the beautiful words. If <i>he</i> would sit beside her and read +them aloud, it would be so much easier. She liked to listen to his +voice, and her brother had often boasted what an orator he was. But as +he did not appear, she could do nothing but try to read to herself. She +had just opened the book and read the first lines of the "Melancholie +an Laura," when a black shadow suddenly appeared between her and the +light, and she started up with a low cry, letting the book fall on the +floor.</p> + +<p class="normal">The subject of her secret thoughts was standing before her, or +rather +kneeling at her feet to pick up the book, stammering out an apology for +the sudden entrance which had startled her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her nerves were so strong that she instantly recovered her +composure, +as soon as she was assured that the vision was no ghost, but her own +sun-burnt lover, for whom she had so ardently longed. She laughed at +her own terror, grew as red as she had before been pale, and could not +understand why he was gazing so intently at the written sheet that had +fallen out of the little book and which he had unfolded and read. She +did not think it exactly polite for him to forget her for such a +scrawl, but thought it must be on account of his learning. He also +apologized as he laid the book down on the counter, and only asked +timidly where she had obtained it. Herr Walter had lent it to her, and +she had just commenced reading it for the first time. He had probably +forgotten the written sheet. What was in it, that Herr Franzelius had +studied it so eagerly?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fräulein Reginchen," replied the printer, wiping the +perspiration from +his brow, "will you allow me to put this in my pocket? I'll return it +to him myself--it might fall into the wrong hands--but you've pardoned +my bouncing in so abruptly, haven't you? If you knew, Fräulein +Reginchen--"</p> + +<p class="normal">So saying, he looked around in all directions with a very +disturbed +expression. She had never seen him so strangely excited before.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's the matter?" she asked. "Do you want a glass of water? +If I can +help you in any way--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You cart, Reginchen, you're the only person who can help me. +But +here--so close to the street, where we may be interrupted at any +moment--oh! you do not know the subject of which I want to speak."</p> + +<p class="normal">She certainly thought she knew. What could it be, if she alone +was able +to help him? And what could he have to confide to her, in which he did +not wish to be interrupted, except the one, the one great subject on +which he had never yet found courage to speak, and which she had +nevertheless seen long ago in his eyes?</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're perfectly right," she said in the most innocent tone, +and yet +with a shade of curiosity. "This is just like being in the street. Do +you know, the work-shop is empty and there's no one in the courtyard; +you can tell me everything there. But I must first lock up the shop. +This is <i>such</i> a surprise. The very last thing to be thought of, your +coming here to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">She hastily closed the heavy outer doors of the shop, so that +both were +suddenly left in total darkness. But the next instant she opened the +second door leading into the entry and let him pass out. "There's +nobody at home," she whispered, "my parents won't return from the +christening until seven, the Herr Doctor has gone into the country, and +only Herr Walter--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She suddenly remembered what she had promised the lonely +youth. But it +was now too late, she would apologize in the evening.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If its something that's to be an entire secret and you do not +wish to +be seen in the house, run across the courtyard as fast as you can. The +old lady up stairs might happen to look out of the window. Dear me, +what's the matter? You're so pale and don't speak a word!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He made no reply but followed her advice. Without looking to +the right +or left, both glided across the little courtyard, which was now very +dark, and entered the work-shop whose windows were directly opposite to +the bean arbor. They were all closed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We'll open one," whispered the brisk little maiden. "You're +not +accustomed to the smell of leather and cobbler's wax, and besides +there's no danger; as I said before, there's not even a cat in the +courtyard to overhear us. Well? Have you recovered your breath a +little? I really shudder at the thought of what this secret may be."</p> + +<p class="normal">She had seated herself on a three-legged stool, with her back +to the +open window, that he might not see her face distinctly, and was +smoothing with both hands the rebellious little curls that clustered +around her forehead. "It's very hot here," she said as he still +preserved his silence, and with both hands behind his back paced +heavily up and down the dark room, absorbed in deep thought. At last he +stopped before a table, on which lay various tools and half finished +pieces of work piled upon each other.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Reginchen," said he, "perhaps this will be the last time we +shall see +each other. If all signs do not fail, I shall either be a prisoner or +on my way to America to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Merciful God!" she exclaimed with unconcealed anguish, +"you're not in +earnest."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only too much so," he answered in a hollow tone. "I am not +surprised; +I've seen this coming a long time. Reginchen--look at me and tell me: +do you believe I'm capable of a crime?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You! You're the best man under the sun! You could not hurt a +child--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, Reginchen. To hear you say so is a great +consolation, +perhaps the only one I shall take with me, if I'm compelled to fly; no, +not even the consciousness that I'm suffering for a holy cause--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But pray tell me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're right, the moments are precious. I'm here to ask you +for a +great service, which you can render me and the sacred cause. Your +brother, the best young fellow I have ever known--he's worthy to have +you for a sister, Reginchen--if you wish to know farther particulars, +ask him. He has all the numbers of my newspaper, on account of which +I'm persecuted. True, I have irritated them, but we have all practised +the patience of the lamb long enough, the ass's skin is at last +becoming too tight for the lion, but perhaps he was unwise to betray +himself by his roar before he was ready to spring. However, it is done; +only slaves and cowards are always wise. I don't know what they intend +to do now. But that it will--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Merciful Heavens!" she exclaimed, "will they try you, throw +you into +prison?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To render me harmless, yes! What is there new or strange in +that? Oh! +dear Reginchen, the falsity of this so-called justice is so old that +quiet citizens may well accept it as a matter of course. But I'm not +here to tell you things of which your noble innocent heart can frame no +idea. See, this is my dearest possession"--and he drew out a tolerably +thick leather pocket book, fastened with a string and sealed. "It +contains papers, which if found on my person, would ruin not only +me--what would that matter--but many noble men who have trusted me. I +knew of no place where I could safely conceal these papers and letters, +no one whom I could trust under all circumstances to protect them from +every eye; for all my friends run the same risk; any night the police +may break into their asylum and search their most secret repositories. +Then I thought of you, Reginchen. No one will ever dream of looking +here for papers dangerous to the government; your father, though a +liberal, has always shaken his head at all the plans of socialism. Will +you do me so great a favor as to keep my legacy and never allow it to +leave your hands until I write myself and tell you to what address to +send the pacquet?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She hastily seized the pocketbook with both hands and thrust +it under +the thick woolen handkerchief she wore crossed over her shoulders and +tied in a knot behind. "No living soul shall know anything about it," +she said, "it shall be as safe with me as if it were in the bank. But +oh! Herr Franzelius, have matters really gone so far? Must you go away +forever?" She hastily passed her hand over her eyes, he must not see +that they were wet; he was causing her quite too much pain, and she +seemed to herself a very unhappy creature that all her dreams should be +so quickly destroyed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Reginchen," he stammered, "I thank you for your +sorrow--though--you +cannot suspect what I feel. You would never have known, if I could have +remained here--but now--since it can no longer do any harm--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She gazed at him in astonishment with eyes that had suddenly +become +dry. "No longer do any harm?" she repeated.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes Reginchen. When I am gone, you will soon forget me, even +if you +know that I--that I--but perhaps you do know it already."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I, Herr Franzelius?" Her Eve's nature was again aroused; she +would not +make it easy for him, he must speak out. How could he possibly be so +good an orator, when in her presence he stammered like a school boy?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Reginchen," said he, drawing a long breath and taking a +sudden start, +"if you really have not noticed--and I believe you, for you're +incapable of dissumulation--I--I have long--for two years--give me your +hand, Reginchen. You see I've sometimes imagined that some day I should +be granted the happiness of asking you--and your dear parents--to give +me this hand for life. I--I have loved you dearly, unspeakably, ever +since I knew you--and--though I know that I usually have very little +success--either in life or with women--it often seemed to me--as if you +too--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused and let her hand fall, to take out his handkerchief +and wipe +his forehead. The little fair haired deceiver thought it more decorous +to keep him in suspense a short time, though her whole heart drew her +toward him and she would gladly have thrown herself into his arms at +once.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you talking about, Herr Franzelius?" she replied, +half +pouting. "You have loved me, and now--now it's over. Because you're +going away, you will leave me behind like a troublesome piece of +property that won't go into your trunk?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! Reginchen," he exclaimed, suddenly gazing at her so +tenderly that +she blushed and cast down her eyes, "you're only joking. You know very +well what I mean, and that I shall never cease to love you far more +than any one else. If I tear myself away, believe me it's not only +because I should think it unprincipled--with my uncertain future and +the destiny which may be in store for me--to ask one so young and so +unused to want and privation--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh!" she interrupted, "is that all? I've always heard that +the +principal thing is for people to love each other. Doesn't Annchen von +Tharau's song, which you once wrote out for me, say:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t4">"No matter what tempests may burst overhead,<br> +We'll cling to each other our pathway to tread--?"</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"My darling," He exclaimed, fairly beside himself with +delight, while a +ray of surprise and joy flashed over his gloomy face, "is this true? +You have--you have remembered this--applied it to me, to us both? Oh! I +never ventured to hope for so much. My precious Reginchen! And now--how +happy I should be--if I only dared. Tell me once more, dear precious +child, is it true? You would have gone with me, if I had proposed +it--and your parents--But no, tell me nothing! It can do no good, and +will only make my hard task still harder." He sank down on a stool by +the table, and buried his face in his broad hands. Reginchen watched +him in silence. She could not understand his behavior. What was it that +stood in the way? Why could it "do no good," this acknowledgement of +her love, and her willing offer to go out into the wide world with him?</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly he started up and approaching her said: "Promise me, dear +Reginchen, that you'll try to forget what I have said. I ought to have +kept silence; but my feelings overpowered me. And now farewell and make +<i>him</i> happy. He deserves it more than I, he also loves you truly and +fondly--though certainly no one in the whole world can hold you dearer +than I."</p> + +<p class="normal">He pressed his lips to her hands, then strove to release them +and rush +out of the workshop. But Reginchen stopped him. "Dear Herr Franzelius," +she said, "if you're in earnest and really love me, why do you grieve +me so, by telling me things I don't understand, and asking me to make +somebody else happy when I do not even know of whom you're speaking? I +love you too, and if it were only my parents--but speak; I don't +understand a single word of all you have said."</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused at the door and looked at her in astonishment. "Is +it +possible?" said he. "That you have no idea of whom I mean? That you see +him daily, and yet have never perceived what an impression you have +made on his heart? I noticed it long ago, and suffered deeply in +consequence. Oh! Reginchen, you don't know what it is to grudge such a +friend the love of such a girl, because one loves her himself! And yet +I know what I owe him, how deeply, perhaps fatally, it would wound him, +if you and I--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Merciful Heaven!" she suddenly exclaimed, "no, no, it's +impossible--you can't mean Herr Walter!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pray consider, he's so sickly, do you really believe he ever +will be +well again, ever think--dear me, how you startled me! I should never +have dreamed of such a thing in all my life! Herr Walter!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know what I know, dear Reginchen," replied the printer +sadly. "What +will be done <i>when</i> he is again well and strong, and whether that will +ever come to pass--who can tell? But I should be a scoundrel, if I +caused him who has already suffered so much, even the shadow of a grief +that I could spare him. Oh! Reginchen, if you knew him thoroughly, the +noblest, loftiest soul that ever dwelt in a fragile body--you could not +help loving him as I love him, more than myself, and you would rather +bear and suffer everything, than cloud even an hour of his life." Both +fixed their eyes on the floor. An anxious, oppressive pause followed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you really think--" Reginchen began; but she did not +finish the +sentence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm as sure of his love as of my own," Franzelius faltered. +"If I +could have cherished any doubt, everything would have been proved and +made plain half an hour ago. I have no right to persuade you to +anything against which your heart rebels. But I'm sure that now +you know his secret, it will be impossible for you not to become +attached to him; he is far more lovable than I, whom only your heavenly +goodness--perhaps through mistake or accident--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," she eagerly exclaimed, almost ready to cry, "now I must +speak +frankly; there was no special goodness about it except your own, and as +to Herr Walter's being more lovable--dear me it's possible, but I can't +help it--I'd rather have <i>you</i>; didn't you notice it when you tried on +the boots, spoke of the stockings--wait, I'll get them right away, +they've been finished a long time, I hurried so because I thought you'd +have to go away, though not forever! Dear me, to think I must help you +now, besides making the stockings."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Girl!" he exclaimed, "you would really--It's too much--oh! +now I see +for the first time how happy we might have been."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who knows what may happen yet," she said, consoling herself +as she +wiped her eyes with her apron; "but wait here five minutes; I've got +them in my work table. I'll be back again directly. They will certainly +fit you and keep you warm."</p> + +<p class="normal">As she passed close by him and went out of the door, he was +strongly +tempted to hurry after her, clasp the beloved form in his arms, and +imprint his thanks for her gift on her fresh lips. But he was so +sincere in his purpose of resigning her to his friend, that he did not +trust himself even to touch her, precisely because he felt that she +would not have resisted. When she had gone, he sank down on a bench +like a heavily burdened man and pressed his hands to his eyes. Amid all +his sorrow, he revelled in the bliss of knowing that she loved him, and +each word which had assured him of the fact still echoed in his soul.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was suddenly roused from this happy reverie by a loud cry +in the +courtyard, close to the door that opened into the back building. He +recognized Reginchen's voice, and in mortal terror started up, tore +open the door, and was about to rush across the entry into the +courtyard. But a terrible sight checked him.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the threshold of the back building, which was reached by +two steps, +lay Balder, wrapped in his dark cloak and completely insensible. The +unfortunate youth must have overheard the whole conversation, since he +had not dared to move lest he should betray his presence. Who would +undertake to describe the storm that raged in his soul, as silently +leaning against the wall, he saw all his dearest illusions shattered! +His still delicate chest heaved and labored till he thought he was +suffocating, and the idea that the two happy lovers might come out and +find him there pierced his heart like glowing iron. He had already +risen to rush out into the street, when her proposal to bring the +present from the front of the house again bound him to his dark corner. +But he thought he would take advantage of the few minutes before her +return. As soon as she had disappeared in the passage, he hastily +dragged himself to the door--clinging to the wall as his limbs refused +to support him, in order to reach the staircase that led to his room. +But just as he had gained the second step, his strength failed, a +stream of blood gushed from his lips, and he fell fainting on the +threshold.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Reginchen returned with the little package, she started +at the +sight of the dark mass that barred her way, but when she recognized the +fair hair and saw the dark stains on the stones close by, she lost all +composure and screamed for help as piteously as if she herself had been +stabbed to the heart. She did not exchange a word or glance with the +friend who came hurrying out. In the twinkling of an eye everything +became clear to her, and she shrank like a criminal from the eyes of +her fellow culprit. They carried the unconscious sufferer, who only +uttered low moans, up the stairs and laid him carefully on his bed. In +the midst of their efforts to restore him to consciousness, while still +fearing that he might open his eyes and see them both at his side, +Edwin returned and entered the room in the highest spirits.</p> + +<p class="normal">With what anguish the sight that met his gaze overwhelmed him, +they +only can understand, who have lived long enough to experience the cruel +mockery with which fate delights in suddenly hurling mortals from the +greatest happiness into the deepest misery.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">After Christiane had seen the couple in the carriage and fled +from the +wide avenue into the more densely wooded portions of the park, she had +wandered about for hours without aim or object, at times pausing +breathless to rest upon some bench.</p> + +<p class="normal">The fog had become so impenetrable that the crescent of the +moon hung a +pale line of light in the grey sky and total darkness brooded over the +intricate paths of the Thiergarten. It was no night for a solitary +pedestrian, but she met no one, and she felt no fear. What indeed could +happen to her? To be sure she might be attacked, robbed, or even killed +by some drunken vagabond. But she was quite willing to run the risk of +this, and the thought of other dangers to which a woman might be +exposed in such a nocturnal ramble did not alarm her. When Adèle had +once asked how she dared to go out so boldly at all hours of the +evening, she replied: "I always go about with my face unveiled, I need +no better protection." To-night in particular, with all the tortures of +a hopeless love in her heart, she had become more firmly convinced than +ever that she was a discarded step-child of Mother Nature condemned to +perpetuate self-sacrifice; she felt a sort of bitter pleasure in the +thought that she had nothing in common with the rest of mankind, either +in love or hatred, but was as it were a peculiar being, allied to +unknown creatures of darkness, who were as ugly as she, and therefore +wise enough to avoid the daylight. In this wild mood which gradually +obtained more and more the mastery over her, she would scarcely have +been alarmed, if at some crossing in the paths she had chanced upon a +crowd of spectres and been bidden to make one of their company. +Anything would be better than to return to mankind, the best and +noblest of whom had always made her the most miserable without even +suspecting the fact. She shed no tears; all personal feelings--love for +Edwin, jealousy of the beautiful girl--receded farther and farther into +the background of her thoughts; only her own destiny, the world in +which her fervid heart was languishing, the tortures of a lost youth, +the dread of a lonely and loveless old age,--these rose in ghostly, +exaggerated outlines before her soul, and from time to time extorted +from her a cry, that in the deep silence startled even herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">When she came to the fish ponds, above which floated still +denser fogs, +she involuntarily paused. For a long time she stood and gazed at the +dense whiteness which never shifted and which seemed to be waiting for +some wearied, hunted human life to find rest in its depths. But her +seething blood, inflamed by the unusual indulgence in wine, recoiled +from the thought of such an end. Mechanically and without thinking of +what she was doing, she picked up a stone from the roadside and threw +it into the mist-veiled water. The sullen plash of its fall recalled +her to herself. She drew a long breath, trembled, wrapped her cloak +closer around her, and then walked away more slowly than before, but +taking a direct lane toward the city, which she reached in half an +hour.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the wild chaos of thoughts that filled her mind as she +went, there +was one fixed resolution, to which she constantly returned: to-morrow +she would leave the house where she lodged, engage other rooms, and +then consider whether it would not be better to turn her back upon the +city altogether and seek some corner of the world where life would be +quite destitute of charm, nature most barren, and men utterly wretched. +Invalids often go to springs merely to find companions in suffering and +thus make their condition more endurable. Why should not the miserable +avoid the neighborhood of the happy, in order to bear their burdens +more easily among those who are wretched likewise?</p> + +<p class="normal">As she entered the little courtyard of the house in the +Dorotheenstrasse, she noticed that there was a light in her room; but +thought the maid servant, who waited upon her and had a second key, was +probably doing something there and unsuspiciously ascended the stairs. +She had been unable to make up her mind to look at Edwin's windows.</p> + +<p class="normal">On reaching her door, however, she did not find the key in the +lock. +"Perhaps the girl has only lighted the lamp and gone out again," she +thought, as she hastily opened it. The little ante-room was dark and +nothing was moving there, so she hastily opened the door of her sitting +and sleeping room, but paused on the threshold in astonishment when she +saw Lorinser sitting in a corner of the sofa, holding on his knees a +book, from which he did not even raise his eyes at her entrance.</p> + +<p class="normal">The little lamp with the green shade was burning on the table +beside +him and illumined the strongly marked countenance with its high, smooth +forehead and firm mouth. No expression betrayed any special agitation +of mind, and when he at last raised his eyes and fixed them on the dark +figure of the woman who stood on the threshold in silence, gazing at +him as if she could not believe her own eyes, no stranger would have +suspected that he was a guest playing master of the house in the +presence of the real occupant, so perfectly unembarrassed was the smile +with which he greeted the newcomer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good evening," said he, "you are late. Excuse me for having +made +myself comfortable here during your absence; I provided for plenty of +light and warmth, and have whiled away the long hours--But my God!" he +exclaimed, suddenly interrupting himself, "how you look, Christiane! +You're deadly pale and trembling from head to foot--take off your damp +cloak--come--here's a warm place in the sofa corner--will you tell me +where your tea pot is? You must get warm again--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leave me!" she hoarsely exclaimed, repelling the hands that +tried to +clasp her cold fingers. "I need no one--I'm perfectly well--it's only +surprise, indignation, at finding you here after I've plainly told you +that I did not desire your visits, that I would never receive you +again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's the very reason I've come," he replied in the calmest +tone, +while his eyes wandered toward the ceiling. "You've expelled me as we +only expel one whom we deeply hate or--love a little, and therefore +fear. Do you suppose a man will endure this, without at least making an +endeavor to discover in which of the two situations he stands? I at +least, even if you were not what you are to me, am not the man to obey +blindly. I've had no rest, Christiane, that's why you see me here with +but one question on my lips; when I have the answer, I'll go. But we +must understand each other."</p> + +<p class="normal">She had sunk into a chair, which stood beside the window. The +damp +cloak still hung over her shoulders, but she had hastily removed her +hat as if the strings choked her. As she now sat gazing into vacancy, +he supposed that she was reflecting upon his words. But it was only +because she heard Edwin's step overhead, and all her former emotions +again awoke. She forgot that Lorinser had asked her a question, nay +even that he was in the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You delay your answer, Christiane," he began again. "I don't +wonder at +it and greatly as I desire to have a clear understanding between us, I +have no wish to hasten this explanation. Perhaps the most favorable +thing for which I can hope, is to have your soul hover in a sort of +twilight, so strangely compounded of sullen hate and dawning affection, +that neither can gain the victory. Such a condition may be singular and +mysterious to your strong nature, which is usually so quick to decide; +you think you can shake it off by ridding yourself of the man who +causes the mood. You're mistaken, Christiane. You may deceive yourself: +I know that I'm already too near to you to be crowded out of your life +so easily. You must go on until you arrive at either hate or love. No +one capable of a real emotion, has ever yet had a half feeling toward +me." He had approached nearer and was standing beside her with folded +arms, gazing at her face which in profile was distinctly relieved +against the dark curtain. His vicinity, his low, quiet words, the +firmness with which he asserted his position, angered her more and +more. With a quick indignant gesture, she threw her cloak over the back +of the chair and rose.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must earnestly beg you to leave me," said she. "Only on +condition +that you respect my wishes now, will I consent to take no farther +notice of the manner in which you've intruded here. If you were as well +acquainted with human nature as you profess to be, you would give up +the crazy idea that I could ever give you any power over me either for +good or evil. Our characters are entirely unlike."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You talk like a child," he answered quietly, "or you don't +know what +you're saying. If the difference between us were not as wide as heaven +and hell, we never could be anything to each other. Only opposite poles +attract each other, simply because they seem to repel. Can there be a +victory without a conflict? What you are to me, Christiane, I know only +too well. What I am or shall be to you--you will soon learn, though you +may now thrust the knowledge ever so far away. Or do you know another +man," he continued gazing steadily into her face, "who in the hour when +you are forsaken by all, when you feel more wretched than you have ever +felt before, would come to you and offer you his hand to save you, who +could again make desirable the life you would fain throw away as a +worthless possession?" A lightning like glance from her gloomy eyes +fell upon him. Contrary to his usual custom, he endured it and could +not conceal his exultation; his bold shaft had struck the sore spot in +her heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who has told you that I am miserable?" she passionately +exclaimed. +"And if it be true how do you know that I would not a thousand times +rather remain unhappy than be rescued by you and your God? If you're +right in supposing that all mankind has abandoned me, do you wish to +rob me of what is yet left to me, my own individuality, my freedom, my +solitude, in which I need answer to no one for my suffering? You've +asked me the nature of the feeling that holds me aloof from you. It is +this: I've a <i>horror</i> of you! In the first hour of our acquaintance I +detected in you the demon to whom nothing is sacred, not even the grief +of a poor unhappy woman; who merely to gratify his selfishness, would +fain obtain the mastery over everything, and therefore does not even +think what others despise or overlook--a creature so destitute of all +joys as I--too insignificant to be made useful. But you're mistaken, +and neither your heaven nor your hell will help you; this is the last +time you'll ever see me, as truly--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Silence!" he imperiously exclaimed. "Do not forswear your own +salvation, do not conjure up the fiends who are lying in wait for +souls. And moreover no such vows are needed. Believe me, Christiane, I +too have pride, and strength to suffer for its sake, and if I speak in +vain to-day, it will be my turn to avoid you. But you must listen now. +You're too just to condemn me unheard." He drew a long breath, as if he +were obliged to gather fresh courage for what he wanted to say. Then +suddenly in his softest voice, into which when he chose he could throw +an almost magical influence, he continued: "Sit down quietly; I will +try to be brief. But you are greatly exhausted. You have just suffered +bitterly again; do not deny it, Christiane, my longing jealous heart, +makes my eyes keen; I could not tell you what or whom it was that +caused you pain, but your soul is still trembling from the effects of +this blow. Is not it so?" He relapsed into silence and watched her +intently. She was gazing into vacancy but her lips quivered. "You're a +fiend," she murmured. "But go on--go on--! let us get to the end."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To the end?" said he. "Oh! Christiane, if you were only more +gentle, +if your grief had not made you insensible to the pain of others, you +would spare me further words. Have I not already told you, that from +the first moment I saw you I recognized the inevitable destiny that +bound me to you, and have vainly striven with all the powers of the +soul and mind to escape the thraldom? I have concealed from myself +nothing that could help to stifle such a flame--your obstinacy, your +atheism, your indifference to all that usually charms and misleads your +sex. I have told myself that I had no happiness to expect from this +love, no future, no help for my own needs; the thirst for rule which +you falsely impute to me--or no, let me confess it, which perhaps +usually sways me--was never so ignominiously baffled as by you. +Everything that can offend the vanity, the pride, even the honor of a +man, or repel his affection, I have experienced at your hands. And now, +Christiane, I ask you on your conscience: do you doubt the power of +nature, or as I call it, the mystical force, which alone is capable, in +spite of everything, of bringing me back to your feet? I was fully +prepared to be misunderstood, reproached, abused. But that is the very +miracle of love: it prefers to be trampled under foot by the beloved +object, rather than caressed by an indifferent hand. Now have you still +the heart to call me a fiend, only anxious to get your soul into his +power? Your soul? oh God! I have given up the hope of winning it, spite +of the pain it has cost me, I despair of initiating you into the depths +of my life with God, making you a sharer in the bliss of my fears and +longings. But believe me, Christiane, there is an earthly compensation +for the highest divine ecstacies, of which all minds are not capable, a +compensation which matures the soul and at the same time prepares it +for higher degrees of knowledge: the blending of spiritual and sensual +passion, that thrills me with ardent yearning if I only touch your +hand, meet your eyes, feel your breath on my face. No one, no matter +how much he may have suffered, issues from this bath of the soul +unrejuvenated and unrefreshed, and indeed, my friend, for your own sake +I wish you had the courage to rush with closed eyes into the flames +from which the poor mortal creature, purged from all the dross of +earthly sorrow, emerges purified as a new, divinely consoled being.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is the mystery," he continued as she was still silent: +"no one +comes to the Father save by the Son, no one can understand heavenly +love who closes the heart to earthly affection. You have not found your +God, my friend, because you would not yield to the power of your +god-<i>man</i>, your Saviour, who would have delivered you from yourself. Do +you know for what sin Lucifer was expelled from the presence of the +eternal one? He wished to remain in presumptuous innocence, disdained +to submit to the power of love. Now he is freezing amid his flames, as +you, Christiane, shiver with cold while your whole nature is on fire. +Oh! my friend, you are silent. Would that I had an angel's tongue to +win from your soul some echo, thaw your frozen heart. You say you have +a horror of me. Oh! it is not of me, the poor weak man, whom a single +glance of yours can curb; you dread your own fall, which must precede +your deliverance, the loss by which you are to gain, the death through +which you must live. 'So a heart trembles at the approach of love, as +if it were menaced by death.' But you have a strong soul, Christiane, +you will shake off this cowardice and risk all to gain all, death for +life, sin for mercy, hate for love--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew it," he whispered, and his voice grew almost mournful, +without +losing its passionate impetuosity, "when I first saw you and my heart +instantly whispered your destiny: I knew this hour would come, +resolutely as you might struggle, painful as were the thorns pride +thrust into my soul. I have seen you from the beginning as I behold you +now, and could not help secretly laughing at your foolish anguish, +because you did not believe yourself formed to awaken love. You, whose +looks and words and gestures have haunted me day and night, inflamed my +blood as no woman ever had power to do! You, who hate me, <i>believe</i> you +hate me--for this horror is only the mother of longing--have poisoned +my dreams with cruel tortures and made my waking hours miserable. If +you knew all that from childish pride I have concealed from you--fool +that I am, only to writhe the more helplessly at your feet waiting for +mercy or sentence! And the omnipotent one knows that but one thought, +one voice in my heart gave me courage to endure all this: the thought +that the hour would come when you would suddenly melt, and swept away +by the same storm, say to me: 'You have suffered enough, take me. Let +us perish to live again in each other!'" He had bent nearer and nearer +to her, his lips almost touched her hair, his gaze rested on her brow, +which was damp as if from mortal agony, and she had closed her eyes as +if fainting. As she still remained motionless, a sudden terror seized +upon him. "Christiane!" he cried, clasping her impetuously in his arms +and seeking her lips with his. But at this moment he was violently +thrust back. She had sprung from her chair and retreated a step. In the +dim light of the lamp he saw her eyes wide open and fixed with an +indescribable expression upon vacancy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're a fiend!" she exclaimed. "Leave me instantly! if you +have the +Satanic courage to utter another word, I will throw the window open and +rouse the quiet night with shrieks of murder. Do you hear what I say? +If your own honor is not as indifferent to you as mine, go--go--GO!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She uttered the last word in so loud a tone, and waved her +hand so +imperiously toward the door, that he remained silent. Yet he did not +seem to be deeply agitated; nay even a smile hovered around his lips as +he took his hat and overcoat from the sofa, bowed carelessly, and with +a "good night" left the room. She heard him open the door that led into +the entry and slam it violently after him, but could not distinguish +his steps on the stairs. She was aware of his noiseless tread, however, +and so at last believed herself alone. But the solitude only enabled +her to collect her thoughts, and they made her still more wretched. She +sank back into her chair, and the grief and anguish so painfully +repressed found vent in passionate tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">What had she been forced to hear! Although indignant at the +art with +which the gloomy fanatic blended the highest with the basest things, +the divinest impulses with the maddest desires, striving with subtle +boldness to lull to sleep the pure voice of the soul: was it not +passion, she asked herself, that blazed within him, the language of +unbridled love, which risks all to attain its object, and summons hell +as well as heaven to its aid? Then she was not too repulsive to kindle +such a fire, there was one man who would dare all for her, whom neither +her hatred nor abhorrence could restrain from persecuting her with his +ardent longings! From the chill in which she had shivered during her +long walk through the misty night, into what a fiery gulf was she now +hurled! or no, not yet into the blazing abyss, but the flames that rose +from it were near enough to make her gasp for breath. She could not sit +still in her chair, the air was so oppressively sultry; she opened the +window, but instantly closed it again, as the fog, cold and damp as the +atmosphere of a tomb, floated into the room making her shiver. Long +before this the little fire in the stove had gone out, now the lamp +failed also. She was in darkness, but she did not heed it. Pacing to +and fro, absorbed in a chaos of thoughts, she mechanically loosened one +article of clothing after another, letting each lie, where it fell. +While thus groping about, she found herself beside her bed and sank +down upon it. "To sleep!" she said aloud, and started at the sound of +her own voice, then hastily cowered under the quilt as if for +concealment. But she could not close her eyes; they burned too +painfully after the long walk through the foggy night. She could not +banish from her thoughts the eyes of the dangerous man she had just +driven away; nothing availed her; they flashed upon her everywhere, +even from the darkness and through her closed lids. In her terror she +tried to banish the spectre by a spell which had never yet failed her, +by conjuring up Edwin's form before her mind. Now even this was +useless: with all her efforts, she could not recall the features that +were usually so distinct; but Toinette's lovely face suddenly came +uppermost in her mind, so bright and smiling that she felt a sharp +pang, and drew the coverlid over her eyes to shut out the memory. The +next instant she again threw it back, raised her head from the pillow +and sat up, as if suffocating. A weary moan escaped her lips, she threw +her bare arm over her face and buried her teeth in her own flesh until +the keen agony recalled her to consciousness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He was right," she said to herself, "there is but one magic, +the magic +of sin. A God now, to whom one could pray: Deliver us from evil--but a +God, who must first be implored--!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She sat erect bewildered with anguish, her heart throbbing +stormily; +then gradually she sank back, into a recumbent posture, and at last +fell into a half slumber. The night seemed yet more silent, the world +seemed dead, and only she with her unappeased longing for happiness, +could not perish. Suddenly she fancied that she heard a strange +crackling sound, as if a bat were fluttering over the floor. A shudder +ran through her frame; she could not move, her limbs seemed paralyzed +by approaching death.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is there?" she cried. No answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is there any one in the room?" All was still as death.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am delirious," she said to herself. "Oh! this long night! +If morning +would only come. Oh! for sleep--for one hour's sleep!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She buried her head in the pillows and at last really fell +asleep. In +her dreams she met Edwin, and his manner toward her was different from +what it had ever been. He smiled at her with his happiest look, and +then grew grave again exactly as he had done when she had watched his +reflection in the mirror, while he sat opposite to the beautiful girl. +But now all his whispers and fond glances were directed toward her. Her +heart would not believe it, it must be a dream, a voice ever repeated +in her ear; but he talked so persistently and entreatingly, with looks +and tones of such ardent passion, only, strange to say, in the exact +words she had just heard from Lorinser, that intoxicated with delight, +she could no longer strive against the miracle. Beloved by him! A +thrill of joy made her tremble. She saw him bend over her, felt his +breath on her face, her burning lips half parted in the empty gloom and +murmured wild words----</p> + +<p class="normal">A piercing shriek suddenly rang through the silent house, a +shriek +which in its terrible shrillness sounded so little like the accents of +a human voice, that the sleepers whose ears it reached only started a +moment, and then as all remained still, quietly relapsed into slumber +again, believing it to be some dream or illusion of the senses. Up in +the "tun" Balder moved in his restless sleep, and asked if he had +screamed so himself. Mohr had sprung from his chair and was trembling +from head to foot. He thought he had distinctly heard the terrible cry +proceed from the room beneath. "Let me go down," he whispered to Edwin. +"It sounded as if some one were shrieking for help against an +assassin." Edwin stopped him. "Where do you want to go?" he whispered. +"If it were she, perhaps she has thus relieved her heart of some heavy +burden." They listened intently, but all below remained as still as +death. Mohr gradually grew calm and continued to renew for Balder the +applications of ice.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the old maid-servant, who had come up the steep stairs +with her +little lamp for the last time, to ask if anything was wanted, was just +passing Christiane's door when the terrible cry of mortal agony and +wild despair fell on her ear. The kind hearted woman also thought that +some sudden pain had attacked the young lady, but did not hesitate an +instant to open the door with the pass key she always carried, and +hastily enter the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the light of her little lamp streamed far before her into +the dark +ante-chamber, the old woman remained standing on the threshold as if +petrified, unable to take a single step forward or backward. She saw +Fräulein Christiane standing motionless with bare feet, beside the wall +at the head of the bed, the coverlid closely wrapped around her, her +unbound hair streaming over her shoulders, her right arm with the +fingers of the hand extended, stretched out before her, her eyes, +dilated so that the whites glittered in the light, fixed in a rigid +stare on the dark figure of a man, who also stood motionless in the +middle of the room. Not a syllable was uttered. A stifled cry, like a +rattling in the throat, came from Christiane, and from the spot where +the man stood a sound very like the grinding of teeth. The man then +turned, noiselessly and with apparent calmness, and seemed to be +looking for something on the floor; then waving one hand toward the +wall, and concealing his face with the other, he kept his back toward +the little lamp, and glided bare headed past the old woman out into the +dark entry.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the same moment the white figure beside the bed sank down, +and as +the old servant rushed forward, the light fell upon a face deadly pale +and distorted by the wildest convulsions of human agony.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Day had scarcely dawned, when the door of the tun was softly +opened and +Heinrich Mohr's herculean figure appeared on the threshold; he took +leave of Edwin with a silent pressure of the hand. When, late in the +evening, he had come to the house to see whether Christiane had +returned in safety, he was soothed by the light in her window, and went +up stairs to pay Balder a visit and calm his excited nerves by a game +of chess. When he heard what had occurred and saw the poor young +fellow's condition, he could not be dissuaded from watching with him +through the night. Franzelius had rushed off for the doctor as soon as +Edwin returned. He found Marquard's doors locked, his master would +probably not come home that night, the servant said with a significant +smile. Another doctor, the best that could be procured, was then +summoned and prescribed the necessary remedies. After this the night +passed quietly without incident. The friends, both equally moved by +this vicissitude of fate, scarcely exchanged a word during the long +hours, but sat side by side on the bench by the turning lathe, each +with a book which neither read, listening to the irregular breathing of +the invalid. Toward morning, the slumber produced by opium seemed to +pass into a healthy, natural sleep, and Edwin now insisted that Mohr +should go home and make up part of the rest he had lost, begging him +first to leave at Toinette's lodgings a note, which contained the +following lines:</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Do not expect me to-day. Whilst I was eagerly imbibing full +draughts +from the cup of life, death knocked at our door. We still hope to +defend our citadel against him, but until we are entirely sure of doing +so, I shall not leave my post at Balder's side. Whether or not I can +forget you in any fate that may befall me, you well know. I shall send +you messages from time to time. If you want any books, please inform +me.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>The envy of the</i> '<i>so-called gods</i>' <i>has this time produced +a master +piece.</i></p> + +<p class="right">"Edwin."</p> + +<p class="normal">When Mohr passed Christiane's door, he was on the point of ringing her +bell, but it occurred to him that it was not yet six o'clock. But he +came back again during the forenoon. He had scarcely been able to sleep +an hour; a strange anxiety urged him to return to the house in +Dorotheenstrasse, which contained all that was dear to him. As he +vainly pulled Christiane's bell for the third time, the maid-servant +came up the stair's bringing Edwin's dinner; (Reginchen would not +appear.) The woman was evidently confused when Mohr hastily asked where +the young lady had gone and when she would return. Fräulein Christiane +had gone out early in the morning, she answered sulkily, she couldn't +say where. She didn't trouble herself about the lodgers.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was not particularly surprised; only it was disagreeable to +be thus +compelled to wait before he could see her again. But as he intended to +stay in the tun for the day and night, he hoped at any rate to hear +when she returned.</p> + +<p class="normal">On going up stairs he found Marquard, who tried to put the +best +possible face on matters.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's no immediate danger," he said in a low tone, while +Balder was +sleeping, "if he will only keep quiet and not play any more tricks. +What the devil induced him, instead of taking a little ride in the +sunshine, to venture alone into the city and wander about the foggy +streets till he was warm and tired."</p> + +<p class="normal">That he had done this, Balder had written with a trembling +hand on a +scrap of paper, for which he asked Edwin as soon as he awoke, as if by +his written testimony to remove all suspicion of any other cause. +Franzelius, who came up a moment to inquire about his health, and +scarcely dared to look the invalid in the face, had kept silence. And +indeed he knew nothing definite; he left after insisting that he must +be permitted to watch the following night. There was no longer any +mention of his fixed idea that he was pursued.</p> + +<p class="normal">Here was a fresh instance of the power a pure and noble soul +can exert +over coarser natures. There was not a loud word heard in the house; +everybody moved about on tiptoe; a Sabbath-like stillness pervaded the +workshop beneath, only interrupted by the smothered grumbling of the +head journeyman, if the apprentice who was sent up stairs in his +stocking feet every two hours to inquire about Balder, remained too +long. Even the old gentleman in the second story had been to the tun in +person to express his sympathy for Edwin, and Madame Feyertag, the only +person who succeeded in seeing the patient, came down with tearful eyes +and declared that he looked like a young Saviour, and it was heart +rending to see such a picture of a man suffer so terribly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reginchen, as has already been mentioned, did not appear. The +maid-servant said she was ill. Such a thing was hard to imagine, but no +one had much thought for anything except whether Balder would ever rise +from his bed again.</p> + +<p class="normal">We must, however, except Heinrich Mohr, who in the deathlike +stillness +of the house listened for nothing more anxiously than the sound of +Christiane's door. But there was no movement or sound beneath, though +hour after hour elapsed and she had never before remained absent +without informing the pupils who came to take lessons at the house, and +who were dismissed to-day by the old servant, with a shrug of the +shoulders. The uncertainty became harder and harder to bear. He had +never passed hours so full of torture as these in the quiet sick room, +beside the friend to whom he could not even speak of his fears, for +Edwin's sole anxiety was for his brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">Evening had already come, when Mohr with a beating heart +suddenly heard +a carriage drive up the street and directly after rapid steps cross the +courtyard. Now the first flight of stairs creaked, a woman's light +footsteps could be heard upon them; they paused at the first landing +but Christiane's room was not the goal, for with light cautious steps +the late visitor mounted higher, reached the door of the tun, and +tapped lightly on it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin who was sitting beside the lamp, dozing a little after +his +sleepless night, instantly started up. "Come in!" he called softly, +forgetting that no one was allowed to enter the sick room. The door +opened, and Toinette's slender figure, wrapped in a silk cloak, glided +noiselessly in. Her first glance lighted upon the bed where Balder was +quietly sleeping, then she laid her finger on her lips and nodded to +the two friends, who had started from their chairs and were gazing at +her in astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Toinette--you here!--you've come yourself!" exclaimed Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush!" she answered. "He's asleep, I'm going away again +directly. But +I couldn't rest, I was determined to see how bad matters were. You +wrote me such a short note, that I haven't got over my fright yet. Tell +me, is he out of danger?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We hope so. But won't you sit down?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," she answered, now for the first time glancing around +the +dimly lighted room, with an involuntary sigh which betrayed to Edwin +how poor and uninviting the famous "tun" appeared to her. "I shall +disturb you!" she added in a whisper. "Only let me look at him once +more. Thank you," she added to Mohr, who had moved the lamp nearer the +sleeper. For a few moments all three were silent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's very handsome!" she said softly. "What a gentle face! So +that is +your brother! Do you know I should have known it instantly, though you +don't look at all alike. What pretty slender hands, one would never +think they had learned a trade; but he's moving, as if in pain; take +the lamp away, we mustn't wake him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Won't you not at least sit down a moment?" pleaded Edwin, who +could +hardly restrain his feelings. "I can't offer you a sofa though. Neither +philosophy nor the turning lathe has progressed so far as that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I can't stay. I kept the droschky waiting at the door +because I +only wanted to inquire in person. What a terrible attack! But at least +he does not suffer. What does the doctor say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment the invalid moved his head, raised it a little +from the +pillow, and slowly opened his eyes. His gaze was fixed upon Toinette, +whom he seemed to notice with quiet curiosity, but without surprise. +Whether he took her for some dream-vision, or whether he was really +awake, they could not tell. "How sweet those violets smell!" he +murmured. "Is it Spring already?" A faint smile lighted up his face and +then died away. Slowly, as if closed by some stranger's hand, his +eyelids drooped, and with a heavy sigh he sank back upon the pillows.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He thinks he has seen a vision, and will dream on about it," +whispered +Edwin. "I wonder if he will remember you to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't tell him I was here," Toinette replied quickly, drawing +her hood +over her head. "Goodnight. I'm glad I've seen him, I really could not +have slept without it." Mohr silently bowed. Meantime Edwin had lighted +a small lamp and was prepared to accompany her down stairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm making you a great deal of trouble," she said as she +slowly +descended the rickety steps, "but one might easily break one's neck +here. And then, I've something to tell you, a request to make, but you +mustn't be angry with me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What can I do for you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's not for me, it's for your brother. Things must not go on +so, he +ought to have a change, he can't spend the winter in that oppressive +atmosphere. I'm angry with myself for having managed so badly, lived so +recklessly. A fortnight ago I should have been twice as rich. But +you'll certainly treat me like an old friend and take what I have, that +he may go to some warmer climate, if not to Cairo or Madeira." He stood +still on the stairs. The hand which held the light trembled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you, Toinette? What is to become of you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's a matter of no consequence. Surely you know that 'My +Highness' +must end sooner or later, and I shall not have been utterly useless at +last."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Toinette! What are you saying! You're jesting, and I--in all +seriousness, do you suppose I would accept your offer?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You would be very unwise if you did not. Do you call yourself +a +philosopher and still cling to such foolish prejudices? What can one +human being give another that deserves less thanks than miserable +money? I thought you despised it as much as I. But I see you're no +wiser than other men, who don't hesitate a moment to take everything +from a girl, love and life and honor, but who when the point in +question concerns a few paltry pieces of money, become stiff-necked +from an incomprehensible pride. Go! I see you don't love your brother +even as well as I do."</p> + +<p class="normal">In her indignation she ran down the stairs and crossed the +courtyard so +rapidly, that in following her his candle was blown out.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he helped her into the carriage, he whispered: "We'll +discuss this +matter another time. But whatever I do or leave undone, I thank you, +Toinette, thank you from the bottom of my heart, for having been so +sisterly, so kind, so--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush," she said. "Go back to your ugly tun again. I'm not at +all +satisfied with you, and am not to be conciliated by fine words so +easily. Reflect until to-morrow. I shall see you again toward evening."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, dearest," he answered hastily, "you must not do that. +Beautiful +and worthy of you as it was to cast aside all scruples to-day, you must +not again expose yourself to gossip without cause. Did you see good +Madame Feyertag's face as we passed the shop door? I can't bear to have +people form such an opinion of you, and besides--suppose he should see +you when in the full possession of his senses and fall in love with +you? One fever is enough isn't it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're a fool," she answered laughing, but instantly becoming +grave +again; "but if you'll write every day and give a full, very full +account of him, I'll stay at home. But reflect upon what I said to you. +Good night."</p> + +<p class="normal">The droschky drove away, and Edwin looked after it till the +dim lamps +vanished around the corner. For the first time in all these weeks it +did not seem to him impossible, but rather it seemed a blissful +certainty, that the ice between them would be broken and a spring time +arrive, which would make amends for all his tortures. At this moment +everything, even Balder's fate, receded into the background. Bare +headed and without a cloak, he stood for a long time in the gloomy +street, as if intoxicated by contending emotions, and did not feel the +first flakes of a November snow storm fluttering down upon him.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Christiane did not return home at all that night.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr, who had insisted that Franzelius must exchange with him +and give +him the night watch, again sat at the window through all the long dark +hours uttering not a word, his eyes fixed steadily upon the door into +the courtyard. When Edwin, toward morning, started from a short +slumber, he found him still in the same position; his eyes were red and +fixed, his face grey and haggard. He gave contradictory, half comical, +half sulky answers, and altogether behaved so strangely, that Edwin, +who had no suspicion of his state of mind, declared he was sick and +insisted that he must go directly home and to bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">He obeyed as mechanically as an automaton. In the courtyard +below, the +maid-servant met him, and he learned from her that Madame Feyertag had +received a note from Fräulein Christiane early that morning: the young +lady had been obliged to set out on a journey very suddenly, and it was +uncertain when she would return.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr nodded and acted as if the news had no special interest +for him. +Nevertheless he entered the shop, where Madame Feyertag was standing, +under the pretext of inquiring for Reginchen's health. She was getting +better, her mother said; it was only affectation, the whimsical child +seemed to think it a joke to fold her hands in her lap and let herself +be nursed. Then the conversation turned upon the music teacher, and her +note was shown. It was written in pencil, evidently in great agitation, +but afforded no farther clue.</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr Feyertag also came in. He was very much depressed and his +Schopenhauer wisdom seemed to have left him entirely in the lurch, for +his whole heart was bound up in Reginchen, and this was the first time +the child had caused him the slightest anxiety. He did not speak very +kindly of Christiane, for whom he had always expressed the highest +esteem. He would never let an interesting woman lodge in his house +again. That had hitherto been his maxim, for women must above all +things be women, and the strong minded ones, who lived alone, played on +the piano, and were taken up with the sorrows of the world, did not +exactly belong to the "weaker sex"--with or without moustaches--His +good wife cast a significant glance at him, and shrugging her shoulders +said "We know why you prefer weak women, Feyertag. Instead of talking +such stupid nonsense, you ought to go to the police and ask if they +know anything."</p> + +<p class="normal">The faithful friend left the house with a still heavier heart. +He told +himself many times, that all this was perfectly intelligible, that +nothing was more natural than this sudden departure, that the movements +of musicians were perfectly unaccountable, and November weather no +hindrance if the point in question were a duty toward friends and +relatives. Might not a sick friend have summoned her, or her assistance +been requested at some concert in the country? Nothing was more +probable. And yet, when he thought of her passionate outburst in the +Pagoda, her sudden disappearance--why, if all were well, should he have +this heavy heart, why should he be visited with this mysterious +anxiety, which oppressed his breath, and aroused a hundred sorrowful +ideas?</p> + +<p class="normal">He got through the day as well as he could, found an +opportunity to +question Adèle, who also had not seen her friend since the excursion, +and, as it grew dark, betook himself once more to the tun, where he +felt most at ease. If she returned, he would at least be near her and +would know it; this was his secret thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">The day seemed to have passed tolerably well. Marquard was +satisfied, +Edwin said. How Balder felt when not asleep, was difficult to +determine. He had not said anything except that he was very +comfortable, but they knew him well, he had always concealed his +sufferings. Fortunately he slept most of the time, and without +narcotics. Entire exhaustion of all the vital powers seemed to have +followed the attack.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was still sleeping, when in the evening a very timid knock +summoned +Edwin to the door. In the passage outside, where a small lamp lighted +the stairs, stood a figure wrapped in a narrow, old-fashioned cloak, +with a high collar, in whom Edwin did not recognize the zaunkönig until +the embarrassed little gentleman mentioned his name.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had only heard of Balder's serious illness that noon, when +one of +the apprentices brought him a pair of shoes, but had had no rest since, +and his daughter and Frau Valentin who was with them, had both urged +him to inquire immediately in person. He was also to ask whether the +ladies could be of any assistance in nursing or sending delicacies; +Frau Valentin placed at their disposal her whole store of jellies and +her cook, who had had a great deal of experience in preparing food for +the sick. He said all this in such an earnest, beseeching tone, that +Edwin pressed his hand with deep emotion. He would certainly remember +this kind offer when Balder was convalescent. Would he like to see him +a moment?</p> + +<p class="normal">The little man entered the room on tip toe, bowed courteously +to Mohr +whom he did not know and then stood motionless beside Balder's bed. +Suddenly he turned away, drew out his handkerchief and made every +effort to stifle in its folds the agitation that found vent in +passionate tears. When this was no longer possible, he hastily waved a +farewell to Edwin and hurried to the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's forgotten his hat," said Mohr. "I'll follow the good old +fellow +and see that he gets down stairs safely, I was going away at any rate, +Edwin. Our tribune of the people will probably soon be here." On the +landing before Christiane's door he overtook the little artist, who had +paused to collect his thoughts and dry his wet face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've brought you your hat, Herr König," said he.</p> + +<p class="normal">The artist nodded his thanks, put his hat on mechanically, and +then +slowly descended the staircase. He seemed so absorbed in thought that, +contrary to his usual courteous custom, he took no notice of his +companion.</p> + +<p class="normal">But on reaching the street before the house, where Mohr was +about to +take leave of him, the artist suddenly seized his arm, and said: "If +you have time, my dear sir, I beg you to walk a few steps with me. I've +something to tell you. You're an intimate friend of both brothers. The +Herr Doctor often mentioned your name. Perhaps, too, you know how it +happened that I--that I found myself compelled to stop the lessons he +gave my daughter. My creator knows it was no easy matter for me--or my +daughter either, as you may well believe. It was like punishing her +when she felt perfectly innocent. But that's not the point; to one who +loves his child--but it ought not to be a chastisement for does not our +heavenly father deny us many dear and precious things, we know not why? +Of course I don't mean to compare our human wisdom with the infinite +wisdom of God; I only say all this because perhaps you have thought me +hard hearted. Indeed I'm not; I've probably suffered even more than my +dear child; but I did not dream that she'd take it so much to heart. I +tell you she has altered beyond recognition, become a totally different +creature, not like a girl of eighteen or nineteen, but a wearied soul +for which all the happiness of this world is past. My heart bleeds when +I see her wandering about, uncomplaining, often even wearing a smile, +but so pale! And that's why I couldn't restrain my tears when I saw +your friend's brother lying on his couch of pain, I don't know how it +happened, but I couldn't help thinking suppose my child, my Leah, +should lie before me so, and I--an old man--no, no, my God--thy mercy +will spare me that, this cup--" Overpowered by his feelings, he stood +motionless with his face buried in his hands. To rouse him from his +grief, Mohr at last said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wanted to tell me something?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes indeed," replied the little artist, recovering his +self-command. +"You see, I'm aware your friends have no superabundance of money, and a +sickness--you understand what I mean. I'm still in the Herr Doctor's +debt. If you could induce him, at least now--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I doubt whether my friend would hear of such a thing, my dear +sir. But +you need feel no anxiety. We're a sort of communistic society, and +where Balder's interests are concerned Edwin is not too proud to +receive help from his friends."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's just it," sighed the little artist. "If he only knew +what good +friends he has outside of your circle. Frau Valentin--an excellent +woman, believe me, has in spite of everything the highest esteem for +this admirable young man. But you see, as he so openly rebels against +being called a child of God, and doesn't even recognize a heavenly +father, can you blame an earthly father if he does not want his only +daughter's inheritance of the kingdom of heaven argued and +philosophized away? She's so young, ought she to surrender her mind and +soul to a man who knows nothing, and wishes to know nothing of God? +Isn't it better for her temporal welfare to suffer, rather than her +soul should sustain an injury?"</p> + +<p class="normal">At any other time Mohr could scarcely have refrained from +arguing with +the little artist and driving him into a corner. Now as he slowly +walked beside him through the rude November storm, he only listened +with half an ear. His thoughts were far away, yet at every muffled +female figure whose gait and bearing had the most distant resemblance +to Christiane's, he involuntary started.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If the hard winter were only over," the artist prattled +frankly on, +without taking the slightest umbrage at the silence of his gloomy +companion. "Well, with God's favor, we shall soon see another Spring +and then I shall no longer be anxious about my daughter. The doctor +thinks change of air, amusement, and journeying, would restore her more +quickly than any other remedy. A few months ago, this opinion would +have startled me. A poor artist, who has never been prosperous or had +particularly rich patrons--dear me, how could he obey such +prescriptions? But when the need is greatest, God's help is nearest; +that has been made manifest to me afresh. Just imagine, my dear sir, +what has happened. I had only one little picture at this year's +exhibition, which closed a fortnight ago--the times have been very +bad--I was obliged to devote myself exclusively to my remunerative +labor, wood engraving. Well, as I said before, I couldn't make up my +mind to be entirely unrepresented in the exhibition, although I should +hardly have been missed. So just before the doors closed I finished a +little picture, one of my zaun pieces, which perhaps you've seen here +and there. My speciality, my dear sir, in which I'm safe from +competition. But what happened? On the last day, when I had wholly +resigned all hope of selling my zaunkönig this time, in spite of its +moderate price of forty thalers, and was walking resignedly through the +hall, thinking: 'no wonder you're left; almost all the others are +better,' I saw three gentlemen standing before my little daub, engaged +in eager conversation and pointing so frequently to the picture, that I +at first thought they were making fun of it; but no, they talked as +gravely and earnestly as if they were standing before some master piece +from which a whole theory on aesthetics might be demonstrated. I now +recognized one of the gentlemen, a well known connoisseur in art, Baron +L., and he also recognized me and whispered something in the ear of the +taller of his two companions, who had a very aristocratic air, after +which they continued to converse for some time in a low tone, the +aristocratic gentleman looking at me through his eye glasses, till I +was really embarrassed and tried to slink away. But the baron called to +me and begged me to return, he wanted to introduce me to His Highness, +Prince Batároff, who wished to make my acquaintance. Well I couldn't +escape, I was obliged to answer a multitude of questions, especially +about art, how I painted, what my thoughts were while painting, and +even <i>why</i> I painted, as if that were not as much a matter of course, +to an artist as eating and drinking. At last, after the prince had said +something in Russian to his companions, he asked me what I earned a +year by my pictures on an average. I quickly made a rough estimate and +named the sum, which of coarse is no princely revenue, and on which +alone I could not live. Upon this His Highness said: 'Would you pledge +yourself, Herr König, on your word of honor, to give everything you +paint to me, and not touch a brush without my orders? In return I would +give you a regular yearly income, four times the amount of the sum you +have named. But you understand me: if you should break your promise--' +here the professor interposed and said that was not to be feared from +me, that I was known to be a man of principle and religion, but he +winked at me to accept the offer without a moment's hesitation. Tell me +yourself, my dear Herr Mohr, could I have justified my action to my +child if I had delayed? I joyfully agreed to the proposal, and am now +in a situation to take my daughter to Switzerland next May, perhaps +even on a little trip into Italy. Wasn't I right in saying that the +ways of Providence are wonderful?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wonderful indeed," replied Mohr, "so wonderful that in your +place I +should have been curious to discover the connection of affairs. As you +acknowledge that your paintings are a specialty, how do you account for +this Russian patron's fancy for getting a whole brood of zaunkönigs?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I asked the baron that question directly afterwards; for +between +ourselves, the prince didn't seem to me exactly in his right mind, and +I thought it wrong to profit by a monomania. I know very well that I'm +only a mediocre artist, many of my works I can't endure myself. But the +baron quieted my scruples. My salary was no more to the prince than the +bottle of wine which I certainly should not grudge myself on a holiday, +is to me. Besides, he had a very shrewd head and was interested in my +artistic individuality, as he called it. Well, a man's wishes are his +own private affair. I'm now a Russian court painter, and the first +quarter's salary has been paid in advance, but there's nothing said +about an order and the sketch of my lagune, which I have sent and would +like to finish, has not been returned to me: 'it will do very well,' +was the answer. His Highness is still reflecting what he will order +first."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I congratulate you," said Mohr dryly. "If your opinion that +you're +only a mediocre artist were correct, it would at least be an <i>aurea +mediocritas</i>, a golden mean, with which one might well be satisfied."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear sir," replied Herr König good naturedly, without +showing the +slightest irritation, "all things must serve to benefit those who love +God. I submitted to my mediocrity, even when no Russian prince gilded +it for me. If all creatures were of the same size, all men, plants and +animals the tropical giants now to be found in some regions, what would +become of the bright, cheerful diversity in the world? Even to belong +to it, I consider so great a happiness that I think those artists very +unfortunate who wish themselves out of it because they have attained +only average success or even fallen below mediocrity."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr cast a keen side glance at him. Were these words, which +struck his +sensitive spot, intentionally aimed at him? Had Edwin told the little +gentleman anything about his symphony or comedy, and was this lecture +on contentment intended to put a damper on his fruitless zeal? But the +artist's bright innocent expression contradicted such a suspicion, and +made it impossible for the other to utter the sharp answer that was +already hovering on his tongue. Besides, while engaged in this +conversation they had reached the little house on the canal, and the +artist urged his companion so cordially to come in for a moment and +take a cup of tea, that Mohr in spite of his dejection, could not +refuse. Where else should he go? The wind was blowing from the river +with icy coldness, and all life on the banks seemed frozen. Nothing +awaited him in his lonely bachelor lodgings save a dark night full of +anxious dreams. So he allowed himself to be guided across the timber +yard, along the narrow path between the lofty piles of wood, toward the +door, from which streamed a faint ray of light.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Leah was seated at the table in her little sitting room; +before her was +the tea urn, and a closed book but she seemed to have been occupied +with neither, but entirely absorbed in her own thoughts. As the two men +entered she started up, her first glance fell upon the stranger, and a +look akin to disappointment flittered over her face. Had her ears +deceived her and made her suppose that Edwin was accompanying her +father?</p> + +<p class="normal">She did not speak, but with downcast eyes listened to the +report of the +invalid's condition. Her father introduced his guest as a friend of her +former teacher; she bowed in visible embarrassment. By degrees, +however, as Mohr himself thawed out and began to talk about his +university life with Edwin, she too became more at ease and performed +the duties of hostess with the most winning grace. The guest was very +much pleased with her, he even wondered that Edwin had never spoken of +her personal appearance, which was really worth mentioning, though a +sickly pallor made her seem older than her years, and her movements +when she walked, were weary and languid. After she had poured out the +tea, she took some sewing and sat down in an armchair at a little +distance from the others, not far from the niche in which her mother's +bust stood. A warm light animated the still features of the marble +image, and Leah's transparently pale complexion, especially when her +beautifully sparkling eyes were fixed on her work, made the semblance +between the living woman and the dead marble so striking as to produce +an almost uncomfortable impression upon the visitor. He again relapsed +into his own gloomy cares and presentiments, and if the little artist +had not continued the conversation with the most persistent +cheerfulness, the mood that prevailed in the pleasant room would have +become more and more dismal.</p> + +<p class="normal">But with each passing moment the zaunkönig seemed to become +more +comfortable in his nest. When Mohr, out of courtesy, asked to see some +of his work, he brought out of his studio with a diffidence with which, +however, was blended an air of quiet satisfaction, a large portfolio, +and began to spread the sketches before his guest. "These are old +designs," said he. "When my wife was alive, I was in the habit while +we sat together in the evening--the child yonder used to go to bed +early--of scrawling my fancies on a sheet of paper. They were not so +modest and tame as now, but took the boldest leaps and caricoles, as if +they belonged to a great artist who possessed the ability to execute +them. To be sure, even in those days, I knew that I was no Poussin or +Claude Lorraine; but when alone, after toiling honestly all day as a +mediocre artist, I would permit myself during the evening hours, to +dream of what I would paint if I were one of those great geniuses. Now +these fits come more rarely, and I'm slow to detain them. If I can't +wholly reform, I merely sweep a bit of charcoal over the sheet for a +time, and my sleeve effaces even the smallest trace."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr turned over the drawings, which were on rather an +exaggerated +scale, and the way in which he expressed his opinion of one and another +and detected the artistic idea in the often very imperfect lines, +seemed to delight the little gentleman greatly. When the cuckoo clock +struck eleven and the guest rose, with an apology for having already +remained too long, the master of the house most cordially invited him +to come again very soon, if their modest tea table had not seemed +tedious. The portfolio, he added smiling, certainly should not appear +again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear sir," replied Mohr, "I fear you would repent this +philanthropic offer, if I availed myself of it. I have a vein of that +'shelterless, restless barbarian,' and I like you too well not to spare +you a closer acquaintance with me. But no one can answer for himself. +If my own society becomes unbearable even to myself, I shall come and +beg to be allowed to sit quietly in this sofa corner for an hour. Your +tea urn sings so melodiously that in listening to it one quite forgets +what a discord usually prevails in this world."</p> + +<p class="normal">He shook hands with the father and daughter and left the +little house +in a strange paradoxical mood. "What is it that we want?" he muttered +to himself, as, insensible to the storm he stood beside the river, +gazing down into its gloomy depths. "This man, to whom everything seems +to work together for good, because as a well trained child of God, he +believes in time and eternity; who is satisfied with everything, his +mediocrity, his weakness, his skill and want of skill, who makes +a virtue of every necessity, even the heart-sorrow of his only +child,--does he deserve honor or detestation? Is not this yearning for +God, which ennobles everything to him, and shows him a paradise behind +every face, in reality only selfishness in disguise? Is not even this +piety, viewed apart from intellectual blindness, a fondling of self at +the expense of others? I, who enter this house for the first time, can +scarcely see the lovely girl without compassion and indignation at her +fate, and her own father, trusting that his dear God will again lead +the stray sheep back to the fold when the wolf has once been made +harmless, reconciles himself to see the beautiful, talented, patient +creature waiting away because her proper nourishment is withheld from +her. Really, we savages are the better men! If I should ever have a +daughter--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He did not finish the sentence. The wind suddenly dashed such +a whirl +of snow flakes into his face, that he was forced for a time to close +his eyes and mouth and cling involuntarily to the railing. When he +again looked around him, the storm seemed to have raged itself calm, +the moon even cast a misty light through the black clouds, and for a +moment revealed the houses on the opposite side of the canal, from +which, as it was now almost midnight, only a few lights gleamed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's time to go home," murmured the young man. "Every one in +the boats +below is already asleep. I wonder how a man feels who's born in the +cabin of a boat on the Spree and dies there, after gazing for sixty +years through his window into this <i>Cloaca maxima</i>!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He had not walked a hundred paces along the bank of the river, +when he +saw on one of the largest boats, loaded with wood, a crowd of people +pressing in excited but silent eagerness around a dark object on the +deck. From time to time the rays of a ship's red lantern flashed over +the group, revealing the broad faces of the fair haired men and women, +who were standing around something lying at their feet, and seemed to +be discussing what was to be done with it, but in suppressed voices, as +if it were a matter of great importance to settle the affair among +themselves.</p> + +<p class="normal">On one of the boat landings, directly opposite to the scene, +stood Mohr +endeavoring to discover the cause of this nocturnal assemblage.</p> + +<p class="normal">A woman's sharp voice suddenly became audible above the +confused +buzzing and murmuring.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let the wet lump bring us into trouble? No, indeed. We're too +smart +for that. That's the third charming gift this week. First the drunken +harper, then the new born babe, and now--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't scream so, mother," said a sturdy young fellow, who had +just +snatched the lantern from his neighbor's hand and turned its light full +on the face of the prostrate figure, "You'll bring the police upon us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That I will," cried the woman, "and at once. When we took +that sewing +girl out of the water last Easter, and I put her in my own bed and made +a cup of tea to restore her to her senses--what did the wicked minx do? +Stole six pairs of gloves from a shop the very same day, and because +we'd had her with us, we too got nabbed by the police just as if we +were receivers of stolen goods. And I'm to get myself into trouble +again by my kindness to strangers! God forbid. Let the police take care +of the whole brood of suicides. Carl, put on something warm and run as +fast as you can, till you find a watchman. We've taken a strange woman +out of the water, who was dead as a door nail, and the rest of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop," suddenly cried a hoarse voice. All turned toward the +landing +and to their astonishment saw Mohr leap down the steps and rush across +the narrow wooden bridge to the deck. The next instant he had snatched +the lantern from the captain's hand and fallen on his knees beside the +lifeless form. The light fell brightly on the pallid face, whose half +parted lips seemed still quivering with the agony of departing life. +The heavy eyebrows were painfully contracted, and only a narrow strip +of the eyes gleamed under the wearily closed lids. This rigid, almost +masculine countenance, had obtained in death an expression of gentle, +child-like helplessness, which exerted a softening influence even on +the rude minds of the sailors. Mohr dropped the lantern, which was +extinguished in its fall. For an instant the deepest darkness prevailed +on deck.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the boatman's wife, who had been completely silenced by +the sudden +interruption, had lighted the lantern, Mohr started up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How long is it since you found this lady and drew her out of +the +water?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not half an hour. But no one can tell how long she's been +floating," +said the man to whom the boat belonged. "I'd gone to sleep, and +suddenly woke and remembered that I had left my new jacket on deck, and +if the snow kept on it would be ruined by morning. As I went astern, I +heard something strike the boat like a log of wood. The lady must have +a hard skull or it would have been broken. Do you know her, sir?" Mohr +made no reply. He had enough to do to collect his thoughts and decide +upon what was to be done.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you a litter?" he asked. "You can make three thalers by +putting +the lady on it and carrying her a hundred paces to a house where she +will be received. I'll answer for the rest, and if the police should +afterwards find out that you didn't give them notice of the affair, +I'll take all the responsibility. But make haste, before it's too +late!--There, lay her flat on her back and cover her with this cloak. +And now forward--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Not another word was spoken. His hasty, imperious manner, the +promised +reward and the prospect of getting rid of the disagreeable business, +urged the sailors to the utmost speed. Two stout men lifted the +motionless figure on a flat frame, which was used for unloading baskets +of fruit, and fastened her firmly on it with a broad girdle. Her +clothes and hair were still dripping with water, as she was raised and +carefully carried up the steps of the landing. Then the bearers moved +swiftly forward with their burden, while the others remained on the +boats dividing the money among them. Mohr was the only one who followed +the bier. He had not trusted himself to touch the lifeless body, but as +it was raised he bent over the litter to keep it steady, and had +brushed her hand with his cheek; its icy coldness froze the blood in +his veins.</p> + +<p class="normal">He ordered the bearers to stop before the artist's little +house, but +was obliged to ring the bell at the gate of the timber-yard a long +time, before any one moved. How terribly long the moments were! Who +could tell whether a hundred seconds more or less might not decide +whether that motionless breast would ever again be heaved by the breath +of life?</p> + +<p class="normal">At last a door behind the wood pile opened, a flickering light +appeared, and the zaunkönig's voice was heard asking: "what's the +matter?" A very few words were enough to urge the kind-hearted little +man to breathless haste. His trembling hands instantly opened the +little door beside the gate, and without another syllable being +uttered, the sad procession moved along the dark path to the little +house.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">At this same late hour the boudoir of the singer, whose +acquaintance we +made at the Pagoda, looked very bright and cheerful. A candelabrum with +five candles was burning on the daintily spread table, at which the gay +beauty sat with her friend, resting on her laurels after the first +night of a new opera.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You were charming to-night, Adèle," said Marquard, as he +pushed back a +plate filled with oyster shells and rose to light a cigar at the +candelabrum. "Really, loveliest of witches, you improve in each new +part, and I shan't be surprised if one day you outgrow even me. But +you've one talent that compels my highest esteem: I admire it even more +than your acting, your singing, or the black art by which you make a +whole audience madly in love with you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And that is?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your talent for eating oysters. You laugh, Adelina. But I'm +perfectly +serious, believe me. I would engage to describe the mind and heart of +any woman with whom I had been ten minutes without any other knowledge +of her than eating oysters together, and never make a mistake--with the +sole stipulation that it's not her first essay in the noble art, when +even the most gifted person may set about it awkwardly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, and wherein does my merit in this direction consist?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"First call Jenny and let her carry away the bouquets which +have been +thrown to you to-day. The odor of champagne, Havanas, oysters and roses +all at once, are too much of a good thing and we shall have the +headache. Besides, I'm far from being vain enough to think the couch of +a beautiful girl softer, because it's strewn with rose leaves bestowed +by less fortunate admirers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're terribly <i>blasé</i>!" laughed the singer. "If you were +not so +amusing, I'd have discarded you long ago. But be quick, tell me your +oyster theory."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," he answered with a calm smile, leaning comfortably back +on the +little sofa; "some other time. The subject's more profound than you +suppose. All themes which trench on the boundaries between the sensual +and the intellectual are very subtle, and I've too much scientific +knowledge to make short work of such delicate things. Besides, directly +after your declaration that you only tolerate me because I'm amusing, I +should be a fool to deliver a lecture on the physiology of enjoyment, +instead of giving a practical illustration of the subject. You may do +me the favor of taking off your head-dress, child. You know I've a +foolish fancy for pulling your poodle head."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed!" she replied. "First give me a light for my +cigarette, and +then I want the explanation you promised me yesterday: the reason why +you'll never marry. You remember, I had to go to rehearsal and you to a +consultation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you've not already discovered the answer yourself? Oh! +Adelina, +your love for me clouds your clear intellect!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You insolent, conceited fellow! But he's incorrigible," +laughed the +girl, as she carelessly took off the heavy false braids and laid them +on the chair beside the wine-cooler. She really looked far prettier in +her short and now disordered curls.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There, now you're yourself again," said Marquard looking at +her +through his gold spectacles with unfeigned satisfaction. "And since +you've laid aside all deceit, I'll honestly acknowledge, that out of +pure sentimentality, I shall never marry; my tombstone will bear the +inscription: 'Here lies the virgin Marquard.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You and sentimentality!"--she laughed merrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure, my fair friend. Judge for yourself: don't you +think it +would be pastoral, that I should show sensitiveness if my wife were not +faithful to me? yet I myself should be just as devoted to polytheism +after marriage as before. I couldn't help it you see, but I'm too just +to expect that a good, virtuous creature would be satisfied with such a +small fraction of a husband."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As if the right woman wouldn't be able to improve you and +make you a +whole man and husband!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Improve me, my friend!" he sighed with a comical pathos in +his look +and tone. "In case you should ever want a faithful husband, let me warn +you to beware of doctors in choosing one. We really ought to take a vow +of celibacy, like the Catholic priests. The man to whom you confess, +must be either a stone or a saint, to escape the contagion of your +sins. And yet I'd rather listen to the symptoms of an ailing heart, +than hear of a contusion on the knee. Why do you move away from me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because you're a very frivolous fellow and have had too much +champagne. Besides, it's late."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Too late--to go. I left word at home that my servant needn't +expect +me. As I fortunately have no wife, I'll for once be as comfortable as +other married men and sleep for one night without being disturbed by +domestic troubles or by other people's. Here I'm no doctor, here I'm a +man and may be permitted to act like one." He threw away his cigar and +tenderly approaching the young girl, took both hands in his and swung +them to and fro.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment Adèle's maid entered, holding a card in her +hand. "The +gentleman's in the ante-room and earnestly begs to see the Herr +Doctor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell him he may go--Why did you say I was here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He didn't ask me. He gave me the card at once, in spite of my +denial--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mohr! Good Heavens, what brings him here at this hour! If +Balder--excuse me, Adèle, but I must see what the trouble is." He +rushed out of the door so hastily, that he upset the basket in which +Adèle's little terrier was quietly sleeping. While she tried to still +the loud barking of the frightened animal, Marquard had hurried into +the ante-room with the question about Balder on his lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe all is going on well at the tun," said Mohr. "But +you must +come with me at once: some one has met with an accident--we've not a +moment to lose."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Holloa, my friend!" replied Marquard, suddenly relapsing into +his +usual indifferent tone. "If that's all, four houses beyond, on the +right hand side as you go out of the door, lives a very worthy +colleague of mine, who has little practice as yet and probably will be +more inclined at this moment to obey your philanthropic summons--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You'll come with me, Marquard," said Mohr in a hollow voice, +which +trembled with a terrible anxiety. "Christiane has drowned herself; +we've just taken her out of the river; God only knows whether it's not +already too late--" He tottered as he wearily gasped out the words; his +powerful frame seemed ready to sink, yet he did not take the chair +Marquard pushed toward him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You ought to have said so at once," grumbled the latter. +"That's quite +a different matter. Sit down two minutes, I only want to get my hat. +The child in there needn't know anything about it yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">An instant after he came out of Adèle's room, and not a word, +not an +expression of his grave face betrayed any remembrance that he had been +so rudely interrupted in his bacchanalian levity. When they were +sitting together in the droschky, whose driver incited by Mohr's double +fare, drove at a furious pace, he said to his silent, gloomy companion:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Among all the painful and unpleasant tasks expected of us +physicians, +nothing is more sad, at least to me, than to do my duty in such a case +as this. Every one owes Nature a death. But to arouse a poor fool, who +thinks he's settled his debt and compel him to count out the whole sum +again, because he didn't pay it the first time in the current coin of +the country, is really a contemptible business, and enough to disgust +one with the whole trade. I've been called in on such occasions four +times, and amid all the rubbing and manipulating, have always wished my +efforts might be vain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope this time, you'll--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You need have no anxiety. The professional spirit is stronger +than +philosophy or humanity. <i>Tiat experimentum et pereat mundus</i>, that's in +this case: <i>vivat</i> a poor creature who has nothing to live for, but +every reason to curse existence. Christiane! Have you any suspicion +what induced her to do this? To be sure, we ought to remember that she +has a fancy for taking French leave of pleasant company. Is anything +known of her circumstances? An unhappy love affair? But you're like the +statue of the Commandant!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pardon me if I'm a poor substitute for the society you've +just left," +faltered Mohr. "I--my nerves are no longer the strongest; this has +taken a violent hold upon me; between ourselves, Marquard, this girl, +who seemed by no means attractive to the rest of you, <i>I</i> loved very +dearly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My poor boy!" murmured the physician, as in the darkness he +took +Mohr's cold hand and pressed it gently. Then no more was said. Mohr +threw himself back in one corner of the carriage and buried his face in +his handkerchief. When they alighted at the timber-yard, Marquard saw +that it was flushed and wet with tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">The little artist was standing at the open door of the housel +"At +last!" he exclaimed. "We're nearly dead with anxiety and impatience. +However there really seems to be some hope. Leah thinks she's beginning +to breathe. Turn to the right, if you please. We've laid her on my bed +in the studio."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stay outside, Heinrich," said Marquard, "and I don't need the +young +lady either. I shall manage better alone." He gave a few directions, +said a soothing word to Leah, who was gazing at him with a strangely +intent expression, like that of a somnambulist, and then proceeded to +his difficult task.</p> + +<p class="normal">The three were now once more together in the very room where, +a few +hours before they had chatted so comfortably around the tea table. But +no one broke the silence. The artist had seated himself opposite to the +bust of his dead wife, and seemed to be questioning the mute features +about the eternal secret of life and death. Mohr, with his hands +crossed behind his back, paced restlessly up and down the room like a +caged lion, pausing at every dozen steps as if to listen. Leah sat at +the window, gazing out into the storm. She did not move a limb, her +eyes were closed, but not for a single second did she lose her +consciousness of what was passing around her. The cause of this +paralysis was neither bodily exhaustion nor the stupor that often +follows great excitement. When she removed the clothing from the +stranger's motionless body to wrap it in blankets, she had found under +the wet corsets a small, leather case, fastened with a red ribbon. +Thinking it might contain a letter which would give some cause for her +mad act, or a card with her name, which Mohr had not thought to tell +them, she opened it, unnoticed by the others. It contained neither +letter nor card, but a photograph stained, to be sure, by the water, +but in which she nevertheless recognized at the first glance--Edwin. We +need add nothing farther to explain why she sat so absently at the +window hour after hour.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last--it was probably about four o'clock in the +morning--they heard +the door on the opposite side of the entry open, and directly after +Marquard entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good morning," he said dryly. "We've won the victory and +driven the +enemy from all his positions. My adjutant, your excellent old servant, +Herr König, has orders to pursue him and clear the battle field of all +marauders. I'm going home to get a few hours sleep, and I shall then +have the honor of seeing you again."</p> + +<p class="normal">He bowed carelessly and left the room. As he was groping in +the dark +passage to find the door, he suddenly felt himself seized from behind +and clasped in two trembling arms. Mohr lay sobbing on his neck.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Balder's convalescence was more rapid than could have been +hoped for. +At the end of a fortnight it had progressed so far that he was able to +sit up a few hours and, though with the greatest caution, employ +himself a little, read, and take part in quiet conversation. His +youthful vigor seemed to kindle anew and pervade all his organs with +vital strength. He had never seemed more cheerful than during these two +weeks, never more winning than when he acknowledged the affection shown +him by even the merest acquaintances. When Frau Valentin, who had daily +supplied him with strengthening broths, jellies, and the most delicate +game, was at last on the tenth day after his attack, permitted, as a +reward for her motherly care, to see him five minutes, the short visit +was enough to make the worthy lady fairly in love with her ward. Every +day Madame Feyertag's first business was to go to the tun to inquire in +person how he had spent the night; light a fire in the stove, because +the girl made too much noise and Reginchen still avoided the room, and +to water the beautiful palms, which Toinette the day after her visit +had sent to the tun, to delight the invalid's eyes. She did not come +again herself, but the dwarf with the pale blue eyes was sent every +noon for the latest bulletin, which Edwin, faithful to his promise, +wrote every morning. These lines were the only bond of intercourse +between them. He had vowed not to leave Balder's side again until he +should be well, with the exception of the hour at noon, when he +delivered a lecture, at which time, his place was supplied by one of +his friends. Either Mohr came to play chess, or Franzelius, who no +longer seemed to have any other occupation, sat down beside him with a +book and read aloud, an accomplishment of which he was a master. But +not a word was exchanged with the patient on the subject that engrossed +the thoughts of both. The names of Christiane and Reginchen never +crossed their lips, and even the little artist, who often looked in, +had agreed with Mohr that the unhappy girl's fate ought not to be +mentioned in the sick room.</p> + +<p class="normal">One beautiful sunny day in November, Edwin had set out on his +daily +walk to the university, and Franzelius was preparing to read aloud from +a translation of Sophocles, when Balder, who was reclining near the +window in a comfortable arm-chair sent by Frau Valentin, suddenly laid +his pale slender hand on the book and said: "We won't read to-day, +Franzelius, I'd rather talk about all sorts of things with you. I feel +so well that it's not the least exertion to speak, and the sun is +shining so brightly in the clear sky! Only to see that, is such an +incomparable happiness that to enjoy it one would gladly endure all the +evils of this life. Don't you think so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can't look at it without thinking that it shines equally on +the just +and the unjust, and beholds much more misery than happiness," replied +the printer, looking almost defiantly toward the sky. "I wish it would +die out once for all, and with it this whole motley lie which we call +life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Franzel," said Balder quietly, "you are wrong. Even if +the sun +knew what it was doing, in creating and sustaining life, there is no +cause for shame in such a work. Why do you call existence a lie, +Franzel? Because its end is so abrupt? But your existence had its +beginning as well and did that beginning ever bespeak a promise of +perpetuity? On the contrary my dear fellow, there is much honesty in +human life; it promises so little and yet yields us so much. Will you +censure it because it can't be all that we visionary or dissatisfied or +unjust people demand?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's no joy to me in living," muttered the other gloomily, +covering +his eyes with his broad hands. "As soon as one need is satisfied, +another takes its place, and he who ventures to differ from the +opinions held by mankind in general never finds repose."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And would life be worth the living if we were sunk in repose? +Is +sleeping, living? Or absorption in a dull dream of existence, such as +the beetle has when it climbs up the blade of grass to reach a +dew-drop--is that leading a worthy life? My dear fellow, if you drive +necessity out of the world, how unnecessary it would be to live!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're playing upon words."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I speak in sober earnest. A short time ago I read a +stanza, in +Voltaire, which, like many things he says to the masses, is drawn from +his deep hoard of knowledge and contains a pure gem of truth.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t4">"Oh! who could bear the harden of his life,<br> +The sad remembrance of the whilom strife,<br> +The threat'ning ills that hover round his way,<br> +If the dear God, to ease man of his pain,<br> +Had not so made him thoughtless, careless, vain,<br> +That he might be less wretched in his day.