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diff --git a/33789-8.txt b/33789-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0374c34 --- /dev/null +++ b/33789-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9068 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Barbarossa and Other Tales, 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: Barbarossa and Other Tales + +Author: Paul Heyse + +Translator: L. C. S. + +Release Date: September 21, 2010 [EBook #33789] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARBAROSSA AND OTHER TALES *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + + + + + + +1. Page scan source: +http://books.google.com/books?id=VsALAAAAIAAJ&pg=PP5&dq=Collection+of+G +erman+Authors.+Vol.+27. + +2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + + COLLECTION + + OF + + GERMAN AUTHORS. + + VOL. 27. + + + * * * * * + + + BARBAROSSA AND OTHER TALES BY P. HEYSE. + + IN ONE VOLUME. + + + + + + + BARBAROSSA + + AND + + OTHER TALES + + BY + + PAUL HEYSE. + + + FROM THE GERMAN + BY + L. C. S. + + + _Authorized Edition._ + + + + + LEIPZIG 1874 + BERNHARD TAUCHNITZ. + LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW & SEARLE. + CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. + PARIS: C. REINWALD & Cie, 15, RUE DES SAINTS PÈRES. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + BARBAROSSA + + THE EMBROIDERESS OF TREVISO + + LOTTKA + + THE LOST SON + + THE FAIR KATE + + GEOFFROY AND GARCINDE + + + + + + BARBAROSSA. + + + + + BARBAROSSA. + + +I had only intended to spend one day up in the mountains, and this one +day grew into two weeks, which I found pass more rapidly in that +high-perched ruinous nest on the confines of the Albano and Sabine +range--the name I will not give--than was often the case in the whirl +of great cities. What I actually did with myself during the sweet long +days I hardly know how to tell. But in Rome a mighty hunger after +solitude had fallen on me. I could satisfy it here to the full. It was +early spring-time, the leaves of the chestnut trees shone in luxuriant +freshness; the ravines were filled by the song of birds, and the murmur +of brooks; and as of late a large body of banditti who had rendered +this wild district insecure, had been in part captured, and in part +driven into the Abruzzi, it ensued that a lonely wanderer might without +any apprehension climb the remotest crags, and there give himself up +undisturbed to profoundest meditations. + +From the first I declined all intercourse with the German artists, a +good number of whom had taken possession of both miserable inns the +village possessed, and as to the desire of every now and then hearing +one's own voice, which impels hermits to converse with their domestic +animals, I could gratify it quite sufficiently within my own walls. For +as it happened I lodged with the apothecary, and he had the utmost +indulgence for my very defective Italian. True he indemnified himself +for his outlay in patience by not unfrequently taking advantage of +mine, for as soon as the first shyness had worn off, he showered a +whole cornucopia of his own verses on me, confessing that despite his +fifty and five years he was still unable entirely to shake off this +childish malady. "What would you have?" he pleaded, "when at evening I +step to my window and see the moon coming up behind the rocks, and the +fire-flies on the wing about my little garden,--why I must be a brute +if it does not set me off poetising." And indeed he was anything but a +brute this good Signor Angelo, whom owing to a natural tonsure--a rim +of black hair still circling his smooth bald head--his friends were +wont to nickname Fra Angelico. He had never indeed left his native +place more than twice in his life, nor on either occasion gone further +than Rome. But then Rome is the world, he would say. He who has seen +Rome, has seen everything. And forthwith he proceeded to speak of +everything, partly according to the very miscellaneous and chaotic +knowledge he owed to a few books accidentally picked up, partly from +the audacity of unbridled poetical fancy. Of all the worthies who +according to old Italian custom were wont to gather at evening in his +apothecary's shop: priest, schoolmaster, surgeon, tax-gatherer, and a +few unofficial well-to-do proprietors, whose faces beamed with the +profits of their rich olive and vine yards,--of all these notabilities +not one ventured to contradict Fra Angelico, not at least, when +previous to one of his longer harangues, he polished his large silver +spectacles on his coat-sleeve and began, "_Ecco signori miei_, the +matter stands thus." But all the same he was the best and most harmless +creature in the world, and the most amiable landlord one could +desire, provided one had no wish beyond a hard bed, and two ricketty +arm-chairs! He was certainly fond of me, although, or perhaps _because_ +he had not the faintest idea that I was a brother poet. I was discreet +enough to confine myself to playing the part of a grateful public, and +it was not until after the four-and-twentieth sonnet that I would +gently lay my hand on his arm and say, "Bravo, Signor Angelo! But I +fear this is too much of a good thing. Your poetry, is you know, +potent, and flies to the head. To-morrow you shall fill me up a new +flask from your Hippocrene." Whereupon with the most good-humoured look +imaginable he would close his volume and say, "What avail if I read you +to sleep, night after night a whole year through? I should still not +have come to an end! Here we have another Peru!" And tapping on his +bald forehead he would sigh, offer a pinch of snuff, and wish me a good +night. + +The majority of these poems were of course devoted to love, and when +the little man recited them with sparkling eyes and all the pathos +common to his nation, it was easy to forget his five and fifty years. +Nevertheless, he lived a bachelor's life, with one old maid-servant and +a boy who helped him with his salves and potions, and it seemed strange +that with all his love for the beautiful and his comfortable means, he +should never have married, nor even now in his sunny autumn seem +inclined to make up for lost time. One evening, when we sat smoking +together over the good home-grown wine, and I jokingly asked him why he +took his monkish nickname so much in earnest, and whether none of the +pretty girls that daily passed his shop had contrived to touch his +heart, he suddenly looked up at me with a strange expression, and said, +"Pretty girls? Well, I daresay they are not so far from it either, and +marriage may be better than is reported. But I am too old for a young +man, and too young for an old one, or rather let me say too much of a +poet. The older the bird, the harder to catch. And then you see, my +friend, I was once devoted to a girl who did not care for me--one I +tell you the like of whom will never be seen again. So now I am too +proud, or whatever it may be called, to be flattered even if some +common-place creature--of whom there are twelve to the dozen--were to +fancy me. I prefer to dream myself happy in my verses, and to shape +myself a perfect beauty out of a hundred incomplete ones, like the +Grecian painter--was his name Apelles?--who took for his Venus the eyes +of one neighbour, the nose of another, and thus got the best together +bit by bit. But as for her who really did unite all perfections, and +was so beautiful that you would not believe me if I tried to describe +her, she paid dear for her beauty, and many know the story as correctly +as I do, though if you were to ask any of the older people in the place +about Erminia, they would all bear me out that she was a wonder of the +world, and that during the twenty years that have passed by since then, +nothing has ever happened that made such an impression as her fate and +all connected with it. Come now, I will tell it you, as you already +know the sonnets to her--I allude to the sixty-seven that I keep in the +blue portfolio, of which you said that they really had much of +Petrarch's manner; they all date from the time when the wound was still +fresh; and when once, you have heard the story you can hear them over +again. It is only so that you will thoroughly understand them." + +After which, with a sigh that sounded to me rather comic than tragic, +he snuffed the candle, leant back in the arm-chair behind his counter, +half-closed his eyes, and buried his hands in the side-pockets of his +worn-out paletot. It was about nine o'clock in the evening. The Piazza +before the house was still as death, one heard only the prattling of +the brook, and the heavy breathing of the apprentice asleep in the next +room. Then after a long pause he began with his usual exordium. + +"_Ecco amico mio_, the matter stands thus. Somewhere about the year +'30--you are too young to remember so far back--this said Erminia lived +here in the village with a mother and sister who are also dead and +buried long ago. If when you leave this door, you turn to the right up +the little street leading to the old ruin on the summit of our hill, +you will come to a small house, or rather hovel, roofless now except +for two worm-eaten beams, and even then it was not much better +protected from sun and rain; only that the great fig-tree that is +withered now, used at that time to spread its broad thick-leaved +branches over it just at the season when shade was most needed. In +those bare stone walls that had formerly served as a shelter to wild +creatures, Erminia lived. Her father had been dead for years, her +mother had no idea of management, so that the family had come down +wofully, and were glad enough to be allowed to nestle down in those +ruins. There were, indeed, many who would have been glad to support the +widow for her husband's sake. But you know how the proverb runs: + + 'Sacco rotto non tien miglio. + Pover uomo non va a consiglio.'[1] + +It was all in vain. The girls who were thoroughly well-behaved, might +work their fingers to the bone, spinning and lace-making, and the +neighbours might do their part as well as they could, the old woman +drank everything up, and if she was not raging like a fury, she would +lie on the hearth and sleep, and leave her daughters to find food and +clothing for all. I do believe if their next neighbour, the fig-tree, +had not done its part so gallantly, that Erminia and her sister +Maddalena would both have died of hunger, for they were too proud to +beg. Raiment, indeed, the tree could not afford them, since we no +longer live in Paradise. Consequently everybody was astonished to see +the poor things come to church so neatly dressed, the more that there +was not a word to be said against them. True the younger of the two, +Maddalena was thoroughly safe from temptation, for she was as ugly as +sin, a short, unkempt, club-footed creature, with long arms and short +legs, having a gait much like that of a toad, and frightening the +children in the street if she came upon them unexpectedly. + +"But she knew quite well how unsightly she was, and for the most part +kept at home, doing, however, no harm to anyone, which is not often the +case with such afflicted creatures, who are generally envious and +spiteful by way of revenging themselves for their misfortune. She, on +the contrary, seemed to look upon it as in the order of things that her +mother, after bringing into the world one child so boundlessly +beautiful as Erminia, should have had nothing but nature's refuse left +for a second. Instead of looking askance at her elder sister, and +wishing to poison her, she made so perfect an idol of her, that none of +the young men about were more in love with Erminia than the poor fright +Maddalena. And indeed Erminia was one that to see was to love. I for my +part had seen all the statues in Rome, Muses, Venuses, Minervas, no +small master-pieces, but such triumphs of art as the world cannot +equal. And yet, between ourselves, utter failures compared to what +nature had done. Look you, friend,"--and so saying the little man +jumped up and raised his arm--"she was so tall, about a head taller +than I am, but so beautifully formed; her little head so gracefully set +on her magnificent bust, that no one found out how tall she was. And +then her face, chiselled as it were, with large eyes richly eyelashed, +and an expression proud and sweet both; a mouth red as a strawberry, +or rather the inside of a white fig, and her brow crowned with thick +blue-black curly hair, which she bound up behind into such a heavy nest +of ringlets that it needed as stately a throat as hers to bear their +burden. And then when she moved, walked, raised her arms to steady the +basket she carried on her head, with her taper fingers turned, as +it were, out of ivory; and her little feet in their coarse wooden +shoes--_amico mio_, if I had not been a poet, that girl would have made +me one. As for the others who had not a drop of poet blood in their +veins, at least she made them mad, which is half-way to the Temple of +Apollo. There was not a young fellow in the place who would not have +had his left hand cut off, if only he might have worn her ring on the +right. But she would listen to none of them, which was the more +surprising when you considered the poverty she lived in, and that of +the offers made to her, the very worst would at least have saved her, +her mother, and her sister from any further distress. Of myself I will +not speak. Madly in love as I was, I had still sense enough left to see +that I was not worthy of her, and after I had in some degree got over +the pain of my rejection, I told her that I would at least be her +friend at all times, and she gave me her hand, and thanked me with such +a smile. Sir, at that moment I was more crazy than ever! But there was +another that everybody thought would outbid us all, and although we +might have grudged her to him, still we should not have had a word to +say against her choice. This was the son of the landlord of the _Croce +d'oro_, a handsome fellow, rolling in money, and about two-and-twenty, +a couple of inches taller than Erminia; generally called Barbarossa, or +merely _Il Rosso_, on account of his having with light curly hair, a +fine red beard of his own; but his real name was Domenico Serone. He +paid his court to Erminia in such a way that nothing else was talked +of, went on like one distracted, while she dismissed him just as she +had done the rest of us, without positive disdain. She only gave him to +understand that he might spare himself any further trouble, that she +could not marry him, for a good girl like her would not awaken any +false hopes. Many thought that her own country-people were not +distinguished enough for her, that it must be some foreigner, a milord, +or a Russian, and that her mind was set on distant lands and fabulous +adventures. But no, sir, that too was a bad shot. I myself knew a rich +English count, or marquis, or whatever he might be, who told me that he +had thrown a couple of thousand pounds or so into her apron, and +implored her on his knees to accompany him to England. But she just +shook off the bank-notes as though they had been dead leaves, and +threatened if he ever spoke another word to her, to strike him across +the face, even if it were on the public market-place. And so we went +on exhausting ourselves in conjectures as to what her motives could +be; whether she had made a vow to die unmarried; and I even once +summoned up courage to ask her--such was the friendly footing we stood +on--whether she had a hatred to men in general. Not so, she quietly +replied, but as yet she had not found one whom she could love. In this +way two years passed, she still with the same calm face, Red-beard +looking more and more gloomy, and it was plain to see how consumed he +was by the fire within, for the handsome youth went creeping about like +a ghost. + +"One day, however, a stranger came here, a Swedish captain, who had +left the service because his promotion had been unfairly delayed, and +who, since then, having means of his own, had travelled by land and by +sea half over the world, shooting elephants and tigers, crocodiles and +sea-serpents, and carrying about with him half-a-dozen most beautiful +guns and rifles, and a great Newfoundland dog, who had more than once +saved his life. If I remember rightly this stranger's name was _Sture_, +or something of the sort, but I myself called him Sor Gustavo, and the +village-folk just 'the Captain.' He took up his quarters here because +he liked my little garden, had the very room you now occupy, and he and +I were soon as thick as thieves. He was not a man of many words, nor +indeed would he listen to my verses, for he cared only for one poet, +Lord Byron, whose adventures he had set himself to emulate. Well, and +he was quite up to the task. He was as brave as a lion, with more +money than he knew what to do with, and as for the women, they ran +after him go where he would, for he was wonderfully stately in his +bearing and figure, and yet had so good-humoured an expression that +they all thought it would be easy to play the part of Omphale to this +Hercules. In Rome he seemed to have been pretty wild, at least so this +one and the other pretended to know; he himself never touched on his +love-affairs, and here in our village, he never appeared to care +whether there was any other race in the world than that of men. With +these he went about continually; would sit--if he were not prowling +along the ravines with his rifle--whole afternoons at the café, playing +billiards to perfection, and when he had won everybody's money, he +would order a barrel of the best wine, and insist upon everybody +partaking. So all began as with one mouth to sing his praises, and to +rejoice that such a travelled gentleman should have taken such a craze +for our little spot above all others, that he even talked of buying a +vineyard, and of yearly spending a couple of months among us. + +"Domenico Serone was the only one who kept aloof from our captain, +would get up as soon as ever he saw him enter the cafe, and pass him by +in the street as a thief does the gallows. No one wondered though at +this, for to see himself eclipsed by a foreigner--he who was accustomed +to be cock of the walk--must naturally have mortified him. It never +even occurred to me that Erminia might have something to do with it. I +had been present when Signor Gustavo met the fair creature for the +first time. 'Now look here, _amico mio_,' I had said, 'never--if only +you will honestly admit it, never have you seen anything like her in +either of the Indies, Turkey, or Golconda.' But he after a mere glance, +without a look of surprise, merely said, 'Hum!' biting his blonde +moustache so hard, you heard the crunching of the hair. 'Not amiss, Sor +Angelo, not amiss indeed.' '_Possareddio_,' said I to myself, 'this is +the only man who can look without blinking at the sun.' It crossed me +that I would engage Erminia in conversation, that he might see more of +her, and be punished for his cold-blooded 'not amiss,' by falling over +head and ears into love. But she, usually so calm and unembarrassed +when she met any one, turned strangely red, and hurried away, so that I +thought at once, 'Hollo! at length her hour has struck,' but I said not +a word, and the meeting went out of my head. + +"But about a week later, I stood before my shop-door in the twilight +deciphering a letter I had just received, in which a friend in Rome +told me he had read aloud my sonnets at a meeting of a poetical +society--the 'Arcadia'--and that amidst general approval I had been +elected honorary member, which so surprised and pleased me, that for +the moment I was not aware of what was going on about me, till I heard +_Il Rosso's_ voice so loud and threatening that it woke me out of all +my cogitations. Looking up I saw him standing by the fountain not ten +yards from my door, pale as a corpse, and quite unlike the smart fellow +he used to be, and not far from where he was,--the pitcher that she had +intended to fill left standing on the edge of the fountain, and her +left hand pressing her side,--stood Erminia, and as it happened no one +else was in sight. I wondered what both could be about, as they had +avoided each other for months past. But _Il Rosso_ did not keep me long +in suspense. 