</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"Don't growl at the poor translation; its a hasty +improvisation which I +ventured upon because I know you can't bear French. The sense is +faithfully rendered, and it's a sense admirably suited to the +senseless. I know of but one way that leads to real unhappiness, and +that's when a person is vain and frivolous. And those lines contain +much wisdom for it is just those people who lack the strength to endure +sorrowful recollections of the past and anxiety concerning their +futures, that are so deeply indebted to Nature for the ability of +thoughtlessly and unconsciously enjoying their pitiful present. This +will not bring them happiness, it will only make them less miserable, +for the real bliss of living they will never learn to know. He only can +understand that who is capable of quiet reflection, or, if you will, +who is able to grasp the meaning of both past and future at once. +Perhaps, though you're exactly the opposite of vain and frivolous, even +you won't wholly understand life for a long time as I've understood it. +I have always been best able to enjoy life by retrospection; and +whenever I wished to thoroughly enjoy existence, I have only needed to +awake in myself a vivid remembrance of the various periods of my life; +of my laughing frolicsome childhood, when I was in the glow of perfect +health; then the first dawn of thought and feeling, the first sorrows +of youth, when they came to me, the perception of what a full, +healthful existence must be, and yet at the same time the resignation +to my fate which is usually easy only to men advanced in years. Don't +you believe that one, who can experience whenever he wishes such a +fullness of life in himself, to whom for this purpose everything lends +its aid, sorrow and joy, loss and gain, each showing him a new side of +his own nature--don't you believe, my dear fellow, that such a +fortunate man must consider it a mistaken conclusion, even if a +philosopher gave it utterance, it would be better not to be born. To be +sure, no one can deny that there are times when sorrow stifles the +desire for existence and excites an overwhelming longing for mere +unconsciousness? But oftentimes the greatest sorrow brings an increase +of our life experience; how could we otherwise understand the +triumphant delight which martyrs have felt under torture by fire and +rack. They felt that their torment only confirmed their confidence in +the strength of their own souls, pervaded as they were by an illusion +or a truth that their tormentors sought to tear out or kill. The worst +that could be inflicted upon them served to develope the highest +enjoyment of their personality. And so all the tragedy of life which a +shallow philosophy pronounces to be the misery of the world, is merely +another, higher form of enjoying life peculiar to lofty souls. When +death steps in at last, it's like the sleep that comes after a holiday, +when people have been so long in an ecstacy of delight that they are +weary at last and have no strength for future enjoyments." He was +silent a moment and wore a rapt expression. Then he suddenly said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"If the festival is over for me, Franzel, you must hold fast +to Edwin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What nonsense you are talking!" exclaimed the other. "You've +never +been on a fairer way toward recovery than now. Your sickness was a +crisis, Marquard said so himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes it was a crisis," replied the invalid smiling. "It will +decide, +indeed has already decided something. Life has pronounced judgement +upon this not very durable structure and written down its defects in +red ink. Do you really suppose that Marquard does not know as well as I +that the drama is played out? The slightest agitation, the least +imprudence--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Balder! what are you saying! These are mere fancies, perhaps +a passing +weakness--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You think so because I can speak of the end so quietly? You +ought long +ago to have credited me with as much strength as was needed for that. I +know how few are willing to rise from the table just when the viands +are most tempting. And indeed, Franzel, life never seemed to me so fair +as now. How many kind friends I have gained during these last weeks, +how much, beautiful poetry, and lofty and profound thoughts I have +enjoyed! But all that's of no avail, man must live and let live, and +there are doubtless others waiting to take their turn. If you are sad, +Franzel, I must wait for another time to make my last request; though I +do not know how long I may have to linger. But come, be sensible. You +know I love you dearly, indeed next to Edwin you have the first place +in my heart. But I do not need to take leave of my brother. My whole +life during the last few years has been only one long farewell. We knew +we should not always remain together, I at least was fully aware of it, +so we have enjoyed all our happiness, as it were, on account. But when +the end comes, I know how it will be; at first he'll be unable to +reconcile himself. And that's why I want to beg you to keep near him. +His needs are great, and there are not many who can fulfill them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And that is the first thing you ask?" cried the honest +friend, with +an emotion he vainly endeavored to repress. "But for Heaven's sake, +Balder, what sort of talk is this? You--you really believe--I--we--" He +started up and rushed desperately around the little table in the centre +of the room, so that the leaves of the palms trembled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You scarcely understand as yet all that I mean," continued +the invalid +quietly. "That you'll always remain his friend is a matter of course. +But, to give me any real comfort, you will have to make a sacrifice."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A sacrifice? As if I would not--do you know me so little?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know you to be the most unselfish man under the sun," said +Balder +smiling. "But it is just this very habit of never thinking of yourself, +that for his sake and mine you must lay aside, at least so far as you +can do so without being faithless to yourself. Do you know what will +happen if you go on as you have been doing? In two years, in spite of +your friendship, you'll not set foot in the tun."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I? But tell me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's a very simple matter: because you'll be thinking of your +friends +either behind prison bars or in America. Dear Franzel, must I tell you +why you're not fond of living? Because you believe that a man only +truly lives when he becomes a martyr to his convictions, I have always +loved you for this belief and yet I believe it a mistaken one. Test it +awhile; say to yourself that you aid many more by living than you could +by your martyrdom, and you will see that a man can guard his post very +bravely and self-sacrificingly, without fool-hardily summoning the +enemy by alarm shots. It would be an inexpressible comfort to me, if +you would promise for two years to let alone all 'agitation' and see +how affairs really are. There are currents in which it's a useless +waste of strength to row, because the boat floats onward of its own +accord, I know what it will cost you to do this. But it would be a +great joy if this last wish--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Say no more," cried the other suddenly pausing before his +friend, with +his tearful eyes turned toward him--"Balder is it possible, that +you--that you are about to leave us? And can you believe if that should +happen, that I could continue my life as if nothing had occurred. When +men can no longer behold the sun--do you suppose I could--that I +would--" Words failed him, he turned abruptly away and stood motionless +beside the turning lathe.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did not mean that I thought you could live on, the same as +before," +said Balder in a lower voice. "But you need a substitute for what you +resign. You must learn to be glad to live, and I think I know how you +would learn to do so most quickly. You must take a wife, Franzel!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I? What can you be thinking about? How came such an idea into +your +head? Just at this time too--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because it will soon be too late for me to earn a +kuppelpelz<a name="div2_04" href="#div2Ref_04"><sup>[4]</sup></a> from +you. True, I shall scarcely need it. I shall not feel cold where I lie. +But I should like to know of you're being warmly sheltered. And I know +from experience--I've been 'married' to Edwin---that the world looks +much blighter seen with four eyes than with two."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see," he continued, as his friend still stood motionless, +boring a +hole in the bench with a point of a file--"Edwin will find a wife in +time who will make him happy; then you would be left again with nothing +but mankind to clasp to your heart, and beautiful and sublime as the +idea is, it's not all you need--and that's why you get over excited, +and the thought of martyrdom overcomes your judgment. So I think a +little wife, who would know how to love and value you, would by her +mere presence instruct you every day in the doctrine that Edwin has so +often represented to you in vain: that you should husband your energies +for the future and not prematurely sacrifice your life without cause. +There is no danger of your becoming faithless to your convictions from +mere selfish pleasure in your home. And then how can a socialist who +knows nothing except from hearsay of family life, upon which basis the +whole structure of society rests, who knows nothing of where the shoe +pinches the father of a family, talk to married men about what they owe +to themselves and others?"</p> + +<p class="normal">As he uttered these words a bewitchingly cunning expression +sparkled in +the sick boy's beautiful eyes. He almost feared that Franzelius would +turn and looking in his face penetrate the secret design, the purpose +of attacking him on his weakest side; so, rising, he limped to the +stove and put in a few sticks of wood. While thus employed, he +continued in a tone of apparent indifference:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mustn't suppose I'm saying all this at random. No, my +dear fellow, +I've a very suitable match in view for you, a young girl who's as well +adapted to your needs as if I'd invented or ordered her expressly for +you. Young, very pretty, with a heart as true as gold, fond of work and +fond of life too, as she ought to be, if she is to wed with one who +doesn't care to live; not a princess, but a child of working people. +Haven't you guessed her name yet? Then I must help you: she writes it +Reginchen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Balder! You're dreaming! No, no, I beseech you, say no more +about +that, you've too long--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am astonished," continued the youth rising as he spoke and +moving +toward the bed "that you didn't understand me readily and meet me +halfway. Where have your eyes been, that you've not seen that you have +stood high in the dear girl's favor for years. Even I have noticed it! +I tell you, Franzel, the little girl is a treasure, I have known her +all these years, and love her as dearly as a sister, and the man to +whom I don't begrudge her I must love like a brother. Therefore, blind +dreamer, I wanted to open your eyes, that I may close mine in peace. To +be sure I'm by no means certain that you've not already bestowed your +heart elsewhere, and my brotherly hint may be too late. At any rate, +whatever you do you should do quickly for the young girl's sake. She +seems to have taken your long absence to heart, her mother says she is +by no means well yet, and eats and sleeps very little I should like to +see my little sister well and happy again before I--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He could not finish the sentence. He had been seated on the +bed while +speaking and now he laid his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, as +if wearied with the unusual exertion of conversing. Suddenly he felt +his hands seized; Franzelius had meant to embrace him, but instead, he +threw himself down beside the bed, and with his head resting on +Balder's knees, he gave way to such violent and uncontrollable emotion, +that the youth was obliged to make every exertion to soothe him into +composure.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last he rose. He tried to speak, but his voice failed. +"You--you're--oh! Heaven, forgive, forgive me! I'm not worthy!" was all +he could stammer. Then he started up and rushed out of the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder had sank back on the bed and closed his eyes again. His +pale +face was almost transfigured, he looked like a hero resting after a +victory, and for the moment did not even feel the pain in his chest. +The room was perfectly still, the sunlight played amid the palm leaves, +the mask of the youthful prisoner, suffused with a rosy light which +came from the open door of the stove, seemed to breathe and whisper to +its image on the narrow couch: "Die, your death shall be painless!" But +a sudden thought roused Balder from this anticipation of eternal +repose. He rose and dragged himself to the turning lathe, wherewith a +trembling hand be unlocked the drawer. "It's fortunate that I thought +of it!" he murmured "What if they had found it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He drew out the portfolio in which he kept his collection of +verses. On +how many pages was the image of the child whom he secretly loved +described with all the exaggerated charms with which his solitary +yearning had invested her; to how much imaginary happiness these simple +sheets bore witness! And yet he could now let them slide through his +fingers without bitterness. Had not his feelings been sacred and +consoling to him at the time? What had happened, which could strip the +bloom and fragrance of this spring from his heart? There would be no +summer, but did that make less beautiful the season of blossoming? He +read a verse here and there in an undertone, now and then altering a +word that no longer satisfied him, and smiling at himself for polishing +verses which no human eye had seen or ever would see. Many he had quite +forgotten, and now found them beautiful and couching. When he had +turned the last page, he took the pencil and wrote on a loose scrap of +paper that he laid in the drawer in place of the volume of poems, the +following lines, which he wrote without effort and without revision:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t4">Good night, thou lovely world, good night!</p> +<p class="t5">Have I not had a glorious day?</p> +<p class="t4">Unmurmuring, though thou leav'st my sight</p> +<p class="t5">I to my couch will go away.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Whate'er of loveliness thou hast,</p> +<p class="t5">Is it not mine to revel in?</p> +<p class="t4">Though many a keen desire does waste</p> +<p class="t5">My heart, it ne'er alone has been.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Delusion's veil of error blind</p> +<p class="t5">Fell quite away from soul and eye;</p> +<p class="t4">Clearer my path did upward wind</p> +<p class="t5">To where life's sunny hilltops lie.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">No idol false is there adored;</p> +<p class="t5">Humanity's eternal powers,</p> +<p class="t4">O'er which the light of Heaven is poured</p> +<p class="t5">Stand self-contained in passion's hours.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">High standing on the breeze-swept peak,</p> +<p class="t5">Below may I with rapture see</p> +<p class="t4">The land whereof no man may speak</p> +<p class="t5">Save him who fares there wearily.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">This is the rich inheritance</p> +<p class="t5">The children of the world shall own,</p> +<p class="t4">When crossed the wearisome expanse,</p> +<p class="t5">And fate's supreme decrees are known.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Oh! brother, who art seeking still</p> +<p class="t5">For love and joy, where I have sought,</p> +<p class="t4">I would your path with blessings fill</p> +<p class="t5">When to its end my life is brought.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t4">Ah! brother, could we two aspire</p> +<p class="t5">Together to the glorious height,--</p> +<p class="t4">Hence tears! some part of my desire</p> +<p class="t5">Is thine. Thou lovely world, good night!</p> +</div> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Suddenly Edwin's step sounded on the stairs. When he entered, +he found +Balder sitting before the stove stirring the bright fire with the +poker.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How do you do, child?" he said, with a brighter face than +usual. "What +are you doing? Where's Franzel? Have you been burning papers here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've been making up a little more fire," replied the youth, +bending +toward the flames to conceal his blushes. "It's beginning to grow cold. +Franzel went out a short time ago, probably to visit his betrothed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Our tribune of the people betrothed? The conspirator +conspired +against? And to whom, if I may ask?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You were right, Edwin, in your suspicion that something +unusual was +the subject of Reginchen's thoughts. It's still a secret, however. But +I'm very glad. They will suit each other exactly, I think."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well! how fast children develope! Our philanthropist +and woman +hater, and the little house swallow! This is news indeed! Well, I too +have something to tell. Just as I was coming into the house, the +post-man overtook me and handed me a letter, which, <i>entre nous</i>, is +worth fifty ducats: we've won the prize, my boy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your essay? That's very pleasant!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pleasant? Nothing but pleasant? I think your brotherly love +receives +the news of this miracle very phlegmatically."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because I think nothing more natural than that you should at +last be +appreciated. I've never doubted that you would be."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, child," laughed Edwin passing his hand caressingly +over his +brother's luxuriant hair, "if you should read in the newspaper +to-morrow, that a certain Dr. Edwin was made Grand Mogul, or what would +be still more wonderful appointed minister of public worship and +instruction, you would, in your famous blindness, lay aside the sheet +and say: 'I'm only surprised that the bright idea didn't occur to them +long ago.' Well then, you member of the <i>nil admirari</i> society, I can +venture to tell my second piece of news without fear of causing you any +special agitation. The faculty that were wise enough to assign the +prize to my essay, have been so well pleased with me that in spite of +my radical tendencies, they offer me a professorship. That is, for the +present only surreptiously. They have to struggle against all sorts of +eddies and tack constantly, to bring me through. But they think, if I +should come and show myself, certain orthodox colleagues, who believe +me a child of hell, would see that the devil is not so black as he's +painted. So I'm to come, see and conquer, and that soon, for the +professorship has been vacant ever since Easter, and they would like to +have the <i>collegium logicum</i> filled again during this winter session. +The salary is not bad, at any rate it's a piece of bread, though for +the present there's no butter to spread it with. Well, if we find we +can't live down prejudices now, it's a sign at least that the light +will eventually conquer the darkness, 'and the day of the noble hearted +(that is to say, your dear brother) will dawn at last.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Although it can't be done? But Edwin, I beg you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My child, that's very evident. We can't strike our tent in +winter and +travel fifty miles toward the south, with your poorly patched lungs, +especially as we don't know how the climate there will suit you. Ah! if +the tun could be packed up just as it stands, and sent as freight, +marked 'glass, this side up with care--!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">They were both silent for a time. Balder held the letter from +the +faculty in his hand and seemed to be reading it again. The prize essay +was mentioned in the most flattering terms, its special merits dwelt +upon, and a private letter added from the dean, in which he emphasized +the wish to obtain such promising young talent for the university.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin had gone to his desk and was beginning to cut a pen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you still studying the letter, child?" he asked +carelessly. "They +write in a very pleasant style in that neighborhood, don't they? Well, +we will do ourselves credit too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does <i>she</i> know it yet?" asked Balder, without looking up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She? What are you thinking about? I haven't seen her for a +fortnight. +Besides, what interest would she take in it? It'll be time enough to +tell her when I make my next visit, and she won't even be curious about +the prize essay. Such a duchess!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder quietly rose, laid the letter on the table and said: +"You'll not +hurt my feelings by refusing this, Edwin. I can spend the winter here +if necessary and join you in the spring. You know what excellent care I +shall have in your absence, and I shall never be really well again. But +the most important thing is to first talk the matter over with her. +There's no obstacle in the way now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Child!" exclaimed Edwin, throwing aside his pen, "do you want +to drive +me mad--that you represent as possible things, which once for all--But +no, it's folly to even speak of it seriously. Come, let's eat our +dinner, I hear them bringing it and since the knowledge has come to me +that we possess fifty ducats, I feel as hungry as a millionaire--or no, +millionaires are never hungry--I'm hungry as a man who has never seen +fifty ducats at once in his whole life."</p> + +<p class="normal">The door opened. But instead of the maid-servant who usually +brought +the dinner, little Jean entered, his round face with its staring blue +eyes half buried in the high collar of a thick pilot-cloth coat, his +hair carefully brushed, and his cheeks as red as Borsdorf apples from +exposure to the sharp east wind. He held in his hand a paper horn, from +which he awakwardly drew a bouquet of violets. "I'm to give this to the +sick gentleman," he said in his automatic falsetto voice, "and my young +lady wishes to know how he is."</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder took the bouquet from his hand. "Say that I'm very +well, and +that my brother will call himself this afternoon to express my thanks +for the beautiful flowers. And here--" he felt in his pocket and took +out the last thaler he possessed--"you've had to come up these steep +stairs so often--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The boy retreated a step. "My mistress forbid me to take +anything."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Say to her that we've won the great prize in the lottery," +replied +Balder smiling, as he put the thaler into the pocket of the boy's rough +coat. "And now go, give my compliments to your mistress, and this +afternoon--you understand?" The boy nodded gravely as usual, and bowing +respectfully left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What have you done!" exclaimed Edwin, as soon as they were +alone; +"Child, child, you force me to yield my head or at least my heart, to +the knife. What pleasure in being called Frau Professorin do you +suppose she would find?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Put the flowers in the water, Edwin, and then go to your +desk. They're +not meant for me. This afternoon will settle the rest: here comes the +dinner, and the news that this morning has brought, has made me hungry +too. How's Reginchen to-day, Lore?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She seems rather better," said the faithful old servant, who +had lived +in the house many years, smiling mysteriously. "At least I saw Herr +Franzelius go in an hour ago; and as he's there still and has even +dined with her, and as Reginchen first cried and then laughed, her +sickness can't be very dangerous. Goodness me, and I've carried her in +my arms!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">When Edwin entered Toinette's room that afternoon, he found +her seated +on the sofa, evidently absorbed in thought, for she did not look up +till he called her by name. A small box stood on the table before her, +and she was absently turning the key backward and forward in the lock; +her face was pale, and her eyes wore a strangely fixed expression. They +rested on the new-comer's figure for some time, as if she found it +difficult to recognize him; but it was only because she was forced to +make an effort ere she could withdraw the look that had long been +searching her own heart, and turn it again upon external things.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good afternoon, my dear friend," she said without rising, as +she held +out her hand to him, "have you come to see me again at last? That's +very pleasant, but the best part of all is that you can do so with a +light heart. What anxious weeks you have passed! Well, I too have been +very miserable and the worst of all is that no nursing or brotherly +love can help me. But let's talk of something else, of something more +cheerful. You have drawn the great prize? I congratulate you."</p> + +<p class="normal">He smilingly explained what had induced Balder to play this +joke upon +little Jean, but said not a word about the professorship.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter," said she, "it is pleasanter for you to have won a +prize in +a lottery where one must have more sense than luck if one is not to +draw a blank. And yet it's a pity that it was only a joke. It would +have consoled me for being unable to keep my promise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your promise?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To offer you the relics of my princely fortune, in case your +brother +should wish to travel toward the south. Although I've lived very simply +ever since then--see, this is all I have left. When I've paid my last +housekeeping bill, there'll be just enough left for a dose of opium."</p> + +<p class="normal">She had unlocked the little box and allowed him to look in. It +contained a few gold pieces and thalers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm glad you've some room," he answered in a jesting tone, +"or I +should not know where to keep my fifty ducats. Such splendor in our +lowly hut--you've now seen the famous tun--we've not as yet had any use +for a fire-proof safe."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Laugh on," she replied closing the little box. "But I'm angry +with +myself for having been foolish enough and weak enough, just before you +came, to weep over my bankruptcy. The stupid money really is not worth +the tears. But you see, that's the very reason a great prize is such a +splendid thing, because we've no longer any need to humble ourselves by +thinking and worrying about money. I'm ashamed of myself that I could +be so base, even for a moment. And now not another word on the subject; +tell me about your brother. Is he really out of danger?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin sat down on the sofa beside her and spoke of Balder's +condition, +of the hopes which Marquard had given, of the great love which all his +friends had shown him, and of the earnestness with which he had charged +him to thank Toinette for all her kindness. "Of course I thank you for +myself, also, dear friend," he added. "I imagine you wished to show me +kindness too. You knew what I suffered during those days, and that +nothing could give me more hope and courage than your sympathy. Will +you believe that amid all my anxiety for that beloved brother, I still +found time to miss you most painfully? If you had coldly remained +aloof, how I should have been forced to reproach myself for having +become half faithless to my brother, for the sake of a friend who was +perfectly indifferent to him!" She made no reply. It seemed as if she +had only half heard his words, and was brooding over a thought which +had nothing to do with him and his presence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're fortunate," she said after a pause. "You have some one +who can +make you both sad and happy. I--but do you know whom I have seen again? +The count."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin started up. His face suddenly grew pale. After a long +pause, he +said in a tone of forced indifference: "The count? In spite of the +unequivocal declaration you made by your change of residence--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! If you only knew him! Such a foolish man is not easily +rebuffed. +And I at least owe him thanks for having amused me, while you left me +all this time to grow melancholy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has--? You've received him here--allowed him to visit you +more than +once?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why shouldn't I? If you should see him, you would understand +that no +one can be less dangerous than this adorer. You know how fire-proof I +am; why I could spend a hundred years with such a lover, and my heart +would never beat one bit the faster! To be sure, at first, when, Heaven +knows how, he found me out and entered unannounced, I was extremely +angry at the intrusion and received him so coldly that he remained +standing at the door like a penitent and could not utter a word of the +apology which he had prepared. I said things to which no one else would +have submitted quietly. But he--at first he seemed utterly crushed, and +then he suddenly threw himself at my feet and faltered out that he was +a lost man, if I would not have compassion on him; that he had done +everything to prove how honorable his intentions were; he had forced +his mother, a very proud lady, to consent to receive me as her +daughter-in-law; his aristocratic relatives had caused him a great deal +of trouble, but he had at last succeeded in removing every obstacle +from the way, and now I rejected him and refused him all hope. And +then, still kneeling at my feet, he poured forth such a torrent of vows +and protestations, that I really didn't know whether to laugh at or to +pity him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Toinette! And you allowed him the hope--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I? If you think that you don't know me! When I found the +torrent of +words continued, all desire either to laugh or pity vanished, and I +very positively and curtly declared that I had not the slightest +inclination to become his wife, that if this would cause him +unhappiness, I was very sorry, but that I could not accept the +proposals of the first eccentric man I met, at the expense of my whole +life. This was my final answer."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And he still has the effrontery to annoy you? And you were +yielding +enough--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unfortunately, my friend, I'm much more kind-hearted than you +suppose. +The first time he returned after this, as I thought, final dismissal, +you could not have helped laughing yourself at the penitent manner, in +which he sneaked into the room after little Jean. I received him only +on the condition that not a word should be said about admiration, love, +or marriage. As for the rest why should I, a ci-devant duchess, deny +myself so cheap a pleasure as keeping a count for my court fool? I was +so lonely, so out of spirits. And as I said before, you can't imagine +anything more comical than his face and manner. He actually has no face +at all; when he's not here, it's impossible to remember how he really +looks, his countenance is exactly like those on the tailor's fashion +plates, his nose straight up and down, his month straight across, and +his whiskers just such as grow on the faces of I don't know how many +young noblemen. But now imagine this commonplace physiognomy beautified +by perpetual lines of grief, or rather by the attempt to look utterly +miserable, and you must perceive that there could be no more amusing +contrast. I abuse him as much as I can, say the most impertinent +things, refuse to even allow him to kiss the tip of my slipper, but +have never succeeded in rousing him from his devout submission and +adoration, I shouldn't be the daughter of a poor ballet-dancer and a +vain, idle, tolerably desperate creature, if such an aristocratic slave +didn't divert me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And how long do you propose to continue this delightful +game?" asked +Edwin, in a somewhat irritated tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">Instead of answering, Toinette opened a box and took out +several large +photographs. "These are views of his castle," said she. "Here, as it +appears on the heights above the forests; here's the courtyard, with +the carriage waiting and the young count's saddle-horse standing close +by--I call him young, although one never thinks of his age, for can a +man who never really experiences anything grow old?--And here are three +views of the interior: the dining-hall, the conservatory, and the +boudoir for the young countess. It can't be denied that he, or at least +his upholsterer, has good taste, but the master of the house is an +unwelcome addition to all this magnificence. I told him so to his face. +His only answer was a sigh."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And how long is this proceeding to continue?" Edwin repeated.</p> + +<p class="normal">Toinette threw the photographs back into the box and rose from +the +sofa. "You jealous friend; why should you desire to disgust me with +this innocent pleasure in the evening of my life. Haven't you looked +into my strong box? I do not wish to spend my days in gloom before the +last thaler is exhausted."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then? I thought we had agreed that we are superfluous in the +world, +when we can no longer be useful nor give pleasure to ourselves or +others."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And have you already gone so far?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Exactly so far. That is, I should, as he says, not only make +my count +happy but enable him really to live, if I would give myself to him. But +I ask you, what kind of a life would it be for us both! A quicker, +plainer, more unequivocal suicide would be preferable. And besides for +whom could and should I live? True, I believe you're an honest and +sincere friend, but haven't even you during the last few weeks, managed +to do very well without me? And would you be able to enjoy the little +pleasure my existence affords you, if you should see that I was +dragging out the most miserable days, under a burden of deprivations +and petty cares, which would crush my whole nature and at last destroy +me?" She had uttered the last words with increasing agitation, pacing +restlessly up and down the room. It had grown dark. Little Jean knocked +and asked whether his mistress wanted lights. "No," she answered +curtly. The boy noiselessly retired.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Toinette," said Edwin, "will you listen five minutes, without +interrupting me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Speak. I would rather listen, than talk myself. My thoughts, +when +uttered aloud, have such a strange sound, that an icy shiver thrills +me. Speak, speak!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've reached a point where you can neither stand still nor +go on, I +mean in the direction you have adopted. There's apparently but one +other course: to plunge into the abyss. But that's only the impulse of +despair, and you've no right to despair. Couldn't you first try to turn +back, take some other direction and see how far you could proceed? You +believe me to be a sincere friend; I also believe in my friendship for +you, although with all my honesty of purpose, I cannot think solely of +your fate, but also a little of my own, when I aspire to be something +more than your friend. Don't be startled. I know I should speak a +language you would not understand, if I told you of the deep, +unconquerable, and ever increasing passion, which from the first hour +of our meeting has taken entire possession of me and with which you +will bear witness, that I've never troubled you until to-day. I don't +envy the count the part he plays, but it would be just as foolish, to +maintain total silence in regard to this love that exists and demands +to assert its rights in so solemn an hour. I know enough of your life +to be able to cheer myself with the thought that no one stands nearer +to you than I. Is it so utterly insane to cherish the hope, that I +might in time become still dearer, that you might find it worth while +to continue to live, if you should share your life with me, belong to +me and find your happiness in mine? Dear Toinette, I'll not praise +myself: but all whom I have ever loved will bear witness that I'm to be +trusted. In other respects you know me; from the first I have always +appeared what I am, never either in a moral or intellectual sense, have +visited you in borrowed attire. If I did not know, that despite your +unfortunate love of display, you possess a soul, true, simple and +incorruptable, I should not be such a fool as to offer myself to you. +All I possess has belonged to you from the first hour of our +acquaintance, and I believe it will be enough to support you without +too many deprivations; the passion I feel has first made me aware what +a treasure of love I have, enough for the most exacting heart, and so I +do not speak to you as a beggar. Whatever you give me, I can outweigh, +even if a miracle should happen--your heart at last awake to me, and +all that nature has lavished upon you be merged into the best gift--the +power to love.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This probably surprises you," he continued after a pause, +during which +she sat motionless on a chair by the door, her face expressionless and +immobile. "I too have been taken by surprise, although for months I +have told myself that this hour must come, for in spite of your +peculiar situation and the amusing game you are playing with the count, +(Ah, Toinette it does not seem so absurd to me!) I should scarcely have +said what I have to-day, but simply continued to do my duty as a mere +friend, had not something occurred which unchains my tongue. A +professorship has been offered me. It's not only that I must go away +and therefore leave you behind--my whole future is secured. You know I +have no ducal aspirations. You have seen our tun and can understand +that he who has so long climbed that steep staircase without a murmur, +would not consider it a necessity of life to drive in his own carriage +through miles of woodland to an ancestral castle. Yet I should never +have expected you to climb to your heaven-upon-earth by means of such a +tottering Jacob's ladder. Now matters are different, and though my +means are still limited, my life on the whole will be quite endurable. +My brother, of course, would be the third in the alliance--" At this +moment little Jean entered and announced the arrival of the count. +Toinette did not seem to hear him, but when the boy repeated his words, +she said: "I cannot see him! Say I am not well!" The lad went out, and +they heard an eager voice in the entry talking with him, then the door +closed and soon after a carriage rolled away from the house. The room +was perfectly still. Toinette remained seated in the chair by the wall, +and Edwin on the sofa. He rose, and standing by the table seemed to be +searching for some word that might loosen her heart and tongue.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I understand your silence, Toinette," he said at last "You're +too +honest to hold forth hopes to me or to yourself in which you have no +faith. Hitherto you've liked me because I made no claims upon you. Now +I've confessed that I want all or nothing, and therefore have suddenly +become a stranger to you, an unpleasant monitor, from whom you must +defend yourself. Oh! Toinette, I feel what I've risked and perhaps +lost, but I couldn't help it; I owed this confession to you and to +myself; for the life I have hitherto led with you would if continued +consume and destroy me, and the sacrifice would not even have afforded +you pleasure, you're not vain and selfish enough for that. Why aren't +you, Toinette? Why are you this wondrous mystery, whose incompleteness +becomes a torture to itself? If you were a coquette, who found in human +sacrifices and in her triumphs compensation for all the profound joys +which can only rise from a deep heart, I should almost be grateful for +it; it would be easier for me to put an end to everything between us. +But no, send me away, tell me nothing more, I know what your silence +means, and I know that no words of mine can awake a feeling which +nature has not made possible to you." He moved, as if to leave the +room, but his feet refused to obey his bidding; he could only walk to +the window and stand there clasping with both hands the fastening of +the sash, and pressing his forehead against the pane. Just at that +moment, the young girl began to speak in a low, almost timid voice:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you angry, my dear friend, because I have so mutely +listened to +all this, to all your kind, earnest words, which I do not deserve, for +which I cannot even thank you as I ought? For you'll not believe how +much grief it causes me, that you are so kind, and I--I remain as I am. +Oh! you're right, it is becoming a torture to me, this defect in my +nature. It's like a spell. I've read of a girl apparently dead, who lay +in her coffin, surrounded by friends who were pouring forth their love +and sorrow, while she, with all her efforts, could not stir or hold out +her hand to her weeping friends, and say: 'I'm still alive. I love you +and will not leave you.' It's the same with me. Nothing ever caused me +so much pain as that you now wish to leave me, because you desire from +me that which I cannot give. And yet I should think I was committing a +crime against you, if I sought to restrain you. I could expect anyone +else to be satisfied with what I can give, be it little or much. But +you--I want you to have all you desire and need; you're worthy of +something better than to be weighted through life by such an unhappy +creature as I. My dear friend, if I were not perfectly sure that you +would repent it, that I should make you unhappy and in so doing go to +destruction myself, believe me, I would not hesitate a moment, even if +I felt I should be miserable, You've become so dear to me that I would +gladly forget myself to help you. But we must not deceive ourselves; +it's impossible! You're too sensitive to be able to endure happiness at +the expense of another." Then, after a pause she continued: "And yet +you're perfectly right, all this must have been uttered some day. But +it's inexpressibly sad that it should come so! Is there no help? When +we've parted now--is there no hope, that we may again meet in life, if +I still have a life before me, and clasp each other's hands like two +faithful old friends? Must the parting be for ever?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He turned and with a secret tremor, saw that she had risen and +softly +approached him. Her face looked out from the gloom with a touchingly +mournful expression; she stood like a child pleading for forgiveness, +with her arms hanging at her side and her head bent so low that her +hair fell over her temples. "Edwin," she said softly, extending her +hand and raising her eyes to his. His heart was burning with love and +anguish. "Oh! Toinette," he cried, "farewell, farewell! Not a word +more. All is said, the sentence of death is uttered!" Mournfully she +held out her arms to him; he clasped her to his breast, pressed his +lips to her soft hair, felt for an instant her breath on his neck, then +tore himself away and rushed like a madman out of the room.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">It was a singular coincidence that on the very same day and +almost at +the self-same hour another of the friends placed the decision of his +happiness or misery in a woman's hands, and received no more consoling +reply, nay was rejected in still more mysterious language than Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">It happened thus. Mohr had gone to the little house on the +lagune, as +indeed he did every day, to inquire about Fräulein Christiane's health. +Neither he or any other man had seen her since the night of the +accident; for she had positively refused even to receive Marquard, who +had saved her life. She sat in the small room behind the kitchen, which +the old maid-servant had given up to her; the single grated window +looked out upon the canal and the bare, blackened chimney. Here she +bolted herself in and opened the door only at Leah's knock, but +remained mute even to her kindly inquiries, and during the first day +sat like a statue on the stool by the window, with her eyes intently +fixed upon the sullen waters below. It seemed as if she considered +herself in a self-chosen prison, separated from the world for life. She +touched none of the food her nurse brought, except a little soup and +bread, and the only time she had spoken was on the third day, when she +asked for some work. Since that time sitting always in the same place, +she had sewed from early morning until late at night, mended +underclothing, hemmed handkerchiefs, and answered all the young girl's +timid entreaties and questions only by a pressure of the hand and a +gloomy shake of the head.</p> + +<p class="normal">The same cheerless report was all that could be given today. +The night +before, Leah had glided into the kitchen, listened at the door of the +room, and heard the poor thing moving restlessly to and fro, perhaps to +warm herself, for it was cold and she had refused to have a fire +lighted in the little stove. She had often groaned like one suffering +the deepest pain, and vainly striving to repress any manifestation of +it. Midnight was long past before all was still.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What will happen if God in his mercy does not perform a +miracle and +let a ray of his love and peace illumine the poor darkened soul!" +exclaimed the little artist, with a deep sigh. "Oh! my child, don't you +see I was right in saying that all earthly paths lead to darkness and +error, unless we humbly strive to seize God's hand and walk by his +side? This poor lost life! God forgive me, but I can scarcely help +agreeing with the Herr Doctor: who can tell whether it was well for +her, that we took so much trouble to recall her to existence?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Leah was standing beside her painting table, with her pale +face bent +toward the floor. She made no reply. Her heart was so heavy with her +own griefs and those of others, that had it not been for her father, +she would fain have wished herself out of the world.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My honored friends," said Mohr, rising from his chair, where +puffing +huge clouds of smoke from his cigarette he had sat for some time +absorbed in thought, "I too am of the opinion that something must be +done; we have given the mercy of God ample time to work a miracle. +Perhaps that mercy is held in abeyance; perhaps God is waiting to see +whether we will not ourselves move in the matter and assail the +difficulty with our poor human powers. And to do this, I at least, a +tolerably obstinate heathen,--no offense, Herr König--am fully +resolved."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you going to do?" asked Leah, looking up in alarm.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr stretched his herculean frame, as he was in the habit of +doing, +when after long consideration he had formed some definite resolution. +For a moment his muscular arms almost touched the ceiling, then he +buried his hands in his bushy hair and said, half closing his eyes and +drawing his mouth awry:</p> + +<p class="normal">"This Marquard may understand his trade well enough, so far as +the body +is concerned, but rubbing the limbs is not all that can be done. The +soul, which has been just as much benumbed by the accident, must also +be warmed by spiritual friction and moral mustard plasters; for in its +desperation it is still freezing in its death-like torpor, while the +body is already rejoicing in the flow of the thawed blood. I'll go in +and apply to this apparently dead soul, some of the restoratives we +ought to have tried long ago."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She will not admit you," said Leah with a sorrowful shake of +the head, +"and even if--have I not done everything in my power, by kind words and +the most sincere good will--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly, my dear Fräulein, but that's just it: you've +handled her +with gloves. I--now, I will try a ruder way. Devil take it! no offense, +Herr König, but really the evil one, if there is such a person, would +laugh in his sleeve and with good reason, if we let this poor soul, +which we've toiled so hard to snatch from his clutches, fall back into +them for want of aid. Here it's force against force, and a little +cunning into the bargain; if you'll knock, Fräulein Leah, and say you +want to come in and then let me step before you--such an innocent +stratagem will never be imputed to you as a sin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I fear it will be useless," replied Leah, "even if it does +actual +harm. At least I--but perhaps I don't understand." She went out, and +Mohr, with awkwardly feigned liveliness, followed her on tip-toe as if +bent upon some mischievous prank. Yet the hands he passed through his +hair trembled. When Leah knocked at the chamber door, a scarcely +audible voice within asked: "Who's there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I, dear Christiane," replied the young girl, "and I wanted to +ask if +you would allow--here is--"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment the bolt was drawn back, and Mohr, without the +slightest +ceremony, passed Leah and entered the half open door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here's some one else," he said finishing Leah's sentence, +"who would +like to inquire about Fräulein Christiane's health. Pardon an old +friend, that cannot endure to be always shut out by locks and bolts. By +<i>Styx</i>, my honored friend, you've not chosen the most cheerful +quarters. This dark cage is uncommonly well adapted to give the blues."</p> + +<p class="normal">Christiane was speechless. At the entrance of Mohr, who +instantly +closed the door behind him, she had started violently and fled to the +grated window, where she stood motionless, with her arms folded over +her breast and her eyes cast down; she almost seemed to be asleep. The +jesting tone died on his lips, as he saw the death-like pallor of her +face and the expression of hopeless suffering that dwelt about her +mouth and eyes. As he approached nearer and tried to take her hand, she +drew still closer to the window, sank into the chair which stood beside +it, and with averted face and shuddering limbs motioned him away. An +inexpressible compassion took possession of him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fräulein Christiane," he said when he partially recovered +from the +shock of such a meeting, "my visit is unwelcome to you; I'm sincerely +sorry, but the reasons for my intrusion are far too grave for me to +take leave of you at once, as well-bred people usually do under such +circumstances. The more quietly you listen, the sooner you'll get rid +of me. Will you listen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No!" at last burst hoarsely from her scarcely-parted lips. +"Go--leave +me--I've nothing to hear or say!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Allow me to doubt that," he answered with apparent composure. +"For in +the first place you are ill. The wisest sick people don't know what's +good for them, they are in a certain sense irresponsible beings. +Whether you have anything to say to me, I do not know, but I, have a +great deal to say to you. To begin without circumlocution: I know +you're angry with me, because I prevented you from accomplishing your +purpose and turning you back on this world, which for some unknown +reason, you wished to quit. Do you know why I took this liberty? Not +from common philanthropy. I should beware of grabbing the coat tail of +the first person I might see making the leap. No, my dear Fräulein, +what I did for you I did from common selfishness; for if you were no +longer in this world, it would lose it charms for me, like a quartette +from which the first violin was missing. Pardon the not very clever +comparison, but while your face is so ungraciously averted, I'm glad if +I can even patch my sentences together, without making any pretensions +to style." She still remained silent, with her forehead pressed against +the bare wall and her hands convulsively clasped.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know for what you have taken me so far," he continued +in a +smothered voice, as he leaned, against one of the bed posts and +secretly wiped his forehead, although the room was by no means warm. +"Probably you've not had quite so bad an opinion of me, as I of myself, +since I was vain enough to put my best foot forward as far as possible. +One thing however, you do not know: as a man I may be a tolerably +useless, superfluous and ill-made individual: but as a poodle I'm +remarkable. The few persons to whom I attach myself can never shake me +off, no matter what they do, or whether I'm agreeable or disagreeable +to them. And therefore, I must inform you, that it will be useless to +reject me, ill-treat me, or even plunge into the water again to get rid +of me; the poodle will leap in after you and bring you out again, even +if he's obliged to do it with his teeth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know that if you were to vouchsafe me a word, you would ask +by what +right I intrude upon you, what you are to me, why I annoy you with the +information of my poodle qualities? Dear Fräulein, I might answer that +I can no more give you a reason than the poodle could in the same +situation; it is mere instinct. But a still better reply would be this: +the misfortune of my life, dear friend, has been that I've always done +everything by halves. It grieves me deeply, that this time also, in +saving your life, I seem to have only half succeeded, and therefore I +wish to see if I cannot complete my task, if I devote to it all my +energies, my small portion of brains and heart and my large share of +obstinacy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't be offended by the not very choice mode I take of +expressing +myself, dear Christiane! You may believe that I'm in the most solemn +earnest. Do you know what I told the brothers in the tun, when I first +saw you and received that well merited dismissal you gave? I said that +you were a whole-hearted woman, for whom I had a great respect. And +this respect I still feel, and because I believe you to be one of the +rare women, to whom an honest man may without the slightest peril offer +his heart and hand--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush! Oh! for God's sake, hush!" she interrupted, starting +from her +rigid immobility. "Go, go--say no more--each word is like a red hot +needle piercing my wounded flesh. You don't know--you shall never +know--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nonsense, dear Fräulein! I shall never know! As if I wanted +to know +anything, as if anything I could learn would be able to change my +opinion of you! No, my honored friend, that would not be a poodle's +trait. His master may steal spoons, may be the saviour of his native +land; it makes no difference to the dog, he licks his hand with equal +respect. The motive you had for taking that premature cold bath, I +shall never ask to know in this world. Of course you were not entirely +yourself, you had been tasting some of the bitter wormy apples, that +hung on the tree of knowledge, and the cramps which ensued appeared +unendurable. So be it! That belongs to the past, you've rid yourself of +the indigestion by a violent remedy, and can gradually regain a taste +for the household fare life serves up on an average. Isn't this clear +to you, best, dearest of all artists? You would not be what you are, +would not play Beethoven as you do, if you had passed by all the +abysses and thorney hedges of this life safe and untorn."</p> + +<p class="normal">He waited a short time for some reply; then he tried again to +approach +her window, but she turned away with a shrinking gesture, as if he +would be degraded should his hands touch hers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, no!" she cried in a stifled voice. "You think a +thousand times +too well of me. I--oh! there's nothing that less deserves to live, that +is less able to endure life, than the wretched creature for whom you, +self-sacrificing as you are,--but no, draw back your hand; you don't +know whom you wish to raise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it so?" he said quietly. Then we must call things by their +right +names, that we may understand each other. Statistics and public +opinions unite in saying, that of all the women who arbitrarily seek to +leave the world, nine-tenths seek death from misplaced affection, +deceived, unrequited, or hopeless passion. Should your case be one of +these, the common prejudices of the world cannot prevent me from +placing my love at your disposal. I know you never can have done +anything base, half way, contemptible, which alone could degrade you in +my eyes, because it would destroy and give the lie to the image of you +which I cherish in my heart. Even if a misplaced love had led you into +the arms of an unworthy man, and indignant anguish at a piece of +knavish treachery, devilish villainy--He suddenly paused, startled by +the fixed, almost Medusa-like gaze, with which she looked him in the +face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you," she answered mournfully. "'Devilish villainy' +the words +are apt, very apt. It's only a pity that I can't tell you why they are +so. But that--that no lips would utter, save in madness, and +unfortunately madness will not yet come to me. Perhaps if I repeat the +words over and over, reflect how well they apply--but no, Fate is not +so compassionate! Into the mire with the worm, should it show any +desire to crawl. But to crush it, to give it the death blow--ah no! +that would be far too humane, too magnanimous for an adorable +Providence. Fie, how bitter this earth taste becomes on the tongue!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She shuddered, then started from her straw chair as if some +strange +power had rudely shaken her. "Can you still remain!" she exclaimed. +"Don't you feel that I must hate you more than any other human being, +just because you have restored me to myself, hurled me back to the fate +I thought I had escaped? It is such a refinement of mockery, that you +should come with your kind, warm-hearted desire to aid me now, when +there's nothing more to be saved. Ha! ha! ha! Perhaps if you stay here +a little longer, madness may come. Then you would have rendered a +service, which would atone for much. Won't you sit down? We'll have a +little music--a few false notes more or less--<i>pshaw</i>, what will it +matter? The harmony of the spheres will not be interrupted. Well? Don't +you like the idea? Why are you silent?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Christiane," said he, and the tone of his voice revealed a +firm, +inexorable purpose, "I will take my disagreeable face out of your +sight--for to-day! But rely upon it; you will see me again. You do not +know, cannot suspect what means a brave, honest man can summon to aid +him in healing wounds that seem to be mortal. Christiane, despite all +you have told me, I cannot give you up, cannot leave you to yourself; +and this terrible, incomprehensible fate of which you speak--only give +me time to struggle with it; I think I'm the stronger. Your life +belongs to me. You threw it away, and I, the honest finder, restore it +to you--if you despise it, it's mine. Only give me time! Only promise +me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing," she exclaimed with savage resolution, by which she +strove to +arm herself against his beseeching words. "My life is over. You will +never--never see me again!" She turned away and hid her face in both +hands, which she pressed against the iron bars. After a pause she heard +him say: "So be it; I will go. But every word I have said stands fast. +Henceforth your life is mine. I'll see who'll tear it from me." Then he +left the room. Leah and her father were waiting for him in the sitting +room. He passed on in silence, as if he did not see them, and the +expression of his face was so gloomy and menacing that neither ventured +to accost him.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>BOOK IV.</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">When, late in the evening Edwin returned home, he found Balder +lying +dressed upon his bed, with the little lamp, by which he seemed to have +been reading, beside him. His face was even paler than usual, his +features wore an expression of feverish excitement, and his limbs were +so paralysed by exhaustion, that he could only raise his head a little +to greet his brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What news do you bring?" he cried. "Nothing good? How is it +possible!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin approached his bed and bent over him. "Child," said he, +"you +ought to have been undressed long ago. Do you know that you're very +cold and pale? I've nothing now but you. If you play me any mischievous +tricks--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! Edwin I--But you, how do matters stand between you and +her? For +God's sake tell me! what has happened? What did she say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing new, child; nothing which could surprise us. But it +will be +better to say nothing more about it to-day. I've taken a long tramp and +feel very well now. Don't you see I'm perfectly calm! Why do you excite +yourself instead of going to sleep, as I am about to do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," cried the youth starting up in bed, while Edwin was +trying to +re-kindle the fire in the stove; "I want to know all! Do you suppose I +could sleep? Tell me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then, we had a thorough explanation and parted +afterwards good +friends, very good friends, but who, however, are resolved to avoid +each other in the future. That's all, my boy! There, the fire is +burning again. I feel terribly cold; and the night will be long and may +bring snow. So Mohr, whose specialty is getting up a heat, hasn't been +here! Come, we needn't grudge ourselves a little supper, now that we +have become capitalists. I'll call Lore."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've already provided for that," said Balder. "I thought--we +would +have a pleasant evening together. She put it all down on the bench by +the lathe--Oh! Edwin, is it possible?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, my dear fellow? That there are people, young ladies +especially, +who don't find your brother so lovable as you, dear enthusiast? Ladies +who would not prefer a tun and his heart to a fairy castle? Oh! child, +if I really were the human jewel your brotherly affection believes me, +don't forget how poor and tasteless the setting is, and that elegant +young ladies regard fashion more than material. Courage, old fellow! +We're too good to dispose of ourselves for less than our value; fool +that I was to wish for something more in life, when I was already so +rich. Haven't I wife, child, brother, and sweetheart all in one? Come +on, child. I feel as hungry as if, instead of a stomach, I carried in +my body the basket<a name="div2_05" href="#div2Ref_05"><sup>[5]</sup></a> I received this morning, and the provisions in +yonder corner look remarkably appetizing!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unfortunate girl!" said Balder in a hollow voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin paused in the middle of the room. "I thank you for those +words," +he said with a sudden change of tone. "She deserves that one should +weep tears of blood for her. Not because she is unable to take a liking +for my worthy person; in that, she is perhaps very wise. But to be a +child of the world, as she is, and neither able to conquer her fear of +annihilation, nor able to take refuge in the arms of the eternal one +called Love--oh! child, it's terrible. To have a heart so heavy that it +draws her into the gulf of death before she knows why she has lived--a +mind so clear, that it contends that we have a right to give up an +enigma we are weary trying to solve, even if it were our own life, in +order to obtain repose! Yes tears of blood, precisely because she +cannot weep them herself; for her poor Undine soul, in its despair, has +not even the petty consolations of tortured mortals. Mark my words, no +drop of blood will flow when she dies. She'll be found some day sitting +before her mirror with a frozen heart. Turned to stone by her own +image."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Edwin! You think--she could--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Put an end to her life, rush out of the world--marry the +count, which +to be sure, amounts to very much the same thing. But hush! I hear +Heinrich on the stairs. We'll show him cheerful faces; these have not +been altogether happy days for him of late."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr entered. It was touching to see how his gloomy face +brightened +when Edwin without saying a word, handed him the letter from the +faculty. "I'll dedicate my comedy to these gentlemen," said he. "There +seems to be some people in the world after all who know how to +appreciate uncommon merit."</p> + +<p class="normal">He remained until late in the evening. They pushed the table +close to +Balder's bed-side and all shared in the frugal meal, engaging in +conversation about the latest events in their lives; a conversation +during the progress of which each unburdened his heart to the other, +and in acknowledging the necessity and inevitability of pain and sorrow +they grew as calm as mariners who, floating with the stream, take in +oars and sails and lying on their backs watch the movements of the +clouds.</p> + +<p class="normal">But when the brothers were again alone, the memory of what +they had +recently experienced seemed to seize upon Edwin with fresh strength. "I +would give my life to help her!" he said to himself. Balder doubtless +caught the remark, but remained silent. When they had put out the +light, he heard Edwin rise and come to his bed. "Child," said he, "it's +so cold over there. Move a little nearer to the wall; I should like to +hold your hand until I fall asleep. I've nothing but you, but that's +enough, if I only know you're near me."</p> + +<p class="normal">He lay down beside Balder, with his hand clasped in his +brother's. It +was not long before he fell asleep and breathed as quietly as a man who +has peaceful dreams. But Balder lay awake for hours, revolving various +unformed ideas in his mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they awoke the next morning, they were as usual silent +and +absorbed in their own thoughts, and the events of the previous evening +were not mentioned between them. Edwin looked over his notes for the +lecture. Balder sketched some models lent him by his employer; only +once the latter asked casually if Edwin was not going to answer the +deans' letter immediately. "There's no great hurry now, child," replied +the other. "But it shall be done. A change of air would be the best +thing for me, and perhaps for you too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," replied the invalid. "I long to get away from +this air." +He meant more than his words conveyed, but Edwin did not see the calm +smile that would have betrayed his thoughts.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall leave you without any one to look after you to-day, +my dear +boy," said Edwin, as he put his notes in his pocket to go to the +lecture. "I hope you'll be good and neither attempt to work, nor commit +any other act contrary to police regulations. Farewell, child! Make up +a little more fire. Your hands are so cold again."</p> + +<p class="normal">At the end of ten minutes Balder threw aside his pencil, and +began to +exchange his dressing gown for a street suit. His hands trembled when, +for the first time in many weeks, he again took out the old cloak and +little grey hat he had worn on his last expedition to the courtyard. +Despite his old fashioned, almost shabby clothes, and the weary manner +in which he limped along with his cane, there was such a charm in his +movements and the slight droop of the beautiful face, that no one would +have smiled at the short cloak and worn felt hat.</p> + +<p class="normal">He glided down the stairs very softly. On the landing before +Christiane's door, he remembered how long it was since he had heard her +play. He thought she had stopped on account of his illness and +determined on his return to knock and beg her not to deny herself the +pleasure any longer. The door of the workshop was only ajar. The head +journeyman saw him pass, and called after him to ask a friendly +question about his health and warn him not to catch cold. He answered +with a jest and crossed the courtyard without looking at the bench in +the bean arbor, but was obliged to stand still a moment in the entry to +recover his breath. His heart throbbed loudly; he heard through the +door Franzelius' deep voice, suppressed but apparently engaged in eager +conversation, and now and then a merry, girlish laugh he had missed for +weeks. Only a momentary pang thrilled his frame, the next instant he +was calm and cheerful again. He felt strong enough to enter and greet +the happy pair without envy. "Perhaps I will when I come back," he +thought, and then limped softly forward, glad that he met no one who +would have remonstrated against his hazardous venture.</p> + +<p class="normal">A keen, cold east wind was blowing, driving before it flakes +of dry +crumbling snow. Fortunately an empty droschky was just passing; Balder +stopped it, and as he sat within, wrapped himself closely in his cloak. +But it was not the cold that made him shiver, but the feverish +excitement of his blood; for every pulse throbbed in anticipation of +the decisive moment he was about to meet.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he reached the house in Rosenstrasse, he could not alight +directly +at the door, as an elegant carriage already occupied the place. He +ordered the droschky to wait, and with many pauses, that he might not +lose his breath, ascended the stairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">Little Jean opened the door and stared at the unexpected +visitor with +eyes that grew larger than ever at the sight of him. There was some one +calling on his mistress, he said, but perhaps she would receive him; he +would see. He came back almost immediately and in his unmovably solemn +manner, without uttering a word, opened the door of Toinette's room.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">When the young girl saw Balder, she hastily rose from the sofa +and with +the most winning cordiality approached him, holding out both little +hands, as if to support his tottering steps.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've come to see me yourself--to-day!" she exclaimed. "But +was it +safe? The wind is so cold--my stairs are so steep--and yet you don't +know how glad I am to see you well again. Allow me to introduce you to +the Herr Count."</p> + +<p class="normal">She turned toward a tall, slender man, dressed entirely in +black, who +sat negligently leaning back in the chair beside the sofa, and only +noticed the young stranger in the shabby cloak by a slight bend of the +head. A flush crimsoned Balder's face, partly at the count's haughty +gesture, partly at the thought: "So he's the man who has supplanted +Edwin!" His clear eyes rested a few seconds upon the countenance of the +young nobleman, who had taken a newspaper from the table and seemed to +be attentively reading it. He did not know why the regular features and +faultless figure caused him so much dissatisfaction, and at the same +time awakened a sort of compassion. He too had bowed in silence and now +sank into the arm chair the beautiful girl had drawn forward with +friendly solicitude.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was now sitting opposite her, but at first could find no +words with +which to begin a conversation, he was so completely captivated by her +face. In spite of Edwin's descriptions, he had not imagined her so +beautiful and elegant, had not supposed that the tone of her voice and +the expression of her dark eyes were so gentle and innocent. She seemed +to attribute his silence to exhaustion caused by unusual exertion and +left him to rest for a time, while she rang for the boy and ordered +some sugar and water. Then she again turned toward him and in the most +cordial manner questioned him concerning his health, and what remedies +the doctor had ordered.</p> + +<p class="normal">His only reply was to express his thanks for the friendly +interest she +had shown him during the past few weeks, and tell in how many delirious +dreams the palms had played a part, and what pleasure they had afforded +him in his hours of consciousness. At first his manner was hesitating +and embarrassed, but when he noticed the sarcastic smile on the face of +the count, who sat opposite him without uttering a syllable, he +suddenly shook off his diffidence and gave utterance to so many bright +and clever ideas that Toinette thought him very attractive, and frankly +told him that his brother had slandered him, when he described him as a +misanthropic hermit. She hoped to see him more frequently now; she was +angry with him for having waited till he had been seriously ill before +finding the way to her, and he might as well confess that the only +reason he had not joined the party to Charlottenburg, was because he +was prejudiced against her. Who could tell how Edwin might have +slandered her too. She said all this in such a gay tone, that Balder +was secretly amazed. Was it coldness of heart or self-control, that +enabled her to speak of Edwin as if nothing had occurred between them, +as if he would come to her again to-morrow and renew the old +intercourse? Absorbed in this reflection he again became silent, and +she also lost her gayety.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You were going to say something more," she began after a +pause. "I saw +you repress the words that were hovering on your lips."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You may have been right," he replied. "But if you'll allow +me, I'll +say it some other time. I'll not interrupt you any longer to-day." He +glanced at the count and prepared to rise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Count," said the fair girl, without the least +embarrassment, +"I should like to say a few words to Herr Balder alone. If you would go +into the ante-room for five minutes--you will find books on the table, +and can amuse yourself in feeding my sparrows."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope the private audience will not last too long," said the +young +gentleman sharply, as he rose, and pulling his whiskers, walked slowly +toward the ante-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Toinette's color heightened. "Have patience," she cried. "Herr +Balder +is a less frequent visitor than you, and I must avail myself of the +favorable opportunity. Besides, you'll lose nothing important, so far +as I am aware."</p> + +<p class="normal">He made her an ironical bow and said: "You somewhat abuse your +sovereign rights, Fräulein; but in case of necessity, the room to which +you send me has a second door of egress. <i>Au revoir</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">They were scarcely alone, when Balder seized Toinette's hand +and +pressed it warmly. "Dear Fräulein," he said, "I thank you for having +allowed me this interview. I shall not try the gentleman's patience +long. The object that has brought me here, in addition to the desire to +thank you in person, is soon explained. My brother has told me--from +the very beginning--the terms on which he stood with you, and that +yesterday you deprived him of all hope. I don't know whether you were +really as much in earnest as he supposed, whether it was indeed your +final answer. And Fräulein, I'm so proud of my brother that I could not +make up my mind to utter even a syllable that might sound like +intercession to a woman who had really rejected him. It's not merely +the partiality of kindred blood: I've lived with him six years and know +his value, and I know that the best of women would scarcely be good +enough for him. Therefore, if the woman he loved did not perceive his +worth, it might at first be a great grief to him, but I should console +myself with the thought that she did not deserve him and must lack the +power to render him happy, if she could fail to appreciate his +nobleness and wealth of intellect, and her incredible piece of good +fortune to be loved by such a man. Knowing you as I do, dear Fräulein, +through him and through my own short acquaintance with you, I have +formed too favorable an opinion of you to believe that you could be +blind to the worth of Edwin's mind and heart. His ironical manner of +speaking of himself, his simplicity, and disdain of all pretension have +not deceived you in regard to the depth and warmth of his nature, the +superiority of the man who has laid his life at your feet. If +nevertheless you can endure the thought of losing him, I must believe +that some other obstacle stands between you. You have always been +honest and frank toward Edwin. Be so to me too, dear Fräulein; tell me +openly whether I'm mistaken or whether I have made the right +conjecture, in believing you would have accepted his offer if he had +been entirely alone in the world, if he had not imposed upon you, for +who knows how long a time, the care of an invalid brother."</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked at him with an expression of the greatest +astonishment and +admiration. "Dear Herr Balder, how can you even for a moment--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're right," he smilingly interrupted, "it would be too +much to +expect you to carry honesty so far. Therefore please say nothing, but +let me tell you that this miserable obstacle does not really stand in +the way, or rather that it will scarcely be an obstacle after a few +weeks longer. I've asked our physician on his conscience--and +fortunately he has one, so that I might even have believed a different +answer than the one he gave. The poor mortal who stands before you, +will soon be obliged to leave vacant even the modest place he now +occupies in the world. Edwin of course has no suspicion of this; we are +all accustomed to think even the inevitable improbable, if it's coming +is long delayed. When it at last occurs, we try to accommodate +ourselves to it as best we may. Edwin will get over his grief in time. +For my part--I confess, dear Fräulein, I find the world very beautiful. +I should have liked to continued your acquaintance too. But one must +not be grasping; I've enjoyed life so fully, in a condensed essence as +it were, that I really ought not to complain if the portion allotted to +me is already consumed." He paused, a calm smile resting on his lips. +When he looked up, he saw that Toinette's eyes were full of tears. "Why +do you weep?" he asked anxiously. "I hope my fate, which causes me +anything but sorrow--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," she eagerly exclaimed, closing her eyes a moment as if +to repress +the tears. "I don't weep for you, dear Balder--pardon me for addressing +you like an old friend or brother-you're not to be pitied, I <i>envy</i> you +your beautiful life and your still more beautiful death, even if it is +as near as you believe; perhaps it may be farther off than you think; a +man can endure much, and doctors are bad prophets. If my eyes grew +moist, it was for myself, because I'm such a poor fool, that I must +remain in debt to you and your brother for the offer of all the good +and beautiful things you would fain give me but which I must +nevertheless decline. Dear Balder, if you knew--but why should you +know? If I'm unhappy, isn't it my only consolation to at least appear +no worse than I am, explain why, with the best intentions, I cannot +make those I love as happy as they deserve to be?</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have repented a thousand times," she continued, pushing her +hair +back from her temples, and at the same time surreptitiously brushing +the tears from her eyes, "that I did not yesterday tell your brother +all my story. I have been reflecting ever since how I could repair my +error, whether I should write my tale or beg him to come to me again. +But it makes no difference; I may as well tell you as him that I now +know that I shall have no happiness in life, never, never, either +through myself or others. You shall know why, although the secret +concerns subjects which are rarely mentioned between two young people. +Dear friend, I can give you no better proof of the high esteem in which +I hold you, than in telling you this sorrowful secret, which I only +learned myself a few days ago."</p> + +<p class="normal">She here cast a hasty glance at the door, through which the +count had +left the room. "I owe this knowledge to him," she continued in a lower +tone. "As his relatives tried to persuade him out of his mad intention +of marrying me, by harping upon my humble origin, he made inquiries +concerning me in my native city; he wished at least to ascertain +whether anything derogatory could be said about my family. The little +that was known about my parents did not satisfy him; so he applied to +the young prince, who of late has again resided in his ancestral castle +and is about to wed his cousin. Madly in love as he is, the count did +not conceal why he desired to information, and the young prince, now +perhaps the only person who really knows anything about the matter, +thought it his duty, by way of warning, to tell him the family secret +that his mother, on her death bed, had confided to him. Oh! dear +Balder, such horrible things happen in this world! Oh! that a poor +mortal should be obliged to live and struggle against his fate in vain, +seldom even knowing why he must suffer! But when they <i>are</i> known the +stronger the reasons the less comfort they afford! Since I've known why +I am constituted, as I am, that it all precedes from perfectly natural +causes and that it is not at all surprising that I have never been able +to make myself or others happy. I've also lost all hope that things can +ever alter for the better." She leaned back in the corner of the sofa, +rested her head on the cushion and gazed fixedly at the ceiling. "Do +you know my story?" said she.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My brother told me all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has told you nothing; for I find that I myself knew +nothing of the +truth, that I did not even know my real parents. The good ballet-master +was not my father, my father was the prince, and the woman I called +mother, was utterly alien in blood; my mother was a poor girl, +beautiful and unfortunate, more unfortunate even than her daughter. She +is said to have loved a worthy young man, but he was too poor to marry +her. The prince, who did not love his wife and never remained with her +long at the castle, was residing in Berlin; he saw the timid young +creature in the street, and followed her. She would have nothing to say +to him, his rank and wealth did not allure her, she preferred to remain +a beggar, rather than prove faithless to her love. But her mother! Can +you imagine how a mother can break the heart of her only child? Yet her +mother did it. And now she is dead, and her unhappy daughter is dead, +and the child of that daughter, who was forced to sacrifice herself +without love, this child of misery and blasphemy lives and must atone +for its patents' sin by carrying through life an unhappy heart that +cannot love!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She was silent, and he too sat without speaking, deeply moved +by the +hopeless tone of her voice. They heard the count pacing impatiently up +and down the ante-room, carriages rolling along the street, and the +bright winter sun shone cheerily through the clear window panes. +Suddenly the lovely girl sat erect again, shook back her hair and said +with a forced laugh: "Oh! how horrible! But what's to be done? It is +and cannot be helped. Only those people seem to me pitably stupid and +cruel, who seek to make such a poor unfortunate being responsible for +its acts, I would gladly be a good, warm-hearted, simple fool, like +other girls, make kind people happy, and be tenderly petted myself, if +it hadn't been for this terrible spell which is upon me; but my poor +mother could leave me nothing but her hate and cold, mute despair, and +from my father I inherited my princely tastes and empty hands. He loved +me very dearly, they say, the more so because the purchased happiness +with my mother was so short; she died when I was born. In order to be +able at least to occasionally see me, he placed me, despite of the +princess' opposition, with my foster parents, for whose child I passed. +But he himself died young and forgot to provide for me in his will, and +the princess never forgave me my existence. If she had lived to see me +curse my life, she might perhaps have been conciliated. But she too is +dead, and I'm all alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Must you remain so, dear Fräulein?" said Balder, laying his +hand +gently on hers, which were clasped on her lap.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My friend," she replied, "I believe that both you and your +brother +have the kindest intentions toward me. But it would be a crime, if I +were to persuade myself that you could help me now, when I see all so +clearly, know that my fate is to suffer from a taint in the blood. How +can you persuade me to make your brother unhappy? For he would be so; I +could never endure narrow surroundings. Of course if one loved, that +passion would chase away all the rest, all the cares and poverty of +daily life would be forgotten. My mother certainly would not have +sighed or complained, had she become the wife of the man she loved. +But--I will promise no one what I can't perform. To lead my sorrowful +life alone, to my own cost, shrink from an unpaid bill and turn again +and again a worn-out dress--that I could accomplish if necessary. The +princess who had to tend geese, may have secretly wept herself weary; +and if the worst should come no one can control me. But when I've once +given my life into other hands, and am no longer mistress of myself, I +should be obliged to persevere even if I saw that my unhappiness was +weighing down another heart with sadness. And your brother is too dear +to me for that, you can tell him so."</p> + +<p class="normal">She rose seemingly wishing to end the conversation. But Balder +remained +seated and after a pause said: "So you want to deprive those whom you +believe to be your friends, of all hope of conquering what you call +your fate? I believe, like you, in the power of blood, but I believe +too, in the power of the will and the might of love. Only one thing +seems hopeless to me: the commonplace. I've not known many people, yet +among the few I have known were some who felt so perfectly well +satisfied with what was base and mean, that nothing higher and purer +could touch and win them. But a noble spirit, like yours, unhappy +because of its loneliness, suffering only on account of its inability +to give joys to others--no, dear Fräulein, never will I believe that +your heart can have no future, that you must forever remain in this +sad, cold isolation, and all the efforts of warm-hearted men to melt +your soul be utterly in vain. When I repeat our conversation to my +brother, I know well what his course will be; he will not think of +himself but of your fate and his duty not to remain away from you. You +don't know what he can do. Not that he will seek to win you for +himself, to creep into your heart in any way. But he will fearlessly +battle with the dark powers that rule your youth, and," he added with a +melancholy smile--"I'm only sorry that I shall not be alive to hear +you, when you say to him: 'You've conquered; my heart has grown warm.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Toinette gently shook her head. "You're a good man, but a bad +prophet," +she answered smiling. "But no matter. Only promise me to live, for who +knows what may happen; and tell your brother--what you please. I doubt +whether he will come here again. He's different from you, prouder, more +passionate, he wants 'all or nothing.' If he will only learn to be +satisfied with a little--I shall always be glad to see him. But he must +come soon, for I can't tell what will become of me. In three days I +must decide upon something; for even if I loved life, I can live no +longer as I am; servitude, poverty--or a third contingency, which might +not be the worst. And now, my dear friend--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked toward the door, which had already been once opened +and +hastily closed again. The youth rose and approached her. "I thank you +most sincerely for all you've confided to me," said he, "and I shall +carry away a lighter heart than I brought with me. But I should like to +say one thing more; if it's impossible for you to refuse to receive +this count, beware of letting Edwin meet him here. From what I know of +my brother, he would not endure this gentleman's haughty manner, and +even his mere presence, his cold, empty smile, his brow, behind which +no noble thought ever germinated, would be so repulsive to him, that he +would beseech you to choose between him and this third alternative. How +is it possible for <i>you</i> to tolerate such a person near you? The very +nobility of your own nature ought to make such a caricature of true +nobility--"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment the door was gently opened and the count +appeared on the +threshold. "Send this eloquent young man away, Fräulein," he said +contemptuously, without vouchsafing Balder a single glance, "or you'll +place me in the painful position of being forced to give him a lesson +in good breeding, to make him understand that it's unseemly to express +his very immature opinions about people in so loud a tone that those +concerned can't help hearing it in the adjoining room. Of course it's +impossible to feel insulted by such complimentary remarks from a saucy +lad. But--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You forget where you are, Count," Toinette hastily +interrupted, while +Balder growing red and pale by turns, vainly strove to find an answer. +"If the time seems long to you, pray go. I'm accountable to no one for +the length of my interview with this friend."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Undoubtedly," replied the count with a slight bend of the +head, +"you're at liberty to choose your friends, and no one is responsible +for his taste. I, too, trust to continue the acquaintance of this +hopeful youth--at some more suitable place. Farewell, Fräulein!" He +took his hat and with an icy smile left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What have you done, Balder!" cried Toinette. "You've deeply +offended +him, and he'll never forget it. Why didn't I warn you? These walls and +doors are so thin!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pardon me the unpleasant scene; I deeply regret having caused +it," +replied Balder, extending his hand to her. "But I've no anxiety about +anything else. I still believe the count has too much good feeling to +revenge himself on a defenceless man for an unintentional offence, and +then--no one can bear me a grudge <i>long</i>. I do not even know whether I +can bid you farewell a second time?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He bent over her hand, and, absorbed in other thoughts, she +left it in +his clasp. "Don't go yet," she said. "Wait till he has driven away. I +don't feel satisfied about this matter. And you're exhausted, and you +ought to take a glass of wine--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He smilingly released her hand. "Although I'm not the +strongest person +in the world--my nerves are strong enough as yet to prevent any fear of +men. You may be perfectly at ease, dear Fräulein, I shall find my way +home safely. Farewell!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He limped out of the room so quickly, that little Jean, who +was sitting +at a small table in the entry, writing exercises, was not quick enough +to open the door for him. But when he had descended the stairs and +reached the street, he saw the count's carriage still standing in the +same place. "He's waiting till I have gone, and will then go up again," +he thought, and regretted that there was to be a continuation of the +scene just experienced. But as he looked around to summon the droschky, +the carriage door opened and the count alighted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My worthy young gentleman," said he, approaching Balder, +"we've not +yet done with each other. I've taken the liberty of waiting here, to +give you some good advice." He paused a moment and measured the youth +from head to foot. Balder looked him quietly in the face. "I'm eager to +hear it," said he.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're still very young and moreover in other respects not a +person +who could be held to the full meaning of his words. But for that very +reason you will do well not to try forbearance too far. I inform you +therefore that I don't desire to meet you in this young lady's drawing, +room a second time.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will rest entirely with you, Herr Count, to avoid me. I've +no +reason to shun you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you must submit to the treatment I think proper to +bestow upon +any insolent person of your stamp."</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder had turned deadly pale, and his limps trembled, but +instead of +menace there was a strange expression of sorrow in the eyes that rested +upon the man who offered him this insult.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Count," said he, "I regret that I expressed my opinion +of you in +so loud a tone that you could overhear it. It always pains me to offend +any one. But I regret still more, that your subsequent conduct confirms +my hasty judgment. I believe we've nothing more to say to each other."</p> + +<p class="normal">He bowed coldly and beckoned to the driver of his droschky, +which was +waiting at some little distance. At the same moment he felt his cloak +seized.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is true, my young friend, that I have done with you," he +heard the +count say in a tone of suppressed fury. "Your feeble health gives you +the liberty, so easily abused, of saying what you please with impunity. +But you will oblige me by giving your brother, in my name, the same +warning that I have given you. Out of consideration for the lady to +whom he, as I hear, is paying attention, I should prefer that she +should be spared the necessity of making a choice between us. I'm not +in the habit of putting myself on a level with the first person who +comes along, and the affair might have unpleasant consequences for him. +You'll be kind enough to give him this message, my young friend? And +now I'll not keep you standing in the windy street any longer. I trust +you have understood me." He drew back, bowed with mock civility, and +sprang into his carriage, which drove rapidly away.</p> + +<p class="normal">Balder remained silent and motionless. Involuntarily he placed +his hand +upon his heart, where he felt a keen pain. But it passed away again. +His rigid features relaxed, and he smiled sadly as he drew his cloak +closer around his shoulders. "What a contemptible man!" said he. "How +anybody who is governed by such dull instincts must feel! And she, she +could--no, Edwin, he is not dangerous to you, or she has never been +worthy of possessing your heart!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The droschky stopped beside him, the driver, who saw the pale +youth +standing so lost in thought, pitied him, and jumped down from the box +to open the door and help him in. "Why, sir, you ought to be with your +mother, instead of making visits. An old droschky like this isn't very +warm, and you're shivering like a sentinel when it is ten degrees below +zero."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, my friend," replied Balder smiling. "But I +think the +sentinel will soon be relieved. Drive me home as fast as possible, I +shall hardly get out of doors again."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Edwin was strolling down Friedrichstrasse with Marquard, whom +he had +met on his way home from the university.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought it would only be a soap bubble of happiness," said +he. "A +removal at this season of the year is as impossible, as for him to +remain here alone. You'd undoubtedly take the best care of him, and +Mohr has even offered to move into the tun bodily as 'Vice-Edwin.' But +nevertheless, my dear fellow, don't urge me. You don't know how we've +spoiled each other. There are hours when it's troublesome for him to +speak, and then I read the signs on his brow as clearly as my own +handwriting. And, reproach me if you will for being sentimental, I, +too, should fare ill without him. For the last six years my best +thoughts have come to me in his calm presence. If I reached a point +when I could make no farther progress, I only needed to look at him, +and light dawned upon me from his eyes. I'm really afraid I should seem +stupid, if I were to go to the university without him, and the faculty +would think I'd had somebody's help in writing my prize essay. <i>Habeat +sibi!</i> Some other door will open."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know your own affairs best," replied Marquard, who, +wrapped +in an elegant fur cloak, was strolling beside him with apparent +indifference. "If it doesn't agitate him to think that he's the +obstacle. Perhaps--it's only an idea--you might allege your regard for +the princess in Rosenstrasse, as a pretext for not going away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unfortunately the good advice comes too late. He knows that +that is +all over."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Been made such short work of? How did that happen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's a long story. I'll tell you some other time."</p> + +<p class="normal">They walked on in silence side by side. At last Marquard said: +"I see +I'm the only practical person among you; for even our tribune of the +people--though he's shown more common sense than I gave him credit for, +in selecting from among the children of the people one whose father is +a house owner for his bride--will scarcely become a steady married man +and quiet citizen. You, my noble philosopher, are in love with a +psychological problem, and our satirical friend, instead of at least +acting out his comedy: 'I am I and rely on myself--'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What news have you heard of him? He came in to play chess +last night +as usual."</p> + +<p class="normal">"His queen checkmated him yesterday, the game's up, the +zaunkönigs were +sitting in their nest with very anxious faces when I make them a short +call in the evening. The mysterious night-bird they sheltered, has +flown away, no one knows where."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Could the poor creature for the second time--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That was the fear of her worthy hosts, behind whose backs she +stole +away. But I soothed their anxiety. After a conversation forced upon her +by Mohr, in the course of which God knows what he may have said, +undoubtedly with the best intentions, but in his mad way, she waited +until papa König and the young girl had gone out, then suddenly emerged +from her solitary corner and saying that she wanted to buy a winter +cloak, asked the cook to lend her some money. When she'd got twelve or +fourteen thalers--all the ready money the woman had,--she entered a +droschky and drove away. It's not likely that she wanted to buy a +pistol, having possibly taken a prejudice against water, for tickets to +eternity can be bought cheaper by other routes. Moreover so many days +have intervened since that unhappy night, that it's natural to suppose +milder thoughts had come. In a note to Leah, she begged her not to seek +to discover her, for that she would send her word when she could find +courage to live and a desire to recall herself to the memory of those +who had meant kindly toward her, though they had acted against her +will. Herr Feyertag might sell her furniture and piano, deduct the rent +and the borrowed money from the proceeds, and give the remainder to the +poor; the letter was resolute, like the woman who wrote it, but it was +no suicide's bulletin; I know that, for I once made a collection of the +autographs, last notes, etc., left by suicides just before they entered +eternity."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And Mohr?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He came again in the evening, and seemed to have been +brooding +meantime over some plan or to have had some other question to ask. When +he found the cell empty, (no one thought of an escape, as the +imprisonment was voluntary,) he became even more thoughtful, morose, +and uncivil than he's been for the last few weeks. Even the little +zaunkönig, who can usually stand a good deal, seemed somewhat nettled +by his strange manners. For the rest--all honor to the little man! He's +cared for the unfortunate creature like a real Samaritan, while from a +Christian standpoint, suicides have usually been considered the very +scum of humanity, the poor step-children of God and predestined to +misery, and have always been buried outside the church-yard wall. A +long hymn of praise might be sung over Leah's treatment of the +stranger. My little Adèle actually gets jealous when I tell her how +self-sacrificing, clever, and discreet the zaun-princess' conduct has +been."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And there's still no clue to the cause of this desperate +step?" said +Edwin. "When I think of our bacchanalian revel at Charlottenburg, and +her playing--she seemed to be in such good spirits, like all the rest +of us, only of course in her strange, sullen way--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Marquard shrugged his shoulders. "Who can tell! Perhaps Leah! +At least, +whenever I alluded to the subject, she grew speechless in a strange +way, like a person who has no talent for lying and therefore prefers to +seal his lips. Mohr, who'd be easier game to an inquisitor, seemed, up +to yesterday, to have no suspicions; but early this morning, so your +old Lore tells me, he went to Fräulein Christiane's room, on the +pretext that he wanted to buy the piano. There he rummaged in every +corner, and at last found something--a little book, at the sight of +which he uttered an inarticulate moan. What it may have been, his +'so-called gods' only know. However, he's happy now; he has an object +in life which occupies all his thoughts: to unveil this mystery and +trace the woman who has disappeared."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've wondered whether, after all,--did you never meet a +certain +Candidat Lorinser?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The physician made no reply; for they were just turning the +corner of +Dorotheenstrasse, and Marquard's keen eye had discovered a crowd of +people standing silent and motionless around a droschky in front of +Herr Feyertag's shop. "What's that?" said he. "Are the neighbors +waiting to see Jungfrau Reginchen drive out to pay wedding calls? We've +not got quite so far as that--no, some accident--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin heard no more. Urged by a sudden presentiment, he +reached the +house at the very moment a lifeless body, carefully supported by the +head journeyman and the driver of the droschky, was carried up the +steps. He heard the crowd around him say: "There comes his brother!" +then his senses failed. The by-standers caught him, as he tottered and +seemed about to fall.</p> + +<p class="normal">But it was only a momentary faintness that paralysed him. The +next +instant he heard Marquard's voice again. "Keep up your courage, Edwin! +Come! It can scarcely be death!" Aided by his friend, he stood erect +and allowed himself to be led into the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">The entry was crowded with the members of the household and +with +curious neighbors, but they silently made way for them. All the +apprentices were assembled in the courtyard, gazing at the upper +windows as if expecting some message; but not a word was uttered, the +whole house seemed holding its breath in terror.</p> + +<p class="normal">The driver of the droschky now appeared in the doorway. "Good +Lord, +what a misfortune!" he said, approaching Edwin. "Such a young fellow! I +really thought he was a girl in disguise, till he began to talk to the +strange gentleman; then his eyes flashed as only a man's can. I saw +he'd got a little heated, so I shut the window, and he jested when I +told him he was shivering like an old sentinel. And all the way from +Rosenstrasse here, I never noticed that, as one might say, he was +driving to eternity in the old droschky! I suppose you're his brother? +Well, there's no hurry about the fare." Edwin shuddered and his voice +failed when he turned to speak. Marquard gave the man some money and +took his number, in order to ask him some farther questions about the +last scene; then he helped Edwin up stairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">They had laid the lifeless form upon the bed just as they had +taken it +out of the carriage, still wrapped in the faded cloak. No one had gone +up to the room except the head journeyman, Herr Feyertag and his wife; +Reginchen had glided after them, but she had not ventured to enter and +was crouching on the stairs, pale as a ghost.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Edwin, leaning on Marquard, entered the tun, Madame +Feyertag was +kneeling beside the bed rubbing Balder's cold temples with some +stimulant. Marquard permitted her to go on, and for some minutes +closely examined the motionless body. Then he turned to Edwin, who had +sunk down on the foot of the bed. "Poor boy!" said he. "Come, Edwin, be +a man! It was only a question of weeks. He's passed into the other +world quickly and painlessly. Look at the calm face."</p> + +<p class="normal">A loud burst of weeping interrupted him. Herr Feyertag, with +gentle +violence, led away his kind-hearted wife, who sobbed as hopelessly as +if she had lost a child of her own; the head journeyman, with tears +streaming down his face, softly followed them; he first tried to say +something to Edwin, but checked the words that were on his lips. When +he returned to the workshop, he sat down on a stool and buried his face +in his hands. Half an hour later, when the apprentices stole in to +continue their work, prepared for violent reproaches, they found the +choleric fellow in the same attitude. He seemed completely transformed; +but when toward evening, the youngest apprentice began to whistle +softly to himself, he rushed at him like a madman and called him a +heartless toad, for screwing up his mouth and whistling wedding tunes +on such a day.</p> + +<p class="normal">Over the house there was a hush, as if with the fading away of +this one +life all the joy of existence had vanished. Every one went about on +tip-toe and closed the doors noiselessly. When, toward evening, the +maid-servant went to the pump, she looked up to the open windows of the +upper room, wiped her eyes, and stealing away with the empty pail, +brought the water from one of the neighboring houses.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the afternoon, Mohr came, and an hour after him, +Franzelius, both +entirely ignorant of what had happened. But Herr Feyertag sat in the +shop and beckoned to every one who entered the house, in order to keep +troublesome visitors away from Edwin. Mohr did not utter a word and no +change of countenance betrayed his emotion, so that the worthy +shoemaker shook his head, as, muttering something in a low tone, the +young man left the shop, to go up to the tun. But it was a long time +before he reached it. He first slipped into Christiana's room, and +sitting there in the darkness let the first passion of grief rage +itself calm, before he ventured to go to Edwin. Franzelius, on the +contrary, had thrown himself into the arms of his future father-in-law, +with such heart-rending sobs, that Herr Feyertag, who hitherto had +placed no great confidence in him, because he believed him to be a +bloodthirsty revolutionist, secretly admitted that his wife was right; +Reginchen could not have found a better husband.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was strange that neither of the friends ventured to let +Edwin see +their first sorrow, that both paid the common toll of human weakness +before making their daily visit to the tun. Was it because of the habit +formed during the last few weeks, of considering that room a sacred +place, from which all the tumult of selfish sorrows and passions must +be kept away, or did they fear that they could not endure the sight of +the survivor, if they had not first regained their own composure?