'Hear me, Erminia,' he said, as though he were reading out +a sentence of death to some convicted criminal in the hearing of all +the world: 'It is lucky that we have met here. True we have no longer +any dealings with each other, but as I once loved you, even though you +trampled my love under your feet, I would still warn you. Take heed to +yourself, Erminia, and be careful what you do. I know one who has sworn +your death if any stranger ever carries off what you have refused to +your own people; and if we are not good enough to make you an +honourable wife, we are at least men enough to help a lost girl out of +the world; and so tell your fine gentleman to look out against +accidents, for the bullets we cast hereabouts can hit as well as those +of Swedish lead; and so God be with you, Erminia. I have nothing +further to say.' + +"He pressed his hat on his brows, threw a glance around, and went off +with a quick step. The girl said not a word, and as for me I was so +bewildered by his passionate outburst, that not till she had lifted her +pitcher to her head, and was preparing to leave, did I regain the power +of speech. 'Erminia,' I said, going close up to her, 'who does he mean +by the stranger?' 'He is a fool,' she replied without looking at me, +but blushing deeply. 'I hope so indeed,' said I, 'for if there were any +meaning in his words I should be sorry for you, Erminia.' 'I want no +one's pity,' was her curt reply; and then she went off without so much +as good night, and from the defiance of her manner I first discovered +that she was really implicated. And being sincerely her well-wisher I +hurried after her, so as to walk on by her side. 'You know me to be +your friend,' said I, 'if you will not believe Domenico, believe me +Erminia, it will be your ruin if you have anything to do with the +captain. He is a fine fellow, but he will not marry you, Erminia, for +all that; indeed, he cannot, for he is a Lutheran, but, in addition, he +would not wish it. Therefore, even if Il Rosso did not make good his +threat, nothing but mischief could come of the affair,' and so on, +according as my friendship for the girl inspired me. She, meanwhile, +walked straight on in silence without once raising her eyes. So at +length I left her with a faint hope of having made some impression on +her mind. The great dog came to meet me at the door of my house, which +told me that his master was returned from shooting. I went up to his +room at once, and found him with his English rifle in his hand, having +taken it to pieces to clean, and a couple of dead birds before him. +'You have lost something, Sor Gustavo,' said I, 'there on the market +place your secrets have been discussed so loudly, that all the gossips +in the village are acquainted with them.' And I went on to tell him of +Redbeard's threats, adding that he did not know our people if he +supposed they were not in earnest, and that if he really had triumphed +and won Erminia's coy heart, he ought for both their sakes to be on his +guard and break it off, and get out of the scrape the best way he +could. And being once fairly started I could not refrain from taking +Domenico's part, and declaring that all friendship would be at an end +between us if he made Erminia unhappy. There were plenty of others who +would be no great loss. But to see the Pearl of the whole Sabina +trampled in the mire was what I could not endure, and so I told him to +his face that if I discovered him going after Erminia, I could no +longer be his host, and that he might look out for some other quarters. +To all this he answered nothing further than what Erminia had once told +me, 'You are not over wise, Fra Angelico,' and continued polishing up +the locks and barrel of his rifle, and puffing the blue smoke of his +cigar through his fair moustachios. At last I left him even more +disgusted with his cunning cold-bloodedness than with the affair +itself, and I did not see him till the noon of the next day, when he +entered my room with a letter in his hand which he told me necessitated +his immediate departure, and as it was too late for the mail, he +requested me to lend him my little vehicle. There was nothing I was +more glad to do, not indeed that I laid much stress upon the letter, +but rather believed that it was my own eloquence that had induced him +to leave us, and to break off that luckless love-affair in good time. +And so I let him have my apprentice, as I myself had no time to drive +him to Rome, and we parted the best of friends. + +"It was his intention, he told me, to travel to Greece in order to +visit Lord Byron's grave, and he promised to write to me as soon as he +got there. The rogue! He thought as little of Greece as I of a journey +to the moon. But what would you have? A mighty spell was on him, and +held him down with a hundred meshes in the Evil One's net, so that he +could look me, his best friend, in the face and tell me so confounded a +lie as this! + +"That evening I went to bed with the consciousness of having done my +duty, and saved two human lives. Nay I was even planning a lyric on the +subject, which would have been by no means one of my worst, though a +convincing proof that poets are no prophets. For would you believe it, +on the following afternoon my lad returned home with the vehicle, and +the first thing he did after taking the horse to the stable and feeding +him, was to ask me if Signor Gustavo had told me they were to take a +stranger with them, for that about two miles from the village, where +the evergreen oak stands near the old tomb, this stranger had beckoned +to them, and then jumped so quickly into the conveyance, that he, +Carlino, never got a good look at his features. But in spite of that +alacrity, and of the manly attire,--which by the way belonged to Signor +Gustavo's wardrobe,--he was ready to take his oath that this stranger +was no other than Erminia. + +"I will not detain you by describing the effect this discovery had on +me. I bound the youth down most solemnly to hold his peace about it. +But what could that avail! The very next day there was not an old woman +who entered my shop for a penny-worth of anything who did not inform me +that Erminia had gone off to Rome with the captain, and had sent a +message to her mother to the effect that she should not indeed return, +but would never forget that she was her daughter. And, moreover, she +had left behind for her sister Maddalena whom she must have taken +into her confidence, all her clothes and other effects, and a bag of +money--probably from the Captain--so that their mother might want for +nothing. + +"That this news should work upon the young village-folk like valerian +upon cats, you, my friend, will easily believe. Had we been in the old +times of Greeks and Trojans, Domenico would easily have assembled an +army to pursue and recover his lost Helen. But in spite of all that was +said and shrieked, spite of fury and curses, nothing came of it, and +soon it seemed as though these braggadocios were ashamed of even +uttering the name of the girl who had refused them all to go off at +last with a heretic and barbarian. There were only two who could not +forget her. I was one, and it was in vain I sought consolation from the +muses. The other was Domenico Il Rosso, in whose eyes anybody with an +insight into human nature might easily have read that he was brooding +over desperate deeds. + +"And too surely before a month had elapsed since Erminia's flight all +my fears were realised. I remember the day as tho' it were yesterday: +it was on a Thursday--and the heat was such that the flies on the wall +were giddy, and at noon no Christian soul ventured out. I had closed my +shop-door, and all the shutters, and lay between sleeping and waking in +this very chair where I now sit. There was nothing to be heard but the +sleepy drip-drop of the fountain, and the rustling of dry herbs on the +counter, over which my tame canary-bird was hopping to-and-fro. +Suddenly I fancied I heard some one knock at the shop-door, and call my +name, and annoyed at being disturbed, I rubbed my eyes awake, and +prepared to see whether any one had really been taken suddenly ill. The +knocking was repeated, louder and quicker, as if in urgent haste, and I +had my hand on the door-handle when I heard a dreadful scream, 'Jesus, +Maria, have mercy on me!' I tore open the door, and saw a woman sink on +the threshold, from whose breast there gushed such a stream of blood, +that while I stooped to raise her I was reddened from top to toe. Three +steps off with a face like ashes stood Domenico, with eyes wide-opened +as though his crime had killed him too. 'Domenico,' I cried, 'what hast +thou done? Cursed be thy hand which has wrought this horrible deed.' +'Amen,' he replied, 'it was her fate. Now let him come.' And so saying +he turned round--for some horror-stricken faces began to appear at the +windows--and slowly traversed the sun-lit piazza till he reached the +gateway, where he disappeared like a spectre. + +"Meanwhile I held the poor gasping frame in my arms, almost swooning +myself from grief and terror. I called to my maid-servant, the +neighbours rushed out, and so we carried her in, and laid her on a bed. +But I saw too plainly that there was nothing to be done, and so I sent +the lad off as fast as he could go to fetch a priest. I scarcely hoped +though that she would live long enough to see him, so bending down I +asked her if she had anything to communicate. She husbanded her last +breath to ask me how her mother was. 'Just the same as for a month +past,' I replied. Then her dying breast heaved a deep sigh, and she +gasped out: 'Then he deceived me!' 'Who?' said I. She felt for her +pocket, and drew out a letter, the tenor of which was that if she +wished to find her mother still alive she must set out without delay, +for that the illness was a mortal one. This letter bore the priest's +signature, but was not in his handwriting. I made out from the few +words that she with difficulty whispered, that a youth from our village +had secretly delivered it to her the evening before. How he had found +out her lodging in Rome she had no idea, for she was living most +privately, and not in the same house as her lover, who had been to see +her as usual in the evening, and on reading the letter had forbidden +her to go home, saying that it was only a plot to allure her to +destruction, and she herself had taken that view of it, and promised +him not to go. But in the morning when she was alone, a fear came over +her that it might after all turn out to be true, and if so, her mother +would die and would curse her own child on her death-bed. So she took a +carriage, and promised the driver a double fare if he would take her in +half the usual time. She got out, however, at the foot of the hill, +wishing to reach her mother's house alone and unobserved. But as soon +as she neared the first houses she had a sense of some one following +her, and for protection she ran rather than walked towards my door, +when suddenly Domenico appeared behind her, and called out, without +however looking at her: 'What, Erminia, do we see you here again? That +is well, it was time you should come to your senses!' 'What have you to +do with my senses?' she replied; 'you have no hold upon me for good or +bad.' 'Indeed!' said he, drawing closer and closer, 'all the same one +does not like the disgrace to attach to our village of having no young +man worthy of such a jewel. Probably you have now found out that your +foreigner was but a poor make-believe, like the rest, and that you +would do better to remain at home.' And she. 'What I think of _him_ is +my affair. Why do you always come after me? You knew long ago what I +think of you.' Then seizing her arm he said in a hoarse voice, 'For the +last time, Erminia, I give you warning. Renounce him, or both you and +he will have to rue it. I cannot prevent your loving him, but that he +should rob you of honour and happiness, that as sure as GOD lives I +_will_ prevent and that shortly. Do you understand me?' Then she stood +still, looked him full in the face, and said, 'You and no one else +wrote that letter.' And he, without answering, went on as before. 'Will +you give him up and remain here?' Then when she continued silent, and +shook her head resolutely, he three times repeated the same question. +'Will you, Erminia, give him up and remain here?' And when she +pretended not even to be aware that any one was speaking to her, but +quickened her steps fearing that he might do her some violence in the +deserted piazza, she suddenly felt his hand grasp her arm as in a vice, +heard the words, 'To hell, then, with your Lutheran,' and in the same +moment fell down mortally wounded close to my door. + +"And now she had no wish, she said, but that her lover should forgive +her for leaving him against his will; she expiated it dearly enough. He +had meant to make her his wife, and take her to his own home. Instead +of that she must go down into the grave, and who could say whether the +Virgin Mary would intercede for her; and whether she should ever pass +out of the pains of purgatory into the Heavenly Paradise! + +"That was the last sentence that crossed her lips, then her head sank +back, and she was dead!" + +When the little man had got so far, he stretched himself back in his +arm-chair, and closed his eyes with a deep sigh. After some minutes so +spent he sprang up, walked several times to and fro in his dark shop, +and seemed to make a strong effort to recover his self-control. At +length he stood still beside me, laid his hand on my shoulder, and +said, "What after all is human life, _amico mio!_ A fleeting nothing! +grass that is green in the field to-day, and to-morrow dry and +withered. Hay, that the insatiable monster death crams his maw with! +_Basta!_ There is no waking the dead! She was a wonder of the world +while she lived, she was wondrous still when her fair silent form was +no longer warmed by a drop of life-blood, and her soul no more +susceptible of joy or of sorrow. There she lay in the room yonder, and +until she was buried I never left her night or day. When sleep overcame +me, I still held a corner of her dress in my hand, and thought myself +highly favoured in that at least in death I was nearer to her than any +other. But by the second night another came. The door opened, and the +captain stole in on tip-toe, as though he might still run a risk of +disturbing her sleep. We did not exchange a word, only I began to weep +like a child when he so mutely, and with such a look of despair in his +eyes, approached the bier. Then he sat down beside her and gazed +steadily upon her face. I went out, I could not endure his presence any +more than if I myself had been her murderer. + +"The next day when the funeral took place and the whole village was +gathered in the church-yard, even before the priest had blessed the +coffin, there rose a murmur and a stir among the dense crowd. And the +captain, whom no one knew to be in the place, was seen striding through +the people with a look on his face that terrified them all. He took his +station close beside the grave, and threw two handsfull of earth on the +coffin. Then he knelt down, and every one else was on his homeward way +while he remained prostrate on the newly-made grave, as though he would +force himself through the earth, and make his bed there. I was obliged +to drag him away into my house, where for some days he remained as +though in a trance, and I could hardly get him to take a spoonful of +soup or a drop of wine. Four days passed before he seemed to come to +himself at all, but even then he continued silent, and it was only in +bidding me farewell, before he went off again in my little conveyance, +that he begged me to oblige him by buying for him the house with the +vineyard that he had once before looked at. In eight days he said he +should return, and then make his home with us for life. + +"I did not dare to remonstrate, although I could not approve the +plan--partly because, of Domenico, of whom it was known that he had +fled to the mountains, and joined a party of banditti, and partly +because I had always been fond of the Swede; and could have wished that +he should not by living near this grave keep the wound in his heart for +ever bleeding. But, however, I knew well that he must have his own way, +let Heaven or Hell oppose him, and so I laid myself out to render him +any service that I could, for her sake who had been dear to me too, and +to whom even beyond the grave I could still prove my good-will by +befriending her beloved. + +"And in a week's time he actually came and took possession of the house +which stood about a mile from the village in a tolerably large +vineyard, not far from the ravine where the chestnuts are; a lovely, +solitary spot for a man at least who had no fear, good weapons at hand, +and a faithful dog for companion. But the latter was not the only +living creature that joined him. Erminia's sister Maddalena insisted on +doing so, that she might wash and cook for him, and keep his house +while he was on his rambles. Nothing could have suited him better, +though people in general shunned her. But he knew that her dead sister +had bequeathed her own love and fidelity towards him to this poor +creature. And so the singular pair lived on in their solitude, and +never seemed to concern themselves about the rest of the world. + +"I went to see him a few days after his arrival. The house had once +belonged to a Roman noble, and was still in tolerable condition, though +the old furniture was covered with dust and cobwebs which Maddalena +never disturbed. She had been used to worse in her mother's ruinous +hovel under the roof of the fig-tree. But in the neglected garden she +had somewhat bestirred herself, and planted a few beds with vegetables, +and the locks of all the doors had been repaired and new bolts added. +'She insisted upon it,' said the captain; 'she is continually dreaming +of an attack upon us.' 'Dreams are not always mere moonshine,' returned +I, but he paid no attention. He went before me up the stone steps, and +opened the door of the familiar salon, the balcony of which looked on +the garden. This was the only room that he inhabited; he had made a bed +out of an old divan, and cleaned the rubbish out of the corners +singlehanded, but he could not stop up the countless holes in the walls +through which bats and squirrels went in and out. My first glance fell +on a stand against the wall, from which his beautiful fire-arms shone +out, and as I was always fond of them I fell to examining these +master-pieces one by one. 'Just turn round Angelo,' he said; 'there is +something in the room that will interest you more.' It was a life-size +picture of Erminia, and so strikingly like, that it gave me, as it +were, a blow on the heart. During their early days in Rome, a +first-rate painter and friend of his had begun this wondrous picture, +and finished it with the exception of one hand and part of the dress. +The head, which looked over the shoulder with an indescribable +expression of proud bliss--actually beaming with love and beauty--was +highly finished, and as I said, one fancied one saw the exquisite +creature breathe. I could not speak a word, but I stood a full +half-hour motionless before it, from time to time wiping away the tears +which obscured the picture. It was then he told me for the first time, +that on the very day when she left him he had received a letter from an +old uncle, his only remaining relative, on whose consent to his +marriage he had laid great stress. Then he tried to tell me something +about those happy weeks in Rome, but his voice suddenly gave way, and +he went into the next room. I could not venture to follow him, and as +he did not return I concluded I was not wished for any longer, and +quietly crept down the steps accompanied only by the great dog, who +looked into my face as much as to say that he knew all about his +master's grief. + +"I now resolved to wait until he should seek me out, but I might have +waited long! However, I sometimes saw Maddalena in the market or one of +the shops, and twice I spoke to her, asked for Signor Gustavo, and +heard that he was well, and if not out shooting was always reading +books, and allowed no one to enter, not even the priest, who had felt +it his duty to enquire for the mourner. In our village, where everyone +had been so enraged against him, the tide turned gradually in his +favour. People remembered the merry evenings over the wine-barrel, and +his courteous and sociable ways, and in time the women who had been the +most violent were quite conquered by his solitary sorrow. Many a one, I +suspect, would not have required much pressing to lend him her company +in that lonely villa, if he had only held up a finger. But month after +month passed by, and all went on in the old way. + +"One night towards the end of August I had a headache, having drunk +more wine than usual, and the mosquitoes were more unconscionable than +ever: so that I sat up in bed, and began to think whether I had not +better strike a light and write some verses. All of a sudden through +the stillness of night I heard two shots, then again others, and from +the direction in which they came I judged that they must be somewhere +near the captain's villa. '_Corpo della Madonna!