</p> + +<p class="normal">They met on the stairs, just as Mohr was leaving Christiane's +room. +Without uttering a word, the old antagonists fell into each others +arms, kissing and embracing each other as if there had never been any +ill-blood between them. Thus a solemn vow of eternal friendship was +exchanged, and they mounted the stairs hand in hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">They found Edwin alone, still sitting in the same attitude as +when +Marquard had left him an hour before, to visit some patients. Balder +was lying wrapped in his cloak, like a victor who had fallen on the +battle field. Edwin was bent forward, leaning on the foot of the bed. +He now half rose and with a faint smile held out his hands to his +friends.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you come too?" said he. "I'm glad. He's so beautiful! I +can +scarcely pity my own loneliness when I look at his face. Can you +believe that he will never open his eyes again? And yet he never will, +Marquard says he never will, and he must know." After a pause he +continued: "Take a chair, Franzel. Pardon me that I keep my seat. We +need not stand upon ceremony, and it is hard for me to move a limb. +He's better off, I don't grudge him his happiness,--but it's hard to +think we shall soon see his face no more."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr had taken a chair opposite the bed, Franzelius was +leaning against +the door gazing through his tears at the closed eye-lids and marble +brow of the beloved dead. When the room grew so dark, that they could +scarcely distinguish each other's features, Mohr rose and insisted upon +taking Edwin to his room, where he could get some wine and some light +food to strengthen him. "You've a great deal before you; you must +husband your strength. Franzel will stay here. We'll send a lamp up to +him. The night watch can be divided between us." Unconsciously, like a +somnambulist, Edwin obeyed. The strong wine Mohr pressed upon him threw +him into a sound sleep for half an hour. As he awoke, he uttered a cry +that made his companion start up in alarm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's nothing!" Edwin said with a sorrowful shake of the head. +"I was +only dreaming that I heard Balder's voice. Just as I tried to take his +hand, I awoke and suddenly remembered all. I thought my heart would +burst; but I am strong again, only my eyes are still dry. Come, we'll +not keep him waiting too long."</p> + +<p class="normal">When they opened the door of the death chamber, they paused on +the +threshold in astonishment. Franzelius had taken advantage of their +short absence to erect, with the aid of the household, a sort of +catafalque. The turning lathe was placed in the centre of the room and +covered with a black cloth, and on it was a hastily made couch, on +which Balder was laid. At his head stood the palms, and beside them two +tall laurel trees, which the old tenor had sent. His wife had added two +silver candelabras, which burned on either side of the bier and shed a +calm light on the beautiful pale face. Instead of the little cloak, a +white sheet, on which the slender hands rested, covered the slight +form. The white cat had glided in through the open window and wandering +around for a time, crouched finally at the foot of the bier with its +yellow eyes fixed steadily on the candles.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin seated himself on Balder's empty bed and drew his friend +down +beside him. "Thank you," said he. "We'll let no stranger touch him. No +one but those who have loved him."</p> + +<p class="normal">Franzelius mutely pressed his hand and turned away to hide his +tears. +Mohr had sat down before the chess board that stood on the little table +in the corner, and mechanically began to move the pieces.</p> + +<p class="normal">They had not long sat thus silent and alone, when some one knocked +gently. Mohr went to the door and came back saying: "The zaunkönig is +here, with Leah and Frau Valentin. They only wish to hear how you are, +and have no desire to intrude upon you. But I thought if you had no +objections we would admit them."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin nodded and rose. When the little artist entered and cast +a glance +at the simple catafalque, tears gushed from his eyes. He blindly +grasped Edwin's hand and held it firmly, trying to conceal his emotion +behind his hat. Frau Valentin's pleasant face also disappeared in her +handkerchief. Leah, without looking at Edwin, approached the bier and +seemed utterly petrified with surprise at the incomprehensible mystery +of death. Her face was as still and white as that of the departed. Only +her eyes, which without the quiver of a lash, rested intently on the +noble countenance of the dead, glowed with the intense fire of life.</p> + +<p class="normal">For a time no words were uttered; at length Frau Valentin, +wiping her +eyes, approached Edwin. "Forgive me for coming," said she. "My heart +brought me here. You needn't fear that I shall obtrude words of +consolation that would be meaningless to you. But to me, to us, you +will not grudge the comfort of believing that the Father has recalled +his child, and that we other children of God shall meet him again in +the eternal home; and meet you too, dear friend, who until then must +feel his loss so terribly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you," replied Edwin. "I know your meaning is the +kindest. You +wish to give me of your abundance in what you think is my poverty. To +be sure, I've lost much; for what can replace the joy of daily and +hourly drinking in every look, every thought that proceeds from such a +soul! I'll say nothing about him; he would never let me praise him to +his face, and I'm foolish enough to fear that yonder poor husk would +begin to blush. To speak of him later--behind his back--will be the +best consolation. As for the rest--do you really believe, that I shall +not see him again daily and hourly, even without waiting for a heavenly +meeting? If I were forced to await that, I should hardly linger long +behind. But I have him, he can never be torn from me; the happiness of +having known and loved such a creature in the flesh and blood, can +never pass when the flesh moulders away. This spiritual intercourse is +the only really living thing, the only eternity, and it continues to +exist amid a thousand changes, an inextinguishable flame, even when the +individual brain and heart which for a time have fed the flame, cease +to feed it longer. They may well crumble to ashes, when their short +blaze has kindled a fire in other souls." He paused. She had listened +with deep emotion and a scarcely perceptible shake of the head; but +repressed any desire she might have had to contradict him. Edwin now +approached Leah.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you for coming," said he as he pressed her hand. +Large tears +welled to her eyes, but she did not utter a word. "See how beautiful he +is!" Edwin gently continued. "I know you will never forget these +features, and therefore I'm glad you can see him. True, his rare smile +will never come again, and his eyes--but dear Fräulein, this is +exhausting you too much. Let them take you home--I'll come in a few +days--you ought to spare yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">A look from him summoned her father, who gently took the hand +of the +deeply agitated girl and led her out of the room. Frau Valentin +embraced Edwin like a mother, and then followed the others. The room +was again perfectly still, and they sat together in silence for several +hours, until Marquard came and insisted that Edwin must spend the night +with him. "To-morrow!" replied the latter. "Let me have my own way +to-day. Go all of you, and leave me. Rest assured this course is best +for me; I'll go to sleep, and my quiet companion will not disturb me."</p> + +<p class="normal">At first Marquard would not listen to such a proposal, but +Edwin was +firm in his resolution, and they at last left him alone with the dead. +It was ten o'clock on a cold, dark winter's night; the wind drove snow +flakes into the open windows, and ever and anon the candles flickered +as if they would be extinguished. Edwin, wrapped in Balder's cloak, had +thrown himself on his bed without undressing, and now lay listening to +the wind, the spluttering of the candles, and the distant rolling of +the carriages in the crowded city. No restful sleep visited his excited +senses, only a hasty changeful dream, in which scenes from his earliest +childhood passed before his mind, and amid them Toinette seated in a +light carriage beside a stranger, gazing coldly and sadly at him, +followed by a vision of Leah's thoughtful face which appeared beside +her mother's bust. When he opened his eyes to drive away these confused +images, he looked straight into the round yellow eyes of the cat that +would not leave the bier. This at last made him uncomfortable. He rose, +took the animal in his arms and carried it to the door, to drive it +down stairs. But when he turned the handle, he saw crouching on the +threshold the figure of some one who seemed to have been peeping +through the key hole.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You here, Reginchen?" he exclaimed in astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young girl had started up, and was standing before him +trembling +from head to foot like some detected criminal.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! Herr Doctor," she faltered at last, "don't be angry with +me. I +couldn't sleep, I tossed about continually, and let me close my eyes as +resolutely as I would, I constantly saw him before me, and then--then +something fairly drew me here--I thought when I'd once seen him I +should feel better, that I could rest, and so I crept up stairs. I +could, just see his face through the keyhole, but it wouldn't let me go +away again. If you hadn't come, I believe I should have knelt here all +night and been forced to look at him till I died."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Won't you come in, child?" he said, taking her by the hand. +"Don't be +frightened. I'll cut off a lock of his hair for you. Do you want it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no!" she exclaimed vehemently. "Not in there, not a step +nearer! +I'm so afraid of him, I'm afraid he will open his eyes, and ask--oh! +Herr Edwin, you don't know--let me go--if I should touch a lock of his +hair, I should never be able to leave his side again and I can't help +being a poor stupid thing, who didn't understand him! Oh, God! my heart +is breaking!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Passionate sobs checked her utterance. But when Edwin put his +arm +around her and kindly tried to soothe her, she broke from him and +darted down the stairs like an arrow, while he stood a long time in the +darkness, musing over this strange enigma, ere he again threw himself +on his cold bed.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">On the morning of the third day the funeral took place. +Franzelius, who +had undertaken to attend to all the sorrowful details, insisted that +this last duty should be performed at six o'clock. "Perhaps then the +preacher will oversleep himself," said he. Edwin had assented. The +clergyman belonging to their ward, who as professor of theology had met +Edwin at college, came the day after the event to condole with him and +ask for some notes for the funeral address. "You would do me a favor," +Edwin replied, "if you would merely say what is absolutely necessary, +what your formula prescribes. Eulogies from a person who knew nothing +of the dead, have always been repulsive to me; and besides, as my +brother shared my opinions, many a word would be uttered over his open +grave, against which he would protest if he could hear it." The +clergyman probably thought that the softened soul of a mourner would be +good soil in which to sow the seed of religion, but Edwin cut short all +farther conversation, and his colleague, in by no means the best of +humors, left him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Franzelius had still another reason for choosing the dark +morning hour. +A society of workmen, of which he was a member, wished to sing a hymn +in the churchyard and could not assemble later. But he did not tell his +friend a word of this.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had kept his promise, no stranger's hand had been allowed +to touch +the dead body. Even the most painful task, he performed himself, +screwing down with his own hands the coffin lid. Then, as the bearers +wound slowly down the crooked stairs with their burden, he took Edwin's +arm and supported him on the last sorrowful pilgrimage.</p> + +<p class="normal">The street was only lighted by a faint reflection from the +snow, and +few persons were standing around the door. Edwin bowed sorrowfully to +his acquaintances and then entered the first of the four mourning +coaches, which instantly moved forward. He was accompanied by Mohr, +Marquard, and Franzelius. The second carriage was occupied by Herr +Feyertag and the old gentleman on the second floor, who despite the +wintry cold, would not be dissuaded from showing his fellow-lodger this +token of sympathy. The third carriage belonged to the little artist. He +had come by himself and intended to follow the coffin alone, when he +perceived the head journeyman, who with a large weed on his hat and a +band of crape on his left arm, was preparing to accompany the +procession on foot. Herr König instantly ordered his driver to stop, +opened the door, and compelled the worthy man to take the seat beside +him, which the modest fellow after long hesitation, at last consented +to do.</p> + +<p class="normal">The fourth and last carriage contained a young Pole and the +president +of a society, which numbered among its members many foreigners and +formed the largest portion of the audience to Edwin's lectures. They +followed the body solely from regard for their teacher, as they had +never known Balder, and instantly drew down the curtains in order to +beguile the long ride by discussing theatrical matters, the latest +news, and smoking paper cigarettes.</p> + +<p class="normal">From an upper window, a weeping girl wrapped in a thick shawl, +gazed +after the slowly moving carriages. It was Reginchen, who for two days +had not made her appearance and steadily refused even to see her lover.</p> + +<p class="normal">The procession moved through the Oranienburg Gate and +traversed the +suburbs for some distance, ere it reached the cemetery. The air was +mild, as if a thaw were about to set in, and the snow over which they +walked to the grave, yielded noiselessly under their feet. Beside the +fresh mound of earth stood the clergyman, and behind him a throng of +dark figures, the workmen to whom the printer had said that he had lost +his dearest friend. The clergyman, whom Edwin only greeted with a +formal wave of the hand, now read aloud the prayer for the burial of +the dead and then approached the edge of the grave, into which the +coffin was already lowered.</p> + +<p class="normal">He began: "'In the midst of life we are in death.' But they +who turn +from the light of eternal truth, bear the gloom of death within their +souls. They live as if they thought never to die, and die as though +they were never to live again. What grief and terror will overwhelm +them on the day when the graves open and the dead come forth to receive +the crown of glory or the sentence of eternal condemnation. How the +words of the Judge will thunder in their ears: 'I offered you salvation +and ye rejected it with scorn and turned a deaf ear unto my message.' +In your vain self-righteousness you chose to be your own deliverers, +and have pronounced your own doom. Then will your pride bow before the +throne of the Highest, and defiance be crushed before the majesty of +the Son of Man. Then lips will sue for mercy, which on earth overflowed +with blasphemy, denying with Peter and saying: 'I know not this man.' +But we, who stand around this sad grave, will unite in silent prayer to +God, and implore him not to enter into judgment with this our brother, +to suffer a ray of his eternal mercy to transfigure and cleanse from +sin the frail erring life, which too early reached its end!"</p> + +<p class="normal">An unbroken silence followed these words. The clergyman had +folded his +hands over his book and closed his eyes in prayer. Suddenly Franzelius' +suppressed voice was heard amid the group of friends who were standing +at the foot of the grave:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me speak, for I cannot be silent, I should despise +myself, I +should be a miserable coward, if I could hear such words spoken over +his grave, without uttering a protest in the name of those who have +known and loved him. What is that I hear? 'let there be no scandal?' +Say that to those, who have not hesitated to carry the strife of +opinions into the stillness of the churchyard, where even the bitterest +enemies lie in death quietly side by side. No, my friends," he +continued in a loud voice, springing upon one of the snow covered +mounds, "we at least have not assembled around this grave, to stammer +an abject petition for a poor sinner who, unless justice be tempered by +mercy, is forever lost. This dead man will never be lost to us, and as +by the might of his love and intellect, he has indeed redeemed himself +from the curse of frail mortality, the terrors of blind delusion and +the bonds of selfishness, his memory will help us to free ourselves +also and to become more worthy of the joy of having been loved by him. +For yes, he has loved you too, my friends who never saw his face or +heard his voice. His great heart beat for all his brothers, for all who +were poor and miserable, for all the children of this world, who come +they know not whence and go they know not whither, and yet are too +honest to console themselves with fantastic tales and be lulled to rest +by idle dreams. What can be called sacred, if his grave is not? For do +you know <i>whom</i> we are burying here? A laborer, my friends, who was +ever sharing his last shilling with some poor man; a poet who never +desecrated his genius for fame or gold; a hero, whose last act was a +deed of sacrifice for those he loved. And is this life to be swallowed +up in gloom? Should this grave be called a 'sad' one over which +penitent sighs and pharasaical petitions for mercy must resound? Oh! my +Balder, I know you would submit to even this error of a gloomy, +intolerant formalist, with the quiet smile which was your only weapon +against all assaults. But we, your friends, are not yet at peace, but +in the midst of warfare. We must struggle for the weak who allow +themselves to be intimidated by formulas preferring to leave their free +souls in imprisonment than to shake themselves free from the hands of +their tyrants, to learn to know and love this earth instead of +despising its beauty in view of an imaginary world to come. Despise an +earth, which has contained you, my Balder, a sky to which your noble +eyes have been raised? no, a thousand times no! such a world is no vale +of tears, and even in the bitterest woe beside your grave, we still +have a feeling of triumph--we have possessed you, and all the +calamities of life are richly compensated for, by the certainty that +your great heart lives on in ours--Balder--my friend--my brother--"</p> + +<p class="normal">His voice suddenly failed, he pressed his clenched hand to his +eyes and +turned away, but the next instant regained his composure and motioned +to the singers, who stood in a dense mass behind him. Instantly a +quartette choir, whose voices at first low and unsteady from agitation, +became gradually clearer and more powerful, began a song, which Mohr +had composed to the air of <i>Integer vitae</i>:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t1">Brother, ere in the dust thy form we lay,</p> +<p class="t1">We'll to thy worth a loving tribute pay;</p> +<p class="t1">Thy virtues rare, and kindly heart, which were</p> +<p class="t8">A comfort on life's way.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Fearless thy earnest, noble soul did stand,</p> +<p class="t1">Not mid the lofty masters of the land,</p> +<p class="t1">But with thy brothers, 'mong their lowly huts,</p> +<p class="t8">A member of their band.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">O! chosen one, for whom we proudly weep.</p> +<p class="t1">Of whom thy friends a loved remembrance keep,</p> +<p class="t1">How patiently thy weary lot was borne</p> +<p class="t8">Till peaceful thou did'st sleep!</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Rejoice we at thy absence; gone before</p> +<p class="t1">Thy pleasures and thy pains on earth are o'er;</p> +<p class="t1">Rest thou, while on through strife and woe</p> +<p class="t8">We heavenward soar.</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">The last solemn notes died away, but there was still no +movement among +the group who stood with bowed heads beside the open grave. When after +a pause they raised their eyes they perceived that the clergyman had +disappeared. The old sexton, unable to understand the strange scene, +had also retired leaving his spade behind him. While Edwin, standing +between Mohr and Marquard, gazed into the grave as tearlessly as a +departed spirit, it was rapidly filled, each person stepping forward in +turn to cast in a spadeful of earth.</p> + +<p class="normal">Franzelius approached Edwin, and they clasped each other's +hands in +silence. The mourner's soul was still benumbed with grief, and the same +dull stupor rested upon him as the party returned home. He took leave +of his friends at the door of the house and went up to his desolate +cell alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">He found everything in the neatest order, nothing was left to +recall +the sorrowful events which, during the last few days, had occurred in +the quiet room. A bright fire was burning in the stove, the breakfast +stood on the table as usual, and the turning lathe was once more in its +place beside the window, with the tools arranged upon it as before.</p> + +<p class="normal">But on Balder's chair lay the little chisel with which +Franzelius had +screwed down the coffin lid. At this sight, the spell which had bound +Edwin was suddenly broken; he threw himself into the chair and gave +free course to the bitterest tears.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">When Marquard visited Edwin the following morning, he found +him at his +desk, holding his pen in his right hand and resting his head on the +left. A sheet of paper lay before him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good morning, Fritz," said he. "You've come just at the right +time. I +must make a decision, and everything within me seems walled up. I need +some one to unlock me. Perhaps you have the key." He looked at him with +a weary, restless glance, and tried to smile. It was pitiful to see the +effort he made to adopt a careless tone. His friend shook his head, "A +decision?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed, and no less important one than to dip this pen +into +yonder inkstand and write: 'Honored Sir!' Will you believe that I've +been working at this herculean task for two hours and have not yet +stirred a finger?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can do something more sensible."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gladly. If it doesn't require too much intelligence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only as much as is needed to pack a trunk and go with it to +the railway +station. My fur boots are at your service, and also money to pay the +traveling expenses. If you will only for once take the medicine, +without reflecting upon the prescription, and pack up this very day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"This very day?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's the use of writing that you will come? You're going, +and that's +enough. I know all you want to say: that you don't feel like it, that +you fear you'll not make a favorable impression just now. That's all +nonsense. If you don't make haste at once, it's very doubtful whether +you can ever present yourself in any place; you're far more likely to +absent yourself--retire where we yesterday accompanied our own Balder. +You've been moping about here for months. It's a bit too much, quite +enough to break down a stronger man. Come now, make a dash, put on your +dress-coat, visit your superiors and colleagues, set the cog-wheel of +your career in motion, and let the grey substance in your brain rest, +that it may make good its deficiencies. If this prescription is not +carefully followed, I'll answer for nothing, or rather I will answer +for the nothing into which your insignificant self will soon be +resolved. Have you had any sleep?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe so," replied Edwin, with an absent nod. "I slept +night +before last from two to three."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought so!" exclaimed his friend, dashing his hat +violently upon +the table. "And no one made his appearance yesterday, to perform a work +of charity and bore you till you fell asleep. What's the use of friends +who are poets in private and lecturers in public? Where was Mohr, with +his famous comedy? And our dear Franzel? Holy--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Philosophy showed poetry the door in the afternoon," said +Mohr, who +had just entered and overheard Marquard's words, "but don't be +disturbed. Doctor, I'm not at all offended. It's long been known that +you materialists have not classical culture enough to distinguish +between Orpheus and Morpheus. Good morning, Edwin. I'm only here to +tell you that I'm not yet fit for anything. The salt in my nature has +lost its savor, or else grown bitter. As Bitter-salt<a name="div2_06" href="#div2Ref_06"><sup>[6]</sup></a> it may perhaps +be of some assistance as a purgative; (pardon the wretched pun, the +times are too hard for good ones.) And then I wanted to tell you why +the tribune of the people cannot appear to-day any more than yesterday. +He's been imprisoned."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Franzel?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Arrested and imprisoned. The police officers have extended +their +motherly arm toward him and taken the erring child. We needn't pity +him. He's very well satisfied. My phenological science told me long ago +that he has <i>la bosse du martyr</i>.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the occasion, the pretext?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The disturbance of a public act of worship. Your reverend +colleague, +Edwin, drove straight from the churchyard to the police headquarters, +to complain of the atheistical opposition he had encountered. Franzel +was doubtless already prominent in their books among the powers hostile +to repose and order, so they took advantage of the opportunity to keep +him quiet for a time. They can't do much to him, and a few weeks +imprisonment is a more merciful punishment for godless heretics, than +the wood piles of former days. I'm only afraid it will make him still +more obstinate."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And he's right!" cried Edwin, as he started up and began to +pace up +and down the room in feverish haste. "They want an open battle, they +challenge it themselves, and there will be no peace until it has been +fairly fought. How often, in this very spot, I've agreed with Franzel +that we ought not to discuss anything, except with those who hold +similar views, for certainly the truth will not be spread by arousing +superstition and folly against it. But we ought at least to retain our +right to go our own way, and much as people prattle about liberty of +conscience, when the matter becomes serious, the liberty is only for +those who think they have rented the public conscience; and we, in the +belief that the more sensible people have already yielded, are +constantly stopping half way. We submit ourselves to listen to +unmeaning formulas repeated at the most important epochs of our lives; +when a child is given to us, a tie formed for life, a loved one +restored to earth, a stranger whose every word we would fain oppose, +utters that which wearies if it does not anger us. I've endured it like +a thousand others, and said to myself: it's no worse than to sign +yourself at the close of a letter 'with respect and esteem,' when you +feel neither; it is a mere form which can only bind those who find in +it a substance. But I now see whither this carelessness leads. Instead +of declining all priestly gabble, I paid no more attention while this +warder of Zion was slandering Balder's dust, than if the wind had been +blowing through the leafless branches, and was only roused from my +reverie by our faithful friend's eloquent defense. If he had remained +silent, I verily believe I should have been stupid enough to let the +zealot talk on, just as once, when I undertook to be godfather, I +weakly said 'yes,' when asked if I would strengthen the child in the +faith that Jesus Christ descended into hell and rose from the dead on +the third day. And now our poor champion must atone for the cowardice +and false shame we have all shown in not honestly and thoroughly +renouncing ancient abuses. No, I'll go and tell these gentlemen--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You'll be kind enough not to attempt to escape from my care," +said +Marquard quietly, as he seized the agitated man by the arm. "As for our +scapegoat, I hope to set him free immediately. I am blessed with +various connections, and fondly as conservative circles cherish the +deceptions of a high church patterned after the English, they can't +wholly shake off a secret fear of the free-thinkers, and are the first +to counsel half way measures and compromises as long as possible. But +you, my son, will now take an hour's walk, accompanied by Mohr, in the +course of which you'll converse on the most shallow and insignificant +subjects--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He was interrupted by the old maid-servant, who came in to +deliver a +letter. A deep flush crimsoned Edwin's pale face as he recognized the +handwriting, "Excuse me," said he, "if I glance it over."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went to the window, and they soon heard him laugh aloud. +"Good +news?" asked Mohr, who was absently playing with the leaves of the +palms.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Excellent! And it comes just at the right time. I'll set out +on my +journey this very day, for you're right, Fritz, the air of this city +doesn't agree with me. I must beg you Heinrich, to take my farewell +messages to the little house on the lagune and to Frau Valentin. +I--whether I ever set foot in the tun again, or trouble one of you to +send my movables after me--at any rate, I'll write as soon as I know +how matters stand where I am going, and whether I shall remain. And +now--perhaps you'll excuse me--the train leaves in two hours, and I +still have all my arrangements to make."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We yield to force," said Marquard dryly, "and I dispense with +all the +formalities of leave taking the more willingly, as I'm sure all this is +mere bustle, and we shall not get rid of you so quickly."</p> + +<p class="normal">He was not mistaken. Two hours after, Edwin still sat as +unprepared for +traveling as before, gazing at the letter which lay open before him, as +if he expected to discover some other meaning in the lines, than that +which the words conveyed. They ran as follows:</p> + +<p class="normal">"My Dear Friend!</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>The time has expired, the three days have passed without my +seeing +you again, I had scarcely hoped that the disclosure I made to you +through your brother--give my kindest regards to him; I envy you the +happiness of possessing such a relative--that any word from me could +produce any impression upon you since I can retract nothing, cannot +deceive you and myself.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I have ceased to desire to exist and have exhausted my means +to do +so. You know that with me both amount to very much the same thing. I +cannot understand how people can remain attached to a life, whose +conditions are limited to simple existence. And yet--I must suffer more +than I yet suffer, physical and spiritual hunger must gnaw still more +sharply, ere I can bring myself to try the last resource. Meantime the +pain is dull, and sometimes blended with the hope that it may not last +forever. So I wish to try whether I shall be better amid entirely new +surroundings. The old countess has invited me to spend some time at her +castle; she came for me in person, and little as I like her, I have +still less reason to be over fastidious. When you read these lines I +shall be on the way.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I can scarcely ask you to write to me. But if you do not +prefer to +utterly forget me, pity me more than you condemn. I shall never cease +to remember you.</i></p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="sc">Toinette</span>."</p> + +<p class="normal">At noon, when kind Madame Feyertag went to the tun to +interrupt his +solitude, and ask if he wanted anything, he seemed perfectly calm, +spoke of his speedy departure, thanked her for the love she had shown +Balder, and made all sorts of arrangements, in case he should enter +upon his duties as professor at once. He even ate a portion of the food +brought up to him, but could not made up his mind to go, and the trunk +he had brought down from the attic remained unpacked. Old Lore saw him +wandering about his room late at night; his lamp was not extinguished +until after midnight.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Marquard called the following morning, he was not at all +surprised +to hear that the Herr Doctor had not yet gone. "He has a disease of the +nerves called absence of will," he said to the shoe maker, "it's hard +to reach, but I think if we can once get him on the way--"</p> + +<p class="normal">At the door of the room he started violently. He heard Edwin's +voice +talking in a very strange tone on all sorts of matters. When he +entered, he found his friend sitting on the bed with dilated eyes, +holding the little bottle of violet perfume and Leah's plate, and +striking them together like a tambourine and a drum stick. He did not +recognize the new comer, and continued his discordant music, which he +accompanied with confused, delirious words, and verses of Italian +poetry--apparently from Dante. On the little table beside him lay a +small copy of the Divina Comedia, and beside it Toinette's letter. The +back of this was covered with writing in Edwin's small hand, which had +probably been done just before the fever set in, and his friend in +amazement read a singular improvisation in the style of the Inferno, +whose echo must have excited the sick man. Although Balder had said +that his brother was a poet, he had not been caught in such sins for +years, and in his days of health, certainly would not have fallen into +this fever for versifying. But as it sometimes happens in dreams or a +state of somnambulism, that we suddenly practise with wonderful skill +an art whose rudiments we have scarcely mastered, these lines had been +written without an erasure, as if dictated by some other, and as even +the worst verses were far superior to what Edwin usually acknowledged, +and the cynical, over-excited tone of the whole was utterly foreign to +his nature, Marquard looked upon them as a record of words uttered by a +man possessed with a devil, and forced to repeat what the demon +suggests. The verses ran as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t1">Methought that all my tasks were duly learned,<br> +And I prepared to turn my back on school.<br> +Must I examined be, to show what rank I've earned?</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Then pray begin to ask your questions o'er,<br> +For I am almost tempted to display<br> +Before you all my wisdom's scanty store.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Our life--whence comes it?--That we do not know.<br> +And whither does it tend?--From dusk to night.<br> +Its purpose?--Earth to teach us to forego.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Say, 'What is God?--That, God alone doth know.<br> +And what is pleasure?--To be free from pain.<br> +And pain?--To lack all pleasure here below.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Not always must we joy in self-denial.<br> +We are too far removed from actual life,<br> +And to the ground 'twixt two beliefs will fall.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Well, in the first class I have learned this truth,<br> +Which in the sixth I dimly did suspect,<br> +Hollow's the nut we have to crack, forsooth.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">When scarcely from the nurse's arms escaped,<br> +We gnaw, till on it we have cracked our teeth.<br> +By earnest zeal reward from toil is reaped.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">To feel the pangs of hunger never stilled,<br> +Mocking us alway as dry husks we gnaw,<br> +In the delusion we are being filled.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Then, though of course the palate, without question,<br> +Is thereby fooled, the stomach's soothed, and we<br> +Our nap can take fearing no indigestion.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Naught save the carelessness that questions never,<br> +Goes satisfied away. It took the shells<br> +For kernels, and thought ignorance clever.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">It hopes, when shrinking from the pangs of death,<br> +That life's just opening, the best to come!<br> +When its last sun doth fade, and fails its breath.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">A brighter heavenly light will swiftly shine.<br> +Good dreamers! After school there is no doubt<br> +That a pleasant vacation will be thine.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Next to the university, the student,<br> +When once the school examinations o'er,<br> +Will go, and with the change be well content.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">From obscure toil and hours of study free<br> +Into this world we go; only again<br> +Quiet and insignificant to be.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">No difference exists 'twixt old and young; nor<br> +Any trace of cheerful intercourse,<br> +No longer rings the cry "Excelsior!"</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">And say, are all these changing forms in quest<br> +Of this? This lavish outlay too! Oh fools!<br> +Who in this world think "all is for the best."</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">To me, from whom its joys have passed away,<br> +It seemeth like a dream of the great Pan,<br> +Sprung from his burning brain on some dog day.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1"><i>Dixi!</i> Although thy brains thou'st often racked.<br> +The matter is not yet so plain and smooth.<br> +The aid of ripe experience thou hast lacked.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Not yet? A little longer turn the pages dreary,<br> +Conning the self same lesson? Said I not<br> +Of sitting on the school bench I was weary?</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Loathsome the animal, whose monstrous jaws<br> +The food long since digested idly grinds,<br> +And grinds again, nor ever makes a pause.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">No matter, still thou must remain to aid<br> +Thy weaker schoolmates on the lower forms,<br> +Till themes are all prepared and lessons said.</p> + +<p class="t4"> </p> +<p class="t1">Why sullen looks and frowning brow display?<br> +The hours of leisure may be occupied<br> +In scribbling rhymes, while schoolboy pranks you play<br> +And on the school room bench your name enscribe.</p> +</div> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Sensitive minds are in the habit of terming the union between +body and +spirit an unequal marriage, a <i>mèsalliance</i>. And yet good and evil days +might teach them a better term, show them that whatever may be thought +in regard to the difference of origin, in the conscientious fulfillment +of every duty the dust born portion certainly does not fall below the +other, which is said to be its master. How could the soul enjoy the +sensation of pleasure, if its faithful companion did not lend to it the +aid of the senses, to say nothing of the joys which, even to the most +transcendental, arise from the senses alone. And if, in the pure ether +of spiritual enjoyment, we tremble at the thought of our resemblance to +God, what tortures we should suffer in the knowledge of our likeness to +the worms, if the body did not again befriend us, and as distress +reached its climax, transfer the conflict to the domain of the senses, +thus, as it were, retrieving the vantage point it has lost, until it +has gained new strength and new armor to end the struggle in its own +territory.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus the severe illness which attacked Edwin was a boon to his +sorely +wounded spirit. For weeks he lay senseless, a prey to a violent nervous +fever. He recognized none of his nurses, neither Franzelius, who after +having been released from his imprisonment with an impressive warning, +spent his nights regularly in the tun, sleeping perhaps a short time on +Balder's bed, when toward midnight the patient grew a little calmer, +nor the faithful Mohr, who acted as sick nurse during the day, and who +in the intervals when his constant attendance was not required, found +his sole recreation in sitting at Balder's turning lathe and playing +countless games of chess. At the commencement of the illness, Marquard +had been inclined to send Edwin to the hospital, where he could have +taken charge of him more easily. But the other two friends and Madame +Feyertag would not listen to the proposal, and although the illness +lasted for weeks and months, the kindhearted woman never for a moment +regretted that she had kept the sick man under her roof. Her heart and +her linen chest, her hands and those of her old maid-servant were +always open and ready, whenever they were needed. "My worthy friend," +said the zaunkönig to her husband--he came every day to inquire how the +sick man had passed the night--"your explosive theory is brilliantly +refuted, and the wisdom of Solomon proven:--'the price of a virtuous +woman is far above rubies.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">A calm smile rested on his lips and he looked at the crape on +his white +hat. The shoe-maker shrugged his shoulders. "The intention is good," +said he, "but the idea is usually weak. For instance, there's my +daughter Reginchen!--Well, I won't praise her, but Schopenhauer is +right again in regard to her explosive effect. The Lord knows what ails +her; her mother didn't make half so much fuss when she was young. But +her imaginative power Herr König, is beyond any man's comprehension. +You know she's betrothed to Herr Franzelius. Didn't she act at first as +if she would die if she couldn't have him? Besides, he's a very +respectable man and if he only gets rid of his radical nonsense, can +make a good living; for it can't be denied that he has education and +what's called character, and with the few groschen she'll bring him, he +can settle in life and even start a printing office. Well, as I have +only this one daughter--we're weak, Herr König, we men when we are +fathers. But now, just think of this: ever since the young gentleman +upstairs died, the silly thing has worn black as if he had been her +brother, and all the betrothal gayety is over. When Herr Franzelius +comes in the evening, they clasp each other's hands for ten minutes and +hang their heads like a couple of weeping willows, and all the rest of +the day she sits still and reads Schiller's poems, and if I ask how +much of her wedding outfit is completed, she says: 'There's no hurry +about that, father.' Yes, yes, Herr König, it's just as I say: the will +is good, for she still means to marry him; but what notion she's taken +into her head, to be suddenly absorbed in Schiller when she ought to be +thinking of making up underclothes and bed-linen--if I've got the least +idea, I'll never attempt to tell the difference between neat's leather +and calf skin again. By the way, where's your daughter? It's an age +since I've had the honor--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The little artist, who had listened with evident sympathy, was +so much +disturbed by this question that his only answer was a heavy sigh. At +last he said: "The dear God some times tries us very severely, Herr +Feyertag. He has long showered blessings upon me, I was happy in my +home and in my art, and really always strove hard to keep my mind +humble that I might not be rendered arrogant by so many mercies. Since +I've become a court-artist, especially, I've examined my heart and +uprooted every fibre of pride, for after all there are many far more +deserving and talented than I, who yet accomplish nothing, while my +modest speciality--but now I've been chastised in what was dearest to +me. My Leah's health is failing, no one knows what to do for her, even +Dr. Marquard can say nothing except that it may improve when the +weather is more favorable, when we can travel. But its now February, +who knows how matters will be in April or May. Oh! my dear friend, all +my life I've clung to the consolation that our heavenly father +chastises us because he loves us, but if I should be compelled to +endure--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused suddenly and without, as usual, leaving his regards +for +Madame Feyertag, hastily quitted the shop.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this time, Edwin had been out of danger for several weeks +and even a +relapse was no longer to be feared. His physical health was visibly +improving; but his intellect seemed inexpressibly slow in regaining its +clearness and strength. He could sit at the window for hours with a +very cheerful face, without seeking any amusement or occupation. Not +until the first days of early spring came and he could drive out in the +noonday sun, did the mist which had settled on his mind gradually +dissolve. His memory regained its power slowest of all. When the events +which had occurred during the last few months before Balder's death +were mentioned, it was with the greatest difficulty that he could +re-unite the sundered threads.</p> + +<p class="normal">Even after nursing was no longer necessary, Franzelius still +continued +to sleep in the tun. Edwin had begged him to do so, because he felt how +much pleasure it afforded the faithful friend to thus fulfil what he +had promised Balder. Moreover, after being alone all day--Mohr having +sought solitude for some time, it was pleasant when evening came to see +the honest face and to be lulled to sleep by quick conversation. True, +there was no lack of other visitors. The little artist came and Frau +Valentin, who again as far as Madame Feyertag's jealousy permitted, +hastened convalescence by preserves, strengthening broths, and various +delicate birds. But the more his strength returned, the more +indifferent and content with his position the invalid seemed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The news that another had obtained the professorship offered +to him had +come long before. Edwin had seen it in a newspaper and submitted to the +disappointment with great indifference. What was his career to him now? +He was happy in once more feeling strength to think of new books, and +eagerly read the important works that had appeared during his sickness. +Toinette's name never crossed his lips. He once asked whether Marquard +had seen a letter which he had received just before his illness and +which he was unable to find. "The maid-servant probably lighted the +fire with it long ago," Marquard answered dryly; "was it anything of +importance?" He did not want to return the fatal sheet which he +had carefully laid aside, until there was no possible danger of a +re-opening of the old wound.</p> + +<p class="normal">But this danger seemed at last to have disappeared. One day, +when +Marquard was making a short call, Edwin with a perfectly calm face +showed him a note he had received an hour before at the sight of which +his friend could scarcely conceal his alarm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It has come true," said Edwin smiling, but with a slight +flush. "I +thought the lime twig would not release the bird again. Well, I hope +her gilded cage will be large enough for her to fancy herself at +liberty."</p> + +<p class="normal">"May I read it?" asked Marquard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly. Unfortunately I've never had any secrets in common +with +her, and you have long thought her what she seems here."</p> + +<p class="normal">The note ran as follows:</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>You discarded me so suddenly, dear friend, that if I were sensitive I +should now keep silence in my turn. But as, from the beginning of our +acquaintance, I was as sincere in my friendship as you in your +unfortunate love, my feeling is more lasting, as well as more +compassionate and considerate than yours, I should not like to have you +learn through the newspapers, that your poor duchess has resolved to +make a mésalliance and in a few days will be called countess. Why have +I made this resolution? If your philosophy can find no answer to the +question, will you expect a hopeless simpleton to furnish one? Why are +we in the world at all? Perhaps a curiosity to learn whether any reason +for existence would declare itself was the sole motive that induced me +to take this step, at which you will doubtless feel some degree of +indignation. Believe me, it is only a preparation for the last extreme +measure, the step into nothingness. Besides, I have not been untrue to +myself, I told him all, even that I do not love him. But as he is more +easily satisfied than certain people, and asks nothing I cannot give, I +think we shall get along with each other very well, as we generally end +best with those with whom, we have never begun. With you--I feel it by +this letter, which can find no close--I should never have been happy. +But it is the same now. There are some absurd destinies, is it not so, +dear friend?</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>In spite of everything ever your own</i></p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="sc">Toinette</span>,</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>P. S.--Little Jean sends his compliments to you. It was on +his +account that I decided to marry the count. He would have been miserable +for life, if he had not been permitted to wear the count's livery, +which is green embroidered with silver, and makes him look like a +green-finch in a gala dress.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Despite all this I still wish I were--</i>"</p> + +<p class="normal">The last line was erased, but the words were yet legible. Marquard +silently laid the letter on the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you say to it?" asked Edwin, as he slowly replaced +the sheet +in the envelope.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing. I've long since given up saying anything about the +countless +varieties of the great species, 'woman.' I hate unscientific talk and +therefore only try to look at each individual case from the practical +side. At present I should like to hear what you say to it. You've taken +more than a theoretical interest in the case from the very beginning."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll tell you, as soon as I have found the formula. Hitherto, +it has +only been boundless surprise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"At her decision? Why, I should think--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, at its effect on myself. Will you believe that I read +this letter +without any quicker pulsation of the heart than if it had contained the +news that the Sistine Madonna had been removed from Dresden to Munich. +It seems as if the enchantment had vanished with the old blood the +fever consumed. Countess Toinette--I can say it as calmly as Reginchen +Franzelius."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marquard, with immovable composure, looked him steadily in the +face. +"Bravo!" said he. "You ought to have a red ticket: 'dismissed cured.' +To-day you must take a little walk, then for dinner--but I'll consult +with Madame Feyertag about that."</p> + +<p class="normal">He pressed his hand, whose temperature did not seem to exactly +please +him, and left the room. On the stairs he met Mohr. "Be kind enough to +watch Edwin to-day as closely as possible and not leave him alone +long," he whispered hastily. "His old love has accepted her count. He +says he's perfectly indifferent to it, but this idealist is not to be +trusted. Tell Franzel to keep watch to-night. I'll look in again +to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">But this time the clever physician was mistaken. When he +returned the +next morning, he found his patient looking much fresher and brighter +and his pulse in a perfectly normal condition. He listened to the +account of the expedition made the day before, which, favored by the +brightest March sunlight, had for the first time restored Edwin's +confidence in his strength. "To-day, with your permission, I propose to +make a visit," said he. "I want to look in upon my little friend and +patron in the Venetian palace. He's not made his appearance in the tun +for a week. Did the child of God only have intercourse with the child +of the world as a good samaritan!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're very much mistaken," replied Marquard looking +unusually grave. +"Our zaunkönig is watching his nest, because his brood is looking very +miserable."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leah? Sick? And how long has she been ill? Why do I first +hear of it +to-day?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why should I gossip about one sick room in another! I only +wish I were +as successful there as here. But there are cases which remind us rather +roughly of the limits of our powers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can't you understand her sickness?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Her case requires a wiser man than I. I know that the seat of +the +difficulty is in the mind, and I would even venture to touch the sore +spot with the point of a needle. But what will that avail, if the +remedy, which I also know, is not to be bought at any apothecary's?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A disease of the mind?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No: a simple consuming fever with a perfectly clear +intellect. In +short:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t4" style="text-indent:-4px">"By angels 'tis called a heavenly bliss,<br> +By devils a woe of th' deepest abyss,<br> +While mortals exclaim 'it is love.'"</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"Love? Is the poor girl--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In love, and so deeply that her life is imperiled. Oh! my +dear fellow, +these still waters!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And who in the world--But to be sure, from what I know of +her, she'd +not confess it to you, or any other human being."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A good family doctor needs no verbal confession in such +cases. We've +other means of examining a feverish little heart--quiet noiseless +means. At first, its true, I was on the wrong track. I imagined--mind, +this is entirely between ourselves--that I myself was the fortunate +object and cause of this mysterious suffering. After all, it would not +have shown any want of taste in her, and with the romantic occasion of +our introduction--the night when we rescued Fräulein Christiane from +drowning--who would have wondered if she had at first revered me as the +saving angel, then admired, and at last learned to love. And I confess +the bare thought cost me several sleepless nights--until about +midnight. You know what I think of love and matrimony, but my most +sacred prejudices were in danger of being vanquished, when I fancied +that a girl like this zaunkönig's daughter could really want me for her +lawful husband. There's something about her which must make it +difficult, nay impossible for an honest man ever to be faithless to +her. I'm as good a conductor of heat as an iron stove, and opportunity +added fuel to the flames. Under the pretext of being obliged to watch +her, I daily spent an hour in her society, almost always alone; and +besides, just at that time, I'd had a quarrel with my little +nightingale. Adeline had been a little too enthusiastic about a +handsome Hungarian. So I took advantage of the holiday thus given my +heart, to make studies beside the lagune, to ascertain whether I could +change my sentiments and transform myself from an admirer of ladies in +general, to the adorer of one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And in what did these studies consist?" asked Edwin forcing a +smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's <i>my</i> secret," replied Marquard pathetically. "Enough I +gave up +the game as I saw it was lost to me; but with the zeal of jealousy +searched for the man who stood in the way. My old sympathetic method +didn't leave me in the lurch this time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"May one know--?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's not my own invention. One of my colleagues in the dim +past made +use of the stratagem. You know the story of the sick prince, who was in +love with his step-mother, and whose secret the physician discovered by +feeling his pulse just as the queen was entering the room. Well, I +couldn't introduce the man whom I suspected into Leah's sick chamber. +There was an obstacle in the way. But his name, which I uttered +apparently without design, while clasping the delicate round wrist of +the little Jewish-Christian, produced precisely the same effect. A +sudden quickening of the pulse to forty more throbs a minute.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course the case is not particularly interesting to you," +he +continued, as Edwin made no reply but with averted face gazed steadily +out of the window. "You've never had any different feeling for this +pupil, than for any other student. At that time you'd been bitten by +the serpent, and even if you had been offered the three graces attired +in their authentic Olympic costume, you would have blindly pursued the +ducal banner. Whether under these circumstances, however, it would be +well for you to pay your visit to the Venetian palace today, you must +decide yourself. True, we usually recommend rubbing chilblains with +snow, but unfortunately a woman's heart is somewhat more delicately +organized than the sturdy extremities. I thought it my duty to make +this acknowledgement. Adieu!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He patted his silent friend on the shoulder and left him +alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">It would be impossible to describe Edwin's state of mind in a +few +words; we can scarcely venture to say whether joy or perplexity +predominated in his strange bewilderment. The first overwhelming +surprise was succeeded by the sense of secret shame that this could +have so amazed him, the burden of a fault, which pardonable on account +of its total unconsciousness, was yet unable to wholly absolve itself +from the charge of ingratitude. How selfishly unfeeling it now seemed, +that he had not even repaid with friendly recognition her many +unobtrusive tokens of the most humble affection! Even today, when he +had determined to see her again, it was principally the father, toward +whom he thought he had a duty to fulfil. And now he learned that the +happiness and misery of this young girl's life depended upon his +presence or absence.</p> + +<p class="normal">He closed his eyes and recalled all the scenes in which she +had played +a part, from the first interview in the little house to the evening +when she had stood beside Balder's catafalque and gazed at the still +face with an expression of the deepest woe. He saw her so distinctly +that he could have sketched her features line for line, the beautiful +lines of the eye-lids, which had attracted his attention at their first +meeting, because they moved very little, as if the eyes had more +strength than those of others to bear the light without the quiver of +an eyelash. Then the delicate, strongly marked brows, which contracted +when she was in thought--her father often teased her about it; her +forehead was like a white page containing some secret inscription, and +the eyebrows arched beneath it like two large interrogation points--all +these things appeared before him, and the quiet droop of the head when +it was difficult for her to understand something he was explaining, and +the sudden movement with which, when she had grasped the idea, she +raised it as if exulting in her victory and demanding new and more +difficult tasks.</p> + +<p class="normal">This girl loved him, and for months he had not had the +slightest +suspicion of it!</p> + +<p class="normal">He took the plate she had painted for him from his desk, where +he kept +all sorts of writing materials lying on it, and looked at it as if for +the first time. Without thinking what he was doing, he breathed on the +surface and polished it with his handkerchief. It seemed as if he +thought some secret cipher was concealed among the flowers and ears of +corn, which must now stand out and reveal what thoughts had passed +through her mind while she painted.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly it occurred to him that he possessed something better +than +this. The volume written by her own hand, in which as her father said, +she had copied his lessons--a deep flush crimsoned his face as he +remembered that it still lay unopened in his desk. True, how could it +have interested him to see whether his pupil had correctly understood +all his words, since the instruction was to cease. But suddenly this +pledge entrusted to his care became of the greatest value, as a fresh +means--since she would disclose her feelings in it without reserve--of +obtaining a thorough knowledge of her, and then: did he know what +confessions she might have made between the lines, confessions which +had so long remained mute and unanswered?</p> + +<p class="normal">As if to repair the omission by the utmost haste, he now drew +out the +package and tore off the enclosure. A plain thick volume, like a diary, +appeared, on whose blue cover was written the word "journal." A +flourish had been drawn beneath with the pen, and as he turned the +leaves he found many traces on the margins of the pages that the writer +had dreamily drawn, intricately interwoven flowers and figures, before +summoning up courage to commit her thoughts to paper.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was anything but a simple exercise book. The records dated +much +farther back, to a period three or four years before her acquaintance +with Edwin, and contained all the secrets of her young life, everything +which since her girlish heart had awakened, had aroused grave doubts +and questions.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was scarcely a trace of external events; only from the +reaction +on her mind could it be inferred that even this most quiet, uniform +life had experienced its trials and storms. But instead of merely +describing the tone and contents of these pages, let us at this point, +while Edwin for hours absorbs himself in reading, insert a short +extract from oft-interrupted soliloquies of this earnest young soul, +which will at least afford an idea of its principle characteristics.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>FROM LEAH'S DIARY.</h3> + +<p class="normal">"Since I burned the old volumes in which I so conscientiously gave an +account of all my secret struggles before and after confirmation, I +have had a horror of all writing. But is not this feeling similar to +that experienced by a person just recovering from small-pox who sees +himself in the glass for the first time, and desires to break the +innocent mirror that shows him his real face. I wish I had not burned +those diaries. True, they told a tale of sickness; but have we any +reason to be ashamed, if we are attacked by fever and rave in delirious +fancies?</p> + +<p class="normal">"As to what befell me at that time--either I am greatly +mistaken, or we +are developed by sickness; few escape this development by pain, I +think, and those few only because their natures are too weak and their +blood too stagnant.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But when I reflect upon it, it was not shame because I must +endure +these childish tortures before reaching clear views of life, which made +me destroy the old journals; it was a gnawing remorse that I could see +so plainly and yet lack the courage to openly assert my convictions. I +could not even plead the excuse that my unbelieving mind was not wholly +clear, and when my lips repeated the confession of faith, I only made a +vague protest. I knew perfectly well that I was uttering a monstrous +falsehood, my own quiet creed in black and white gave the lie to the +public confession in church, and in addition to the first act of +cowardice, I committed the second one of destroying these mute +witnesses, as if thereby I could stifle my own consciousness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can still remember how, in those days, a shudder like the +chill of +death ran through my frame, as, one after another, I heard all the main +points of the creed which my benumbed brain had for months vainly +striven to comprehend, echo loudly through the church, and at each one +a voice within me shrieked 'no! no!' and yet the 'yes' fell from my +lips, and I suddenly felt as though I were dead, since I had so +publicly and solemnly belied my own nature. It seemed as if I had +forsworn my existence, renounced what was nearest for something alien, +and taken what must ever be foreign to my character as my dearest +possession. Oh! the shame, the confusion, in which I returned and was +forced to allow myself to be congratulated on my disgrace and +degradation. For months I have been unable to regain my courage, or +enter into cordial relations with myself, so utterly was I crushed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In those days, no palliating circumstances occurred to me, +neither the +timidity natural to my sixteen years, nor the horror that would have +filled the solemn space if I had told the truth, nay I did not even +think of the true motive of my decision, the grief I should have caused +my dear father by a step so unprecedented. I heard only my own voice +professing a religion of which my heart knew nothing, nay which to +myself I had even clearly refuted, openly refused, and yet now +acknowledged as the substance of my deepest thoughts and feelings. It +weighed upon my conscience like a perjury; then I burned the books.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why have I now commenced a new one? What have I to discuss +with +myself? Ah! the silence which I have become accustomed to keep, because +I fear the sound of my own thoughts, has at last reached such a point +that nature and the world and my own heart are also dumb to me. There +is no one to whom I could utter my secret feelings. My father would be +frightened if he should see such deep gulfs and lonely heights in my +soul. Aunt Valentin speaks a different language, and others who come to +the house take me for a strange and not very lovable girl, who has few +attractions.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's all the same. On the whole, silence makes us far +happier; but we +ought not to forget to talk to ourselves. I will practice the art +again. Hitherto I have always lived at peace with myself, except for +that one great discord.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And that--I have now clearly perceived it--is the fault of +the bad +habit of expecting young people, just as they are beginning to suspect +the value of words, the difficulty of the enigma of the world, the +depths of the abysses of life, to be contented with a few answers +learned by rote to the most mysterious questions! It is cruel, to +compel them either to carelessly cast aside every doubt, in obedience +to the exhortations of a good man, who by virtue of his office is not +permitted to doubt, or the tremendous courage to step forward before a +whole congregation and reveal the inmost depths of their souls!</p> + +<p class="normal">"The objections I ventured to make during the time of +instruction were +all so easily refuted--with the theological self-sufficiency and +supreme wisdom against which there can be no debate, since it refers +every spiritual doubt to the poor hypercritic's conscience, and instead +of any real arguments has only the inscrutable retort: 'we must pray to +God for faith, and he will bestow it.' Is not that like saying that +when I am hungry and ask for bread, I can have an opiate, that I may +forget my wants and dream of full dishes? Thoughts disturb me, and to +escape from their conflict, I must pray for thoughtlessness?</p> + +<p class="normal">"But they are happy and wish others to have the same joy. If +only the +same food satisfied and nourished all!--</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>May</i> 10<i>th</i>.--I have been driving about the city with Aunt +Valentin, +buying all sorts of things. While we were so engaged she took advantage +of the opportunity to labor again at my poor soul, which I thought she +had given up as hopeless. But she really loves me, and therefore does +not weary in constantly directing my attention to what renders her +happy. I said very little in reply. There was so much noise and bustle +in the streets, I had not felt cheerful and gay for so long a time, why +should I spoil my enjoyment of the beautiful sunlight with arguments +and self-defense? But at last, when we were again approaching our +little house, in order not to delude her with false hopes, I remarked +that I certainly greatly needed redemption and often longed for it with +bitter pain. Yet how was I to feel love for a Saviour who did not +answer my questions, did not know my sad thoughts, and stood before me +as a sinless, perfect god-man. The mystical act of dying to rescue +erring humanity has always been incomprehensible to me. Single +beautiful rays of his nature shining through his doctrine might have +warmed me; but I needed not only to be warmed but enlightened, and +besides the wants of the heart, about which I am never uncertain, I +have other needs, which the catechism does not still, and which--even +if they are unnecessary or wrong--no dogmatic words can soothe.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear father who was just going out, met us and interrupted +Aunt +Valentin's reply. No theological subjects are ever discussed before +him, he has positively forbidden it. His relations toward God and all +'that is not of this world,' fill his whole nature so completely, that +he himself says it is like a second health. If we speak of it, we must +already be half sick, as we usually do not feel it at all. I envy him +the happy certainty of constant intercourse with his God, who is as +living a presence to him, as if he could see him with his eyes and +touch him with his hands. I, on the contrary, always feel alone with +myself, my human heart, my human thoughts; Aunt Valentin calls it +godless, I call it god-forsaken. But is it my fault, that it is so? +Have I not honestly sought him in tears and despair, the nearer the +time came when I was to confess him in public? And he has not suffered +me to find him!</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Evening</i>.--I have been obliged to finish a piece of work, a +vase +designed for a wedding gift, roses and sprays of myrtle with the +interlaced initials of both names in the centre. I can understand how +my father is so 'satisfied in his God.' He has a much less exacting +heart, and is also content with his art, while my half-way talent +shames me. This too is a matter of temperament. It is an impossible +thought that we must wish (that is pray) to close our eyes to our own +deficiencies, to be satisfied with trivial things. It is well not to +murmur, to submit to what cannot be altered, but to falsify our own +judgment for the sake of so-called contentment--I shrink from it as +from a heinous sin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps if I had great talent, or any high, difficult +life-work taxing +my energies, I might sooner cease to brood over inscrutable things. He +who creates something in which he can himself believe, will perhaps in +time lose his curiosity or the anxious desire to understand what has +been created around him. He knows or imagines he knows why he lives. +Each day seems to show him. I, on the contrary--if I were not necessary +to my father--</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Two days later</i>.--I stopped writing day before yesterday, +because +some impulse suddenly urged me to read the New Testament again. I had +not opened it since so many incomprehensible, threatening and +condemnatory sentences perplexed my heart and then threw it back upon +itself. Now, since I have lost the childish awe of hearing in it the +voice of an infallible spirit, an Omniscient God, since I have read the +story of one of the noblest and most wonderful of men, I have found +much that greatly refreshed me. But the subdued tone of the whole at +last oppressed me again. What do we mortals possess that is more +elevating, pure, and consoling than joy; joy in beauty, in goodness, in +the brightness of this world! And while we read this book, we are +constantly wandering in the dusk of expectation and hope, the promise +of eternal life is never fulfilled, but just dawning when we have +struggled through time, uncheered by a bright ray of joy, a jest, a +laugh--the pleasure of this world is vanity--we are referred to a +future which makes the present worthless, and the brightest earthly +bliss, that of becoming absorbed in a pure, deep, loving thought, must +also be suspected by us, since only the poor in spirit inherit the +kingdom of heaven--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am poor in spirit, but it makes me unhappy that I feel it, +and at +the same time feel that if I could break though these restrictions, I +should no longer be what I am, not yet become sure of my redemption and +happiness. For what transcends me is no more mine.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then the thought that this gentle man, in order to belong +to all +humanity, should turn away from his relatives with such strange +harshness, have no family ties--I suppose it was necessary but it +always chills the ardor of my feelings. All the other great souls I +have loved, have been glad and bright, and amid their majesty were +allied to my nature by the chords of human needs. When I read Göethe's +letters, of Schiller's narrow circumstances, Luther and his family, or +of the people of still more ancient times, up to Socrates and his +scolding wife, I always feel a breeze from the native soil out of which +the plant of their spirits has sprung, and which also bears and +supports my insignificant one. But the absence of everything akin to +humanity alarms and estranges me, and to make amends I have not even +the faith to believe that all, as with God, is perfectly right.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have often wished I were a genius, for I thought geniuses +must be +very happy people, since with a sudden bound of fancy they leap over +all the abysses of doubt at which quiet thinkers, to whom no brilliant +idea suddenly lends wings, stand gazing helplessly. But on the other +hand no applause from others or myself--though I greatly value +genius--would induce me to relinquish honest labor, even if it advances +slowly or does not reach the goal at all. This is my piety since I lack +any other. Genius and devotion are probably incongruous, but without +the consciousness of being absorbed in quiet honest devotion, in +studying the mystery of life, not even our brief existence would not be +worth the trouble of living.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>End of July</i>.--I have worked hard at my studies from nature. +I think +these industrious months which have filled my portfolio, must have done +me good; for I now believe I am on the track of my own views and +opinions, and have freed myself as much as possible from what I +learned, which never satisfied me.</p> + +<p class="normal">"True, while I was doing so my journal has been neglected. I +have +painted until not only sight and hearing, but thought failed. If +absorption in nature and art could content me, I should have +experienced a few months of perfect happiness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aunt Valentin has brought to the house a young man whom she +holds in +the highest esteem, an artist who belongs to the Nazarene school, not +without talent and not unattractive, but in spite of his St John's +head, as Aunt calls it, he will never be dangerous to me.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>August</i> 2<i>d</i>,--When I think I must some day belong to a +husband, I am +always filled with fear, so greatly do I feel the need of loving, +yielding up my heart, in whose depths many things are unchained which +will some day burst forth like hot springs. But I know that I can only +deliver up my life to a man, when he is what I have so often sought in +books--a very Saviour; when he is so far above me in strength, +goodness, and intellect, that I can always receive from him, no matter +how often I ask. It is said to be more blessed to give than to receive. +But in marriage, it seems to me, since a woman gives her all, she ought +to receive more than her all. It may be that these are dreams woven in +a girl's idle brain, and that in reality such a union of two in one is +impossible. At least my own parents, exemplary as they were, my good +aunt and all the other happy married people I have seen, do not +correspond with this ideal. However, there will be plenty of time to +lower my standard when it is necessary.</p> + +<p class="normal">"3<i>rd</i>.--Aunt Valentin has just been talking about N--r. She +said he +esteemed me very highly, loved me warmly, and should consider himself +happy if he could win my affection and make me his wife. I have seen it +coming, and my answer was the more free from embarrassment, the less I +reciprocated the feeling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>He</i> my saviour? He, who has not the most distant idea of my +nature, +and who would not have the least comprehension of my needs, if I told +him all?</p> + +<p class="normal">"'We are too unlike,' I answered. 'He is mistaken if he thinks +one like +me could make him happy.'--Aunt Valentin eagerly protested against +this. He knew my religious opinions, and that was precisely what had +turned the scale. He now felt how much he had to give, otherwise his +modesty would have discouraged him. We discussed the matter a long +time, debating whether with the possibility of conversion and future +understanding, two persons so widely different in belief might venture +to join hands. Dear me, she believes it because she desires it. This +reason for faith does not exist for me, since I do not even wish to +attract him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A nature like his, which is alarmed by everything vague and +seeks +repose at any cost, even that of truth--I mean truth to itself--such a +peace-loving soul would be chilled to death in the storms of thought +which are my element. It requires courage to stand as sentinel on such +a lonely post, and not even know when one will be relieved--if at all.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Wednesday</i>, 6, <i>A. M</i>.--I awoke last night and could not +fall asleep +again on account of the heat, so I rose and sat down at the open +window, where the night heaven looked down upon me with its countless +stars. Then suddenly, when all around was so calm and silent, and yet +so grand and wonderful, a feeling stole over me as if I distinctly +heard my soul say: 'No, this boundless expanse contains no heart whose +pulses throb in harmony with yours. But do not fear. We breathe and +move and will and think according to eternal necessity, and are not +solitary, even amid the desolation of midnight.' And as I said this to +myself, I heard my dear father's quiet breathing and stole softly into +his room. There he lay smiling so lovingly in his sleep, that I +involuntarily knelt beside him and gently kissed his hand; then I +returned to my bed and slept more sweetly than I had ever done before.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Long ago, when it occurred to me, that what people call God +was a +vision created after their own image, a thrill of superstitious awe +stole over me, as if I must be punished in some way for my audacity. +But it is childish to suppose that if a conscious, omniscient, +omnipresent being really holds the world in his hand, our doubts or +misapprehensions would offend him, as an earthly monarch would be +angered if a sentinel did not pay him due honor. But the childish +tricks and farces which we daily see performed with the utmost +seriousness, and even take part in ourselves, have gradually made us in +earnest. People in Catholic countries believe that they offend this +God,--whom they call all-good and all-wise--if they pass a church +without removing their hats or making the sign of the cross, and in +many Protestant houses they do not appease their hunger without asking +the Saviour to share the meal. This is child's play, and very harmless +and even pleasing, if in these little pious, symbolical exercises, men +did not lose the capacity to realize the vast heights and depths of the +idea of God, that would be worthy of this vast universe. But you make +him out what you are yourselves, a being irritable, capricious, and so +susceptible to flattery that he cannot bear to have a man, at a rare +piece of good fortune, cry out: 'Well done;' but at once spoils the +poor mortal's mirth. If forsooth nothing can be gained by a formal +suit, he must try again to appease him, a being, that with all his +majestic designs, does not suffer a sparrow to fall from the roof +without serving his purpose, let alone a poor slater, who leaves a wife +and children penniless.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well; let them model their household God as they choose +and can. +But why do they rage with fire and sword or angry denunciations against +all who cannot make the magnificent creation harmonize with such a +creator, who to atone for the contradictions and mysteries, hardships +and delusions of life, seek something besides the rewards and +compensations to be received: in another world? Why should one who +troubles nobody with his wanderings and searchings, not be permitted to +fight his way through at his own risk, but always be forced to walk on +the great high road, where by the rays of the privileged lights so much +is done and approved that is utterly repulsive to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Later</i>.--My father too--in his tender affectionate way--has +also +asked what I think of N--r. I made no concealment of my utter +indifference, and begged him to inform the worthy man that he might +cherish no delusions. 'You know,' said I, 'I have always been a +terribly obstinate child, and only one person has had with me the +patience I need--yourself. I should be a simpleton if I left you to +quarrel with somebody else who will not even listen to what I say, but +already believes me a stray sheep.' He laughed and said he did not wish +to give me up, I should have to run away from him till he could become +reconciled, and besides he only wanted to know my opinion; the affair +had seemed to him very improbable.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I clearly perceived that Aunt Valentin, to whom he can never +refuse +anything, was at the bottom of the matter. But with all his mildness +and gentleness, there is one point where he becomes firm as a rock, and +we perfectly understand each other: a person who lacks real nobility +and greatness of soul can not influence him, spite of the best +qualities. And therefore--"</p> + +<hr class="W50"> + +<p class="normal">"What I wrote yesterday afternoon has been strangely verified.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aunt Valentin interrupted me and induced father also to leave +his work +and enjoy the fine weather in the Thiergarten. A concert was to be +given for some benevolent object. When we reached the place, we found, +as I suspected, N--r already there. As it was very crowded, he had +secured places for us, so we sat very comfortably looking at the gaily +dressed ladies and children, who moved up and down near us, and +listening to all sorts of overtures and dances, which failed in +producing a pleasant impression, on my ears at least. But the air was +like balsam, the recent rain had made it soft and free from dust, and +in the midst of the music a calm, cheerful feeling took possession of +me, and I was very grateful to aunt for having afforded me this +pleasure. She looked very bright; I often think she does not grow old, +but in spite of her hard, dogmatic ideas, retains some of the innocence +of childhood in her features; my father was very gay, his new coat +fitted him perfectly, and we joked about it; even N--r seemed more +agreeable than usual. Among all the <i>blasé</i> vacant, or frivolous faces, +his grave modest countenance looked like a human face amid mere masks. +Suddenly, in a pause between two pieces of music, we heard from an +adjoining table, where several officers were sitting, loud words about +us, or rather me. A very saucy looking young lieutenant was beginning +to tell his companions why he thought me pretty. I will not repeat his +language here, but though not intended to be insulting, it was an +offence against all good breeding, especially as various jests, +stories, and satirical remarks, such as are common among gay young men, +were added. Father turned pale and looked at Frau Valentin. 'We ought +to go away,' said Aunt, 'this is intolerable.' 'We ought to request +them to stop,' replied father, glancing at N--r. 'It would be better to +avoid a quarrel and any scandal,' replied the latter without daring to +look up. 'Why can't we remain quietly here, and let these children of +the world continue their talk, which doesn't concern us.' 'Us?' said my +good father rising. 'I should think, as we're sitting at the same +table, it concerned us all if any person behaved rudely to one. I'll +see whether this babbling mouth can't be stopped.' 'Would you--?' +exclaimed N--r in astonishment, but father did not hear him. He had +approached the table, courteously raised his hat, and said a few words +in a tone so low, that I did not understand them; there was a strange +roaring noise in my ears. I only saw his dear, gentle, honest eyes +flash with an unusual light, a flush mount to his cheeks, and an +expression of such firm resolution rest upon his features, that even +the blustering young officer remained perfectly quiet, and no one +interrupted him. When he had finished, he paused a moment to ascertain +whether they had anything to say, then as all were silent and only the +principal hero faltered a few incoherent words, father smiled very +pleasantly, raised his hat again, and bowed to the whole table. +Meantime the orchestra began, and when the piece was over, our +neighbors departed, courteously raising their caps to my dear, knightly +father, in doing which the ex-orator did not even venture to look at +me.</p> + +<p class="normal">"N--r was overwhelmed with shame, but father behaved as if +nothing had +happened. Afterwards when we were driving home with Aunt (my peaceful +suitor had found some pretext to bid us farewell,) he took occasion to +tell her that in the future she need not encourage this singular person +to visit our house. 'I know,' said he, 'that we're told to turn the +right cheek when smitten on the left. But although I greatly desire +always to be disposed to forgive insults to myself, as soon as they are +addressed to another, especially a lady, you must allow me to defend +myself and hold the man who either has not the heart or spirit to do +so, a weakling, with whom I prefer to have no intercourse.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"When we were at home and alone, I threw my arms around my +dear, noble +papa's neck and kissed him till he was fairly out of breath and began +to scold, though there were tears of joy in his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"N--r was not mentioned by either of us. I think I shall not +see him +again--</p> + +<p class="normal">"How little the days bring, that really touches the heart! +Oftentimes +this void is not at all oppressive. A mist seems to enfold me, which is +already beginning to grow less dense and be gilded by the first rays of +the sun, which I cannot yet see. A soft, delightful expectation +pervades my soul, like the anticipation of very pleasant events, +experiences, and enlightenments, which will undoubtedly soon take +place. But when another day has passed in monotonous waiting, I lie +down on my bed with a very heavy heart, and think: suppose nothing +should happen? Suppose all your hoping and waiting should only befool +you? For I have long understood that our wishes can give no claim to +their gratification, our longings no right to their fulfillment. We all +strive toward perfection, and remain in our incompleteness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But there is so much beauty, depth, and joy accessible to me, +even in +my limited sphere--and yet I am unable to attain it--am still far from +it--the greatest happiness is beyond my reach.</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">"To-day I stood a long time before a shop where medical and +philosophical works were displayed in the window. If I only had +money enough, I would buy all whose titles please me and read them +hap-hazard, as the man in the fairy tale ate through a mountain of +pan cakes and found priceless treasures. But the little I earn by +painting--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have again looked over the contents of our book shelves +which I +already know by heart. Even in our great authors, I do not find what I +seek and need. Then I mechanically took down a volume of Becker's +History of the World and read a portion of it. If I only had some +connection with those long past wars, political revolutions, and +historical events! But the happy betrothal of our pretty little +neighbor, our landlord's daughter, is really more important to me at +this moment, than that Ninus married Semiramis, and Cleopatra had +several husbands. Does not very much the same farce go on under +different names, in other lands and costumes, a farce whose origin and +purport we understand no better when we have read all these fourteen +volumes?--</p> +<br> +<p class="normal">"And yet, if we did understand, could we endure life? Is not +the fancy +that we have something very important and necessary to do, is not this +delusion perhaps the best in existence? At the theatre we ought to +forget, as much as possible, that the actors behind the footlights are +rouged and obey the prompter's voice instead of the dictates of their +own hearts.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can still remember how I felt, when in my childhood I sat +toward +evening on the flight of steps leading down to the canal, gazing at the +tiny spot gilded by the slender ray of sunlight that made its way +between the high roofs. I always grasped at it and thought I could take +the golden water in my hand. Then it was once more as dull and dirty as +everywhere else in our lagune. But I had fancied or read somewhere, +that if one knew a certain spell it would not turn back to common +water, but remain liquid gold. Yes, if one knew the spell!--</p> + +<p class="normal">"My good, kind, ever loving, ever thoughtful father! He has given me +to-day a joy never experienced before. Be has found me a teacher and +brought him home at once. The very first words exchanged with the Herr +Doctor have convinced me that he is wholly unlike all the others, that +he knows what I need, what I have not found in books and hitherto have +not asked from men.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I should describe the wonderful impression this man and +our first +conversation--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Here the writing suddenly stopped at the bottom of a page. The +following sheets seemed to have been cut out with a small pair +of scissors--how many could not be discovered. Then began in a +clear, regular hand--all the previous writing had shown traces of +agitation--an elaborate account of all Edwin had said during his +lessons. He was astonished, since in his presence she had scarcely +written a name or a date, to see how clearly the essential portion of +his statements was given without the slightest misunderstanding, and +yet in her own words, so that her memory was the least merit. No +description of personal moods and experiences interrupted the quiet +flow of these thoughts, but oftentimes there was a dash or +interrogation point on the margin, a sentence thrown in which showed +that here and there the writer's mind had not yet penetrated the lowest +depths, and was obstinately seeking to fathom them. "This might be +printed just as it stands, as a history of philosophy for women!" +exclaimed Edwin, when he had read the last line. "What a head! And I, +when she was gazing so dreamily into vacancy with her great eyes, +thought 'where is she wandering'--when she perhaps understood better +than her teacher.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's a pity that it closes so soon! I should like to see what +she +would have made of later events. But there's something more."</p> + +<p class="normal">He had turned the page and now read as follows:</p> + +<p class="normal">"The most difficult thing in life has always seemed to me to +clearly +perceive, in a conflict of duties, which is the higher, and those are +the happiest and most ingenious who can do so. If goodness were a +perfectly simple matter, what would be more delightful than always to +be good? But that reason must put in its word where affairs of the +heart are concerned, that we must think of what is customary, and often +come to no positive decision, is sad, because it makes us doubt that on +which we should most rely, our own consciences, and---whichever path we +may choose--leaves in the soul a sting, a something to regret.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We are firmly convinced that it is our duty to offend no one. +It is +the law of the gospel, as well as of our deepest feelings, which deals +with all the sorrows of the world, and therefore makes every +individual, out of compassion for the others, labor to alleviate the +misery of the world. And now each individual again strives toward +perfection, to the full extent of his powers, and yet can rarely carry +his point without injuring others, as a tree in the midst of a forest +has only just as much light and air as the neighboring trees admit. And +therefore many a one withers and pines away, knowing it, foreseeing the +end, and obliged to be silent--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, obliged to be silent even if speech would injure no one, +when a +mere prejudice decides it to be unseemly to grow beyond a certain +height and breadth, and that those who are exceptions, would be struck +by lightening; Oh! why must----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Here several lines were erased. Then on a fresh page was a +letter:</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I never dreamed that I should ever give this volume to any one, least +of all that it would come to your notice, my honored teacher. But +father wishes that the instruction for which I owe such inexpressible +gratitude, should cease, that for some time I should turn my thoughts +from all that was the subject of your lessons. He begged me to destroy +these pages too. But I cannot yet resolve to do so, and requested him +to allow me to place the volume in your care. So what came from, you +returns to you again.--I beg you not to laugh at the earlier records, +if you happen to cast a glance at them. I must now dispense with that +which during the past few weeks has occupied all my thoughts and +feelings, and for which I can never thank you enough! How deeply this +grieves me I cannot tell you, and yet I feel that it would be the only +thanks I could offer, if I could make you fully understand how much I +shall now sacrifice. You would then perceive how much you have given +me, and that I have received everything, even what was perhaps somewhat +above my comprehension, with the most eager and honest purpose. At +least I must tell you that presentiment and the incompleteness of my +knowledge will never torture me in the future, as they have done in the +past, now that I know there are clear judgments, and that even an +untutored, simple girl, if she collects her thoughts and has the right +guide, can at least advance far enough to comprehend the grandeur of +the task, and exercise her powers upon it.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Farewell, honored Herr Doctor. Be kind enough to accept the +little +memento I venture to send, and hold an indulgent memory of your +sincerely grateful pupil,</i></p> + +<p class="right">"L. K."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">It was high noon when Edwin turned the last page of this +confession, +and meantime the maid-servant had brought his dinner, which stood +untouched on the little table. Even now he sat motionless at the window +for a long time, with the book on his knees and his hands crossed on +it, as we place them on a chafing dish by whose feeble glow we try to +warm ourselves.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he rose, his eyes sparkled with a light as strong and +brilliant as +if the slow work of his convalescence had suddenly been completed. He +extended his arms toward the blue March sky, and drew a long breath, +like a person who feels strong enough to cope with anything that may +come. "If I could only speak of it to Balder!" he said to himself; then +he carefully locked the book up in his desk and went out into the +street.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once more life seemed dear and pleasant, the motley throng of +people as +delightful as the swarming of bees in midsummer, the faces he met kind +and dignified. He paused before the shop windows, entered a +confectioner's more to look at the dainties and the human beings who +were eating them, than to enjoy them himself, and visited several of +his intimate acquaintances, whose thresholds he had not crossed since +the autumn. All congratulated him on his recovery, and said the +sickness had rejuvenated him. At last, when he had walked till he was +tired and remembered Marquard's threats if he attempted too much at +first, he went to Mohr's rooms and would not be deterred from entering +when told he was not at home. A strange, joyous restlessness urged him +to see all sorts of strange people and things, and remain with them for +a time, in order to have the secret pleasure of thinking of the +treasure he concealed in his bosom; as in times of special happiness, +when the lofty joys we experience render our sleep full of dreams, we +wake, turn from one to another and reflect that the joy we feel on +awaking, is the only real and actual experience.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr did not return home. When Edwin had ransacked his room, +looked +through his books, and softly struck a few chords on Christiane's +piano, which Mohr had bought at the sale of her effects, he at last +resolved to go home. He was delighted to see Franzelius, but did not +tell him one word of the subject that was occupying his thoughts. But +as he fancied he read in his friend's honest countenance something like +a reproach that Edwin could be so cheerful, almost wantonly gay, when +Balder had scarcely been dead five months, he took his hand, and said +gravely: "Franzel, I know of what you're thinking. But have patience +with me a little while. Signs and wonders happen, and a dry stick which +seemed fit for nothing except to be hacked to pieces and cast into the +fire, suddenly puts forth green branches. If <i>he</i> had lived to see +this, I really believe the joy and wonder would have prevented his +death, we should have kept him here."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the next morning, when he opened his eyes and saw the +sunbeams +playing among the palms, he could not help thinking of a verse of +poetry he had read somewhere, and as Franzelius had long since risen +and gone to his printing office, he softly repeated it:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t1">How pleasant to wake in the bright morning's glow<br> +When one has lain down with a soul full of love.<br> +And hear in our wonder the heart laughing low<br> +And know not the music that maketh it move,<br> +Till full soon the radiant light comes, and low<br> +The purple veil is withdrawn from above,<br> +Revealing the vision of love just dawning,<br> +Nodding and murm'ring: "Good morning! Good morning!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">He started up and hurriedly threw on his clothes. All +hesitation was +over, and he now reproached himself for having waited yesterday to see +whether other thoughts would come during the night. If it had been +admissible to make a call at nine o'clock in the morning, he would have +rushed off without his breakfast. But he allowed another hour to pass, +and then in the brightest of spring sunlight, turned his steps toward +the Schiffbauerdamm and the lagune.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where are you hurrying at such a rate, Herr Doctor?" he +suddenly heard +some one call behind him. "One must borrow the wings of the morning to +overtake you."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was extremely disagreeable to be compelled to stop and give +his +pursuer a courteous answer. And yet the speaker was a man whom he was +usually by no means unwilling to meet, a Livonian baron, whose great +wealth gave him the means to indulge his passion for art and extend and +correct his powers of judgment by constant travel. He had a gay, +careless disposition, with which a sort of Berserker rage that +overwhelmed him whenever the conversation turned upon spurious pictures +or undeserved fame, oddly contrasted. One who saw him passing through +the streets in his negligent attire, with a broad brimmed black hat +crowded down over his bald head, and eyes that from constant searching +and gazing, protruded like a snail's, as if eager to touch everything +visible, would scarcely have expected to find the artistic judgment and +delicate enthusiasm, which had made him dear to Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">But to-day nothing could have been more inopportune to our +friend than +this meeting. He pleaded a business engagement as the cause of his +haste, but could neither decline the troublesome companionship, nor +conceal the goal of his walk.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the baron heard the zaunkönig's name, he paused in +astonishment, +and with a "<i>Cospetto di Bacco!</i>" seized Edwin by the coat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Listen to me, my dear fellow," he exclaimed, "this is a +dispensation +of Providence, or there is no God. Do you know I was just in the act of +taking the same walk, and grumbling because I was obliged to do so, and +now I'm heartily glad to be relieved of the necessity."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you an errand to the artist, which I could perform in +your +place?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you will be so kind, my friend; for that you can do so, +and ten +times better than I, is just the miracle. But first hear <i>di che si +tratta</i>. Last autumn, when the exhibition of paintings was held here, I +had the honor of escorting Prince Michael Paulovitsch Batàroff, our +great Mæcenas, you know, a man who between ourselves has allowed a +wretched Byzantine daub to be imposed upon him for a Taddeo Gaddi, and +otherwise paid dearly enough for his connoisseurship. But that's of no +consequence if he's in the right hands, his money sometimes goes to the +right man. Well, I am, so to speak, his oracle. Whenever anything is +offered him, especially by a modern artist who is not yet famous, he +always wants to ascertain from <i>me</i>, how the picture really suits +<i>him</i>. Of course I'm as rude and inconsiderate toward him, as a good +diplomat must be to conceal his subtlety. At that time, when as I've +already mentioned, we nosed around the exhibition, in doing which he +used me as his truffle-dog,<a name="div2_07" href="#div2Ref_07"><sup>[7]</sup></a> he had his pathetic days, when he would +pour forth the most incomprehensible tirades about the moral influence +of art, the priesthood of genius, and the incapacity of the German race +to produce any great artists--phrases which always made me think of the +famous symphony on the influence of blue on the arts, from the <i>Scénes +de la Vie de Bohéme</i>. Well, one day he was riding his hobby: in art +only the highest developments have a right to exist. If he could be a +Caligula of æsthetics, he would wish that all mediocre painters had but +one neck, that he might sever it from the trunk at a single blow. I, +who've grown old enough to make a wry face at the theory of perfection +in art, dryly remarked that I knew spheres of life in which bungling +did still more harm. Was not a mediocre statesman, doctor, priest, nay +even an unskilful cook, far more injurious to the community, than a +poor devil of a painter, who quietly daubs his little square of +canvass, and meantime thinks himself an artist who understands how to +enjoy life and beauty far more than other mortals? Whom does he injure +except himself, if he sells nothing, and is compelled to starve with +his wife and children? And if he really helps to corrupt the taste of +the public, would the crime be any more reprehensible, than that +committed by a statesman who incites nations to war against each other, +or a cook who destroys our stomachs, let alone miserable doctors who +can't heal them again. No, I would not on any account wish the innocent +mediocrities away, unless they were blatant fools or scoundrels, and +procured large orders by intrigue. A hundred bunglers were necessary, +before one genius distinguished himself; but whether this eternal star +enjoyed as much happiness amid all its splendor, as the majority of +these ephemeral insects derived from their feeble spark, was very +questionable, etc., etc. His Highness condescended to laugh and call me +a paradoxical sophist. 'Look at this picture, my dear baron,' he +exclaimed stepping before a genuine zaunkönig, which really did cut a +very poor figure. 'Will you, even in the presence of this sufficiently +pitiful production, assert that the kingdom of heaven belongs also to +the poor in art, that the worthy painter was satisfied with his work +and would not joyfully abandon his trade, if he had learned anything +else? I'll wager that most of these gentlemen, who pretend to glow with +the sacred fire of genius, would not hesitate a moment, as they've only +got into the habit of painting, as old Schadow said, to get out of it +again, if they were better paid for their idleness, than for their +bungling industry.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, he's not usually so unjust. You know, my friend, what a +part +materialism plays at the present day, even in art. But the cold, +<i>blasé</i> tone thoroughly enraged me, as I know the condition of the +so-called sacred fire of art in His Highness' own breast. Just at that +moment I saw our zaunkönig, with his good, modest face, standing at +some little distance, almost alarmed to see people linger so long +before his insignificant picture. 'Suppose you make the trial, your +Highness,' I hastily replied. 'The artist who painted this picture is +close at hand. My Mantegna against your Luini, that no money in the +world will induce this worthy man to sell the pleasure of occasionally +sending such a little abomination of art into the world. But we must go +to work delicately. An open offer would mortally offend his pride. +Propose to give him a yearly salary, on condition that he does not +touch a brush except for you, and must wait till you give him orders. +I'll declare your Taddeo Gaddi genuine, if the little artist can hold +out even a twelvemonth, without scrawling his hedges and foregrounds.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you say to this malicious wager? Shameful, my dear +fellow, +wasn't it? But it popped out all at once, and really my Mæcenos was +prince and Russian enough to think the trick very clever. I was ashamed +of myself, when the zaunkönig was summoned and showed a touching +confusion, when he heard that his 'speciality' had at last found the +right purchaser. 'How much do you earn by your painting in the most +successful years?' asked the prince. 'Three hundred thalers at the +most,' was the reply. 'Well, I'll give you a thousand, and from this +time you're my court painter. You'll receive your salary from the +embassy every six months, and in return bind yourself not to touch a +brush except to execute my orders. Adieu!'</p> + +<p class="normal">"So the good little man stood as if he had suddenly fallen +from the +clouds, surrounded by several perplexed, envious colleagues, who were +paying him sarcastic compliments. But do you know, since that day I've +not slept as quietly as usual, for I've also undertaken the pleasant +task of watching the new court painter, to see whether he scrupulously +keeps his contract. As I should make the mischief still worse by +tattling, and moreover at last hope to win the wager and bring off my +old friend with all the honors, I must after having said A., go on to +B. I was just on my way to him again. He once told me that the spring +always arouses in him a desire to paint. The trees themselves are then +as dry as hedge poles, and vegetation is scanty; he can at any rate +reproduce that. And yesterday the secretary of Legation handed me a +letter, in which our artist asks His Highness whether he may be +permitted to paint a very charming picture for him: the last snow on a +low heath, with the bright spring sky arching over it, the first tender +grass, etc. All letters to the prince, at least from artists, pass +through my hands. Well, I shall win my Luini sooner than I expected. +But this espionage is very repugnant to my feelings. Dear Doctor, +you're an entirely disinterested person, and might do me the favor, +especially since, as a psychologist, it must be of interest to you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear baron," interrupted Edwin laughing, "I'm very much +obliged to +you for the part you wish to assign me in this tragi-comedy, but I +really don't know whether I can undertake it, whether the visit I'm +about to pay may not be the last for a long time, perhaps forever. +Yesterday I wrote to L., where a professorship of mathematics is +vacant. If it is given me, I've determined to exchange the air of +Berlin, which does not agree very well with the constitution of a +private tutor, for some more favorable climate. Besides, you take your +wager altogether too much to heart. To say nothing of the fact that +psychology will be greatly indebted to you, I see no danger whatever to +our excellent friend. Like you, I'm convinced that you'll win, and +then, as Russian princes always have their whims, it will be easy to +find some pretext for breaking the bargain. Your Herr Michael +Paulovitsch will have a good lesson, and the zaunkönig his thousand +thalers, which in spite of all, he'll have honestly earned. But here we +are at his nest. Won't you come in with me? For this time I can place +my talents as a police inspector at your disposal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Mille grazie</i>," replied the other. "I'll take you at your +word. Write +a line this afternoon, either yes or no, to inform me whether the old +sinner is secretly spoiling colors and washing brushes, or +conscientiously keeps to his bond. I'll then add a postscript to his +letter to the prince. Adieu, my dear fellow, I wish you success!--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin's heart beat violently as he entered the little house. +The door +chanced to be open, and he met no one in the entry. His heart told him +that he should find Leah in the sitting room on the left. Yet he +knocked at the door of the studio, and without waiting for the "come +in," crossed the threshold he had so long avoided.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">At his entrance the little artist started from a chair by the +window, +where he had apparently been seated a long time, absorbed in deep +thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God!" he exclaimed, and his sad, honest face +brightened, as he +held out both hands to Edwin--"you again walk among the living. It's +pleasant that you instantly remember your old friends--though this is +not exactly the right atmosphere for a person just recovering from +illness--you come to people who, in the midst of the loveliest air of +Spring, sit in affliction and the shadow of death. Well--it's as God +wills, I keep calm."</p> + +<p class="normal">With the tear's streaming down his cheeks, he now told Edwin +that Leah +had grown so ill that she could scarcely get an hour's sleep, and the +food she took was hardly enough to nourish an infant a week old. Yet +she bore her fate with a divine patience that often made him wonder +whence she derived her strength, since she neither prayed nor accepted +everything as the will of an all merciful Father who could make even +the most incomprehensible and hardest things result in a blessing. "In +that she's like her mother, whose only defense and weapons against all +sorrow were silence and meditation. Go to her, dear Doctor, I know +she'll be delighted to see you. She always esteemed you so highly, and +God is my witness that I've often reproached myself for yielding to +Frau Valentin and interrupting your lessons. Doctor Marquard says the +sickness is connected with the mind--if she could but divert her +thoughts, and not brood perpetually over one idea--Ah! me! If +philosophy could give her sleep and appetite, preserve my child to +me--" He paused and pressed his handkerchief to his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you'll give me leave, dear Herr König," said Edwin, "I'll +try what +I can do. Philosophy has already banished many evil spirits and infused +new blood into whole races. I'll speak to your dear daughter, and hope +it is not yet too late."</p> + +<p class="normal">He turned away to conceal his emotion, and hastily left the +studio. +When he entered Leah's room, he found her resting on the sofa with a +book in her lap, her beautiful dark eyes fixed upon it, each a burning +fire in whose glow a waxen image is slowly consuming. In other respects +she was not altered, except that her complexion was more transparent +and a sorrowful smile seemed frozen on her lips. But as he approached +her and with a few cordial words took her hand, a deep blush suffused +the delicate face and gave to it the appearance of blooming freshness +and health.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What sorrow you are causing us, dear Leah!" he said drawing a +chair +toward her couch. "No," he added as she attempted to rise, "you must +remain as you are, if you don't want to drive me away. I'm so glad to +see you again. Since that terrible day I've only heard of you through +others. And yet not entirely through others, through yourself, too. Do +you know that I read your journal yesterday for the first time?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She moved her head as if to beg him not to talk about it, and +replied: +"You've so many better things to do--if my father had not desired it--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, dear Fräulein," he answered, "I only wished I had not +spent my +time over things so much more useless, before I took up that volume. +And yet, who knows whether I should before have been capable of +estimating the full value of the treasure entrusted to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">She suddenly turned pale. "No," she murmured, "do not talk so, +don't +treat me like a silly child, to whom you must make pretty speeches, +because you perceive my weakness and think you must spare or flatter +me; it pains me--I've been used to different things from you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know you're ill and need consideration," he replied in a +trembling +voice. "And yet, dear Leah, I've come to tell you something which will +at any rate excite you, think what you please and answer as you may. +Since I've read those pages, it has become evident to me that I've been +groping about in the mist like a dreamer and not perceived a real +happiness--the happiness of having found a soul, such as is revealed in +those pages, never to lose it again!</p> + +<p class="normal">"They've tried to part us, dear Leah," he continued with +increasing +agitation, while she lay with closed eyes and hands clasped upon her +bosom, without any sign of life. "But it only served to unite our +hearts more closely. We've both experienced how necessary we are to +each other, how little qualified to cope with life alone. True, you'll +doubt whether I've really missed you; nay I did not even realize it +myself. I was enchained by a passion which like some diabolical +enchantment, made me a stranger even to myself. I know not how much you +know or suspect, dear friend. For the first time in my life I learned, +a woman's power, and suffered keenly from it. It's over, Leah, the last +trace of it has vanished. She's about to become another's wife, and I +heard the news without the slightest heart-throb. Oh! Leah, those were +terrible days! When I think that the result might have been different, +that I might have been forever forced to bow to this power--a power +which treated pride and freedom, all that was worthy and precious in +life, as a toy, and rendered me almost unfeeling, even in the days of +Balder's keenest sufferings--I shudder at myself and the danger I have +escaped. But you ought to know, Leah, the weakness of the man who now +comes to you and says: 'will you, can you, notwithstanding all that has +happened, unite your life to mine? Can you give your soul to one who +has already once lost his own, while both he and you, perhaps may never +wholly overcome the smart of his servitude?'</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you were to say no, Leah, I should understand why and be +forced to +bear the pain. I know that I was dear to you. You would have burned +that book rather than have entrusted it to my care, if your heart had +not resistlessly drawn you toward me. And yet, Leah, I should not think +less of you if after the confession I have just made, your heart should +draw back, your pride forbid you to be satisfied with that which I +offer with this perfect candor. You've a right to expect and demand +that the man to whom you give yourself will repay you for the treasure +with such enthusiastic and passionate devotion, that even the thought +that any other power could become dangerous to him, would never enter +his mind. I, dearest Leah, am, as you see me, a fugitive, whose wounds +are scarcely healed after a severe battle. I come to you because I know +I can nowhere be safer, nowhere find a more inaccessible refuge than +with you. What I feel for you--we've not yet come to Spinoza," he +interrupted himself with a quiet smile, "so the phraseology of the +schools is not familiar to you. He, the great philosopher, calls the +feeling men have for that which he termed God--the absolute something +which encompasses, does and wills everything--the exaltation of all +emotions which follows when we become absorbed in the nature of this +one and all, he calls 'intellectual love.' It's neither a jest nor a +blasphemy, but the simple words of truth when I say that with such a +love I love you, Leah! That blind, demoniacal passion, which is usually +called love, has been washed out of my blood--I trust forever! What now +lives in me is the happy consciousness that you're the best, purest, +noblest creature that ever appeared on earth, the one being in whom my +world is contained, and that the man whom you should love and to whom +you consented to belong, would be the happiest of mortals!"</p> + +<p class="normal">As he faltered the last words he knelt beside her couch, and +taking her +hands held them clasped in his, fixing his eyes upon her cool, slender +fingers, unable to look her in the face. He remained for a long time +absorbed in a blissful stupor; it was such a relief to have told her +all, that he felt he scarcely feared her answer, although he was far +from being sure of a favorable one.</p> + +<p class="normal">She still remained silent. At last he grew anxious, looked at +her, and +instantly started up in alarm, for he could not doubt that she had +fainted. He hastily seized a little bottle containing some powerful +stimulant which he found on her table, and poured some on his +handkerchief to rub her temples and restore the color to her pale lips. +"Leah!" he exclaimed, "come to yourself again! Oh! do not punish me so +fearfully for my thoughtlessness; oh, how could I, when I found you so +ill--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Her lips moved and she slowly opened her eyes. "Forgive me for +alarming +you, my beloved!" she murmured. "The happiness was too great--too +sudden. But--I'm well again--I live--aye, I will live, now that I know, +through you and for you--Edwin, is it possible!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She raised her arm and timidly put it around his neck. He bent +toward +her face, now again glowing with blushes. "My wife!" he whispered. "You +are mine! mine! mine! And so surely as I hope to be happy through +you--" His lips, which met hers, stifled and sealed the vow of eternal +love and constancy.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">The same day, toward dusk, the little artist was seen hurrying +along +the street in which Frau Valentin lived. Any one who had seen him in +his studio that morning, would scarcely have taken him for the same +man. Although the March winds could not seem exactly Springlike to +elderly gentlemen, he had stolen lightly out of the house without an +overcoat, like a youth whose hot blood keeps him warm. He had paid five +groschen for a little bouquet of violets which a poor girl offered him, +and fastened it daintily in his button hole; his white hat rested +jauntily over his left ear, as always happened during his hours of +inspiration, and those, who saw him pass, looking around with a merry +joyous face, nodding sometimes to a pretty child or flourishing his +cane, might well suppose that wine had played one of characteristic +pranks on the little man, and persuaded him that he was once more a +youth of twenty, and might yield to the most unbridled gayety as freely +as the most hopeful young schoolboy.</p> + +<p class="normal">But when he saw Frau Valentin's house in the distance, his +joyous +manner suddenly changed, his step became more moderate, a grave +expression shaded his face, and he even paused as if considering +whether it would not be better to turn back. Then he seemed to summon +up all his manhood, energetically fastened the upper button of his +coat, set his hat straight, and with resolute steps walked toward the +dwelling of his pious friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">He found her up stairs in the large room among a party of +little girls +who came to her twice a week after school, to be taught sewing, and +then, strengthened by lessons of wisdom and virtue and a cup of coffee +with a huge roll, were dismissed to their homes. The hour had just +expired, and the little ones were crowding around their benefactress, +who usually had to prevent them from kissing her hand by kindly +stroking the round cheeks or giving a friendly pat on the shoulder. In +spite of the dim light, she instantly perceived by the voice and +expression of her old friend, that some important motive had brought +him to her, and hastily led the way into the adjoining room, where her +little lamp was already lighted before the picture of the dead +professor. Her first question was concerning Leah. "She's very well," +replied the artist, as he took the bouquet of violets from his button +hole and gallantly offered it to his old love.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What has happened to you, my dear friend?" asked the lady in +surprise. +They used the word <i>ihr</i><a name="div2_08" href="#div2Ref_08"><sup>[8]</sup></a> in addressing each other when alone, as +they were too intimate for the formal "you" and yet did not venture to +adopt the familiar "thou."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To me," he answered boldly, as if he were really meaning to +conceal +something from her. "I don't know what you mean, my dear madame. I'm +just the same as usual. But it's suffocatingly hot here. Allow me at +least to open the windows--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't talk nonsense, my dear König," she said quietly. "I can +read +your good old heart as easily as the coarse print of my hymn book. +You've come here to tell a piece of news that pleases you, and yet +you've not the pluck to speak out. And that's just what surprises me; +for whatever pleases you, my old friend, has always been agreeable and +welcome to me. So out with it quick. I must go to the meeting of the +lying-in society in half an hour. Is Leah improving? Has any quack of a +doctor suddenly inspired you with such good courage?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are the very embodiment of wisdom," replied the artist, +who had +taken the chair at her work-table and was thoughtfully rummaging in her +little basket. "It is certainly a doctor, who has inspired me with +courage, but he's no quack, and the affair is altogether--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He hesitated again and stooped to look for a thimble which he +had +luckily dropped. "Keep your hands away from my things, for heaven's +sake," said the good lady sharply. "You know your meddling makes me as +nervous as I should make you if I wanted to paint a part of your +pictures. And now, once for all, for I hate all mysteries and enigmas, +what doctor are you talking about and what hopes has he given to you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shall hear, my dear friend, but I know you'll not like +the mode of +cure, and that's why I want to prepare you a little; for you often put +on a look that makes even an old friend fear you. But if you want me to +speak out: our Leah's engaged!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Engaged! That's certainly a piece of news nobody could be +prepared +for. My dear old friend, I hope you're not joking with me. You almost +look as if you'd come from a drinking bout and had all sorts of fancies +and notions in your head."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Another sign of your sharp-sighted wisdom, dear lady!" +laughed the +artist, rubbing his hands in delight, for he had already told the most +difficult part. "I really have emptied half a bottle or perhaps three +quarters, as my son-in-law, he who is to be I mean--these people who +are in love don't know how to value good wine--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Better and better! Have matters already gone so far? A formal +betrothal dinner, and Leah's second mother would have heard nothing +about the matter, if the wine had not betrayed it. Well, Herr König, +I've had to forgive many things in the course of our long acquaintance; +but this--this--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The artist started up from his chair, as if he had been +touched by a +spring and approached his offended friend, who had seated herself on a +sofa and tried to look resolutely away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear lady," said he, "first hear how it all happened. It was +precisely +because we all have so much respect for you, that we wanted to reflect +a little and discuss the matter among ourselves, before we asked your +consent. It came upon me like a thunder clap. And amid all the +happiness--you may believe me--the thought of what you would say to it +never left my mind a moment. You best know how I submit to your +authority, and how willingly I yield to the gentle yoke, though you +often treat me worse than my long years of love and loyalty deserve. +But this time--no! I could not ask you first. Tell me yourself: if your +child had fallen into the river and a man was ready to pull her out, +would you first ask what faith he had? Now you see, although I know you +don't like the doctor--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Doctor Marquard? That marriage-hater and Don Juan? That child +of the +world in the worst meaning of the word--and our Leah?--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"God forbid, my dear friend, this time your prophetic soul +leaves you +in the lurch. But I scarcely know whether the right man will not seem +still more frightful to you. You see, I'm perhaps a weak Christian, at +any rate weaker than you, and as for the higher branches of theology, +you've more in your little finger than I in my whole artist skull. And +yet--I too felt a little alarmed when the children came to me and +confessed what had never entered my mind, that dear godless fellow of a +philosopher--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Edwin? Doctor Edwin? Oh! my presentiments!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed," said the little artist, "no other than the +dismissed +teacher, who now wishes to continue the interrupted lessons all his +life. Do you think my poor daughter's rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes +consoled me at once for the destruction of my hopes in regard to her +religious life? But, as I said before, only a monster of a father would +have had the heart to say no, when the life of his only child was at +stake. Or if that word is too harsh--it would have inquired a martyr of +the dark ages, to prefer to see his child pine away and die, rather +than live and be happy with an unbeliever. And that her sickness was +only concealed love and that she would have wasted away without Edwin, +I saw plainly enough at dinner, when simply because he sat beside her +and looked tenderly into her face, she suddenly, in spite of her +happiness, felt an appetite she has not had for months, and afterwards +when he had gone away, lay on the sofa sleeping more soundly than if +she had taken all the opiates in the world. Then I slipped away to come +to you, my dearest friend. And now say a kind word to me--or if it +can't be kind, an angry one, anything is better than to have you sit on +the sofa so still and silent, with your handkerchief pressed to your +face, so that I can't even see what sort of expression my best friend +wears when she hears of my poor child's happiness."</p> + +<p class="normal">The widow withdrew her handkerchief and revealed eyes +streaming with +tears, which looked at him with a singular expression of mingled +indignation and kindness. "You're an old hypocrite," she said, drying +her lashes. "I'm not what you call me, your best friend, or you would +not have misunderstood and slandered me to my face, and to those too +lovers, as if I sat here with the air of the judge of a supreme +spiritual court, to whom it would be dangerous to bring news of such an +engagement. Fie! shame on you for a faint-hearted fellow. You're a weak +Christian indeed, if you expect to find in your fellow mortal a heart +full of bigotry and intolerance, instead of one submissive to God's +decree and accepting with gratitude and hope whatever he sends--If I +can't help crying, not only from joy and thankfulness that our Leah is +saved, but also with anger toward you, you reprobate, make amends for +your sin by taking the godless doctor my congratulations this very day, +and inviting him to dine here tomorrow; one of a party of four; do you +understand? And moreover give me your word of honor, that I'm better +than my reputation, and no ossified theologian. Don't you know my dear +friend, that God's ways are wonderful? Suppose he intends to draw to +himself these two hearts, that neither know nor desire to know him, by +this circuitous way: first leading them to each other, and causing them +to experience all the joys and sorrows of married life, in order, hand +in hand and heart to heart, to guide them back to their heavenly +father? There's no more influential home mission than matrimony, for +two honest people, of course, and that the doctor, with all his +blindness, has an honest soul, we've never doubted. So yes and amen, +dear friend, and because it's such a day of joy, all sins must be +forgiven. As a token that I bear no malice--come, dear father of the +future bride, and let her mother embrace you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're a blessed angel right out of heaven!" exclaimed the +artist, +making such an enthusiastic use of the permission, that the blushing +lady was at last obliged to defend herself by force. "Yes indeed," he +continued, when he recovered his breath, "this marriage has really been +made in heaven, all the signs prove it. Think, dear Frau Valentin, how +wonderful it is, that this very morning I was sitting thinking whether +it would not be better to resign my position and salary as court +painter to His Russian Highness, rather than continue to live on the +money so indolently and dreamily. For I said: who knows whether the +prince has not already forgotten me, and that I may not sit year after +year, like a fool, waiting for orders which will never come?' But now I +see that the dear God has so arranged this, that I need not portion my +Leah quite so shabbily. Dear Frau Valentin, I know what you've always +said--that that was your affair. But after all a father would also--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He was just in the mood to tell everything he had planned for +the +immediate future, when Frau Valentin's maid-servant entered and +announced a visitor. The gentleman only wanted to ask a question, and +would not give his name. Before her mistress had time to answer, a +hasty step was heard in the ante-room, and to the zaunkönig's no small +surprise, the gigantic figure of Heinrich Mohr crossed the threshold.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg ten thousand pardons," he exclaimed in his hoarse +voice. +"Although I've the reputation of being unceremonious, I'm not usually +so bold and uncivil as to enter a lady's room without ceremony. But +circumstances which will be explained at some future day--the +conviction, that there's danger in delay--perhaps several lives +may depend upon whether this lady will grant me five minutes +conversation--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He had poured forth these words with such strange agitation, +his whole +appearance was so singular, that Frau Valentin really did not know +whether she ought to grant his request. But the little artist relieved +her of all hesitation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear friend," he exclaimed, "don't have the slightest +scruple. My +mission here is fulfilled, and I must hurry home to illuminate the +Venetian palace; our lagune must flash and sparkle like the Grand Canal +at the weddings of the doges, and you're invited too, my dear Herr +Mohr. No refusals. You owe it to your friend."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To whom?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why our doctor, your friend Edwin, my little Leah's betrothed +husband. +Haven't you heard of it yet?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not a syllable. So he's engaged! I congratulate him. But +don't depend +upon me for this evening."</p> + +<p class="normal">The artist started and looked at him in astonishment. This +indifferent +manner of receiving such wonderful news surprised and vexed him. But +his joy was too great to be long clouded. "As you choose," said he, "we +won't quarrel about it. Besides the young couple won't miss you, and to +sit with an old fellow like me--you're right, it would not be much +pleasure. So another time and farewell!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He seized his hat in the exuberance of his delight waved an +adieu to +Frau Valentin. While so doing, the pins which had fastened the somewhat +rusty piece of crape came out, and the sign of seven years mourning +fell on the floor. He was about to pick it up, but changed his mind. +"No," said he, "we'll let it lie. If the mother can look down upon her +child, she will think it natural if no crape is worn after this day. +Farewell, my best friend! I still insist that you're an angel."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">As soon as the artist had left the room, Mohr, who had +remained +gloomily standing at the door, approached the astonished Frau Valentin +and said in the tone of a foot-pad, who demands the traveler's purse at +the pistol's point: "you know a certain Lorinser, Madame. As I have +reason to think this man of honor a scoundrel, who with persistent +cunning escapes the punishment he deserves, I take the liberty of +asking whether you've heard anything of him since he left Berlin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lorinser!" exclaimed the good lady. "Oh! dear Herr Mohr, say +nothing +about that unhappy man; he has already caused me sorrow enough. No, no, +I don't know where he is, nor do I desire to do so, I will never see +him again, and I think I'm tolerably sure he will never approach my +threshold as he has every reason to remain away from Berlin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In so believing, Madame," Mohr replied with a short fierce +laugh, "you +have probably misjudged this Protestant Jesuit. True, when a few months +ago and again very recently I made inquiries about him at his former +lodgings and the police headquarters, I learned that he had gone away. +But people like him, who live on such intimate terms with angels and +archangels, ascertain before death, how one must manage to move about +as a glorified body. One saves rent thereby and passes through every +key hole. That this mysterious man should have forever abandoned the +great city, where people can take advantage of others so much more +comfortably and profitably, always seemed to me improbable. And this +very morning, just as I was doing him the honor to think of him, he +drove past me in a droschky--to be sure I only saw him through the +window, and he has let his beard grow; but I hope to be condemned to go +to the same heaven into which this fellow hopes to smuggle himself, if +I was mistaken. Pardon my somewhat strong expressions. Since scoundrels +like this, our beloved in the Lord, adopt a sweet pastoral style, an +honest man must wrap himself in his natural bluntness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've seen him? Lorinser? No, no!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm sure, Madame, that no other man has those mother of +pearl, +Lucifer-like eyes in his head. And besides, he seemed to recognize me, +for he hastily cowered back into the corner of the droschky, but it was +too late. Unfortunately I lost sight of him again. Perhaps, I thought, +he's gone to his old customers once more; it's a Christian duty to +forgive even such an imp of Satan, seventy times seven times. And after +all, I said to myself, he's doubtless always behaved properly to the +good Frau Valentin and not let the mask fall. I confess I half expected +to find him here, when the servant said you had a visitor, that's why I +rushed in so hastily."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Valentin had sunk down upon the sofa and was gazing into +vacancy +with unconcealed horror. "No," said she, "we've done with each other. +I'll take care, that even if he should have the effrontery to knock, my +door will not be opened to him again. No man has ever more shamefully +misused the holiest words and trampled the purest confidence underfoot. +I'll not mention the sums of money, amounting to hundreds of thalers, +he has talked out of me for charitable and religious objects, in order +as I afterwards learned, to use them for himself and his dissolute +life. But that he could do me the injury to corrupt an excellent young +girl, to whom I gave employment in my own house--let's say no more +about it, my dear sir. It always makes me so angry when I think of it, +that I forget all the commands of charity and wish this fiend in the +lowest depths of hell."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm!" muttered Mohr between his teeth; "money embezzled--an +innocent +young girl--very valuable material. Pardon me, Madame," he continued +aloud, "if I'm not yet inclined to cut short this interesting +conversation. Perhaps you would have the kindness to tell me the name +and residence of this unfortunate girl?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What interest can you have in it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A very Christian, or at least an honest one, honored lady. +For when +the arch-angel Gabriel--or was it Michael--drove the arch-fiend to the +spot where he belonged, the lesson of forgiving seventy times seven +times had not yet been invented. Suppose I had a fancy for playing +arch-angel? Trust me without fear. I'll wager your poor protégé knows +where this wolf in sheep's clothing has his den, and as I've all sorts +of things to settle with him--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do what you believe to be your duty. I'll not prevent you; +that is, +forestall God, who has perhaps chosen you for an instrument to +execute his decrees. Here"--and she tore a leaf out of her pocket +book--"here's the list of my seamstresses. The name through which a +line is drawn is that of the unfortunate girl."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Like the black tablet in the doge's palace: <i>Marino Falier, +decapitatus pro crimine</i>. Permit me to write down the number of the +house. There--and now forgive this disagreeable visit, Madame. The +messengers of the Council of Ten in Venice were notorious for their +obligatory intrusiveness."</p> + +<p class="normal">She took leave of him with a silent bend of the head; but as +he was +passing through the ante-room, she called him back to entreat him for +God's sake to deal considerately with the poor girl, who had deserved a +better fate. "Have no fear," he replied. "We children of the world are +all sinners ourselves, and know how poor sinners feel."</p> + +<p class="normal">Half an hour after, he knocked at the door of a garret in one +of the +most out of the way streets in Friedrichstadt. A man's voice called +"come in!" Seated on a table in the deep recess of a window, to catch +the last rays of light, was an odd little figure with his legs crossed +under him, sewing busily on a woman's dress. At the mention of Fräulein +Johanne's name the busy little man let his work fall, shook his head +angrily, and exclaimed in his hoarse falsetto tone:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can you read, sir, or not? Pray look at the sign on the door, +and see +if there's not an inscription on it in large letters: 'Wachtel, Ladies' +dressmaker.' The person whom you seek did live here, but is now +entirely to set up for four flights of stairs. Of course the fall is +first down stairs from the garret to the ground floor; after a time +they go still farther down: into the cellar, and then five feet under +ground. Besides, it isn't my affair; ladies' tailors are not +responsible for the first fall of man. Why! Well of course you know +that yourself. Ha! ha!" He laughed and took up his needle again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does the young lady live alone?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes and no, according to the way you understand it. 'I'm +lonely but +not alone'--as Schiller says. But try yourself, sir; I believe she's no +longer as timid about having evening visitors, as she used to be when +she worked for me; I work for her now, but I'm better paid at any rate. +This sort, you must know--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does a certain Herr Lorinser happen to be with her, a +clerical-looking, pale man, with a black beard?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can't say, sir. It's not my business to keep the register. +Mam'selle +Johanne will be glad to tell you what you want to know--her present +admirer is a clerk, in a banking house, and can't get away till the +counting house is closed. So if you want a private conversation--ha! +ha!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr silently nodded a farewell and left the grinning little +man. A +feeling of repugnance overpowered him, which only increased, when on +reaching the entry outside of the first floor rooms he heard a girl's +voice singing one of Offenbach's favorite airs.</p> + +<p class="normal">His ring interrupted the song. Directly after, a slender young +girl +with singularly large sparkling eyes in her pale little face opened the +door. "Is it you, Edward?" she exclaimed. Then perceiving her mistake, +said without any special sign of embarrassment: "What do you want, +sir?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr looked at her a moment with an expression of sincere +sympathy, +which however formed so singular a contrast to his stern face, that the +beautiful girl was alarmed and began to consider how to get rid of this +mysterious man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't be anxious, Fräulein," said he suspecting her thoughts, +"true, +I'm not 'Edward,' but I come with the best intentions. If you would +give me two minutes--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Please, sir, if it can be settled out here--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"As you choose. Be kind enough to answer but one question, +whether you +know the present residence of a certain Herr Lorinser--"</p> + +<p class="normal">A deep flush suddenly crimsoned her face, her eyes which had +hitherto +flickered with a strange restless light, now glowed with a sullen angry +fire, and her hand trembled on the door. She was evidently obliged to +reflect before she could reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why do you ask this question?" she said in a low, hurried +tone. "But +come in. Here in the public entry--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He followed her into the ante-room, and she closed the door +behind +them, but remained on the threshold and did not invite him to sit down.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fräulein," he began, "I have a personal matter to settle with +this +man. He vanished for some months and has now appeared again, and as no +one can help me on the track--for I suppose he has not used his real +name again in the city--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But why do you come to me? Who told you--?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Some one who means well toward you and deeply regrets all +that has +occurred."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know whom you mean: Frau Valentin. Ha! ha!" she exclaimed, +with a +sudden change of tone, "so it is she! And she means well toward me! Why +yes, as she understands it, so she does! When I went to her again and +wanted to work--for I thought she would surely receive me, though old +acquaintances would have nothing more to do with me--I was met with +only a shrug of the shoulders and a stern face; she was very sorry, but +she couldn't give her other seamstresses such an example--then a few +thalers were pressed into my hand and a recommendation to some house of +correction. First I wept--then laughed, as I always laugh now when I +hear that these religious people mean well toward us. Go back again and +tell her--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pray, Fräulein," he interrupted, "let's keep to the point. +That wolf +in the sheep's clothing of humility, that vender of souls, who treated +you so shamefully--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll neither see nor hear anything of him!" she exclaimed +violently. +"I'd rather die, than be compelled to meet this man but for whom I--but +pshaw, it's not worth while to get angry about it. I was a simple +child, I believed everything I was told, now I no longer believe in +anything, neither in heaven nor in hell, only in the little space here +on earth, where I'll not allow my peace to be destroyed. Excuse me, +sir, for receiving you so uncourteously but I'm not yet dressed and am +going to Elysium--a concert and ball--we can't be young but once. If +you want to know where the Herr Candidat lives--he no longer calls +himself Lorinser, but has taken the name of Moser--there's his card, on +which he wrote his address. He said his first visit was to me, that he +still loved me and would prove it and provide for me. But as I said +before, I'd rather jump out of the window than have anything more to do +with the abominable scoundrel. Perhaps"--and she lowered her voice a +moment--"perhaps there's some truth in the tales about the other world +and the last judgment. But if I'm condemned, then I'll open my mouth +and tell what I know; what I was, and what I have become, and through +whom. Here, sir, here's the card, and now--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She opened the door, bowed with an easy grace, and took leave +of Mohr, +who fluent of speech as he usually was, remained silent from deep +compassion for the poor lost girl.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">The clock struck seven as he left the dwelling, and night had +closed +in. The house whose number was written on the card, stood at the +eastern end of the city, and he felt somewhat exhausted by the many +excitements of the day. Yet he could not make up his mind to defer his +visit until the morrow, and therefore threw himself into a droschky, +and drove through the dark streets absorbed in thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last he paused before a neat two story dwelling, and by the +light of +a lantern read the name of the owner under the night-bell, and above +the word "Rentier." In reply to his ring, a maid-servant appeared, and +positively refused to admit him. Her master and mistress were just at +prayers with the gentleman who rented the upper room, and she was not +allowed to announce any one.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you must not announce me either, my pet," Mohr calmly +replied, +pressing a thaler into her hand. "I want to surprise them. I'm a very +intimate friend of the Herr Candidat, and he'll be wonderfully +delighted when he sees me enter so unexpectedly. When I've once found +him, I'll let him continue his prayer without interruption."</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl did not mark the tone of savage sarcasm, in which +these words +were uttered, but took it all for coin as good as the thaler she held +in her hand. She lighted the generous visitor up to the second story +and with a smile of secret understanding pointed to the door, through +which a strange dull buzzing sound was heard.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr distinctly recognized the voice of the man whom he had +pursued for +months with unquenchable hate. The blood rushed to his head, and he +needed several minutes delay to regain even the appearance of calmness. +"Go, my good child," said he. "I need no farther help to find my way."</p> + +<p class="normal">After she had gone, he listened a few moments longer. Lorinser +seemed +to be reading aloud from some book of devotion, and at intervals came +long drawn regular tones, like a person snoring. Mohr softly grasped +the handle of the door and opened it so noiselessly, that he stood in +the room for some time before those present perceived him. Lorinser sat +on a wide sofa, the lower half of his face was shaded by a heavy black +beard which made him almost unrecognizable, and his closely cropped +hair was covered with a three cornered black velvet cap, which worn as +it was far back upon the head exposed the high polished brow. Nestling +beside him in very unequivocal proximity, sat a pretty young woman who +seemed to be looking at the book also and eagerly following the words, +while she held his hand firmly clasped in hers. An elderly man with a +simple narrow-minded face was leaning back in a large arm-chair, and +accompanied the reading with his peaceful snores. Mohr needed but one +glance to understand the condition of affairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't let me disturb you," he said suddenly in the most +courteous +tone. "I merely wish to say a few words in private to Herr Candidat +Moser."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lorinser started up, the young wife uttered a cry and let fall +his +hand, the sleeper rubbed his eyes in astonishment. For a moment it +seemed as if all three had been petrified by the sudden appearance of +the stranger. Mohr did not grudge himself the mischievous pleasure +afforded by the scene, but quietly approached a step nearer and bowed +to the mistress of the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whom do you want here, sir?" asked Lorinser, who had hastily +regained: his composure. "I've not the honor of your acquaintance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So Peter said," replied Mohr dryly. "But you, I hope, will +remember me +before the cock crows. Permit me to take a seat. Will you have the +kindness to introduce me to the company, or shall I do it myself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"This insolence goes too far," muttered Lorinser, who had +grown deadly +pale. "Do you presume, sir, to force your way into a stranger's house +and disturb the devotions of the family without apology?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do, my worthy sir. The night will be long enough to +continue that +which, to my great regret, I've interrupted. I desire only a quarter of +an hour of your precious time--and will not disturb you longer."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife had turned away to conceal her embarrassment, +and now +glided out of the room. Her husband prepared to follow her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stay," exclaimed Lorinser, still clinging to the mask of +indignation. +"You must bear witness, my dear friend--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"As you choose, my good fellow," said Mohr with icy composure. +"It will +be a favor to me if the gentleman will make a record of our treaty. To +begin: in the first place--I've just come from Fräulein Johanne--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked Lorinser steadily in the eye, and the effect +produced by this +name was fully equal to his expectations. A short pause ensued, then +Lorinser whispered something in the ear of his host, and the latter +with a submissive bend of the head, left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">They were scarcely alone, when Mohr drew his box of Latakia +out of his +pocket and began to make a cigarette. "You'll permit me to smoke I +hope," he said affably to his silent companion. "The air here is +abominably bad, the breath of heaven and hell mixed; I am afraid of the +contagion and should like to disenfect myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lorinser's eyes were fixed upon the floor. Not a muscle of his +rigid +face betrayed the feelings that were aroused by this visit. But when +Mohr had lighted his cigarette, he said with a slight cough: "I must +beg you to be brief, I don't like this odor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As brief as possible, my dear fellow," answered Mohr +phlegmatically. +"You'll give me credit for having troubled myself about you only for +very serious motives, not merely from a desire to continue an +acquaintance which is utterly uninteresting to me. The class of human +beings to which you belong is, thank God, by no means numerous, but +sufficiently well known for it to be a mere waste of time to study it. +Goethe has described it admirably in Faust; you remember the passage +where he speaks of a certain abortion. Even the manner of playing you +represent, is not new. Zacharias Werner and others are your +predecessors, so you've not even the merit of originality, but are +simply a second-hand scoundrel."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I only wish to observe," began Lorinser without losing his +composure, +"that we will suppose you to have poured forth all your invectives and +come to the point at once. I'm accustomed to insults, and console +myself by thinking, that far more holy men, nay our Saviour himself--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beautiful!" interrupted Mohr. "But one good turn deserves +another. +I'll avoid every incivility except those which the mere business in +hand may entail, and you'll promise me not to again desecrate in my +presence a name so venerated as that of the founder of the Christian +religion by uttering it with your lips. I confess my weakness; it makes +me fairly sick, when I hear that a--how shall I express it--a poor +sinner--that's not insulting--is playing a blasphemous farce in the +name of that sublime sufferer and champion of humanity. So we're +agreed? Very well. And now we'll proceed at once to business. Do you +know this?" He put his hand into his breast pocket; Lorinser +involuntarily shrank back.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Calm yourself," said Mohr with a scornful laugh. "I've no +pistol in my +pocket, to aim at your breast and force you to a full confession. I +despise such melodramatic means, which moreover would undoubtedly fail +if directed toward such a holy man, to whom a martyr's crown would be a +fitting reward. What I've brought here, is only a little book, a neat +pocket edition of Thomas á Kempis. Your name is written on the first +page, I mean your real name, before you believed in a second baptism +and exchanged the somewhat foul old Adam of your 'Lorinser' for a speck +and span 'Moser.' Do you recognize the little book?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He held it out, and when the other had assented to the +question with a +silent bend of the head, laid it on the table. "Thank you," he +continued; "you'll make this business easier for both of us, if you'll +drop all unavailing and useless lies. I found this little book in a +room in Dorotheenstrasse, from which on the day of your nocturnal +visit, a lady in whom I'm interested, disappeared. I was fortunate +enough to find her two nights after, and, as you're perhaps unaware, +with dripping garments and in a very silent mood. We worked for five +hours to obtain the smallest word. When she at last decided to open her +eyes and lips, of course there was no mention of you. But the little +Thomas à Kempis, probably in revenge for having been taken in paths +where there can be no question of the 'Imitation of Christ,' committed +the indiscretion of gossiping; the old maid-servant, who unlocked the +room for you in the evening and saw you creep out again at a much later +hour--you probably supposed you'd be seen only by God, who is already +accustomed to close his eyes to your doings--this worthy person, I say, +in reply to my questions, told me all and then suffered her mouth to be +sealed forever. So there are only four persons who know this secret of +that night. Three of them have good reasons to keep silence; but the +fourth might in some devilish mood, against which we must be on our +guard, or for some 'benevolent' or profligate object, tell the tale. To +prevent this, my dear fellow, you'll say to that fourth person, that I +am determined in such a case to stop his mouth forever, by shooting him +down like a mad dog or finding some other way to silence him. You've +understood me? A syllable, a wink, a shrug of the shoulders, which +would impugn that lady's honor, and you'll receive a passport into the +better world." He was silent, as if he expected some explicit answer. +Lorinser had leaned his head back and was gazing at the ceiling. He +coughed several times and passed his long, pliant fingers through his +beard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And is this all that has brought you to me?" he asked after a +pause. +"I hope you admire the patience, with which I listen to your +disconnected fancies; but I beg you not to abuse it." Mohr looked at +him with icy contempt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are a precious rascal," said he. "Under other +circumstances I +should wonder at the iron mask Mother Nature has put in the place where +other men wear their faces. But, as I said before, the atmosphere here +is so unpleasant that I'll limit myself to the most necessary words. So +in brief: do you know the present abode of the lady who is the subject +of our conversation?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you determined never to inquire for her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why should I, since I no longer have any relations with this +lady?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No longer have any relations? You express yourself admirably. +But are +you also disposed to bind yourself, if by accident you ever meet her +again, to leave the place and the city at once and avoid her for all +future time?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A singular obligation. You expect me to subject myself to all +the +inconveniences--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I regret that I'm compelled to still further increase these +obligations. You must also forever renounce the pleasure of seeing me +with a solemn oath--although the peculiar relation in which you stand +toward your God, considerably weakens the value such vows usually have +between men of honor. However, I've means to compel you to keep your +promise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should be glad to learn what they are."</p> + +<p class="normal">"With pleasure, honored sir. Unfortunately, I'm unable to give +you +without ceremony the chastisement you deserve, as we crush a venomous +reptile under foot. It would expose me to all sorts of unpleasantnesses, +and as I still have duties toward my fellow men, I must avoid as long +as possible the extreme measures which would bring me in conflict with +the criminal courts. However, although vengeance is mine, saith the +Lord,' I feel a repugnance to seeing a good for nothing fellow, like +you, roaming about at large, and as the arm of civil justice is either +too short or too clumsy to seize such clever criminals, I've resolved +to set in motion against you a noiseless and silent <i>vehm-gericht</i>. +Whenever I meet you in the future, I shall brand you without mercy--in +what manner will depend upon the inspiration of the moment. But out +of the world in which I live you must go!" he exclaimed, suddenly +raising his voice almost to a shout, as he rose and threw his cigarette +away. "Do you clearly understand me? I will not tolerate your presence, +will persecute you until you no longer poison the air I breathe; perhaps +the simplest way therefore, would be for you to decide without much +hesitation to emigrate to America, and join the Mormons, a vocation for +which you've all sorts of valuable qualifications, in case you don't +prefer Cayenne, a region in which home missions still have a fine field."</p> + +<p class="normal">A pause ensued. The two mortal enemies looked each other +steadily in +the face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And if," said Lorinser at last, "instead of taking advantage +of all +these benevolent counsels, I prefer to inform the police to-morrow +morning, that a madman broke into my house with threats and attempts at +intimidation, and request protection against this violence? Certain +private affairs, over which you seem to have excellent reasons for +drawing a veil, would probably not withhold me from procuring myself +peace at any price."</p> + +<p class="normal">"At <i>any</i> price? That might perhaps be somewhat costly for +you. Or +would you like, in answer to this notice, a complaint to be entered by +an honored patroness--on account of the embezzlement of money entrusted +to you for the poor?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Embezzlement!" exclaimed Lorinser, starting up. For the first +time +during the whole conversation the iron mask fell, and his real face +appeared, disfigured by the most violent distortions.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Embezzlement?" he repeated. "What ridiculous words you use; +they serve +to show how far you are from understanding a nature like mine! Or no: +you're probably well aware whom you have before you, one of the elect, +who pass through life enwrapped by the atmosphere of the supernatural, +and do not think themselves compelled to keep always in the straight +roads made for sober children of the world. What is money to us? A +wretched, despicable necessity, as worthless as the other conditions of +this poor clay! He who never rises from the dust, may allow himself to +be a slave, watch pennies and reckon shillings. But should he who +offers the poor treasures with full hands, those treasures which +neither morth nor rust corrupt, opens heaven to them, and raises them +out of all anxiety and trouble into the fulness of eternal life, +scruple to receive from them what the lowest and basest human beings +can give each other, coined metal or stamped paper, and haggle over his +daily bread by mouthfuls with those who must forever remain his +debtors? Would you come to such a man with accusations about careless +bookkeeping, which to be sure to the petty souls in this world of trade +seems to be the only sin against <i>their</i> holy spirit?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bravo!" replied Mohr dryly. "You've memorized your part well +and +delivered your little speech bravely. But it can't produce an effect on +every audience. These magnificent views of the work and money, which +you share with all interpreters of dreams, alchymists, and false +profits, from Mohammed down to our own times; this artless pilfering of +enthusiastic innocence, which in its blindness so eagerly seizes the +most glittering baits, may suit those who cling to you and find their +interest in being preyed upon by you. <i>Volenti non fit injuria</i>--you've +probably learned so much <i>Jus</i>. But the good Frau Valentin, who is not +in love with you, does not stand on the same theological soil, or +desire to purchase any religious enlightenment for hard cash, looks at +the matter from the standpoint of common plebeian honesty. I think +you've some idea of what people call honesty and good faith. The +excellent soul, in her narrow mindedness, holds fast to these and +thinks that he to whom she has given money for her poor, is a miserable +cheat, when he uses these funds to defray his own expenses and pays for +oysters and Rhine wine to the honor of God."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're a devil!" muttered Lorinser grinding his teeth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I never considered myself an angel," replied Mohr, still in +the +calmest possible tone. "But at least I hope to be no stupid devil. +You've seen," he continued, as he again opened his tobacco box, "I'm +tolerably skillful in the art of rolling cigarettes. If the one now in +process of being made, is completed before you've given your consent to +my very reasonable compromise, I shall go straight from this sacred +place to the profane dwelling of a magistrate with whom I'm very well +acquainted. You don't smoke yourself? A pity! It's often very useful to +aid one in keeping cool. Blücher smoked in every battle."</p> + +<p class="normal">A suppressed snort of fury came from the dark end of the +apartment, +whither the other had retired. Suddenly he rushed to the door and flung +it wide open. "Leave this room!" he shouted in so loud a tone, that +any listeners outside could not fail to hear it. "That we never meet +again shall be my care."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you," replied Mohr, putting on his hat. "The cigarette +is just +finished. I knew we should come to an understanding. <i>Intelligenti +panca.</i> You're too polite; you need not so courteously open the door +for me. I know the rule of all ghosts and spirits, that they must go +out the same way they came in. There! And now success to you +devoutness."</p> + +<p class="normal">Without vouchsafing another glance to his conquered foe, he +walked +passed him with the calmest possible expression of countenance, while +Lorinser, trembling from head to foot with passion, stood beside the +door with clenched lists and slammed it violently behind his enemy. +When Mohr was going down stairs, he fancied he heard a low groan of +fury, such as might be uttered by a wild beast that has fallen into a +pit. An expression of bitter loathing passed over his stern face, and +his underlip curled with scorn. When he again stood in the cold dark +street, he paused, drew a long breath, extended his muscular arms as if +to throw off an unendurable burden, and for a moment closed his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where shall I go now?" escaped his lips. "Wither turn to +regain what +is lost? No, not lost forever! If I'm forced to search the earth to its +remotest confines I shall find her, I must, I <i>will</i> find her. Poor, +poor woman! I will give you peace, so far as is possible for men to +know peace against devils!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He walked on a few steps, absorbed in deep thought, then +paused +suddenly and passed his hand across his brow. "Good Heavens! I had +nearly forgotten it while occupied with all this baseness; Edwin and +Leah receive their friends to-night! I'll go there. I must see some +good people, to restore my faith in humanity."</p> + +<p class="normal">And whistling the adagio from the symphony in C. minor--his +invariable +remedy when he wanted to drive a bitter taste from his tongue--he +turned toward the zaunkönig's little house.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>BOOK V.</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">At the moment when after a lapse of four years we resume the +thread of +our story, we find Edwin sitting at the open window of a hotel, attired +in a costume very similar to the one which he wore when we made his +acquaintance on a certain moonlight night. Again he wears an +unpretending grey summer suit, with a black tie fastened loosely around +his neck, and a straw hat, which, despite the changing fashions, is in +shape nearly identical to one worn long before, lies on the table, +adorned with a fresh bouquet of heather blossoms. Even his features +show no trace of the four years that have passed; indeed he might now +be taken for a younger man, his cheeks are slightly bronzed by the air +and sun, the line between the brows has disappeared, the restless +glance has vanished. He has just completed a long letter, and now lays +down the pen to feast his eyes a moment on the forest clad heights, +which, rise behind the trim little city. The time is twilight of a warm +summer evening; the air, as usual after the crimson light of sunset has +faded, is full of tremulous, translucent brightness; a silver grey sky +which merges into white, and relieves the eyes by forming a background +to the masses of tree tops and the mountain ridges upon whose crest is +uplifted the lofty tower of the old church, like a black silhouette +against a sheet of silver paper. In the foreground a few faint local +colors and hundreds of individual details fill out the picture. The +railway station only separated from the hotel by the wide street, +swarms with people; but it is Sunday and as if in deference to the day +there is no noisy bustle, no goods loaded and unloaded, and only +persons traveling for pleasure seem to be waiting for the next train, +which is to leave in an hour.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meantime it rapidly grew dark. Edwin is compelled to move +nearer the +window, in order to read, and we, as old friends, may be permitted to +look over his shoulder and see what he has written to his Leah.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My Beloved Wife:</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I have been here just two hours, during which time I have +slept as +soundly as I ever did at midnight. It was a foolish whim of mine, the +desire to reach this place to-day; for to do so I was compelled to walk +in the heat of the noonday sun. I might have known Mohr would not tear +himself away from his home one instant before the term began, and of +course I have not found him here and may be obliged to wait several +days. However, his dilatoriness has procured me the pleasure of +strolling through this mountain region by moonlight, which I have done +for the last four stages of my journey. Dearest, it was unspeakably +delightful, to leave at moon-rise the hot rooms where I had spent the +day and then walk through the silent woods, which grew cooler and +cooler, until when the moon was about to set I reached some cosy nest +which was ready to receive me. To be sure he who wants to write a +hand-book of travel, must manage differently; the moon is the poet that +transfigures all things, but it is after the style of Eichendorff, who +with his rustling tree tops, flashing streams, and distant baying of +dogs always conjures up the same dreamy mood; so that at last it makes +no difference where we wander, whether in Italy or the Thuringian +forest. For me, who only wanted to thoroughly shake off the school dust +and forget everything that could remind me of the agreement of +triangles and the theory of parallelograms, this twilight mood was +exactly the right one, in which all forms blend together and I as it +were returned with a living body into the Infinite. 'Give my soul full +freedom'--how often I've repeated the words! How often I've thought of +and pitied you, because, as a woman, you can never enjoy the strange, +sweet wondrous delight, which I inhaled in full draughts with the night +breeze. The spell can only work in perfect solitude. The ear must hear +but one footstep, when the night reveals its secrets and there rises +that wierd vibrating hum, a noise like that our earth might make, +moving through the grooves of space. It is like a fairy dream, dearest, +to look up to the stars and become absorbed in the measureless silent +enigmas; the countless 'burning questions,' which nevertheless burn +only the souls of dreamers and night wanderers. And amid the depression +caused by the loneliness of the world it was a grand feeling of triumph +the consciousness of loving and being loved, that though fallen in the +deepest abysses we are never really given over solitary and hopeless, +to the spectres of night, since we can raise above us a shield our +pure, honest purpose, our strength and love of good, and feel ourselves +allied to all our struggling brothers, and throughout all this journey +you were always by my side, beloved, and on the other walked our +Balder, often in such bodily presence, that I actually saw your eyes +sparkle, and thought I distinctly heard your voice as it sounds when +you steal behind me and whisper in my ear: 'do I disturb you?'</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>As I said before, I deprived myself of all this, when the +fancy +seized me to come hither in the day time. Now in order to assure myself +of your presence, I must take up my pen which will not lend wings to my +thoughts, after my hot walk in the dog days. But if I keep silence +longer, I fear you may take some jealous fancy and imagine Frau +Christiane to be the cause, and that, instead of the moonlight, in +which I stagger intoxicated with the beauty of nature, perhaps the +moonlight sonata, which to be sure I have recently heard with fresh +delight, has gone to my head. No, dear Wisdom, on this point you can be +as much at ease as you were four years ago; nay, more so, for even your +old and at that time not wholly to be rejected hypothesis, that your +dear husband's extreme loneliness had made a fatal impression upon the +unoccupied mind of our artist, has proved, on a nearer inspection of +the facts and circumstances, entirely untenable. You must erase this +conquest from the list of my victories, which thereby is considerably +diminished. That we heard nothing of our friends for years, that +they did not even inform us of their marriage and only remembered +the old friendship a short time ago, arose from entirely different +reasons--concerning which I have promised to keep silence, even to you, +although to do so will be difficult enough. I have so accustomed myself +to sharing everything with you, not keeping in my mind and heart even +the smallest 'arrière-boutique,' as Montaigne calls it, closed to you, +that I should have preferred not to learn, the strange circumstances +through which these two people have found each other, at the cost of +being compelled to conceal them from you, my beloved keeper of the +Great Seal, especially as I know that this time, too, we should have +agreed in our judgment and feelings.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Oh! dearest! the hour in which our old friend broke at last +the seal +of the dark secret he had kept so long, because he could not endure +that there should be a mystery between us, the way in which he told the +unspeakable secret, how he conquered hopeless despair by his deep, +earnest love--never, never will the smallest syllable of this +confession vanish from my memory. How these two mortals have battled +for their happiness, nay how bravely they must still daily defend +themselves against the ghosts of the past! Never have I heard a more +touching story than the account of his ceaseless quest of the lost one, +after he had at last found her in the most sequestered corner of the +world, his unwearied persistency, which nothing could rebuff, to make +her again accustomed to the light of day, the vital warmth of her +profession and his faithful love. For the first time I have learned to +thoroughly know this strange man, and understand how he was able to +accomplish the tremendous task of saving for the second time, this +apparently lost life. How much I should like to show you my old friend, +as I know him, one of the best, noblest, and most unselfish heroes, I +have ever met. For do not suppose that, blinded by his passion, without +a struggle and only keeping the object of possessing her before his +eyes--but enough, I'm on the way to say more than I am permitted to +utter. Let this hint be sufficient for you, dear heart, and promise me +never to allude to it again, nor even, if it's possible, to strive to +discover what is concealed behind it. Have I not myself given you a +beautiful example of how we can stifle even the most lawful curiosity, +by not even inquiring what motives you could have for not accompanying +me on this vacation's journey, and refraining at your request from all +meditations upon whether the point in question was a grand cleaning +festival, a new carpet in our study, or some other unsuspected and +thoughtful expenditure of the traveling expenses you have saved?</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>But to return to Mohr and his young happiness, I would never +have +believed it possible that he could have changed so much for the better, +as during the last few years.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>He was waiting for me at the railway station, holding in his +arms a +little boy about three years old, who smiled brightly at me with his +wise black eyes. Not until we were out of the crowd and the child could +be placed without danger on his own feet, did his father have his arms +at liberty to embrace me. Then we walked slowly and silently along the +road that led toward the little city, Mohr kept his eyes steadily fixed +upon his boy, and only now and then cast a side glance at me, as if he +wanted to ask if I had ever seen such a child. 'You must know,' he said +at last, 'he has no other nurse than I, and he will not feel the lack. +At first Christiane did not believe I had the necessary qualifications +for his attendant, and also thought I should probably have something +better to do. But now she has discovered that this is my real vocation. +We must take ourselves as we are. Your old friend, Heinrich Mohr, who +used to imagine that he was something in himself, something out of the +common order, a poet, a musician--the devil knows what--has now come to +the knowledge, that he's only a transition point, an intermediate step +between the Mohrs who were still more insignificant and commonplace, +and this little Mohr, who will be greater than all of us, the head and +flower of the whole stock. What in me was only impulse, desire, +presentiment and desperation, will in him become fulfillment. You +laugh, my dear fellow</i>, '(<i>I was not laughing at all</i>)' <i>but first you +must learn to know him. To be sure he doesn't inherit from his papa +alone; his best qualities may have descended to him from his mother: +her strong will, to risk all for all. The elements of a great artist +perhaps exist in me too; but criticism, conceit and suspicion kept them +forever apart. Well, it is no disgrace to bow to a law of nature. +Raphael's father was a miserable dauber, the elder Mozart played his +part in the orchestra very badly, and Beethoven's papa too, was by no +means a shining light. It's very possible that it was uncomfortable +enough for these worthy men to produce nothing remarkable, till they +perceived that they had the honor of being transition points, only the +retorts as it were, in which nature brewed the elixir of life, which +under the name of their sons were to rejuvenate and bless the world?</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>While saying these words, he gazed at the little boy who was +trotting +along very quietly beside the gutter, eating a cake, with a look +through whose tenderness gleamed a shade of respect, which would have +been laughable, if it were not so touching to see it in our old +friend.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"'<i>What's his talent?' I asked at last.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>'We're not yet clear about it,' he answered gravely. 'Like +every +unusually gifted person he has more than one eminent talent, and we +allow them all to develop together. His memory and his musical ear are +wonderful. Besides, he has a power of language of which many a boy of +six need not be ashamed, and his perception of form and color is beyond +all belief. You think me one of those fathers who are crazed by blind +partiality; I can't blame you for it, nor will I attack your unbelief +with a succession of tricks to display his genius; we take care not to +spoil so delicate and rich a nature by training it for a prodigy. As +you see him there, eating his cake and bounding merrily about in the +sunlight, we leave him entirely to himself, and my whole method of +education consists in not telling or teaching him anything, until he +asks for information. In ten years, we'll talk about him again.'</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>'And Christiane?' I asked.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>'You'll not recognize her,' he said laughing softly, like a +person +already rejoicing in another's anticipated astonishment. 'I know you've +never understood why, from our first meeting, I didn't think her +homely; you laughed at me when I said her face was only clouded by +sorrow and calamity, and that when this dark varnish was removed a +pleasing picture would appear. Well, "who laughs last laughs best." +You'll see her and judge for yourself, whether the process of +regeneration has not been thoroughly completed in her. It's no wonder +either; for how she is appreciated, loved, honored! I may say the whole +musical life of our city revolves around her. You've come just at the +right time; the Cecilia Society she organized, gives an open air +concert to-night; first "Winter and Spring" from the "Seasons" then a +time for chat followed by some of Mendelssohn's quartettes. I make +myself useful in my way, by playing accompaniments, distributing the +parts, and often growling a little in baritone. With us, the women's +voices are the best, Christiane's method of instruction has already +produced its effect upon them. But we need tenors and basses. +Addressing the participants at athletic sports, shooting matches, and +workmen's picnics, ruins the voice; everybody thinks he shows his +patriotism by shouting, and then can't control his tones when they are +required for more delicate use. Well, we must put up with the shadows +too. We're living in a provincial town.'</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>All this was said with such a radiant face that I saw he +would not +have exchanged places with any band leader in Vienna or Berlin. I now +noticed that the trick which was so peculiar to him, drawing his under +lip awry and showing his white upper teeth, had entirely disappeared. +He could laugh with his mouth wide open like a child.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>But the author of the comedy 'I am, I, and rely on myself' +was still +so much like himself, that he didn't ask a question about how I had +fared, how my wife looks, and how our little city suits us. But this +omission was most amply compensated for by Frau Christiane, who met us +just outside the city, a few paces from her charming little house, +which is situated among gardens and meadows just beyond the gate. After +the first embarrassment always engendered by seeing old faces again, +she seemed perfectly at ease, her first question was about you, then I +was obliged to tell her about father and his marriage with Frau +Valentin, and next of our neighbor Franzelius and his little wife, and +so we were soon perfectly comfortable. My attention was attracted by +her quiet, gentle manner, which had a shade of suppressed humility, +especially when she turned toward her husband, for whose slightest +gesture she seemed to be on the alert. Only when the conversation +turned upon art, especially in the domain of music, the old harsh +strength of our strange friend flashed out like fire beneath ashes. +Meantime Mohr had brought a bottle of wine into the pretty honeysuckle +covered arbor of their little garden, and now smoking a cigar, sat at +the table, while his eyes constantly wandered from his wife to the +little boy playing near. 'Did I say too much?' he asked triumphantly, +when she was at last called away to give a singing lesson to the +Burgermaster's daughter; I was not obliged to use any special +self-constraint, not to disturb my old friend in his happy illusions; +for the sunlight of happiness although it could not transform our shade +loving plant into a blooming rose, has brightened the stern, gloomy +face so much, that no one will ever fear it; often at one of her +husband's droll ideas, or when the child came bounding up to her with a +question, so sweet a smile flitted over her mouth, that one almost +forgot her mustache. Her eyes were noticeable enough in old times and +happiness has given them a soft, soul-full light. She dresses, so far +as I understand such matters, by no means in a rustic fashion, but in +extremely modest colors, and without any ornaments. That the people +value her highly and know how to prize her talents, I had ample +opportunity to notice in the evening at the concert, which all the city +attended.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Much might be told of this concert, but I was most glad to +see how +Mohr had altered; his satirical vein was entirely lacking, I'm still +too weary from to-day's walk for a minute description, so I must +reserve this genre picture for a vérbal report, I'll only mention one +episode, which shows the tender relations in which our friends stand +toward each other. While Father Hayden was being played, in which +Christiane did herself great credit, Mohr sat on a bench in the garden, +with the boy beside him, who, after a liberal supply of fruit and bread +and butter listened very quietly. It had grown tolerably late, and in +the pause before the quartette began, the 'sand man' appeared. As the +maid-servant was no where to be seen, Papa Mohr took the child in his +arms and carried it home, where he stayed until he had put it to bed +and given it into the charge of the negligent servant. When he again +entered the garden, to enjoy the remainder of the programme, he stood +still in astonishment and could scarcely believe his ears. Was that +Mendelssohn? No. But what was it? It seemed so familiar--and yet--it +could not be what he thought. Yet what else could it be? Yes, it was a +quartette which he had himself composed years ago and locked up in a +large box with other unsuccessful attempts, including the 'Sinfonia +Ironica.' And now he heard it sung before the whole audience, and sung +so well, that its conclusion was hailed with frantic applause and +shouts of 'Da Capo,' although it had only appeared as a modest +supplement to Hayden and Mendelssohn. Who would have suspected Frau +Christiane to be capable of such a trick? And especially that, in reply +to the numerous questions about the composer, she would be bold enough +to name her own husband! But the applause now burst forth like a storm, +and I could see how popular our old ci-devant mocker and man-hater was, +among his fellow citizens. It was most charming of all, to see him +approaching his wife, publicly embrace her and then scold her for +having betrayed his youthful errors, while she took advantage of the +successful stratagem to tell him what talents he really possessed, and +what she had always admired and valued in him.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>This last however occurred when I was alone with them, for +when the +concert was over we had an after piece in the honey-suckle arbor. How +we wished you were with us, my dear little wife! The surprise that +awaits me at home, must be something very charming, if it's to +compensate for your absence that evening--</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I remained with them all the next day, and during this long +time +never once heard our friend utter the word 'envy,' in which he once so +luxuriated. Balder was right, when, he said Mohr's envy was only a +mutilated love. Since he has known the beautiful, healthful feeling in +its full development, he has dropped his philosophy of envy, for the +foreign element which still remained in his ennobled envy--that he did +not feel the goodness, beauty, and lovableness in others to be +his--disappeared as a matter of course, when he would have had to envy +flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, in a dear child.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>They did not want to let me go so soon. But as the room they +gave me +faced the south, it was so unendurably hot at night that I woke in the +morning with a dull headache, so I honestly and obstinately insisted +that they should put themselves to no farther trouble, but let me go to +the hotel. To this they objected, because such a change of quarters +would excite so much comment in the little city, so we at last adopted +the middle course, that I should walk through the mountains a few days +alone and meet Heinrich here. He, too, has been ordered by his +physician to take more exercise, but could never make up his mind to +part from his boy, and even now I'm not quite sure of his keeping his +promise. I shall wait for him until to-morrow evening; but I almost +fear a letter will come instead, in which he will declare nocturnal +pedestrian excursions with an old friend to be incompatible with the +duties of a nurse.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I'll now close this letter, dearest. It's just the hour when +I like +best to wander alone through a strange town. Evening has closed in, but +the inhabitants, to save oil and candles, prefer to sit outside the +doors a little longer and watch the last rays of light as they fade +away. The school children, too, their tasks all completed, play merrily +in the open air, while the mother brings the youngest, clad in its +night gown, out to the father who is sitting on a bench; taking the +little thing in his lap he shows it the moon, the high church tower, +and the stork's nest on the town hall, delighted to see it listen and +open its eyes. Some day this gazing wondering child will become a +stern, practical man, eager in the race for gold, thinking little of +fairy tales, except on Sunday mornings, when they will perhaps +sometimes recur to his memory. But I believe that many will carry a +breath of childhood into old age, and this is far more likely to be the +case in villages than in large towns away from the accustomed +surroundings and amid strange scenes. I've often noticed how, as one's +memory of home grows fainter, we become more contented in strange +places and in a frequent change of abode. For one is oftentimes +completely overwhelmed by the mystery of existence, as, on a summer +evening we look with earnestness into the blue ether and find our gaze +rivited by the first twinkle of a star; in our absorption we may become +almost incredulous as to the existence of our own homes. And sometimes +when far away from those who are dear to us, though still surrounded by +a human crowd, one feels that there is no tie to bind him to any place +but that where at evening the fire is kindled upon his own hearthstone, +and where, after the labors and toils of the day, he can rest in the +sacred atmosphere of peace and perfect love. I'm often obliged to pause +and draw back when I pass a bright window, behind which a group of +people are sitting around a smoking dish, lest I should enter unbidden, +and say: 'Good evening! Don't you know me? I'm your brother!'--Oh! +dearest, those are poor fools, who say to themselves and others, 'we +are strangers in the world.' Have we sprung from the lap of our mother +earth and been nourished with her milk, and has our father, the sun, +given light to our eyes and awakened our senses, only that we may +wander about all our lives homeless waifs, with our heart-hunger +unappeased? Only an idle, selfish, and perverse soul can turn +reluctantly or arrogantly away from the pleasant place where it should +live and labor, and which helpful toil should make so dear. And such +hopeless people think, when the piece they perform becomes stupid and +tiresome, and is hissed, that it is the fault of the scenes! To such +should be said: 'Do your duty, play your part well, and these boards, +which are your world, will not burn so quickly beneath your feet that +when the need comes you cannot escape.'</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>But whither am I wandering? Good night, my wife, dearest of +human +souls. When Mohr comes, I'll you where we decide to go. I hope to be +able to persuade him that he owes you a visit. Believe me, if I were +not ashamed to turn back so soon, I should be with you again to-morrow, +or rather, as I do not see why I need be ashamed to find life dull and +unprofitable without you--if to-morrow a letter arrives, instead of my +friend, our doctor will shake his head in vain; for nothing shall +prevent me from clasping you in my arms the following day.</i></p> + +<p class="right">"Edwin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Remember me to our neighbors, Frau Reginchen's ears must +have burned +of late; I have been obliged to answer so many questions about her and +her little ones.</i>"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p class="normal">Edwin had just finished the letter and risen from his seat, to +take it +himself to the post office, when there was a knock at his door; a +familiar knock, but one which he had not heard for years.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before he had time to say "come in," the door opened, and in +the dark +passage appeared a round head with thin fair hair and a pair of gold +spectacles. A portly, but active figure hastily entered. "It's he!" +exclaimed the friends in a breath, and the next instant Marquard and +Edwin were clasped in each others arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wonder of wonders!" cried Edwin, as he drew his friend nearer +the +window. "Have you taken up the study of animal magnetism, that you +discover me here? True, you were always a sort of repertory for all +valuable knowledge, but as I don't know a soul in this place, haven't +been outside these four walls, or even written my name in the visitors' +book--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The mystery will be solved in due time," interrupted Marquard +with a +grave face. "Come, let's sit down on this very thin couch and permit me +to light one of my own cigars. I'm afraid I am not idealist enough, to +find yours endurable. And now let's see and hear what these four years +have made of you. You've not gained in flesh. Such a teacher of +mathematics ought occasionally to pass beyond the rudiments of straight +lines and angles. I, as you see, am approaching aldermanic proportions, +and as Adeline is like-wise comfortably enlarging her natural +boundaries, a consequence of our happy domestic life and the +undisturbed harmony of souls--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you married her at last?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not exactly according to form, but in point of fact it +amounts to +nearly the same thing. We've resolved never to part, unless it should +seem advisable. Isn't the legitimate civil marriage merely a contract +so long as the parties are suited, and doesn't Schiller say, 'beauty is +freedom in necessity?' Well, that beauty exists in our alliance. We're +both free but each finds it necessary to be with the other. The good +creature has retired from the stage and adorns my loneliness with her +housekeeping talents, besides secretly helping me in a scientific +work."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So the nightingale has also a talent for medicine?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only the practical part of it. We're writing a cook book +together, or +rather a book on the art of eating. Brillat-Savarin is classical, it is +true, but only a child of his time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And will yours allow you to devote yourself to such grave +studies in +another department? Certainly the words: 'How difficult it is even to +attain the means by which we ascend to the source of things!' do not +apply to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course not; but just because, as a favorite women's doctor +and +happening to be first in this specialty, my time is very much occupied; +I should not be able to finish the difficult task without the +assistance of a co-worker so tasteful as Adeline. Well, you'll come and +see us, it's high time. We'll take you into our laboratory, and you +must bear witness--but first of all, what brought you here without your +dear better-half?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Happy fellow," laughed Edwin, "who doesn't suspect what +summer +vacations mean to a poor pedagogue! Hitherto, I've always spent them in +traveling with Leah, but this time mysterious and higher considerations +forced me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Must I congratulate you, my old friend? No shame-faced +evasions with +your physician! You'll make an excellent papa. It's a pity," he added +in an undertone, "that uncle Balder is no longer here to see it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin shook his head. "I fear the point in question does not +concern +such important matters," said he, "or I should probably be admitted +into the secret. To be sure, it might be possible; for who can +thoroughly understand a woman! For instance, would you believe that +this affectionate daughter, who when she left the hut on the lagune +shed bitter tears because her father would be there alone, can't yet +make up her mind to visit him, simply because he did the wisest thing +he could, under the circumstances, and married his old friend, Frau +Valentin?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So that's true!" exclaimed Marquard. "Adeline thought she had +read it +in the newspaper, but afterwards we could not find the sheet to make +sure of the names, and of course they didn't send cards to us. Well, I +believe they'll live as happily as two doves, content with their God, +and good works will now flourish in partnership. But what does our Leah +see to condemn in such a match, which was certainly made in heaven and +which moreover is such a sensible arrangement; for where could the +lonely old man find a better refuge, now that a huge tenement house has +been built on the site of his Venetian palace, than under the +protecting wings of his excellent old sweetheart?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's just it," replied Edwin, "that touched a spot in his +daughter's +heart and she will hear no reasoning upon it. If the point in question +had simply concerned a new mode of life, in which other considerations +than her father's comfort had turned the scale, no one would have been +more glad, than my good wife. But papa zaunkönig informed her of his +decision in a letter which was certainly strange enough. The parts were +exactly exchanged; the father addressed the daughter in the tone a good +son or younger brother would use in informing a highly respected mother +or sister of a marriage of which she would probably disapprove, but +which, as an accomplished fact, must be accepted with the best +grace possible. He knew his child; he knew that she watched with a +deep-rooted jealousy, to see that her dead mother's image was not +supplanted. Her passionate love would not have rebelled against what is +termed a sensible marriage with anyone except his old love; but +throughout the letter, it was perfectly evident that a late blossom of +their youthful love had unfolded, a joyous midsummer warmth had +awakened in these two by no means aged souls, and that both the +worthy people felt all the timidity and embarrassment of a real love. +Frau Valentin's letter was also constrained, and in spite of their +excuse--they had perceived it was God's will, and had yielded to his +decree--it was easy to see that they had submitted with heartfelt joy +to this same higher will. This did not escape the penetration of my +little philosopher, and never was any letter of hers so tart as the +reply to this news. Nay, although during the two years which have since +elapsed, thanks to the truly Christian feeling that pervades the +marriage, the daughter's feelings toward her new mother have softened +and she has become almost reconciled--she still refuses to see her +father in his new relations--! And yet there are people, who attempt to +deny that women have their peculiar ethics!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Both were silent for a time. It had grown perfectly dark, only +the gold +frames of the spectacles sometimes glittered, when the lighted cigar +came near them. Suddenly Marquard said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you answer me a question, my lad. An indiscreet one, but +I have +my reasons for it--are you happy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't think that question at all indiscreet when propounded +by a +friend," replied Edwin quietly. "But to answer it conscientiously, we +must first understand what you mean by happiness. In the ordinary +sense, of no wish remaining unfulfilled, and the absence of all +oppressing care, I know only one happy couple amongst our acquaintance: +our worthy tribune of the people and his little wife. Papa Feyertag +has, as you know, opened his pocket so generously, that Franzel, who +insisted upon moving to L. with me, was able to establish a very fine +printing office. We have only to turn the corner to reach their house, +and I needn't assure you that we're very neighborly. One can't find +anything prettier than this little rosy, fair-haired mother, with her +three red cheeked children--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Three? The marriage was only--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's a pair of twins, now just two years old, exactly like +their +papa and already recognizable at a long distance as young tribunes of +the people by their powerful voices. You ought to see our Franzel carry +the little mob about, one on each arm and the third pick-a-pack, his +bronzed face and the white teeth under his bushy beard fairly radiant +with fatherly pride; and Frau Reginchen, when he's romped enough, +pushes his shaggy hair back from his forehead and scolds him for making +the boys still wilder than they are by nature, her eyes meantime +sparkling with delight, I'm sure they never held conflicting opinions +for half an hour; she can twist him around her little finger now as +well as during their betrothal, in everything concerning household +affairs, and too, she's clever enough not to meddle with things she +does not understand--his business and theories for reforming the world. +He's still strong in them, but we've silently agreed not to argue +social questions, and what he does practically is very thorough. His +care for his workmen is really exemplary, they all have a certain share +of the profits--it's a sort of joint stock company, in which the +individual stockholders give labor instead of money, a system, which +depends solely upon the good will of the capitalist, and will be +imitated only when all manufacturers become philanthropists like our +Franzel. But here all have their share of the profits, and it's +pleasant to see how they all cling to him from the foreman down to the +youngest errand boy, idolize Frau Reginchen, and spoil the black-haired +boys and little girl. And moreover the cobbler's daughter, whose father +didn't trouble her with two many arts and sciences, has become a very +clever little woman, who plays no bad part in the discussion of every +day authors, provided the conversation doesn't go above Schiller. At +least so Leah says; she still stands in as much awe of me as if I were +the Holy Ghost incarnate, and avoids all literary topics in my +presence. Nevertheless we're on very pleasant terms with each other; +she calls me her God-father and I call her Frau God-mother; you ought +to come and see our quiet life--although you could gather no new ideas +for your gastronomical work."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am coming," said Marquard, "I certainly will! You've roused +my +appetite, I can tell you. But we've wandered a long distance from the +main topic."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whether or not I am happy? You know it doesn't take much to +satisfy an +idealist. The world is what we make it, and I've good reasons to be +very well satisfied with it. I've no occasion to be anxious about the +ordinary wants of life, and have never regretted for a single hour, +that I gave up the professorship to take a quiet subordinate position +as teacher in a school. While imparting the precepts of Pythagoras, my +metaphysical system has time to mature, and I needn't teach anything +for which I can't be fully responsible. Ambition I never possessed. +What I have not in myself, no one can give me; I never cared to have my +own opinion of myself corroborated by a crowd of people whom I don't +know and therefore can't respect. But I'm indebted to the little city +for one thing which I thought superfluous in the capital, but have now +learned to prize because it enriches and strengthens my existence: I've +entered into the midst of a motley throng of human beings, and the +hundred-fold contact with an apparently thoughtless reality has +benefited not only the man, but the philosopher. You smile, you +arrogant metropolitan! You can't imagine, that one's view of the world +may become more comprehensive in the atmosphere of a little town. And +yet man is everywhere the same, and such a little town is a retort in +which I can most easily insulate the experiment that slipped through my +fingers in the great busy city. You would be surprised if I should give +you examples of the psychological results I've obtained from my active +and daily share in the interests of my worthy fellow citizens. What did +I know of the genius <i>homo sapiens</i>, when I lived in our tun and only +allowed a few chosen specimens to approach me? Only from the average +can pervading laws be discovered. But you'll find all this some day in +my book, if I ever write it. But I'll say this--that nothing external +more richly rewards the trouble, than, wherever we maybe or whatever +people we may be associated with, to honestly devote ourselves to them +and share with them the best we have. These worthy people who at first +eyed me curiously, because I was wanting in those things which usually +help to win popularity and neither visited their usual places of resort +nor joined in their games of skittles, any more than Leah attended +their coffee parties, now know, that despite all this, they have a very +good friend in me. Now and then, on public occasions, I have asked +permission to address them and found fresh confirmation of my old +opinion, that no one can guide a crowd so easily as one who stands on a +higher plane, if he has but the power of awakening the true manly +spirit which sleeps in the breast of the lowest boor. Afterwards they +have not unfrequently come to me as this spirit moved within them, but +failed to find courage in its own strength. They would have elected me +to the Chamber of Deputies, if I'd not positively forbidden it. +<i>Basta!</i> You may think I imagine it a wonder to be Cæsar in a village. +No, indeed, my dear fellow! Nay, I confess that it always costs me a +special effort to do my fellow citizens these trifling services; for at +the bottom of my heart I'm still the aristocrat whom only the old +saying <i>noblesse oblige</i> can lure from his seclusion. I'm bound to few +by the tie of affection, and whether that wouldn't break up too, if I +should strike my tent and continue my journey--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you intend to resign your position?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; but certain people, who can't bear to have a simple +teacher of +mathematics take the liberty of thinking and saying what doesn't suit +their turn, may drive me to it. It's a very simple story; I delivered, +before a sort of society for the education of workmen, which Franzelius +of course instituted immediately upon coming to the city, and at which +every week honorary as well as working members assemble, a lecture on +Darwinism, relating purely to natural history; I was quite thoughtless +of the consequences, which were nevertheless very striking. Our city +pastor, my worthy colleague in the school, where he gives religious +instruction, took it so much amiss, that he instigated the principal to +suggest to me to send in my resignation. As I felt neither desire nor +obligation to do so, a report has been sent to the authorities, the +answer to which is still delayed. I'm awaiting it very calmly. I'm not +in the way of my other colleagues, the principal is well disposed +toward me and only yielded reluctantly to the authority of our +spiritual shepherd; if any change should occur in my position, my +opponent's victory is not to be envied, as the favor of young and old +will accompany me in my exile. So you see I'm beginning to make a +career, though at first in the sense of the rolling stone that gathers +no moss. But motion refreshes the blood, and a child of the world finds +his home everywhere."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But your wife?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She'd undoubtedly find it much harder to part from our +friends, than +I. Reginchen is as dear to her heart as a sister. For the rest, we two +are so well satisfied with each other's society, that we could not long +lack anything if we kept each other.</p> + +<p class="normal">"True," he continued after a pause, as Marquard thoughtfully +brushed +the ashes from his cigar, "one thing I do lack, or rather my dear wife. +It's strange, I was very fond of children, and a marriage without the +fulfillment of this purpose of life always seemed to me a very +sorrowful thing. Now that I experience the sorrow, I see that the +deficiency brings its own compensation. There's no third person between +husband and wife to divert their love; they're always alone, everything +remains as it was during the honeymoon, which extends to years. I only +wish it for Leah's sake, since she knows my old fondness for children +and can't look upon Reginchen's blessings without a sigh. For my part, +I could spend my life with what I have, and the natural desire for +offspring would gradually die out entirely. How few can boast of having +a wife who is a constant novelty, and yet as indispensable as the +oldest, most cherished habit! We are not always of one mind, like our +neighbors; Leah's blood is not so light and her thoughts stir it, and +then she has hours of hard secret struggle, and the conclusions at +which she arrives her honesty forces her to defend. But it's all the +prettier and more touching, when she regains her bright cheerful moods. +I can't help laughing when she doubts whether she's the right wife for +me, whether I should not have been happier with a fair haired child +like my little Frau God-mother." Marquard had risen and was pacing up +and down the room puffing violently at his cigar. "And the old love?" +he said after a pause.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rusted out, in defiance of the proverb! It becomes more and +more clear +to me that the whole affair, the sudden mad passion, was only a symptom +of my general condition at the time and was melted out of my blood with +other useless stuff by the nervous fever. Since that time I've never +uttered her name, and have heard and seen no more of her than if her +husband's estates were in Sirius."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish they were," muttered the physician between his teeth, +stamping +indignantly on the floor. "I meant to keep it from you," he continued, +as he again threw himself on the sofa beside Edwin. "But since there'll +be no danger to you if she comes to a bad end some day--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She? Do you know anything about her? Have you seen her +again?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I had the honor of kissing the countess' hand a few hours +ago. Nay, I +can even tell you, we should have blindly passed each other here, if +your old friend and patron, the striped waistcoat, who was idling +around before the house, had not seen you at the upper window and +instantly recognized you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Little Jean? But how in the world--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shall hear all. As I said before, I wished to keep it +from you, as +I didn't know what impression it might make upon you, to suddenly find +yourself so near your old love. You know I've always had a great regard +for your wife, and have thought that no one could suit you better. I +hoped you'd be drawn toward each other by degrees and so regain your +full health. But when you began in such a heels-overhead fashion and +were so suddenly betrothed, I, as an experienced psychologist, couldn't +help shaking my head. Such speedy cures are rarely permanent; they +denote injury to some other organ. But the way in which you speak of +your domestic happiness, reassures me! I don't think I risk anything, +when I say, your old friend, in spite of her countess' coronet, has +made a worse match, than if she had taken the head master, Edwin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unhappy? Poor thing! Does he ill treat her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There!" said Marquard, "after all it will be better for me to +keep +what I know to myself. It seems to me you can't yet, with the necessary +objectivity--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't torture me with delays and evasions!" exclaimed Edwin. +"How +could I remain perfectly unmoved, when I heard that a creature once so +dear to me has such a hard fate to endure? But I assure you, even if I +heard it from her own lips, no other thought would enter my mind than +that an unhappy woman was lamenting her sufferings and had claims upon +my brotherly sympathy. The time when she could have bound me with a +hair of her head and forced me to do her will, is gone forever."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then, listen," replied the physician. "Perhaps, as pious +people +say, it's a dispensation of Providence, that I've found you here, since +I've been able to do nothing myself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A fortnight ago, I received a letter from a Count ----, who +invited me +to his castle for a consultation. An address was enclosed, which left +me in no doubt that he was the richest of the counts of the name, and +the lady in question no other than our old friend. You'll understand +that I was curious to see her again. Adeline, who is far too generous +to be jealous, eagerly urged me to go. I had sent most of my patients +to various springs, so I set off at once and reached the place on the +third day.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The count had sent a carriage to meet me at the station, as +it was a +two hour's ride to the castle which was situated in the heart of the +mountains. But the drive didn't seem long; on the way I renewed another +old acquaintance, that of our little Jean, who's grown taller since his +unlucky drinking bout, but is not much more mature. The lad still +stares at the world with the same zealous boyish eyes he had in +Jägerstrasse. I tried to pump him, but his information never went +beyond the external magnificence that surrounded his master and +mistress. To judge from his story, there was no happier, more enviable +or charitable creature on the face of the earth, than his lady, the +countess, and as she, according to his account drove out daily, rode +horseback, or took long walks, never sparing herself or uttering any +complaint, there didn't seem to be the least occasion for having +summoned so distinguished a physician as your old friend, from so great +a distance to feel her pulse.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The first conversation I held with her husband certainly made +a great +change in my opinion. I found your successful rival an entirely +different man from what I had imagined, a person really needing pity, +who finds no enjoyment in all he possesses, money, lands, a noble name, +and a long line of ancestors, and who is not happy though in the prime +of life and surrounded by the utmost splendor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The style of the house I can only term ducal! A magnificent +castle, +forests such as I've seen only in Russia, a four-in-hand of which no +prince need be ashamed, a kitchen and cellar that considerably enlarged +the horizon even of the author of the 'Art of Eating.' The ten days I +spent in the castle gave me an idea of the enviableness of the genuine +old nobility, living regardless of expense and not yet infected by the +industrial spirit of our times.