_' thought I, 'what can +he be about! Is he shooting bats or owls?' But they did not sound like +the English rifle of Signor Gustavo, and they succeeded each other too +rapidly and irregularly to be fired by any one man, and all at once +I jumped horrified out of bed, for I no longer had any doubt about +it,--what I had long silently feared had happened: Il Rosso and his +banditti had fallen upon the lonely man, and they were fighting there +in the vineyard for life and death. I got on my clothes, snatched a +pair of old pistols from the wall, wakened up my apprentice, and told +him to run through the streets, and call out 'help! murder!' as loud as +ever he could. I myself knocked up a couple of neighbours, and +encouraged all who were already roused to follow me. When we came down +from the village we were a party of ten or twelve, each armed with +rifle or pistol. And to be sure the firing did come from the vineyard, +and we to whom the moon fortunately served instead of lanterns, +scrambled over hedge and ditch towards the house, where we saw firing +going on from the windows. That comforted me somewhat. He had withdrawn +then into his fortress, and those rascals had to content themselves +with firing into the room at him at random. I was just about to explain +my plan of operations to our party,--how we were to form four +divisions, surround the enemy, and attack him in the rear; but some +out-post must have observed us, for there was a shrill whistle, and at +the same moment the attack came to an end, and here and there where the +moon shone on the open space between the rocks and the wood, we saw the +band scatter, some of them so lame that we might have captured them if +that had been our aim--over and above defending the captain--to take Il +Rosso, our own fellow-citizen, prisoner. But we wished to spare his +father the pain of that, and thanked God that we had come just in time, +for at our loud call we saw Signor Gustavo step out on the balcony into +the bright moonlight, and wave a white handkerchief to us. But when we +saw the handkerchief nearer, it proved by no means pure white, but had +large spots of blood, from a bullet having grazed his temple. It was +nothing of any consequence, and did not prevent the captain sitting out +of doors with me the next morning when all the rest had gone to their +homes. Only Maddalena in her passionate way, besotted with the man in +spite of her sister's story, could not be tranquillised, and went on +searching for one healing herb after the other, and he had to apply +them all to prevent her becoming quite frantic. The good creature, +whose sleep was like a cat's, was aware of footsteps creeping about the +house even before the dog heard them; and she ran up to wake her +master. On the first bandit who placed a ladder against the balcony, +she bestowed such a blow on the head with the barrel of a gun, that he +fell backwards, and the ladder with him. And so there she was at hand +to load one rifle after the other, and indeed every now and then she +herself took a shot through the window, and swore with might and main +that she had sent a ball through the coat of the murderous villain Il +Rosso himself, and that he gave a great start but went on firing. As +for the room, it had a ruinous aspect, not a pane was whole, the +plaster had fallen in great sheets from the ceiling, and Erminia's +picture had been struck in two places, but fortunately only the dress +and the frame were injured. When the day began to break, the Captain +and the dog too did get a few hours sleep, but Maddalena would not hear +of it, although for the present the cut-throats had been scared away. + +"I spent the next day at the villa, and kept imploring my friend to +leave the district. Indeed all the reasonable people from the village +who came to see the battle-field gave the same advice. He most +obstinately refused to do so. It was only on the following day when the +Roman Prefect of Police came over to keep up appearances, and draw up a +protocol, by way of doing something, that he let himself be turned from +his foolhardy resolve. 'I most earnestly advise you,' said the +official, a monsignore N----, 'as soon as possible to leave the +mountains, and indeed the country itself. A youth who witnessed the +attack of the bandits--if indeed he were not one of them--has told me +that more than one bullet has been cast for you; that Il Rosso has +sworn upon the host that he will pay you off. Were I to remain here I +could only protect you so long as you kept by my side. But if you took +again to your lonely wanderings through the ravines you might expect +out of every bush a shot that would consign you to another world.' + +"And so at last he made up his mind to leave, and that at once, in the +carriage of the Prefect of Police. When I pressed his hand at parting, +'Now then, Signor Gustavo,' said I, 'this will certainly be the last +time we two ever meet on earth.' 'Who knows?' he replied. 'After all I +am half a countryman of yours, and have no other home.' Then he gave me +some directions with regard to Maddalena. She was not to leave the +villa, nor did the captain think of selling it. If he failed to return +within a certain number of years, she was to consider the house and +garden her own property, and meanwhile to appropriate their profits. To +the priest he gave in token of gratitude for the assistance rendered +him by the villagers, a considerable sum for the poor. On me he +bestowed a small picture of Lord Byron, which he had always carried +about with him. The portrait of Erminia he had rolled up in a tin +cylinder, and that and his fire-arms were all that he took away with +him. So we parted, and as I believed, never to meet again, and +Maddalena, who insisted upon going with him, and clung like a wild cat +to the carriage, had to be forcibly dragged off and locked into the +house till it had rolled far away. + +"However that very night, so soon as they left off watching her, she +vanished, and for days ran up and down the streets of Rome like a +maniac, looking in vain for her master. At last she returned, and +hobbled about the villa alone, but she let everything go to waste; the +grapes might rot on the vines, and the fruit on the trees, rather than +she take the trouble of gathering them and carrying them to market. She +had always been idle, indeed, as a toad--a creature she resembled in +appearance too--and it was only when it concerned the captain that she +could work and bestir herself like three people in one. + +"Of him, however, we heard nothing more; of his mortal foe Barbarossa +we heard far too much. Since that night he and his band had lingered +about our neighbourhood, and he seemed to have conceived a hatred +against his countrymen, because they had gathered to the assistance of +the foreigner. But for the company of papal gendarmes who were sent us +as a permanent support from Rome, I do believe he would have fallen +upon his own native village and taken a bloody revenge. + +"Accordingly no one who had been present on the occasion, ever ventured +himself a rifle-shot from the last houses without taking his fire-arms +with him, and such as had to go into the mountains always begged for +two gendarmes as escort. Those were sad times, _amico mio_, and I even +lost my pleasure in rhyming, for I knew that he had a special spite +against me. Twice there were great expeditions undertaken against the +bandits, but not much came of them, for they had their scouts posted +everywhere; they knew every crag and cranny of the mountains as +intimately as the devil does his own den, and they were merely driven +for awhile a little further back into the Sabina. + +"However when in the winter old Serone, Domenico's father, died from +grief on his son's account, we had an interval of peace. Il Rosso, whom +of course the fact reached, may perhaps have felt some remorse, for by +nature, as I have said, he was not bad-hearted, only his unfortunate +love had hardened and frenzied him. It really seemed as though he meant +to keep quiet during his year of mourning, and until midsummer we heard +no more of banditti. Whether they were at work further south, or how +they kept themselves alive during this holiday, God knows. But when we +took it for granted that our deliverance from them was final we +reckoned without our host. Our neighbourhood began all of a sudden to +be haunted again. My neighbour, Pizzicarlo, who had been one of us that +night at the villa, was captured by these villains while riding his +donkey to Nerni, dragged off into their haunts, and only released on +payment of a considerable ransom. And so with others, whom they sadly +maltreated. This could not go on. The gendarmes obtained +reinforcements, the razzia into the mountains began anew, but not with +much better success. At that time Barbarossa seemed to be everywhere +and nowhere, terrible as a basilisk, and slippery as an eel, and far +and wide mothers quieted their screaming children by saying: _Zitto_, +Barbarossa is coming! But other stories were told too, more to his +credit; how he behaved to the poor and defenceless like a knight in a +legend, intent mainly on righting the defective justice of the world, +though every now and then robbing the egregiously wealthy just to +supply his own needs. As I have before said, he was to be pitied, and +if he had not run up so heavy a score that the law could not possibly +wink at it, perhaps an amnesty would yet have changed him back into a +peaceable honest citizen. + +"Under these circumstances we lived wretchedly enough, much like +shipwrecked sailors on a plank, with a shoal of sharks around. Thirteen +months had now passed since the captain's departure, and no one spoke +of him, at least no one said any good of him, fearing to be overheard +by somebody who might repeat it to Barbarossa. Imagine, therefore, my +horror one afternoon. I had just opened a bottle of castor oil, and was +thinking of nothing worse, when Signor Gustavo his own very self +entered my room as though nothing had happened. '_Corpo della +Madonna!_' I cried, 'What wind has blown you here? Are you so weary of +life that you determine to make your villa your mausoleum?' Then he +told me that he had not been able to endure either the East or West. +Nowhere had he found any flavour in the wine, everywhere the women were +tedious, and since he had fired at men, the chase of lions and hyenas +had become insipid. And always too he had been pursued by the feeling +that he had, like a contemptible coward, left the field to his foe, +instead of waiting to measure his strength against him. And a short +time back, when staying at some German Spa, he read a newspaper account +of the Sabine mountains being again ravaged by banditti, and of Papal +carabinieri having for months pursued the vagabonds, who seemed as +inexterminable as toadstools after rain: why then he had found the +monotonous elegant world in which he was living, simply intolerable, +and taking an extra post, he had travelled day and night without +halting, crossed the Alps, and got here. And now here he was again +settled in the vineyard. Maddalena had been actually wild with joy, and +he himself felt more at home than he had done for a year and a day. +'And what then was he going to do here?' asked I in horror and +amazement. 'Oh!' said he, 'I shall have no lack of occupation; I shall +join the patrol of gendarmes that are constantly on the mountains, and +so as a volunteer and dilettante face my man. When I come to consider +it, it was I who hung this mill-stone about your necks, and so it is +only fair that I should try to help you off with it. Good-day, Angelo, +pay me a visit in my mausoleum.' + +"And away he went: he had grown so strangely restless--quite unlike his +former self--that he could not stay long in any one place. What I felt +about the whole affair, I leave you to imagine. Meanwhile it had never +been my wont to play the coward, and indeed here it behoved me to take +the initiative, on account of my old acquaintance with Signor Gustavo. +So I boldly visited him in the villa, and found everything just as +though he had never left it. Maddalena hobbling about as before, and +busy enough now, gathering the grapes with her long arms; the dog, who +had grown old and blind of one eye; and in the salon the marks of the +bullets still visible, but the holes in Erminia's portrait had been +carefully repaired. When I went in, the captain was walking up and +down, smoking and reading, but on seeing me he laid aside his book--as +usual verses by his English poet--and heartily shook my hand. He had +spent the whole night between the rocks and woods, lying out to stalk +his game, and only slept a little in the morning. At midnight he was +going out again with three stout fellows who did honour to the Pope's +uniform. If I liked I might go with him. + +"I declined with thanks on this occasion, and did not remain long, for +his manner, half fierce and half reckless--as though he were playing a +game of chance--gave me an uncomfortable feeling. On my way home, I +laid a kind of wager as it were with myself--that if seven days passed +without his coming to a bad end, I would print my sonnets to Erminia at +my own expense; if otherwise I would leave them in manuscript. And an +end did indeed come, but whether it could be called good or bad, God +knows, and so to the present day I am in doubt whether I won the wager +or not. + +"It was he himself who circumstantially related to me the way things +fell out, so that you can receive my narrative as though you had it +from his own lips. He began to wonder much, he said, that Barbarossa +did not confront him, for his return was nothing else than a direct and +open challenge. Twice when on his rounds with the gendarmes, he had +stumbled upon suspicious-looking characters, but they had not held +their ground--dived out of sight like frogs when the stork appears. He +fancied they did this with the intention of drawing him on further into +the mountains in order to attack him with less risk. So he was glad +when an expedition on a large scale into the Sabina was planned, +although not for the next night, but the next but one, for the soldiers +were determined to get their fill of sleep first, so as to be all the +fresher. + +"But the captain could not remain so long inactive, and as he had no +companions--his usual escort preferring a good night to an aimless +ramble--he loaded his double-barrelled gun, called his dog, who seemed +disinclined to follow him, and left his vineyard just as the moon rose. + +"Fool-hardy as he was, he yet guarded himself against any unnecessary +exposure. He wore a dark coat, and dark trowsers which he pushed into +his high boots, and also a grey hat, one of those called, you know, +_Comecipare_, in which attire, so long as he kept in the shadow of the +oaks and chestnuts, it would have been hard even in the day-time to +distinguish him from the trunk of a tree. + +"Now it so happened that the night was still and beautiful, and he told +me he had never so much enjoyed the gloomy forest, and had never had +Erminia's form and face so vividly present and near to him as they then +seemed. The dog silently and wearily crept on after him, and he himself +was lost in dreams, having never hoped that on this occasion he should +meet with his enemy, but being led on and on merely for the sake of +exercise, and by the exquisite coolness of the night. + +"He had he thought wandered thus--creeping and climbing +alternately--for more than an hour, when the dog suddenly stood still +and growled. Instantly the captain's hand was on his gun, but before he +could look round, two shots were fired close to him, and he felt that +he had received a wound in the leg. At the same moment he saw a fellow +stand out from behind a great ilex and level a pistol, but he was +beforehand with him, and took such good aim that he shot off the lock +of the pistol and two fingers of the hand that held it; whereupon the +villain took flight, and ran along the steep path with such speed that +neither the dog--who to be sure was no longer so agile as he had +been--nor the second barrel of the English gun reached him. The captain +had paid dear for his night walk. The wound in his leg bled so much +that the bandage he improvised with pocket and neck-handkerchief was of +little use. So having re-loaded both barrels, he set out homewards, but +contrived to lose his way, the moonlight confusing him, and it was only +after much fruitless wandering about that he saw the roof of his villa +shining above the vineyards, and he was then so exhausted with loss of +blood and fatigue, that he sank down on a stone, and was obliged to +rest awhile before he could rise and drag himself over the last hundred +yards. + +"But one there was past rising, and that was the dog. The second shot +had wounded him more seriously than the first his master, and having +limped after him thus far without a whine of complaint, his strength +was spent, and he moaned away his faithful life. The captain told me he +felt his blood run cold when he saw his old ally feebly wag his tail +and then stretch out his four legs stiffly. He himself was hardly able +to stand, yet he could not find it in his heart to leave his dead +comrade there in the open plain where vultures would soon have found +him out next morning. He wished to give him the honourable burial he +had so well earned, in the vineyard at home, and so he took him up, +supporting the weight with the stock of the gun--that gun itself being +heavy enough for him in his present condition--and with tottering steps +he reached the vineyard, and found the iron gate as usual locked from +within. He opened it by a trick known only to him and Maddalena. But he +was surprised that the sound of his steps should not have roused the +wakeful creature: thought she had perhaps been drinking some strong +wine which he had just had from the village, and as he passed the door +of her room did not care to disturb her. The dog he laid down in the +kitchen, and covered with an old straw mat, then he tottered up the +steps that led to the upper room, feeling as if he should hardly live +to reach his couch, and re-bandage his burning wound. + +"But when he opened the door of the salon, he stood motionless on the +threshold, turned to stone by what he saw. The moon was shining full +upon the balcony and through the windows, and lit up the stand of +fire-arms in the corner. In the middle of the room, his back to the +light, erect and stiff as a marble pillar, arms crossed, and +contemplating the picture of Erminia, stood Domenico Serone, Il Rosso. +He no longer deserved this nick-name, however, for he had cut off his +beard, and his long wild hair looked ashy grey against the old yellow +straw hat that so shadowed his face nothing was to be seen but the +white of his eyes. But Signor Gustavo knew him at a glance. + +"They looked full at each other for a moment, those two deadly foes, +Domenico, however, without changing his position, while the captain +leant upon his gun, and called up his last remnant of strength to play +the man, spite of his wound. + +"'You are come at last then,' said Il Rosso, and his voice trembled. 'I +have waited for you here, since I did not find you at home. You know +that I have sworn to reckon with you, and the time is fully come. +Tomorrow night you are going to make a great sally and surprise my +band. Bravo! Set to! Only what you and I have to settle could be better +done, I thought, by ourselves. Let your gun alone,' for the captain was +about to stand on his guard. 'If I had chosen, you would have drawn +your last breath long before this. Do you suppose I did not hear you +outside when you were opening the iron gate, and had I wished for your +blood I had but to shed it then and there. I own I was very near doing +so. But I was not able. _She_ would not suffer it,' and he hurriedly +pointed to the picture. 