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The count himself, who has grown up amid these surroundings, +is a +gentleman from head to foot, every inch a cavalier, a man who can talk +admirably about hunting and the ballet, and from whom, without the +smallest conscientious scruple, one can win a few hundred louis d'ors +at whist. That's however probably the best thing to be had of him; for +in other respects--but perhaps I'm unjust, I could not help continually +comparing him with you and asking myself--without wishing to flatter +you--in what way he'd have got the start of you, if you had both +appeared before our princess on equal terms. He seemed to me like a +beautifully carved, richly gilded old picture frame, containing a +cheap, poorly colored lithograph. But, as I said before, my old +prejudice in your favor may have played me a trick.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'If it's only not something of the same kind, a comparison +which must +result to the disadvantage of the man she has chosen, that is affecting +our countess', I instantly said to myself. But I soon perceived that +your old relations had not the slightest connection with the matter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the first place, the count who made various confessions, +such as +are heard only by a physician or priest, did not give the slightest +intimation that an older affection might be at the bottom of her +mysterious conduct. He took me directly to his study and there gave me +a detailed account of the four years of his married life. He knew that +she became his wife without love. She had not attempted to conceal the +fact from him for a moment, and, madly in love with her, as he was and +unfortunately is to this hour, contented himself with the thought that +he was no more repulsive to her than other men, toward whom she usually +showed a coldness of which he cheerfully bore his share. The old, oft +verified consolation that 'love will come after marriage,' and 'there's +no ice which a real fire can't ultimately melt,' helped him through the +short period of betrothal. Then came the strangeness of her new +surroundings, her struggle with all sorts of hostile elements in his +family, which to be sure resulted in a brilliant victory for the young +plebeian, but which did not exactly win her to greater tenderness. But +to his astonishment, even after marriage, the statue did not grow warm +in his arms. Probably the worthy nobleman lacked many qualities +essential to a Pygmalion. Yet he assured me that, despite her +inflexible coldness and reserve, he had treated her with the utmost +affection and spared her in every way.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But now comes the strangest part of the tale. A child was +born, a +bright boy, yet even this most powerful of all mediators did not +succeed in breaking the ice. Nay, it actually seemed as if the much +desired happy event only estranged the young wife still more. After the +child's birth, the countess, although she continued to live under the +same roof, effected an entire separation from her husband, locked +herself up in her own rooms, which he was never permitted to enter, and +only spoke to him at table, at large entertainments, and at hunting +parties, in which she took the most enthusiastic delight.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All his efforts to break through this unnatural seclusion +were in +vain. Nay, she even extended her aversion to the child, and usually +left it entirely to the nurse. But when, at seven months it suddenly +fell sick with any apparent cause, she didn't leave its bed day or +night and was evidently deeply affected by its death.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the expectations of her husband and the old countess that +she +would now be softened and feel disposed to resume the old relations +again, were not verified. Nay, she began to seclude herself still more +and to adopt an even more capricious mode of life. This went so far +that she turned day into night and night into day, and only very +seldom, on some unusual occasion, though always present at the hunting +parties, did she appear among the guests in the castle. At such times +there was nothing noticeable in her manner, she was cordial and even +gay, and a stranger would have had no suspicion that anything unusual +was taking place. When the count's mother died, she attended the +funeral with every sign of sincere sorrow and held out her hand to her +husband for the first time in a year. But directly after the body was +interred, she again disappeared in her own rooms and continued the old +hermit life.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I asked the count whether he had not himself questioned her +concerning +the cause of this singular seclusion. He replied that he had done so +more than once, but she would not speak frankly, and only said she +perceived that she had been very foolish to marry him. She could not +and would not reproach him, but it would be better for both if he would +consent to a separation. She would never change her mind, never submit +to live with him as his wife again. She was sorry for him, but she +couldn't help it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In this resolution she remained firm, and neither kind +measures nor +harsh produced any effect. After lavishing prayers and endearments, +anger overpowered him. The thought of being made a fool of by a woman, +to whose obedience he had the best claim, made his brain whirl. In the +madness of his pain and anger he burst into savage threats and cursed +the hour when he first saw her. She looked at him with a perfect +calmness and only replied: 'you're right to curse my existence; I curse +it, too. Put an end to this sad story and set me free.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"But this he could not resolve to do. He could not banish the +thought +that time must aid him. To give her a chance for reflection and perhaps +to accustom himself to do without her, he spent six months in traveling +and led a tolerably gay life in Paris and Berlin, but his love was not +weakened nor did he find the smallest change in her on his return; If +there was any alteration, it was for the worse; she was even colder, +sterner, and more reserved toward him and more dissatisfied with life. +Yet her bodily health had never been better, her sleep, her looks, her +pleasure in hunting and even in dancing, when, during the winter, she +was sometimes invited to neighboring castles. Now, however, even +strangers couldn't fail to notice, that in the midst of the gayest mood +her features would become terribly rigid and stony, and she either +turned her horse and dashed off home, or left her partner standing on +the ball room floor, and without the slightest reason or excuse ordered +her horses to be harnessed. There were a great many discussions and +consultations about the matter; the family physician, an old and +tolerably skillful man, with whom I speedily came to an understanding, +shrugged his shoulders; one medical notability after another, upon +being consulted, could not even obtain an interview, or, like the +christian physician in the harem, be permitted to feel the beautiful +patient's pulse through a hole in the wall; so matters were as hopeless +as they well could be, and the fear that monomania or some serious +derangement of the mind was imminent, was unfortunately only too well +justified.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A lady who had known the count in Berlin, and in whose family +I had +once been successful in curing a patient, mentioned my name to him. So +I came to the castle, and when on the following day I sent in my name +to the countess, simply as an old acquaintance, who had accidentally +wandered here while on a journey and merely wished to present himself +to her, I cherished the brightest hopes of penetrating the secret, +since I was at least admitted, a favor which had been obstinately +refused to all the other physicians who had been summoned.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I was very much mistaken. She received me as frankly and +cordially +as in Jägerstrasse, seemed to remember every incident of those days, +down to the magical feast in the Pagoda, which was the last time I saw +her. She even inquired about you; you were doubtless married and no +longer lived in Berlin; then she wished to know what had happened to +the other guests at our bacchanalian revel at Charlottenburg. I clearly +perceived that she listened to my answers absently, not as if she were +giving herself airs, like a great lady who wishes to awe a plebeian, +but with an expression of profound weariness, numbness, and +joylessness, such as I have seen in the first stages of mental +disorder, or in the half lucid intervals of incurable lunatics. I can +truly say, that rarely have I so earnestly desired to be a medical +genius, which--between ourselves--I'm not. She's a beautiful creature, +you've no idea what she has become; I can easily understand, that a man +who has once possessed her, would rather die than consent to a +separation. If <i>I</i> say this, who knows tolerably well what beautiful +women are, and that in the end one gets tired of even the fairest, it +means something. She probably perceived what an impression she made +upon me, and that I asked how <i>she</i> had fared with real friendly +solicitude. 'Dear Herr Doctor,' said she, suddenly rising as if to +close the interview, 'I know why you're here. The count wishes to learn +from you whether I'm still in possession of my five senses, or if I run +any risk of losing one or more of them. Give yourself no anxiety about +me, I'm as well as a fish in water, and what I lack to be able to enjoy +my life as thoughtlessly as most other women, is not to be had from an +apothecary or discovered anywhere between heaven and earth. The count +has doubtless told you that I should like to go away from here, and be +free again. If you could persuade him to consent to this, it would be +the best thing you could do and I should be sincerely grateful to you. +Besides, it's more for his sake than my own, that I should like to be +separated from him. I pity him, as I should pity a living man bound to +a corpse. Just feel how cold! She held out her hand to me; it was +really cold enough to startle one. 'Yes, yes,' said she, 'it's always +so; I wish all was over. But what's done can't be undone.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then she talked of indifferent subjects until I took leave, +and the +two or three times that I afterwards saw her at dinner, she always wore +the same expression, of immovable cold insensibility to every joy. +During my stay at the castle, I fished for news like a member of the +secret police, questioned all her servants, and even thrust my nose +into things of a tolerably disagreeable nature. In vain. The only +person who perhaps might tell me something, her waiting maid, is as +silent as the grave. I'm just as wise as before, and when this +afternoon I raised the beautiful hand to my lips in farewell, it was no +whit warmer than at my first visit.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The count, who has some business to do here, wanted to drive +me to the +railway station himself. I could not conceal from him that he would be +merely throwing away his money, if he consulted any more of my +colleagues. A slight hint I gave, that he might perhaps regret it if he +insisted upon living under the same roof with her, that the sickness +which was impending might be averted by leaving her entirely to +herself, by a real separation, threw him into such a rage that I had +great difficulty in even partially soothing him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He had confidence in me, and I was forced to promise to +invent some +pretext for commencing a correspondence with the countess, in order to +keep myself in some degree conversant with her condition. But these are +all useless expedients. I see clearly that there's but one hope of +solving this strange enigma, and--in some way--discovering where we +are. There's but one person who has any influence over her; it dawned +upon me like an inspiration, as soon as I saw him again. This one +person is--yourself! And now make up your mind, first, whether it's +your duty to set this poor woman's head straight, which some crotchet +has disturbed and bids fair to completely derange; secondly, whether +you can trust yourself to undertake it without danger to yourself or a +relapse into your old infatuation."</p> + +<p class="normal">He had approached Edwin, and in spite of the gathering +darkness, was +trying to read his face. After a time, as no answer came, he continued. +"But whatever you decide to do, you must do quickly. I've seen cases +where a state of mind that apparently gave no cause for uneasiness, and +resembled intellectual palsy rather than approaching insanity, would +suddenly at some trifle, change to most violent frenzy. I think that +you might then be unable to shake off the sense of a certain +responsibility, if you should now say: 'she's dead to me, it's not my +business to bring stranger's wives to their senses.' You see, Edwin, +I'm as sure as I am of my own existence, that neither he nor she would +tell any third person--no matter if the dignity and wisdom of a whole +faculty were united in him--what the poor wife would probably confide +to her old friend. The story about the child doesn't seem to me exactly +straight, but no one except herself can give any explanation of it. +Courage, Edwin! If she were in a burning house, you would not hesitate +to carry her out, even at the of being a little singed. Well, it wont +be so bad as that. What torments these poor, good, foolish creatures, +whether Catholics or Protestants, invent! what secret vows, +castigations, penances, and imaginary duties they impose upon themselves +dragging their poor bodies painfully about, and torturing their fellow +mortals! I could tell stories, of how I've now and then cured such a +distorted mind by a few sound remarks, though I can't vie with you in +logic. But here there's danger in delay. I shall set out for home +to-night, but the count will return to the castle in time for supper; +he has guests, some cousins and neighbors, with whom he's going to hunt +to-morrow. If you decide to go, I'll tell him I've accidentally met a +colleague here, who has fortunately appeared in the very nick of time, +and who is an authority in psychiatry, and that he can't do better than +to place the case in his hands. I know you've never seen each other, +and little Jean respects you too much not to keep his mouth shut if I +whisper a word in his ear, I hear the count's voice below. Shall I call +him or not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin rose. "I know it will be useless, perhaps even harmful," +he said +in a hollow tone. "<i>I</i> have power over her? She must then have changed +very much. But no matter. As the case now stands, you're right; I +should reproach myself bitterly if I should keep on my way and +afterwards hear that some misfortune had happened. I'll only make one +request, that you'll tell the count who I am, the same man who once +loved his wife and whose brother--oh! Marquard, that's hardest of all! +To be under the same roof with the man who was the cause of Balder's +death!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For all that he's done to you or anybody else, he's now +atoning in a +purgatory as terrible as one could wish for his worst enemy," replied +the physician. "I'm no hero of virtue, my lad, but I should like to +singe the thin locks on the count's brow with my coals of fire. But +you're right, we needn't be afraid to play with our cards on the table. +If he refuses, we must try some other way. But from what I know of him, +he's above the common fear of ghosts and will welcome with open arms +any spectre that will aid him in regaining his wife."</p> + +<p class="normal">He rushed out of the room, and Edwin remained alone, a prey to +the most +contradictory emotions.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">He hastily lighted a candle, took a small portfolio out of his +traveling satchel and wrote a few lines to inform Mohr where he was to +be found, in case his friend did not prefer to await his return, which +he hoped would be speedy, at the hotel. "It would be best," he +concluded, "for you to follow me at once, and take me away from the +castle, where the duties of friendship and a vain hope of being useful, +may perhaps detain me longer than I desire." He had just folded this +note, to leave it in the hotel, and was looking at his letter to Leah, +irresolute whether or not to open it and add a postscript, when he +heard steps on the stairs and directly after Marquard entered with the +count.</p> + +<p class="normal">His first emotion was that of surprise, at seeing the very +face he had +imagined whenever he thought of his rival--the insipid regularity of +the features, the haughty pose of the head, the hair already thin and +streaked with grey, while a thick, carefully trimmed beard covered the +cheeks and chin, the whole appearance indicating the scion of a noble +house and the heir of large estates. But the bright light that fell +upon his countenance revealed also traces of secret suffering, which +weighed down the eyelids and compressed the lips. The painful suspense +with which Edwin had awaited the man he had so long avoided, instantly +disappeared. It cost him no effort to take the hand which his old +antagonist frankly extended, and he returned its pressure without any +feeling of bitterness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We both know enough of each other to meet, even at the first +interview, as old acquaintances," said the count. "Our friend Doctor +Marquard, has told you the sad circumstances which induced me to ask +his advice. Unfortunately, he has been forced to confirm my fear that +his science has no means of reaching this obstinate disease. In such +cases we usually take refuge in all sorts of miraculous remedies, and I +confess I'm not sufficiently free from superstition, to refuse to +consult, if necessary, some old astrologist, or some woman who deals in +herbs. But before proceeding to such extreme measures, I should like to +try a better remedy. I know you were on very intimate terms with the +countess before she became my wife. She told me at the time, that there +was no man for whom she felt more esteem, nay reverence, than for +yourself; perhaps for that very reason another man would inform anyone, +rather than you, of his domestic unhappiness. But I believe you to be a +man of honor, Herr Doctor, and therefore incapable of entering my house +with selfish and malevolent joy to meet the woman who has not made your +rival happy. Besides, my state of mind is such that I no longer care +for myself, that I would risk everything to avert, if possible, the +terrible misfortune that threatens my wife. I shall consider it a great +proof of friendship, if you will go with me and after watching the +patient for a time, give me your opinion of her. If you should +succeed--" He paused and turned away. "However," he continued in a much +more formal tone, "I've no excuse whatever for asking such a favor, and +in case your time should not permit--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm entirely ready to go with you, Herr Count," replied +Edwin. "But I +repeat what I've already told my friend--I go without any delusion that +I can exert any influence over the countess' mind. As in the old days, +in spite of her great confidence, she remained a mystery to me, I fear +that now, too, all my psychology will be baffled by the same problem. +But precisely because I stand in such a peculiar relation toward you, +you shall at least not be permitted to doubt my good will."</p> + +<p class="normal">He took his hat and cane, passed the strap of his traveling +satchel +over his shoulder, and opened the door. The three men walked down +stairs in silence side by side.</p> + +<p class="normal">An elegant two seated hunting carriage was standing before the +door of +the hotel; the long limbed young man in a green livery embroidered with +silver, who held the reins of the fiery horses which impatiently pawed +the ground, fixed his round blue eyes with embarrassed delight on his +old acquaintance, who nodded kindly to him as he came out of the house. +Marquard was right, little Jean's body had grown, but the rosy +beardless face remained unchanged. Edwin handed to the landlord for +mailing, the letter he had written Leah, gave him the necessary +information about Mohr's note, pressed Marquard's hand again and sprang +into the carriage. The count followed, took the reins from Jean who sat +behind, and waving his whip to the physician, spoke to the horses, +which impatiently dashed forward with the light vehicle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You'll make allowance for me, and pardon me if I seem silent +or +abstracted," said the count, as soon as they had turned from the paved +streets into the softer forest road. "I've two new horses, which I'm +trying for the first time, and I must keep them well in hand. They're +full blooded Trakehners, but still somewhat young and untrained. Do you +take any interest in horses?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, an interest, but I'm so ignorant that I should be +laughed at by +all connoisseurs. The Great Elector's steed on the long bridge is to me +the crown of his race, and only now and then I find among brewer's +horses a specimen, that distantly reminds me of this ideal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That breed is scarcely used now, except for certain +purposes," replied +the count gravely. "There's even a prejudice that muscular strength +bears a necessary relation to coarseness. The capacity to use strength +is the principal thing, and for that, thick fetlocks and broad chests +are not always requisite. Ho! ho!"--he shouted, as the horse on the +right did not know what to do with himself in his wanton caracoles. He +made the beautiful animals walk for some distance, standing erect as he +watched their pace with the eye of a connoisseur. When they had grown +more quiet and yielded to his firm hand, he resumed his seat beside +Edwin, and allowed them to trot.</p> + +<p class="normal">Field after field, and forest after forest, tiny villages and +lonely +huts flitted past them; the air grew no cooler, but the earth grew +darker, and the sky lighter. The horses dashed onward with their silent +load; the deep stillness of the summer night enwrapped them; over the +black tree tops hung the tender crescent of the moon, and now and then +a flash of light lit up the firmament, as if from a distant thunder +cloud; a dreamy, quiet mood stole over our friend, the subdued +happiness of a half dormant soul; in such a state we do not take either +joys or sorrows seriously and are scarcely surprised at the occurrence +of the most fabulous things. For years he had not uttered Toinette's +name; her image had become as dim in his memory as if she were no more +real than a character in some book of fiction; and now he was driving +toward her, who doubtless had as little expectation of such a meeting +as he himself had entertained an hour ago. He wondered if he should +find her so changed and why they fancied he would perform a miracle by +acting upon her strange moods, he who felt that all the ties that had +once bound him to her, were so utterly sundered.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was surprised at the entire absence of anxiety with which +he looked +forward to the moment when he was to see her again. He rejoiced in this +calmness. "If it had been an elementary power, to which I submitted in +those days," he thought, "the poison would now seethe in my blood again. +Though the iron be separated from the magnet a hundred years, it +quickly becomes conscious of its approach. True, happiness has changed +me much since then, so far as a man's nature can be changed and I am +calmed and strengthened. What will Leah say, when I tell her about it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He could not forbare to wonder at the singular circumstances, +which had +decreed that the most unprejudiced witness of those past events, should +be the very one to recognize him and thereby restore to his mistress +her old friend. The old question of the connection between earthly +destinies once more rose before his mind. "Is this an intentional +exercise of some will that rules and guides our souls, or do we +separate and meet again like the waves of the sea, which obey only the +ebb and flow of the tide?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Again he left these questions unsolved and became wholly +absorbed in +the enjoyment of the moment. His companion did not disturb him. The +duties of a driver claimed his attention more and more, for the moon +grew brighter and the fiery young animals often shied and reared at the +sight of some, to them, mysterious object. For a time Edwin closed his +eyes and enjoyed the cool night air which refreshed him like a bath, +after the toilsome walk he had taken during the day. When, roused by a +sudden jolt of the carriage, he again opened his eyes, he was amazed at +the wondrous beauty of the scene. Before him, probably at the distance +of a fifteen minutes drive, on a bold height appeared the battlements +and pinnacles of a castle, to which a broad wide avenue led through the +dark forests. The roofs glittered in the moonlight as if coated with +silver, and when the wind moved the vanes, lines of light darted from +their sharp edges like falling stars. All the windows seemed to be +dark, no living thing seemed to be moving within; it was like some +enchanted palace. But when the light carriage, despite the rising +ground, had traversed the avenue through the forest at full speed, and +entered the courtyard through a lofty portal, flanked by two griffens +bearing coats of arms, there was a confusion of voices, mingled with +the barking of dogs, lackeys bearing torches rushed out of the lofty +and brilliantly lighted hall to meet the two gentlemen, a portly butler +in a black coat and white cravat appeared at the carriage door and +helped the stranger to descend, while the count threw the reins to a +stable boy and said to the head groom, in excellent English, a few +words about the first trial of the new horses. Then he too sprang out +of the carriage and overtook his guest on the upper step.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Herr Doctor," said he, putting his arm through +Edwin's with +condescending familiarity, "I welcome you on the threshold of my home. +I hope you may remain here some time, and only regret"--here he lowered +his voice--"that I cannot present you to the countess to-day. She has +entirely withdrawn from all our evening assemblies, and only +occasionally appears at dinner. I hope the visit of an old friend may +induce her to make an exception in his favor to-morrow. For to-day, you +must be satisfied with masculine society. Have the gentlemen come +down?" he asked, turning to the butler who, holding a silver +candlestick, was preceding the gentlemen up the already brilliantly +lighted marble staircase.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Five minutes ago. Your Excellency."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then we'll not keep them waiting. But perhaps, Herr Doctor, +before we +sit down to supper, you'll wish to retire to your room a moment."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin smiled. "I'm not able to make an elaborate toilette," he +said +glancing at his traveling satchel, which a servant was carrying after +him. "You must apologize to your guests, Herr Count, for picking up a +simple wayfarer and bringing him under your stately roof."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No ceremony among friends," replied the count, still with the +same +immovably courteous face. "You'll find us too entirely <i>sans gêne</i>; +some of my neighbors have ridden over in their hunting suits, as we +have a deer hunt early to-morrow morning and I hope you'll give us the +pleasure of your company on the occasion."</p> + +<p class="normal">He did not wait for a reply, but approached the large folding +doors, +which were hastily thrown open by two footmen, and which admitted them +to the broad, carpeted ante-room of the first story. With an easy, +friendly gesture, the count invited Edwin to precede him, and they +entered the lofty dining hall.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Several slender tawny greyhounds came bounding toward them and +completed the illusion that they were entering a banqueting hall of the +<i>rococo</i> times. The room was spacious and lofty, of an oblong shape, +with rounded corners adorned in the richest style of the last century +with gilded stucco-work and huge pier glasses which reflected the light +of the candles in the large glass chandelier and the glittering silver +on the table. At the other end of the apartment a glass door opened +upon a balcony, and this, like the two windows on each side, afforded a +view of the park, whose majestic trees towered above the long clipped +hedges and arbors. Nothing recalled the present century except an +elegant piano, at which a young man sat who failed to hear the entrance +of the master of the house and his guest, amid the noise made by his +dashing passages.</p> + +<p class="normal">The others, who appeared to have been waiting some time, +instantly +turned toward the door, and one after another was greeted by the count +and introduced to Edwin. Suddenly the musician paused, started up and +with great cordiality, hurried toward the count. He was a handsome +young man, in whom, despite his civilian's dress, the cavalry officer +was recognizable at the first glance, and whom the count introduced as +his cousin, Count Gaston. He seemed to feel perfectly at home, and even +at the table, where with amicable familiarity he drew Edwin down by his +side, almost wholly supported the conversation, which as usual turned +upon women, horses, and hunting.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the champagne, which was not spared, began to heat the +brains and +loosen the tongues of even the quieter members of the company, the +young gentleman turned to his neighbor, who had hitherto been a silent +listener, and said in a low tone:</p> + +<p class="normal">"There! I've done my share by dint of friction, in putting +some +enthusiasm into these wooden images and now the champagne must keep it +up. I hope, my dear sir, you don't suppose I enjoy this insipid gabble. +But what would you have? See how my cousin, the count, sits at his own +table with a face like the statue of the Commandant. If I don't +victimize myself and talk nonsense, the supper will be as tiresome and +silent as a funeral feast. So I must introduce subjects that amuse the +gentlemen, even though they may be terribly out of taste. But now let's +renew our acquaintance. Of course you don't remember our meeting a few +years ago in Berlin, at the rooms of one of my intimate friends, young +Baron L., to whom you were acting as private tutor, while he was +preparing to pass his examination for one of the higher government +offices. He's now Secretary of Legation at Constantinople, and I hope +does honor to your teaching. I am still what I was then, a man who +learns nothing in any school, except that of life. There must be such +odd sticks! But I can tell you, I no longer sit quite at the bottom of +the class in my school; for instance, I have long since left behind the +tasks at which our worthy companions are perspiring. You've been +introduced to them all after the ridiculous fashion of murmuring a +name. Allow me to make, you better acquainted with individuals. My left +hand neighbor, who is addressed as Herr Colonel, is, as you've +doubtless already supposed from his prominent cheek bones and peculiar +accent, of Slavonian descent; a Pole of the good old race of Oginsky, +who, <i>as he says</i>, having been compelled through a disagreement with +the Russian authorities, to enter the Austrian service, was promoted in +the Italian war to the rank of colonel; then, <i>as he says</i>, honorably +discharged in consequence of a wound in the foot. He has already stayed +several months with my cousin, as, <i>so he says</i>, a civil office has +been offered him in France, and he's only obliged to wait for his +Polish papers before becoming a naturalized citizen of that country. As +he's an excellent judge of horses, a tolerably good huntsman, and an +adept in all games of chance, my cousin has no reason to doubt the +existence of these papers, and I of course still less. His next +neighbor, the elegant gentleman of uncertain age, uncertain glance, and +very certain doubtful movements of the fingers, which suggest great +skill in tricks with cards, is, to speak frankly, what we call in plain +prose, a blackleg, a Parisian acquaintance of my cousin, whom he +invited here and can't shake off again, much as I've urged him +to do so. But he seems to have his reasons for handling this +Chevalier de Marsan--the only person here with whom I never exchange a +syllable--with gloved hands, while I would show him the door without +ceremony. My dear doctor, there are more doubtful personages between +heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy. A real +antidote to this corrosive sublimate pill, which I am daily compelled +to swallow, is the stout gentleman on the other side of my cousin, a +plebeian owner of an ancient estate, who married the daughter of an +immensely rich banker; his wife never appears among us, probably +because he's ashamed of her manners, which are not exactly suited to a +drawing room; but nevertheless, as you see, he's an excellent man, an +admirable landlord, a great huntsman, and a lover of old wine and old +stories, in short, the most appreciative of auditors for my witticisms. +You've heard how he can laugh. I once made a bet that I could make him +laugh till he rolled under the table, merely by telling stories of +great eaters, and to be sure, at the end of an hour, he lay gasping on +the floor; we were actually afraid of a fit of apoplexy. Beside this +harmless mortal and directly opposite you, sit two no less worthy +specimens of the creatures of God, who, however, can hardly be very +proud of these, his images. Did you ever see two people so exactly +alike? They look as if they'd just stepped out of Pletsch, don't they? +The same short, fair hair, the same low brows, small noses, close +cropped brushes on the upper lip, and solemn faces when everyone else +is roaring with laughter, which proves them very dull of comprehension. +When they stand up, you'll see that both are very tall men. Moreover, +these same brothers, Thaddäus and Matthäus von der Wende are noblemen +of a most ancient family. It's seldom that twins have so much fraternel +affection. Each is perfectly satisfied with half the usual portion of +common sense, and carefully guards against becoming wiser than the +other. We call them the Siamese twins, although they're not united by +means of any corporal bond, and of course there can be no question of +an intellectual one. However, they're rich and well bred and never +annoy anyone. Next comes a short, rather high shouldered gentleman +about fifty, with a white tie and crafty, humble smile, who says +little, eats a great deal, and hears everything. Don't get his ill +will, he's a piece of old family furniture, and was the physician, +confidant, etc., of the late countess; he is called Dr. Basler, and I'd +as readily trust my person to his physic, as my reputation to his +tongue. Beside him sits the steward, who'll join the hunting party +to-morrow and always drinks with us the night before, and the silent +gentleman on your other side is my cousin's private secretary, an +honest, clever soul, but afflicted with an unfortunate hobby. He's +trying to find the secret of perpetual motion. There, now! you know the +people assembled within this ancient house--even to the crown jewel," +he added with a sigh, "which unfortunately disdains to shine except on +gala days."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you speaking of the countess? I knew her several years +ago, before +her marriage."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And have not seen her since? Then you'll not recognize her. I +confess +that upon first sight she made a great impression upon me. I was +prejudiced against the marriage, which I thought was a rash step on the +part of my dear cousin, after the style of his former <i>liaisons</i>. +Unequal marriages always have their difficulties, although of course +I'm sufficiently enlightened not to believe in 'blue blood.' But we see +every day, how uncomfortable it is for people of position to receive +into their circle a worthy little goose who feels 'honored' to live +under the shadow of a pedigree centuries old, or a pretentious heiress, +or any of the ordinary people whom it's all very well to love, but who +are too good or too bad to marry. It's easiest to get along with +actresses, opera singers--or for aught I care, ballet dancers. They at +least possess style, <i>savoir faire</i>, self-possession, and know us well +enough not to think us wholly unlike other human beings. But a ballet +master's daughter from a little provincial town--I didn't hear of the +princely paternity until afterwards--I confess I was furious. I love +this family seat, and have enjoyed spending a few months of every year +here, away from the gayety of the capital. Now, I thought, I should be +compelled to see a <i>roturière</i> do the honors. But after the first +interview my feelings were entirely changed. Whoever her mother may +have been, she at least didn't belie the father's blood. And yet--at +that time she was but in the bud compared to the centifolia into which +she has since expanded. Pardon me if I threaten to become poetical. +Between ourselves--or even not between ourselves, since it's public +talk--my unfortunate passion for my beautiful cousin, which is as +hopeless as if I were in love with the Venus of Milo, has had so great +an influence upon the development of my character, that I can truly say +I'm no more like the man you met at little Baron L's., than an Ionic +column is like a hedge pole."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your poetic fervor, Herr Count, has at least the merit of a +certain +impressiveness of style. But in what consists, if I may ask--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're making sport of me, my honored sir. I still seem to +you a +frivolous nobleman, a child of the world, with whom a grave man of your +stamp can at the utmost only chat away an hour at table. But learn to +know me better. This lady first opened my eyes to the fact that the +real charm of life consists in something forever unattainable, a +yearning that is ever unfulfilled. Are you familiar with Richard +Wagner's music? What I've just said of life he has striven to suggest +in art. For in what does the secret of melody consist? Take Mozart, +Glück, the Italian composers--there everything is complete, every piece +has its beginning, its middle and its end, exactly like ordinary love +affairs. We are allured, we enjoy, and we grow weary--<i>voilà tout</i>, and +if the music or the girl is beautiful, after a time we're again +allured--a new aria, a new ecstacy--and so on indefinitely till the +world tires us and our hair grows grey. This is the usual course of +life and art. But now think of a hopeless passion, such as I've felt +for years. I feel the same that I hear when I listen to Tristram and +Yseult--eternal longing, yearning and sighing, never repose and +satisfaction, a mere analysis of dissonances, and withal a tumult of +ecstacy in all the instruments, in which at last, as in a dream of +love, sight and hearing disappear and we're fairly beside ourselves +with restless longing, infinite melody, and voluptuous exhaustion. This +is the secret of the success this great man has obtained--emotion +increased to the utter exhaustion of all strength and constantly +subduing the poor, coarse senses--appetite continually excited without +being satisfied in the usual way--a sort of pathetic cancan, a musical +hasheesh intoxication. And even in the choice of the text, the moral +qualities of the characters, what consummate art is shown in the +avoidance of everything palpable, simple, and true to nature; +everything of which the ordinary human mind can form some distinct +conception! Take Don Giovanni--there you know exactly where you are. +From the peasant to the nobleman, from the light minded peasant girl to +the noble lady--the characters are perfectly natural, people with flesh +and bones, and red blood in their veins. I know them as well as if I'd +lived in the same house with them. The characters of Wagner's music, on +the contrary--why you might see the same opera ten times and be no whit +wiser about these swan knights, gods, and flying Dutchmen, than at the +first representation. I call this boundless characterization, and it +supplements the boundless melody. And to enjoy such an endless +master-piece, and in the meantime to brood over an endless passion, the +one as hopeless and alluring as the other--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The conversation, which also threatened to become "boundless," +was here +interrupted by the master of the house, who rose, bowed to his guests, +and with a courteous wave of the hand invited them to follow him into +the little drawing room adjoining the dining hall. Here there were +several card tables, a magnificent silver bowl containing punch, +several open boxes of cigars, and other paraphernalia for smoking. +While the count, with the Polish colonel and French chevalier, were +preparing to begin a game of hazard, in which no one else seemed +disposed to join, the fat landed proprietor became absorbed in a +conversation on agriculture with the steward, now and then asking the +silent secretary for his opinion, which the latter always gave with the +same grave bend of the head, often refilling his glass from the silver +bowl. The inseparable brothers Thaddäus and Matthäus had stationed +themselves behind the card players and gravely watched the alternations +of luck. Count Gaston had returned to the dining hall and seated +himself at the piano, evidently in the hope that his neighbor at table +would follow and allow him to give a musical commentary on his +knowledge of art and life. But Edwin was compelled to forego this +instructive pleasure; for the little man with the high shoulders and +clever old face, whom Gaston had introduced as the family physician, +approached him and asked in his low courteous voice, if he was not the +son of one of his college classmates who had suddenly abandoned the +profession of law to marry a very beautiful wife. He had been struck by +the resemblance before he heard the name. When Edwin answered in the +affirmative, the little man became very confidential, and after +inquiring very particularly about his old friend, acquainted the son +with his own circumstances.</p> + +<p class="normal">When a student of theology, somewhat advanced in life, he had +entered +the household to assist in educating the young count, who was then +about six years old. The countess, already a widow, had taken a fancy +to the clever man, who was better versed in every other department than +that of theology--a fancy, which in spite of the tutor's insignificant +appearance, seemed to have ripened into a still warmer feeling. Not a +syllable on the part of the discreet speaker, only a peculiar glance +from his piercing eyes conveyed this inference. As his prospect of +advancement in his real profession became poorer and poorer, an old +predilection for physical science obtained a stronger hold upon his +mind; the idea of going to Berlin occurred to him, and he studied +anatomy there for several years, absorbed all sorts of surgical +knowledge, and at last, as the countess would not consent to dispense +with his services any longer, returned to the castle with the title of +doctor somewhat doubtfully obtained, but a most undoubted salary as +physician-in-ordinary, as his former pupil had left home some time +before to complete his education by foreign travel.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had understood the art of maintaining his position, even +after the +death of his patroness; he had sustained it principally it appeared, by +a marriage with the countess' by no means youthful waiting maid and +<i>confidante</i>. He spoke of this union with a lofty and sarcastic smile, +that like many other things in the clever man, greatly disgusted Edwin. +The gentleman seemed to perceive the impression his confidential +communications were making on his hearer. "My dear Herr Doctor," said +he, "you're still a young man, and have always been independent. You +can scarcely imagine how the habit of accommodating one's self to +others, and not being over rigorous, will in time degrade a man who +originally is by no means a scoundrel. Ah me! when I think of the days +when, with your dead father, I still worked toward our so-called +ideals! Yet he died a bookkeeper, and I've written prescriptions in +which I felt no faith. The longer one lives, the more plainly one +perceives that there are very few mortals so happy as never to be +placed in a false position, and that since it's a man's duty to +preserve his life, there's but a single weakness that dishonors him: to +believe what is false to be true. A pastor who assumes the duties of +his parish a disbeliever in revealed religion, and gradually allows the +voice of reason to grow weaker and ends by accepting the tenets of the +faith he preaches, or a physician who begins the practice of his +profession by disbelief in his own powers and ends by using his salves +and plasters with a look of grave importance not wholly assumed--they +falsify themselves and are utterly contemptible. But he, who in a world +that is only too willing to be cheated, does not befool honest +individuals, but swindles men in the gross, and meantime is ready at +any moment, like the Roman augur, to laugh in unison with other clever +men, seems to me to play his part as a weak mortal very tolerably. +There was a famous Berlin doctor here yesterday, Herr Marquard, who's +perhaps known to you by reputation. He performs on a large scale, what +I practice here on a small one, and the fact of his being more learned +is rather troublesome to him than otherwise, since each individual case +gives him scores of things to reflect upon. But he's a clever man, and +after the first fifteen minutes we no longer tried to impose upon each +other. The gentleman was no more successful with the young countess +than I, but she didn't make him feel her contempt so keenly as she did +my insignificant self. Well, as you see, my back is naturally more bent +than my colleague's. I can take more on my high shoulders."</p> + +<p class="normal">He laughed softly, but seemed surprised when Edwin's only +reply to his +extreme outspokeness was a curt: "Every one is entitled to his own +opinions!" During the doctor's cautiously whispered speech, our friend +had glanced from one member of the company to the other and said to +himself: "These are the people with whose companionship she has been +obliged to be satisfied for four long years!" The thought aroused +within him an unspeakable sense of oppression, sorrow, and indignation. +He took advantage of a pause in the card playing, to approach the +count, and pleading that he was fatigued by his pedestrian tour, to +take leave of him for the night. The count looked at him absently a +moment, as if he were some stranger whose face he could not instantly +recall, then pressed his hand with marked cordiality and apologized for +having enjoyed so little of his society that evening. He hoped to make +up for the loss on the morrow. Then he motioned the butler to show the +guest to his room, and returned to his game, in which fortune, to judge +from the piles of gold before his companions, turned her back on him as +usual.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">The room to which Edwin was conducted, was situated in a wing +of some +considerable length, a modern addition to the old castle, which had +completely destroyed the symmetry of the rear of the edifice. The +windows looked out upon the park, and on the other side a small +staircase led down into the courtyard, which was surrounded by domestic +offices, so that from thence the apartments in this one story wing +could be reached without using the stairs and corridors of the castle.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sun must have found free admittance to Edwin's room all +day, for an +oppressive atmosphere greeted him, which was not improved even after he +had thrown both windows wide open. But under any circumstances, it +would have been long ere he could have attempted to go to sleep. The +events of the day and the anticipation of the morrow quickened his +pulses. He went to the window and gazed out into the garden, where the +lofty jet of a fountain fell into a basin lined with shells. The +windows and balcony of the dining hall projected in softly rounded +lines from the facade, now but dimly illuminated by a moon that was +about to sink below the horizon. The remainder of the edifice lay in +shadow, but in the other wing of the castle two lofty windows in the +second story were brightly lighted. He did not doubt for a moment that +<i>she</i> occupied them. How many evenings he had gazed up at her windows +in Jägerstrasse; now he found her here, once more in the count's rooms, +this time of her own free will, and yet--</p> + +<p class="normal">Voices in the corridor aroused him from the reverie into which +this +comparison had thrown him. The other guests were retiring to their +rooms; Edwin distinctly recognized the different voices as they bade +each other good night, and learned by the uniform double step, that the +brothers Thaddäus and Matthäus occupied the room on his right, while +that on his left was assigned to the fat landed proprietor. His right +hand neighbors were perfectly quiet, and if their thoughts were as much +alike as their faces, they could not have profited by any exchange. The +stout gentleman was more troublesome. After spending half an hour in +undressing, during which he whistled, muttered to himself, and several +times, as if recollecting some story he had heard in the evening, burst +into a roar of laughter, he at last threw himself on his bed so +heavily, that it creakingly threatened to break under the burden, and +almost instantly began to snore so persistently, and in such a variety +of tones, that Edwin, who had been about to undress, renounced all idea +of doing so and determined to spend the night in an arm-chair at the +open window.</p> + +<p class="normal">But even this became at last unendurable, and moreover the +moist breath +of the fountain allured him out into the silent night. He left the room +without his hat and soon descended the little staircase and opened the +door, which he found fastened with only a light bolt.</p> + +<p class="normal">The courtyard lay as silent and deserted in the faint +glimmering +moonlight, as the garden on the opposite side. In order to reach the +latter, he was obliged to pass around the whole wing, the stables, and +the servant's rooms. As he glided by the little windows, he saw a dim +light twinkling in one and involuntarily paused before it. He could +look into a narrow chamber, where a young girl was sleeping, not in her +bed, but on a stool before a low table, with her head leaning against +the wall. A lantern beside her revealed her round, pretty face and +graceful figure. She did not seem to have fallen asleep over her work, +but while waiting for something or some one. The step pausing before +her window roused her. She started up, hastily pushed her hair back +from her forehead, and exclaimed as if still half asleep: "Is it you, +Your Excellency?" Suddenly seeming to distinguish the strange face, she +uttered a low exclamation, and upset the lantern. Then all was still.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin walked on, wondering which of his table companions was +the happy +man expected. But when he passed through the courtyard gate into the +park, all these thoughts vanished, and the magic of the silent night +took complete possession of his senses.</p> + +<p class="normal">He rested for some time on a bench near the fountain, cooling +his hot +brow in the spray that filled the air around him; then walked aimlessly +down the principal avenue, and at last plunged into the more secluded +portions of the park, where only a faint glimmer of moonlight pierced +through the branches of the tall trees. Neatly kept paths ran in +various directions, here and there stood a bench, a summer house, an +umbrella-like tent, all tokens that the wanderer was not in the wild +forest. Even the stream he now found, flowed between low, regularly +formed banks, and was crossed at intervals by small bridges. Edwin +turned into the narrow gravel walk beside the noiseless water, but the +brook suddenly made a wide curve and ran under a high palisade, which +surrounded a pond. At this spot the woods were less dense, and the +stars were mirrored in the smooth surface of the little lake. Edwin +walked around the enclosure, hoping to find an entrance. He thought of +a bath here was tempting, and he saw at the end of the pond, under some +tall shrubbery, a little building that was evidently used for this +purpose. But a small entrance gate, which after some search he at last +found, was securely locked, and he was about to give up his intention +and return to the path, when he perceived a place in the palisade where +the stakes stood so far apart that a deer, in case of necessity, could +pass through. Urged on by his desire to bathe, he endeavored to widen +the hole, and at last with some difficulty, succeeded in forcing his +way through the opening.</p> + +<p class="normal">He now went directly to the little building, but found it +locked. The +shore here, which was overgrown with bushes and marshy plants, was not +suitable for bathing, but the opposite side, where a meadow sloped +gently down to the water, seemed very well adapted to the purpose, and +he bent his steps toward it. A feeling of strange delight stole over +him, as he walked on through the soft night air, beside the still, dark +water, from which no sound was heard save the melancholy croaking of a +frog. A few tall trees stood at the end of the little lake, and some +low bushes clustered around their roots. He determined to undress +behind this natural screen.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he had not even commenced, when he saw on the opposite +shore dark +figures approaching along the path by which he himself had come. As +they neared the palisade, he also heard low voices, which grew more +audible as they reached the little gate. Directly after a key rattled +in the lock, and he saw two muffled figures enter the enclosure, which +was lighted by the moonbeams--female figures wrapped in long black +cloaks with hoods--who, after securing the gate behind them, turned +toward the little bathing house.</p> + +<p class="normal">He fairly gasped for breath, and began to consider whether he +should +have time and opportunity to retreat unobserved through the opening in +the fence. But this seemed to be a dangerous venture. From the spot +where he stood, to the low bushes that grew along the enclosure, +there was not a tree or shrub to conceal him. And if he should be +discovered--in what a light would his nocturnal entrance into this +carefully guarded precinct appear!</p> + +<p class="normal">But before he could think of any other expedient, all time for +reflection was over. The door of the bathing house was opened and a +slender white figure, whose unbound hair fell over her arms and +shoulders, appeared on the upper step of the little flight of stairs +that led into the lake. She raised her head and looked up for a moment +toward the night sky, which had become slightly overcast, then let the +bathing cloak wrapped around her fall, and stooped to the water to wet +her forehead and breast, the next instant she sprang down the steps, +disappeared a few seconds and then, shaking her dripping locks, rose to +the surface.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her companion appeared at the doorway and called out to her, +Edwin +could not distinguish her words but the bather replied in a smothered +voice. Then both were silent. The swimmer divided the water with long, +steady strokes, at intervals raising her head and shoulders above the +surface to shake back the thick hair from her brow. Her face looked +dazzling white in the dim light of the setting moon, but the middle of +the pond, to which she had swum, was too far from the trees on the +meadow, for any one standing there to obtain a distinct view of her +features. Thus the mysterious nixie swam up and down the lake ten or +twelve times, in the profoundest silence. Her companion had retired to +the little house, and none but she seemed to be breathing in the forest +solitude. Not a zephyr stirred the surface of the pond, not a leaf fell +from the trees; the croaking of the frog had ceased; only at intervals, +when the swimmer made a quick turn the water rippled audibly and the +rushes along the shore swayed to and fro.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last she seemed to grow weary, and lying on her back, +floated for a +time in a circle, so that only a little of the pale face appeared above +the water. While so doing she came so near the shore, that the watcher +behind the boughs could see the delicate white outline of the profile +relieved against the dark water, and distinctly perceived how the eyes, +raised quietly toward the night heavens, flashed with a peculiar light.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had not doubted from the first moment the identity of the +swimmer, +and his heart leaped into his throat, as he recognized again the never +to be forgotten face.</p> + +<p class="normal">Finally as if the lake wished to draw the motionless figure +down into +its depths, the head sank lower and lower in the noiseless waves, as if +resting on the softest pillows. At last the water rushed and whirled +around the sinking form; she hastily turned and with powerful strokes +swam back toward the steps.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her companion was waiting, holding in her hands a large white +linen +cloak, which she threw over the swimmer as she ascended the stairs. The +next moment both disappeared within the little house. The door, it is +true, remained half open, but in the darkness it was impossible to +distinguish anything within.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ten minutes more elapsed, then the two muffled figures again +appeared +and proceeding to the gate of the enclosure, opened it, relocked it, +and then retired along the foot path by which they had come.</p> + +<p class="normal">A long time passed ere the secret witness of this scene left +the spot +through the hole in the enclosure of the pond. As soon as he found +himself alone, he had instantly plunged into the waves, but it scarcely +calmed the strange tumult in his blood. As the rising night-wind now +tossed his wet hair and blew against his breast, it seemed as if +instead of cooling him, it was trying to fan the glimmering sparks in +the ashes of his memory.</p> + +<p class="normal">He started at the thought and involuntarily paused, as +something warned +him not to return to the castle. "No," he said to himself, "that would +be too cowardly, too pitiful. Four years, four such happy years--could +I again be the old defenceless fool? And all for a pair of white arms +and two nixie eyes? What power would man have over his own soul if the +forces of nature could never be successfully battled against? No, brave +heart, we will not evade the struggle."</p> + +<p class="normal">He returned to the courtyard gate, after a long stroll in the +park, +which had thoroughly exhausted him. It was about two o'clock in the +morning; the light in the countess' rooms was extinguished. Just as he +was about to enter, he saw a man step cautiously out of the door of the +room where the young girl slept and linger on the threshold a moment, +as if to bid some one farewell. The doorway was in the shadow and the +moon had set, yet as the late visitor now hurried past the buildings +with elastic steps and then cautiously groped his way to the wing, +Edwin distinctly recognized young Count Gaston; so the "endless +yearning" which ennobled him, did not seem to prevent him from +condescending to adventures which <i>had</i> a beginning, a middle, and an +end.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">The noise Edwin's next neighbor, the fat landed proprietor, +made in +preparing for the hunt, roused our friend early the next morning from a +sound sleep. He was obliged to reflect a moment to remember where he +was, and that the events of the previous day had not been mere dreams; +then he hastily threw on his clothes and followed the servant who came +to ask if he could be of any assistance, into the great hall on the +ground floor, where the breakfast table was laid.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was about seven o'clock; the day was dull and cloudy, and a +damp +wind indicated rain. But the cheerful bustle in the courtyard, the +noise of horses and dogs, the shouts and exclamations of huntsmen and +servants prevented any feeling of depression from seizing the guests. +Besides the remainder of the company who gradually assembled in the +hall, congratulated each other on the excellent hunting weather which +had mitigated the heat of the preceding day. The chevalier alone begged +to be excused from taking any share in the day's entertainment. "The +only hunting he likes," whispered Count Gaston to Edwin, "is the +pursuit of yellow gold."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Polish colonel, on the contrary, was full of sportsmanlike +enthusiasm, and related with the utmost seriousness, incredible +stories, at which the fat landed proprietor burst into roars of +laughter; but the brothers von der Wende did not seem any wider awake +in the morning, than they had appeared the preceding evening.</p> + +<p class="normal">Neither the little doctor, nor any of the other household +officers +appeared; but to make amends a plain old man with thin parchment-like +features and calm grey eyes arrived, and joined the gentlemen but +without sharing in the breakfast. Gaston introduced him to Edwin as the +head ranger. A slight curl of the corners of the mouth under the heavy +yellow moustache, told our friend what a correct estimation of himself +as an amateur sportsman, had been formed by this old master of the +noble game.</p> + +<p class="normal">Their host appeared at last, greeted every one with +monosyllabic +cordiality, and then approached the stranger.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you, Herr Doctor," said he, "for giving me the +pleasure of +your company on our hunt, though you told me yesterday you were no +sportsman. You've only to say whether you'll accompany us on horseback, +or whether you prefer to drive in a light carriage over the beautiful +road that leads through the forest to the ranger's house, which is the +general <i>rendezvous</i> and where, after the hunt is over, lunch will be +served."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unless you happen to have in your stable a descendant of +Gellert's +grey, I must decide in favor of the carriage," replied Edwin smiling. +The count nodded carelessly, leaving it uncertain whether his knowledge +of horses extended back so far, and gave an order to the groom. He +seemed even more absent minded and gloomy than on the evening before, +busied himself in adjusting his hunting suit, and from time to time +glanced at his watch. "It's getting late," he said to the head ranger, +who had risen and was quietly awaiting his master's orders. "The +countess doesn't usually keep us waiting."</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment the butler appeared at the door, and said: "Her +ladyship +is descending."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Eh bien</i>, gentlemen, if you please, we'll set out, and good +luck to +our sport."</p> + +<p class="normal">He hastily led the way into the ante-room, followed by the +rest of the +company. In spite of the cloudy morning, the staircase was light enough +to make it easy to distinguish faces, even on the landing above. Edwin +was the last who entered the hall; he trembled and was forced to pause +on the threshold and close his eyes; everything was whirling around +him. When he opened them again, he saw a slender female figure +descending the broad marble steps, holding the train of her green +velvet dress under her left arm, and resting her right hand lightly on +the banister. Count Gaston was walking beside her, and a huntsman, +holding his plumed hat in his hand, followed. She wore a little green +velvet cap with a long grey veil, and her hair was simply dressed in +wide braids. All this Edwin could observe at leisure, as she was +talking to her companion and thus kept her head averted. She now +reached the lower landing and with a graceful movement turned toward +her husband, who welcomed her with knightly courtesy. She nodded a good +morning to him and her face was quite devoid of expression as she +raised her hand to her hunting cap to salute the rest of the party. At +this moment her foot caught in the folds of her riding habit, she +stumbled, turned pale, and with a gesture of alarm and a half +suppressed cry fell back into the arms of Gaston and the huntsman, who +had hastily sprung forward.</p> + +<p class="normal">She could not have hurt herself seriously, yet it was at least +five +minutes, ere, with the assistance of the two men, she again stood +erect, with a face whose ghostly pallor seemed scarcely warranted by +the little fright she had had. The other guests had rushed up to offer +their very unnecessary services, and Edwin and the head ranger alone +remained in their former places.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's nothing," they now heard the countess say. "I slipped +and grew +dizzy for a moment. I thank you, gentlemen."</p> + +<p class="normal">She bowed with a winning smile to the company and then, +leaning on +Gaston's arm, slowly descended the rest of the stairs. When they +approached the main entrance to the castle, beside which Edwin was +standing, she started as if she could not believe her eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have the pleasure of presenting to you an old acquaintance, +my dear +wife," said the count--"the Herr Doctor Edwin, who has been our guest +since yesterday; an accidental meeting at the railway station--he's +taking a little pedestrian tour--I knew it would give you pleasure."</p> + +<p class="normal">She did not answer immediately; her eyes were fixed upon Edwin +but her +expression was undefinable. "Is it really you?" she said at last, +suddenly recalling her self-control. "It's delightful to see you again. +I thank you," she continued turning to her husband. "But why did you +wait until today--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was late in the evening when we arrived. You don't usually +appear +at that hour."</p> + +<p class="normal">"True," she answered with an absent smile. "However, I might +perhaps +have made an exception for the sake of an old acquaintance. You're very +welcome, Herr Doctor, I hope you'll remain our guest for some time."</p> + +<p class="normal">She had removed her glove and now held out her hand to Edwin, +who, +stammering a few incoherent words, pressed his lips upon it in great +embarrassment. Then she turned to the other gentlemen, addressing a few +courteous words to each. It was impossible to discover whether the +sight of her old friend had made any deep impression upon her. But +Edwin couldn't take his eyes from her face. When Count Gaston passed +him and whispered: "Well? Did I say too much?" his only answer was a +forced smile. He was ashamed of himself when he thought how stiff and +ill at ease he must appear, not to others but in her eyes. But there +seemed to be a spell upon him.</p> + +<p class="normal">She had walked out to the flight of steps which led down into +the +courtyard, where the head groom was holding the bridle of a beautiful +English horse which wore a lady's saddle. When it saw its mistress +approaching, it turned its head toward her with a joyful neigh and +impatiently pawed the ground. The countess paused a moment, patted the +animal's neck and let it take a piece of sugar out of her hand. Then +she prepared to mount, but when her foot was already in the stirrup, +she drew back again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I see I can't ride to-day," she said carelessly. "My foot is +still +lame from the mis-step I made."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If that's the case," replied the count, "don't tax it. The +stag will +lead us a long distance to-day; it's the old one we chased last year, +but which finally escaped. I've ordered the hunting carriage for the +Herr Doctor. Perhaps it will be pleasant for you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," she carelessly interrupted, without looking at +Edwin. "We +can drive to the ranger's house together. I'll take Jean with me."</p> + +<p class="normal">The lad, evidently proud of this preference, stepped forward +from the +crowd of footmen, hurried toward the carriage, which stood a little +apart, behind the saddle horses and hounds, sprang on the box, and +taking the reins drove skillfully through the groups of huntsmen and +idle grooms to the steps.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shall witness my skill as a charioteer," said the +countess in a +jesting tone to Edwin, who had hastily approached. "Don't be afraid; I +know how responsible science would hold me if I should upset one of her +votaries." Then she entered the carriage and took the reins and whip; +Edwin followed her, and urging on the beautiful animals she guided the +light carriage through the gate of the courtyard into the wide forest +avenue.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her attention seemed to be entirely occupied with the horses; +for the +first ten minutes at least she did not turn her eyes away from them or +utter a word. "How beautiful this forest is," said Edwin at last. She +smiled and then nodded gravely, but was still silent. She evidently had +not heard what he said. So he had plenty of leisure to watch her, and +was compelled to acknowledge that her beauty had really gained some +mysterious charm. The face was longer, the nose seemed to have +lengthened and the eyes to have grown larger and darker, but her smile +was no longer the same. It was not that strangely wearied sad smile, +that appears when we are too proud to show we have cause to weep, but +something far more mournful; a strange, fierce, implacable expression +hovered around the lips, the expression that a face might wear after a +heavy life storm in which every hope has perished, or when madness is +approaching. Edwin was overwhelmed with an emotion of such deep sorrow, +that after his fruitless attempt to break the ice, he remained +perfectly silent. The air was still and oppressive, a few solitary +drops fell, but there was no steady rain; not a bird moved in the +forest, no human being met them; only from the distance they +occasionally heard sounds from the hunting party, the barking of a dog +and the thud of horses' hoofs, which at last died away in the forest.</p> + +<p class="normal">The road led through the village at the foot of the mountain. +Peasant +women with their children stood in the doorways as they passed, and +eagerly greeted the young countess. A very young woman with a baby +stepped directly before them. Toinette stopped a moment, lifted the +rosy-cheeked little creature into the carriage, kissed it and asked the +mother various questions concerning it. When she gave it back to her +again, a crowd of village children had collected, who all held out +their little hands and cried good morning. The countess gave the oldest +a handful of shining silver. "You must divide it, Hans," said she. +"Give something to each. But you must be good and go to school +regularly." The mothers came forward and thanked her in the name of the +little people. The next moment the horses moved forward again, and they +left the village behind them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They love you very dearly here," said Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can't help it," she replied. "It's easy to seem like a +divinity to +these poor people, if we merely treat them kindly. But if the gods have +no other happiness than that of being idolized, they're really not to +be envied."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then they were both silent again. They had left the wide +highway and +turned into a narrower road, where the carriage rolled noiselessly over +the soft earth. Meantime the sky had grown darker, and a fine warm +summer rain was beginning to sprinkle their faces. Suddenly Toinette +stopped the horses.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If it will be agreeable to you," said she, "let's get out and +walk a +little way on foot. We shall reach the ranger's house too early even +then."</p> + +<p class="normal">He sprang out and offered her his arm, which she only touched +with the +tips of her fingers. Jean, who was holding the reins, asked if the +countess would like an umbrella. "Why?" she asked. "It's scarcely +raining at all. Or yes, take it out of the case, the Herr Doctor will +be kind enough to open it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"May I offer you my arm, Countess?" said Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">Again she did not seem to hear him, but stood gazing into the +dark, +silent forest, as if lost in thought. Then she shook back her +hair--Edwin involuntarily thought of the scene in the park the night +before--and took his arm. "Come," she said quietly. "Open the umbrella. +Doesn't this remind you of something? Haven't we walked together in the +rain before? To be sure, it was a long time ago, a whole life lies +between. Don't you think I have altered very much?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly. You've accomplished the seemingly impossible; you +have +become yet more beautiful."</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked at him quietly, almost sternly. "Promise me not to +say such +a thing again. It doesn't become you, and it wounds me. And don't +address me as 'countess.' I don't know whether I can still venture to +call you 'dear friend' as in old times; but I shouldn't like to have +you treat me precisely the same as an ordinary acquaintance. No, I've +grown old, much older than you suppose, so old that I often think I've +outlived myself, and you must perceive that too. But we won't talk +about that. Only tell me, why did you come here? I knew you would come +sometime; If I'd not been sure of it, who knows whether I should still +be alive! And yet it took me by surprise; for I could never imagine +what was to bring you to me again, after all that--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She hesitated. He frankly told her of his interview with +Marquard, and +that his old interest in her had been vividly awakened by the news that +she was only separated from him by a two hours' drive.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," she said as if to herself, "that was not it, you +don't tell +me all. But as you please; I am weaned from wishing to know things that +are concealed from me. They're rarely pleasant. The more we get to the +bottom of people and things, the uglier they seem to us. Enough, you're +here, and I'm delighted to see you again, though at first I was as much +startled as if your ghost had appeared. More than once--on lonely walks +and in large assemblies--I've fancied I saw you just as you stood in +the hall below me, but it was only a freak of memory. You've not +changed in the least. If I could only forget these four years a moment, +I could fancy we were again walking beside the carp pond and I was +telling you Toinette Marchand's story. Those were pleasant times." Then +suddenly adopting a totally different tone, she continued:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I heard you were married. Your wife was one of your old +pupils. Have +you any children? No? That's a pity. Although, if nothing else is +wanting--! Tell me about your wife. But no, what can be learned from a +description? one can merely mention traits of character. One's real +nature is indescribable. You must bring her to me some day, will you?" +He nodded silently; but he knew that he should never do so.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've had a child and lost it," he said after a pause. "How +much you +must have suffered!" She suddenly stopped and let his arm fall.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>More than any human being suspects!</i>" she said with great +emphasis, +laying a stress upon every syllable. "Let's say nothing about it. And +yet, why may I not speak of it to you, the only person I know who can +even understand what that anguish was, and also the only one who will +not be cruel enough to say: 'it served you right,' and you would have +more reason to say so than any other human being!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She cast a backward glance toward the carriage, which was +moving slowly +along about twenty paces behind them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Please shut the umbrella," she said in a low tone. "I'm so +warm, the +damp air does me good. Dear friend, how often I've wished to be able to +talk with you so. I thought everything would then be easier. Although +in my hardest trials I should not have been able to show myself, even +to you, exactly as I was. I did not like to confess the truth to +myself; I dreaded to look in the glass, as if it were written on my +brow and I must die of shame if I read it. Now--when everything is +past--even the guilt, which I could not help--I only think of it all as +a great misfortune, the greatest that can befal a woman. You said I +must have suffered deeply when the child died. What will you think of +me, when I tell you--that I suffered as long as it lived, and ceased to +suffer when I lost it!</p> + +<p class="normal">"It sounds horrible, does it not? And yet it is literally +true. You'll +think me an unnatural mother, and you're right. But can I help it, that +I was born with this unnatural disposition, that everything which makes +others happy becomes a torture to me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're silent, dear friend. But what could you say? We should +draw a +veil over that which is contrary to nature, and turn away. You were +also silent, in the olden time when I informed you through Balder, why +I must unfortunately live my life an exceptional creature; an unhappy +variety of the species. At first your silence wounded me deeply; I +thought, a friend ought not to make us suffer so keenly for what is not +our fault. Afterwards I saw that you were right to act as the heavenly +powers:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-6px">"'Then leave him to his punishment,<br> +Vengeance for ev'ry earthly sin is sent.'</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">"You remember the reading? 'the sins of the parents upon the +children +unto the third and fourth generations'?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He stood still. "I don't understand a single word you're +saying, my +dear friend. What? You sent by Balder--but do you not know that the +conversation he had with you, or rather with the count, was the last +that he ever held? And you told him--what? What, for God's sake?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He had seized her hand and pressed it violently. "Toinette, +speak, tell +me all. What is done and cannot be undone will at least be more +endurable if it is purged of all which the rude hand of malicious +chance may have mingled with it. You've misunderstood me; I now learn +this for the first time, and I have also misunderstood you. Speak, +speak--what thread did death sever, that would have guided us out of +the labyrinth into the right path?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She shook her head. "Who knows? even if my message had reached +you, you +would not have solved the problem! Of what use would it be? Can a heart +incapable of love become more lovable if you learn that it has very +natural reasons for being contrary to nature? A whim, a fit of +obstinacy, a childish caprice--a refractory character like Katharine +the shrew is not hopeless, since we need not once for all make a cross +against it and go our way. But the child of a forced love, the fruit of +a girl's bartered life--what can be hoped for, what aid can avail in +such a case?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And this--this is what I should have learned if my poor +Balder had +survived that day. Oh! eternal Gods!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes indeed," she nodded with a bitter smile. "I thought you +would have +taken pity on the poor monster and have borne with her for a time. I +hoped so for three days. Then, as I said, I thought: 'he's right'--and +came here with the old countess."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Horrible!" he exclaimed, wiping his brow, on which drops of +cold +perspiration were standing. "And so I--none other than myself--blind +and unsuspecting as I was--and your letter, which I did not +understand--the three days respite--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Calm yourself, my friend. It's not your fault; the threads of +fate +were too delicately spun. Even if you had come, who knows whether I +might not still be here? True, if I had known then, what I know now--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, Toinette, what!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She hesitated a moment, then with closed eyes and her delicate +brows +contracted in an expression almost threatening in its sternness, said +slowly and softly: "That my womanly nature would some day awake, that +the hour would come when, like every other lonely creature I should +long for a happy love--and that I then should belong to a man, of whom +my soul knows nothing, and who would force me to drain to the dregs the +sorrowful cup that broke my mother's heart!" She sank down upon a moss +covered stone beside the road, and buried her face in her hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin stood before her; he did not feel the rain, which now +began to +fall in heavy drops, did not pick up her gloves, which had slipped from +her lap and lay on the wet ground; he made no reply to little Jean's +question whether he should close the carriage, except to wave the +intruder away with his hand. All his thoughts were absorbed in the one +emotion of pity he felt for the woman once so deeply loved, who across +the gulf of years had suddenly once more approached so near him, as if +naught had even come between them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My poor dear friend," he faltered at last, "be calm, compose +yourself, +you're no longer alone. I am here, I--" His voice died away. How false +and powerless was everything he could say. Toinette suddenly rose, +shook back her hair, as we do when reminded that we must hold up our +heads, and said with a forced smile:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe we're getting wet. The little discomforts of life +have their +use; they cause annoyance and compel a division even in the midst of +great sorrow. Give me your arm again, and open the umbrella. Ten paces +farther on is a beech wood, where the foliage is so thick that we might +quietly await a deluge. To be sure, my velvet dress is ruined, and I'm +not yet 'duchess' enough not to regret it. However, it can be replaced. +If there were nothing else--but come, come, you're standing as still as +a statue."</p> + +<p class="normal">He mechanically obeyed, surprised at the sudden change in her +expression, and they walked on a short distance farther. "Yes, indeed," +she said as if to herself, "in other things too, I might take my +present equals in rank for a pattern. It's very bad style to have any +feelings at all, especially to speak of them, and to trouble old +friends with them. But you must be lenient. I exhausted these +aristocratic expedients long ago; pride is a weapon, but a two edged +sword, as it were, a shield that pierces the arm with its sharp edges. +Now my heart, which is not thoroughly aristocratic, has run away with +me again. And for what do we have friends, except to abuse them? But +we'll be sensible and talk of more cheerful things. Your friend +Marquard, for instance, what do you really think of him? He has such +contradictory traits of character, that he resembles people with one +blue and one black eye, we never know which is of the right color. So +he too in the same moment is grave and frivolous, honest and not to be +trusted. A singular combination."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin made no reply, he did not seem to have heard what she +said. After +a long pause, during which he had gazed intently into vacancy, he +suddenly exclaimed: "And the child--your child? If your womanly nature +awoke too late, were you not a mother soon enough to at least find +consolation in that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! my friend," she replied, relapsing into her former tone, +"these +are strange, sad mysteries. This child--I might perhaps have been able +to reconcile myself to the way in which I became its mother, but +unfortunately it looked so much like its father that it reminded me +with a thrill of horror, at what a price I had obtained it. Pray spare +me the memory of the time when, each day, I asked myself whether I +could endure to remain longer in this world! There are mothers who care +little for their children and would rather dance or flirt, than be +troubled with the charge of them. I--with my freshly aroused need of +loving, of pressing something close to my heart--rose every day with +the resolve to live only for the child; but when I approached its +cradle and saw its delicate, cold, aristocratic little face, with the +eyelids often half closed like its father's--I could not overcome my +repugnance, could not hug and kiss it, rejoice in its innocent voice +and baby ways. I sat beside it as if petrified, and it seemed as if I +could read my doom in its features, as if the silent little mouth said: +'Mother; why have you done this, why have you sold yourself, profaned +yourself without love? Now I shall atone for your sin, as you did for +that of your mother, who at least did not commit it of her own free +will.' And then, when it died, and I saw it lying before me in the +coffin, with the haughty pale little lips distorted, the eyes so +pitifully sunken--oh! my friend, it was strange that I did not fall +lifeless beside it. Do you know how terrible it is, when a dead body +seems to say: 'I've died to make room for you, we two cannot exist and +breathe the same air?' No more! Oh! it drives me mad--even now, when I +think of it for a single moment."</p> + +<p class="normal">He felt how wearily she tottered on by his side, leaning +heavily on his +arm; for a moment it seemed as if she were unable to stand erect; her +eyes closed, and her lips parted like one fainting. But the emotion +soon passed away. She drew a long breath, paused and looked at him with +a calm but sorrowful face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No doubt you remember," she began, "how on our excursion to +Charlottenburg we were engaged in a similar grave conversation, and how +I, in my inexperience, said it would not be difficult for a person to +give up the business of life, if he could not pay his expenses or +became totally bankrupt? You almost agreed, but adopted a different +phraseology and replied: 'that when we could neither be useful nor give +pleasure to ourselves or others, we might be permitted to leave our +post.' Well, I've advanced successfully so far that, without boasting, +I may be permitted to include myself among these chosen few. I could +leave a legacy to the village children, the only persons to whom I can +sometimes give pleasure, and the others who would perhaps miss me for +three days after the last honors were paid to my remains, must become +accustomed to it. But you see, dear friend, the most annoying part of +misfortune is, that it makes even a brave soul weak and womanish. Day +follows day, each adds its own contribution to the burden we bear, our +shoulders grow hard, and the heart becomes callous. How often I've +thought of Hamlet's soliloquy. But though he studied philosophy at +Wittenberg, and I've only received a few lessons from you--I know +better than he how the 'native hue of resolution is sicklied o'er with +the pale cast of thought.' It's 'just the fear of something after +death;' what makes us cowardly, is the fear that the most delightful +portion of the feast of life will come after we have left the hall to +sleep away all weariness and sorrow. Perhaps it is childish, but I +never rise in the morning without hoping for some unexpected event that +might deliver me. There are countless pleasures on earth--am I the only +person to whom none are allotted? Must I alone never say--now I can die +in peace, for I know why I have lived?' Well to-day I'm glad that I +didn't lose patience, but lived on, though every evening found the hope +of the morning withered and dead. To-day I rose with a heavier heart +than ever, and only determined to join the hunting party because I said +to myself: 'sometime your horse will have more sense than you have +courage, and will throw you off and break your neck.' And then I saw +you--or your ghost, as I at first thought--standing among the people +who have acted as mutes in the farce of my life; then I at last felt +that for which I have always longed, a joy, a great, strong, real +joy--only at first it was too strong and overcame me. I'm entirely out +of practice in being happy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My poor friend," paid Edwin deeply agitated, "you will, you +must get +into practice again. How happy I should be, if I could only succeed in +reconciling you to your life? True, I'm still too much of a stranger +here to fully understand the circumstances in which you are placed; but +my short acquaintance with your husband has disclosed nothing which +should make your estrangement irreconcilable. You know, and even the +greatest stranger must see, what a deep grief it is to him that he has +lost you, though you are his wife. He seems--whatever else he may +lack--to be a gentleman, whom only the false and shallow education of +his class has prevented from making something more of himself. I should +think, if you only desired it that for a fond glance, a kind word from +you he would do the most unprecedented things. Can you blame him for +surrounding himself with such society, if you deny him yours? Perhaps +the very bitterness that has come between you, has served to sink him +into a still lower depth. Now you've only to give him your little +finger, and I think you could lead him a long distance up the heights, +so high that these 'mutes' could not climb after you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you in earnest?" she asked looking quietly at him. "But +why +shouldn't you believe all this. You've not lived with this man. Did I +know, myself, four years ago, that nothing is more hopeless than what +you call a gentleman? To be sure, in your sense, as you and your +friends are--where the inability to do anything unworthy arises from +your nature and the honest desire not to mar humanity--! But where the +point in question is only not to offend his consciousness of rank--oh! +my dear friend, I could tell you something that would arouse your +indignation, and yet to do it was not derogatory to the honor of a +certain 'gentleman.' No, no, it's very noble in you to persuade me to +do what is kind, but I'm very sorry I can make no use of your good +advice. When the hand has been cut off, you can't heal the stump with a +blister. That cut has severed the joint. Such a mutilated relation--"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment they heard the beat of a horse's hoofs on the +forest +road behind them, and, looked back to distinguish the rider, who was +approaching at a rapid trot. "Who's that!" said Toinette, "the doctor? +I'll wager he's following us, because he'll have no rest till he +discovers on what terms we stand toward each other. He's no gentleman, +and has never made any pretensions to being one. His highest idea, his +ambition, and his god, is prudence, which, of course, turns around no +other point than his own miserable advantage. He instantly sees the +weakest side of every man just as in his capacity of doctor, he +searches for the seat of disease, and treats him accordingly. Of course +he hates me; for physically I'm in such perfect health, that his skill +is lost upon me, and whatever else I lack, is inaccessible to his +diagnosis, while he knows I see through him. Beware of him. Even his +frankness is only cunning calculation. Well, Doctor," she called to the +approaching horseman, "have you decided to join the hunt after all? +You'll just be in at the death."</p> + +<p class="normal">The rider, with a powerful hand, checked his steaming horse +directly +before the countess and respectfully raising his oddly shaped +broad-brimmed hat, answered: "Her Excellency is fond of joking. I'm +known to have an aversion to the shedding of blood, except in my trade. +My motive for riding my brown horse out of breath is a diplomatic +mission, on which no one but myself sent me, but which, as a loyal +servant to my employers, I must discharge."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To the point. Doctor, to the point! You're interrupting a +very +interesting conversation. So--?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I almost regret having undertaken the mission," replied +the +little man with an imperceptible expression of sarcastic mischief +hovering around his withered lips. "Their Highnesses the Prince and +Princess, with a train of followers of high and low degree, arrived an +hour ago on their way to Italy, whither His Highness Prince Batároff +accompanies them. They greatly regretted not finding the family at home +but as they intend to spend the night at the castle, strictly forbade +that any messenger should be sent to the ranger's house to announce +their arrival. The princess instantly retired to the room she occupied +on her previous visits, and the distinguished gentlemen will amuse +themselves by shooting at a target, as they're too tired to follow the +hunt. I thought therefore the countess might perhaps desire to receive +the news at once. If I was mistaken, it's the same as if I'd said +nothing. No one at the castle knows what road I took."</p> + +<p class="normal">A slight shadow had darkened Toinette's beautiful face. "Why +to-day!" +she murmured to herself, then with a slight bend of her head to the +officious messenger, she added aloud: "Very well, Doctor, I thank you. +Ride on to the ranger's house, but let your horse have time to breathe. +It's not at all necessary for you to overtake the hunting party, until +the gentlemen have had time to breakfast quietly; do you understand? +With me, of course, it's rather a different matter. I shall return +immediately. Adieu, Doctor. You've again shown what a diplomat is lost +in you; perhaps Prince Batároff can help you to a career in Russia. +I'll recommend you to him."</p> + +<p class="normal">The little gentleman bowed with a constrained smile, evidently +not +feeling exactly flattered, as he probably detected an under current of +meaning in the words, then for the first time greeted Edwin with a wave +of the hand, and, as his horse was already moving forward, drew his hat +again over his high forehead, which despite the rain, he had bared.</p> + +<p class="normal">The countess stood a moment lost in thought. Not until the +doctor, +whose horse had proceeded on a walk, had ridden a long distance into +the forest, did she suddenly look up. "Yes," she said, "we're still +here!" Then turning to Edwin with a bitter smile: "do you see how +difficult it is for me to get into practice in the art of being happy? +I'm not even allowed half a day with an old friend. Perhaps it's best +not to accustom myself again to a kindly voice. My aristocratic +sister-in-law--but you are not yet aware that the prince is my brother; +I mean my father's son, though of course that is a profound family +secret, which however everybody knows. I'm very fond of this brother, +and on closer acquaintance confess I felt ashamed of the by no means +flattering description I gave you of my princely admirer. You'll see +that he's a thoroughly manly gentleman; dear me, he might become still +more, but the cares of government his little wife imposes upon him, +give him no time. I ought to say nothing about this phœnix, but put +you to the test at once, though to be sure if she only stays one day, +she'll bewitch you and give no time for the disenchantment which would +surely ensue in the following twenty-four hours. Her character consists +in having none at all and in knowing the fact; therefore every day she +tries, with great expenditure of theatrical talent, to support a +totally different <i>rôle</i>; to-day the artless, to-morrow the +sentimental, the day after the heroic, always in every character a +lovely little princess, spoiled by happiness and the world. My poor +brother, who has some of my taste for the genuine, not only in luxury +but in his intercourse with society, of course doesn't like these +continual changes and deceptive appearances, and would even be unhappy +if the charming fair-haired little juggler hadn't made him madly in +love with her. Besides, there's yet another bond between them: in their +leisure hours, between dinner and the theatre, both study theology. +Nothing is more comical than to hear this child, amid the usual prattle +of the drawing room, uttering long perorations about Calvinism and the +guardianship of the Lord. You must broach the subject, it's worth the +trouble. She's given me up, after long efforts at conversion. I made no +secret of my godlessness and afterwards regretted it. How is she to +understand why I repel with loathing and horror the thought that all I +suffer is the work of an omniscient, omnipotent, and yet all merciful +Father? If the elements of my nature, which debar me from happiness, +have been found and united by a great blind dispensation of the course +of the world, and I must go to ruin under this evil combination--it's a +disagreeable, but not an unendurable thought. But a God-father, who, +<i>de coeur leger</i>, or out of pedagogical wisdom, makes an unhappy +creature like me wander about so sadly between heaven and earth, that +he may afterwards, to make up for lost time, allow me some +gratification in eternity--no, dear friend, all the aristocratic and +plebeian theology in the world can't make this theory plausible to me. +But come, we'll get into the carriage; I mustn't keep my guests +waiting. The prohibition to inform us, was of course only a pretense. +If we didn't come, they'd be very much vexed, as they would not believe +any well trained servants would heed such a command."</p> + +<p class="normal">With these words, she walked rapidly toward the carriage, +which Jean +had already turned, and without waiting for Edwin's assistance, sprang +lightly in. The latter remained standing beside the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't be angry with me, dearest friend," he said in a voice +trembling +with emotion, "but I feel utterly unable to return with you now, to see +strangers and unite in the light conversation of general society. Allow +me to take leave of you for a few hours. It's an old uncivil habit, +that only in complete solitude can I hear what my poor soul says to me +on some occasions. The forest is so beautiful, and the rain has ceased; +I'll wander hap-hazard through the thickets. This evening at any rate +I'll be with you, in case you need me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll impose no restrictions upon your liberty," replied the +beautiful +woman, without turning her eyes from her horses' heads. "You're right +to avoid what's contrary to your nature and happy in being able to do +so! But you'll compensate me for these lost hours to-morrow--day after +to-morrow--the whole week. No; no objections! You want to restore me to +the old habit of being happy, and it will not be done so very quickly. +I've forgotten too much. Adieu, dear friend,--until this evening!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She cracked the whip Jean had handed to her, the tall lad in +the green +and silver livery sprang into the back seat, and away dashed the light +carriage, as if the horses wished to doubly indemnify themselves for +the unwelcome rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin stood still a long time watching the flutter of +Toinette's grey +veil, then with a heavy sigh, turned away and plunged into the network +of paths leading from the high road.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">So deep a silence reigned here, that when he paused, he +fancied he +could hear the sap rising through the trunks of the trees. The wind, +which had brought the rain, had changed, the brightest summer sky +arched over the cool forest. From the thicket of pines, a narrow path +wound through large tracts of hilly beech woods, past which the hunt +had rushed at so great a distance that the deer and hares had not been +startled from their repose, and let the lonely pedestrian pass by with +more curiosity than fear. But he scarcely disturbed them by a glance; +his gaze was turned inward; he was questioning his own heart, yesterday +so peaceful, and now agitated by a wild horde of painful thoughts.</p> + +<p class="normal">He understood this impetuous heart well enough not to deceive +himself a +moment as regarded the nature of the storm within. So fixed was his +habit of taking seriously everything he felt, and his honest endeavor +never to spare or palliate anything pernicious in his nature, that even +midst the indescribable confusion into which the last hour had plunged +him, he said steadfastly to himself as soon as he was alone: "You're +lost, if you remain." He felt, with deep horror, how all that four +years of the deepest, purest happiness had done to stifle the memory of +his old struggles, was baffled in a single moment. He did not deceive +himself about the matter, it was not commiseration for his friend's +cheerless fate that burned so passionately in his soul. If he had found +her radiant in happiness, pride and love, he would have felt no +differently.</p> + +<p class="normal">But to know she was unhappy and that in suffering this misery +she had +become a true woman, loving and needing love, that she clung to him and +to his firm soul--as she thought it--as to a last stronghold, fanned +the flames within him, and broke his resolute will.</p> + +<p class="normal">What he owed himself, himself and his pure, faithful, noble +wife, rose +so clearly in his mind amid all the confusion, that without shame, and +in the firm conviction that nothing could avail against his final +victory over these dark powers, he repeated Leah's name. He spoke to +her as if she were walking beside him, as if he were telling her about +his condition. "No, child," said he, "fear nothing for either of us. We +shall never part, never, never! Only have patience with me; the +elements are let loose and playing foot-ball with my heart. But +such a heart, child, which you have taken in your keeping and drawn +to you--no, it will not be thus played with long. If it is painful, +dearest, this storm, this rending and tearing within--it will pass +away, I hope, without your perceiving it. It's not true that we are +helpless drops of water in the sea of passions. We can recollect +ourselves, cling fast to what is right and good, like a mussel to the +cliff from which no surge can tear it. To be sure, the cliff might +totter, but the happiness we have found together is imperishable and I +will cling to it. And yet--can it be the same as of old, if we are +forced to remember how unhappy this poor woman will always be?"--</p> + +<p class="normal">He lost himself in a dull reverie over the thought of what +might be, if +he had no duties, and need not consider any one except the woman who +had clutched his hand like a person sinking in a bottomless gulf. If he +had only found her so four years ago!</p> + +<p class="normal">Leah's image grew dim, he saw at this moment only the form of +his +first, lost love, as he had now found her again--a shudder ran through +his frame, as he still felt the pressure of her hand on his arm, and +thought of the dark lustre of her eyes and those lips which he had only +once kissed on that drive through the moonlight. He smiled in the midst +of his horror, and yet he could scarcely breathe, so heavily did the +sultry atmosphere weigh upon his breast; without knowing what he did, +he repeated two lines of one of Rückert's poems:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t1">The taper's dim and flickering light<br> +She has re-kindled with her smile--</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">So in happy wretchedness, forgetting where he was, he +staggered through +the dense forest. He felt as if he were wandering through a region far +away from the world, where every thing that binds and separates human +beings, all strictly drawn lines of duty, were abolished and overgrown +by the wild luxuriance of the powers of nature, where a poor mortal +wanders aimlessly about, and so long as he remains in the enchanted +wilderness must give himself up to the sweet torture of hidden fires.</p> + +<p class="normal">Several shots, which echoed in the distance, and the strange +whining +yelp of the hounds suddenly roused him from this bewilderment. He +perceived that he was in danger of approaching within range of the +hunt. For one moment he thought how little was needed to reduce the +conflict in his mind to peace; a stray bullet--and all would be over. +But he felt no temptation to provoke this solution, far less could he +resolve to follow the track of human beings. He hastily bent his steps +in the opposite direction and then once more allowed his movements to +be directed by chance.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had probably wandered to and fro for about an hour, when he +entered +one of the numerous paths only wide enough to permit the passage of the +wood cutters' carts which intersected the forest in straight lines. He +was about to cross it, and to plunge into the thicket on the opposite +side, when a strange procession, approaching at a measured pace +scarcely a gun shot from the spot, made him pause, in spite of his +desire to shun the presence of man. First rode the little high +shouldered doctor, holding an eager conversation with a huntsman who +walked beside him. Behind them four peasants, who seemed to have been +acting as beaters, carried a litter, on which, lying upon coverlets +hastily rolled up into cushions, a stout figure was stretched, the +upper part of the body, despite the uncomfortable position, in constant +motion, the head turning first to the right and then to the left, and +the arms employed in eager gesticulation. The rear of the train was +closed by two horsemen, dressed exactly alike and mounted on horses of +the same color, in whom Edwin already recognized the brothers Thaddäus +and Matthäus von der Wende. They seemed, as usual, to be perfectly +silent, but hung their heads sorrowfully, and in their wonderful +resemblance to each other looked still more comical on horseback than +on foot.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the caravan had approached still nearer, Edwin saw that +the +shapeless struggling mass, under which the bearers gasped, was his +neighbor of the preceding night, the fat landed-proprietor. The jovial +gentleman who, in spite of a wide bandage around his left foot, was in +excellent spirits and from time to time broke the deep silence of the +forest with his roars of laughter, now turned on his couch, recognized +the pedestrian and calling him by name, nodded kindly and beckoned him +to approach. The bearers were very glad to set down the litter while +Edwin listened to the story of the accident, which the stout gentleman +related with much humor. He had taken his position under a large beech +on the edge of an opening in the forest. The twin brothers, who even in +hunting were inseparables, had posted themselves on the opposite side. +As the wounded stag, with a sudden turn dashed through the glade, two +shots suddenly echoed from that other side; the brothers, who in their +zeal for the chase had failed to remember the position of their fellow +huntsman, hit him instead of the stag. Whether he owed the bullet in +his leg to Matthäus or Thaddäus would remain undecided till the day of +judgment. As faithful twins, they had both taken deeply to heart the +Christian blood that had been spilled, and he was now vainly +endeavoring to console them for an accident which was really not worth +mentioning. "The only person who's a gainer by the affair is yourself, +Herr Doctor," he concluded with a pleasant laugh. "You'll be shown to +another room in the castle, where you'll be no farther molested by my +nightly snores, for the physician-in-ordinary will need to watch lest +fever should set in, and will meantime take up his quarters in your +room. But such a tough old skin as mine is not so sensitive, that one +need make any special fuss about a little hole in the leg. If it should +grow worse, I'll call you to my assistance, honored sir. You deal, I +hear, in philosophy; that must be good medicine for a man when he's +obliged to lie still, and is fairly beside himself for weariness two +weeks before the rye harvest. Ha! ha! ha! And tally-ho!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He shook Edwin cordially by the hand, and the procession again +moved +on.</p> + +<p class="normal">The little doctor now allowed the litter and the melancholy +couple that +brought up the rear to preceed him, and pausing watched the procession +for a time; then with a cunning twinkle in his eyes dismounted. "I'll +overtake them," he said joining Edwin, and allowing his docile animal +to crop the fresh grasses along the edge of the path. "I'm very glad to +have met you here, Herr Doctor; I've something to communicate which +it's unnecessary for other ears to hear, and here we're quite alone. I +see by the direction you were taking, that you're not in a hurry. If it +suits your pleasure, we'll stroll comfortably along the road; I'll not +detain you long from pursuing your fancy for untrodden paths."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As you please," replied Edwin dryly, making no attempt to +conceal how +little he desired the companionship forced upon him.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the little doctor pretended not to notice his reluctance. +He was +silent for a time and seemed to be considering how most skillfully to +begin his disclosures.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Honored Herr Doctor," he said at last, "or perhaps in memory +of your +father, I may be permitted to say my dear friend; pardon me if I speak +to you of a perhaps extremely uninteresting person--my own +insignificant self. You should know--and in spite of our recent +acquaintance, have doubtless already noticed--that the foundation of my +character is frankness and honesty. Clever men soon learn that it's not +worth their while to play a part; <i>le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle</i>. +But unfortunately in the universal masquerade people perform together, +it's difficult for the very persons who go unmasked to make others +believe that they show their own countenances. 'Take off your nose, +Herr Doctor!'--'But, Madame, I assure you it grows on my face'--'Who +will believe that? You're much too cunning a fox, when your profession +compels you to thrust your nose into everything, to use your own for +the purpose.' This is what we're told, my honored friend, and no matter +how much it nettles the real nose to be taken for <i>papier maché</i>, +nobody pities it. People compassionate only the simple, and God knows +they don't need it for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."</p> + +<p class="normal">He sighed and took from a small gold box, which looked as if +it might +be a present from the late countess, a pinch of snuff, as if he wanted +to console his nose for its sad destiny of being misunderstood.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You now perceive," he continued, as Edwin obstinately +remained silent, +"that nothing can be more offensive to a man whose principal maxim is +frankness and honesty, than to have those whose opinions he values +believe him an intriguer. They thereby imply either that they don't +think it worth while to understand his character, or consider him too +pitiful a wight to venture to show himself as God created him. This +mortification, I must confess, is not a new experience to me, but old +as I am I can't yet summon up sufficient philosophy to endure it with +composure. So long as my patroness, the count's mother, lived, I was +now and then compelled to submit to humiliations, and forced to see +that I was considered an insignificant though useful man, a harmless +domestic animal, fed at the general crib. Since the young countess came +into the house--you, my friend, as I know, have long been attached to +her, of course in a very beautiful, intellectual relation, far beyond +all suspicion. But for that very reason, I think you'll be just the +person to do me a real service with the noble lady, whom no one can +more sincerely respect than I."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin looked keenly at the little man. He really could not +decide, +whether his quiet respectful demeanor was a mask or the outward +expression of his "frankness and honesty." "I'm curious to learn in +what this service can consist," said he.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's a very simple matter, my dear fellow, merely to aid the +countess +in forming a somewhat better opinion of her most obedient servant; +nothing exaggerated, only mere fairness and justice. The countess, as +you've perceived, treats me with an aversion which, in the presence of +a third person, is concealed behind the veil of sarcastic courtesy. If +she meets me alone, even under the most favorable circumstances, I'm an +object on which to vent her displeasure, or I see her charming little +foot make a movement as if it longed to crush some worm or reptile, and +only refrained in order that the sole of the dainty shoe might not be +soiled. You'll admit, that for a man of my years this is not exactly +pleasant."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But have you understood her aright? Why should she feel such +a +passionate dislike to--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To a harmless domestic animal? Ha! ha! Because even the most +innocent +creatures are made responsible for--hm! You understand me--I won't say +too much; but that the flower of mutual happiness, <i>felicitas +pratensis</i>, does not flourish on the soil of this marriage, but is +robbed of air and light by all sorts of weeds, can scarcely--as I've +seen you engaged in the most confidential conversation with Her +Excellency--have escaped your notice."</p> + +<p class="normal">A deep flush crimsoned Edwin's face, and he was on the point +of sending +the insolent spy about his business with a sharp answer, when the +thought of how unwise it would be to give the wily diplomat a direct +refusal, restrained him. "Perhaps you're mistaken in regard to the +degree of confidence the countess bestows upon me," he answered dryly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well, let that pass," laughed the little doctor, +pausing a +moment beside his horse, which was quietly grazing. "I'll do no +violence to your discretion, heaven forbid! But I--you may think what +you please of it--must unbosom myself entirely, that my old friend's +son may see my hands are clean. I know why the countess hates me; she +has not left me in doubt. You see, my worthy friend, ever since the +child was born--you understand me--since that time the marriage has +been practically the same as cancelled. Why so? Perhaps you know more +about it than I. And between ourselves, what concern is it of mine? I +didn't make the match; if it doesn't turn out happily, why should I +concern myself about it? But it's not to be expected that my former +pupil and present lord and master, the count, would take the matter so +phlegmatically. He asked me to discover the reason of his wife's sudden +dislike, which increased till she retired into convent-like seclusion. +He asked <i>me</i>, why I had never even had the honor of feeling my +beautiful mistress' pulse; at the utmost she might consult me if one of +her waiting maids had a sore finger; for she seemed to have formed an +unfavorable opinion of me at our first meeting. So nothing could be +done by me. Besides, I was convinced that no physical cause lay at the +bottom of her strange antipathy to her husband. What could it be? +You've seen him. He may not be quite so irresistible as he considers +himself; but as she didn't always dislike him--in short, the matter +seemed to belong to some other province than medicine. But we advanced +no farther than this. I counseled patience. But at thirty years of age, +when a man is madly in love, and moreover accustomed to have his orders +obeyed on his own domain, from his mother down to the youngest +groom--you understand that patience could not last long. There were +scenes, touching and brutal; for several months, every day brought +different weather, as sunshine or storm was tried to dispel the +unapproachable virtue in which this singular being enwrapped herself. +At last--this I have partly from the count himself, partly from the +maid, a person who would allow herself to be hacked into kindling wood +for her mistress--he seized upon a perfectly desperate expedient, from +which any sensible person who had any knowledge of this lady's +character would have dissuaded him; he attempted to give her, in a cup +of tea, a sort of love potion, whose principal ingredient was morphine, +in order--you understand--that old heathen Morpheus, has already +performed a great many just such services--but this time it seems he +conducted the matter awkwardly--and in short the plan failed and +everything was spoiled."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Horrible!" exclaimed Edwin. "This--this is certainly--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Had you no suspicion of it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What woman would relate such an affair, even to a mother or +sister? My +God! what a man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm!" said the little doctor, looking him sharply in the face, +"they're +human, and human actions are after their style. However, I think you +judge the count too harshly. You, as a platonic admirer, and the +countess' friend and adviser, can probably not imagine how a man feels, +who calls such a treasure his own, and yet knows it to be secluded in a +tower with seven gates, to which he has not the key. If, armed with a +rude club, he tries to burst the bolts--but we won't argue about it. +It's certain that, when he once suggested the idea, I firmly advised +him not to adopt it, merely on account of its doubtfulness and the +small probability of success. But you see, my friend, that's just what +she will not believe, though the count himself bore witness in my +behalf. She says such a disgraceful idea could never have originated in +the brain of a gentleman, with some sense of honor, who did not wish to +degrade his own wife to the level of a common wench. The plan and its +execution must have been suggested by some officious subordinate fiend, +and this shameful, and, with all his diabolical cunning, very stupid +devil, could be no one else than poor Doctor Basler, who in his +over-wisdom and in obedience to his master's commands, was quite +capable of playing a trick as simple as it was disgraceful."</p> + +<p class="normal">He sighed, and as if in a fit of moral indignation, struck at +the +blackberry bushes that grew on the edge of the forest. Suddenly he +paused, drew the bridle tight so that his horse was checked and stood +still, and said in his frankest tone: "There now, I've unburdened my +heart. The rest will follow as a matter of course. I'm an old man, and +it's not a consoling prospect, that on the next equally innocent +occasion, the noble lady's aversion will develop into open hatred and +revenge and she may insist upon sending me out of the house. I've +become accustomed to living here and should cut a poor figure out +in the world. For although I can't be driven from the door like a +dog--certain old obligations will not permit that--the gods know how I +should fare. And this lady, strange as it sounds, still has unlimited +power over my former pupil. I believe, if she made it the price of +reconciliation, that I should be drowned in a cask of Burgundy, I +should hardly escape with my life, in spite of the fact that we live in +the nineteenth century. So it would be kind and friendly in you, my +dear sir, if you would reason the countess out of this insane prejudice +against me. Good Heavens, I don't ask much; I've seen my best days; but +in return for the frankness and honesty with which I've always treated +her, to be taken for a venal scoundrel, a miserable wretch capable of +being hired for every secret deed of villainy, like a foreign bravo, +you must confess, is rather too much, and may well make the blood +seethe in the veins of an honorable man."</p> + +<p class="normal">The last words were spoken from the saddle into which he had +again +mounted. He seemed to take Edwin's silence for the assent which, in +such cases, is a matter of course among "men of honor." "I rely upon +you entirely," he cried, putting spurs to his little horse, "and am of +course ready to perform any service in return. Who knows whether the +harmless domestic animal, who signs himself Doctor Basler, may not yet +be useful; <i>homo sum, nihil humani</i>--that's always the refrain."</p> + +<p class="normal">He waved his hat with a familiar twinkle in his eyes, spurred +on his +horse, and trotted rapidly after the procession, which was already +considerably in advance.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin was glad that they had parted so quickly. He could not +have much +longer refrained from repaying his new friend's "frankness and honesty" +in the same coin, informing him that he felt entirely unable to play +the expected <i>rôle</i> of mediator. His heart burned, his tongue was +bitter with loathing and suppressed indignation. He now clearly +perceived that there was no longer anything to hope for, the breech +could not be healed. But then what remained for <i>him</i> to do, what had +he to accomplish here? And yet--how could he tear himself away, leave +her to herself, after he had learned how entirely she was right in +believing her life by this man's side a lost existence?</p> + +<p class="normal">He again plunged into the forest and wandered about a long +time through +the loneliest portions of the woods, a slave to the greatest mental +torture he had ever experienced, until at last he could think no +longer, because of exhaustion and over excitement. Toward noon he found +himself near a handsome farm-house, which stood in a secluded spot +beside a foundry. Here he obtained some food and asked for a quiet spot +to rest. He was shown into a large barn, where he threw himself down on +the freshly threshed straw. Ere long nature asserted its right to a +recompense for the previous wakeful night. He fell asleep, and the sun +had already sunk behind the hills, when the farm laborers returning +from their work roused the wearied man from his dreamless slumber.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Edwin's first thought was that his long nap had fortunately +debarred +him from dining at the castle with the aristocratic visitors. He hoped +also to evade them in the evening, and was therefore unpleasantly +surprised when he learned that all his wanderings had only led him +around the castle in a circle, and that he merely needed to cross a +hill to find himself at the gate in the rear of the park. He submitted +to his fate, allowed a day laborer's barefooted child to show him the +way, and reached the entrance just in time to see the last rays of +sunset reflected from the copper roof of the little corner tower.</p> + +<p class="normal">He tried to slip unobserved into his room by the staircase +that led +from the courtyard into the wing, but a footman, who seemed to have +been waiting for him, reminded him of the accident which had befallen +his neighbor in the adjoining apartment, and apologized for having +removed his luggage during his absence to a room in the upper story of +the main building--a beautiful front room, which Her Excellency the +countess said would undoubtedly please the Herr Doctor. But Edwin was +perfectly indifferent as to where he was lodged, when, on entering his +apartment he approached the high bay-window and saw outspread before +him in the calm twilight, the peaceful forest, the broad fields, and +tender hued sky arching over them, he felt for the first time that day, +lighthearted and at ease, and the heavy atmosphere of anxious thought +melted away. The servant lighted the candles on the pier table, asked +if he had any orders to give and then left the room with the remark +that dinner would be served in half an hour. Their Highnesses had +wished to wait till the Herr Count returned from hunting.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin nodded absently. He was still undecided as to what he +ought to +do. Instead of the oppressive fear of his own weakness which had driven +him all day through the forest, an eager desire had arisen to see +Toinette again, to hear the voice that made the inmost chords of his +being tremble, and to feel her glance once more rest upon him. It +seemed to him as if he should now be strong enough to play with the +fire, but the presence of strangers, of whom he must take cognizance, +annoyed him.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the dainty table with gilded rococo feet, he had found his +traveling +satchel, and mechanically began to unpack the contents. His portfolio +fell into his hand. He remembered the letter he had written to Leah +twenty-four hours before, and in what an unsuspecting mood! Then he +considered whether it would not be well to inform her immediately of +the events that had occurred, that the hardest part of the story might +have been told when he saw her again. He felt that he possessed at +least sufficient courage to attempt it, and had already taken out his +writing materials, when some one knocked at the door and Count Gaston, +attired in a very elegant black dress suit, entered with his usual +cordial impetuosity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Writing, Doctor?" he exclaimed laughing. "What? great +thoughts came +to you in the forest to-day, that must be put on paper at once? You men +of science are enviable mortals. One of us, in order to methodically +exercise his vocation of enjoying life, requires such a complicated +apparatus; carriages for conveying kitchen utensils, baskets of wine, a +piano, Havana cigars, fair women, and various other necessaries. You, +on the contrary, wander through a wilderness, in which nothing grows +except beech acorns, oaks, and fir cones, and return home, fully +satisfied 'with your load of immortal thoughts,' as Lenau says. I +deeply regret that I must disturb you in this intellectual revelry, to +take you away to much more material enjoyment. Dinner will be served in +fifteen minutes, the beautiful princess is very anxious to make your +acquaintance, and if you want to dress--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am already attired in the dress of a philosopher," +interrupted Edwin +smiling, "who as you say must manage to do without complicated +apparatus; <i>omnia sua secum portans</i>. If the beautiful princess will be +satisfied--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course, my dear fellow. The point in question is only +whether it may +not be a little embarrassing for <i>you</i>. To be sure, everybody wears the +uniform of his profession, and besides in traveling--for the rest, my +whole wardrobe and valet are at your disposal, in case you prefer--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, my dear count. You really remind me just at the +right time, +of the duty which, on occasions of ceremony we owe the house whose +hospitality we enjoy. A queer fellow and cynic is in his proper place +in his tun, but the contrast between a vagrant's dress and these +magnificent apartments would make even Father Diogenes, if he possessed +any sense of harmony--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, my honored friend, you entirely misunderstand me. I'd +not the +most distant intention--no, you must--you can in no case--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yet allow me, my dear count, to pursue what I think the most +sensible +course, especially as I've not the slightest appetite, for I took my +dinner at a farm house. Besides, if these noble guests intend to remain +so short a time, the presence of a total stranger--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You'll expose me to the anger of my adored cousin!" cried +Gaston with +comical pathos. "Do me the favor not to be proud or obstinate. You must +know our party has already dwindled considerably. The twin murderers, +Thaddäus and Matthäus, have locked themselves up and are atoning for +their attempt on our fat neighbor's life, with Rhine wine and truffle +pâtés. Oginsky, on hearing that Prince Batároff was to make one of our +party, was suddenly seized with such a violent headache that he went to +bed at once. Between ourselves, he probably fears that this Russian +knows his antecedents better than my dear cousin, whose eyes I hope may +be opened by this sudden headache. Therefore no one is left to pay +court to the charming princess, except the chevalier, who is usually as +silent in the society of ladies belonging to the great world as he's +talkative in the presence of the <i>demi monde</i>, and I, who with the best +intentions, whenever the object of my hopeless love is present, have no +other goddess beside her. Take into consideration the singular mood of +the master of the house, and that the young prince is no brilliant +talker, and you'll see the party will be a very dull one, and all the +blame will fall on my unfortunate self. Dear Doctor, be noble, be +sublime, come down with me just as you are. Otherwise I'll conjure up +all the powers of heaven and hell, and induce the mistress of the +castle to come in person to coax you away from your inkstand. Can that +alone satisfy your pride, or will you say even to this divine vision: +'Be kind enough not to stand in my light, Countess.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin could not help laughing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You laugh!" exclaimed the gay young fellow. "That is, you'll +yield. +That's the secret of all victories over the obdurate of both sexes; +it's only necessary to make them laugh. Oh! my proud, grave cousin! If +the brightest fire of my wit had ever allured anything more than a +gracious smile to her lips! But now come down to where you're eagerly +awaited. Only take care that you're not converted by the blue eyes of +the innocent high-born missionary. There's more joy in heaven over one +philosopher that repenteth, than over ninety and nine frivolous +children of the world of my stamp."</p> + +<p class="normal">Still talking in the same strain, he seized Edwin by the arm, +scarcely +gave him time to wash his hands, and then dragged him along the +brilliantly lighted corridors and down the broad carpeted steps of the +marble staircase.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they entered the little <i>salon</i> adjoining the dining +hall, the +master of the house hastened toward them, greeted Edwin with his +stereotyped cordiality, and apologized for not having been able to see +his guest all day. The hunting party, from which he had unfortunately +missed him at the rendezvous, and his duties toward his new visitors, +had occupied all his time. Edwin bowed absently. His eyes were +wandering toward the new faces which he saw by the flickering light of +the wax candles. The tall, broad shouldered gentleman with the bald +head and long blond beard, who had been talking to the chevalier by the +window, and now cast a cold glance from his narrow grey eyes at the new +comer, was undoubtedly the Russian prince. On the blue silk sofa, +beside the countess, who had exchanged her velvet riding habit for a +heavy black satin dress, sat a little, dainty, fair-haired creature in +a most tasteful fanciful toilette, who, seen from behind, looked like a +half grown girl. When, as the count introduced Edwin to her, she turned +and raised a pair of laughing blue eyes to his, he could easily +understand that this fairy-like vision must exercise no little power in +converting unbelievers. Now, to be sure, beside the far nobler beauty +of the mistress of the house, the danger even to such a butterfly heart +as that of the young count, was not irresistible. Only her own husband, +a handsome young man with a delicate, thoughtful face, whose family +resemblance to the countess could not escape notice, seemed to be +perpetually under the spell of those childish blue eyes. At least his +own constantly turned toward them, and in the midst of his conversation +with others, he often paused to address some trivial question to his +wife. He held out his hand to Edwin in the most cordial manner, saying +that he had already heard a great deal about him and rejoiced in the +fortunate accident, which had at last procured him the pleasure of his +acquaintance. Toinette nodded to him with a strange smile, whose +meaning a third person would scarcely have guessed, but the young +princess received him with special graciousness, instantly proffered +him the empty seat beside her, and with all the coquetry of a spoiled +child made no concealment of the fact that she intended to fascinate +him as speedily as possible.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must stay with me a little while, Herr Doctor," she said +stroking +the smooth head of one of the slender, tawny hounds, with her delicate +white hand, on which sparkled several beautiful rings. "Do you know +that I've scarcely ever, in all my life, been so curious about a new +acquaintance? You're the first live philosopher I ever saw. I've always +wanted--and perhaps dreaded a little--to know one, and now--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now you see a very commonplace mortal, without cloven feet, +even +without gloves, in which he could conceal his satanic claws, and who +only differs from other people in venturing, under the pressure of +necessity, to enter this noble society in the modest garb of a traveler +on a pedestrian tour."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whether you seem so commonplace to me," replied the beautiful +blonde, +shaking back her curls and casting a laughing glance at her husband, +"is a doubtful question, which we'll not discuss here. Enough, you have +completely undeceived me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what idea had you formed of a philosopher, Princess?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I had always imagined an elderly, yellow, thin man, with +piercing +black eyes and scornfully compressed lips--something after the style of +Voltaire--a man in whose presence a cold shudder runs through one's +frame, and who rubs his hands with a gloomy laugh, partly from +malicious pleasure that he has deprived so many good, simple people of +the salvation of their souls, and partly because he himself is +freezing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can assure you, Your Highness, that I find both the +temperature of +this drawing room and the world outside perfectly comfortable."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's just what I perceived at once, and what greatly +surprised me. +Perhaps, however, you're only a good actor, or don't you really +shiver?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So far as I'm aware," replied Edwin smiling, "philosophers +have just +as warm red blood as other mammiferous animals. What made you suppose, +Madame, that we belonged to the amphibious?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your relationship to the serpent, whose evil business you +continue. Or +do you do something besides persuading the poor children of God, that +they may eat of the tree of knowledge, although you know the punishment +that will follow--the loss of Paradise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And are you so certain, that our first parents felt warmer +and happier +and more comfortable in the perpetual sunlight, than when they ate +their bread in the sweat of their brow? However this question is +difficult to decide and fortunately no longer comes under +consideration. We're not in Eden now, we must seek some compensation +for the sunny ignorance we've lost, and so far as my experience goes, +Your Highness, among the various means of keeping warm, the possession +of a genuine, honest philosophy is not the worst."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? You assert that reason can warm? A wisdom in which the +heart has +no share--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And who told you that we conduct our business in such a +divided +manner? The head having nothing to do with the affairs of the heart, +and the heart never venturing to suggest anything to the head? But, to +be sure, I forgot that Your Highness is engaged in deep theological +studies. For two thousand years we've been exposed to calumnies from +that quarter, which is not always easy to accept patiently, at least +from a beautiful mouth. However, didn't the Christian martyrs quietly +accept taunts and misrepresentation, without having the warmth of their +blood called in question?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wrong me, Herr Doctor," she answered; casting down her +eyes with a +bewitching blush; "I'm a simple, unlearned woman, who's only glad that, +'when clever men talk she can understand what they mean.' Ask my dear +friend, the countess. She'll bear witness that I am very unskillful in +making converts. One who thinks only with the heart, must at least have +so full a heart, that it will overflow of its own accord, as a vessel +of mercy, which cannot contain its wealth and must impart a portion to +other thirsty souls. But I'm more and more convinced that words are no +keys to heaven, that true theology doesn't consist in arguments about +dogmas. Even the profound revelations of the mystic--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you ventured into these abysses?" exclaimed Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"With a competent guide," smiled the beautiful woman, +gracefully waving +her fan to and fro, "with a carefully tested safety lamp as a +protection--why not? It is so interesting, the secret terror which +seizes us when we see in the dim light of these deep ravines and caves, +as in an artificial mine, strange stalactites and the glimmer of metal +and have a suspicion of the treasures that may yet be concealed. One +returns to the bright daylight so willingly. You must not think me a +hypocrite. On the contrary, since I've gazed into the depths, I look at +all worldly pleasures with more grateful eyes as a gift of our Creator, +and rejoice that I can still be so childish, much more childish and +even more thoughtless than my dear friend here, who is ten weeks +younger than I, and has confessed that she neither prays nor holds any +intercourse with her God. Isn't it true, Toinette, am I unfit to be a +Moravian?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who knows, dear Alexine?" replied Toinette, who during all +this time +seemed to have only half listened to Gaston's eager whispers. "By way +of a change, in order to experience this emotion also, and if the right +spiritual guide should appear with a <i>differently</i> constructed safety +lamp--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Horrible!" exclaimed the little blonde beauty, giving her +neighbor a +light tap with her fan. "Don't believe a word of it, Herr Doctor. The +countess only slanders me so maliciously, because she has taken a +perfectly causeless prejudice against the vicar who accompanies me, and +who certainly has had a great deal to do with the present direction of +my mind. You'll make his acquaintance, and shall then decide whether he +deserves this aversion."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be made umpire on such a critical subject, whereby I must +in any +case forfeit the favor of one of two noble ladies--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is a martyrdom in the service of truth, which a philosopher +cannot +escape. The vicar has a few letters to write; he is, even in worldly +things, my--our trusted counsellor. But I hope, in the course of the +evening--"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment the folding doors of the dining hall were +thrown open, +the butler in full gala dress appeared on the threshold with a silent +bow, the master of the house offered his arm to the princess, the +prince to his sister, and the remainder of the party followed the two +couples without any formality.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin was seated at table next to the chevalier, who eat and +drank with +the appetite of a ship-wrecked mariner, and at intervals carried on a +monosyllabic conversation in French with the young count, taking not +the slightest notice of his other neighbor. The place on Edwin's left +was apparently reserved for the chaplain of the princely household. Our +friend was therefore entirely alone and heartily glad to be so. He saw +behind the large silver epergne, filled with a superb bouquet of red +and yellow roses, Toinette's beautiful face, mysterious dark eyes, and +snowy neck, over which clustered her soft brown curls; her stately, yet +pliant figure leaned quietly back in her chair, as she allowed dish +after dish to pass untouched. Beside her sat the fair-haired princess, +who talked continually in her sprightly fashion, laughed, ate and drank +in the most coquettish manner, and more and more resembled a waiting +maid who has put on fine clothes and is skillfully imitating the +manners of a great lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">She was eagerly endeavoring to persuade the count and +countess, that +they could do nothing wiser than to make up their minds to accompany +her to Italy, and described so drolly the pleasures of a journey with +hundreds of adventures, attacks by <i>banditti</i>, miserable inns in which +there would be no accommodations for so large a company, and finally a +solemn audience with the Holy Father, in which she would assert that +among Protestants, kissing the slipper<a name="div2_09" href="#div2Ref_09"><sup>[9]</sup></a> was the husband's business, +that even Toinette joined in the laugh she excited, though she remained +firm in her refusal. Traveling did not agree with her nerves, she said +quietly. Her husband had eagerly agreed with the princess and spoken +more enthusiastically than was his habit, of former journeys through +the countries of the South. When he heard his wife decline so +positively a deep shadow darkened his brow; he turned suddenly pale, +twisted his moustache, and became perfectly silent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You ought not to give your final answer yet, Countess," said +the +Russian guest, as he passed the fat fingers of his well kept hand +through his long beard. A certain nervous twitching of the brow was +perceptible as he spoke, while his little eyes completely disappeared +in the broad face, and the huge bald head bore an unpleasant +resemblance to a skull. "Princess Sascha has shown you the romantic +side of the plan. Now look at it also from the classical, artistic +point. It would be a ridiculous affectation for me not to confess with +frankness that you couldn't have a better cicerone in the museums and +churches, villas and ruins, than my humble self, or, as the Italians +say, <i>il povero Signor me</i>. This is my sixth visit to Italy. To be +sure, I can't show you many things that delighted me on my first five +journeys, for the simple reason that I've taken them to my own home. +<i>Que voulez-vous?</i> We're considered Northern barbarians, always in +search of booty. A man must not be better than his reputation. But some +things still remain which are worth seeing, and as for your nerves, +Countess--perhaps there's but one effectual remedy for sufferings such +as yours: the magnetic fluid of art. I offer myself as your artistic +physician-in ordinary, and will guarantee a cure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And who tells you. Prince Batároff, that I've not already +tried this +remedy in Germany, and without success?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In Germany? Art in Germany? Unless you're speaking of music, +which is +one domain of the German nature, or gymnastics--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I always supposed the Dresden gallery, which we studied for a +fortnight on our wedding tour, possessed some works of art for which +Italy might envy us, and the museums of Berlin, Vienna, Munich--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't mention those wretched forcing houses, in which I +always feel +suffocated by the artificial heat with which, with scientific zeal, the +worthy Germans endeavor to correct their natural want of artistic +perception! My nerves, thank God, are as strong as I wish yours were, +but I really believe they would fail till I should be attacked by +hysteria, if I were compelled to spend two hours a day for a fortnight +in one of your national museums. Once, when on the cost of Finland, I +entered a hut--it was during one of those storms when the meanest roof +is welcome--and found the fisherman's family gathered round a box they +had just saved from a stranded ship. It contained some great lady's +jewels and dresses, which had suffered little damage, and now, seen +in the hands and by the light of the dim oil lamp of these worthy +half-idiots, were about as much out of place as are the Titians, +Rubens, Correggios, and Raphaels in your dear German cities, watched by +pedants, gaped at by snobs, and only separated by a thin roof from the +grey dull sky, which they suit as well as the Brussels laces in that +stranded chest suited the smoky atmosphere of a Finnish fisherman's +hut."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're mounted on your hobby again," said Toinette's brother, +with a +subtle smile. "And you'll right; he who wishes to understand artists, +must go to the land of artists. But you forget one thing; if art is not +indigenous in our colder zone--ought we to abandon the hope that by +long and affectionate care it will at last become acclimated? Who knows +what we lack? That we do not, in our need, tamely submit with folded +arms, is no reproach to us, and when I look at German artists--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"German artists? I implore you, my dear Prince, in the names +of the +great masters, not to give these wretched bunglers so proud a name! But +no, I wrong them. They're no bunglers, but rather very skillful +mechanics or artisans, who have learned all the rules of their trade, +and feel a pride in their guild. German artists! I know them. There was +one, the most ridiculous bungler in the world, a certain König, whom +his colleagues called the zaunkönig, because he exhibited old hedges or +fences adorned with a few weeds, as landscapes. I made a wager with a +connoisseur and enthusiast, our worthy Baron L., that this poor devil, +who, in the wrath of God, was condemned to daub in colors, would +joyfully renounce 'art,' if any one would buy his poor talent, I mean +give him enough to live upon, on condition that he would no longer +paint."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And did you win?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I lost, my dear fellow, and it served me right; I ought +to have +known these German dreamers and idealists better. Just think, Countess, +the man discovered that an experiment was being tried upon him, his +'artist' pride awoke, and he acted as if life would not be worth the +having if he could not daily daub at his wooden landscapes; he wrote me +an impertinent note, throwing my favors at my feet--the title of court +painter, salary, future support, and even the whole sum he had already +received. I lost my bet, but Germany regained an artist, and with him +one fool the more."</p> + +<p class="normal">Gaston laughed loudly and began to interpret the story to the +chevalier, who had not understood a word. The beautiful princess, who +had joined in the laugh, was just turning to Toinette to continue the +conversation about the journey to Italy, when Edwin's voice interrupted +her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must beg you, Prince," he said with quiet emphasis, "to +speak +somewhat more respectfully of the artist whom you choose to call a +fool. I have the happiness of being a son-in-law of that worthy +gentleman, and am therefore in a position to be able to form a more +correct opinion of his character and the motives of his conduct. It was +not wounded vanity that induced him to give up the pension which +condemned him to idleness. No one can have a more modest opinion of +him, perceive his deficiencies more clearly, than he himself. But as +he's in nobody's way when he paints his unassuming little pictures, he +has probably no reason to be ashamed of this innocent passion, which is +certainly as worthy of honor as many a so-called 'noble passion,' and +it was only a foolish mistake on the good man's part that your offer +was taken seriously. Yet why should not a great man amuse himself by +taking an affectionate interest in a little man? My dear father-in-law +thinks far too well of humankind to suspect that he was the object of a +contemptuous jest, made the subject of an experiment, such as Your +Highness might perhaps venture to try with your serfs. That he did not +decline this honor too courteously, is scarcely reprehensible in a man, +who is no fool. I, myself, was the person, who as soon as I entered +into the relation of a son, opened the old man's eyes and thereby +contributed to make you lose your bet."</p> + +<p class="normal">A death-like silence followed these words, and for several +seconds +nothing was heard but the chevalier's low whisper to Gaston: "<i>Qu'est +ce qu'il a dit, que le prince fronce si furieusement les sourcils?</i>" +But he received no answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">While Edwin, with his eyes fixed steadily upon the prince, was +awaiting +his reply, a new guest had entered the hall with noiseless steps and +had reached the empty chair beside Edwin. The latter now turned toward +him, and suddenly started up as if a thunder bolt had fallen.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lorinser stood before him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Not a feature of his face had altered since Edwin had seen him +last, +only the carriage of the head had become a little bolder, and the +glance, which still as of old sought the ground or scanned the ceiling +in preference, now sometimes rested upon the person who confronted him. +Such was the case at this moment, when he would have had good reason to +cast down his eyes. He regarded his neighbor with a perfectly calm, +courteous smile, as if inviting him to keep his seat and not trouble +himself to make room for him. He was attired in faultless evening +dress, and only his noiseless entrance recalled the poor candidat, who +years ago had glided along such manifold crooked paths.</p> + +<p class="normal">None of the guests, not even the mistress of the house, who +during the +last scene had not turned her eyes from the speaker, noticed anything +unusual in Edwin's hasty movement.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Allow me to introduce the gentlemen to each other," said the +princess, +glad of an interruption to the embarrassing scene; "Herr Vicar +Lorenzen--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No introduction is necessary, Princess," interrupted Edwin +with a +trembling voice. "This gentleman, although he seems about to deny it, +is only too well known to me; so well known in fact, that I'll give up +my place in this circle to him, without farther ceremony, and take +leave of the company for to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But Doctor!" cried Gaston, who had no idea of the cause of +this +strange scene, "the philosophy which, without striking a single blow, +leaves the field to theology--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If my innocent remarks about German artists in general and +your +father-in-law in particular, which were not intended to give offence, +are driving you away, I'm perfectly ready to make the <i>amende +honorable</i>," said Prince Batároff, as he quietly stroked his beard and +glanced at the countess. "You have a tongue like a sword, Herr Doctor, +and I should think, after you've so bravely parried my assault, we +might conclude an honorable peace."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you for your friendly words, Prince," replied Edwin, +"and +accept the peace unreservedly. If, nevertheless, I leave the table, it +is because it goes against my nature to sit beside a person whom I +believe--about whom I have my own opinion. Pray do not take this little +weakness amiss. It will only serve to show the princess how unfounded +was her supposition that a man must always possess cool blood to be a +philosopher." He cast a glance of icy scorn at Lorinser, and bowed to +the remainder of the party, carefully avoiding the countess' eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>C'est drôle!</i>" said Batároff, and he whispered something in +the ear +of the princess. She did not seem to hear it. Her laughing face had +suddenly grown rigid with terror and was suffused with a crimson flush. +The master of the house rose.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Doctor," said he in an irritated tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will the Herr Count permit <i>me</i> to ask this gentleman to +explain why +he insults a peaceful guest of this noble house?" interrupted Lorinser +without the slightest token of agitation; "unless a sudden attack of +madness--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unfortunately, I have still perfect control of my senses," +replied +Edwin cuttingly, "and no one can more deeply regret that in return for +the hospitality which I have enjoyed in this house, I am placed in a +situation which compels me to cause such an unpleasant scene. But no +obligations of courtesy or etiquette can induce me to sit quietly +beside a person, whom I have good reasons for thinking anything but a +man of honor. Again I beg the master of the house and his noble guests +to pardon me; but there are instincts of the blood stronger than any +training. One who has a natural aversion to a toad or a snake must +leave the spot that such a reptile makes unendurable; in doing this, +however, I have no desire to offend any one who rejoices in stronger +nerves. Look me in the face, Herr--Vicar. Your brazen front was well +known to me in the days, when as Candidat Lorinser--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wish to reproach me for having restored my name to the +original +form used in my family before they left Denmark--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't grudge you any name and title you wish to adopt. If +you could +efface the rest of your past as quickly--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Judge not, that ye be not judged," interrupted Lorinser, with +immovable calmness and unction. With the exception of a slight +quivering of the nostrils, not a feature of the pale but singularly +imposing countenance betrayed any special agitation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I appeal," he continued, "to my honored mistress the +princess--that I +have never pretended to be a sinless man; the earth has never contained +but one such, and his disciples should remember that they are all +sinners and lack the renown which before God--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is the introduction to a sermon, Herr Vicar," said +Edwin; "I will +not interrupt and prevent you from edifying your congregation. But as I +am not a member I shall have the honor of taking leave of the company, +and bidding them all good night."</p> + +<p class="normal">He bowed to the countess and left the hall, before any of the +party +recovered from their surprise.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Edwin was scarcely in his room, to which a footman with a very +bewildered expression, had lighted him, when his excitement passed away +and bitter indignation and wrath took possession of him. He experienced +the gnawing discomfort which seizes upon everyone, when, while he does +not regret having yielded to a noble impulse, he must curse the +circumstances which forced him to disturb a social circle with his +righteous anger. He was a guest and had quarrelled with another guest +of the house, a house governed by the rules of society, which as far as +possible stifle all natural sounds, smother to a malicious whisper the +cry of indignation, and give vent to an implacable hatred, not in the +presence of ladies, but only in some lonely spot before two male +witnesses. He must have appeared like a man without education or +courtesy, a moralizing pedant. True, there were no means of justifying +himself--even to the most frivolous of these children of the world--for +his inability to breathe the same air with this man. But could he use +an expedient, which would have compelled him to expose the secret, the +honor of his friend? No; he must now submit to the consequences of his +action, and no matter how much he reflected upon the affair, he could +think of no other course which he could have pursued, without lowering +himself in his own eyes. He felt that he could do exactly the same +thing again in a similar event. So in the midst of all his annoyance, +he experienced the satisfaction of having been faithful to himself, and +began to reflect more calmly what course he should now pursue.</p> + +<p class="normal">He could remain in the castle no longer. Even if he could be +sure of +not meeting Lorinser again, he thought it his duty to aid the master of +the house, in causing the strange scene in which he played a principal +part to be forgotten as quickly as possible; this could be most +effectually done by the departure of the disturber of the peace, and +moreover Edwin wished to avoid any farther discussion of the matter. +Let them scoff at him and talk behind his back as they chose, let the +enemy who remained behind reap all the advantage from having kept the +field--what did he care? The one person, whose opinion he valued, would +not misunderstand him; that he knew, that, the last glance with which +she followed his retreating figure, had told him.</p> + +<p class="normal">But had he come to the castle to chastise a worthless +scoundrel, and +might he now leave feeling that his business had been well performed? +Could he leave her who had confessed that she had no friend but him, +who in the greatest complication of her fate, grasped his hand in +despairing terror? he was helpless to aid her it was true, but she had +appealed to him with the certainty that at least she would be compelled +no longer to bear her burden unaided by human help or sympathy. If he +suddenly failed her again, would it not sunder the last tie that bound +her to life? And yet, how could he hope to afford her any real +assistance? He scarcely knew how to help himself in the violent +conflict of feelings which her presence had aroused. He sat down on the +sofa before the little gilt table and buried his face in his hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">A discreet knock roused him from this profitless reverie. At +his "who +is there?" the little physician entered, with many apologies for +disturbing him at so late an hour. The great interest he felt in his +old friend's son had brought him there; he had received through the +servants who were greatly alarmed by the unprecedented scene, a +confused report of what had occurred, and thought he would not be +charged with indiscreet curiosity, if he applied to the right quarter +at once. He now, unasked, related that after Edwin had left the hall, +Lorinser had made a full confession and thereby completely regained his +former position. An old affair with a young girl, in whom Edwin had +been likewise deeply interested, was the cause of this mortal hatred. +Disappointed love had induced the poor creature, whom in spite of +the most sincere affection he could not resolve to marry and be +faithless to higher aims, to attempt to commit suicide. Fortunately she +was saved; but all the blame for the act had been laid on his +shoulders--in, short, it was a regular romance, and he seemed to have +related it very well. At least when he closed, the beautiful princess' +eyes were full of tears, and Count Gaston cordially shook hands with +him. In the opinion of these men of the world, it was of course rather +a credit to the pious gentleman that, in spite of his theological +wisdom, he too had had his <i>bonnes fortunes</i> and such a romantic +adventure into the bargain.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin laughed fiercely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear friend," continued the little man with a crafty face, +which +vainly endeavored to wear an expression of friendly sympathy, "I +understand your feelings as indeed every one does, even the vicar, who +as he has repeatedly declared, cherishes no ill will toward you +notwithstanding your violent conduct."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed? Does the worthy man forgive me? Well, that <i>is</i> +ludicrous!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He praised you most warmly and apologized for your +extraordinary +conduct. If he had known at that time, that you cherished an unrequited +love for the unfortunate girl, who lived in the same house--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My worthy patron," interrupted Edwin rising, "I'm really very +grateful +to you, uncommonly grateful for your friendly communications. But as my +feelings, although you assure me you understand them, are still +misapprehended, and as I have my own reasons for not expressing my +opinion of the Herr Vicar's romance with the 'frankness and honesty' +which you take for your motto, I should consider it a favor if you +would leave me to myself and return to your patient. If, however, you +should find occasion, you may assure all who have admired the narrators +talent, that not only his style, but his inventive faculty also is yet +to be equalled; in a word, that no more shameless liar ever existed +than this fox in the sheep-skin of humility. And now I'll wish you as +good a night's rest as I trust to obtain for myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">While uttering these words, he had accompanied the bewildered +little +man to the door, opened it with a trembling hand, and closed it by no +means gently behind him. He was in a tumult of excitement, the blood +throbbed wildly in his temples, another moment and it would have been +impossible for him to have suppressed his indignation. He would have +poured forth all the bitterness of which his heart was full upon the +wretched sneak whose face, with its friendly simper, put him fairly +beside himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as he was alone, his oppressed heart found relief in a +loud, +scornful laugh. Then he went to the dressing table which stood beside +the silk canopied bed and drank a glass of water. By degrees his blood +grew calm. He went to the lofty bay-window, threw it wide open, and let +the pure night air fan his hot brow. "Am I not a fool?" he said to +himself, "to allow myself to be so much excited by that which was only +natural, and to be expected? Should it vex or humiliate me to be the +loser in a contest with such a master of hypocrisy? And ought I to +grudge the miserable knave, who has nothing better, this victory and +its costly trophies--a princess' tears and the pressure of a count's +hand? Fie upon me for allowing myself to be so overpowered with +disgust. I'm really indebted to this noble tale-bearer, for opening my +eyes to the true state of affairs. But away--away--away from here, +before the moon has disappeared behind the forest!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He went back to the little table, opened his portfolio and +commenced a +note to the count. After the disturbance of the peace of the household, +he wrote, of which he had unfortunately been the cause, he thought it +his duty to his host, as well as to the rest of the guests, to continue +no longer to be a recipient of the hospitality which had been so kindly +offered to him. He regretted that consideration for others prevented +him from giving explanations which, although his conduct might appear +an offence against etiquette, would justify it in every other respect. +As for the cause which had brought him here, he was fully convinced +that he had no power to undo what had been done and effect a +reconciliation. Perhaps, he concluded, time, which works so many +wonders, may bring about what at present the count positively refuses +to think of, and make a separation between two incompatible natures, +appear the only means of safety.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had just sealed the note and was writing the address, when +there was +another knock at his door. "Come in!" he exclaimed indignantly, for the +thought darted through his mind that the count might come to see him in +person and thereby render useless the letter, which would have spared +him any verbal explanations; then the door opened and Toinette entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it you?" he exclaimed rushing toward her. "Do you come to +me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She threw back the dark shawl she had wrapped around her, and +he saw +that she wore a simple dress and had laid aside all her jewelry.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I could not help coming to you," she said in her usual tone. +"I wanted +to speak to you, and you--you're going away; I knew it, before seeing +the letter upon your table. You would have gone without bidding me +farewell. Would you not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps it would have been the best course," he replied, +clasping her +hand, which hung loosely by her side. "Tell me yourself, my dear +friend, have we ought to hope for, from any words we might exchange? +Fate does not turn for words. And yet I could hardly have made up my +mind to leave without a word. I intended to have gone to the farm house +on the other side of the forest, and from there to have sent you a +note, to say I would wait to hear from you in case you had any +commissions for me. But you have anticipated me. Are we not in danger +of interruption here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What does it matter?" she replied with a gesture expressive +of the +most utter indifference, as she seated herself on the sofa. "You mean, +will it not compromise me to make you a visit by night? Perhaps so. But +that's unfortunately not sufficient cause for separation. Otherwise I +should not have waited till I could visit a friend. The first person I +chanced to meet would have suited my purpose, the chevalier, or our +dear cousin Gaston, for instance, if I could break the chain so +easily." Then glancing at the letter, she added: "What did you write to +him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you wish to read it? It's at your service."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; it makes no difference. You're going away--that says +all--and +I--I must stay here."</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked at her as she uttered these words in an +expressionless tone, +as if only talking to herself. Her dilated eyes were fixed in a +terrified gaze, on the candles burning in the silver candlesticks as if +her life were fading and she was striving to rekindle the glimmering +spark by these tiny flames. Her face was colorless, but inexpressibly +attractive in its utter self-forgetfulness, which made the beautiful +woman seem like a helpless child that, frightened by the dread of +ghosts, files to some brilliantly lighted room and gazes straight at +the lamp, that it may see no spectral faces to right or left.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What really brings me here," she said after a pause, "is a +question I +wanted to ask you, but mind, I'm speaking to the philosopher, and not +to the friend of former days."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of <i>former</i> days?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me go on. I want to ask you whether there is any justice +on earth. +Or no, you need not answer. It's perfectly evident that gifts are +differently apportioned among men. That there is no justice, even in +heaven--not even according to the representations of religious +people--is also unquestionable, else what would become of the doctrine +of election? 'Many are called, but few chosen.' For why did not the +'so-called gods,' of whom your friend spoke that day of long ago, endow +all their creatures equally, if they had the power to be just? +Intentional partiality, voluntary malice--no, that would be too +fiendish. But now tell me, why must we endure degradation, neglect, +to better the condition of the children of happiness, yes, even +expulsion into bad company--such as you've found beneath this roof? Is +not self-defence in mortal peril allowable? To help ourselves I mean, +when one is wretched, disinherited, starving perhaps, and full dishes +are carried past him? Or do you think it a sin to break one of the ten +commandments under any circumstances? What? Are the gifts, powers, and +happiness of men to be different, and yet must they have but one rule +for their actions? Is the fainting beggar who plucks an apple from a +stranger's tree, as great a thief, as a man who has plenty to eat and +breaks into a treasury? Answer! Why may we not philosophize a little as +usual? You would find me a better pupil now, for I've gone through the +primary school and learned all the absurdities of this great world by +heart--yes indeed, by <i>heart</i>, and it ached enough at the task."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dearest friend," he replied, "if you knew how <i>my</i> heart +aches, aches +till it's ready to burst, you would ask no philosophy from me. When I +see and hear you, I have enough to do, not to give utterance to the +fiercest cry of woe that ever burst from the lips of a thinking mortal. +What could I say to you--except the most pitiful commonplaces. You +question me about the mystery of life. The clue to it, which one and +another fancies he has found, is but a new enigma; and it is equally +mysterious that there should be men who are forced to rack their brains +about this mystery until their hearts break, while others have never a +sleepless moment, but await the solution as patiently as the answer to +a charade which is to appear 'in our next number.' Meantime it is +ordered--or we must see to it ourselves--that life and its work, +thoughtless everyday work, withdraws us from our agitating search for +the solution to the riddle. Dear Toinette--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know what you're going to say," she quickly interrupted. +"My +idleness is the cause of all my sorrows. If I had something to do, I +should not have time to ponder four and twenty hours a day over what I +most lack. Is not that what you were about to say? To establish a +child's school or hospital, make clothes for deaf mutes, or in my +old age strive to cultivate a talent for painting or playing on the +piano--all I these would be delightful occupations! But I'm not +affectionate enough for one, or vain enough for the other. I don't love +human beings, my friend, I mean abstract human beings, mankind. And +yet, I know now that my only talent would have been love; but the love +I mean, is love for one man and that man's children, and because I +learned this too late--I must go to ruin--to ruin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But no," she suddenly exclaimed, and a passionate flush +crimsoned her +cheeks as she pushed the table aside and rose from the sofa. "I will +not go to ruin, will not yield the right of self-defence and suffer my +claim to happiness to be wrested from me, as it is from every +disinherited soul. Words are of no avail against the decrees of fate, +didn't you say so, Edwin? You're right, we must act, if we desire to +win the respect of the 'so-called gods;' therefore I've come to you, my +friend. Do not look at me so! You know what has brought me here, even +if a wretched remnant of cowardice does not suffer me to express it. Be +merciful, spare me, and tell me that you know all and will not thrust +me from the only place where I can find happiness--your heart, Edwin!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Toinette!" he exclaimed--but he could say no more. She had +thrown +herself into his arms and hidden her streaming eyes, her glowing lips +upon his breast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Calm yourself!" he ventured to murmur in her ear after a long +pause, +his lips touching her hair; suddenly she raised her head, and her face +wore an expression of such blended happiness and anguish, that all his +strength failed. "This is too much!" he faltered. "Spare me! You do not +know what I have suffered!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do know," she whispered amid her kisses. "I knew it in the +first +hour we were together--you're still mine, as you have ever been--you're +mine, mine--as I've been your's, ever since I became a woman."</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment the clock in the old castle tower slowly struck +twelve. +A shudder ran through the frame of the man who clasped to his heart the +woman who had been the object of his first love. It seemed as if a cold +spectral hand was passing over his heart, quenching the fierce glow +that threatened to destroy him. He released his lips from hers, and +gently pushed away the slight figure that clung to his breast. "What +have we done?" he exclaimed, retreating a step and averting his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have drunk when we were thirsty," said the impassioned +woman, +without lowering her glance. "Oh! it was but a drop on the hot stone! +Why do you no longer look into my eyes, Edwin? Are you ashamed that you +still love me, because in the old days I was childish and cold, and +knew not what I did? The curse was still upon me, the curse of my +birth, for which I've had to atone through all these years of +suffering, to become at last another creature, a happy creature, new +born through your love, Edwin! When I first saw you, early this +morning, my heart received a blow that burst the lid of the coffin in +which it was buried; and in the forest, how your every word, your +glance, the pressure of your hand said to me: 'what are four years to a +feeling that's eternal? I'm the same man, whom once you made miserable, +but now all will be well again, since my happiness is yours.' Look into +my eyes, Edwin, and tell me, if you can, that I have deceived myself!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She had approached him and taken his hand. He did not withdraw +it, but +the glance that met hers was now so sad that she shrank back and let it +fall.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have seen aright, my poor friend," he said in a hollow +tone. "I +<i>am</i> the same man, whom you made miserable. Yet nevertheless you have +deceived yourself. What is now my happiness cannot be yours. Don't you +know it? Have you entirely forgotten that I no longer belong to myself? +My life is bound to another, and this other is dearer, should be dearer +to me than my own existence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it," she replied, as she approached the little table +and +quietly rested both hands upon it. "But if it's true that this woman, +to whom in an outburst of pride and anger you gave your hand, really +loves you, will she be able to endure the sorrow, when she sees that +she alone stands in the way of your happiness? I, if placed in such a +situation, would rather die than assert a light which I had obtained in +an unguarded moment, and which had at last become a sin against the +claim of nature."</p> + +<p class="normal">He gravely shook his head. "Listen to me," he said. "Sit down +there, my +beloved friend, and let us honestly endeavor to find some way out of +this labyrinth. It would be easier for you to understand me, if you +knew the woman whose life is so firmly bound to mine that nothing can +separate us, not even what you call the claim of nature. She knows all. +I've concealed nothing of what I suffered through you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you will be silent <i>now</i>?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should not wish to be so, even if I could. There's no one +on earth, +since I lost my brother, who is so well acquainted with my every +thought, every emotion of my heart. She's really my other self, my +better self, far gentler, stronger, and more self-sacrificing than I, +and I can never think of what I owe her during these years, without +wondering at my own levity, that I do not feel oppressed by these +debts, nay that I often imagine I can repay them daily with interest. +If you knew this loving, lovely creature--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Spare me the embarrassment of knowing her now through your +description. I will go, I see I have too long--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, not so, you must not go so! You must hear me out, +Toinette. This +will perhaps be the last conversation we shall ever hold. Shall we make +the wound this parting will cause still more painful by petty +irritation? What I've told you is literally true. But if I love this +woman as my better self, I feel for the first time at this moment--no, +since early this morning--that no matter how we may estimate self-love, +it cannot become a passion, an intoxication, a rapture of mingled +happiness and misery. Oh! passion! which you call the claim of nature; +I call it fate! It will be long ere the tempest will be laid which your +kiss has roused in my soul. Now do you see that you have no reason to +be ashamed of that caress? Nature has asserted its claim, fate has had +its way; that's nothing of which mortals need be ashamed. But now the +will must assert its power, we must open our eyes and question whither +blind passion will lead us--say 'Halt!' to its further progress, and do +our duty, no matter what it costs us. Don't you think so too my brave +friend?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He waited for her assent, for a glance which would tell him +that she +agreed with him. But she was looking steadily at her clasped hands, +which rested quietly on her lap, and only after a long pause said as if +to herself:</p> + +<p class="normal">"The game's unequal. However--<i>va banque!</i>"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean, Toinette?" he replied. "Do you wish to +imply, that I +shall return to what has hitherto formed my happiness, and find it as +before, and that you will remain on the verge of the abyss? But now +answer me one question--should I offer you my hand on the spot with the +intention even at the price of my self-respect to lead you out of this +house of gilded misery, do you believe that a man who had sacrificed +for you his most sacred possessions, his duty, the proud consciousness +of self-respect, the faith he had sworn to his better self in the +person of a high hearted woman--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush!" she hastily interrupted. "It's needless to say more. +Your +admirably wise words torture me. Your talk of passion is but a form of +words. You reason, you moralize, you think of a future in which you may +repent of what you've done for me. But I, Oh! God--I've nothing but +this hour, no consciousness of what may come, or of what has been! +You're here with me, and the world beyond, all others beside ourselves, +everything which you call sin and fate and duty and remorse--I know +not. I am conscious only of this: that you're the only man on whose +breast my restless heart has tasted the bliss of one moment's +repose--never, never to taste it again, and he stands and +philosophizes, while I--am dying!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Her eyes, which became gloomily fixed upon vacancy, suddenly +overflowed +with tears, she convulsively pressed her hands to her face and burst +into uncontrollable sobs.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Toinette!" he exclaimed, "by all the saints, you wrong me. +I--if you +suspected what a superhuman battle I am fighting, what torture that +moment in which you tasted repose has conjured up for me--Toinette, be +merciful--spare me--let us help each other, instead of aiding each +other to be wretched. No one else will help us. We have no belief in +the eternal torments of hell, in an avenging God, or a redeeming +Saviour. But we know what is right, Toinette, we know that all the +bliss of love's greatest rapture would become a poison, if bought with +the heart's blood of others whom we were compelled to sacrifice. We +look for no eternity, in which to atone for the sins of the present. We +can only be honest and brave and good here upon earth, and we will be, +my poor love, for you have an heroic soul, which can find its real +happiness only in refusing to be bowed by any fate, and in conquering +or dying in the conflict."</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused, and bending over her laid his hand upon her head, +as in the +old days he had stroked Balder's curls. Suddenly she started, her +tearful eyes wandered around the room in bewilderment, and she said +hastily: "Do you hear nothing? Steps are approaching along the +corridor. Who can it be? but no matter! What is to come, may come--"</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a low knock at the door, then it was quickly but +cautiously +opened, though only wide enough to enable some person to speak. "The +Herr Count is coming up the stairs," said a woman's voice. "I think he +is on his way here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well, Rose," replied the countess, hastily wiping her +eyes. "Come +in and sit down yonder. This is the only person who is faithful to me," +she continued turning to Edwin, as a tall, homely, pock-marked woman +entered, and without even casting a curious glance at the pair, seated +herself in the chair beside the bed. "If I had not had Rose, to whom I +can tell everything--how do you know the count is coming here, Rose?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know, but I'm almost sure of it. The rest of the +company went +to their rooms half an hour ago. The Herr Count remained alone in the +blue drawing room, I could see him from your chamber, standing at the +window. His Excellency's rooms were dark, and besides he never comes up +here at this hour. Only the Herr Doctor's apartment was lighted. I saw +the Herr Count look up here--then he suddenly drew back--I thought he +might perhaps have something to say to the Herr Doctor. There, hark! +Don't you hear him now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">All listened silently. A hesitating step approached over the +carpeted +floor of the lofty, vaulted corridor, paused as if irresolute, and then +approached Edwin's room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What shall we say to him?" whispered Edwin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing. He would not understand the truth. Don't you say a +word to +him; I know how he must be addressed."</p> + +<p class="normal">The next moment there was a knock at the door, and the count +entered.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">His first glance fell upon Toinette, who sat on the sofa in +the full +light of the candles. Evidently surprised, but without losing his +self-control, he paused on the threshold and looked at the two others +with an inquiring glance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm disturbing you," he said coldly. "I saw you still had a +light in +your room, Herr Doctor, and wanted to say a few words to you. If I'd +been aware, that I should not find you alone--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You interrupt our conversation just at the right time," said +Toinette +calmly, without avoiding her husband's glance. "We've been +philosophizing a little, as we used to do in old times; there's no end +to that, especially when people look at things from such different +points of view. Rose almost fell asleep over it. We'll have another +argument to-morrow, dear friend. I think I shall finally convince and +overpower you. My best troops are yet to be brought into the field."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let us conclude a truce," said Edwin with a painful effort. +"Really, +Countess, another such victory, and my cause will be lost."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, Doctor, you won't escape so. Do you know that he +means to +leave us early to-morrow morning? I shall make you responsible for his +stay. And now good night. I won't trouble the gentlemen to escort me to +my room. Come, Rose, it's time to go to sleep, and we have still to +hold a council about my toilette."</p> + +<p class="normal">She rose hastily, held out her hand to Edwin not daring to +raise her +eyes to his, nodded to her husband and left the room with her faithful +maid. The two men stood face to face for a moment in silence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it true that you're going?" said the count at last.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see I had already taken leave of you," replied Edwin, +pointing to +the letter, which still lay on the table. "I thought I should do you a +favor by avoiding any verbal explanation, in relation to a matter which +is painful both to you and to myself, and unfortunately hopeless also."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you, too, think we must fear--" He pointed to his +forehead.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin was silent. He was reflecting, whether a tacit agreement +might +not perhaps afford a means of escape. He rejected the subterfuge.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have appealed to my old friendship for your wife, Herr +Count," +said he. "I owe it to her, and to yourself, to tell the truth; how +matters have reached this point, and what share wrong and misfortune +have played, I cannot and will not attempt to decide. But in the +present condition of affairs, I see but one means of salvation--to +restore her freedom. Misfortune is inevitable, if this state of things +continues--not the one you or the doctors fear: I've never seen a +clearer brain or more gloomy soul than the countess has. She'll not +lose her reason, but probably with entire deliberation go to +destruction."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mean, Doctor--she might--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know that she has never particularly loved life, that she +hates it +now, and that it will not require much to burst the overloaded vessel. +I shall leave this house early to-morrow morning, Herr Count. My +presence can avail nothing, prevent nothing. But once more I entreat +you to make a hasty, strong, and noble resolution, consent to a +separation, if you wish to preserve this precious life. This is the +only way of rescuing what still remains to be saved. Perhaps the future +will voluntarily restore what you can no longer hold by force."</p> + +<p class="normal">The count had approached the window, and with folded arms was +gazing +out into the night. Suddenly he turned, so that the candle light fell +full upon his deeply flushed face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm very grateful to you, Herr Doctor," he said with icy +coldness, +"for having communicated to me your--of course humble--opinion. In +regard to what I ought to do or leave undone, you'll permit me to +consult my own wishes, and decline friendly suggestions with my best +thanks. For the rest, I regret that you have reasons for leaving my +house to-morrow, but as I cannot boast of so old a friendship with you +as the countess, it would be indiscreet to inquire into these motives +in order perhaps to set them aside. I wish you a pleasant journey. A +carriage will be ready to convey you to the railway station at any hour +you may desire. Once more accept my most sincere thanks for the delay I +have caused you, and if you should ever come into this neighborhood +again--" He bowed carelessly to Edwin, whose tongue seemed paralysed, +and with a calm smile and patronizing wave of the hand left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And this is the end!" burst from the oppressed heart of the +man who +was left alone. He went to the table, took the note and tore it into +tiny fragments. A feeling of bitter sorrow, in which all thought of the +past and future were merged, overwhelmed him, his mind seemed to be in +a dull stupor, a heavyweight rested on his breast, which he tried to +throw off by long panting sighs; he took no note of time; not until the +clock struck two did he rouse himself from this bewilderment, and +remember that for more than an hour he had been standing in the same +spot, gazing at the same figure on the silk tapestry. His limbs had +grown stiff, and his joints ached as he walked toward his bed. He threw +himself on the silk coverlid, still in his clothes, which he no longer +thought it worth while to remove, and closed his eyes. The candles were +still burning, and the moon shone so brightly into the window, that +sleep refused to visit his eyelids. As if he were haunted by the +illusions of fever, voices echoed in his ear Toinette's passionate +confessions, his own wise answers, which had had so little power over +his own heart, and the count's cold, formal words, which whenever they +recurred to his memory sent the hot blood to his brow. Moreover, a +faint perfume of violets surrounded him, which recalled the moment when +her curls had rested on his breast; he fancied he felt her glowing lips +press his, her tears on his cheek, her exquisite form in his arms, +clinging to him as a shipwrecked sailor stretches out his arms toward +the land.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is too much!" he faltered--"I would that daylight were +here and +I were a thousand miles away!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly the candles flickered and expired. He started up, and +saw the +first grey light of morning creeping over the trees. "It's time," said +he, "quite time! This is not a house in which I can sleep."</p> + +<p class="normal">He dipped his face in the wash basin, rubbed his cheeks and +temples +till the last lingering odor of violets had been washed away, then with +trembling hands seized his traveling satchel, threw the strap over his +shoulder, and left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">No one met him as he passed along the dark corridors and down +the wide +staircase. Beside the main entrance was the room occupied by the +porter, who slept with his door open and looked up in alarm when he saw +a guest standing equipped for travel so early in the morning. The +thaler he felt in his hand only partially enlightened him, he nodded +sleepily when Edwin told him to give his compliments to his master and +to say to him that he had set out before daybreak, because he preferred +to walk in the cool of the morning. The man then opened the little side +door adjoining the main entrance and took leave of the departing guest +with an awkward bow.</p> + +<p class="normal">The dogs barked as Edwin crossed the wide courtyard, but he +met no +human being. Outside were the dark woods, veiled by the light +transparent haze of early dawn, and a heavy dew was beginning to fall. +Like a flying criminal who avoids the highways, Edwin turned and +plunged into the dense shadow of a side path. The burden that would not +suffer him to breathe freely still rested on his heart, but his senses +were cooled by the fresh air of the forest, and his rapid pace did him +good. At last he came to a spot which he remembered to have visited the +day before. In a field appeared the solitary farm house, with its steep +gable roof and an open barn by the road side tempted him to rest a +moment. The floor was covered with sheaves, and the air full of the +strong odor of the fresh wheat. He threw himself down in the first +corner, and although he intended to remain awake in order to be far on +his way when the sun rose, the many exciting scenes of the previous day +made sleep overpower him irresistibly.</p> + +<p class="normal">The farmer's servants found him there, when a few hours later +they came +to commence their work. But as they remembered having seen him the day +before, and as he had liberally rewarded the boy who had shown him the +way, they glided softly out to let him sleep a little longer, wondering +among themselves that a gentleman who was a guest at the castle, should +prefer a couch of straw. When the sun had risen higher, the farmer +himself came to the barn, this time determined to wake the stranger. +The countess' maid had come to ask whether the gentleman who had been +there yesterday had not called again. He had suddenly disappeared from +the castle, and she had a message for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the sleeper started up, the girl was standing with her +back to the +light, which entered through the barn door, and had a thick veil over +her face. Edwin drew back. At the first glance, still under the +influence of his dream, he fancied that he saw before him the woman +from whom he had resolved to fly. Her voice first undeceived him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The countess wishes you a pleasant journey, regrets that the +Herr +Doctor did not take leave of her himself, and begs him to read the +letter she sends, as it contains a commission which is of great +importance to her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does she want an answer?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The faithful girl shook her head, declined almost with an air +of +offence the money he tried to press upon her, and instantly left the +barn.</p> + +<p class="normal">No sooner was Edwin alone, than he read the following lines, +which were +hastily scrawled with a pencil.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>You've gone, you fly from me, I expected nothing different. But +you'll come back, I know, and then you will never leave me again. +Edwin! What a night! What a fate! I've examined my own hearty mentally +reviewed all your cruel, honest words--all are right--but here power +overcomes right. We belong to each other, Edwin, we were created for +each other from the beginning; how else would it have been possible for +your love to continue despite our separation, and me tardy, sorrowful +recognition that you're the only man, to whom I owe all I have and +am,--all; honor, life, soul, and body. You're going now, Edwin. You'll +try to forget me. Do so! You must first learn that all resistance is +unavailing, that when you do yield, you may submit to the superior +power of Nature without a murmur, without remorse. Then we'll be happy, +my beloved--I will make you happy. Oh! I'm so rich; my treasure was +only buried, evil spirits guarded the spot. But I know the word that +will break the spell--and it will be yours, and I shall know wherefore +I live. Till then farewell, unless it be a mockery to say it; for how +can you fare well when you may not clasp me to your breast. As for me I +have became accustomed to the pain of your absence; I have spent four +years in this seeming death, and only lived two moments--on your heart. +But let us not torture ourselves-don't be too long--we've so much lost +time to retrieve. When you come I shall have arranged all, the place of +our refuge, the way to reach it, everything except how it will seem +when you are free and mine, and tell me that you love me;--there my +thoughts fail!--</i></p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="sc">INETTE</span>."</p> + +<p class="normal">The sun is high in the heavens, as a traveler walks along the road +which leads from the railway station to the count's castle. The +stalwart figure of our old friend, Heinrich Mohr, is recognizable at +the first glance; the bold face and shapely cut nose we remember but +not the cheerful expression that hovers around the lips and forms so +striking a contrast to the scornful defiance which once marked the +mouth.</p> + +<p class="normal">He arrived by the early morning train, and on receiving +Edwin's note, +which he found awaiting him, instantly set off on foot in order to +reach the castle before the heat of noon. As hat in hand, he walks +along the little foot path beside the highway, whistling and looking up +into the overhanging foliage, he seems a type of perfect strength and +happiness. And yet something is apparently lacking. Suddenly pausing he +draws forth a pocket book, in which is pasted the photograph of a +little boy not quite three years old, with a grave earnest face, and +gazes at it as intently as if it were a map of the country which he +carried to guide him on his way. And in fact this child's face has +shown him the way to a happy, peaceful life.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just as he closes the pocket book, he sees some one +approaching him. +"Edwin!" he calls. "Gracious Heaven, how do you chance to be here? You +look as if you'd just risen from the grave. Eternal Gods! What has +happened?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin paused. Mohr saw him move his lips without emitting a +sound; then +he tried to smile, but he only accomplished a sorrowful distortion of +the face. He looked as pale as if he had not a drop of blood in his +veins, his eyes were sunken, and his hat was thrust far back on his +head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heinrich!" he gasped at last, with a violent effort, "it's +well that I +have met you--I--I don't know what might have happened--it was too much +at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But man, speak, tell me--where--what has occurred--have you +seen a +ghost?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've said it, Heinz--and it will not leave me in peace. +Listen, but +don't tell any one; I'm the old Tannhäuser and come straight from--"</p> + +<p class="normal">His voice failed, his eyes suddenly closed, his knees +trembled, and if +Mohr had not hastily sprung forward, his head would have struck the +trunk of a oak which stood close to the road.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment a traveling carriage, piled with luggage and +drawn +by four handsome horses from the count's stable, passed them. The +fair-haired princess was leaning back on the cushions beside Prince +Batároff, the young prince occupied the front seat, and beside him, +laughing and talking in the gayest manner, was Lorinser.</p> + +<p class="normal">The travelers' servants, a maid and two valets, followed in a +light +hunting carriage, engaged in eager conversation, while a bottle of wine +from the castle cellar circulated freely between them and the count's +groom, who was driving.</p> + +<p class="normal">No one in either carriage noticed the group on the foot path, +or heard +Mohr's call to stop and take in the fainting man. Not until they had +passed, did Mohr, who looked after them cursing the cold hearts of +aristocrats, see the face of his mortal enemy. The blood froze in his +veins, and he let his friend fall from his arms as if about to rush +after the carriage. Then he suddenly regained his composure.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Drive on," he murmured. "That devil's no longer to be feared. +We have +here to deal with other powers of darkness!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>BOOK VI.</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Three or four hour's ride by rail from the scene of these +incidents is +situated the little Thuringian city where Edwin had become a teacher of +mathematics and Franzelius had founded his printing office. The house +for whose purchase Papa Feyertag had advanced his son-in-law a +considerable sum, stood on the principal street, and the unpretending +old front bore a striking resemblance to a proof sheet stained with +printer's ink and scrawled over with various marks and dashes. Only the +sign over the door, was new, and bore in white letters on a black +ground the inscription: "Printing done by Reinhold Franzelius." It was +an old one story frame buildings with, a tile roof blackened by age and +as high as the house itself, and it contained, besides the work shop, a +number of chambers for the journeymen, and store rooms for paper and +other articles. On entering the house, the door to the left bore the +sign "office," and to the right was the entrance to the composing room, +from which a narrow passage led into the back building, where the +presses were.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the upper story, in a plainly furnished but spacious +sitting room, +sat two women, in whom we recognize the fair-haired Reginchen from +Dorotheenstrasse, now Frau Franzelius, and the zaunkönig's daughter, +now Frau Doctor Edwin. The years that have elapsed have not passed over +the heads of either without leaving their traces, but the changes show +to the advantage of both. When we last saw Leah, she was lying on the +green sofa in the family sitting room at the 'Venetian palace,' with +haggard cheeks paled by hopeless passion, and we were only permitted to +see how the expiring spark of her young existence was rekindled by the +touch of love. Since that time her life has expanded into a quiet, +soul-full beauty, which is not striking at the first glance, but soon +shows the more thoughtful observer that there must be something unusual +about the young wife. She still wears her hair as she did in the days +other girlhood, wound in heavy braids about her head, and fastened +behind with two silver pins, almost in the style of the peasant girls +of Rome or Albano. The delicate, softly rounded oval face has grown +fuller, and no longer wears a sickly pallor, but the complexion is +still of alabaster whiteness, so that the eyes, which are her most +beautiful feature, glow with a still darker lustre. It would be +difficult to say what was most attractive in the countenance, the quick +intelligence of the eyes, or the sweet gentleness expressed in the +curves of the full lips. Even her figure has gained an added charm, +although her matronly dignity makes it more perceptible than ever that +the grand outlines of the head would have better suited a prouder +figure. But when she is seated this is not noticeable, especially when +she laughs, when the thoughtful eyes and kindly mouth harmonize so +perfectly, that no one could desire any alteration in the young wife's +appearance.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reginchen, who sits beside her in a light flowered calico +dress, with +her fair hair brushed plainly under an almost coquettish little white +cap, has also perceptibly gained in beauty and fullness of figure, nay +her form, once as slender as a swallow's seems disposed to +<i>embonpoint</i>. But the round, childish face, on the contrary, has +elongated, the rapid merry upward glance of the blue eyes is changed +for an expression of quiet cheerfulness, only sometimes darkened by a +slight cloud, when the noise made by the two little black haired boys +grows too loud, or one or both, in playing with a large brown rocking +horse, stumbles over his brother's legs. These two little fellows, now +just three years old, are the famous twins, Edwin and Balder, whom +Reginchen gave her Reinhold in the first year of their marriage. They +are, as Edwin has already told Marquard, ridiculously like their +father, grave, black eyed, white-teethed little prodigies, with voices +which really afford a most favorable augury for the future of the young +tribunes of the people, who despite their turbulent, unruly conduct, +are the kindest hearted little fellows in the world, and cling to their +mother in particular with such wild, jealous tenderness, that when both +fall upon her at once, Reginchen is in considerable danger of being +strangled and suffocated by her own children. Totally unlike these +comical miniature editions of their father, is the youngest child, a +delicate, quiet, fair-haired little girl about a year old, still a +nursling, and whose presence a blind man would scarcely notice. The +father declared her Balder's living image, and racked his brains for a +long time to try whether this child, whom he loves with special +tenderness, could not be given some name which would likewise recall +his never to be forgotten friend. But Reginchen, willingly as she +indulges her Reinhold's every wish, had a decided objection to +Baldriane or Waltharia, and insisted that this tender spring blossom +should bear her grandmother's honest name, Friederike, to which, since +Reginchen, as the true daughter of a shoemaker, and knows how to put +down her little foot at times, he made no objection.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Leah, as was her daily habit during Edwin's absence, came +at +twilight to see her friend and neighbor, the latter had just nursed the +child and was holding it quietly in her lap, where it was falling +asleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Excuse me if I remain seated," she said in a low voice, +though the two +young bawlers, the twins, had no respect for their little sister's +slumber. "Riekchen is just going to sleep; I can lay her in the cradle +in a few minutes. I'm so glad you've come. We should have sent for you +to-day at any rate. Father's here; he arrived unexpectedly without any +other reason than because he couldn't live any longer without seeing +the two boys. He scarcely looked at Riekchen--to be sure, it will be a +long time," she continued with a low laugh, "before the dear child is +old enough for the 'explosive effect' father's always talking about. He +asked about you, too, and wanted to go at once to give you a message +from your parents, but he began to talk to my Reinhold in the old +strain about progress and the welfare of the people, and they didn't +stop till it grew dark, and as it's Sunday evening Reinhold took him to +the workmen's union. There, now she's asleep, now the pet can be put +down. Have you shaken hands with Aunt Leah, boys? They look horribly. +Their father brought home some chocolate cigars, and its no use to wash +them. Will you keep quiet, you little good for nothings?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Little Edwin, after hastily shaking hands with Leah, had +climbed on the +sofa, clasped both arms around his mother's neck, rumpled her cap, and +pressed his curly black head against her's, playing all sorts of tricks +and stammering loving words in his broken language. Balder was also +endeavoring to climb up the other side of the sofa, so that the +sleeping child opened her large blue eyes again and stared with a +frightened gaze at the black kobold. Leah could not help laughing, and +hastily went forward to take the sweet little thing in her arms. The +maid-servant was called in to assist, and her powerful arms at last +succeeded in pulling the wild twins away from their mother and out of +the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They'll kill me!" exclaimed Reginchen in comic despair, as +Leah +re-entered. "Reinhold might manage them, but he only laughs instead of +helping me. And I, with the best intentions--but sit down, dearest, and +let's talk to each other a little while. You can't imagine how much +trouble it costs me to get a half hour to myself. How often I envy you +your quiet house, and you have the whole day to read and write and +think. I, with our great household, and the care of all the workmen, to +whom I fill a mother's place--isn't it comical," she laughed, fastening +her cap straight again, "to look at me and think what I used to be, and +what I am now. It would be a sin to complain, but I'm sorry for one +thing--that there's no chance of my husband's teaching me anything, as +I am always begging him to do. But in the evening, when I have him an +hour to myself and might read and learn something, my eyes close, and +the finest poem or novel is not half as delightful as my bed. When I +complain of this to Reinhold, he laughs at me. He thinks I'm well +educated enough; he's still so much in love, that he doesn't see my +deficiencies. But when I get to be an old woman and sit with my old +husband, and can scarcely understand half the things he's thinking and +writing--well, it will be his own fault, so he can't complain. I only +speak of it, because it always gives me a pang when you find me so +among the children--and I can't divide any of the blessing with you. +But you see every joy has its thorns, even that which seems most +enviable. You, as a compensation, live alone with your husband, and he +tells you everything he thinks, and you two are so completely one all +day long that you needn't desire anything else. Ain't I right, +dearest?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She had nestled close to her silent friend, who listened with +a +peculiar, almost triumphant smile. "You're a little hypocrite," she now +said, taking Reginchen's face between her hands and pressing a hasty +kiss upon her brow. "You know very well, how I feel beside you--and +because you've a kind heart and love me, want to make me believe you'd +sell your three children for the title of Doctor, you wicked mother. +But just because you were only acting, and I, with all my culture, am +not so skillful in hypocrisy as you--you cunning child of nature--come, +let me whisper something in your ear, that no one has yet heard--not +even he who has the best right to hear it--and you must also promise me +that not a soul shall know it, not even he from whom you usually have +no secrets. Your hand upon it, Ginchen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She held out her hand for her friend to clasp; but the wife +and mother +started up with a cry of joy, that vividly recalled the little house +swallow of former days, exclaiming: "Is it true? Are you sure? Oh! +dear, dearest Leah--" and she threw her arms around her neck in a +tumult of the most enthusiastic delight; "let me kiss and hug and +congratulate you, and no seven seals shall close my mouth, since I +guessed it before you said a word, and besides how could I conceal it? +Reinhold always says he reads my face better than a page printed in the +clearest type, the tease! and now your father and mother--everything +will be well again, and I take back every word I just said, merely to +drive away your longing. No! without a child--all the learning of a +whole library couldn't make me happy, or you either, dearest, and +because I knew that, I've always half grudged myself my own happiness, +and often--God forgive me the sin--thought whether it wouldn't be +better, if we didn't live in the same city; that's all my wickedness, +and now I'll keep still and you shall punish me soundly for my deceit, +and then let me kiss you for the good news. Merciful Heavens, what will +Edwin say!"</p> + +<p class="normal">During this enthusiastic outburst of joy she had been dancing +about the +room like a crazy person, and now suddenly sat down in Leah's lap, +threw her arms around her, and humbly bent her head, as if expecting +the chastisement would be given in good earnest. Leah bent toward her. +"You're a sweet child," she said, secretly drying her tearful eyes in +Reginchen's hair. "Come, be sensible. And I'm entirely in earnest about +keeping the matter a secret. Who knows whether I may not be +disappointed? Have I not twice cherished the hope, only to be doubly +unhappy? That's why Edwin must know nothing about it until I'm +perfectly sure. Oh! darling, I'll never, never forget that you have +rejoiced with me. It seems as if I had discovered to-day, for the first +time, that you really love me, and what a precious treasure you are. +The man would not deserve you at all, who would question of the books +you had read or the subjects you were able to discuss."</p> + +<p class="normal">They held each other in a close embrace, and then with all the +unwearied energy of a woman's fancy, Reginchen began to picture the +happy future Leah might now expect. But she insisted that she should be +required to keep the secret from her Reinhold only so long as Edwin +himself knew nothing of it. She asked when he would return. Since the +arrival of the letter Edwin had written at the hotel, which was now +four days old, Leah had not heard from him, and therefore concluded he +would not remain much longer away. "This is the first time," said she, +"that we've been separated so many days, and I know that if he didn't +consider it necessary for his health, he wouldn't have stayed half so +long."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But it's strange he doesn't write oftener," said Reginchen. +"When my +Reinhold has to go to Leipsic on business, I get half a dozen letters +from him. You must train your husband better. Besides writing's his +trade."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't know him, dearest. Precisely because he's in the +habit of +telling me everything, it's hard for him to communicate with me, even +an hour every day, by his pen. He feels a sort of defiance against the +separation. He won't learn to be satisfied with a little, and if he +can't have all, prefers to get nothing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It may be so," replied her friend. "Besides, it always seems +to me as +if you two really didn't need to speak to each other at all, but +exchanged your thoughts without the aid of words. But only let little +Leah come, and she'll give you some entirely new thoughts. Reinhold's +letters and mine contain nothing but anecdotes about the children; if +any one else should read them, he would laugh at us. But we're +perfectly serious."</p> + +<p class="normal">Steps ascending the staircase interrupted these confidential +outpourings. The father-in-law and son-in-law, who had returned from +the workmen's meeting, entered, Franzelius exactly the same us in the +old days, only thanks to his little wife, with hair somewhat more +smoothly brushed and cravat more evenly tied, while the black eyes +under the bushy brows beamed with a quiet, almost shy expression of +love and happiness, which he owed to the same little wife also. Papa +Feyertag, on the contrary, was scarcely recognizable. The once +benevolent face, with its smile of superiority, had assumed a strangely +eager, excited expression, which together with a half grown grey +moustache rendered it by no means attractive. Instead of the neat, +quiet dress which he was in the habit of wearing on Sundays in his +shop, his short, thick set figure was clad in the fashionable garb of a +tourist, a mustard colored shade of cloth, variegated with little +points and dots from head to foot, and in addition a ridiculous little +hat with a blue ribbon. He was heated, and seemed to break off an angry +conversation with his son-in-law as he perceived the visitor. Reginchen +cast a hasty glance at her husband, which the latter answered with a +slight shrug of the shoulders, but when a lamp was brought in and the +simple supper placed upon the table, the cheerful mood that usually +reigned in the household soon returned, and even the old gentleman +became more good natured. He told Leah that his wife, who had never +been farther from Berlin than Potsdam or the Müggelsee, had this time +also obstinately refused to visit her daughter in her own house. She +declared she could not eat anything that was not cooked in Berlin +water, and during the one night she spent at Potsdam, she had been +unable to close her eyes, because there were no good beds out of +Berlin. "What's to be done, dear Frau Doctorin? Women are women. I +tried to conquer her by rousing her jealousy, and threatened to +persuade the Frau Professorin, I mean Madame König, your step-mother, +to come with me, as your father unfortunately cannot stir from home on +account of his gout. She knows I think your mother a very beautiful +lady, in spite of her forty-five years, and we're always joking +together. But she also knew very well, that it was only a joke, for +that young couple--your parents I mean--can't be so easily separated. +They gave me the kindest messages for you, and asked why you didn't +come to Berlin. After all, you owe it to your parents to do so, and you +might be so comfortable in their new house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A teacher of mathematics, who has learned how to calculate +and has +opportunities in abundance for doing so, doesn't find it as easy to +travel, as a house-owner in the capital," replied Leah with a faint +blush. "Besides Edwin needs his vacations to regain his strength, and +Berlin, as he always says, is a great human mill, where one is ground +to powder in a fortnight."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, he lived there more than fourteen years, and was always +well," +said the old man. "'But every one to his taste.'" He, for instance, +could not endure to stay six months in such a little place as this +town, where his children lived. He should feel like a great pike that +had wandered into stagnant water and could not find its way back to the +flowing river again. "The future, dear Frau Doctorin," he continued, +"belongs to the great cities; smaller ones are dying out. I shall not +live to see the day--but you and my children may perhaps do so, at any +rate the little ones sleeping yonder--when Germany will have no cities +nearer to each other than fifty miles; but then to be sure each will be +a city indeed, containing at least eight hundred thousand inhabitants, +without counting the suburbs. The culture which the present time +demands of men, is not possible to be attained without great means and +the arts and sciences can be properly fostered only in the great +centres of commerce. I heard a lecture delivered before our society," +he continued, "which will soon appear in print. I will send you a copy +as soon as it is published."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And where's the bread and meat for the great cities to come +from, dear +father?" asked Franzelius, who had been silently listening, and +meantime making great havoc in these two articles, which his wife had +set before him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's the business of the railroads," replied the shoemaker, +without +the slightest embarrassment. "The country people, or rather the members +of the great rural industrial societies, will go out every morning +through the open country, till the fields, attend to the cattle, and +return by rail in the evening to the city, which they'll reach in time +to witness William Tell or hear Lucca. Why should these worthy people +be forever excluded from all education and culture, merely because +hitherto no theatres, concerts, and universities have existed in the +villages?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They'll have to stay in the country over night very often +during the +haying season," Franzelius dryly remarked.