'If you have still the heart to love your life +you may thank _her_ for it.' + +"'Domenico,' said the captain, 'let there be an end to this. You are in +my house, and I cannot tolerate your playing the master here, and +acting as if I was at your mercy. I will have no gift from him who +plotted to deprive me of the dearest thing I had on earth. You had no +right to the girl, none--that she herself assured me. And as +nevertheless you murdered her, and are now seeking after my life, why +you are nothing better than a wild beast, and whoever renders you +harmless does a good work. It is pure mercy on my part not to avail +myself of my advantage, and shoot you down before you can lift your gun +from the floor. But I feel sorry for you. I can understand how one +might lose one's reason for that girl's sake, and not recover it after +her death. Therefore I offer you honourable terms. Take up your gun. +When I have counted three--one or both of us will have ceased to live.' + +"Domenico never stirred. 'Do as you will,' he said, 'I shall not fire. +If I were to kill you, what better should I be? I am a miserable man. I +have murdered the fairest woman in the world, like a wild beast that I +was; you do well to call me one. I thought I should be happier if I got +you too out of the world. I was a fool. If you were to meet her again +up yonder, rage and jealousy at not being able to part you any more, +would devour my heart till I went down to hell damned beyond +redemption. No, make an end of me as you said. See, I stand quite +still. This gun,' he pushed it away from him with his foot, 'I will not +touch. Fire, captain, and with my last breath I will forgive you. For +by God's holy blood the life I have led was purgatory, and now it would +be hell itself since I have seen _her_ again, and _you_ whom she +loved.' While so speaking, his strength seemed to fail him, he fell on +his knees before the picture, and hid his face in his hands, his whole +body, as it were, convulsed. + +"At last the conflict ended. He sobbed aloud, wailed and writhed like +one mortally wounded, then trying to rise he groaned out, 'My God! My +God! She is dead! Lord have pity upon her murderer!' and down he fell +again as in a swoon and pressed his sobbing lips against the cold +flags, and seemed to have utterly forgotten that any one stood by and +saw it all. + +"And meanwhile there was the picture on the wall standing silent and +stately, and in its bloom of bliss and youth looking down upon the poor +sinner. + +"'Domenico,' said the captain, gently drawing near, binding over him, +and laying a hand on his shoulder, 'neither of us can call her back, +and what we have to do is to get through our remnant of life. If you +will take my advice you will leave this country and cross the seas. +There is war going on in Africa, and the French need brave men. Your +crime--I forgive it, and there is One who weighs with other scales than +we do, who sees your heart and knows how you repent and suffer. If I +can help you in any way to get off, and fling your past behind you, +tell me. You shall find a brother in me.' + +"Il Rosso had meanwhile risen, and was now standing with face averted +from the picture, gazing hopelessly into the night. At these last words +of his rival he vehemently shook his head. 'It is over,' he replied. +'You and I are quits. The rest is my affair. You and I shall never meet +again, that I swear to you by her shadow. But leave this house in which +I can no longer protect you. With the others it is an affair of your +money and your fire-arms, they hanker after them. If they hear that it +was in my power to give you up to them, and that I have not done so, +they will never forgive me, and there are some of them who still carry +about the tokens of that first tussle we had. Take care of yourself, +and good night to you. Yon have seen the last of me.' + +"He bent down, picked up his gun, and with one last look at the picture +that in serene beauty shone out in the moonlight, glided from the room. + +"The captain heard him go slowly down the stairs, step by step, and +when outside, open the iron gate and lock it again. Then the night was +once more still as death. He required some time to collect himself. He +felt, he said, as though he had been thrown down from a high tower and +had reached the ground without broken limbs indeed, but unable to move +from sheer giddiness. For awhile he lay half fainting on his couch, but +the streak of blood on the moonlit floor reminded him of his wound. He +roused himself to call Maddalena to bring him water and help him with +his bandage. But no one answered, call as he would. So at last he +tottered down the stairs and entered her room. There in a corner he saw +the poor creature lying huddled up, bound hand and foot, and with a gag +in her mouth. When he had unloosed her she fell half dead at his feet, +and only recovered when he had sprinkled her well with water, and +poured a little wine down her throat, and then crying and laughing, she +began to kiss his hands and his coat. But there was no getting a single +rational word from her; her fright when Il Rosso surprised her, and +then her agony when she heard her master return and go up the steps at +the top of which his enemy was awaiting him--these upset her poor mind +completely, and during the remainder of her life, the years followed +each other without her being conscious of any alternation except of +heat and cold, hunger and repletion. + +"I took the captain to my house, and nursed him for a week until his +wound had pretty well healed. The sortie against the banditti had to +take place of course without him, but nothing more decisive was +effected than the procuring us peace for about a couple of years. The +only prisoner taken was a small boy whose father was one of the +bandits, and who himself had sometimes joined them. Nothing could be +made of him, so he was let go again. However one fact he did have to +tell us: on the morning after the night in which Il Rosso had that +reckoning with his enemy, a quarrel arose, and some of the party +accused Domenico of being a traitor. At last knives were drawn, and +before the cooler-headed could interfere, Domenico lay dead on the bare +rock, the knife in his breast, almost on the very spot where he had met +Erminia. + +"As for Signor Gustavo he went to Naples, and thence sailed to Greece. +Later I heard from an artist that he had been drowned there, swimming +in the open sea. Possibly the wound in the leg was imperfectly healed, +or it may have left some weakness behind it, for once he could, as he +told me, have swum a match against that great Lord himself. But as to +what became of the picture of Erminia, which the artist well remembered +to have seen, I could learn nothing. I would gladly have given half my +substance if only I could have got possession of it. + +"And now, _amico mio_, you know the history of Barbarossa and Erminia." + + + + + END OF BARBAROSSA. + + + + + + THE + EMBROIDERESS OF TREVISO. + + + + + + THE + EMBROIDERESS OF TREVISO. + + +It was our third day of rain, and the wood and garden walks around the +country house we were staying at, were turned into water-courses. On +the first and second day, the party of guests had made it a point of +honour to be as inexhaustible in good humour as the sky in clouds, and +within the large five-windowed saloon, with the oleanders blooming +before it, jests rained, laughter rippled, and witty repartees flashed +uninterruptedly as the drops pattered on the terrace outside. On this +third day, however, even the most genial in our ark became dimly +conscious that the deluge might prove more persistent than their good +spirits. True no one ventured to break the vow of enduring this +visitation in common,--made the day before yesterday,--by slinking off +to his room and sulking there on his own resources. But general +conversation, games, spontaneous play of intelligence and wit, had +somewhat failed since the professor who passed for a great +meteorologist, had confessed that instead of the change to fair which +he had promised, his glass actually showed a fresh fall of the mercury. +He had procured a second barometer, and was now seriously investigating +the causes of this discrepancy between two prophets. His wife meanwhile +was silently painting in body colours on grey paper her sixth +water-lily; at a second table, Frau Helena was setting up her men for a +seventh trial of skill at chess, while Frau Anna sat in a corner beside +her baby's cradle, fanning away the flies from it, while trying to +guess the conundrums and charades in the old almanac open on her knee. +The young doctor with whom Frau Helena was playing chess, saw in this +interval of silence an opening for doing justice to a rustic anecdote, +but suddenly broke off, remembering that he had told it the day before. +The husband of Frau Anna, mindful of the elder Shandy's sagacious +dictum, that all manner of mental distresses and perplexities are best +endured when the body is in a horizontal position, had stretched +himself out full length on an old leather sofa, and blew the smoke of +his damped cigar up in slow blue circles to the ceiling. + +In the midst of these more or less successful efforts to adapt oneself +to one's fate, the off-hand cheery way in which a middle-aged man with +arms locked behind, continued slowly pacing up and down the room, +naturally arrested attention. Sometimes he would stand for an instant +beside the chess-table, or look over the shoulder of the painter, or +gently wave his hand in passing over the little brow of the sleeping +child, but all this he seemed to do unconsciously, as if absorbed in +some train of thought quite unconnected with the rainy Present, and +fixed either on a sunny Past, or sunny Future. + +"What can you be about, dear Erminus?" enquired Frau Eugenie, who had +just returned from a housewifely excursion into the kitchen and +store-closet. "Here we all are pulling faces in keeping with this +horrible wet, and on yours there is actual fine weather, nay even a +kind of sunshine, as though you had secretly got betrothed, or had +written the last page of a book, or felt a toothache of four-and-twenty +hours subsiding. Come now, confess at once what this means, or we shall +suspect that it is nothing but most unholy exultation over us who do +not--like you--come to the country for the exact purpose of shutting +ourselves up in a room with books." + +"I can satisfy you on that point, my good friend," answered, with a +laugh, the one thus addressed. "This time there is no malice in the +case, although I am enjoying myself; and your other hypotheses are, +thank God, equally groundless, nay, one of them actually impossible; +since I could hardly show a cheerful face if, after so long a freedom, +I had pledged myself to submit once more to petticoat government. No, +that which keeps up my equanimity, spite of our condition, is neither +more nor less than a pretty story on which I accidentally lighted +yesterday as I was looking over my old papers, and which now haunts me +in the same way a favourite melody will sometimes dwell upon the ear, +and constantly repeat itself." + +"A story and a pretty one too!" said the artist. "Then you must +instantly let us have it as a matter of course. Have we not agreed to a +community of goods of all kinds so long as the rain lasts, and would +you keep a pretty story all to yourself? That would be a pretty story +indeed!" + +"Perhaps, however, it might not please you," replied Erminus, standing +still beside her and twisting the long stalk of a water-lily into a +loop. "I at least care so little for many stories that have a great run +now-a-days, that I came long ago to the conclusion that mine was an +old-fashioned taste, and that I did not advance with the age. But in my +character of historian, I can console myself for this. We are not +entirely dependent upon the latest novelty. And perhaps the sources I +apply to for _history_, have spoiled my relish for stories as they are +now-a-days written and admired. The difference between the wood-cut +style of an old city-chronicle, and the photographic, stereoscopic, +stippled minuteness and finish of a modern novel, is altogether too +wide. In the one, all is raw material, blocks seldom sufficiently hewn, +joints gaping, subjects so shaken together that only an expert or +genuine amateur can pick out what answers his purpose. In our +artificial modern days on the contrary, all is so smooth and polished, +so conscious and premeditated, so reduced to mere form and style, that +the subject often utterly vanishes, the _what_ is forgotten in the +_how_, and owing to the very psychological finesse of the narrator we +come to be almost indifferent to the human beings on whom he practises. +I for my part still occupy so obsolete a stand-point, that in every +story the chief interest for me lies in the story itself. One man may +tell it better than another, but for that I hardly care. If an incident +that has really happened or been evoked by imagination makes an +impression on me in the rough and incomplete version of an old +chronicle, I would rather not have it tricked out with any gewgaws of +style, but trust to my own fancy to supply omissions. But you moderns," +and here he threw a sarcastic glance at the chess-player and the +smoker, "you are never satisfied till you have bestowed all conceivable +ornamentation and decoration on any and every story whatsoever, even +though it should be most fair when naked as God made it." + +"Each age has its own style of attire, and _nolens volens_, we have to +conform to fashion," said the recumbent figure on the sofa without +disturbing itself further. + +"And each age acts and relates its own stories," interpolated the +chess-player. "So long as the right of the strongest prevailed, stories +were decidedly material in their interest, from Achilles down to the +noble knight of La Mancha. Since life has become more spiritual, +and its incidents more internal, they can no longer be outwardly +expressed by a few coarse strokes, as was the case with a middle-aged +dagger-and-sword-romance. Mere outline with some light and shade no +longer suffices; we want the whole range of colour, the most delicate +gradations of tint, and all the charms of chiaroscuro, and as we +ourselves have become in a great measure men of sentiment, the +sentiment an author manifests either for or against his characters is +no longer indifferent to us." + +"Oh I know," returned Erminus, "little flesh, much soul, that is the +motto of the present day. But I happen to be just a man of the +unsentimental middle ages, though not in the romantic sense, and +therefore I had better keep my story to myself, for its structure is +by no means adapted to the attire of the present day, and while the +poets now present might turn up their nose at its very decidedly +old-fashioned form, I should fear to shock the ladies by its incidents, +though I for my part consider it perfectly moral." + +"Since you yourself are quite sufficiently moral for us," said Frau +Eugenie, "this assurance will induce us to listen to your story without +a scruple." + +"Especially since there is no un-confirmed young lady present," added +Frau Helena. + +"With the exception of the little innocent here in the cradle," +observed Frau Anna, "but she apparently intends to shut her eyes to +it." + +"As to that point then I may feel safe in venturing," said Erminus. +"But now a sudden fear comes over me that this favourite of mine that +pleased me so much in private, may show itself awkward and unattractive +if I introduce it into such a fastidious circle. And my old chronicler +from whom I copied these few unpretending pages merely for my own +pleasure, was, I own, no poet like Boccacio and his companions, though +in this story he came pretty near them." + +"Do not let us waste more time on the preface," said the professor. +"The worst that can happen to your story, is a poet's looking on it as +merely raw material, and, if it rains for another fortnight, making a +tragedy or a comedy out of it which may remain as a blot on the stage." + +"So be it, then!" sighed Erminus, thus fairly driven into a corner, and +off he went to fetch his tale. + +Before long he returned, a portfolio under his arm, from which he drew +a manuscript volume. + +"The manuscript is twenty years old," he said, taking his seat in the +window, and spreading it out on his knee. "I chanced at that time to be +gathering materials for a history of the Lombard towns, and had come to +Treviso, where I hoped to find both in the Civic Records and in the +cloister-library treasures, which, alas! did not fall to my share. It +was only at the Dominicans at San Niccolo that I stumbled on a +remarkable chronicle, dating about the end of the 14th century, which I +would gladly have bought from the good fathers. But all that I could +attain to, was leave to copy out in their cool refectory, under the +eyes of a brother Antonio, whatever I thought useful for my purpose. +These sheets bear traces of the fragrant ruby-coloured cloister wine +with which I now and then washed down the dust of the chronicle, till +after many and many dry records, I lit upon the history of the fair +Giovanna, which like a spring of water in an arid steppe, suddenly +refreshed me more than any wine could do. + +"At this time," (the chronicle refers to the first quarter of the +fourteenth century) "a bitter feud existed between the town of Treviso +and the neighbouring one of Vicenza, originating apparently in trivial +public matters, but fed by secret jealousy, even as the unseen wind +fans a feeble spark into flame. The inhabitants of Vicenza called the +Venetians to their aid, and were thus enabled by a rapid man[oe]uvre to +take possession, first of the castle of San Salvatore di Collatto, and +next to conquer the very town of Treviso itself, and it was only after +inflicting on it the utmost humiliation, and imposing a considerable +tribute, that they consented to withdraw, encumbered with booty and +hostages. As soon as these occurrences transpired--and the rumour +spread as far as Milan--no one was more enraged than a noble youth +belonging to our heavily-visited city, one Attilio Buonfigli by name, +(son of the most distinguished of Treviso's citizens, and nephew to the +Gonfaloniere Marco Buonfigli,) who had from early childhood been +brought up as a page in the house of the noble Matteo Visconti, had at +this time reached the age of twenty-five, and was thoroughly instructed +and practised in all knightly arts. As soon as he learnt the misfortune +that had befallen his beloved native town, he took an oath never to +sleep except in his coat of mail, until he had revenged the insult; and +accordingly he obtained leave of absence from his lord, and rode with +some friends of his, all clad in armour, out of the gates of Milan. And +since, young as he was, he had already made himself a proud name in the +feuds of the Visconti, no sooner was his purpose known than adventurous +youths from all sides flocked to swear fealty to him as to their +Condottiere, against whatever foe he might choose to lead them. + +"As soon, therefore, as he had secured a sufficiently large body of men +to encounter the Venetians unaided, he sent secret messages to Treviso, +to inform his father and uncle of his plans, and of the day when he +purposed entering the gates of Vicenza to demand compensation for the +wrongs endured. They were to hold themselves in readiness to support +him, and with the help of God to place their feet on the necks of their +enemies. + +"And thus indeed it came to pass, and was all so judiciously and +zealously carried out, that the men of Treviso succeeded in surprising +the retreating troops on their homeward way to Venice and depriving +them of their booty and hostages; while young Attilio, on the same day +in a hot encounter on the small river Bacchiloni, proved himself +victorious over the men of Vicenza. There was one thing only to trouble +the joy of our good city. The youthful victor had received a deep wound +in the throat from the sword of a Vicentine, and for some days his life +hung on a slender thread. His own father, as well as his noble mother, +nursed him in the conquered town's chief mansion, which belonged to its +most leading citizen, Signor Tullio Scarpa, whose eldest son, named +Lorenzaccio, had always been one of the bitterest foes of Treviso, so +much so indeed, that while the wounded hero remained an inmate of the +paternal abode, he never crossed its threshold. This only led to +Attilio--although a foe to her city--being regarded with greater +tenderness by the young Emilia, the only sister of Lorenzaccio; so that +his father and mother became aware of her partiality, and began to +found thereon a hope that through the union of the two leading families +of both towns, the long-existing bad blood and mutual jealousy might be +transformed into friendship and good will. And while his wound was +healing, in a confidential hour Attilio was induced by his dear mother +to entertain the idea, seeing