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man cast a side glance at him, to see if he were in +jest or +earnest, but no satirical lines were to be discovered in his +son-in-law's open, honest face. Nevertheless the old apostle of +progress, evidently irritated, relapsed into silence, and it was long +ere Leah could succeed in restoring him to his former cheerful mood. +She told him of Heinrich Mohr's happy marriage and fatherly pride, and +asked about Reginchen's brother, who was also married and had obtained +an excellent position in Russia, as engineer of a new railroad. At +intervals her eyes sometimes met those of the little fair-haired wife, +twinkling merrily with joy over the secret so recently disclosed, as if +they wanted to ask: "what's all this chatter to the great news we both +know of?"</p> + +<p class="normal">When the clock struck nine, in spite of Reginchen's +remonstrances, Leah +prepared for her departure. She knew that the members of the household +retired early and rose betimes. When she was about to shake hands with +Herr Feyertag also, he declared he would not be refused the pleasure of +escorting her home. "It's only around the corner," said Leah, "and this +is such a small town, that the streets are perfectly safe at night +without masculine protection." But the old man would not be denied. He +seized his little hat with the blue ribbon, patted his daughter on the +back, and shook hands with his son-in-law somewhat formally. They need +not wait up for him, he said. He could not retire so early, and would +stroll about in search of adventure.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they found themselves in the street and about twenty +paces from +the house, the singular man suddenly stopped short and said to his +companion:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've probably perceived, Frau Doctorin, that I have +something on my +mind. Do you know the real object of my coming here? It was not, as my +daughter thinks, on account of the two black haired boys, though I love +the little fellows well enough to eat them, but because of a dream. You +see, a short time ago, I came home rather late from one of our +meetings, where there had been some very good speeches, and fretted +before I fell asleep, because I was always obliged to hold my tongue, +since, as my friend the assessor says, I've taken rather a passive than +an active part in education. 'Well,' I thought, 'every one has not the +gift of being a great orator, and he who makes comfortable boots for +people does his share toward healthful progress.' Just then I fell +asleep, and just imagine what I dreamed. I was standing out of doors on +the parade ground, and suddenly I saw something dark coming toward me, +moving in regular rank and file, and making a great deal of dust; but +the columns were very low, not more than two feet above the ground. As +it drew nearer, what did I see? Nothing but boots and shoes, regularly +divided into regiments, like an army, according to the various styles; +jackboots, dancing shoes, slippers, spatter-dashes, in short everything +that has ever been manufactured in a shoe-maker's shop, and in fact, as +I instantly recognized by the shape and workmanship, in my own. Now I +knew at once, without being told by any one, that these were the boots +and shoes which had passed through my hands since the time I was +apprenticed; the collected work, so to speak, of my life. 'Now,' a +voice seemed to say, 'you can see what you've accomplished in this +world, and whether you've any right to imagine you've been of any +special aid to progress.' I tell you, Frau Doctorin, it was horrible to +see how the little black army, exactly like the roaches and beetles on +a kitchen hearth, thronged past me into the Thiergarten and through the +Brandenbourg-Gate--mere feet without any bodies--and I stood there like +a beaten cur, covering my face with my hands, and at last, in spite of +my horror, unable to keep from laughing aloud which awoke me.</p> + +<p class="normal">"When I told the dream to my wife, she only said in her quiet +way: 'Now +you see what comes of your stupid fancies, Feyertag. The vision means +nothing but: "Cobbler stick to your last!"' I made no reply, I know how +limited her views are, and women are women. But I've made a firm +resolution to have nothing more to do with shoe-making. The rest of my +life I will devote to higher purposes, caring for the head instead of +the feet, helping those whom people try to stretch on the same last +till they get moral corns--I mean grow stupid--and to getting the air, +which is called freedom of thought. I instantly said to myself: 'your +son-in-law is just the right man to aid you. You must get him, and then +set off on a journey; he has the tongue, you the money, like Moses and +Aaron, and then you can visit the various workmen's societies and +every-where provide for true culture and enlightenment.' But would you +believe that the man, who formerly made such fine speeches, and wrote +articles on every conceivable subject, can't be induced to move in the +matter. When I explained my plan to him to-day, he looked at me very +quietly, and only said: 'That's all very fine, father, but I can't help +you; my business will not permit me to go wandering about the world.' +And in the evening he took me to a workman's society he has established +here, where every thing was quiet and orderly, it must be admitted, but +where there was no display of rhetoric at all. Reinhold had brought a +book written by a certain Buckle, about civilization and the history of +the world and such things. But it was terribly prosy and +circumstantial, there was not a trace of vital questions, points of +view, and humane learning, and much of it was incomprehensible to me, +so that I wondered they all listened so quietly, as if to a sermon. +When the reading was over, I thought: 'Surely Feyertag, you ought to +open the horizon of the capital to these provincial people, and I began +very fluently to make a speech; for my friend, the assessor, had said +something like it day before yesterday, and I've long been familiar +with rhetorical tricks and practice them every day before my +apprentices in the work-shop. I only lacked courage in Berlin. But do +you suppose it made any impression on these country block-heads? +Neither the absolute and the ablative nor realism had the slightest +effect--I might as well have talked to the walls! Of course, in such +stagnant water, people have no idea what the stream of the spirit of +the age, and purpose, and representation, and the French Revolution, +and self-government--you know what I mean, Frau Doctorin. But these +narrow minds! When I concluded and asked whether any one wished to +discuss the matter, only one man rose; he said he had not understood +me, I must explain what I meant more clearly. But Reinhold looked at +his watch and said it was too late for this evening; they could return +to the subject at the next meeting. But I clearly saw that he only +wanted to prevent me from interfering with his Buckle's civilization, +and therefore closed the meeting. He has grown narrow-minded, Frau +Doctorin, his wife and children and his business--everything else is a +matter of indifference to him. He didn't tell me as plainly as my old +wife did, but it amounted to the same thing--I'd better stick to my +last."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's your own fault, Herr Feyertag," replied Leah smiling, +while the +old man took a pinch of snuff from his little box. "Why did you make +our friend so happy, by giving him the most charming wife in the world, +so that he's now far too well satisfied with his own little family +circle, to think of roaming about the world. Stay a few weeks here and +see how he provides, not only for himself, but for all who share his +labor, and you'll surely no longer be angry with him because he wants +to stick to his last."</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr Feyertag's only reply was a shake of the head. Meantime +they had +reached Leah's home, a low one story house in a side street, where +there was not even a light burning. The maid-servant had heard them +coming, and appeared at the door with a little lamp.</p> + +<p class="normal">"When will your husband come back?" asked the old man sighing. +"He, I +hope, will understand me, and make the matter clear to Reinhold, too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm expecting him very soon. But you must come and see me +to-morrow at +any rate, and we'll discuss this subject farther. Believe me, dear Herr +Feyertag, you'll not accomplish much with Edwin either. We're so happy +in our narrow sphere, and he in particular, feels that without moving +from this place, he can influence the whole world--I doubt very much +whether he'll approve or support your plan. However--I won't prejudice +him though. Good night."</p> + +<p class="normal">She cordially shook hands with him, and then entered the +house, while +the disappointed shoemaker, drawing the hat with the blue ribbon low +over his brow, walked back muttering and gesticulating to the main +street, to find at some ale house more appreciative souls.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">The ground floor of the house where Edwin and Leah had lived +four +years, was arranged in the simplest manner; three little rooms and a +chamber for the maid-servant, or, as Edwin said, no longer one tun but +three small ones and a band-box. The room looking out upon the street, +however, had two large windows; one was occupied by Edwin's desk, the +other by the artist's table from the Venetian palace. The old furniture +had also been brought to the little town, the book-case with the two +busts, the green sofa on which Leah had rested when she gave Edwin her +hand, over it the two engravings of Raphael's pictures, which had hung +above the brothers' beds, and close by, on a pedestal, a cast of the +bust of Leah's mother. The only new thing was a harmonium, a bridal +present from Frau Valentin, who knew how Edwin loved music. As he cared +less for master pieces and their perfect execution, than for the +elementary magic of harmony, Leah's art was sufficient to conjure this +spell from the full toned instrument.</p> + +<p class="normal">The other art, of which she was mistress, she had eagerly +cultivated. +She had no lack of time, she said with a sorrowful smile. Edwin, even +during his most arduous mental labor, liked to have her in the same +room, quietly occupied with her painting, often for hours exchanging +only a glance; or he stood behind her chair, looked silently at her +work and gently smoothed her dark hair, as he used to stroke Balder's +fair mane. Then she would glance smilingly up into his face, until he +bent over her and kissed her lips. He said her presence helped him to +think. Certain subtle psychological revelations would never have come +to him, but for this quiet enlarging and supplementing of his nature +through his other self. Frequently he was not even conscious of her +presence in any other way than as his right hand while writing was +aware that the left rested upon the paper. And yet the sheet would +often become displaced, if both hands did not share in the work.</p> + +<p class="normal">As she now returned to the cosy room, and after sending the +maid-servant to-bed, sat down in her "inspiration corner," as Edwin +called one end of the sofa (the little lamp burned brightly on the +table before her, illuminating the profile of Demosthenes on the +bookcase, the writing desk so long without a master, and all the other +witnesses of their bright young happiness) for the first time she was +overpowered by the consciousness that many things would soon be +changed, that when the young life under her heart looked forth into the +world with two bright eyes and gave utterance to its joys and sorrows, +this room, where silent thoughts and lovely flowers peacefully unfolded +side by side, could no longer be her one and all. She thought of the +words with which Edwin had tried to console his childless wife, how he +had said that two people in their situation lived in a state of +perpetual betrothal, and that any third person, even were it their own +child, at first came between them like a stranger. "No," she said to +herself, "it's a part of ourselves too, it's only like a mirror, +wherein we see both our faces melted into one. Besides, he didn't mean +it seriously, it was only before he knew--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She now became absorbed in thinking how everything would be, +how she +would manage to always remain near Edwin, without disturbing him by the +little sprawling screaming creature, and whenever she thought with +secret terror of the two unruly black haired twins, from whom no corner +of her friend's large house was secure, she consoled herself with the +memory of quiet, fair-haired little Riekchen, beside whom one might +solve the most difficult mathematical problems undisturbed. It would +have fair hair, she thought, smiling in blissful anticipation, it must +resemble Edwin feature for feature, possess the same beautiful blue +eyes, the same grave brow. Now her thoughts wandered from the little +stranger to him whom she knew as well, nay better than herself, and as +with all the powers of her soul she conjured up his image to the +smallest detail, a passionate longing suddenly overpowered her, a +painful sense of loneliness, mingled with such an enthusiastic +admiration of the beloved, that she started up and paced to and fro in +a sort of ecstacy, connecting his name with loving, tender words, such +as she had never addressed to him in person. She suddenly thought it a +sin that when he was with her, she had maintained such a strange +reserve, and never allowed herself to frankly show him the inmost +depths of her heart. "He doesn't know how I idolize him," she said to +herself. "I know it very well, I knew it from the beginning, but I'm +always afraid of myself--and of him too. His love did not exist like +mine, from the first hour of our meeting, it has grown by degrees, +perhaps I should have startled him, if I had shown how the flames were +blazing in my soul. But it's wrong, he shall know of it when he +comes back. There's always too much philosophy between us--love is +folly--happy nonsense--laughing and weeping without sense or reason. +That's the way I've always loved him, to the disappearance and +forgetfulness of all reason, and he--he began differently, my few good +traits, my little share of cleverness attracted him. It was enough at +that time--he gave me what he had, and in my utter poverty it was an +untold treasure. But when he comes back, then he shall see what a +foolishly happy, loving wife he has in me--my beloved husband, my one +and all, my Lord and my God, my life and my world--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus her rapturous longing found utterance in low confused +murmurs, +while she wandered about the room, now taking in her hand the pen with +which he had written, and then with a caressing gesture stroking the +book that still lay open on his desk. Her temples throbbed feverishly, +she opened a window and leaned out into the dark street, where every +thing was asleep, except a kitten gliding over the stone door sill.</p> + +<p class="normal">But who was approaching from the main street? Two men walking +arm in +arm, and carrying canes and traveling satchels? And now she distinctly +heard the words: "You see, my boy, your little wife has not yet gone to +rest--mock widows never retire early--you've horrible pavements, and +the gas apparently relies upon receiving a little voluntary assistance +from the light of cigars. Is it much farther?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heinrich," replied another voice, which thrilled the heart of +the +listener at the window, "it would be better for us to go back and I'll +spend the night with you at the hotel. It's so late--so unexpected--I +know her--she won't close her eyes all night--and I--I am so utterly +exhausted--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Edwin!" cried a joyous voice from the only lighted window in +the dark +street. The pedestrian involuntarily paused and grasped his friend's +arm with a convulsive pressure. "She's awake," he said hastily in an +undertone, "she has heard us, so it can't be helped! Not a word this +evening, do you hear? Poor darling, it will come soon enough; is that +you, Leah?" he now exclaimed, suddenly quickening his pace. "There, +child, now you see what you've done with your promised surprise. I +wanted to be generous, too, and as I could think of nothing else, +decided that the best surprise would be myself. Good Evening, dearest!" +and he took both hands, which she extended to him through the window, +and pressed them in his cold trembling fingers; "I thank God for being +here, where I belong! I have the honor of presenting to you an old +acquaintance, Herr Heinrich Mohr, the father of his son, of whom I've +already written to you. I couldn't induce him to satisfy himself with +an improvised couch on the green sofa. He thinks he can find a bed at +the Star, on which he can more comfortably stretch his six feet of +length. Is all well, dearest? but come, open the door for us. We must +at least have a glass of wine together--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He had released her hands, but she did not move from the +window. These +shallow jesting words had fallen on her soul like a frost and had +paralysed her. She did not speak; she addressed no word of welcome to +the old friend, asked no question as to how her beloved husband had +fared. This, then, was the meeting for which she had waited with such +ardent longing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't be afraid, Frau Leah, that I shall make use of this +thoughtless +invitation and trouble you this, evening," said Mohr laughing. "Old +friends are the most inconvenient articles in the world, when married +people meet after a separation. To-morrow I'll take the liberty of +knocking at your door to give you my wife's message and a photograph of +the little Mohr, but now I shall wish you a good night's rest. No, my +dear fellow, I need no guide. I looked carefully at your 'Star' as we +passed by, and shall find it again in spite of my small share of +astronomical knowledge. Good night, Frau Doctorin."</p> + +<p class="normal">He raised his hat, pressed Edwin's hand, and walked back +toward the +main street.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin still stood under the window.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It seems like a dream to be at home again," said he. "This +whole day, +while we were marching like two lunatics, merely to get here, I have +been constantly thinking of our old home, and how delightful it would +be to clasp your hand again, and now I'm standing here, and the old +stones are still firm, and I--but you're so silent; the surprise was +too sudden; well, I hope yours--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll open the door for you," she said, making a mighty effort +to +repress her tears. "Oh! Edwin, is it really you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She left the window and took up the little lamp from the +table; but +suddenly replaced it again. Why should she let him read her feelings in +her face? So she went through the dark entry, opened the door, and felt +herself clasped in his arms; but passionate as was his embrace, she +noticed that he did not seek to press his lips against hers, but rested +his forehead on her shoulder, repeating her name over and over again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm with you once more, my dearest, we have each other again. +It seems +as if we'd been parted for years--Leah, my faithful darling--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come into the room," she murmured. "You're exhausted, and +your +forehead is wet with perspiration. Why did you hurry so recklessly?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yea, scold me, dear Wisdom. It's hard to keep within +bounds. But +I'm here again, all is well now. What's the matter?" he continued, as +he entered the room and saw how his pale face, now fully revealed by +the lamp-light, startled her. "I'm perfectly well--that is, I have +suffered a few days from a nervous attack, similar to my old ones, but +the famous household medicine--so-called because it can only be used +out of the house--air and exercise,--has done wonders. And now--I'm as +delighted as a child to see the green sofa again,--all our furniture; +it can hardly be called princely, we must admit, but it's pretty, very +pretty; and my dear little wife--I'll wager you have painted a whole +table service while I was away, and the famous surprise is that the +roses on your cheeks have been transplanted to the china. Well, I +repeat again as I see--"</p> + +<p class="normal">While uttering these hasty words he had sunk down on the sofa +and +closed his eyes, evidently in the greatest exhaustion. A strange smile, +that cut her to the heart, rested on his lips. When he again looked up, +she was kneeling beside him, clasping his hands and gazing with an +expression of the most loving anxiety into his face, to seek for some +consoling glance that would explain all this as only the consequences +of over fatigue.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear wife," said he, "if you could give me a mouthful to eat, +or no, +only a sip of the Spanish wine mamma sent us--and then--then we'll go +to rest."</p> + +<p class="normal">She instantly started up and hurried out of the room, soon +returning +bringing with her wine, bread and cold meat. Edwin nodded smilingly. +"Little housewife!" he exclaimed, drawing her down beside him on the +sofa. But he only touched her forehead with his lips, and did not +appear to notice the glass of wine she poured out for him. "I'm so +happy, so happy!" he repeated again and again. "I drink to peace and +rest and--love!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He tried to draw her toward him, but with a feeling of secret +horror +she gently repelled him. "Edwin," said she, "what has happened? You +can't deceive me for I knew it at the first word you uttered, though +you strove to conceal it; you've experienced something that has greatly +excited, agitated, or saddened you. Won't you tell me about it? We've +always told each other everything."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed, dearest," he said with a weary nod, while he +gently +patted her on the cheek. "You're my strong-hearted little girl, my +trusty comrade, my dear left hand, that always knows what the right +hand is doing. But it's late, my eyes are closing with sleep and there +will be plenty of time to-morrow--to-morrow, and the day after, and +during our whole lives. What have I experienced? Nothing dangerous. +We've passed through a storm, the thunderbolt struck close beside us, +and we have been drenched to the skin, that's all. The warmth here will +soon dry us again. Come, dearest. What says old Catullus?</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-4px">"Oh! how pleasant it is from all care to part!<br> +Heavily all burdens fall away from the heart,<br> +As weary of life's toils we return to our home,<br> +Reposing there restfully, no more to roam."</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"Do you want to sit up any longer, child?"</p> + +<p class="normal">While repeating the verse, he had risen from the sofa with +evident +effort and approached the door of the bed room. There, leaning against +it, he looked back at her. "Good Heavens, you're weeping!" he +exclaimed, suddenly shaking off all fatigue. "What in the world is the +matter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! Edwin," she said, gently repelling his passionate +embrace, +"forgive me, it's wrong. I ought not to be so childish. But my feelings +overpowered me. Sleep! How can I think of sleeping, when I see you +return so changed, with a burden on your heart which, for the first +time, I'm not allowed to share! And yet this is wrong, you're so +tired and ought above all to find rest here, and not a weeping wife. +To-morrow--will you not? to-morrow, when you've slept--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, not to-morrow!" he murmured bending over her and stroking +her hair +caressingly with both hands. "This very day, dearest, though it should +cost us all sleep. This was the object for which I longed, the reason I +could not wait, and walked without ceasing ten miles in six hours. And +now I am here, I'm so cowardly that I want to sneak off to bed, instead +of first confessing everything to my brave other self and begging +absolution! Come, let me sit down beside you again; and be comforted, +you see it has not cost me my life, I am here, holding your dear hands, +and I feel more deeply than ever before, that we two are one, and that +no power of Heaven or Hell can separate us."</p> + +<p class="normal">He now sat down beside her and began to quietly relate +everything that +had occurred, from the time he finished his letter to her and Marquard +entered his room, till he met Mohr in the forest, where after the long +superhuman strain of all the powers of his soul and senses, he had lost +consciousness for a moment. Nothing was concealed or palliated. It was +evidently a relief to recall to mind all his tortures, his weaknesses, +and his honest struggle, now that he knew himself to be safe, where the +friends who had followed at his heels could not pursue him into the +sacred abode of his peace. The longer he spoke, the calmer became his +voice, the clearer his glance. "It is over," he concluded, pressing her +hand to his cheek. "I hope you'll praise me, dearest, for having done +so well. To be sure, I've not the strong nerves essential to rude +courage, and when I do anything heroic, feel long afterwards by the +miserable trembling of my heart, what the exertion of moral courage has +cost me. But be calm, child, this was the last attack. It will haunt me +for a time; if you had seen her--even without being affected as I was +by the old fate that binds me to this mysterious creature--you could +not have helped feeling the deepest compassion. What a life is before +her with nothing but the vague hope of some change that may release her +and give her some reason for loving existence! My beloved reason, that +helps me over unsolved questions, that sits incarnate beside me, and +that all my future care--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've not yet shown me her letter," she interrupted in an +expressionless tone. They were the first words she had spoken for half +an hour.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The letter, child? Why do you wish to read it? It's as +incoherent a +collection of sentences as was ever scrawled by a poor tortured soul. I +assure you I've not read it a second time myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I'm to know her thoroughly, to feel any real compassion +for her, I +must read it, Edwin. Give it to me. You see I am calm. I have told +myself often enough, that this must come some day. It's a misfortune, +like any other, only far more sad than every day sorrow. But with +honest purpose, and--time--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! child," he exclaimed, drawing her tenderly toward him, +"have +patience with me, leave it to time, do not doubt my honest purpose. I +was sure of it--one hour with you, and the enchantment would be +powerless, the magic spell shamed by your dear presence. I thank you +for having insisted upon knowing everything to-day. Now for the first +time I can hope to sleep. The last two nights, in spite of Heinrich's +company and all the fatigues of traveling, I could not obtain anything +worthy of the name of repose. I had dreams which I should pity a +condemned man for having. Now if I can hold your hand--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Please go first," she said without looking at him. "I'll come +directly---as soon as I've read the letter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You might wait until to-morrow--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"This very day! Do me this favor; then to-morrow all will be +over."</p> + +<p class="normal">He took out his pocket book and looked for the fatal letter. +"There it +is," said he. "I scarcely know myself what she really wrote, except +that it excited and grieved me inexpressibly. Oh! if we could find some +way to help her endure life! Think of the matter, my beloved Wisdom. +I've racked my brains in vain. Perhaps you will have some advice to +offer."</p> + +<p class="normal">She nodded, apparently with the most perfect composure, and +while he +remained in the room held the letter in her hand, without opening it. +But he had scarcely entered the adjoining room with the little lamp he +had just lighted, when with trembling hands and cheeks suffused by a +sudden flush, she opened the envelope and with restless eyes devoured +the lines.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the maid-servant entered the room early the next morning, +she was +startled to find her mistress lying asleep on the green sofa, with the +lamp, whose oil had now burned out, on the table beside her. Her +astonishment increased, when she looked through the half open door of +the chamber and saw her master, whose late return she had not heard, +quietly sleeping in his bed. The noise she made in her attempt to leave +the room again, roused the young wife; she glanced around in her +bewilderment and evidently could not remember how she happened to be on +this unusual couch. The fatal letter still lay on the table before her, +and she suddenly recollected all. She motioned to the servant to keep +quiet, and crept on tip-toe to the threshold of the adjoining room, +where she paused and listened to Edwin's regular breathing. The next +instant she had removed her clothes, noiselessly lain down beside him, +and gazing at the twilight with wide open eyes, awaited the unclosing +of his.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">It was Sunday. The bells that rang at nine o'clock to summon +the people +to church, roused the sleeper. It was a long time before he remembered +how he happened to be in his own bed, and that he was again at home. A +quiet, dreamy mood still haunted him, in which he said little, but +gazed into vacancy with a smile and then looked around, as if in quest +of something. He wanted Leah with him continually, sought her in the +kitchen in order with all sorts of jesting words, to bring her back to +the sitting room, and then walked up and down the spotless floor with +his arm thrown fondly around her, now and then leaning his head on hers +and asking various questions, without paying any special attention to +the answers she gave. He even spoke of the surprise she had in store +for him. "It is nothing," she replied gently, releasing herself from +his embrace. Her eyes were heavy with unshed tears; she felt an +unconquerable repugnance to telling him her secret, and yet a sense of +bitter grief that she could not force her lips to reveal what had +hitherto been a source of so much joy. She saw that he was only half +with her, or rather that he was striving with all the powers of his +soul to return to her again, and yet could not do so entirely. Should +she communicate what at any previous time would have caused him such +deep happiness, perhaps now only to be thanked with an absent smile? +All the pride of the woman and mother rebelled against the possibility.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Mohr at last arrived, he found them at breakfast. He sat +down, +begged permission to make a cigarette, and soon gave the conversation a +freer tone. The first thing he did, was to take out the promised +picture of the little Mohr and hand it to Leah.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't doubt for a moment," said he, "that Edwin has +described me to +you as a fool of a father. Friends are great in caricaturing, but I +really have the honor and pleasure of being just that. Besides, I saw +that only politeness restrained him from laughing in my face when I +described the boy's talents and virtues. Well, <i>qui vivra verra</i>. +Meantime hear what my wife writes about the way he takes my absence. +I've just received this letter; it contains the kindest remembrances to +you as well."</p> + +<p class="normal">He then read the letter, which contained a detailed account of +the +various clever, artless expressions of the little household idol. Edwin +listened with silent nods, Leah on the contrary entered into the +subject with eager admiration, which seemed to greatly delight their +old friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear friend," said he, "you have a wonderful knowledge of +human +nature, far more than this scornful skeptic. If he knows what's for his +advantage, he'll allow you to prepare certain chapters of his great +psychological work. I'll beg you for a sheet of paper, pen, and ink. I +want to write a letter to my son, that we may continue to be in +communication with each other."</p> + +<p class="normal">He actually did so, standing at Edwin's desk and talking with +his +friends in his usual quaint manner. When Leah had gone out, he asked +hastily: "Does she know all?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"All."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And how did she take it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"As you see. She's an angel--no, something better--a strong, +upright, +good, noble human being. Do you know, Heinz, I can't shake off the +thought that she deserved a better fate than to have for a husband a +lunatic, who is so pitifully defenceless against certain witches' +arts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Defenceless. Well, I declare. We resisted with hands and +feet!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes indeed. We left the field. Discretion is the better part +of valor. +Oh! Heinz, I feel miserable after that heroic deed. And now to see my +dear, patient sufferer, who by no word of complaint, no look of +reproach--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush! She's coming back; there! 'Your loving father.' Now I'm +curious +to see whether he'll have any idea of how his papa can talk to him when +he's not with him. Shall we mail the letter and then pay our respects +to Frau Reginchen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">All three left the little house and strolled through the quiet +streets. +No one who saw Leah, leaning on Edwin's arm, would have suspected what +a deep shadow had suddenly darkened her sunny life.</p> + +<p class="normal">But it did not escape the notice of the little fair-haired +woman in the +neighboring, house for a single moment. As soon as the first greetings +were over--Papa Feyertag was also present--Reginchen drew Leah aside, +to ask what Edwin had said to the joyful news, and was greatly startled +when she learned that he had not yet heard a word about it. He had +returned home so exhausted that the greatest joy would have been lost +upon him, and Mohr's visit had prevented her from telling it early that +morning. Reginchen said nothing. Although, as we know, she did not +possess a great deal of "education," her clear mind instantly showed +her that something unpleasant had occurred, which would not be confided +to her at present. She was glad when Reinhold and Mohr entered the +nursery and the review of the children began; but could not help +laughing and secretly nudging her husband, when the father of the +remarkable boy evidently made the greatest effort to do justice to the +twins and the little girl, but with the condescending gentleness a +Crœsus would show in congratulating a man who had just won a hundred +thalers in a lottery.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was then obliged to go with Franzelius to see the printing +office, +the storerooms, and every nook and corner of the house, during which +the father-in-law made a silent third party. Edwin had gone into the +country alone and did not return until noon, when Reginchen invited +them all to dine with her. The meal was not particularly social. Old +Feyertag did not say a word and seemed to be out of humor with his +son-in-law, who pretended not to notice it, but in spite of the festive +occasion was not unfaithful to his silent nature. Edwin sat beside +Leah, whom he treated with the utmost gayety and tenderness, but, he +still seemed to be in a half dreamy, half absent mood, which at last +became so oppressive to her sensitive nature, that she was obliged to +leave the table before the dinner was half over to conceal her tears. +When she returned with red eyes, she said she had been attacked by one +of her sudden headaches, from which, however, she had not suffered for +years.</p> + +<p class="normal">The only person, who seemed to be in high spirits, was Mohr, +and it was +owing to his efforts, that when they returned to Edwin's house in the +evening, a more cheerful atmosphere pervaded the little circle, at +least for a time.</p> + +<p class="normal">During the walk the four men had taken about the city after +dinner, he +had been compelled to listen to the same melancholy disclosures from +the old gentleman, in which the latter had received no special sympathy +from Leah the evening before. Mohr, on the contrary, took the matter in +the right way, and was psychologist enough to instantly perceive the +remedy for the disease.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you for your confidence, my dear Herr Feyertag," he +said after +gravely listening to the dream about the boots and shoes. "Your state +of mind is extremely interesting to me, the more so, as I've passed +through precisely similar crises myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You, Herr Mohr? You're joking."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not at all, my dear sir. If you've only cared for the feet +all your +life, I've spent my best days in merely making heads, that is heads to +notes, and also very good tails to them; but the best part was +lacking,--the rascals had no hands and feet. You must know, my dear +friend, I've just discovered the reason of this, and if I'm not +mistaken, the case is precisely the same with you; we're both men of +mediocre ability, Herr Feyertag. Once this vexed me very much, and an +admirable lecture Papa Zaunkönig once gave, to prove that there must be +such people in the world, was entirely lost upon me. Since then I've +grown somewhat wiser. To be sure, it's disagreeable that we're neither +of us remarkable men and only belong to the masses, helping to make up +the crowd and to prepare the soil which supports the really gigantic +human plants. But look around you at Nature--isn't it the same story +everywhere? To one oak that lasts for centuries, there are hundreds of +thousands of low bushes, which moulder and decay, that this historical +representative of the species may grow to an unusual height. If we wish +to fret or lament about it, of course we're at liberty to do so. It's +only a pity, that there's no court before which we can bring our +complaint, for it's useless, my dear sir, and therefore only injurious, +first to ourselves because it sours the blood and poisons the wine, and +secondly to our fellow men, whose happiness we spoil by our +discontent."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But progress, Herr Mohr, the aspiration toward higher things +called +propagandism--?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr stood still. "How old are you now, my dear friend?" he +asked, +pulling an over ripe ear of corn from the field through which they were +just passing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fifty-nine, Herr Mohr."</p> + +<p class="normal">"An excellent age, Herr Feyertag, and I trust you may live to +a still +greater. And how tall are you now--I mean in feet and inches?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Five feet three inches, Herr Mohr."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you expect to grow any more?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I? With my fifty-nine years?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But if you <i>desired</i> to do so, if you felt the <i>aspiration</i> +to look +over a file leader's shoulder?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm not so foolish, Herr Mohr, as to expect anything of that +sort! But +if I may venture to ask--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why should you not venture to ask, my dear sir? I merely put +the +question to have you ask. That's called the Socratic method. You see, +with all your aspirations toward higher things, you can no more succeed +in adding an ell to your intellectual stature, than you can make your +body taller. We're of middle height, Herr Feyertag; in case of need to +be sure we can increase a little in breadth, add some fat of knowledge +and skill, but the skeleton's complete and that's the end of it! If you +compare yourself with me, you have the advantage. True, you're nothing +extraordinary as a man, but in the art of shoe-making you're an +accomplished master. I, on the contrary--if I did not enjoy the +happiness of serving as a transition point for a better specimen, as it +were, a test of the real material--I should go out of the world without +having understood any reason for my existing in it. But let that be as +it may, we non-commissioned officers and privates in the great army of +mankind can bear ourselves bravely and win honor; and you in +particular, Herr Feyertag--a man in the prime of life, with property, +sense, and intelligence--do you know what I would do, if I were in your +place?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, Herr Mohr?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your good wife doesn't want to leave Berlin. Well then +propose to +traverse Berlin itself with her. Go out every morning after breakfast +and visit some place, the Arsenal, the Museum, in short what every +Englishman sees, and in the evening attend the theatre, the zoological +garden, or what ever seems most attractive to you. We can only advance +by moving strictly in our own circle, and meantime keeping our eyes +open. In this way you'll in time climb far enough up the heights, and +yet remain what you are--a man who thoroughly understands his trade, +instead of, in your old age, becoming a bungler in the social-political +business, where there are too many bunglers now, and which only the +wisest heads can thoroughly comprehend."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm!" replied the shoe-maker, "that's worth hearing, that's a +very +sensible proposition. True, mother won't like it at first, but I'm +master of my own house, and if she once gets <i>in</i>--into a museum, I +mean--she's always had a clever head and by no means bad taste. I see +what you're aiming at, Herr Mohr: propagandism is all very well, but +where one has no idea, the mere will is of no avail, and, with my grey +hairs, to wander about like a journeyman on his travels--but, by the +way, my son-in-law--what do you think of him? Ought he, too, only to go +around in a circle and accumulate fat? Do you think him also a man of +mediocre ability, like ourselves?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Feyertag," said Mohr with a perfectly immovable face, +"don't you +know that a clever physician is always careful how he expresses his +opinion as to whether a person has a diseased liver or apoplexy, unless +he's specially consulted by the patient? You expressly asked my advice +about your sufferings, and I have told you my honest opinion. In regard +to third persons, especially if they're my friends, I never express +myself openly and am ready to think every one a great man, until I have +received incontestable proofs to the contrary."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">This conversation had this favorable result, that when Papa +Feyertag +came to Leah's house in the evening, he seemed completely transformed; +or rather like the man his friends had formerly known. True he took +care to put the best face upon his conversion, but was very reserved +about the motives that induced him to return to Berlin. But he +endeavored in every way to show that he bore his son-in-law no malice, +principally by good natured jests about people who kept quiet to +accumulate fat, and thought more about propagation than propagandism; +moreover he was the most affectionate papa and grandpapa that could be +desired, and related, as never happened except when he was in the best +of humors, his own love story, that had led to the possession of +"mother."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr sat by with a quiet curl of the under lip, not uttering a +syllable +to betray the share he had had in the miracle. Besides, very different +thoughts occupied his mind. In the first place, Edwin's still +perceptible excitement caused him serious anxiety. The two young wives +also, especially Leah, were forced to exert great self-control to +conceal a heavy heart under a gay, jesting mood. As even the wine and +all the comical and quaint ideas to which Mohr gave utterance during +the evening, did not avail to lighten the oppression which, like an +invisible thunder cloud rested more and more heavily on both couples, +the faithful friend sat down to the harmonium and began to improvise. +He played for an hour, forgetting time and place in his own music, into +which he successively introduced all Christiane's favorite themes. When +he at last paused and looked around at the company, he saw that the +remedy had produced a totally different effect from the one he had +intended. Reinhold was sitting like a black bearded genius of +melancholy beside his little wife, who was quietly wiping her eyes; +Leah had left the room and after a very long absence returned with a +deadly pale face; Edwin had the bread knife in his hand and was +industriously cutting a straw table-mat into small pieces; papa +Feyertag was leaning back in the sofa corner, sleeping the sleep of the +just.</p> + +<p class="normal">They separated at an earlier hour than usual. Mohr rambled +about the +city a long time, revolving in his inventive brain one plan after +another, by which the evil that had so suddenly burst forth again and +threatened to destroy the harmony of these two lives, might be most +quickly and surely removed.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last he devised a perfectly absurd catastrophe, namely that +he would +represent Toinette as the moral cause of Balder's death and by a bold +accusation of murder separate her from Edwin forever. There was not a +spark of reason in the whole plan, but the very monstrosity and +impossibility of the idea soothed his own excited mood, and enabled him +at last, like a man well satisfied with his day's work, to go to bed +and sleep seven hours.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he started up in terror from a dream in which he had said +the +harshest things to the author of the mischief and engaged to fight a +duel with her husband, the count, to see Edwin standing beside his bed +in the grey dawn, once more with an overcoat and traveling satchel, +such as he had carried during the last days of their journey. Edwin +smiled at his friend's astonishment and seemed to have suddenly +attained a far more healthful condition of mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wanted to ask whether you'll go with me," said he. "Leah +has +persuaded me that it would be foolish to spend the last week of my +vacation here. I've long desired to make an excursion to 'Wildwassern,' +which will only take three or four days. Besides, I might accomplish +many other things, take you back to Frau Christiane and the wonderful +boy and return just before the school begins. At first I would not hear +of it. I don't feel at ease out of doors; every time I turn a corner I +fear to meet a face which I would rather avoid. But, to be sure, +wearied and disinclined to work as I am, I should not be of much use +here and only make my good wife anxious. You don't know Leah, Heinz, no +one knows her, I should like to know how many women there are, who +would have borne so nobly what has just befallen us. 'Go,' said she, +'it will do you good; only you must promise not to hurry so madly as +you did the last day, but to walk quietly. When you return, you'll find +a sensible wife.' Her voice trembled, and her eyes grew dim with tears, +but she forced a smile, and then--I've not kissed her lips since I came +back, haven't dared to do so, for I remembered that last night at the +castle--but when I saw that she could not yet give me a caress! I miss +it, miss it so strangely--you'll laugh at me, Heinz, but I think I +should be instantly cured, if my only friend, my wise, proud, sad +little wife--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then let's go to her at once and tell her so! Besides, I've +not yet +taken leave of her. And it's so early--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No!" interrupted Edwin with restless anxiety, "she'll not +expect us. I +left farewell messages for our neighbors too. Come, my boy. I don't +know why it is, but I can't rest till I get out into the woods and +fields again. Your bill here is already settled. Of course the 'Star' +is only an addition to our tun in case distinguished travelers arrive, +whom we cannot entertain under our own roof."</p> + +<p class="normal">He hastily helped him to pack his traveling satchel and +hurried him +away. Just as they left the house, they saw the hotel stage returning, +which daily at this hour brought the travelers from the railway. A +lady, closely veiled, who must have just arrived by the night train, +sat leaning back in one corner of this lumbering vehicle. As she passed +the two pedestrians, she made a hasty gesture, as if she recognised +some one, but instantly drew back again.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin started. "Did you notice--?" he said quickly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the stage--the veiled lady--I thought for a moment, that I +recognized--by her way of bending forward--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see ghosts, my dear fellow. Duchesses travel with a suit +of +retainers, not in an omnibus."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're right! Yes indeed, I'm a fool. What could bring her +here. But +that's the cross I bear every moment. If a carriage rattles by--a door +opens--ah! Nature, which made me a philosopher, failed to provide one +essential--a suitable dose of the famous ataraxia."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's unfortunately true," replied Mohr, shrugging his +shoulders. +"But your clever wife is right--the plant grows out of doors among the +mountains and by the streams. But I too am not wholly insensible, and +most earnestly beseech you not to seize me so convulsively, at least +before I've breakfasted. We'll attend to this matter at the first +stopping place, and then I'll sing you the old Eichendorff traveler's +song, which Christiane has set to a very pretty air:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-6px">"'Through fields and rows of beech trees,<br> +Now singing, anon still,<br> +How joyous he, who leaves his home<br> +To wander at his will.'"</p> +</div> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Meantime Leah, absorbed in grief, was still sitting at the +window, from +which in the pale morning light she had waved a farewell to her +departing husband. As soon as he had disappeared, all the suppressed +anguish of the last few days had found vent in a flood of tears, but +without relief to the poor aching heart. When the torrent was at last +exhausted, she only gazed the more hopelessly into vacancy with burning +eyes, as if staring into a grey, impenetrable mist, from which no +familiar form emerged, no loving voice reached her ear. The week that +Edwin was to be absent, now seemed to her like a respite. During that +time she might groan in anguish and weep to her heart's content. When +he returned, he should find her what she had always been to him--his +brave friend, his faithful comrade, to whom his inmost soul was +revealed, even if a passion for a strange woman, the very root of which +had seemed to have been destroyed, now flourished luxuriantly anew. +True, how could he know that she herself was only a weak woman, who +felt all her wise thoughts and heroic reason vanishing in a boundless +longing for his love!</p> + +<p class="normal">A strange reserve, or perhaps pride because he had never +asked, had +prevented her from telling him this.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he <i>needed</i> passionate love--in her terror this had now +become +evident to her. The cooler his head was, the more vehemently his heart +demanded boundless, self-forgetful folly, a love higher than reason. He +had now found it--in the magic castle, where the old demon had resumed +its sway over him. The enchantress herself had cast aside her black art +to practise a more powerful and irresistible one--to throw herself into +his arms in the guise of a poor helpless woman saying: "I am yours; do +with me as you will." And was he to disdain all this and reply: "You +come too late?"--Well, he <i>had</i> said so. He knew what he owed to duty. +But to accept this martyrdom, to hold a man by an iron chain, against +which every instinct of his blood rebelled--a feverish chill ran +through her frame at the thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">True, she might stake passion against passion, and see which +would +conquer, hers that was really no tamer and narrower than any ever +offered by a woman to the man she loved, or the capricious one of this +stranger, who now when it was too late, wanted to throw away a lost +life, to regain her happiness in her saviour. But her pride rebelled +against this also. Had he ever missed her passionate love? Could he +believe, now that she had so long denied it utterance, that it was +really true and genuine, not an ebullition of jealous pain, rather than +the outburst of one of the hidden powers of nature?</p> + +<p class="normal">But amid all this tumult of thoughts, one emotion was ever +absent from +her mind--no feeling of anger toward the two persons who now made her +suffer so bitterly, stirred in her soul. The woman who had no scruple +in making her life desolate, in wresting from her, her only happiness, +of whom she knew nothing, except that she had bewitched her beloved +husband and yet had not satisfied his heart--what did she this +stranger? And Edwin--had he deceived her? Did he not suffer most +bitterly, because he esteemed and honored her too highly to make even +an attempt to delude her about his condition?</p> + +<p class="normal">But the very fact of his remaining loving, affectionate and +honest to +her, and continuing to give her a brotherly share in his fate was +unendurable. She could not suffer it longer, for it mocked her heart, +whose inmost depths were overflowing with passionate love. Yet she +did not know how to change it, what to say to him, when he should +return with his wound nearly healed to place himself in her sisterly +care--lest some day, by accident the wound should begin to bleed again +and perhaps endanger his life. But did she not also owe something to +herself and the child she bore under her heart? Could she suffer the +poor thing to be greeted by its father with a joy only prompted by a +sense of duty, and perhaps--who knows--secretly regarded as a new link +in the oppressive chain that must be worn with the best possible grace? +At this thought, the mother's blood in her rebelled with such fierce +indignation and wrath, that for a moment an odious shadow darkened even +Edwin's image. But the next instant she shrank from her own +impetuosity, and with all the power of her will repelled the hostile +feeling.</p> + +<p class="normal">For the first time in her life, since she had been united to +Edwin, she +felt unspeakably alone. What would she have given for a friend who +might have aided her to disentangle the sorrowful confusion of her +thoughts? She remembered Reginchen--Reinhold--and instantly felt that +no one, even if bound by far closer ties, possessing a much deeper +insight into her nature, could have been a mediator between her fate +and her womanly pride, her husband and her inmost feelings.</p> + +<p class="normal">For hours she remained hopelessly striving to quell the tumult +in her +soul; at length her thoughts grew weary, and she began to perform her +few household tasks, which were speedily accomplished. Then she +mechanically took up one of Edwin's works and commenced to read; for a +moment she was soothed by the thought of how thoroughly she understood +all that would have been above the comprehension of many women, only to +throw aside the book the next instant with passionate grief, as she +remembered how powerless all the cultivation of the mind would be to +the blind, unreasoning, elementary instinct of Nature, which conquers +all freedom and befools the wisest. She herself felt this instinct in +her heart more strongly than ever, and she remembered how happy she had +been made by it only two evenings before--only to be rendered utterly +wretched by it now since it had shown her the emptiness of her hopes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr Feyertag's arrival roused her from this abstraction. The +old man +knew nothing about Edwin's departure, and came to say that he should +return home that evening. He was in a comically mysterious mood, gave +obscure hints of the reasons that had so suddenly recalled him to +Berlin, but repeatedly declared that he felt as if he were new born, +and people were never too old to go to school. As Mohr was also +absent, he could indulge in the harmless pleasure of uttering many of +the things he had heard yesterday from his clever physician of +the mind--especially the theory of the oak trees and the soil of +humanity--as the result of his own matured wisdom, in such a lofty, +matter-of-course tone, that several times Leah, in spite of her sorrow +could not help laughing, for she easily perceived their source.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll tell you, little lady," exclaimed the eager old man, as +he +concluded his remarks about the necessity of first advancing public +welfare in our own persons, "come with me to Berlin to-night. Why +should you stay here alone? Your husband can have no objections to your +devoting this week to your dear parents, and it will afford me the +greatest pleasure to show you Berlin, the Museum, the theatre, and of +course we'll go out to Sans Souci too; as a native of Berlin, you ought +to be ashamed of knowing next to nothing of all these things. Just to +consider how many means of culture are daily at hand, that we need only +stretch out our hands for, and just because they're not a long distance +off--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She shook her head with a forced smile. "Thank you, dear Herr +Feyertag. +But just now I really do not desire culture, so much as--rest, or +whatever else you choose to call it. Give my parents the kindest +remembrances from me, don't let them know that you found me with one of +my bad headaches; when I come to Berlin, I want to bring with me clear +eyes--and my husband."</p> + +<p class="normal">The worthy old friend, who after all had not been very earnest +in his +proposal, could urge her no further, and after uttering all sorts of +fine phrases, took leave of the young wife with unfeigned affection. +She declined the invitation to dinner which he pressed upon her in +Reginchen's name. Her stupid head was not fit for company. She was most +comfortable alone, where no one could notice if her thoughts sometimes +grew confused.</p> + +<p class="normal">The shoemaker was scarcely in the street again, when in spite +of his +sincere regard for Leah, he banished from his mind all the sympathy he +had felt for her suffering, and with the facility peculiar to many +theoretical philanthropists, turned his thoughts to his own plans. He +therefore looked up in some little bewilderment, when a slender lady +accosted him in a musical, but somewhat low voice, and inquired the way +to the Frau Doctorin's residence. The stranger was closely veiled, +but the old man's practised eye did not permit him to doubt for a +moment, that the person who stood before him was young, charming, and +high-bred. He also noticed a faint perfume of violets, which floated +from the lady's lace veil. He very politely offered to accompany and +show her the few steps to Edwin's house, in doing which he remarked +that the Herr Doctor had just gone away on a little pedestrian tour, +but that his wife was at home. "I know it," said the lady. "I only wish +to see his wife. Shall I probably find her alone?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The shoe-maker answered in the affirmative and racked his +cunning +brains for means to find out something more about the veiled lady who, +as he was instantly convinced, could not be a resident of the place. +But unfortunately they had already reached the house, the stranger +thanked him with a slight bend of the head, opened the door without +ceremony, and disappeared in the dark hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">Never had the old man been more bent upon the solution of a +riddle or +charade, over which he regularly pondered in the papers, than on +discovering the cause of this visit. This was the only woman who wore a +veil, that he had met in the little town. That she could be acquainted +with Leah, while his daughter knew nothing about her, seemed to him +incredible, so he determined to question Reginchen.</p> + +<p class="normal">But this proved utterly useless. No lady answering to his +description +was known, even in the highest circles of society in the place. And +yet, if it were a stranger, how could she know that Edwin had gone away +and Leah was alone, facts that the friend and neighbor had just learned +from her father?</p> + +<p class="normal">The mystery must be solved in time, and Reginchen, like all +people who +are entirely in harmony with themselves, did not suffer in the least +from curiosity, but even declined to send a servant to Leah to enquire +about the matter. She had much graver cares, which were also connected +with Edwin's household, but apparently had nothing to do with the +accidental visit of a stranger.</p> + +<p class="normal">However, in the course of the day the old man, who was not in +the habit +of keeping his mind long fixed upon one thought, also lost his +curiosity, as no fresh incident occurred to excite it. Leah's name was +not mentioned, nor the attempt to induce the lonely wife to join them +at dinner again renewed. Papa Feyertag was very cheerful during the +meal, talked of new inventions, of war and peace, and of the social +question, but without any personal irritation, and spent the whole +afternoon in drawing the most singular sounds from all sorts of +imperfect wind instruments he had bought for the twins, to the great +edification of his young auditors.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold, in his quiet fashion, seemed to be heartily pleased +with +this change of affairs, stopped his work half an hour earlier, and at +seven o'clock was again in the sitting room to take tea with his +father-in-law before his departure. The children had been put to bed, +and the three adults had just seated themselves around the table, when +the door opened and to the surprise of all, frequent as was the +appearance of the visitor, Leah entered.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">The lamp was not yet lighted, and the broad brim of her straw +hat +shadowed her face, yet all three noticed, though no one made any +remark, that the young wife's features were strangely rigid and +inanimate, like the face of a person who has endured severe sorrow and, +with a certain savage indifference, is prepared for the worst.</p> + +<p class="normal">She nodded to Reginchen, begged her in her usual tone not to +disturb +herself, and declining the chair the old man placed at the table, sat +down in the window niche, with her face half averted. In reply to the +question about her headache, she answered that it had passed away +entirely. She had taken a nap, then eaten her dinner, and had never +felt better than now, so she had thought of Papa Feyertag's proposal +again, and determined to accept it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What proposal?" asked Reginchen. The old man himself would +have been +sorely puzzled if he had been obliged to answer the question. But Leah +replied in his stead.</p> + +<p class="normal">"For," she hastily burst forth, "what better could I do? My +father is +old and does not like to travel. Edwin, will not return until the end +of the week; I've nothing to detain me here, and who knows when I shall +find another such opportunity. How long is it before the train starts? +A whole hour? Well, you must allow my presence here until then. At +home--it's ridiculous--but I think if I had remained at home, my +headache would have come on again. We're so weak, so irresolute when +we're all alone, and yet nothing can be more sensible than this plan. +Edwin himself, if he were here--but no, then I should not be alone. You +say nothing, Herr Feyertag. Do you repent having offered to be my +escort? I'll not make you the slightest trouble, you can smoke and +sleep as much as you choose, I--I'll go in the ladies' coupé, I hope to +be able to sleep too; after such a headache as I've had all day, I am +not very entertaining in conversation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How can you think of such a thing?" said the old man. Then +all were +silent for a long time. Nothing was heard but the clicking of a little +pair of scissors, which Leah had taken from Reginchen's work table and +was opening and shutting.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Before I forget it," Leah carelessly remarked, "as it's +possible Edwin +may return a few days before me, I've written him a few lines. If +meantime a letter should come from him containing his address, or he +himself should arrive--at any rate, you'll doubtless do me the favor to +see that this note reaches him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Give it to me, Leah dear," said Reinhold rising. "Father, +will you +have another glass of wine? But you're not eating anything."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's not my time. And your famous dinner--Well, I'll go and +look after +my baggage. I've only to shut my little trunk."</p> + +<p class="normal">He hastily rose--he evidently did not understand matters--and +left the +room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold had also risen. He had put the little note which Leah +had +given him, in his pocket and now said: "I'll accompany you to the +station of course. I must first give some business directions, but I'll +come back again directly." He exchanged a significant glance with his +wife, and left the room. The two women were now alone, Reginchen on the +sofa in the dark corner, Leah at the window with her back turned toward +the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you nothing else for me to do, dearest Leah?" asked the +little +housekeeper after a pause.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing, Ginchen. What should I have? I leave no children +behind, and +Edwin's books require no care. The cook will water the flowers. But +you--your mother--hark! Didn't the clock strike eight?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Seven. There's still a full hour--Leah--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it, child?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you reflected upon this?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What a strange question to ask? What is there to consider? A +journey +to my parents! one falls asleep here, and on awaking finds oneself at +home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>At home</i>, Leah?"</p> + +<p class="normal">There was no answer from the window. No one who could have +obtained +even a side view of the face gazing fixedly out, would have expected +these compressed lips, that seemed with difficulty to repress a groan, +to open for any intelligible answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly two arms embraced the motionless figure, and a fair +head in a +neat little cap nestled to the pale cheek of the silent friend. "Leah," +whispered Reginchen's voice, "if you love me, don't do it, don't go +away; it can't be the right thing; or at least speak plainly first. +What, for God's sake, <i>what</i> has happened, to drive you away so +suddenly, as if--as if you were not <i>at home</i> here."</p> + +<p class="normal">She covered the eyes and cheeks of the rigid face with the +tenderest +kisses. The next instant Leah gently released herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know what you mean," she said coldly. "You're +childish in your +anxiety about me. What should have happened? Let me alone, little +goosey. I know what I'm doing only too well; that this is the best, the +only thing, now I'm all alone--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're right, dear Leah," they heard Reinhold's voice +suddenly +exclaim. "Don't listen to this foolish woman, who can't believe any one +can leave home for pleasure--that's what she means by not right. But we +still have half an hour; I should like to speak to you; I have a little +commission to be done in Berlin, with which I didn't want to trouble +Father."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Willingly, dear Reinhold."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I must beg you to take the trouble to come up to my +little attic +room; I cannot tell you here, partly because we are liable to be +interrupted at any moment, and partly because I keep what's necessary +for the errand up there. Light the little lantern, child; I believe +you've never been up in our garret--true, it's an old rat's nest, but +as I'd not a corner in the whole house where I can work or think +quietly away from the children, I furnished a room there."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reginchen had taken a brass lantern from the cupboard and +lighted the +lamp in it. As she now handed it to her husband, these three who were +so fondly attached to each other, for the first time dared not look +each other in the face. The little wife cast down her eyes without +uttering a syllable. Leah had risen, still in her hat and traveling +cloak, as she had come. Reinhold's honest face looked strange and +gloomy, framed in its black hair and bushy beard.</p> + +<p class="normal">He silently took the lantern from Reginchen, and preceded Leah +up the +narrow, time begrimmed staircase that led to the store rooms. He did +not address a word to her as she followed close behind him. Not until +they had walked through a large portion of the garret, across whose +ceiling ran heavy beams, and he had turned the key in the door of a low +room, did he pause a moment and say: "I'm taking you into my holy of +holies, Leah."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he opened it, crossed the threshold with the light, and +allowed +her also to enter.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the first glance it seemed a mere attic chamber, like +hundreds of +others, only perhaps somewhat higher, but as if to make amends for this +the roof sloped the more, the ancient beams, which supported it, +seeming no longer able to do their duty. But as Franzelius set the +lantern on the little black stove and lighted a small lamp, Leah saw +that the walls were covered with neat grey paper, and the few articles +of furniture were kept scrupulously free from dust. The whole end of +the room before the window was filled with something which she did not +instantly recognize. When the lamplight penetrated to the window, she +perceived that it was a turning lathe, and she instantly knew why this +awkward piece of furniture stood in Reinhold's holy of holies. He +seemed to use it for a writing table; a portfolio, books, and writing +materials lay upon it, all in the neatest order. On the right and left +of the single deep window niche, where in the daytime scarcely a ray of +light could fall, two wide carved brackets were fastened to the wall. +The one on the left bore the mask of Michael Angelo's prisoner, the +other a square object, like a small box, covered with a cloth. The room +contained no other furniture, except a small book-case and two plain +cane chairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Won't you sit down, dear Leah?" asked the silent guide, after +he had +set down the lamp on the stove beside the lantern. He did not look at +her, but she saw that the hand which had held the little lamp trembled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you," she replied, "I'm not tired. Tell me the +commission you +wanted to give me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Commission? I have none; pardon me, dear friend, it was only +a paltry +excuse; didn't you see through it at once: And besides, if I had +anything to be done in Berlin, I could not entrust it to you--for +you'll not go there yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why do you attempt to dissuade me? Don't trouble yourself. +I've made +up my mind; I think I know what I am doing."</p> + +<p class="normal">Notwithstanding her refusal, she sat down, as if absorbed in +thought, +in the chair he had placed for her, and diligently thrust the point of +her parasol into a hole in the floor, seeming for a moment to forget +everything around her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've made up your mind?" he said with a very sorrowful +face. "Of +course you're mistress of your own actions. But in that case I must +tell you that I have also made up my mind, not to give your letter to +Edwin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've read it? Oh Reinhold!" A hasty, indignant glance from +her eyes +met his. The next instant she lowered them to the ground in confusion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have not read it," he said gravely. "Here it is; convince +yourself +that that the seal is unbroken. But it is just the same as if I had." +She started up and moved toward the door, but suddenly paused halfway.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not go," he pleaded. "There's time enough for that, when +you've +listened to what I have to say. Tell me frankly: can you expect me, +when Edwin returns, to give him a letter in which his wife informs him, +that she has left him, because she can no longer live beneath his +roof?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Would I have said that? Would I have said it so? Now I ask +you to open +the letter, Reinhold, that you may see what I have told him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you for your confidence, dear friend, but I will not +read the +letter which you will soon reproach yourself for having written. +Besides, I know very nearly what you've said, to palliate what you're +about to do to him--and yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Palliate? What I'm about to do is for his good; what it costs +me no +one knows."</p> + +<p class="normal">She had sunk down into the chair, with her forehead pressed +against the +back; a shudder seemed to convulse her slight frame.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you not bestow upon me the same confidence <i>he</i> has +given?" she +heard Franzelius ask after a pause. "True, his friendship is of an +older date, but when you became his wife, it seemed to me as if I had +loved you from childhood as my sister. Dear Leah, he has told me all he +told you. And do you think so old a friend cannot feel how much +suffering this heavy trial causes you?" She suddenly looked him full in +the face, her features no longer distorted by passion, but an +expression of such hopeless grief rested on her brow and lips, that he +shrank back in alarm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He told you <i>all</i>? Yes, all he knew of his own heart. What +could he +have said to you of mine? What does he know about it? True, it's not +his fault. I've always been ashamed to unbosom myself, to confess how I +idolize him, how madly I love him. It might be unwelcome to him, I +thought, since he--well, you know, for you're his friend; what he said +about his 'intellectual love' sounded so pretty, very pretty for a +philosopher and commendable for his wife also, if she had as much +philosophy in her head as he expected, and no unbridled, tumultuous +heart, that refused to listen to reason. 'If he should perceive,' I +thought, 'that I have my mother's blood in my veins, hot, old-testament +blood--perhaps he'll discover that he made a great mistake in thinking +he could make a "sensible marriage" with such a nature, as a +consolation for a lost love.' And then I also thought: 'who knows what +may happen? Perhaps the day will come when I can tell him all, because +he himself will no longer be satisfied with a modest happiness, but ask +something prouder, higher, more enthusiastic, and then I can say to +him: "you need not seek far, still waters run deep; you've yet to know +your own wife, with whom you have lived so long unsuspicious of her +true nature."' I was going to say it to him when he returned from this +pedestrian tour; it seemed to me, from his letters, as if the last +spark of the old fire had burned out, and he was longing for a new +passion, a fervent love, which would completely engulf him, and after +four years of married life, he now, for the first time, loved me with a +new, yearning, longing affection. It gave me such delight. But I was +rightly served; my weakness or delusion, or whatever it may have +been--must be punished. Why did I not confess to him at once, that I +should be miserable if he only chose me for his wife on account of my +few intellectual qualities? Why did I not tell him I, too, must have +all or nothing, and was far less suited for a 'sensible marriage,' than +many a far more foolish creature? Now my fate has overtaken me--and +his, him--and you want, by means of a few friendly, sensible arguments +to heal the breech which has burst open again, the breech which ought +never to have been closed."</p> + +<p class="normal">She had arisen, and was pacing excitedly up and down the +narrow room, +while he sat silently on one corner of the turning lathe with his head +bowed on his breast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're slandering, Leah!" he said in a hollow tone. "You're +slandering +his heart."</p> + +<p class="normal">"His heart?" she passionately replied. "Has he a heart he can +call his? +Oh! don't suppose I'm reproaching him for the lack of it! Yesterday I +often thought--ought the remembrance of all the grave and joyous, +pleasant and painful things we have shared together for four years, to +be utterly effaced and blown away? Had not his heart been animated and +warmed by mine till both beat in unison, in all questions of life great +and small? You see, I thought so yesterday; today I no longer hold the +same opinion, but find the present state of thing perfectly natural."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To-day--what has happened to-day, that has so suddenly--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She approached him till she stood close by his side, and +without +raising her eyes to his, whispered in an undertone: "To-day I've made +<i>her</i> acquaintance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Then the veiled lady--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Came in search of him and found only me. Don't you agree with +me, +Reinhold, that under these circumstances it's quite time for the wife +to go away, that the husband may be at home when such an agreeable +visitor arrives?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leah! What are you saying? You don't know how you wrong him. +He--what +did he know about her mad plan? And if he had been aware of it, would +he not have gone away just at the right time to baffle it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes indeed," she nodded with a bitter expression on her face, +"he +would have fled from his fate to-day and to-morrow until it should +overtake him at last. No, my friend, I do not wrong him; I know how he +suffers, and I also know that it will be no disgrace if he succumbs. I +have never seen such a woman; will you believe that I, who had good +reasons for hating her, could not help loving her; not merely thinking +her charming, more charming than I have ever thought any of my own sex +before, but liking, loving her! Or no, I will not say too much; but I +understand how people cannot help loving her unless they have reasons +for hating her as strong as mine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did she make herself known to you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not by a single syllable. But as soon as she entered the +door, even +before she threw back her veil, I knew it was she! She cast a hasty +glance around the room, a glance that sought him. If I had not been +dazzled and fascinated by her appearance, I should have said at once: +'He's not here. Countess, you've come in vain.' But I was silent, and +allowed her to speak first, and then, when I had heard her voice, it +was too late. She asked for me, she wanted to find some pretext for +remaining until he returned, and I secretly admired her presence of +mind. She had seen some of my paintings in the house of a lady +acquaintance in Berlin, she said, and was so much pleased with them, +that while on a journey she had stopped in the city, to make my +acquaintance and learn whether she might hope to possess some of my +work, she did not care what, a plate with fruit painted on it, a vase, +or a flower piece in oils.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At first her voice trembled, then she grew calmer and threw +back her +veil. Oh! I understood her perfectly. She was now convinced that she +had nothing to fear from me, that the insignificant creature before her +could make no pretensions to offer any compensation for the happiness +virtuously disdained by the man, to whom she stood ready to give +herself. And she was right, I instantly said to myself. Must I, if +unhappy be so foolish also, as to deceive myself? And precisely because +I instantly lost all hope, I obtained the composure and clearness of +mind which I should not have preserved if either hope or defiance had +lingered in my heart. I answered her without the least embarrassment, +and showed her my portfolio, telling her that I now only painted for my +own amusement and gave my productions to my friends. 'Then of course I +have no hope of obtaining anything?' she said. I made no reply. Was I +to lie, by saying courteously that it would afford me pleasure to do +her a friendly service? But she did not expect it. She sat silently on +the sofa, and there was a long pause in the conversation between us. +Her eyes--what beautiful eyes she has!--wandered slowly and absently +around the room. 'Your husband works there!' she said at last, pointing +to his desk. 'And you sit yonder, close beside him, and it does not +disturb him?' She sighed involuntarily. Probably for a moment it seemed +to her as if she were destroying something that was good and beautiful +and worthy of existence. I could look at her closely. I don't know now +how I had the heart to do so. But she was so charming! 'Those eyes,' I +said to myself, 'have stolen your happiness, those red, full lips have +kissed him, drawn away from him all power to be happy with another +woman.' Strange as it was I sat there beside her, wishing I was lying a +hundred fathoms under the earth, and Edwin was sitting in my place. +Then I was angry with myself that I could be so impartial, so terribly +just, instead of looking at her with jealous rage and anger, for which +I really had good cause. 'She has come to triumph over you,' cried a +voice in my soul. 'She wants to outshine you, to tear him away from you +before your eyes, and you sit beside her and all you feel is a sense of +inexpressible sorrow.' I was beginning to hate myself, that I could +offer no better resistance to this magic. Then, without the slightest +pretext, she suddenly began to talk of my husband, inquired about him +like a perfect stranger, who had only seen him casually, and read more +things about him than by him. I don't know how it was--I ought to have +been too proud to speak of him, at least as I did, as we only pour out +to an intimate friend the deepest feelings of the heart about a person +we love. But I probably thought I owed it to myself, to show that I was +well aware what I had possessed and must lose in him. So I said just +what came into my mind, and she sat nodding silently, without uttering +a syllable, until I had talked myself in to an excited mood, and +suddenly paused with some commonplace apology. My heart throbbed almost +to bursting. The bitter anguish of the fact that we should be on such +terms, suddenly burst upon me. God knows what I was about to say, when +she rose, drew off her glove, and held out her hand, which in my +bewilderment I actually took. 'Thank you,' said she. 'How much I should +like to stay longer, for I see we understand each other in many things. +But I must go, or I shall be missed. Farewell, dear wife, may you be +happy. Think often--'</p> + +<p class="normal">"She was about to add something, but her voice failed. +Suddenly I felt +her throw her arms around me and press her beautiful lips three times +to mine; then before I could collect my thoughts, she had hurried out +of the room and I was alone with my shame and astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, precisely because she is better than I thought, I must +make room +for her. I know now, for I have experienced it myself--he who has once +seen her can never forget her again; he whom she has once kissed, must +be her slave. But to be <i>her</i> slave would cause no pain, while other +chains--No, no, he shall not bear this burden. I will go away, will not +play the base, unworthy part of a third person, who is merely +tolerated, secretly wished dead a thousand times. Besides, what is it? +Have I not possessed for four years, what must now be restored to the +hands of the rightful owner? Am I the first, or shall I be the last +woman, in whom a good, generous, noble man has been mistaken, when he +supposed she could fill his heart, and at whose feet he now, to the end +of his life, wishes to lay his duty, heroic, self-sacrificing? Fie, who +can accept such a sacrifice? Not I--not I--by my mother's blood, which +lives in me--not I!"</p> + +<p class="normal">While uttering the last words, she had approached the door and +now laid +her hand on the lock, saying: "Adieu! It is time--" when Franzelius +suddenly stood close beside her, placed his hand gently on her arm, and +looking steadily into her face, said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"And yet notwithstanding all this, you will not go, Leah?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not go? After all you have just heard?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Leah not even now."</p> + +<p class="normal">She hastily released herself from his hold, and looked at him +with +eyes flashing with anger; "I don't understand you, Reinhold. By what +right--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"By what right do I interfere when you want to plunge into an +abyss, +and drag Edwin with you? Can you ask, Leah? Must I explain to you, as +to a total stranger? Well then, I will remind you of what you have +forgotten, of him from whom I derive the right to fill a brother's +place to you and Edwin, because I promised him to do so, because it was +his legacy to me, a legacy, which I hold sacred and will fulfil to my +latest breath. If the living fails to persuade you to do your duty, to +perceive what your duty is--perhaps the dead may better succeed."</p> + +<p class="normal">While he uttered these words he had approached the window and +hastily +removed the covering from the bracket on the right. Under a square +glass cover, on a black cushion, lay Balder's death-mask, so warmly +illuminated by the lamplight, that the pure features of the beautiful, +still countenance, seemed to be animate with life. Leah sank back into +the chair in silence. In her first bewilderment she did not venture to +open her eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take courage to look at him, dear friend," said Reinhold +after a long +pause; "when you have conquered the first feeling of awe, you will +become more and more calm in the presence of this face. Do you not +think the resemblance very striking, seen from the side? Edwin's +<i>sister</i> we might say. It was thus you saw this noble man for the first +and last time--you have never heard his voice, never seen his eyes or +his smile--you came too late. But believe me if he were now on earth, +he would not have used so many words as I; he would only have looked at +you, and to leave Edwin would have seemed impossible."</p> + +<p class="normal">Still she did not utter a word, but sat on the chair in the +middle of +the room with both hands clasped in her lap, and her eyes streaming +with tears, fixed steadily upon the pale profile. He did not know +whether she even heard what he said. But his heart was full and +overflowed again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, my friend," said he, "it was an error of your heart, a +human +weakness, which cannot last in the presence of death--the end of all +human joys and sorrows. What, did you intend to leave him alone in the +hardest trial of his life? Can you really doubt that he will be truly +miserable for the first time, when he loses you? The old disease has +attacked him again, but would he have instantly placed himself in your +care, if he had not felt that he could only be cured with the aid and +under the protection of the old, sacred, eternal powers of true love +and faith? And must he now find an empty house, a cold hearth, darkness +around him, and the threshold from which hostile spectres are wont to +recoil, no longer guarded by good household spirits? And will she, who +is about to inflict this pain upon him, attempt to delude herself and +him with the fancy that she is making a sacrifice for his sake? For her +own sake, she ought to say, for the sake of her pride, her jealous, +offended heart, that cannot endure the thought of not making this +beloved husband forget every thing beside itself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forgive these harsh words, dear Leah," he pleaded, +approaching her and +trying to take her hand. "If you were not the woman, whom I have so +heartily rejoiced that he obtained for a wife, a woman as high-hearted +and brave as himself, perhaps you would be right in what you are doing. +One would scarcely dissuade a woman of the ordinary stamp, from making +the attempt to bring her husband back to her, by leaving him for a +time. But you, dear Leah, ought not to allow any petty arts, any +sensitive pouting and reserve, to come between yourself and him. If he +has caused you pain, has he not suffered most bitterly himself? Would +he have left you again now, if he had not felt how it must torture you +to see his condition? He--that I know--feels that he could not be cured +anywhere so quickly as near you. If you had heard how he talked to me +about you--oh! dear Leah, no man has ever struggled more honestly +against the powers of evil, and shall his natural champion, from whose +presence he might draw new strength, desert her colors?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come. Compose yourself. Turn your eyes away from that +glorified +face--it moves you too deeply. Oh! dearest Leah, you're not the first +who has learned from the dead, what we owe to the living. I've sat in +this very chair through many an hour of bitter conflict, when I knew +not what to do; and when it has sometimes happened that my dear wife +and I did not agree, we came quietly up here, first I, and ere long +she, and we soon saw clearly what we ought to do. You know yourself, +dear friend, every thing in life is not as plain as a sum in +arithmetic, where we only need to write down the fraction that is left +over. Therefore we must question our dead, our immortal ones, and they +will not leave us long in doubt about the answer."</p> + +<p class="normal">He had taken both her hands, and was gazing down at her with a +look of +the tenderest love. She suddenly rose and threw her arms around his +neck. "Dear--true--only friend," was all she could falter amid her +sobs.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a time some one knocked gently at the door, and +Reginchen's voice +said that her father was going and wanted to take leave of Reinhold. As +there was no sound from the attic room, the little wife then opened the +door and timidly entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold gently released himself from Leah, who was still +clinging to +him in violent agitation. "Do you take charge of her now," he said to +Reginchen, "we shall keep her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew it, Reinhold," replied the little wife, smiling +through her +tears; "you don't talk often, but when you do speak, you can move +mountains. Has he turned your heart, you naughty woman, when you +wouldn't be touched by my fondest words? Now I find her here on the +most affectionate terms with my own husband, and must get jealous of my +only friend forsooth, in my old age."</p> + +<p class="normal">Long after Reinhold had left the house and was on his way to +the +railway station with his father-in-law, who understood nothing about +the matter, the two friends remained clasped in each other's arms, Leah +seated in the lap of Reginchen, who often pressed her to her heart with +almost motherly tenderness. They said nothing, but leaned their heads +against each other and looked up to the bracket from which the dead +man's gentle face gazed down upon them in pure and calm majesty.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Meantime the two friends had spent their day in a somewhat +grave mood.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was easy to say and sing:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-4px">"How joyous he, who leaves his home,<br> +To wander at his will,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">but difficult to realize it. After Mohr had sung all the +verses in his +best style, and Edwin at the conclusion had only remarked absently, +that the air was very gay--a recognition the composer's husband did not +consider sufficiently warm--they walked on for an hour without +speaking, except in monosyllables. "You'll forgive my old uncivil +habit, Heinz," Edwin had said. "The morning hour to me has gold in its +mouth, and silence is golden."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm!" muttered Mohr, "I don't know what we two should have to +say to +each other."</p> + +<p class="normal">Nor did aught of importance occur to him in the second or +third hour. +The day was hot, the road through the forest cool and pleasant, but as +it led into the mountains, both men, who were usually such sturdy +pedestrians, seemed to find every step a burden.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sun blazed hotly down, as they climbed a height overgrown +with low +bushes, from which the ruins of a stately castle overlooked a broad +extent of country. They had hoped to find an inn here, but the little +house which had formerly been used for that purpose, was deserted, and +the tiny garden full of weeds and robbed of its summer fruits; only the +well was still ready to do its duty. When they had partially quenched +their thirst, they stretched themselves on the turf under the shadow of +the ruined barbican, and Mohr began to make a cigarette.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If we could only have a rubber of whist or a game of piquet," +he +sighed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In broad daylight, here on the green grass?" replied Edwin +smiling. +"Incorrigible sinner."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr looked askance at him and shrugged his shoulders. "My +worthy +saint," he growled, "how often have I told you that this is one of your +limitations; you've no taste for play. But just wait till you've +written your book, completed your system. Then you'll have satisfied +your soul's longing, and your eyes will be opened to the fact that a +sensible man can take even play seriously."</p> + +<p class="normal">"'There's often a deep meaning in children's games:' a wise +man said +that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes indeed, and a philosopher by trade ought to be the last +to scoff +at it. A game of whist, my dear fellow, is life in miniature, where one +has more luck than judgment, another more judgment than luck, a third +who holds the best trumps doesn't know what to do with them, while the +fourth, who would probably have made the most of them, loses the cards +at last by his partner's awkwardness, at the utmost counting only his +honors. I never take a hand at cards, without a certain feeling of +solemnity, as if we then compelled fate, which usually only allows +herself to be seen through a rift in the clouds, to sit down close +beside us and show her real colors. What, on the contrary, is a +melodrama, comedy, or tragedy, at which fate is separated from us by +the orchestra and prompter's box, and we can lose nothing except our +admission fee and faith in a new development of the German stage? +Instead of the 'stage,' we ought to talk of 'the cards' that parody the +world."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A fine world, in which there are only knaves, kings, and +queens, with +the exception of a few insignificant mutes; and all this for a few +penitents! No, my dear fellow, as I lack an appreciation of money, even +more than an appreciation of play--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mohr puffed huge clouds of smoke into the air. "If you only +say that, +to avoid being compelled to acknowledge that I'm right, I'll forgive +you," he said calmly. "But if you really made such a worthless remark +in earnest, I pity you. You're generally clever, Edwin, or rather you +think it worth while, when we're talking together, not only to pour out +pure wine for me, but, as I'm a connoisseur, your best brands. Shall I +tell you why, at this moment, you don't care a straw what you say? +Because, for the last three hours, I've only rejoiced in your bodily +presence, your soul has been far away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And where has it taken up its abode, omniscient friend?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm! do you see the telegraph poles, which appear between the +pines +yonder, and show that iron rails run through the forest beneath them? +If, for a few hours, you follow toward the East the wires which are +scarcely visible from here, in the direction from whence we have just +come, your worthy body will reach the spot where your honored soul is +at the present moment, and which it has not left five minutes today."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You maybe right, my dear fellow," replied Edwin gravely. "I +confess +I've been thinking all the morning, whether it was not ridiculous +nonsense to leave my little wife again, and without even a farewell +kiss. She cannot feel happy, and I'm very miserable, while you, poor +martyr to friendship, must be bored with me, whether you like it or +not. No"--and he sprang to his feet with sudden resolution--"we must +not carry anything too far, even want of consideration for our friends. +Do you think I don't know that by following the telegraph wire toward +the <i>West</i>, we shall in a few hours reach the spot where your heart +dwells, though your mind, even if not in its most brilliant mood, may +be beside me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pray leave my insignificant self entirely out of the +question. The +matter under discussion is what's best for you, and with all due +deference to Frau Leah's worldly wisdom, I think she made a mistake +this time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think so too?" cried Edwin with beaming eyes. "Well, +my +Socratic fiend has been saying the same thing, but the habit of +respecting superior wisdom--no, I'll emancipate myself, I frankly +declare that this distasteful bodily exercise, while the soul remains +immovable in one spot, is unworthy of a sensible man and does more harm +than good; in a word, I absolve you from the painful duty of acting as +bear leader, and will go back at full speed, until I see the smoke of +my own chimney."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop," exclaimed Mohr, throwing his cigarette over the +precipice. +"Praiseworthy as this hasty resolution appears, for this day you belong +to me; in the first place, because it will be salutary for your wife to +do without you again for a whole day, and secondly, because neither at +my home, nor during these last few days of travel, have we said +anything about your work. That book my friend, must eventually be +written. I should like to know how far you have progressed with the +system, or whether the old step-mother, Mathematics, has so maltreated +the tender little soul. Psychology, which cannot live without fancy, +that we must despair of its attaining any further growth. Who +knows when we shall see each other again. That we shall not write +very frequently is unfortunately more than probable, and besides, +now-a-days, letters contain nothing of any real importance. So be kind +enough to sit down beside me again and submit to an examination. Or +still better, let us drag ourselves to the next village, breakfast, and +then begin."</p> + +<p class="normal">They did so. Mohr was well aware that next to the gentle but +powerful +magic of Leah's presence, nothing could be so soothing to his friend's +agitated soul, as to resolve to do what in his modesty he had always +deferred, collect the work of the last few years in a large volume. +Now, for the first time, while sketching the outlines to his +sympathizing listener, Edwin felt that nothing essential was really +lacking, that he only needed to go to work with a firm purpose and a +good heart. Heinrich encouraged him in his resolve in every possible +way.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you want to wait till you have nothing more to learn, +before you +begin to teach, you can write only posthumous books. I must preach very +nearly the same sermon with which I yesterday converted a much more +eccentric Christian; your head has reached its full growth, I think. It +may be refurnished in one way or another; have a window cut here or +there, but the foundations will not enlarge. And as it is tolerably +spacious and not ill planned, it will be useful for the world to know +how it (the world, I mean,) is reflected in this head. For my part, I +have a special interest in wishing the book to be written soon; in the +first place, because it must be dedicated to me and our ex-tribune of +the people; and secondly, because in my own unfruitfulness, it is a +satisfaction to have friends who can make themselves talked about and +accomplish something entire."</p> + +<p class="normal">When, toward evening, they parted, and Mohr went to the +station, to +return to his wife and child, both, though without showing it except by +a somewhat over-strained gayety, were very much agitated. They had +again shared what binds human beings most closely to each other, pure, +unselfish hours of grave meditation and quiet sympathy, in the +contemplation of the eternal verities. And moreover they felt +themselves bound more strongly to each other by a renewal of the old +friendship which may, even when the thoughts are unlike, and the +topmost branches as it were divide, forever entwine the roots of two +lives.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was already dark, when Edwin also set out by rail to return +to the +little city which he had left in the morning. The unconquerable longing +for home had increased to an actual fever, during the hour he was +obliged to wait at the station. When the train at last stopped in the +town, which now contained his world, he sprang hastily out, looking +neither to the right nor left, lest he should see some acquaintance who +might detain him. He did not notice the two men who had been waiting +for the arrival of the same train, Reinhold and Herr Feyertag, the +latter, being as we know, about to return to Berlin. They, also, were +too much engrossed in conversation, to heed the traveler in a suit of +grey, who rushed blindly past them and instantly turned toward the +city.</p> + +<p class="normal">When at last, panting for breath and wiping the perspiration +from his +brow, he reached his house, he was surprised to find the windows dark, +but instantly said to himself: "She's with Reginchen." The delay +annoyed him, it had never entered his mind that he should not find her +at home. He hastily entered resolved to send the maid-servant for her, +for he felt unable to see others to-day, even though they might be his +dearest friends. But when he opened the door of his room, the girl came +toward him with a light.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Doctor!" she exclaimed, almost dropping the lamp in her +surprise. +"Good gracious, to-day! And my mistress--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where's my wife? At the next house, I suppose?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Preserve us! Gone away entirely, an hour ago--you must have +met her at +the railway station."</p> + +<p class="normal">"At the station? What are you talking about, Kathrin? Where +should she +go--alone--without me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She's gone to Berlin with Herr Feyertag, and she said she +didn't know +when she'd come back, but she'd write, and as the Herr Doctor wouldn't +return for a week--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gone? To Berlin?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why yes, to see her father--and she made up her mind very +suddenly. +Herr Feyertag said it would be a good opportunity, because he was going +himself this evening, but my mistress would not hear of such a thing at +first, but the other visitor had scarcely gone--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Another visitor? Who--don't make me drag the words out of you +so--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how should I know who it was? I never saw the lady in my +life, she +didn't tell her name, and I could not hear what she said to my +mistress. She was very beautiful, and very elegantly dressed; after +she'd gone the room smelt of violets a long time, and my mistress paced +up and down, looking very pale and talking to herself. And then when I +brought her dinner she didn't touch a mouthful, and I didn't dare to +ask her any questions; she said nothing to me, except that she'd made +up her mind to go to Berlin. So about twilight she went out with a +little satchel, and didn't even allow me to go with her to the station. +When she'd gone, I felt very sad and anxious, though I didn't know why, +and I was just going to bed--but what ails you, Herr Doctor? Shall I +get you a glass of water?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He had sunk down on the sofa and his eyes were closed as if a +stroke of +apoplexy had benumbed his brain.</p> + +<p class="normal">When, after some time, he opened his eyes again, he saw the +maid-servant, who had no idea what all this could mean, still standing +helplessly in the middle of the room. "What are you doing here, +Kathrin?" he said harshly. "Go to bed, leave me, I want nothing more +to-day. No, no light. I can see well enough. Good night."</p> + +<p class="normal">The faithful servant glided silently out of the room, and he +sank back +again in the corner of the sofa, helplessly giving himself up, in the +loneliness and darkness, to his bitter anguish.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">So he had lost her--his brave little wife, his good comrade, +the friend +who sympathized with all his moods and thoughts, all his feelings and +wishes! The right hand must do without the left, the complete man had +become a pitiful fragment, a crumbling mass of ruin.</p> + +<p class="normal">The blow was so sudden, so unexpected, that for the first hour +his +bewilderment swallowed up all sense of pain. If anything earthly had +ever seemed positive and secure from loss, it had been the possession +of this heart. The secret fear (which sometimes blends with the joy of +passionate love,) that exuberance of feeling may fall from its +exaltation and undergo the common lot of change, he had never known. He +had never toiled in anxiety and doubt to win the woman's love; it had +been his long before he suspected it; why should he fancy that it could +ever change! And now she had deserted him!</p> + +<p class="normal">No feeling of reproach or bitterness, that she failed him now +when he +needed her more than ever, rose in his heart. He esteemed her too +highly to believe her capable of any petty irritability, any ordinary +feminine weakness, such as going "to make herself missed." If she could +feel that her place was no longer beside him, she must have had good +reasons for her belief, reasons which would bear the examination not +only of her sorely tried heart, but of her reason. What they might be, +well as he knew her, was not clear to him. Did she not know him too, +and know he would never leave her? But he also knew whom she had seen, +and that this visitor had been the cause of her sudden resolution he +was perfectly convinced.