that he had nothing to urge against it, +as his own heart was perfectly free, and the young Vicentine a comely +maiden. In secret, however, he felt a repugnance to take to wife a +daughter of that city: even after their betrothal he held himself aloof +from the girl, and would gladly have broken off altogether, but that he +feared to sow the germs of fresh hate amidst the up-springing crop of +peace. In this manner six or seven weeks passed by, and the leech +declared that the wounded man would no longer be running any risk by +mounting his horse and bearing shield and lance, even though he had +better for a further season avoid the pressure of his steel haubergeon. +Accordingly it was decided that he should set out for Treviso, whither, +in the course of a few weeks, the bride with her parents was to follow, +the rescued city being resolved to celebrate the marriage of their +noble son and deliverer with all possible splendour. Meanwhile the good +citizens had not lost the time spent by him on a sick bed, for they had +prepared for their loved young hero, whose name was on every lip, an +entry more triumphal than had ever yet been accorded to any prince. + +"Amidst other offerings which the city meant to bestow upon him was a +banner, which his own uncle was to make over to him in the name of the +whole Council; a perfect marvel both as to material and skilful work. +The pole of ten feet was of polished oak, ornamented by bosses of +silver, the handle was set with rubies, and the point was gilt, so that +when the sun shone it was dazzling to look upon. From this pole hung a +heavy pennon of silver brocade, on which was represented a golden +griffin--the crest of the Buonfigli crowned with the mural crown of +Treviso--strangling a red serpent, whose coils were so natural, and +covered with such fine gold scales, that you seemed to see a living +snake writhing before your eyes. Above this was a Latin inscription in +flaming letters, which ran 'Fear not, for I will deliver thee.' + +"This wondrous achievement of a skilful needle had, during the six +weeks that Attilio was laid low by his wound, proceeded from the hands +of one maiden only, whose talent for executing such work in gold, +silver, and silken thread, was renowned far and near. This maiden was +named Gianna--that is, Giovanna--the Blonde, for her hair was exactly +like bright spun gold, so that she had actually worked a church banner +for the Blessed Virgin, in the chapel of San Sebastiano, with nothing +but her own tresses. She had cut them off in her excessive grief when +her betrothed, who was, called Sebastian, a brave and handsome youth of +the district, had died of small-pox a few weeks before their marriage. +At that time she was eighteen years old, and the object of so many +secret wishes and so much open wooing, that she had often to hear +people prophecy that before her hair had grown again her bridegroom +would have a successor--agreeably to the proverb, Long hair, short +care. To speeches like these she would answer neither yea or nay, but +calmly look down upon her work like a being whose ear and mind were +closed against the idle sayings of this world. And in point of fact she +falsified all these prophecies, for she continued to live as if by her +votive offering of her hair to the Madonna she had vowed herself to +perpetual maidenhood, and never meant that any man should uncoil the +plaits which she again wound round her head, or twine their soft gold +about his fingers. Many thought that she would go into a convent, +because she preferred working church vestments and altar cloths, and +kept aloof from all public amusements. But she even contradicted this +opinion, and seemed to grow more cheerful as time went on, though still +more ready to listen than to speak; and after the early death of her +parents she removed to a small house in a turret on the city walls, +which had a wide view over the peaceful meadows that are watered by the +streams Piavesella and Rottiniga. There with an old deaf woman, her +nurse, she lived above comment or censure, during a space of ten years, +and no one entered her home except a neighbour now and then, or one of +the noble ladies of the city who came to order some piece of work. +Often, too, one of the spiritual fathers of the town might be seen to +raise the knocker of her door. On these occasions she would call her +nurse into the chamber while she received her visitors, and thus she +contrived to keep malice at bay. Although it was only on Saints' Days +that she allowed her needle to rest, and although she went but little +out of doors, she kept her beauty so unimpaired, that if she ever took +a Sunday walk in the cool of the evening on the walls, or in the +neighbouring woods, accompanied by her old servant, everyone who saw +her large black eyes look out calmly from between their fair lashes +stood as it were transfixed, to gaze after her; and even strangers and +distinguished noblemen who did not know her nature, and would not +credit the reports concerning her, made her many overtures, hoping to +lead her to renounce her single state. But she gave the same answer to +each and all of them, namely, that the life she led was dear and +familiar to her, and that she had no intention of changing it for any +other. + +"Thus she had already attained her thirty-second year when the feud +between the two neighbouring towns broke out, and as she was a loyal +daughter of Treviso, she so bitterly felt all the misery and +humiliation that had befallen it, that its deliverance by the valiant +arm of a young fellow-citizen on whom her eyes had never rested, +impressed her as a supernatural portent, and the deliverer himself as +an angel with a flaming sword. Never had she more gladly undertaken a +task, or executed it with more skill and industry, than she did this +banner which the city meant to offer its triumphant son on his entry; +and when the festal day came, and everybody in Treviso who was not on a +sick-bed, sought themselves out a spot on market-place or street, at +gate or window, nay even on the very house-tops, from whence to shower +down flowers and congratulations on Attilio Buonfigli, even the fair +Gianna could no longer endure her narrow dwelling, though indeed she +might from the turret window have seen the procession from Vicenza well +enough. She procured herself a seat on a gaily decorated tribune near +the town hall, that she might see the hero quite closely, and she +dressed herself in her best attire, a bodice of silver tissue trimmed +with blue velvet, and a skirt of fine light blue woollen material, her +hair being according to the fashion of the time, richly intertwined +with ribands, so that even an hour before the entry, there was a rush +in the streets, and many exclamations of amazement when she, thus +arrayed, was seen to take her place by the side of a female friend. But +before long the eyes of the crowd were diverted from her, and fixed +impatiently on the street up which the hero was to ride. Part of the +town council had ridden at least a mile beyond the gates to meet and +honourably welcome him and his parents. His uncle, the Gonfaloniere, +remained standing with the rest on the steps of the town hall, which +was covered with costly red cloth, from whence a broad stripe of the +same led across the market-place to the door of the cathedral, a manner +of preparing the way hitherto reserved for consecrated and anointed +personages only. + +"But who is able to describe the truly marvellous and unutterably +solemn impression made on all, when at length Attilio, in advance of +his escort, came riding up the street on his crimson-caparisoned bay +charger, he himself in plain attire, a steel coat of mail thrown over a +tabard; for the rest unarmed, with the exception of the sword that hung +from his girdle, his head adorned merely by its dark brown curls. His +chin and cheeks were shaded by a light beard, through which on the left +side the broad red scar of his wound was visible. And although his +management of his fiery charger proved his strength, a slight pallor +still lingered on his cheeks, over which every now and then a modest +blush flitted when he looked around him and saw on all sides white +heads bend reverently before his triumphal youth, or mothers hold up +their children the better to see the deliverer of their native city. +But what crowned the whole was the shower of flowers falling so thickly +from window and roof upon the hero, that his form was at times actually +lost to view beneath a many-coloured veil; and his good horse, +accustomed in battle to quite different missiles, pricked his ears, +shook his mane, and mingled his shrill neighing with the shouts of +triumph and the clamour of bells. + +"As soon as the whole procession had gathered in front of the town +hall, Attilio leapt from the saddle and hastened up the steps to kneel +before his noble uncle, to receive from him the banner, and to kiss the +hand that bestowed so high an honour. But as he rose from his knees and +prepared to descend the steps and tread the way to the cathedral, he +started as though from some sudden pain of body or mind, and required +three minutes at least to regain consciousness of where he was, and of +the many thousand eyes riveted upon him. The fact was he had seen on +the tribune to his right, a face that, like a vision of paradise, +seemed to ravish him away from earth; and when the large black eyes +looked fixedly at him from under their blonde lashes with an +indescribable expression, half sweet, half melancholy, the blood +suddenly rushed to his heart, he grew pale as though an arrow had +smitten him in the breast, and had he not been holding the banner, +against the pole of which he was able to lean, he must a second +time--but this time involuntarily--have fallen upon his knees. Those +who stood nearest to him and noticed his faintness, attributed it to +his wound, and to the fatigue of so long a ride upon a hot day, no one +divining the real cause; and at last Attilio collected himself, and +forcing his eyes away from the enchanting face before him, trod the +path to the cathedral without once turning round his head to where the +women sat. + +"All the people now streamed after him, and the tribunes emptied +themselves rapidly. The last who rose--and then only at the suggestion +of her neighbour--was Gianna the Blonde, who as if lapped in dreams, or +like one who gazes after the track of a falling star in the sky, +followed the young man with her eyes, till the deep shadow of the +cathedral portal swallowed up his lofty form. Her friend prepared to +follow the rest and be present at the high mass, but Gianna pleaded +indisposition, said she had sat too long in the sun, and with bent head +took her solitary way to her own home. One of the flowers with which +the streets were strewn, she picked up to carry back as a memorial; it +was a red carnation trodden down by a horse's hoof. This flower she +placed in a glass of water, and secretly settled with herself what it +should be held to betoken if it were to revive. + +"Her old nurse who had been gazing at the procession through one of the +port-holes of the city-gates, overflowed with praises and admiration of +Attilio, of the modest way in which he had looked about him, he, an +immortal hero at such an early age! dwelling on all the honour and fame +he was sure to win in the future, making the name of his native town +great amongst all the cities of Italy, perhaps indeed greater than even +Florence or Rome! Then she fell to speaking of his betrothed, whom all +ladies must needs envy, and to wondering whether she was worthy of him, +and not by chance like her brother Signor Lorenzaccio, who stood in the +worst repute with the inhabitants of Treviso, the women more +especially. To all these remarks the fair Gianna replied nothing, or at +least very little, and much to the old woman's surprise, sat herself +down to her embroidery frame as though it were a common working-day, +only raising her eyes from time to time to look at the flower in the +glass. When afternoon came, and with it the rest of the amusements, +racing, dancing, and beautiful fireworks, she still remained quietly +seated, while the servant went out to enjoy the general hilarity. It +was indeed only late in the evening that she returned, tired to death +and covered with dust, but still with plenty to tell, and full of +tender pity for her mistress, who had lost so much by her sad headache. +The fair Gianna listened with a calm countenance, not joyous indeed, +yet not sad, as though she had no part in what was going on. Meanwhile +she had added a large piece to the stole she was working, and +apparently had never moved from her chair. But the carnation in the +glass was now in full bloom. + +"By this time night had come, and after the women had got through their +silent supper, old Catalina, whose sexagenarian limbs had toiled hard +during the day, betook herself to her bed in the kitchen. Her mistress +remained up, looking at the rising of the moon above the broad plain, +and the flow of the Rottiniga; and now instead of the festal sounds +from the city, which had gradually died down, a nightingale who had her +nest under the window, began to sing so sweet and amorous a strain, +that tears came to the eyes of the solitary maiden as she listened. She +felt her heart so heavy and oppressed that she rose, put out her light, +and threw a dark cloak over her shoulders. Then she went down the steep +and narrow stair, opened the house-door, and stepped into the empty +street just to take a few steps in the cool night air, and quiet her +beating pulses. But lost in her own thoughts as she was, she forgot to +draw her hood about her head, so that although the moon did not shine +into the street, she was easily to be recognized by any passer-by. And +now, through a chance which, like all else that is earthly, obeyed a +higher will, she encountered the very one her thoughts--like moths +about a candle--had been fluttering round the whole day through. + +"It was no other than Attilio, who had long ago been weary of all the +honour done him, and who more exhausted by the revel and riot of the +feast, than by the tumult of a battle-field, had made a pretext of his +wound to slip away from the banquet, and alone and unrecognized, visit +the old haunts where he had played as a boy. But still stronger was his +impulse and longing to try whether he might not chance again to meet +those eyes the glance of which was still glowing in his heart. He had +by well-put questions elicited from a burgher that the blonde beauty +was the clever artist who had worked the banner presented to him, and +he had determined on the following day, under plea of thanking her, to +pay a visit to her house. And now, just as he was sadly reflecting on +all that had happened and was yet to happen, the half-veiled figure +advanced as though she were awaiting him. Both were rendered speechless +by this sudden meeting. But Attilio was the first to collect himself. +'I know you well, Madonna,' said he, with a chivalrous obeisance as he +stepped nearer to her. 'You are Gianna the Fair.' 'And I know you too, +Attilio,' replied the beauteous one. 'Who is there in Treviso that does +_not_ know you?' And thereupon both were silent, and both availed +themselves of the shade of the gloomy street, to gaze at each other +more closely than they had done yet, and to the young man it seemed +that her beauty shone in the twilight a thousand times more gloriously +than in the full day, and she for her part thought his eyes had quite +another lustre while speaking to her now, than in the morning, when +he only mutely contemplated her from afar. 'Forgive me, Madonna,' +resumed the youth, 'for roaming through this street by night like a +house-breaker. My purpose was to visit you in the morning to thank you +for the great pains and the wondrous skill you have expended on the +embroidery of my banner. If not disagreeable to you, suffer me, since +you are alone, to reconduct you to your house. Truly I would that it +were a greater service that I had occasion to render, that you might +see how devoted I am to you.' Whereupon the blonde beauty, though +generally well-skilled in the choice of words, found nothing better to +say than, 'My home is only six paces off, and too humble for me to +invite you to enter it.' 'Say not so,' replied Attilio. 'Rather were +you a princess, and I authorized to entreat a favour, I should esteem +it the very highest, if you would allow me to enter your dwelling and +rest there a quarter of an hour, for indeed I am weary of wandering +about, and a draught of water would refresh me.' To which the fair one +replied, though not without hesitation and blushes, 'Who is there in +this town he rescued who could refuse the hero of Bacchiloni the +draught of water he so courteously entreats. My poor house and all it +contains are at your service.' Then opening the small door she bade him +enter in, and after bolting it again--for on festivals many loose +characters prowled about, bent on spoil--she courteously led her guest +by the hand up the perfectly dark winding stairs, so that he was quite +dazzled when she threw open the door of her chamber into which the +bright white moonshine streamed. 'Be seated a moment,' said she, 'while +I bring you water; or would you put up with a glass of common wine such +as we drink?' But he with quick-beating heart that choked his +utterance, merely shook his head, and stepping to the window-seat on +which her embroidery lay, fell to gazing on it, as though he wanted to +draw it from memory. So she left him and went down into the kitchen +where her nurse was fast asleep on a rug which she had spread on the +flags for the sake of coolness. 'Oh nurse!' she whispered, 'if you only +knew who has entered in!' Then after filling a goblet from a great +stone pitcher that stood on the hearth, she stood still a moment, +pressed her two cold hands on her burning cheeks, and said in a low +tone, 'Holy Mother, of our Lord, guard my heart from vain wishes.' +Thereupon she grew stronger, and after placing a small loaf on a tin +plate she carried both it and the glass of water up to Signor Attilio, +who had meanwhile seated himself in the window, and was gazing out into +the open country. 'I am ashamed,' said she, 'to bring you such prison +fare as bread and water. But if you will only stretch your arm out of +the window, an old fig-tree stands between the two walls and the moat, +which, with its load of sweet fruit is easily reached from here.' +'Gianna,' said the young man, taking the glass from her hand, 'were I +to remain here your prisoner for ever, I should never wish for any +other drink.' And she endeavouring to smile, replied, 'You would grow +weary of such imprisonment, whereas in the world without, by the side +of your young spouse, a thousand pleasures, prosperities, and honours +of all kind await you.' 'Why do you remind me of it?' cried he, his +brow growing dark. 'Know that this betrothal which you hold out as a +Heaven on earth, is to me a Hell itself. When I was still weak from the +fever of my wound, and hardly indeed my own master, I allowed myself to +be decoyed into this detested net, in which I now writhe like a +captured fish on a burning strand! Alas for my youth! why have my eyes +been opened now that it is too late? Why have I learnt to know my own +heart just after, like a fool, pledging myself to an accursed duty!' +And so saying, he sprang from his seat, and strode with echoing +footsteps through the moonlit room, just like a young panther trapped +in a pit, and confined in an iron cage. But the fair one, alarmed +though she was at the vehemence of this strange confession, was far +from imitating his demeanour, but gently said while stroking the +carnation blossom with her white finger, 'You astonish me, Signor +Attilio! Is not the bride young, fair, and virtuously nurtured, that +you should consider it a punishment to become her husband?' 