</p> + +<p class="normal">But however that might be--he had lost her. True--in the midst +of his +deep sorrow, a voice within whispered consolingly it was not possible, +not conceivable that he could have lost her forever. If she had +suspected that he would return to her to-day, how desolate the lonely +house would seem, how sleepless the night would be--perhaps she would +have remained. And it could have needed only one word, one look into +each other's eyes, to have banished all the ghosts that had come +between them. But even if she returned with him--he missed her to-day, +and had been longing all day to see her, as he had never done before, +and only endured the weary hours, because he knew the last would bring +him to her arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the midst of the bitterest grief and regret, his mind +suddenly grew +strangely clear and calm. For the strength of a noble love that really +fills a man's heart, is such, that in its glorious fervor it consumes +all other feelings, and even in the denial of the beloved object, the +renunciation of the joy of her presence and reciprocating love, renders +him happy whose being it pervades. All the happiness Edwin had enjoyed +during these four years of quiet possession, seemed like a pale +twilight in comparison with the radiant brightness that suddenly burst +upon him in this separation. For the first time, the inmost depths of +his being were pervaded by the feeling that he would give the whole +world to call this woman his again.</p> + +<p class="normal">With the rapturous timidity of a young man in love, but far +distant +from the object of his longing, and who meantime indemnifies himself +for all deprivations by the boldness of his waking dreams, he conjured +up the image of his beloved wife and murmured confusedly a thousand +happy, sweet, and sorrowful words. He sued for her heart as if she had +never granted him a kind word, and in imagination whispered his +yearning love in her ear and waited with a throbbing heart for some +sound from her lips that might seem to favor his suit. Her little work +basket stood on the table before the sofa, where he still lay in the +dark. Just as she had toyed with his book, his pen, he now took up one +after another, the skeins of silk, silver thimble, and little scissors; +the thimble he put on and pressed to his lips. It was such a +consolation to him to be permitted to touch the things that had +belonged to her, as if they were hostages she would ransom when he had +her again. "To Berlin," he said suddenly to himself. "Why should we not +go there?" He said "we," as if they were to set out on their journey +the next morning together. For the moment he had entirely forgotten +that she was not sitting beside him.</p> + +<p class="normal">So he lay in his dark corner in a condition between sleeping +and +waking, while visions of all his past and future happiness successively +rose before him. He was so absorbed in his reverie that he did not hear +the noise in the street outside, a strange humming and buzzing, as if a +great crowd had assembled, but were moving gently about with subdued +voices and light steps, in order not to betray some secret design. It +was about nine o'clock, an hour at which such a gathering, except in +case of fire, was utterly unprecedented. Now the gleam of several +wavering lights penetrated the dark room seemingly stationary before +the house. Still the dreamer's attention was not aroused. Not until the +street had again become perfectly silent and a duet began, softly sung +by two voices without, did Edwin start up. What was that? Who was +singing that beautiful, familiar melody, which he could never hear +without deep emotion, since it had been the last greeting of Balder's +friends, ere they left him to his eternal repose? <i>Integer vitæ</i>--now +it rose again, sung before his house by young, fresh voices, a greeting +of life to the living. At first he listened without thinking how it +happened that the old tune was now heard outside. Its melody fell so +softly on his heart, and the words, with which he was perfectly +familiar, seemed like the friendly consolation of a good spirit, +closely allied to him. When the fourth verse began, he rose gently and +approached the closed window. The street was crowded with people, whose +faces were all turned toward him, though he was evidently not yet +perceived against the dark background of the room for the expression of +expectation, which rested on every countenance, did not alter as he +approached. In the centre stood the singers, pupils belonging to the +first classes of his school; his colleague, the singing-master, had +stationed himself before the semi-circle, and by the light of some +torches was beating time as intently as if some grand musical +exhibition were taking place in a hall. Among the bystanders Edwin +recognized many of the most prominent citizens in the place, the +president of the workmen's society and several friends and neighbors, +and could no longer doubt that the serenade was intended for him, a +discovery, which even in his dark hiding place, made him blush to his +temples.</p> + +<p class="normal">What could have induced these good people, who as he well +knew, were +his friends, to express their feelings to him on this particular day, +and in such a manner? Who had arranged this conspiracy so secretly, +that even Franzelius, who would certainly have prepared him, had heard +nothing of it? He was just resolving to choose the simplest way of +solving the mystery, by going out and inquiring, when the door was +cautiously opened and one of his younger colleagues, the teacher of +history, with an exclamation of joy, entered the dark room. "So you are +at home!" he cried, eagerly grasping Edwin's hand. "As the windows +still remained dark, we were afraid that the beadle, who positively +declared he saw you return by the evening train, might have been +mistaken. It was known that you went away early this morning, and the +serenade which had been appointed for this evening was of course +deferred. But when you came back, there was no restraining them; all +who were to take part were hastily assembled, and now nothing will save +you; you must leave your hiding place and show yourself to the people, +although so far as speech making is concerned, we can't under present +circumstances stick to the original programme."</p> + +<p class="normal">He then hastily told his astonished hearer, how all this had +come to +pass. Notwithstanding the secrecy with which the affair was managed, +the rumor that Edwin was to be dismissed on account of his lecture +before the workmen's society and the freethinking he had never denied, +had spread itself among the pupils, who were greatly attached to him, +and through this channel had reached the citizens and workmen. +Instantly the thought occurred to them of averting the danger of losing +their dear teacher and friend, by a solemn demonstration. If the city +manifested its unanimous desire not to let Edwin go, those occupying +high places would perhaps be startled. So an address had been secretly +prepared, which was to be carried to Edwin escorted by a torchlight +procession, and followed by a supper at the citizen's club. A partial +knowledge of this had reached the ears of the principal of the school, +who in his fear of offending both parties, could think of no wiser +course than to telegraph to his superiors and beg them to adopt +moderate measures. As soon as he had received an answer conceding his +petition, he sent for the ringleaders among the pupils and told them no +one had any intention of depriving them of their teacher, only that +every thing must be avoided which would make an uproar and irritate the +ecclesiastical authorities. There must be no torchlight procession nor +any satirical addresses, either verbal or written; this was the +condition of a mutual good understanding, which no one desired more +than he, since he himself felt the highest esteem for the honored +colleague in question.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So we were obliged to content ourselves by merely singing a +few songs +to you, my dear friend," the young man concluded. "It is possible that +even this course may destroy our pastor's rest. But why does he meddle +with our affairs and disturb our little circle? It was hard enough for +the lads to pledge themselves to do nothing more. Our little head boy +had prepared a speech, which would have borne witness that he had read +Thucydides to some purpose. And it seems as if I had never heard them +sing so before!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin's only reply was to press his friend's hands; he then +accompanied +him into the street, where the last song was being sung. All present +bared their heads, when they saw him, and seemed to expect a speech. +But he only went up to the old music teacher, uttered a few cordial +words, shook hands with him, and then embraced the head boy. "We know +each other, my young friends," he said, "we will hold to each other in +future, and I shall ever treasure it as one of my greatest joys, that +you sang this particular song. I will tell you why another time. But +here are other friends I must thank. Dear Herr Wolfhart," he said, +addressing an old white-haired cabinet-maker, "you, too, have taken the +trouble to come here to do me honor, although as I know, you are not a +good walker. How shall I thank you for it--and you--and all of you! +Well, I think the charming singing of our gallant lads will repay you +for the trouble, better than I could do if I made a long speech. True, +I might say a great deal to you all, but the street is not a suitable +place for it, and we shall meet each other again at some more fitting +opportunity. For your confidence in me and belief in my honest +intentions, I thank you cordially; and now we will beg our singers to +rejoice our hearts with a few more songs."</p> + +<p class="normal">While the singing began again, many pressed around Edwin to +shake hands +with him and whisper how delighted they were to have this opportunity +of showing their esteem for him and how the thought of losing him had +alarmed them all. He accepted these proofs of friendship in his usual +straight forward manner, said very little in reply, and escaped the +most enthusiastic, as well as he could, by pretending to be completely +absorbed in the music. But at heart he was strangely agitated and +touched by this beautiful and affectionate ceremonial, and yet amid his +joy he was deeply saddened by the thought that he must witness it +without her, whose existence was most closely interwoven with his. He +became more and more absorbed in this grief, which made him insensible +to all that was passing around him. When the last notes had died in the +air, the dark crowd silently melted away; the singers took leave of +him, and those colleagues who ventured to share in the ovation, +accompanied him to the door of the house with a last good night; he +crossed the deserted threshold with a sense of sorrowful oppression, as +if instead of this pleasurable event, some heavy grief had befallen +him, and he felt actual horror at the thought that he must now remain +through the long night alone with his despair.</p> + +<p class="normal">Again he threw himself on the sofa, but the blissful certainty +of +happiness, in which he had just rested there, had fled. He had never +felt more clearly, that he had lost the capacity for enjoying any +pleasure, which she did not share with him, that his weal and woe were +so indissolubly connected with this other self, that the mere thought +of losing her palsied every aspiration of his soul.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly he fancied he heard a light foot coming along the +street--now +it ascended the steps--seemed to pause a moment at the door, which was +ajar--and then to come through the dark entry--a footstep he knew so +well! but no, impossible! She is far away or could his thoughts have +had the power--? A hand is laid on the door knob; Edwin starts up with +a beating heart, is about to say: "Who is there?" and prepares to +reconcile himself to see a strange form enter, when the door opens, and +Leah who has witnessed every thing that has just taken place before the +house,--with what emotion! standing unnoticed among the crowd, not +daring to approach!--appears, trembling from head to foot, like a +criminal before her judge, on the threshold of the room she had left +with such an agitated soul.</p> + +<p class="normal">Another instant and she was clasped in his arms. As if beside +himself +in the exuberance of this unprecedented happiness, he raised the +tottering form and carried, rather than led her to the sofa.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leah!" he exclaimed, "is it you?--you in bodily form clasped +to my +heart again? I hold, I feel you, come, speak one word, compose +yourself--oh! you do not know what you have done for me in not going +away!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Meantime she had recovered from her bewilderment, but was +still +incapable of uttering a word. But he--all that he had just said in +imagination, his newly awakened, passionate love, his wooing for her +heart, the doubts and fears of a lover, he now poured forth aloud, +while again and again seeking with his quivering lips her hands, her +cheeks, the quiet mouth for which he had so ardently longed. "And you +are here," he cried, "you have not fled from me, have not left a poor +defenceless mortal alone in his need; no, my brave, faithful wife, now +for the first time wholly mine and fairer and happier than ever, and +all the idols which I had beside you, have crumbled into ruin forever."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh Edwin," she whispered, "you make me both happy and +miserable. You +do not know, I am a bad wife--mean and cowardly, and not worthy to have +you idolize me so. Oh! that this must be said now, but I must not allow +any falsehood to come between us--you must see me as I am, even if you +take back the treasure you have just poured into my lap."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Speak out, if it must be told," he said with his brightest +smile. "I +am curious to see how far a person who has just saved another's life, +can succeed in appearing odious."</p> + +<p class="normal">He held her hands firmly clasped in his, but she glided down +on the +carpet before him, and on her knees, like a grievous sinner, confessed +all that we already know. He let her talk on only interrupting now and +then by an ironical word or saucy laugh. "Have you finished?" he +asked, when she paused. She nodded, but made no effort to rise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your sins are heavy," said he. "Above all, that of having +given +another man, even though he be a friend, to whom I do not grudge any +good thing, the kiss which I myself so shamefully neglected to take +with me, when I set out early this morning. However, in consideration +that I too did not escape from the magic castle entirely unscathed, the +only penance imposed upon you shall be, that in the future, if you want +to kiss your own husband, you must never suppose that such folly does +not beseem thinking beings, who have made a sensible marriage, but +allow your heart every sweet absurdity--as in this hour. Leah, were +there ever two happier mortals?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I fear I shall not survive the joy--" she murmured. Then +withdrawing +from his embrace she continued: "You are crushing me,--and you must be +very gentle with me now--not for my own sake--Edwin, you do not yet +know--I--I bear another life--"</p> + +<p class="normal">This earth has joys that no heavenly joy can surpass, and +which can be +described by no human tongue.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">This night was succeeded by days, whose radiance and joy +exceeded even +the far famed happiness of the honeymoon. And in fact many drops of +gall had mingled with the honey of our lovers' first days of wedlock; +the daughter's sorrowful parting from her beloved father, whose future +at that time seemed far more lonely and joyless, because there was not +the faintest thought of a marriage with his first love; the young +wife's many household cares, and for Edwin himself numerous annoyances +in his new position, where the reputation of being a philosopher who +believes neither in religion nor in God, had preceded him.</p> + +<p class="normal">They had passed honestly through all troubles hand in hand. +But much as +these trials aided in strengthening the foundation upon which their +home was to be built, the happy rapture of joy, the unrestrained, +tumultuous delight with which young couples usually enter upon a new +life, had been lacking in them. Now all this was bestowed in +overflowing measure, when as Leah smilingly said, "they had really been +married too long to be so childishly happy."</p> + +<p class="normal">True, they did not allow, the outside world to see much of the +treasure +they had so suddenly found under their own hearthstone, and he who had +entered the sitting room on the following day would hardly have taken +the quiet young teacher, who was writing the first chapter of his +philosophical work, and the young wife, who was painting a study in +water colors from a bouquet of fresh roses, for two newly married +people, in whose hearts amazement at all the wonders of happy love was +still burning with a bright flame. But the first chapter did not +progress very rapidly, or the bouquet bloom speedily on the paper. +Every ten minutes the writer had something to ask the artist, and the +question generally concerned some childish folly, such as is usually +discussed gravely and thoroughly only in the nursery; or the artist, +who had gone out of the room a moment, could not as usual, on +returning, find the way directly back to her own window, but being +obliged to pass the other, her dress, with all its appurtenances would +catch on something which was no rose bush, but two arms extended toward +her like a sign post, that would not let her go until she had paid a +suitable toll for crossing the boundary line.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Since we have discovered that we are in love with each other, +like +ordinary foolish mortals, we can no longer abide within the same four +walls!" said Edwin laughing. "It is fortunate that we shall soon need a +larger dwelling at any rate. At least the neighbors will not notice it, +if we, from pure love, cannot continue beside each other."</p> + +<p class="normal">He threw his pen aside, gave his arm to his little wife, and +went to +the printers with her. Reginchen received them with eyes sparkling with +delight, but Reinhold, after yesterday's rare expenditure of eloquence, +was as monosyllabic as if he were compelled to make up for his +unprecedented lavishness by redoubled parsimony. But the quiet smile +that gleamed through his bushy beard was enough to tell his friends how +the sun of their happiness warmed his heart. They must come again in +the evening he said; but Edwin instantly declined--they were going into +the country, or to the shooting match, or somewhere--in short, they did +not know what wise or foolish thing they might undertake, but two such +frivolous young people could not enter into any positive engagement.</p> + +<p class="normal">The remainder of this last week of vacation passed in the same +way. +They were only seen for very short periods, when they talked in a +courteous, but abstracted manner, smiled at vacancy, and suddenly +departed again, as if they had some important business to transact, and +at hours when no staid citizen would think of going to walk, would be +met on the wall of the town or in the neighboring forest, strolling +along hand in hand, or sitting on some bench engaged in eager +conversation or absorbed in happy silence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet despite all this, the first chapter did make considerable +progress--more than the picture of the bouquet of roses, since the +original of the latter did not expand so quietly as Edwin's thoughts, +which had long before been bound into a beautiful wreath. "I know now," +said he, "why I never could write the book before. Certain things +cannot be done by reason and calm judgment. A hazardous enterprise, +like the final expression of thought, can be undertaken only when, like +a somnambulist, we wander over the heights of life, intoxicated by the +winged flight of a rapturous happiness, or the march of a grand, solemn +fate, with a courage which helps us to surmount all heights and depths. +No can can be so bold, except he who has shaken off all the burdens of +mortality and escaped into eternity. When I woke last night, my +darling, and gazed at your sleeping face--the moon was still shining +brightly--you had a saucy smile on your lips, while your grave +brow--will you believe, that a light suddenly dawned upon that passage +in Kant, over which I have racked my brains so long? now my third +chapter need not end with an interrogation point."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus passed the bright time of this most cloudless summer. On +Sunday, +the last day of vacation, they walked to a neighboring village and +passed the little church, just as the service was over. A flood of +melody from the organ floated solemnly through the open door, like an +invisible stream, which was bearing the church-goers into the world +again. The two lovers stood still and let the congregation pass slowly +by. A portion of it was composed of peasants with their wives and +children. Many residents of the city, who were spending the summer in +the country, had joined it, principally ladies, who nodded to Leah as +they passed, but owing to the religious views which the pair were known +to entertain, did not approach them at the moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The pastor of this village is famed for his toleration and +oratorical +talent," said Leah. "Does it not seem as if all these faces bore +witness, that a beautiful and noble gospel has just been preached, a +religion of love and charity? How differently the people look, when +they come from our city church, where your zealous opponent enters the +pulpit every Sunday with a heart full of hatred and desire for +persecution! These people have really been benefited; they have +sanctified their holiday, and we ought to thank them for secretly +pitying us, because they do not suspect we are doing so too, in our own +way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," replied Edwin, "so long as they confine +themselves to +secret pity, and do not allow their acts to be affected by it, so long +as they do not force upon us the consciousness that we have other wants +and satisfy them in a different way. For after all the ultimate and +most common standard of a man's value is, whether he is capable of +devotion or not, whether he can raise his thoughts above the dust of +workday life and produce and worthily enjoy a holiday stillness. In +this alone men differ and foolishly wrangle about how it happens. Those +who only in dense crowds can succeed in remembering their common +humanity, their universal weakness, their need, and all that binds them +under the universal law, consider those persons arrogant and +presumptuous, who can only feel the presence of the eternal powers, +when communing with their own hearts in the deepest solitude, or with +their most intimate friends. Nothing alien and fortuitous must touch +me, if I am to approach what people have agreed to call God. The voice +of a good man, who wants to obtrude upon me his little well meant +passages from Scripture, the faces of his innocent hearers, to whom +each word is a revelation, baffle and destroy my best efforts to rise +above earthly appearances into the one and all. That which now speaks +to us from the open house of God, is a feeling so strangely made up of +memories of our childhood, universal philanthropy, the summer air, and +the notes of the organ, that we gladly allow it to produce its effect +upon us. But when we seriously reflect, it leads us away from, rather +than into ourselves. It draws us toward natures which have little in +common with us. We have often said, dearest, that mankind might be +divided into two great classes, those who strive toward what is +steadfast, calm, and limited, and those who never forget that every +thing is fleeting, and are only satisfied when they themselves are in +the current of the eternal stream. How could the piety of these two +classes be the same? When the former pass from the restless, ever +moving world, through a church door into their Sunday, where every +thing has remained the same from time immemorial, the inexpressible +appears before them confined within set forms, and for all new wants +and sorrows the same consolations are ready, which have soothed their +ancestors for a thousand years. How can it surprise us, that people who +find their salvation in remaining ever the same and prefer to stifle +certain instincts of the soul and mind, rather than be allured into the +illimitable, cannot understand us, whose piety is rooted in the +strength and boldness which in moments of enthusiasm, enable us to +burst the barriers that confine us, in order through presentments and +intuition, to grasp all space?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They do not know," said Leah gently, after a short pause, +"how much +more courage and humility it requires, to confess that we cannot +recognize God, then to believe ourselves his pet children, in whose +ears He whispers the secret of the world, and thereby relieves from all +future care."</p> + +<p class="normal">When they returned home in the evening and entered their cosy +room, +they espied a letter lying on the desk. "I don't know why it is," said +Edwin, "but I fear this stranger which has crept in, will destroy the +pleasure of the last hours of vacation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't read it until to-morrow," pleaded Leah.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Edwin had already opened the letter, and a smaller note +fell out. +As Leah picked it up, he glanced at the signature of the large one. +"Doctor Basler," he read, and his light tone instantly grew sad. "A +letter from there--six closely written pages--strange, how far distant +it seems, all that transpired there, as if years had intervened; so +greatly does happiness harden us to the sorrows of others! And now once +more it appears like yesterday. Poor creature, to be so quickly +forgotten, even by your only friend! Perhaps though it may not contain +a word about her. Come we will sit down on the sofa and read the letter +together."</p> + +<p class="normal">Leah had become perfectly silent. Without exactly concealing +the note +she had picked up, she held it in her hand, so that for the instant +Edwin forgot it. They seated themselves near the lamp and read:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Sir and Friend!</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I should consider it my duty, even without the count's +express +command, to relate to my dear friend's son, the particulars of an event +extremely sad in its nature, and which if it should reach him in its +bare outlines through the medium of the press, would be doubly +agitating.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>So</i>--sine ambagibus--<i>for so-called preparation in such +cases only +increases anxiety and dread, and men, dear Herr Doctor, know that fate +strides rapidly--we have lost our beautiful young mistress, the +countess, in a manner as sudden as it is distressing.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>You are already aware, that the writer of this letter did +not enjoy +any special favor or regard from the lady who has died so young. Yet I +do not need to assure you, that the brevity of this account, which is +garnished by no expression of feeling, is due solely to the haste +imposed upon me by the pressure of circumstances, and not by any lack +of sympathy in my master's misfortune. Such a thing would not only be +inhuman in general, but ungrateful in particular, in so far as the +noble lady at last did justice to the good will of her faithful servant +and honored him with a priceless token of her confidence.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>To tell everything in due order, the countess, during the +first few +days after you left us, made no change in her mode of life, but on the +third or fourth day--Monday, if I am not mistaken--remained shut up in +her own room, allowing no one but her maid to attend her. On Thursday +she again appeared at dinner, and to her husband's evident joy, seemed +gayer and more cordial than was her habit in the family circle. The +Italian tour of the prince and his wife, introduced the subject of +traveling, and the countess jestingly remarked that she had become, so +to speak</i>, blasé <i>through descriptions of travel in most foreign +countries, but if any thing could please her, it would be to go alone +to the promised land. This remark was taken seriously, both by Count +Gaston and the count himself, and the following day nothing was talked +of except rides through the desert, Jordan water, the infidels, and the +holy sepulchre. Therefore it afforded me special pleasure, that the +countess should be the first to say: 'of course we must not leave the +doctor--my insignificant self--at home.'</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Amid all this, it could not escape one familiar with the +circumstances, that the noble lady's feelings toward her husband had +softened, a fact which I could not help secretly attributing to your +influence, my worthy friend. Old diagnosticians, like ourselves, are +not deceived in such matters; the tone of the voice and the expression +of the eyes, which accompanied even the most insignificant words, +plainly showed me that her former harshness was softening, and I was +already cherishing the brightest expectations of a complete +reconciliation, expectations now unfortunately forever baffled, by this +terrible catastrophe.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>A hunting party was arranged for Thursday, at which in +addition to +the members of the household, no one was present except the barons +Thaddäus and Matthäus, who, however, were only spectators, as, since +the accident to the fat landed-proprietor, though the wound is healing, +the furrow made by the ball suppurating properly, and his general +health admirable, they have vowed not to touch a gun, except in defence +of their native land.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I, as usual, remained at home, and did not even see the +party ride +away, but learned from the steward that Her Excellency had been +particularly gay and blooming, and in unusually good spirits, so that +the count really seemed to grow younger and the company moved off amid +jests and laughter.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>The occupants of the castle were therefore the more alarmed, +when, +soon after noon, the noble party entered the courtyard very quietly at +a walk, the countess lying in a carriage with a very pale face. Count +Gaston riding beside her on horseback, and her husband on the box. We +heard, that in the exuberance of her delight in hunting, Her Excellency +had proposed a steeplechase to the gentlemen, in which her English +chestnut horse instantly took the lead; but in leaping a high fence the +animal unfortunately fell, and though the countess was apparently +unhurt, the fright brought on a long fainting fit. The horse, which had +broken one of its fore legs, was instantly relieved from its sufferings +by a bullet from Count Gaston's pistol, at the express desire of its +mistress, who, however, as soon as the deed was done, burst into +violent sobs and afterwards did not utter a single word.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Leaning on her husband's arm, she ascended the stairs, +greeting the +terrified servants only with a silent bend of the head and went at once +to her own rooms, where she shut herself up for several hours, +declaring that she was not hurt, and that she only needed rest. It was +not a matter of surprise, that she did not consult me, as I have +already told you, I was not in her favor, either as a physician or as a +man. But to my no small surprise, about six o'clock I was called to the +noble patient by the maid herself.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I found her attired in an elegant</i> negligé, <i>sitting at a +writing +table, as if nothing had happened; she was unusually pale however, and +her manner of receiving me was also surprising, for she was not in the +habit of treating me with so much kindness and condescension. While +sealing a letter and writing the address with a steady hand, she said +in reply to my question about her health, that she was sure she had +received no internal injury, but the dizziness which had recently +attacked her--you remember how she stumbled the morning after your +arrival, my dear sir--constantly hovered about her, and she wanted me +to bleed her. At first I hesitated, from scientific reasons, which it +would occupy too much space to explain here; but as I knew her, and +knew that if I refused, she would send for the village barber, I did +what she desired; it was the first time I had been permitted to touch +her arm or render her any medical service. 'What do you think of my +blood, Doctor?' she said, as it flowed into the silver basin. 'It is +healthy isn't it? With such blood one might live to be a hundred years +old!'</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>When I put on the bandage, she expressly told me to fasten +it +securely, she was often restless in her sleep she said, and it might, +easily become displaced. 'Well,' said I, 'in any case I will beg +permission to watch through the night with the maid in the ante-room.' +'If you want me not to close my eyes,' she replied, 'my nerves are so +irritated, that the slightest noise, even the mere vicinity of a man, +keeps me awake.' No, if I wished to do her a favor, I would not omit +the ride to the city I always took every Thursday, and I would carry +with me to mail, the letter she had just written.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>You knew her, dear Herr Doctor, and therefore you know how +difficult +it would have been to have refused her any thing, especially a first +service. So I bowed in silence, put the letter in my pocket, and gave +her all sorts of directions for the night. Then she held out her hand, +which I respectfully kissed, and at that moment it seemed as if no ill +feeling had ever existed between us. 'Goodnight, dear Doctor'--those +were the last words I ever heard her utter.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>In the hall below I met the count, who asked how I had found +her. I +told him, and also said I was going to the city--but did not mention +the letter</i> (<i>although my motto has always been 'frankness and +honesty,' there are cases where discretion becomes a duty.</i>) <i>The count +positively forbade me to ride to the city. If the countess asked about +the matter in the morning, he would be responsible for my disobedience. +Then he went to her himself remained in her apartments about half an +hour and returned in a mood I had scarcely ever remarked in him +before--gentle and kind, as if he felt all would now be well. Dear me +it was the first time for years, that he had been allowed to sit by her +bedside for half an hour.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Then night closed in. No one in the castle noticed anything +unusual, +the supper was a little more quiet, and there was no card playing +afterwards, which greatly vexed the chevalier, who does not know how to +amuse himself without it. At eleven the count again sent to inquire +about his wife's health; the maid, who was to spend the night on the +sofa in the adjoining room, replied that the countess seemed to be +asleep, and she could not get in. Her Excellency had locked the door.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>So all went to bed. What was to be feared? The symptoms were +not +alarming; rest, sleep, and a Utile bleeding could only be beneficial.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>But I was roused from, my sleep at five o'clock in the +morning by the +maid, who was standing beside my bed. I must come up at once, she had +been aroused by a strange moan, had knocked at the countess' door and +called her and at last with the help of a servant, burst the lock; +there lay the poor countess weltering in her blood, with the bandage +stripped from her arm, unconscious but still alive.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Dear friend, you may suppose that our trade hardens us, but +such a +sight!--the count like a madman--the grief of the whole household--and +I stood by, whose duty it was to help, and saw that all was useless!</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Had I not been convinced that the bandage--but why should I +speak of +that--the change in her feelings for the previous few days, instantly +removed the supposition that otherwise might have arisen--besides no +amount of reasoning can restore her to life.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Suddenly I thought of the letter, which I still had in my +pocket, and +I told the count about it, for all discretion was then superfluous. He +hastily seized it, for a moment I thought he would open it to see if it +contained any intimation that--but then he read the address aloud and +was gentleman enough to return it to me; 'take care of it,' said he, +'and write him about--' here his voice failed, and he sank down in a +chair beside the bed of his beautiful dead wife.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Here is the letter entrusted to me; I feel sure it will +furnish no +new disclosures, none that could be new to me. I know what I know, and +voices from the grave even, could not change my conviction.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I have been very prolix, but you, as an intimate friend of +the +departed, will not find these details too minute. Remember me to your +honored wife; I regret that there is so little prospect of a +continuance of our recent acquaintanceship, but the count leaves in a +few days for the East, and I accompany him. So with sincere regards, my +dear friend, I remain,</i></p> + +<p class="center">"<i>Yours</i></p> + +<p class="right">"Dr. Basler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Address to the castle as before; all correspondence will be +forwarded!</i>"</p> + +<p class="normal">The note enclosed in the doctor's letter ran as follows:</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>You will be alarmed, my dear friend, that I already write you again. +But fear nothing, it is for the last time, and means little more than +the card inscribed P. P. C. which we leave with our friends before a +long separation, I am going away on a journey, dear friend, far enough +away to enable you to feel perfectly secure from any molestation on my +part. How this has come about is a long story. Suffice it to say, +that it is not envy of the laurels won by my beautiful fair-haired +sister-in-law--<i>I</i> mean those she will undoubtedly win as a high-born, +intellectual, and pious traveler--that induces me also to seek a change +of air. If that which I breathe were but conducive to my health, if I +could but sleep and wake, laugh and weep like other men and women, I +certainly would not stir from the spot. But even my worst enemy could +hardly fail to understand that matters can not go on any longer as they +are; so I prefer to go. The 'promised land' has long allured me. I +should have set out for it before, if I had not had much to expect, to +hope, and to wait for, and been hindered by a multitude, as I now see, +of very superfluous scruples, which are at least successfully +conquered.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Do you know that since I saw you I have made the +acquaintance of your +dear wife? A very, very pleasant acquaintance; if I had only made it a +few years sooner, it might have been very useful to me. Well, even now +it is not too late to rejoice, that you have what you need, the +happiness you desire, in such a noble, wise, and loving life companion. +Give my kindest remembrances to her. In my incognito I may have behaved +strangely. But the idea of assuming it flashed upon me so suddenly, +and, with the help of my faithful maid, it was carried so quickly into +execution, that I had no time to consider what rôle I should play. So +every thing was done on the spur of the moment. To be sure, I had at +first a vague idea of proposing that you should accompany me on the +great journey. But one glance into your home quickly told me, that you +must be happiest there, that your 'promised land' is the room, where +your desk and the artist table of your wife stand so quietly and +peacefully side by side.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Farewell, 'dear friend!' I should like to talk with you +still +longer--to philosophize as we used to call it; but what would be the +use? Or has any sage ever given a satisfactory answer to the question, +of how the commandment that the sins of the fathers must be visited on +the children, can be made to harmonize with the idea of a just +government of the world? Why should a freak of nature, an abnormal +creation, be expected to fulfil all the grave normal demands we are +justified in making upon ordinary human beings? Or why are we usually +punished by the gratification of our wishes, and allowed to perceive +what we ought to have desired, only when it cannot be attained?</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>A fool, you know, can propound more questions than ten +philosophers +can answer. Perhaps I shall receive special enlightenment in the +'promised land.' My memory is stored with much that is beautiful; even +many a trial that I have experienced in the grey twilight of this +strange, cold, inhospitable world, was not borne wholly without +recompense. I would not give up even my sorrows, for the dull happiness +of commonplace wiseacres, who in their limited sphere think all things +perfectly natural and cling closely to their clod.</i></p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Farewell, my dear friend. Let me hope that you will always +wherever I +may be, remember me with as much sympathy as the great and pure +happiness you enjoy will allow, and that you will wish a pleasant +journey to</i></p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="sc">Toinette</span>."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<br> +<p class="normal">Two winters and two summers have passed since the evening when +the +honeymoon happiness of the newly united pair was so deeply shadowed. +The blow, however, left very different traces on each. While Edwin, +after the first sudden pang, almost felt a satisfaction in knowing that +the sad confusion of this noble life was ended by a heroic death, Leah +was assailed by a strange melancholy, which caused her constantly to +reflect whether she herself was not partly to blame for this terrible +death. If she had not stood between them, if, in that first and only +interview, she had treated the well known stranger differently,--! And +again, even if the living woman would have had no further power over +Edwin's heart, how the image of this wonderful creature, who had turned +away from a lost life with such calm dignity now transfigured by death, +must haunt his memory and overshadow every bodily form. Then a secret +pride rebelled against the thought, that this voluntary departure might +have been a favor bestowed upon, a sacrifice made for <i>her</i>; as if the +generous Toinette had said to herself: "so long as I breathe, this +woman cannot be sure of her happiness and peace; one of us must step +aside."</p> + +<p class="normal">She carefully concealed this restless succession of thoughts +from +Edwin, and as his profession and the now steady labor on his book gave +him enough to do, he did not continually watch Leah, and attributed +certain dark moods, which did not wholly escape his notice, to her +changed condition and the anxiety natural to one about for the first +time to become a mother. In fact, the fulfilment of this most ardent +wish appeared to instantly transform her nature, and when the child lay +in its cradle, all shadows of the past seemed driven from the house by +perpetual sunlight. Thus a second year passed away.</p> + +<p class="normal">When we again meet our friends it is once more vacation; but +this time +we do not find them among mountains and valleys, or within the cosy +precincts of their new home. Leah, with pardonable maternal pride, +unable to resist her own desires and the pressing invitation of her +parents, has taken her rosy little girl, "who is already so sensible +and gives no trouble at all," with her to Berlin. They arrived +yesterday evening at the pretty little house in the Thiergarten suburb, +where papa König, since he left the lagune, has built his modest but +comfortable nest. Here, amid the green trees and under the care of his +faithful companion, the old gentleman has fairly blossomed again, and +the pleasure of embracing his daughter and grandchild has even made him +strip off the chains, with which in the shape of cloths, bandages, and +felt shoes, the gout usually makes his feet helpless. He came running +up to the carriage, far in advance of his much more active and still +charming wife, and would not be prevented from carrying the sleeping +infant, with all its pillows and wrappings through the garden into the +house, and then the rest of the day ran up and down stairs unweariedly, +to ask for the hundredth time if the children were comfortable and +wanted nothing, though his clever wife had provided every thing in the +most loving manner. "Oh! it is so pleasant to come home again," Leah +exclaimed, her eyes full of tears, and with grateful affection threw +herself into the arms of the new mother, whom she had secretly dreaded +to meet.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edwin was also very gay. Meeting with these excellent people +had done +him good. But in the depths of his soul there still lingered a gentle +melancholy, a quiet depression, which even the following morning, with +all its sunlight and the twittering of the birds before the windows, +could not dispel. Leah instantly understood his feelings, when, without +waiting for the early breakfast, he prepared to go out.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go, dearest," she said. "It must be done. I would accompany +you, but +the baby is not yet dressed. Remember me to all."</p> + +<p class="normal">She kissed him and waving her hand, looked after him as he +walked +through the garden into the park. She knew that he would have no rest, +until he had revisited the places around which his dearest memories +clustered. He did not, however, as she anticipated, first turn his +steps toward the cemetery where Balder reposed. He had not even taken +any special interest in adorning the grave or providing a headstone, +and when long ago Leah had asked him about the inscription--her father +had quietly attended to every thing else--he had looked at her with an +almost bewildered expression, and merely replied: "whatever you think +best will suit me entirely," and then he had not gone there again. He +confessed that his dead never seemed farther from him, than when he was +near their graves, where he had never seen them while alive, and that +the beloved images there paled to shadows among other shadows. But now, +when in the quiet morning sunlight, he wandered across the deserted +Thiergarten, it suddenly seemed even in broad daylight, as if a +glorified spirit, that wore Balder's features, were walking close +beside him, till he closed his eyes in order not to destroy the waking +dream. All the events of the past, all the love and pleasure of their +young lives together crowded upon his mind, and as he involuntarily +stretched out his hand, for one moment he actually again experienced +the feeling he had had in former days, when he had gently stroked his +brother's soft hair.</p> + +<p class="normal">Absorbed in these thoughts, he reached the neighborhood where +the park +stopped and where new streets and houses, which had sprung from the +ground as if by magic, reminded him how many years he had been away. He +knew that Marquard lived here, nay he even fancied that at one of the +lofty windows, supported by caryatides, he recognized a face which +reminded him of Adèle.</p> + +<p class="normal">He turned away, that he might not be recognized. He did not +desire to +meet old acquaintances this first morning. He soon reached the bank of +the Spree, turned to the right, and walked down along the quay, +watching the sparkling water. He thought how strange it was, that the +only thing in which he perceived no alteration, was that which was +constantly moving. While the firm brick and mortar had not resisted the +inroads of time, and house after house seemed to have been renovated, +the old Spree, on the contrary, showed the same face, the floating +houses on it had kept the form and color, and their occupants the +costume and customs they had had on the day, when with the little +artist, he first made his Canaletto studies.</p> + +<p class="normal">He knew that he would find new buildings erected over the +lagune and on +the site of the Venetian palace, and yet something attracted him first +to this part of the Schiffbauerdamm. But when he approached the spot +and saw every trace of the old scene effaced, a wide gateway in place +of the canal, and on the timber yard a tall, sombre building with +glittering windows, he stood still, overpowered by a sudden emotion of +sadness, and feeling as if he had found, on visiting the spot where he +had buried a treasure only a heap of valueless stones. Then he could +not help smiling at the vehemence of his feeling. "So it is that we +cling to tangible things!" he said to himself. "We may fancy ourselves +ever so secure in our idealism, the senses demand their share. What was +this wretched old barrack to me! And now, since I can no longer see it +with my bodily eyes, I feel as if barbarians had ransacked a temple +which contained the most beautiful images and where I had often been +disposed to devotion."</p> + +<p class="normal">He slowly turned toward Friedrichstrasse, intending to go to +the house +in Dorotheenstrasse, look around the old "tun," and then deliver the +messages Reginchen and Franzelius had sent to their mother. They could +send no remembrances to the father; the worthy shoemaker was no longer +among the living. The last autumn had torn this modest leaf from the +tree of humanity, before it showed any signs of withering. The latter +part of his life, in which, following Heinrich Mohr's counsel, he had +eagerly striven for progress in his own sphere of action and studied +the questions relating to the culture of humanity in the closest +proximity, had been the most enjoyable and richest of his life. To be +sure, he was at first very angry that "mother" could not be induced to +accompany him on his journeys of discovery through Berlin. But by +degrees he seemed to become reconciled to this obstinacy, nay he +confessed to his friends in the society, that the full depths of +certain abysses of modern civilization can be measured only when men +venture into them "without ladies." As he talked continually about +these "abysses," certain wags endeavored to persuade him to deliver a +lecture upon them. For a long time he modestly refused, but at last +consented, and to the great astonishment of his faithful wife, who saw +her husband become an author in his old age, he spent many weeks in +filling a few sheets with extremely strange, extraordinarily worded +sentences, in which he forgot eating, drinking, sleeping, walking, and +even his workshop, but was as happy as a student composing his first +love song in honor of a lady, to whom he had never spoken a word. When +he delivered this wonderful composition, under the title of "studies of +social abysses," before one of the informal meetings, as a sort of +rehearsal, he was rewarded for his trouble by great and universal +merriment, a form of applause, which as he had scattered through it the +spice of a few puns and anecdotes, seemed very flattering. To be sure, +the president, for very plausible reasons, did not think the subject of +the lecture judicious for a large audience, but thanked the assiduous +shoe-maker in the warmest manner for the interesting communication, so +that the old man, in an exalted mood which he had never experienced +before, ordered champagne, and broke the neck of more than one bottle +to the welfare of progress and the education of the people.</p> + +<p class="normal">The following morning he was found dead in his bed from a +stroke of +apoplexy, a triumphant smile still resting on his lips, which seemed to +ask the survivors whether his being so suddenly snatched away, when a +wider influence seemed about to be allotted to him, might not perhaps +have been destined to show that he possessed more than mediocre +ability.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Edwin was not thinking of this worthy friend, as he walked +down the +long street, and plucking up his courage, turned the corner. Here the +narrow little house with the steep roof and bright flesh colored paint +had formerly appeared at a distance. To-day--what has happened, that +his eyes at first failed to distinguish it? Had it been unwilling to +outlast its old master? No, it was still standing in its place, but its +appearance was completely transformed. The cheerful pink paint, which +contrasted too strongly with the feelings of its present owner, had +disappeared under a gloomy stone grey, with black stripes, so that it +seemed to be in mourning for its old master. The sign over the shop +door had been altered also, for a melancholy change had taken place in +the firm, whose name now read as follows: "Gottfried Feyertag's Widow & +Co.," which appendix of course meant none other than George, the head +journeyman.</p> + +<p class="normal">All the windows on the first floor were wide open. In former +days such +a thing had never been known to happen even in midsummer. But the +little old couple had left this peaceful dwelling several years ago, to +occupy that still more quiet last lodging, where protected from every +draught of air, we rest on our earthly laurels. Edwin had scarcely +exchanged a dozen words with these fellow lodgers, yet he now felt as +if they too had been a necessary part of his life, and that not to find +them again would be a real sorrow.</p> + +<p class="normal">He approached the house with hesitating feet, ascended the few +door +steps and went into the entry. Through the glass panes of the inner +door he could look into the shop, where Madame Feyertag, completely +attired in black with a large crèpe cap, sat in the corner behind the +show case, sewing. He could not make up his mind to enter and deliver +Reginchen's message; an iron band seemed to compress his chest, he +feared that he should be unable to control his words. He glided +cautiously past with noiseless steps and opened the door leading into +the courtyard. He had intended to go up to the tun, an uncontrollable +longing drew him toward the old room. Every thing here was the same; +the bare, grey back building, the arbor overgrown with bean vines, the +shade loving plants, the acacia tree, which it is true was now wholly +dead, and did not even put forth one puny leaf--but what was that lying +among the dry branches like a little heap of last winter's snow? A cat? +Was it she herself, Balder's old friend, sunning her weary limbs on +this lofty perch, or was it a descendant, which bore such a striking +resemblance to its ancestress? He could not decide, his eyes grew dim +with tears and his feet seemed paralysed; in spite of his longing, he +could not cross the courtyard and mount the steep stairs. So he stood +leaning against the door post with closed eyes. Just at that moment +voices became audible in the workshop, and starting as if he feared to +be caught here like a thief, he tore himself away and with a beating +heart fled back into the street.</p> + +<p class="normal">For a long time he walked on like a drunken man. He took no +heed of the +people who passed by, the glittering shops, the throng of carriages, +the motley stir and bustle of life around him. But by degrees the +painful agitation of his soul subsided, isolated words recurred to his +mind involuntarily blended together, before he remembered that they +composed an old song of Balder's, which suddenly echoed from the depths +of his memory and soothed him with its mysterious magic:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t1">Soul how thou roamest!<br> +On wings of the wind,<br> +Through high and through low,<br> +Thy way thou dost find.</p> + +<p class="t1"> </p> +<p class="t1">Though thou art poor,<br> +What riches are thine!<br> +Ceaselessly restless<br> +What calmness divine!</p> + +<p class="t1"> </p> +<p class="t1">Free above all,<br> +Close, close thou art bound;<br> +Soul, say, where hast thou<br> +Thy resting place found?</p> + +<p class="t1"> </p> +<p class="t1">Among stars and suns,<br> +Thy wing circleth wide,<br> +Yet with rapture,<br> +Mid violet beds doth abide.</p> + +<p class="t1"> </p> +<p class="t1">Where the lightning is cradled<br> +Thy home thou hast made;<br> +To the cloud's ample dwelling<br> +As well hast thou strayed.</p> + +<p class="t1"> </p> +<p class="t1">Yet in narrowest circle,<br> +By joy art possessed,<br> +And dost tenderly, timidly<br> +Pensively rest.</p> + +<p class="t1"> </p> +<p class="t1">As the ivy that creepeth<br> +By lowly abodes,<br> +On a thousand weak tendrils<br> +Thou climb'st to the Gods.</p> + +<p class="t1"> </p> +<p class="t1">Where memory glancing<br> +The cleft ruins through,<br> +As the sun to the vine<br> +Giveth warm life anew.</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">Murmuring the last words aloud just as he turned into the Unter den +Linden, he suddenly felt his arm seized, and turning saw a face which +had been far from his thoughts.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old Livonian baron, the enthusiastic connoisseur and +friend of art, +who had formerly helped the worthy zaunkönig to his short-lived dignity +of court painter, stood before him wearing an expression of the +greatest delight.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," he cried, shaking Edwin's hand with boyish +impetuosity, "this +is what I call 'talking of a wolf and seeing the tip of his tail.' Only +yesterday evening I was speaking of you for at least two hours, first +condemning and then defending you when others undertook to condemn; and +to-day, my dear fellow, you appear before me just as I was considering +whether I should go to your father-in-law, to get your address; you see +I wanted to write to you. I don't know how the worthy Herr Zaunkönig +feels toward me, since that stupid piece of business; for gloriously as +he behaved in the matter, just as I expected him to do, I was at any +rate mixed up in it, and the wager--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You ought to know him better, my dear Baron," said Edwin, +interrupting +the torrent of words. "True, he is by no means such a weak dove as not +to have been very much enraged against your prince at the first moment +of discovery, but it was less from offended personal dignity, than +indignation at the cold blooded frivolity, with which such noble +Mæcenas' treat an insignificant artist. But then he grew quiet and +thoughtful, collected his studies and the few pictures he had finished, +and spread them before him. When I asked what he was doing, he replied: +'I am disgusting myself with my work. Let us be just: these things have +emanated from an aberration of the artistic instinct.' The next day +they had disappeared, and as I afterwards learned, were nailed up in a +chest, loaded with brick-bats, and sunk in the lagune."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! oh! oh!" said the old man, shaking his head, "then we +have really +deprived him of the greatest pleasure of his life. I shall never look +at the Luini I won from the prince, without a pang of conscience. Oh! +oh!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Cheer up, dear Baron. You have only helped to prove his +favorite +saying, that to those who love God all things are for the best. His +passion for art really emerged again, rejuvenated and vigorous, from +the lagune where he had expected to bury it. Since he has lived in the +suburbs, where in spite of his new and easier circumstances, he +continues his old modest mode of life and industriously pursues his +engraving, he has, it is true, made no attempt to return to his former +'specialty.' He says that now, when he daily sees the green fields, he +perceives for the first time the full extent of the frivolous boldness, +with which he daubed these wonders of God on his miserable canvass. To +make amends, since what is denied always charms the soul and excites +the fancy, he has how set up a new kind of <i>genre</i> picture; he paints +views of the Spree and the green ditches, bridges, and steps leading to +the water, not without skill, as it seems to me. You may suppose that +he is more successful in reproducing the straight lines and grey tone, +than the succulent weeds and bright sky of his former zaunkönigs. If +you would come out to his house--he has just finished something--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Col sommo piacere!</i> With the greatest pleasure. You take a +hundred +pound weight from my heart. But what was I going to say--what were we +talking about just now? My head is growing old, friend, and nothing +makes one more confused and forgetful, than intercourse with silent +pictures."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You were saying that you had been scolding about me yesterday +for two +hours. I am curious--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that was it: your book was the subject of conversation, +everybody +is talking about it now, so that I was at last ashamed of not having +read it, though I don't exactly feel compelled to be familiar with all +the new books that are talked about, not even those written by my +friends. But, my dear fellow, what have you done?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing very bad, I hope. At the worst only written a bad +book."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Something far worse, my friend--a good book, a book which in +all main +points is perfectly right and has the great majority of thinking men on +its side. You laugh. Oh! these young people! You think it is easy to be +in the right in this world. As if there could be any thing more +repulsive, uncomfortable, and contrary to police regulations, than +a person who looks neither to the right nor left, knows neither +caution nor discretion, but calls things by their right names. Such a +fool-hardy man had better go into the Theban wilderness and deliver his +wisdom to the stones; but if he supposes that he will be tolerated in a +society founded upon mutual cloaking and palliation of faults, feigned +respect for rotten rubbish, and the superficial varnish coated over old +cracks, where people do not even have the courage to lay aside the +humbug of false names in the catalogues of museums, let alone calling +other idols by their right names--you see, my friend, gall enters into +the construction of my sentences, and I no longer know how I began. But +this I do know, that if you acknowledge the authorship of such books, +you will never have any prospect of making a career in our dear native +land, and I sincerely regret it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you for this regret," replied Edwin with a quiet +smile. "Nay I +even share it in a certain sense, though not on my own account! I am +happy where I am, and offices and titles have as little charm for me, +as a heap of money, which at any rate if I were a little more careful, +I might procure by lecturing or writing. But in the interest of public +welfare, the health and morality of our political life, I can only +think with regret how far we still are, from possessing the much +praised and much scouted freedom of thought. So long as the patriarchal +delusion still exists, that the state has the right or even the duty, +of watching over the theoretical opinions of its members, while only +their acts belong to its tribunal, we shall not emerge from a dreamy +and trifling minority. And this rests upon a deeper error, against +which my whole book is directed, although it apparently turns upon an +objectless pyschological problem--the error that metaphysics and +morality are closely connected, nay are in a constant interchange of +influence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Freedom of thought!" cried the eager old gentleman, standing +still and +baring his shinging bald head, as if his hat heated it, "as if it would +be of any special consequence to you to obtain, this miserable +acquisition, which you possess as much as the Spaniards themselves did +in the darkest ages. What you want and will not obtain for a long time, +is <i>freedom to teach</i>, freedom to transplant your thoughts into other +heads, not merely by books, which will only be read by a small number, +but by lectures in public halls, just as your colleague instils into +his hearers the condensed milk of piety carefully tested and proved +harmless. But you are wrong, my dear friend, in asking this, and that +is why I blamed you, because I regret that by a premature expression of +your secret thoughts, you render your own work difficult, if not +impossible. Dear me, the field of philosophy is so terribly barren, +people would be glad to foster and cherish a new power; but if it deals +such blows to the right and left, loosens with its roots the soil on +which tame kitchen vegetables have hitherto peacefully slept their +nourishing plant-sleep--you have too clear a head, dear Herr Doctor, +not to understand that the time has not yet come when we can need you +among us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not yet <i>come</i>, certainly, but it is near, nearer perhaps +than those +in high places suppose. Or how long do you think it will be, before +shame at the incompleteness and artificially fostered self-deception, +which is palliated by pedagogical considerations, will flush the faces +of the leaders of the public, and compel them to openly acknowledge +what has long since been secretly perceived and recognized? It is true +that hitherto we have had other tasks to solve, questions of existence, +of defence in peril, and then of our power and honor. But after we have +advanced tolerably far in these, do you suppose that we, who have to +support our moral dignity before other nations, will continue in this +traditional track, and thereby allow the noblest intellectual +possessions to be endangered? For all the canonized myths and +metaphysical legends have also produced an ethical effect, not +according to the measure of their truth, but by the degree of veracity +in the author and hearer of the composition. And must the degree of +veracity no longer be the standard of the allowableness and moral power +of a lesson? Or is it not a great immorality, out of mere external +considerations relating to the political education of children, to give +us for the corner stone of our happiness, fairy tales and legends, +which all cultivated minds believe as little, as the Greeks of +Aristotle's time credited the fables of Homer and Hesiod. Of course we +must not pour away the dirty water before we have fresh; but who will +answer for it that we shall ever draw from the deepest, purest +fountain? And who would not quench his thirst with the wild fruit that +grows by the way side, rather than drink the water, which in spite of +all filtering, has constantly become darker and more slimy? Oh! my dear +friend, I see in your face the reply you wish to make, that the great +masses are not so particular, and are satisfied with the foul stream in +which weak minded theologians have washed their dirty linen for +centuries, while we educated people could support ourselves on the +fruits that philosophy and natural philosophy pluck from the tree of +knowledge. I, too, once held the same aristocratic notions. But I can +no longer reconcile myself to them. For--let alone every thing else--I +do not believe that it would be dangerous for the masses, if they were +educated to the truth instead of to a conventional fable, such as our +histories of dogmas offer them. But even if certain village and city +churches should become still more empty, than is now the case in +consequence of the deadness and constantly decreasing reality in our +forms of worship, has the state duties to perform only toward the +uneducated? Can it, without danger, lose in the eyes of the educated +that credit for veracity, which it might so easily maintain, if it did +not take sides, and venture to decide questions of conscience by state +institutions? Has it not also responsibilities toward the great strata +<i>between</i> the educated and the simple people, those who will be +strengthened and almost confirmed in their own frivolity by all these +partly known, partly unknown things? The evil of shallowness and +secularization in its worst sense existing in these circle, the +preponderance of thoughtless pleasure, the whole despicable materialism +of our times--do you really suppose, my friend, that all this is to be +remedied by throwing up a dam composed of the crumbling ruins of a +faith, which for centuries the elements have shaken, disintegrated, and +scarcely left one stone upon another? I cannot believe it, even if I +desired to do so, and the patching and mending of the tottering +structure seems to me more wicked and dangerous, than erecting a new +dam--or at least measuring and marking out the foundations, on which +our children's children may put up the structure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Our children's children already? Oh! you sanguine mortal!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right. Who can tell? And yet how quickly intellectual +transitions take place now, in comparison with former days, when the +intercourse between minds was effected with so much greater difficulty! +Has a century elapsed since the time when Lessing's Nathan was a fact, +a challenge, a single burning need of that great heart, until now, when +his timid gospel of toleration for all religions has become a +commonplace, and honest toleration even of the irreligious ripened to +the silent need of countless numbers?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope your book will be introduced into German seminaries, +but at any +rate Nathan will be turned into flesh and blood, so that a Jew may be +permitted, without hesitation, to read logic and metaphysics before +grown men."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope the latter also," replied Edwin smiling. "The former +would be a +sad token of the small progress science had made in a hundred years. +One of us will then I hope be a conquered station."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," exclaimed the old man with a solemnity which moved Edwin +strangely, and seizing both his companion's hands, while he looked him +steadily in the eyes, he continued: "I must tell you here, though it +probably will not signify much from an old enthusiast in art, in the +new building of which you speak, even though it too, after thousands of +years will become mouldy and tottering, and have to be rebuilt, the +foundation will remain, and among other mementoes of these days, which +will deserve to be placed in the corner stone, your book will find a +place. I bought it and wrote on the first page averse of the old poet +enlightened by divine frenzy the poet Holderlin:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-4px">"With shield divine, oh genius of the brave,<br> +Desert not innocence, but swift to save<br> +Ever be nigh; inspire and win to thee<br> +The heart of youth with joy of victory.<br> +Arouse, conquer, punish; do not delay,<br> +The majesty of truth secure alway.<br> +Till time's mysterious cradle shall release,<br> +The child of Heaven, eternal peace.</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">"And may this peace be with you, my dear fellow. Farewell."</p> + +<p class="normal">He embraced his silent companion and in spite of the throng of +pedestrians, kissed him on both cheeks, then hastily turned the nearest +street corner and vanished from Edwin's sight.</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2>LAST CHAPTER.</h2> + +<p class="normal">This conversation echoed in Edwin's soul like a strong and solemn +harmony, as he continued his walk along the Unter den Linden.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he was not to be permitted to return to his family in this +exalted +mood. As he approached the Brandenbourg Gate, he saw a light elegant +carriage, drawn by two beautiful horses, pass through the central +portal and turn up the Unter den Linden. A gentleman with a carefully +trimmed beard, and regular, but shallow, vacant features, drove the +fiery animals, occasionally addressing a word to the young lady, who +sat beside him, leaning negligently back and casting smiling glances at +the passers by from under her pink parasol. Edwin had just noticed her +face in a photographer's show window, and beneath it the name of a well +known ballet dancer. Behind this couple, with his arms folded across +his breast in true jockey insolence, sat a tall, fair lad, in a green +livery embroidered with silver, with a stiff shirt collar reaching to +his ears, and the round glassy eyes in his beardless, boyish face, were +upturned with a saucy, yet wearied expression to the sky.</p> + +<p class="normal">Neither of the three had noticed the unpretending pedestrian, +who +remained rooted to the spot, as if he could not believe his eyes. A +feeling of repugnance, such as one experiences when rudely awakened +from enthusiastic dreams to a prosaic reality, where hopeless +commonplace or shallow every day life prevails or occupies the largest +place, overpowered Edwin and accompanied him as he walked through the +shady paths of the Thiergarten to his father-in-law's house. Even there +the painful impression did not instantly leave him. He was grave and +silent, and as the others knew, or fancied they knew, where he had been +that morning, they respected his feelings and did not trouble him with +questions.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the afternoon he asked Leah to drive with him. She was +unwilling to +leave the child, though it was well taken care of by the grandmother +and nurse, for in spite of her philosophy, she was the most anxious and +unreasonably careful of mothers. But she felt that Edwin needed to be +alone with her, and instantly prepared to accompany him.</p> + +<p class="normal">They had driven quite a distance in the direction of +Charlottenburg, +when he first broke the silence, and holding her hand in his, and now +and then gently pressing it, he told her the events and experiences of +his morning. When he mentioned his meeting with the count, he said: "I +do not understand why it moved me so deeply. To return from the +pilgrimage to the 'Promised Land,' and then fill the empty seat in the +carriage with such a creature--many of the most trivial natures could +not bring their hearts to it. But I did not know him, was not aware +what a 'perfect gentleman' he was, to be able to console himself by +'noble passions' for what he might have suffered in the higher +emotions. And yet I instantly felt as if I owed her memory a silent +ceremonial, to conciliate her insulted shade. The Catholics have the +clever invention of their silent masses. We must help ourselves in our +own way."</p> + +<p class="normal">Meantime having reached the entrance to the park of +Charlottenburg they +alighted from the carriage. Silence surrounded them; the atmosphere was +balmy, and the earth bathed in sunshine; not a leaf was stirring, and +scarce a bubble rose to the surface of the carp pond as a frog leaped +croaking from the hot grass into the water. There are hours when even +nature seems to be gazing at her reflection, conscious of her beauty, +as if in a dream.</p> + +<p class="normal">The two, who walked arm in arm through the shaded avenue, felt +the +magic of the midsummer noon in their own souls, which grew more and +more agitated, as if secret fountains were welling up within them +without overflowing at their lips. Thus silent, they at last reached +the mausoleum, which in the bright sunlight, looked specially grave and +solemn under the dark trees.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wanted to come here," said Edwin. "It was on this spot that +she said +to me: 'There is but one real nobility: to be true to ourselves.' The +poor, brave, free-born heart--it has been true to its nobility, +faithful unto death. Let us enter the little temple, where beauty is +high priestess and conquers death by perpetuating the forms of noble +humanity. But we know that for that, marble is not necessary; for have +not we in our grief, engraved the transfigured image indefaceably upon +our hearts till we ourselves shall enter eternity?"</p> + +<p class="normal">They passed into the silent chamber. When, after a +considerable lapse +of time, they again emerged into the open air, the eyes of both were +dim with tears. They paused in the next deserted avenue, and as they +silently embraced each other, Leah gave free course to her grief.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Weep your sorrow away, love," said Edwin at last. "Ought we +to feel +ashamed of the best gift mother nature has bestowed upon us? With what +strange foresight she has arranged that the fountain of tears flows +whenever the greatest joys or the bitterest sorrows fall upon our +hearts! And is it not the same with all that is tragic in human +destiny? Are not the weal and woe of all lives inseparably interwoven +and blended in supreme moments into an emotion which lifts us above our +petty selves, and makes us smile at grief when we are too awed by its +solemnity to rejoice? Oh! dearest, a world in which we are permitted to +achieve such a triumph over fate, and not only over our own fate but +over that of our loved ones also, in which the tragic element is +glorified by a sense of beauty, and in the midst of our horror of death +we are thrilled with the comprehension of the highest earthly bliss, +till only tears can relieve our hearts--such a world is not utterly +cheerless. Come! Let us return to life, to our child, to our friends. +What does my old friend Catullus say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beloved, let us live and love!"</p> + +<p class="normal"></p> + +<h3>END.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + +<br> +<br> + +<h3>WORTHINGTON COMPANY'S</h3> + +<h2>CATALOGUE</h2> + +<p class="continue" style="font-size:90%">of Standard Books that every one ought to have; they are all +handsome +and attractive, and will be a valuable addition to any one's library.</p> + +<hr class="W20"> + +<h2>NEW EDITION, NEW PLATES.</h2> + +<p class="hang1"><b>ALICE ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND.</b>--12mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">Above are the most charming fairy tales of the 19th Century. +Exquisitely amusing, deliciously illustrated. Nursery classics +translated into most of the languages of Europe.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>AYTOUN</b>.--Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers. By Wm. E. Aytoun, +late Prof. +of Literature and Belles-Lettres in Univ. of Edinburgh, and Editor of +<i>Blackwood's Magazine</i>. 16mo, extra cloth, $1.00.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>BAILEY, PHILIP JAMES.</b>--<i>Festus</i>: A Poem. (New Aldine Edition.) +16mo, +vellum cloth, $1.00; do., do., three-quarter calf, extra, $2.50; do., +do., flexible, or tree-calf, $3.50.</p> + +<p class="continue" style="font-size:90%">This great dramatic poem exhibits a soul gifted, tried, +buffeted, +beguiled, stricken, purified, redeemed, pardoned, and triumphant. It is +interspersed with delightful songs. Has been praised by Bulwer, +Thackeray and Tennyson as a remarkable poem of great beauty. The +present edition is very handsome, the type is large and elegant, the +paper is excellent, and the steel engravings are of exceeding grace.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>BON GAULTIER'S BOOK OF BALLADS.</b> By W. E. Aytoun and Theodore +Martin. A +new edition, including "Firmilian." Cloth, $1.00.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">In all his poems Prof. Aytoun has put forth a sustained power +and +beauty of expression which have placed him in the foremost rank of the +poets of his time. "His Lays" have all the historic truth and force of +Macaulay, expressing noble thought by a delineation of generous and +lofty natures stated with fluency, vigour and movement. His ballad +themes are selected from striking incidents and from stirring scenes of +Scottish history, and he has thrown over them the light of an +imagination at once picturesque and powerful.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>BURTON</b> (Dr. J. Hill).--The Book Hunter, with Memoir and Index. +<span class="sc">New +Edition</span>, With Portrait and Engraving of Interior of Library. Crown 8vo, +Roxburgh style, $3.00.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">Burton's "Book Hunter" is indispensable to every owner of a +library; it +will be found of incalculable aid in classifying, studying, collecting +and the preservation of books. It abounds in reminiscences of noted +Bibliophiles and Book Hunters. We offer in this edition a volume that +for general excellence of typography and binding will delight the heart +of every book hunter.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>CAMPBELL</b> (Sir George, M. P.).--White and Black. The Outcome of +a Visit +to the United States. By Sir George Campbell, M.P. Being a Bird's-eye +View of the Management of the Colored Races, with the Contents of my +Journal. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, $1.75.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">We have in this work the views of a prominent Englishman on +the +relative positions occupied by the Black and White Races in the United +States. Several suggestions and opinions are given toward solving the +Race Problem that will be read with lively interest by all who desire +the caste question amicably settled.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>CARROLL</b> (Lewis).--Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice +Found +There. With fifty illustrations by John Tenniel. 1 vol. 12mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>CHILD'S OWN BOOK OF FAIRY TALES.</b>--Containing Aladdin or the +Wonderful +Lamp, Beauty and the Beast, Children in the Wood, Goody Two-Shoes, +Gulliver, Jack the Giant Killer, Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in Boots, +Robin Hood, Tom Thumb, White Cat, Yellow Dwarf, and others. With +upwards of one hundred illustrations, after designs by eminent American +artists. Square 16mo, cloth. $1.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">The best collection of the famous old-fashioned Fairy Tales +contained +in any one volume, many of which can only be found in this edition.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>CHILD'S TREASURY OF FAIRY TALES.</b> For Little Folks. Containing +The Six +Swans, Little Hunch-Back, Hop-O-My Thumb, Blanch and Rosalind, Dummling +and the Toad, Fortunio, The Fox's Brush, The Three Wishes, Cinderella, +Whittington and his Cat, and many others. Printed with extra large +type. Illustrated with 60 engravings by the American artists, Twaites +and others. Cloth, black and gold, square 16mo, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">This edition of the more popular and best known Fairy Tales is +especially commended for the profusion and beauty of its illustrations.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>CHILDREN'S BIBLE PICTURE AND STORY BOOK.</b>--With sixty full-page +illustrations. Square 16mo, beautifully printed and bound in cloth +extra, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">A real beautiful book--one that ought to be placed into the +hands of +all, even the youngest children. It is a complete history of the +principal events or stories in the Old and New Testaments, written in +remarkably clear, simple, unaffected language, extremely well +illustrated. It brings out into bold relief the singular charm of the +book of books, and leads on to the study of the scriptures.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>CRAIG'S DICTIONARY.</b>--A Pronouncing Dictionary of the English +Language. +Based upon the Works of Webster, Worcester, etc., etc. Containing +30,000 Words and 750 Engravings. Edited by C. H. Craig, LL.D. 12mo, +cloth, $1.00.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">"Every one ought to own a dictionary,"----and the low price at +which we +offer this edition places it within the reach of all. It is, +undoubtedly, the best cheap dictionary made: it contains all the words +in general every-day use, with their most standard definitions and +pronunciations.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>CRAIG</b> (A.R., M.A.). <b>YOUR LUCK'S IN YOUR HAND</b>; or, The Science +of Modern +Palmistry, with some Account of the Gypsies. Numerous illustrations. +12mo, cloth, gilt extra, $1.25.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">A recent revival of interest in this fascinating study has +certainly +proven the fact that Prof. Craig's Palmistry is the most complete and +satisfactory work on the subject extant--it shows the careful work of a +master hand. Should there be a single "doubting Thomas" who does not +believe "your luck's in your hand," let him read the convincing +arguments in this work and be converted.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS</b>, being a storehouse of +Similes, +Allegories, and Anecdotes. Edited by Rev. R. Newton, D.D. 12mo, cloth, +$1.25.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">A treasury of spiritual riches borrowed from nature, art, +history, +biography, anecdote, and simile, by Christian authors of all countries +and ages. A book full of wisdom and of the happiest illustrations of +points of doctrine and morals.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>CYCLOPÆDIA OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES</b>: Botany, Zoology, +Mineralogy, +Geology, Astronomy, Geometry, Mathematics, Mechanics, Electricity, +Chemistry, etc., etc. Illustrated with over 3,000 wood engravings, 1 +vol., 4to, cloth extra, $6.00; sheep, $7.50; or, in half morocco extra, +$10.00.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">This popular Encyclopædia is more than a first-class book of +reference, +it is a library of popular scientific treatises each one complete in +itself, which places into the hands of the reader the means to procure +for himself a thorough technical self-education. The several topics are +handled with a view of a thorough instruction of these particular +branches of knowledge, and all statements are precise and +scientifically accurate.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>DANA</b> (R. H., Jr.). Two Years Before the Mast, 1 vol., 12mo, +$1.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">One of the most fascinating and instructive narratives of the +sea ever +written for young folks. The reader's sympathies are enlisted with the +hero from first to last, but the hardships and hair-breadth escapes he +meets with would prevent most boys from emulating his example.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>DUFFERIN.</b>--Letters from High Latitudes. A Yacht Voyage to +Iceland, Jan +Mayen, and Spitzbergen. By his Excellency the Earl of Dufferin, +Governor-General of the Dominion of Canada. Authorized edition. With +portrait and several illustrations. 8vo, cloth extra, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">The titled author has given us in this work a narrative of a +voyage +replete with incident in the yacht "Foam." His impressions of the +countries and people visited in the far North are written in a fresh +and original style, in the purest English, and the account of the whole +voyage is as pleasing and interesting as a work of fiction.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING'S POEMS.</b>--The most satisfactory +American +edition issued, printed from excellent type on paper of superior +quality, with introductory essay by Henry T. Tuckerman. 3 vols., 8vo, +gilt tops, $5.25; half calf extra, $10.50.</p> + +<p class="hang1">The highest place among modern poetesses must be claimed for +Mrs. +Browning. In purity, loftiness of sentiment, feeling and in +intellectual power she is excelled only by Tennyson, whose works it is +evident she had carefully studied. Nearly all her poems bear the +impress of deep and sometimes melancholy thought, but show a high and +fervid imagination. Her <i>Sonnets from the Portuguese</i>, are as +passionate as Shakespeare's, all eminently beautiful. Of her <i>Aurora +Leigh</i>, Ruskin said "that is the greatest poem which this century has +produced in any language."</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>FESTUS.</b>--A Poem by Philip James Bailey. With choice steel +plates, by +Hammett Billings. Beautifully printed. 4to, cloth, gilt, $3.00; do., +do., full gilt and gilt edges, $5.00.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>GAUTIER</b> (Theophile). One of Cleopatra's Nights and Other +Fantastic +Stories. Translated from the French by Lafcadio Hearn. 8vo, cloth +extra, gilt top, $1.75.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">A brilliant and intensely fascinating collection of stories +from the +pen of the inimitable Gautier, they are excellent specimens of his work +in his brightest and happiest vein; the scenes are audaciously limned, +and distinguished for their conscientious fidelity to nature.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>GRAY.</b>--The works of Thomas Gray, <i>in Prose and Verse</i>. Edited +by Edmund +Goose, Lecturer of English Literature at the University of Cambridge. +With portraits, fac-similes, etc. 4 vols., crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top, +$6.00; half calf, $12.00.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">"Every lover of English literature will welcome the works of +Gray, the +author of the immortal 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard,' from +the hands of an editor so accomplished as Mr. Gosse. His competency for +the task has been known for some time to students of poetry, and the +present edition is now considered to be the most careful and complete +ever published."--<i>London Athenæum</i>.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>GUNNING</b> (William D.).--Life History of Our Planet. Illustrated +with 80 +illustrations by Mary Gunning. Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt extra, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">From this work, more so than any other, we probably gain a +clearer idea +of the almost incredible changes Nature has wrought on our planet and +still more wonderful changes we may expect in the future. We are given +several interesting pages--with illustrations--on the mammoth creatures +of pre-historic times, whose mummified bones alone remain to tell their +story. It should be read by every one who desires to know more about +the world we live in.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>HARDY</b> (Lady Duffus). Through Cities and Prairie Lands. A most +interesting book of Travels in America, 1 vol., crown 8vo, cloth, gilt +top, $1.75.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">Recollections of a most pleasant trip made by this +distinguished lady +through America. She has many warm words for the kind manner in which +she was treated, and altogether the work is a most pleasing and +pronounced contrast to the average hastily written English impressions +of America.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY</b>, as Connected with +Ancient Norse +Guilds, and the Oriental and Mediæval Building Fraternities, to which +is added the Legend of Prince Edward, etc., by George F. Fort. A New +Edition. 1 vol., 8vo, $1.75.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">This work is the result of years of labor on the part of the +author, +whose original and persistent design has been to arrive at the <i>truth</i>, +and, at the same time, supply a want long felt by members of the +Masonic Fraternity, as well as the uninitiated. That he has fully +accomplished his purpose is demonstrated by the fact that it is now +looked upon as the most standard and authentic history of Freemasonry +in existence.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>HOW?</b> or, Spare Hours Made Profitable for Boys and Girls. By +Kennedy +Holbrook. Profusely illustrated by the author. 8vo, cloth, gilt, $2.00. +do., do., full gilt extra, $2.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">The most interesting and instructive work of the kind ever +issued. By +the help of their plainly worded and fully illustrated instructions, +any bright boy or girl may devise unlimited entertainment and fashion +many acceptable and useful presents for playmates and friends. The +directions are for working with wood, paper, chemicals and paints, +with knife, pencil, brush and scissors, and for the performance of +sleight-of-hand tricks.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>JERROLD</b> (Blanchard). Days with Great Authors. Dickens, Scott, +Thackeray, Douglas Jerrold. Selections from their Works, and +Biographical Sketches and Personal Reminiscences. Numerous +illustrations. 8vo, cloth, gilt extra, $2.00.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">To the hosts of admirers of these great authors this work will +prove of +absorbing interest, as it contains many reminiscences never before in +print. Considerable space has also been devoted to their public +speeches, and short, characteristic selections are given from their +best works.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>LA FONTAINE'S FABLES.</b>--Translated from the French by Elizur +Wright, Jr. +Illustrations by Grandville. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%"><i>La Fontaine's Fables</i>--there is magic as well as music in the +name; +they have been deservedly popular for years, and they will be read with +ever increasing pleasure by young and old, "as long as the world rolls +round." This is the only moderate priced translation of these charming +fables published.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>LE BRUN</b> (Madame Vigée).--Souvenirs of. With a steel portrait, +from an +original painting by the author. 2 vols. in 1, crown 8vo, red cloth, +gilt top, $1.75.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">"An amusing book, which contains a great deal that is new and +strange, +and many anecdotes which are always entertaining." It is written in a +reminiscent and chatty style, and relates many "choice tid-bits" of the +distinguished historical personages with whom the authoress was +acquainted.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>LOUDON'S COTTAGE, FARM AND VILLA</b> Architecture and +Furniture.--Containing numerous Designs for Dwellings, from the Villa +to the Cottage and the Farm, each design accompanied by analytical and +critical remarks. Illustrated by upwards of 2,000 engravings. In one +very thick vol., 8vo, $7.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">One of the most useful books on architecture ever issued. +Gives +valuable hints to anyone contemplating building either villas, +cottages, or outhouses, and may save thoughtful and practical men +hundreds of dollars.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>MACAULAY'S LAYS</b> of Ancient Rome.--With all the antique +illustrations +and steel portrait. Beautifully printed. 4to, cloth, extra gilt, $3.50; +do., do., full gilt and gilt edges, $5.00; do., do., 12mo, cloth extra, +$1.00.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">When the famous historian issued these lays, which have since +become +classics, it was a literary surprise, for no one thought that he was +also a poet of such high degree. His poetry is the rythmical outflow of +a vigorous and affluent writer, given to splendor of diction and +imagery in his flowing prose. Stedman said of this volume, "the lays +have to me a charm, and to almost every healthy young mind are an +immediate delight."</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>NAPOLEON.</b>--Las Cases' Napoleon. Memoirs of the Life, Exile, +and +Conversations of the Emperor Napoleon. By the Count de Las Cases, with +8 steel portraits, maps, and illustrations. 4 vols., 12 mo, 400 pages +each, cloth, $5.00; half calf extra, $10.00.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">With his son the Count devoted himself at St. Helena to the +care of the +Emperor and passed his evenings in recording his remarks. Commenting in +a letter to Lucian Bonaparte on the treatment to which Napoleon was +subjected, he was arrested by the English authorities and sent away and +imprisoned.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>NAPOLEON.</b>--O'Meara's Napoleon in Exile; or A Voice from St. +Helena. +Opinions and Reflections of Napoleon on the Most Important Events in +his Life and Government in his own words. By Barry E. O'Meara, his late +Surgeon. Portrait of Napoleon, after Delaroche, and a view of St. +Helena, both on steel. 2 vols., 12mo, cloth, $2.50; half calf extra, +$5.00.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">Mr. O'Meara's works contains a body of the most interesting +and +valuable information--information the accuracy of which stands +unimpeached by any attacks, made against its author. The details in Las +Cases' work and those of Mr. O'Meara mutually support each other.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>NAPIER'S PENINSULA WAR.</b>--The History of the War in the +Peninsula. By +Major-Gen. Sir W. F. P. Napier. With 55 maps and plans of battles, 5 +portraits on steel, and a complete index. An elegant Library Edition. 5 +vols., 8vo, $7.50; half calf, $18.00.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">Acknowledged to be the most valuable record of that war which +England +waged against the power of Napoleon. The most ample testimony has been +borne to the accuracy of the historian's statements, and to the +diligence and acuteness with which he has collected his materials.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>NELL GWYN</b>, The Story of, and the Sayings of Charles the +Second, related +and collated by Peter Cunningham, F.S.A. With fine portrait and 11 +extra engravings, 8vo, cloth extra, $3.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">An exceedingly interesting memoir relating to the times of +Charles II. +Pepys in writing about Nell Gwyn called her "Pretty witty Nell," was +always delighted to see her, and constantly praises her excellent +acting. Cunningham states that had the King lived he would have created +her Countess of Greenwich, and his dying wish to his brother, +afterwards James II., was: "Do not let poor Nelly starve."</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>PICTURESQUE IRELAND</b>, Descriptive and Historical.--Comprising +50 +full-page engravings on steel of its picturesque scenery, remarkable +antiquities and present aspects, from original drawings by W. H. +Bartlett, and a complete account of its cities, towns, mountains, +waters, ancient monuments, and modern structures by Markinfield Addey. +2 vols., 4to, cloth extra, gilt edges, $10.00; or in half morocco +extra, gilt edges, $20.00.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">These two handsome volumes will make the reader better +acquainted with +the picturesque features of the "Emerald Isle" than any work that has +ever preceded it. Only by a combination of both pen and pencil was it +possible to give an idea of the beauty of Ireland, its marvelous lakes, +mountains and valleys, romantic streams, mysterious round towers, +giant's causeway, waterfalls, stately castles, magnificent religious +and public edifices, etc., etc.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>PURITANS</b>, History of the Puritans and Pilgrim Fathers. By +Professor +Stowell and Daniel Wilson, F.S.A. In 1 vol., 8vo, cloth, $1.75.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">Stowell and Wilson's history is acknowledged everywhere to be +the best +and most exhaustive history of the Pilgrim fathers. A full and complete +account of the rise of the Puritans under the Tudors to their +settlement in New England, which is herein given, makes this a most +valuable work of reference and study.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>STAUFFER</b> (Frank H.). The Queer, The Quaint, The Quizzical. A +Cabinet +for the Curious. With full index. 8vo, cloth extra, $1.75.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t4">"Oddities and wonders,</p> +<p class="t4">Antiquities and blunders,</p> +<p class="t5">And omens dire;</p> +<p class="t4">Strange customs, cranks and freaks,</p> +<p class="t4">With philosophy in streaks"</p> +</div> +<p class="continue" style="font-size:90%">are all to be found between the covers of this book. It certainly is +the completest collection of odd and curious events ever made.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>TAINE. H. A.</b>--History of English Literature. Translated by H. +Van Laun, +with Introductory Essay and Notes by R. H. Stoddard. 4 handsome +volumes. Cloth, white labels, $7.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">It is the book on the subject, the more wonderful that, +written +by a French critic, it should be accepted by English-speaking +people--everywhere--as <i>the</i> authority on the literature of their own +language, universally prized for its clearness, terseness and +comprehensiveness, and yet as interesting as a work of fiction.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>THE APOCRYPHAL NEW TESTAMENT</b>, <i>Being all the Gospels, +Epistles, and +Other Pieces now extant attributed in the First Centuries to Jesus +Christ, His Apostles</i> and their Companions, and not included in the New +Testament by its compilers. Translated from the original tongues, and +now first collected into one volume. With numerous quaint +illustrations, 1 vol., 8vo, cloth, red edges, $1.25.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">As a literary curiosity this work has excited the greatest +attention +all over the Christian world. There is nothing in it contradictory of +those truths which have been accepted as <i>revealed</i>, but every chapter +and verse goes to confirm the undoubted writings of the apostles and +evangelists.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>WALT WHITMAN.</b>--Leaves of Grass. Original edition. Year 85 of +the State. +Foolscap 8vo, cloth extra, $3.75.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">We offer here the Fine Original Edition of Whitman's Poems. +Recognition +of the wonderful power and charm in his rugged verse has been freely +given by all who appreciate the grand and beautiful in poetry. The +"Good, Gray Poet" is gaining admirers daily; his <i>Leaves of Grass</i> is +destined to live forever as a representative classic of a bold and +rythmic style of versification peculiarly his own.</p> + + +<p class="hang1"><b>WATERS</b> (Robert). William Shakespeare Portrayed by Himself. A +Revelation +of the Poet in the Career and Character of one of his own Dramatic +Heroes. By Robert Waters, 1 vol., $1.25.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">In this able and exceedingly interesting book on Shakespeare, +the +author shows how the great poet has revealed himself, his life, and his +character, besides refuting conclusively the ciphers of Donnelly and +other Baconian theories. Altogether the best life of Shakespeare, +remarkably well written in vigorous English. "An original, wholesome, +scholarly, and plainly sincere book on Shakespeare. It is after all +something new about Shakespeare, which Lowell feared could not be +said."--E. C. Stedman.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>WILSON'S NOCTES AMBROSIANÆ.</b>--The Noctes Ambrosianæ, by Prof. +Wilson, J. +G. Lockhart, James Hogg, and Dr. Maginn. A revised edition, with Steel +Portraits, and Memoirs of the authors, and copiously annotated by R. +Shelton Mackenzie, D.C.L. 6 vols., crown 8vo, including "Christopher +North," A Memoir of Prof. Wilson, from family papers and other sources. +By his daughter, Mrs. Gordon. Cloth $9.00; half calf $18.00.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">This series of imaginary conversations were supposed to have +taken +place between Christopher North (Wilson), the Ettrick Sheperd (Hogg) +and others in the parlour of a tavern kept by one Ambrose in Edinburgh, +hence the title Noctes Ambrosianæ. A too literal interpretation is not +to be given to the scene of these festivities, however, but the true +Ambrose's must be looked for only in the realms of the imagination. It +is one of the most curious and original works in the English language, +a most singular and delightful outpouring of criticism, politics and +descriptions of feeling, character and scenery of verse and prose, of +eloquence and especially of wild fun. It breathes the very essence of +the Bacchanalian revel of clever men. Prof. Wilson is a writer of the +most ardent and enthusiastic genius whose eloquence is as the rush of +mighty waters.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF THE REBELLION.</b> By William M. Thayer. +Illustrated. 4 vols., 12mo, cloth, $5.00.</p> + +<table cellpadding="10" style="width:80%; margin-left:10%"> +<tr> +<td style="border-right: solid black 2px">Fort Sumter to Roanoke Island.</td> +<td>Murfreesboro' to Fort Pillow.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td style="border-right: solid black 2px">Roanoke Island to Murfreesboro'.</td> +<td>Fort Pillow to the End.</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">A faithful history of the late war, which by its attractive +presentation is especially adapted to youthful readers. Its narrative +is full of dash and adventure, the military events are recited vividly +and thrillingly, it is interspersed with individual heroism, suffering +and daring, and on the whole renders a better account of the war and +its causes than any other book that we are acquainted with. The +author's style is perfect at all times, either delicate, pathetic, or +picturesque, but always in simple language that any young reader can +fully understand.</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<h2>CLASSICS FOR CHILDREN.</h2> + +<p class="hang1"><b>ÆSOP'S FABLES.</b> New edition, profusely illustrated. 8vo, cloth, +gilt, +$2.00; do., do., full gilt extra, $2.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">Æsop, born in the sixth century before Christ, while traveling +through +Greece, recited himself his home-truths, which in the shape of fables +are full of wisdom that will teach and live forever. He did not collect +or write them down, but they were easily remembered, became universally +popular and were passed on from mouth to mouth, and from generation to +generation.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES.</b>--By Hans Christian Andersen. New +plates, large, +clear type, handsomely printed and illustrated. 12mo, cloth, black and +gold, $2.00; do., do., full gilt, $2.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">The most charming fairy tales of the world, full of +earnestness, humor, +pathos, and fresh inventiveness, written in a style of carefully +studied simplicity. They have become familiar to children in all +countries.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS.</b>--New edition. Edited by E. O. +Chapman. +Profusely illustrated. 8vo, cloth extra, $2.00; do., do., full gilt, +$2.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">A very pleasing edition, with most attractive illustrations of +the +oriental fairyland over which Queen Shehrazad reigns. It is now and +always will remain a classic.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>BARON MUNCHAUSEN.</b>--The Life, Travels, and Extraordinary +Adventures of. +By the Last of his Family. 1 vol., cloth, gilt, $2.00; do., do., full +gilt extra, $2.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">The original Munchausen was an officer in the Russian service, +who +served against the Turks. He told the most extravagant stories about +the campaign till his fancy completely got the better of his memory, +and he believed his own extravagant fictions. The wit and humor of +these tales are simply delightful.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><b>BOY'S OWN BOOK.</b>--A Complete Encyclopædia of all Athletic, +Scientific, +Recreative, Out-door and In-door Exercises and Diversions. Beautifully +illustrated. Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="normal" style="font-size:90%">The best present anyone can make to bright boys. One ought +always bear +in mind the adage "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>FOOTNOTES</h3> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2Ref_01" href="#div2_01">Footnote 1</a>: The word <i>könig</i> signifies "king."</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2Ref_02" href="#div2_02">Footnote 2</a>: The German word for "fence" is <i>zaun</i>, and +zaun-könig +means "hedge-sparrow."--Tr.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2Ref_03" href="#div2_03">Footnote 3</a>: Commission paid a person who arranges marriages. +Tr.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2Ref_04" href="#div2_04">Footnote 4</a>: Fee paid a marriage broker.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2Ref_05" href="#div2_05">Footnote 5</a>: The equivalent for "mitten." Tr.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2Ref_06" href="#div2_06">Footnote 6</a>: Epsom salts.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2Ref_07" href="#div2_07">Footnote 7</a>: Truffles are found by means of dogs which have an +unusually keen scent.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2Ref_08" href="#div2_08">Footnote 8</a>: A less ceremonious form of the pronoun you.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2Ref_09" href="#div2_09">Footnote 9</a>: The German phrase for being hen-pecked.</p> +<br> +<br> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Children of the World, by Paul Heyse + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD *** + +***** This file should be named 33697-h.htm or 33697-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/6/9/33697/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page 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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