'Were she +an angel from before the Throne of God,' cried he, suddenly standing +still and facing her, 'that flower that your hand has touched would be +a more precious gift to me, than her whole person with all her gifts +and virtues! Oh, why have you done this to me, Gianna! He who has never +seen the sun may live and even enjoy himself in twilight. But since my +eyes met yours for the first time this morning, I have known that there +is only one woman on earth for whose love and favour I would dare +anything, and cast body and soul away, and that woman art thou, Gianna +the Fair; and now I would rather that eternal night should swallow me +up, than that I should have to creep back into the twilight yonder, +frozen and wretched, to dream of my sun.' + +"Thus saying he seized both her hands as though clinging to her to save +him from falling into an abyss, but seeing that her face remained +unmoved he let her go again, and returned to the open window. There he +stood awhile quite still and silent, and only the nightingale in the +bush below went on with her ceaseless trilling and warbling. Then as if +seized by some sudden resolve the youth turned round and cried, 'But +even though it should undo all that is done I will not consent, I will +not endure these bonds and chains! Tomorrow with the dawn I send +letters to Vicenza to take back my promise, and then I shall retire +from both towns and challenge with sword and lance all who dare to deny +that Gianna the Fair is the queen of womanhood.' 'This shalt thou not +do, Attilio,' returned the beautiful being looking beyond him to the +midnight sky with a calm and earnest gaze. 'That you should have been +so suddenly attracted towards me, and should endow me so unqualifiedly +with your affection, I acknowledge as an inexpressibly great gift, for +which, although unworthy of you, I shall thank you as long as I live. +But I cannot accept this gift without involving both in ruin. Reflect, +my friend, how the scarcely smothered enmity between the two towns +would burst forth again if you were thus to insult the house of Scarpa, +and with it all the city, by despising your betrothed bride who has +never offended against you by word or deed, merely because another face +has pleased you better. And this very face, even granting that it does +at this time deserve such excessive praise, and the passion it has +excited in you, who can say that even in one year all its charms might +not be faded, so that you would ask yourself wondering, how was it +possible you could have been thus possessed by it? Do we not often see +towards the close of summer, one single night of early frost avail to +turn the trees that were green but yesterday, suddenly sere and yellow? +I have overstept my one-and-thirtieth year; you my friend are in the +fulness of your youth, you are still climbing the hill, the summit of +which I have reached. Let me, therefore, being the elder, be the wiser +as well, and show prudence enough for both. And to this end I declare +to you my firm resolve, even were I to discover your love was more than +a sudden caprice, and were all opposing circumstances miraculously to +conform themselves to your wishes, I would _never_ consent to be your +wife, no, not though your parents came to me in person to lend their +support to your suit!' + +"It was only when she had ended this speech that she ventured to look +towards him, and then seeing how pale he was, and how his fine eyes +wandered round, as in despair, she felt ready out of very love and pity +to contradict all that she had forced herself to utter with incredible +firmness. + +"'Good-night, Madonna,' Attilio sorrowfully said, and seemed about to +leave, but then stood still and looked on the ground. 'You are angry +with me, Attilio,' said she. And he--'No, by God, Gianna, I am not; +only give me leave to depart, for truly I have tarried but too long, +and have spoken like a madman, without considering that what I offered +you might prove so worthless in your sight, that you could not even +stretch out your hand to take it, far less endure conflict and trouble +for its sake. And thus I depart with well-merited humiliation, and it +is no one's fault but my own that this my day of triumph, which began +so gladly, should have so lamentable an end. Farewell, Gianna. The +banner you worked, and which this morning seemed to me the most costly +of possessions, I will now bestow upon a chapel, in order that the +sight of it may not recall to me the hand which has so coldly rejected +and repulsed me.' + +"With that he bent low and was nearing the door, when once more he +heard his name called. Gianna's heart, which had long been beating +wildly, now burst its bounds, and made itself heard in speech. +'Attilio,' said the blushing fair, who had lost all self-control, 'I +cannot let you go away thus, and continue to live. What I have said +stands firm, nor will you ever change one iota of it, for it behoves +your own good which is dearer to me than my own. But I have not yet +told you all. Know then that since my betrothed died--it is now twelve +years ago--I have never had the thought nor the wish of belonging to +any man, and if I have kept the jewel of my honour thus pure, in good +sooth it has cost me neither effort nor regret so to do. For I do not +lightly esteem myself, not so much because of this poor and transient +beauty, as because I know well that mine is a free and strong spirit, +which I could never render subservient to the sway of one weaker or +lower than myself, as in marriage a wife is often bound to do. And many +as my wooers have been, I have never yet found one whom to serve would +not have appeared to me a bondage and degradation. It was only to-day +that I saw you ride into the town to which you have given back freedom +and honour. When I saw how modestly you bent your head beneath so great +a triumph, achieved in such early youth--showing neither vanity nor +scorn, but receiving like a messenger from God, the gratitude of those +whom you had delivered--I could not but say to myself, 'Why art thou no +longer young to deserve the love of this youth?' And when I saw the +crimson scar on your throat, I felt that I would go barefoot on a +pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, if mine might be the bliss of only +once daring to press my lips to that sacred wound. And then when I came +home, knowing well what had befallen me, I picked up a flower from the +street--this one, see--just because it had been trodden under your +horse's hoof; and I meant to have it laid under my pillow when I should +be borne out hence to my last sleep. And now that I have told you this, +Attilio, repeat, if you have the heart, that this hand has coldly drawn +itself away from your grasp.' + +"Then she held out her arms to her lover, who stood before her in +speechless ecstasy, like one doomed to death who had been reprieved at +the very edge of the scaffold. She drew down his head on her breast, +and kissed the wound for which her lips had yearned. Then freeing +herself once more from his embrace, she said, 'What I do, my friend, is +done with perfect deliberation and consciousness, and I shall never +repent it, although many might censure and condemn my conduct if they +knew of it. I give you the only jewel I possess, and which hitherto I +have held dearer than my very life. For look you, on the very spot on +which you stand, your future brother-in-law, Signor Lorenzaccio, stood +and vehemently besought me to be his, and he would lead me to Vicenza +as his wife. But what I denied to him, the enemy and oppressor of my +city--and I was fain to threaten him with my dagger (the mark of which +he bears on his right hand) before he desisted from his wild wooing--I +give to you as the saviour of my city, give it in token of your +triumph; and require from you in return no reward whatever, but that +you forget me when you stand at the altar to plight your faith to +another. And do not concern yourself as to what may betide me then. My +lot will be blessed through all renunciation, and enviable in all +sorrow, since I shall have endowed the noblest man on whom my eyes have +ever rested with the free gift of my honour; and before the winter of +years has covered this blond head with snows, I shall have enjoyed a +late spring, beauteous beyond all I could have dreamed. These eyes and +lips are thine, Attilio, and this untouched form is thine, and thine is +this heart which, when thou shalt part from me, will never more desire +any of the sweetnesses of this world, but like the heart of a widow, +will still feed upon its past joys till it beat no longer.' + +"Thus saying she led him to the seat in the window, and knelt before +him, and he took her head in his two hands, and was never satiated with +gazing at her, and kissing her brow, cheeks, and mouth; and long after +the moon had set they were still together and immeasurably blest But +when the first cock-crow was heard over the plains, Gianna herself +constrained him to leave her arms, lest he should be missed in his +parent's house. They agreed, however, that he should return the next +night and all the following ones, and fixed on the signal at which she +should open the door; and so he took his leave; as one intoxicated +reels from a banquet: and in the arrogance of his bliss he scorned to +descend the winding stairs, although the streets were empty, but swung +himself out of the window, and profiting by the foot-hold afforded by +the fig-tree, scrambled down to the walls below, often delaying to call +out all manner of loving names and to throw the flowers growing on the +edge of the moat up to the beloved one in the window, till she, fearing +observation, withdrew from it. Then he tore himself away, and crept so +carefully along the walls, that he reached the gate unnoticed by any. +The sleepy watchman did not recognize him, and no one had missed him at +home, so that he entered exultingly into his own room, and throwing +himself on his couch, snatched a brief interval of needed sleep. + +"With equal skill and secrecy, the lovers contrived their meetings for +the nights following, so that no one in the whole town had the least +idea of the relations between them; except the nurse Catalina, who was +as silent about it as the fig-tree under the window. For the happiness +and honour of her mistress were the first thought of her heart; and the +sharpest tortures of the rack would never have extorted the youth's +name from lips of hers. But one thing did grieve her much, and that was +her dear lady's firm resolve that all must be over for ever, so soon as +Attilio had exchanged rings with his bride Emilia Scarpa. 'What can you +be thinking of?' said the old woman. 'Do you suppose you will be able +quietly to endure that another should adorn herself with the flower +that you have worn on your breast? As sure as I love you, lady, more +than the fruit of my own body, you will die of it, your heart will +break in twain like an apple when you run a knife into its midst.' +'Nurse,' said the Blonde, 'you may be right. But what of that? Better +that I should be destroyed, than the one I love, and this dear city +which is the mother of us both.' 'What folly you utter!' replied the +old woman. 'If he love you as he says, and I believe, he will not be +able to survive it; and so your obstinacy will bring about the death of +two. And as for the city, now that it is defended by such a hero, it +may safely challenge the enmity of three cities, each of them mightier +than Vicenza.' Such arguments and others did Attilio too urge, and ever +more and more pressingly as the time drew near when he must bid an +eternal farewell to the eyes he adored. + +"He still hoped, as he had hoped from the first day, to conquer her +opposition, and was resolved to sacrifice everything for her. Gianna, +on the other hand, to whom the bare idea of her lover's heart ever +growing cold, and regretting that he had linked his young life with her +faded one, was far more bitter than parting or death, tried, whenever +he assailed her with fresh entreaties, to turn away his impetuosity by +some jest about her age, and the inconstancy of men, and to make the +Present so sweet to him, that in it he should forget the bitterness of +the Future. + +"Meanwhile in both houses, that of the Buonfigli as of the Scarpa, +preparations for the marriage were eagerly carried on, and in nine +weeks from the triumphal entry of the bridegroom, a no less brilliant +reception was accorded by the inhabitants of Treviso to the bride. If, +however, amongst the spectators there was even greater general joy than +before, because of the now sealed and ratified treaty between the two +cities, and also owing to the presence of the young and richly adorned +bride with her escort of sixteen bridesmaids, all mounted on white +jennets, and wearing costly apparel,--there were two in the festal +procession who found it hard to conceal their anger and annoyance, +one being the bridegroom himself, who would rather have touched a +snake than his bride, and the other, Signor Lorenzaccio, his future +brother-in-law, who secretly gnashed his teeth when he reflected that +he had to play a quite secondary part to his young rival's, and would +have gladly strangled, rather than embraced, him and his kindred. And +yet a third heart there was, firmly closed against the rejoicings of +the day, and that heart beat in the bosom of the fair Gianna, for she +knew that the night that followed would be the last of her bliss. +Accordingly she had not as on the former occasion exerted herself to +procure a seat in the tribune in front of the town hall, but had kept +at home while Attilio rode by the stranger's side through the streets, +and a very rain of flowers rustled down about the pair. Even in the +afternoon, while all the people were flocking out to the meadow before +the town, where within splendidly decorated lists a tournament was to +be held, she sat still at home lost in gloomy thoughts, and her tears +falling so fast she saw nothing of the brightness of the day. 'O my +poor heart!' she sighed, 'Now is the time to prove thyself strong +enough to renounce thy own happiness; and thou art so weak, thou +meltest away in tears. Thou hast undertaken more than thou art able to +perform. True thou knewest not that love is a wine of which every +draught but increases the thirst of those who drink. Now the cup of thy +bliss is turned to poison that will slowly consume thee, and no leech +on earth, nor help of all the Saints in heaven, will avail to heal +thee!' At this moment in came Catalina, and persuaded her to go out +with her, that at least if she really were resolved to part from her +beloved, she might behold him once more in the full splendour of his +knightly prowess and beauty, and as conqueror of all assembled. For the +kind soul secretly hoped that a miracle would yet take place, and her +mistress's mind change. Accordingly she dressed out the mourner (who +was passive as a child) with the utmost case, and led her to the +tilting-field, which was already swarming with people, and resonant +with the neighing of horses and blare of trumpets. There then Gianna, +standing amongst the crowd, saw the bride sitting on a raised daïs +between the father and uncle of her bridegroom, and heard what people +thought of her, some admiring her to the utmost, and others finding +this or that to censure as well as to praise. The fair Gianna spoke not +a word, and what she thought was never known. Only on two occasions she +blushed deeply, when of some young men who passed before her, one +exclaimed loud enough to be heard, 'I would give ten Emilias for one +Gianna the Fair!' and the other, 'Treviso carries away the palm in +women as in arms!' and this led to many eyes being bent on the fair +embroideress, whose colour suddenly changed into deadly pallor; for at +that moment Signor Attilio rode into the lists armed cap-à-pie, except +that his throat instead of being defended by a brass haubergeon, which +the French call _barbier_, was only protected by a slight leathern +curtain fastened to the helmet. His visor was up, so that all noticed +how pale he was and what sad and searching glances he cast around, and +many marvelled at his aspect, seeing that he was such a triumphant +young hero and a bridegroom to boot. However he rode up to the daïs on +which his betrothed sat, bent before her, and allowed her to wind about +his helmet the scarf she had been wearing, in token that he was her +knight. Then the trumpeters blew, and from the other side came Signor +Lorenzaccio riding into the lists, with visor closed, it is true, but +all knew him from his armour and device, and hoped with all their +hearts to see him stretched on the sand by the strong arm of his future +brother-in-law. It was, however, otherwise decreed in the councils +above. For scarcely had the heralds given the signal with their staffs, +and the trumpets sounded, than both knights charged with lances in +rest, and their horses hoofs raised such a cloud of dust, that for a +moment after the shock, they were lost to the view of the spectators, +who only heard the sound of lances on shield and coat of mail, followed +by sudden silence. But when the cloud dispersed they beheld with horror +Attilio, his feet still in the stirrups, thrown backwards on the saddle +of his good steed (who stood there motionless), a stream of blood +flowing from his throat, the undefended whiteness of which afforded a +welcome mark to the cruel weapon of his foe. The conqueror faced him +with his visor open, as though desirous to ascertain that his revenge +was thoroughly accomplished, and after casting one last look of +devilish hatred at his opponent, closed his helmet and rode, no one +applauding him, slowly away out of the lists and through the petrified +and horror-stricken crowds that could scarcely believe their eyes. + +"Meanwhile Attilio's squire and the other attendants hurried into the +lists, lifted the groaning man out of the saddle, and spreading a +carpet on the sand laid him thereon. And then a loud wailing arose, all +order was over, the people rushed wildly over the barriers; those who +occupied the tribunes hurried from their seats; and scarcely could the +heralds succeed by remonstrance and blows to clear so much space about +the dying man, as that his parents, relations, and bride might be able +to reach him. He, however, lay still with eyes closed, and while some +lamented, and others cursed the fiendish malice of Lorenzaccio, some +called aloud for a leech, and others for a priest to afford the last +consolations to the soul of the parting hero, no sound of pain came +from his lips, nor of regret at having so early to join the heavenly +hosts above. Rather did this hard fate appear to him a rescue from +hated bonds; and when he heard his name called and recognized the voice +of his bride, he endeavoured to shake his head, as though to tell her +that he would not breathe away his last breath in a falsehood. Then all +at once the crowd that pressed round this spectacle of woe parted +asunder with a murmur of amazement, for they saw the fair Giovanna, +pale as a spectre, yet crowned by the thorn-crown of woe, queen over +all other women, advance and enter the circle. 'Go hence,' said she, +stretching out her hand towards the bride, 'this dying man belongs to +me, and as during life I was his, body and soul, so in death, too, I +will be with him, and no stranger shall rob me of one sigh of his!' + +"Then she knelt down by her beloved, and gently lifted his powerless +head on to her knee, his blood streaming over her festal attire. +'Attilio,' said she, 'do you know me?' Instantly he opened his eyes and +sighed, 'O my Gianna, it is over! Death has not willed that I should +pledge to another the faith and truth that only belonged to thee. I +die; my wife, kiss me with the last kiss and receive my soul in thy +arms!' + +"Then she bent down to his lips, and as her mouth rested on his, his +eyes closed and his head sank back on her lap. And so mighty was the +compassion felt by all for the noble pair, that no one, not even any of +the Scarpas, ventured to trouble the parting of the lovers. Nay, when +preparations began for carrying the lifeless form of the young hero +back into the city, the people divided into two processions, one of +which followed the dead, and the other the litter that bore his beloved +to her house, for she had swooned away by the side of her lost friend. +That same night the young Emilia returned with her mother to Vicenza. +Her father, however, Signor Tullio Scarpa, remained in the house of the +Buonfigli, in order to be present at Attilio's funeral, himself doubly +a mourner, for his daughter's sorrow and his son's disgrace. + +"But when on the third day the beloved dead was borne to his grave in +the chapel of the Madonna degli Angeli, there was seen next to the +bier, and taking precedence of all blood relations, the tall form of +Giovanna, dressed in deepest black, and wearing a widow's veil. And +when she threw back the veil to kiss the brow of the departed, all the +people beheld with astonishment the marvel that had taken place, for +the gold of her hair which used to shine out from afar, had in a few +nights changed to dull silver, and her fair face was pale and faded +like that of an aged woman. + +"And, indeed, many thought she could not longer endure life, but would +follow her beloved. Nevertheless she lived on for three years, during +which she never laid aside her widow's garb, and was never seen +in any public or festive place. In her retirement, however, she was +industrious at her work, for she had vowed to the chapel of the Madonna +degli Angeli, a large banner on which was represented the archangel +Michael, clad in white armour, and slaying the dragon. And it was +reported that the angel's coat of mail was worked with her own silver +hair. And this banner was placed next to the first which hung in the +chapel over Attilio's grave. This task completed, she held out no +longer; they bore the embroideress too to her rest, and granted her her +last petition, to be buried at the feet of him she loved. And that +grave was long the resort of inhabitants and strangers, who went to +admire the exquisite work of both banners, and to relate to each other +the story of Gianna the Fair, who in life and death gave to her beloved +all she possessed--even to her honour--though she might easily have +preserved it unblemished had she held her peace." + +When the reader had ended, there was on interval of silence in the +saloon, and the rain, the pattering of which had formed a melancholy +accompaniment to the whole of the narrative, was now the only sound +heard. + +At last the young doctor at the chess-table observed: "This story has +somewhat of the gold tone of the Venetian school. And this the palettes +of our moderns call no longer produce. Yet I own it seemed to me as if +the copyist had introduced here and there some bold touches of his +own." + +"The copyist!" said he of the sofa, throwing away his cigar. "This +shews you know little of Erminus. He has only been taking us in, in +order to contrast a highly coloured picture with our faded hues. Who +will bet that this chronicle of San Niccolo is not a much later +production than the far-famed Ossian of Macpherson!" + +Erminus seemed to turn a deaf ear to these remarks. "And how do you +estimate the morality of the story?" asked he, addressing himself to +Frau Eugenie. + +The lady in question reflected for a moment, then said, "I do not know +that one could discuss so singular a case in the light of precedent or +example. Have not different times indeed different manners, and +different modes of feeling? I confess that a passionate self-surrender +which does not reckon upon eternal constancy, must always clash with my +own sense of right; and that it is only the tragic end that reconciles +me to the startling commencement. And yet, had the Fair Giovanna been +my sister, I should not have scrupled to walk with her hand in hand in +the funeral procession that followed Attilio's bier." + +"A better testimony to the morality of the tale I could not desire," +replied the narrator. "Allow me to kiss your hand in return." + + + + + END OF THE EMBROIDERESS OF TREVISO. + + + + + + LOTTKA. + + + + + + LOTTKA. + + +I was not quite seventeen years old, an over-grown pale-faced young +fellow, at that awkward and embarrassing age which, conscious, of +having out-grown boyish ways, is yet very unsteady and insecure when +seeking to tread in the footsteps of men. With an audacious fancy and a +timid heart; oscillating between defiant self-confidence and girlish +sensitiveness; snatching inquisitively at every veil that hides from +mortal eyes the mysteries of human life; to-day knowing the last word +of the last question, to-morrow confessing the alphabet has still to be +learnt, and getting comfort after so restless and contradictory a +fashion that one would have been intolerable to one's very self if not +surrounded by fellows in misfortune---that is in years--who were faring +no better, and yet continued to endure their personality. + +It was at this time that I became intimate with a singular fellow who +was some two years older than I, but like myself doomed to spend nearly +another year as upper-class student. He did not attend the same +gymnasium, nor were his relations, who lived out of Berlin, at all +known to mine. I am really puzzled how to explain the fact that in +spite of these obstacles we two became so friendly, that scarcely a day +passed without his coming up the steep stairs that led to my rooms. +Indeed even then a third party seeing us together might have found it +hard to say what made us so essential to each other. He was in the +habit of entering with a mere nod, walking up and down the room, now +and then opening a book, or looking at a picture on the walls, and +finally throwing himself into my grandfather's armchair--my substitute +for a sofa--where, legs crossed, he would sit for hours, speaking not a +word, until I had finished my Latin essay. Often when I looked up from +the book before me I met his quiet, dreamy, brown eyes resting on me +with a gentle brotherly expression, which made me nod to him in return; +and it was a pleasure to me just to feel him there. If he chanced to +find me idle, or in a communicative mood, he would let me run on by the +hour without interruption, and his silent attention seemed to encourage +and comfort me. It was only when we got upon the subject of music that +he ever grew excited, and then we both lost ourselves in passionate +debate. He had a splendid deep bass voice, that harmonized well with +his manly aspect, dark eyes, and brown satin-smooth skin. And as he was +also zealously studying the theory of music, it was easy for him to get +the better of my superficial lay-talk by weighty arguments; yet +whenever he thus drove me into a corner he always seemed pained at my +defeat. I remember him, on one occasion, ringing me out of bed, +formally to apologise for having, in the ardour of controversy, spoken +of Rossini's _Barbiere_ which I had been strenuously upholding, as a +wretched shaver whose melodies, compared with those of Mozart, were of +little more account than the soap-bubbles in his barber's basin. + +In addition too to the extreme placidity that characterized him, he was +always ready to do me a number of small services, such as the younger +student usually renders to his senior, and there were two other things +that helped to rivet our friendship: he had initiated me in the art of +smoking, and set my first songs to music. There was one, I remember, +which appeared to us at that time peculiarly felicitous both as to +words and melody, and we used to sing it as a duet in all our walks +together-- + + "I think in the olden days + That a maiden was loved by me; + But my heart is sick and troubled, + It is all a dream may-be. + + "I think in the olden days, + One was basking in sunny bliss; + But whether I or another? + I cannot be sure of this! + + "I think in the olden days + That I sang--but know not what; + For I have forgotten all things + Since I've been by her forgot." + +Dear and ridiculous season of youth! A poet of sixteen sings of the +"old myth" of his lost love-sorrow, and a musician of eighteen with all +possible gravity, sets the sobbing strophes to music with a piano-forte +accompaniment that seems to foreshadow the outburst of the world's +denunciation on the head of the inconstant fair! + +We were, however, as I have already said, so especially pleased with +this melancholy progeny of our united talents, that we were not long +content to keep it to ourselves; we burned with desire to send it forth +to the public. At that time the "Dresden Evening Times" under the +editorship of, as I believe the late Robert Schneider, admitted poems +over which my critical self-esteem could not but shrug its shoulders. +To him, therefore, we sent our favourite--anonymously, of course--in +the full persuasion that it would appear in the forthcoming number, +text and music both, with the request that the unknown contributor +would delight the Evening Times with other admirable fruits of genius. +Full of a sweet shyness, spite of our incognito, we accordingly took to +haunting the eating-houses where that journal was taken in, and +blushingly looked out for our first-born. But week after week passed by +without satisfying our expectations. I myself after twice writing and +dignifiedly desiring the manuscript to be returned, gave up all hope, +and was so wounded and humiliated by this failure, as first to throw +down the gauntlet to an ungrateful contemporaneous world, and +contribute to the pleasure of more enlightened posterity in the form of +a longer poem; and then gradually to shun all mention of our unlucky +venture, even requesting Bastel (my friend's name being Sebastian) to +leave off humming the tune which too vividly recalled to me the +mortifying history. + +He humoured me on this point, but he could not refrain from privately +carrying on his investigations in pastry-cooks' shops, the more that he +was devotedly addicted to cakes and sweet things. It was then +midsummer, and the small round cherry tarts were wonderfully refreshing +to an upper class student's tongue, parched and dry with Latin and +Greek. Bastel most seriously asserted that sweets agreed with his +voice; he was only able to temper the harshness of his bass notes by +plenty of sugar and fruit-juice. I on the contrary, despised such +insipid dainties, and preferred to stick to wine, which at that time +did very little indeed to clear up any mind I had. But in virtue of my +calling I was bound to worship "wine, women, and song," and in the +volume of poems at which I was working hard, there was, of course, to +be no lack of drinking-songs. + +We had now reached July, and the dog-days were beginning, when one +afternoon Bastel made his appearance at the usual hour, but in very +unusual mood. He lit his cigar indeed, but instead of sitting down to +smoke it, he stood motionless at the window for a full quarter of an +hour, drumming "_Non più andrai_" on the panes, and from time to time +sighing as though a hundredweight lay on his heart. + +"Bastel," said I, "what's wrong?" + +No answer. + +"Are you ill?" I went on; "or have you had another row with the +ordinary? or did the college yesterday give you a bad reception?" (He +belonged to a certain secret society much frequented by students, and +wore in his waistcoat pocket a tricoloured watch-ribbon which only +ventured forth at their solemn meetings.) + +Still the same silence on the part of the strange dreamer, and the +drumming grew so vehement that the panes began to ring ominously. + +It was only when I left off noticing him, that he incoherently began to +talk to himself, "There are more things in heaven and earth--" but +further he did not carry the quotation. + +At last I jumped up, went to him, and caught hold of his hand. +"Bastel!" I cried, "what does this fooling mean? Something or other is +vexing you. Tell it out, and let us see what can be done, but at least +spare my window-panes and behave rationally. Will you light another +cigar?" + +He shook his head. "If you have time," said he, "let's go out, I may be +able to tell you in the open air. This room is so close." + +We went down stairs and wandered arm-in-arm through quiet Behren +Street, where my parents lived, into Frederick Street. When he got into +the full tide of carriages and foot-passengers, he seemed to be in a +measure relieved. He pressed my arm, stood still a moment, and broke +out: "It is nothing very particular, Paul, but I believe that I am in +love, and this time for life." + +I was far from laughing at the declaration. At the age of sixteen one +believes in the endless duration of every feeling. But I had read +my Heine and considered it bad taste to become sentimental over a +love-affair. + +"Who is the fortunate fair?" I lightly enquired. + +"You shall see her," he replied, his eyes wandering absently over the +crowd flowing through the street. "I will take you there at once if you +are inclined." + +"Can one go thus unceremoniously without being better dressed? I have +actually forgotten my gloves." + +"She is no countess," said he, a slight blush shewing through his dark +complexion. "Just think! yesterday when I wanted to look once more +through the Evening Times--yes, I know we are not to speak of it, but +it has to do with the whole thing--chance, or my good star led me to a +quite out-of-the-way little cake-shop, and there--" + +He stopped short. + +"There you found her eating cherry-tarts, and that won your affection," +laughed I. "Well, Bastel, I congratulate you. Sweets to the sweet. But +have you already made such way as to be able to calculate upon finding +her again at the very same place?" + +He gave no further reply. My tone seemed to be discordant with his +mood. So indeed it at once became with my own, but my principles did +not allow me to express myself more feelingly. Minor chords remained +the exclusive property of verse; conversation was to be carried on in a +harsh and flippant key, the more coldblooded and ironical the better. + +We had walked, in silence for the most part, all the length of +Frederick Street to the Halle Gate, I, for all my air of indifference, +actually consumed with curiosity and sympathy, when my friend suddenly +turned up one of the last side streets that debouch into the main +artery of the great city. Here were found at the time I am speaking of, +several small one-storied private houses of mean exterior, a few shops, +little traffic, so that the rattling of cab wheels sufficed to bring +the inhabitants to their windows; and numbers of children who played +about freely in the street, not having to take flight before the +approach of any heavily-laden omnibus. When almost at the end of this +particular side-street we came to a halt before a small house painted +green, and having above its glass-door a large and dusty black board +with the word "Confectionery" in tarnished gilt letters. To the right +and left of this door were windows, with old brown blinds closely +drawn, although the house was not on the sunny side of the street. I +can see the landscape on those blinds to this hour! A ruined temple +near a pond, on which a man with effaced features sat in a boat +angling, while a peacock spread his tail on the stump of a willow tree. +The glass door in the middle looked as though it had not been cleaned +for ten years, and its netted curtain, white once no doubt, was now by +reason of age, dust, and flies, pretty much the colour of the blinds. + +I was startled when Sebastian prepared to enter this un-inviting +domicile: however I took care not to ruffle him again, and followed his +lead in no small excitement. + +We were greeted by a hot cloying smell, which under ordinary +circumstances would instantly have driven me out again, a smell of old +dough, and fermenting strawberries, mingled with a flavour of chocolate +and Vanilla, a smell that only an inveterate sweet-tooth or a youth in +love could by possibility have consented to inhale! Added to this, the +room was not much more than six feet high, and apparently never +ventilated, except by the chance opening of the door. How my friend +could ever have expected to find the Dresden Evening Times in such an +out-of-the-way shop as this was a puzzle to me. Very soon, however, I +discovered what it was that had lured him again--spite of his +disappointment--into this distressing atmosphere. Behind the small +counter on which was displayed a limited selection of uninviting tarts +and cakes, I could see in the dusky window-seat behind the brown blind, +a young girl dressed in the simplest printed cotton gown possible, her +thick black hair just parted and cut short behind, a piece of knitting +in her hands, which she only laid down when after some delay and +uncertainty we had determined upon the inevitable cherry-tarts. My +friend who hardly dared to look at her, still less to speak, went into +the narrow, dark, and most comfortless little inner room, where the +"Vossische Journal," and the "Observer on the Spree" outspread on a +round table before the faded sofa, kept up a faint semblance of a +reading-room. A small fly-blinded mirror hung on the wall between the +two wooden-framed lithographs of King Frederick William III. and Queen +Louise, over which was a bronzed bust of old Blücher squeezed in +between the top of the stove and the low ceiling and looking gruffly +down. + +Sebastian had thrown himself in feverish haste into one corner of the +sofa, I into the other, when the young girl came in with the small +plates for the tarts. I was now able to look at her leisurely, for she +waited to light a gas-burner, it being already too dark to read. She +was rather short than tall, but her figure was so symmetrical, so +round, yet slender, that the eye followed her every movement with +rapture, spite of her unbecoming, and almost ugly dress. Her feet, +which were made visible to us by her standing on tip-toe to reach the +gas burner, were daintily small as those of a child of ten, her little +deft snow-white fingers looked as if they had always rested on a silken +lap. What white things she had on, a small upright collar, cuffs, and a +waitress's apron, were so immaculately clean as to form a striking +contrast with the stained carpet, dusty furniture, and traces of the +flies of a hundred summers visible on all around. + +I ought, I am aware, to attempt some sketch of her face, but I despair +beforehand. Not that her features were so incomparably beautiful as to +defy the skill of any and every artist. But what gave the peculiar +charm to this face of hers, was a certain spirituality which I found it +no easy matter to define to myself, a calm melancholy, a half-shy, +half-threatening expression, a springtide bloom, which, having suddenly +felt the touch of frost, no longer promised a joyous fruitful summer; +in short, a face that would have puzzled and perplexed more mature +decipherers of character, and which could not fail to make an +irresistible impression upon a dreamer of sixteen. + +"What is your name, Fräulein, if I may venture to ask?" said I, by way +of opening the conversation, my friend seeming as though he had no more +important object than the mere consuming of tartlets. + +"Lottka," replied the girl without looking at me, and already preparing +to leave the room. + +"Lottka!" cried I. "How do you come to have this Polish name?" + +"My father was a Pole." + +And then she was back again in the shop. + +"Would you have the kindness, Miss Lottka, to bring me a glass of +_bishop_." I called after her. + +"Directly," was her reply. + +Sebastian was studying the advertisements in the "Vossische Journal" as +though he expected to meet with the real finder of his lost heart +there! I turned over the "Observer." Not one word did we exchange. + +In three minutes in she came again, bringing a glass of dark red wine +on a tray. I could not turn my eyes away from her white hands, and felt +my heart beat while gathering courage to address her again. + +"Will you not sit a little with us, Fräulein?" said I. "Do take my +place on the sofa, and I will get a chair." + +"Thank you, sir," she replied, without any primness, but at the same +time with almost insulting indifference, "my place is in the shop. If +there is anything I can do for you--" + +"Do remain where you are," I insisted, venturing to catch hold of one +of her hands which felt cool and smooth, and instantly slipped out of +my grasp. "These newspapers are horribly dull. Allow us to introduce +ourselves. My friend here, Mr. ----" + +At that moment the shop-door opened, a little girl pushed shyly in, +with two copper coins in her small fist, for which she wanted some +sweeties. Our beauty availed herself of this opportunity of declining +our acquaintance, and after having served the child, sat down again in +her window-corner and took up her knitting. + +Our position grew more and more unbearable. As to the tarts they were +eaten long ago, and I had, partly out of embarrassment, and partly to +give myself the air of an experienced wine-bibber, tossed off my glass +of bishop at a draught, and now sat with burning brow and wandering +mind, looking at the flies crawling along the glass's edge, and +intoxicating themselves with the crimson drops. Sebastian was as silent +as an Indian Fakir, and seemed to be listening intently to what was +going on in the shop, where indeed there was not a sound to be heard, +except now and then the click of the knitting-needles against the +counter. + +"Come, you trappist," said I at length, "we will pay our bill and get +some fresh air. My lungs are as it were candied. For any one but a fly +this atmosphere is insupportable." + +"Good-bye, pretty child," said I at the counter with all the importance +of a roué of sixteen, who has a volume of lyrical poems at home written +in the style of Heine, and ready for the press. "I hope that we may +improve our acquaintance at some future time when you are less +absorbed. Au revoir!" + +I should no doubt have indulged in greater absurdities, but that she +looked at me with so strangely absent an expression that I suddenly +felt ashamed of my impertinence, made her a low bow, and hurried out +into the street. Sebastian followed me instantly; he had hardly dared +to look at her. + +"Now then," he said, as we rushed along through the silent street, +"what do you say?" + +"That the bishop is very fair, but the tarts execrable. I cannot +understand how you forced your portion down as well as half of mine. I +suspect that confectioner's shop of only selling old cakes bought +second-hand." + +"What of that?" growled he. "I did not ask about such things. I want to +know what you think of _her_." + +"My good friend," I returned in an authoritative and fatherly tone. +"What can one say about a girl who is able to breathe in that +atmosphere! Woman is ever an enigma as you well know." + +(He nodded assent and sighed; I had contrived--God knows how--to pass +with him as a great discerner of feminine spirits, and was fond of +introducing into my generalisations the word "Woman," which has always +a mystical charm for youths of our age.) + +"This monosyllabic creature--that she is enchanting it is impossible to +deny! But I warn you against her, Bastel. Believe me, she has no +heart." + +"You think so?" he interpolated in a horrified tone without looking at +me. + +"That is to say she has either never had one, or destiny has changed it +into stone in her breast. Otherwise would she so coldly have turned +away when I addressed her? She has a past I tell you, perhaps a present +also, but no future." + +This stupendous sentence of mine thrown off in mere thoughtlessness +produced an unexpected effect upon my chum. He started as though a +snake had bitten him, snatched his arm out of mine and said-- + +"You think then that she--that she no longer--in a word you doubt her +virtue?" + +I saw now the mischief I had done. "Be easy, child," said I, throwing +my arm over his shoulder. "Come, we must not have a scene here. We have +agreed woman is an enigma. But as to character I have no grounds for +suspecting hers. I only meant to say, take care that you do not get +involved in an unpromising affair. For she looks like one from whom a +victim would not easily escape! If you like I will keep an eye upon +her, and I promise to render you every assistance that one friend can +to another." + +We had now reached a dark and deserted street-corner. Suddenly he +embraced me, squeezed my hand as though bent on fusing it with his own, +and instantly vanished up the nearest side-street. + +I for my part walked home very slowly in order to grow cool and +collected, but the singular form I had seen never left me for a moment. +I was so feverishly abstracted at the home tea-table that my good +mother grew alarmed, and sent me early to bed. When I went to my class +the following morning, I found I had not prepared my Plato, and was +obliged to put up with many mocking remarks from the lecturer on +history in consequence of my having pushed the date of the battle of +Cannæ a good century too far back. The day was wet, and I lounged down +the street full of depression and _ennui_. Sebastian kept himself out +of sight. I stood an hour at the window on which he had drummed "_Non +più andrai_" the day before, and looked meditatively at the rain-pools +in the street below, out of which the sparrows were picking a few +oat-husks. I heard the horses stamping in the stable, and the +stable-boy whistling Weber's "Jungfern Kranz" and found myself suddenly +whistling it too, and stamping the while. I felt so absurd and pitiable +that tears nearly came. At length I armed myself with an umbrella, and +ran out into the wet and windy street. + +I had been invited to a party at a friend's house for that evening, but +I had an hour to spare. And this hour, I thought, could not be better +spent than in sauntering through the street where the confectioner's +shop stood, and patrolling a short time on the other side to watch who +went in. As it was already growing dusk I felt pretty well concealed +under my umbrella, but all the same I was conscious of a certain +agreeable mysterious sensation as though playing an important part in +some deed of honour. In point of fact, however, there was nothing +remarkable to be seen. The shop seemed to be pretty well frequented, +but only by a humble class of customers, children, schoolboys intent +upon devouring their pocket money, coughing old women going in for a +penny-worth of lozenges. Dangerous young men did not seem aware that +behind those brown blinds lurked a dangerous young girl. + +Much relieved by the result of my observation, I finally crossed +the street just to find out whether there were any possibility of +peeping in. The gas was lit in both rooms, but the shop-window was so +well-protected that one could see nothing whatever from without. But on +the other hand the blind of the reading-room had a crack just across +the back of the angler. So I stood and looked in, a good deal ashamed +of myself for spying. And there, on the very same corner of the sofa +that he occupied yesterday, sat my poor friend Sebastian before an +empty plate covered with flies, his eyes wandering beyond the newspaper +into empty space. A singular thrill came over me, half jealousy, half +satisfaction, at his having got on no further. Just as I was watching +him, he made a movement as if to take up his cap and leave. I drew back +from the window, and crept along the houses like a thief who has had +the narrowest escape of capture. When I got to the house where I was +expected, I had of course to collect my wits. I was more lively than +usual, and paid my court to the daughters of the house with all the +awkward nonchalance of a man of the world of sixteen, nay, I even +allowed myself to be persuaded to read out my last poem, and drank +several glasses of strong Hungarian wine, which made me neither wiser +nor more modest. When ten o'clock struck, I suddenly took my departure +under the pretext of an appointment with a friend. To keep late hours +seemed to me congruous with the character of a youthful poet. Had +people but known that the real engagement was the copying out fair a +German essay, all the halo would have vanished! + +And as it was that luckless essay fared badly enough. The night was +wondrously beautiful. After long-continued rain, the air was as +soft and exquisitely still as a human heart just reconciled to a +long-estranged friend (I involuntarily fall back into the lyrical style +of those early days!), and the sky sparkled and shone with thousands of +newly-washed stars. In spite of the lateness of the hour, girls and +women went chattering through the streets without hat or shawl, with +merely a kerchief thrown over their heads, as though the lovely night +had enticed them out just to inhale, before going to bed, one draught +of fresh air after the discomfort of the day. Every window stood open, +the roses gave out their fragrance; one heard Mendelssohn's "Songs +without words" played on the piano, or some sweet female voice quietly +singing to itself. + +How it happened I did not know, but all of a sudden there I was again +at the little shop, and had hold of the door handle before I could make +out even to myself what it was that led me there. + +As I entered, Lottka raised her head from the counter where it had been +resting on her arm. Her eyes shewed that she had been asleep. The book, +over which she had been tiring herself, fell from her lap as she rose. + +"I have disturbed you, Miss Lottka," said I. "Forgive me, I will go +away at once. I happened to be passing by--and as the night was so +beautiful--as since yesterday you--Would you be so kind as to give me a +glass of bishop, Miss Lottka?" + +Strange that my usually reckless eloquence should so regularly fail me +in the presence of this quiet creature! + +"What have you been reading?" I began again after a pause, walking the +while up and down the shop. "A book from the lending library? Such a +torn shabby copy is not fit for your small white hands. Allow me--I +have a quantity of charming books at home--romances too--" + +"Pardon me," she quietly rejoined. "I have no time to read romances. +This is a French Grammar." + +"You are studying by yourself then?" + +"I already speak it a little, I wish to understand it more thoroughly." + +She relapsed into silence, and began to arrange the plates and spoons. + +"Miss Lottka," said I after an interval, during which I had regained +courage from a contemplation of the gruff old Blücher in the smaller +room. "Are you happy in the position that you occupy at present?" + +She looked at me out of her large weary eyes with the amazement of a +child in a fairy-tale when suddenly addressed by a bird. + +"How come you to put such a question?" she enquired. + +"Pray do not attribute it to heartless curiosity," I went on, in my +excitement upsetting a small pyramid of biscuits. "Believe that I feel +a genuinely warm interest in you-- If you need a friend--if anything +has happened to you--you understand me-- Life is so sad, Miss +Lottka--and just in our youth--" + +I was floundering deeper and deeper, and the drops stood on my brow. I +would have given a good deal if that old Blücher had not encouraged me +to make this speech. + +However I was spared further humiliation. The door leading from the +interior of the house opened, and the person to whom the shop belonged +made her appearance. She seemed a good-natured square woman, with a +thick cap-border, who explained to me as civilly as she could, that I +had already remained a quarter of an hour beyond the usual time of +shutting up, for that she was in the habit of putting out the gas at +half-past ten. Accordingly I paid in all haste for my half-emptied +glass, threw an expressive and half-reproachful glance at the silent +girl, and went my way. + +That night my couch was not one of roses. I made a serious attempt to +finish my German essay:--"Comparison between the Antigone of Sophocles +and the Iphigenia of Goethe," but what were either of these Hecubas to +me? I began to scribble verses on the margin of the book, and their +melody had so lulling an effect that not long after midnight I fell +asleep in my chair, and in spite of the uncomfortable position never +woke till morning, though in my verses I had confessed myself once more +in love; and what of all the untoward circumstances of the case was the +darkest, in love with the heart's choice of my best friend! + +This too was my first waking thought on the following morning. I +remember distinctly, however, that the misfortune which I clearly saw +to be ours, did not after all make me actually miserable, nay that it +rather exalted my self-complacency and rendered me very interesting in +my own eyes, as I had now a chance of personally experiencing all that +I had hitherto merely read of. I was never tired of conjuring up the +disastrous and heartrending scenes to which this complication must +necessarily lead, and an indefinably pleasurable kind of pity for +myself, for Sebastian, and for the innocent source of our woes suffused +all my thoughts. + +Instead of going to the gymnasium, where I should have had to appear +without the German essay, I preferred to visit the "hedge-school" as +the French say, that is to lounge about the park, and there on a lonely +bench in the most out-of-the-way corner, commit my youthful sorrows to +paper. Heine and Eichendorff were at that time contending for my +immortal soul. On that particular morning I was not yet ripe for the +irony of the "Buch der Lieder," and the tree-tops rustled too +romantically above my head for the utterance of any tones but such as +suited a youthful scapegrace. About noon I saw with melancholy +satisfaction that the poem entitled "New Love," begun that morning, +would form a very considerable addition to my volume, if it went on +long at this rate. + +In the afternoon when I sat, thinking no evil, in my room, and +attempting to draw the profile of my secretly beloved one from memory, +I heard Sebastian's step on the stair. I hastily hid away the sheet of +paper, and dipped my pen in the ink-stand to seem as though I were +interrupted at my work. When he entered I had not the heart to look up +at him. + +He too gave me a very cursory greeting, stretched himself out as usual +in my arm chair, and began to smoke a short-pipe. + +In about half-an-hour he asked, + +"Have you been there again?" + +"Yes," I replied, and seemed to be very busy looking out a word in my +lexicon. + +"And what do you think of her now?" + +"What I think? I have not yet found out the riddle. So much, however, I +know, that she is not a flesh and blood girl, but a water-nixie, a +Melusina, 'cold even to her heart,' and who knows whether her very +figure does not end like a mermaid's '_desinit in piscem_?'" + +He sprang up. "I must beg you not to speak in such a tone!" + +"Patience, old boy," said I. "Do not go and suppose that I think +lightly of her. A past history she has that is quite clear. But why +need there be any harm in it? Suppose there were only some misfortune, +a great grief, or a great love?" + +"You think so?" and he looked at me anxiously and sadly. + +"I should not be at all surprised," I continued, "if she, with those +precocious eyes and that wonderful composure, had already traversed the +agonies of hopeless love. Do not forget her Polish father. Polish girls +begin early both to excite and to feel passion. How the poor child ever +got into that fly-trap, God knows. But you and I together should find +it difficult to deliver her out of it." + +After that followed a silent quarter of an hour, during which he turned +over my MS. poems. + +"I should like to copy out this song," he suddenly said, reaching out a +page to me. + +"What for?" asked I. "Bastel, I half suspect you want to pass it off as +your own." + +"Shame upon you!" returned he with a deep flush, "_I_ give myself out +for a poet! But I have a tune running in my head; it is long since I +have composed anything." + +"Look out something better and more cheerful. What could you make of +that feeble-minded whimper? That song is half a year old" (dated from +that 'olden time' that I could not myself distinctly remember!) + +He had taken back the sheet, and was now bending over it, being +somewhat short-sighted, and singing in a low voice the following verses +to a simple pathetic melody: + + "How could I e'er deserve thee, + By serving long years through; + Though thou wert fain to own me, + Most stedfast and most true. + Or what though high exalted, + Though glory were my meed: + Love is a free gift from above, + Desert it will not heed. + + "Thou tree with head low bending, + Thy blossoms may prove vain; + Who knows if God will send thee + The blessing of his rain? + Thou heart by joy and anguish + Proved and refined indeed: + Love is a free gift from above, + Desert it will not heed." + +He sprang up, just gave me an absent nod, and rushed out of the room. + +Not long after I went out myself. I had no particular object, except to +quiet the tumult in my veins by bodily fatigue. + +After walking with great rapidity about the town for an hour or so, I +found myself unintentionally in the neighbourhood of the mysterious +street. It attracted and repelled me both. I had a dim consciousness of +not having played a very creditable part the night before. I was pretty +sure that the young stranger who had so zealously offered himself as +her knight, would be greeted by a satirical smile by Lottka. But that +was reason the more, I argued, for seeking to give her a better +impression of me. And therefore I plucked up courage, and rapidly +turned the corner. + +At the same moment I was aware of my friend and rival, his cap pressed +down on his brow, advancing with great strides towards the small green +house, from a contrary direction. He too was aware of me, and we each +of us came to a halt and then turned sharp round the following moment +as though we had mistaken our way. + +My heart beat wildly. "Shame upon our ridiculous reserve and suspicion +of each other!" I inwardly cried, feeling that if this went on I should +soon hate my best friend with my whole heart. + +I was in the angriest of moods while retracing my steps, and reflected +whether the wisest and most manly course would not be to turn round +again and take my chance even if a whole legion of old friends stood in +my way. Had I not as much right as another to make a fool of myself +about the girl? Was I timidly to draw back now after speaking out so +boldly yesterday and offering myself as champion to the mysterious +enchantress? Never! I'd go to her at once though the world fell to +pieces! + +I turned in haste--there stood Sebastian. In my excitement I had not +even heard his quick steps following me. + +"You here!" I cried in counterfeit amazement. + +"Paul," he replied, and his melodious voice slightly trembled. "We will +not act a part. We--we have been fond of each other, you and I. But +believe me if this were to go on I could not stand it. I know where you +are going: I was bound the same way myself. You love her--do not +attempt to deny it. I found it out at once." + +"And what if I do love her?" cried I, half-defiant and half-ashamed. "I +confess that the impression she has made on me--" + +"Come here under the gateway," said he. "We are blocking up the way, +and you speak so loud you will attract attention. You see I was right; +indeed I should have been surprised if it had not turned out thus. But +you will agree that it is impossible to go on. One or other must +retire." + +"Very well," returned I, endeavouring to assume an inimical and dogged +expression. "One of us must retire. Only I do not see why it should be +I. Just because I am the younger by two stupid years, though as +advanced a student as yourself." + +I had hardly spoken the hasty heartless words before I regretted them. +At that moment they sounded like a humiliating boast. + +"Besides," I hastily added, "it does not signify so much which of us +takes precedence, as who it is she cares for. At present you and I seem +to have equally poor prospects." + +"That is true," he said. "But none the less I cannot find it in my +heart to enter into a contest with you; and then you are the bolder, +the more fluent, I should give up the game beforehand if we were both +to declare our feelings for her: you know what I mean." + +"If this be so," I rejoined, looking with artificial indifference +through the dark gateway into a garden where a lonely rose-tree +blossomed; "if you have not more confidence in yourself than this, you +cannot after all be so much in love as you suppose, and as I can fairly +say I am. I have spent a sleepless night" (I did not reckon those seven +hours snatched in a chair) "and a wasted day. And so I thought--" + +I could not end my sentence. The pallor of his good, true-hearted face +shewed me how much more deeply he was affected by this conversation +than I, for whom indeed it had a certain romantic charm. I felt fond of +him again. + +"Listen," said I, "we shall never get on this way. I see that neither +of us will retire of his own free will. Fate must decide." + +"Fate?" + +"Or chance if you prefer it. I will throw down this piece of money. If +the royal arms are uppermost, you have won; if the inscription--" + +"Do so," he whispered. "Although it would be fairer--" + +"Will you cry done?" + +"Done!" + +The coin fell to the ground. I stooped down in the dim light we were +standing in to make sure of the fact. + +"Which is uppermost?" I could hear him murmur, while he leaned against +the door-post. He himself did not venture to look. "Bastel," said I, +"it cannot be helped. The inscription is uppermost. You understand that +having once appealed to the decision of Providence--" + +He did not move, and not a sound escaped his lips. When I drew myself +up and looked at him, I saw that his eyes were closed, and that he +stood as if in a trance. + +"Don't take it so to heart," said I. "Who knows but that in two or +three days I may come and tell you that she does not suit me, that the +field is open for you, and that--" + +"Good night," he suddenly whispered, and rushed away at full speed. + +I only remained behind for a moment. At this abrupt departure the +scales fell from my eyes. I was conscious that my feelings for the +mysterious being were not to be compared with his, and that I should be +a villain if I were to take advantage of this foolish appeal to chance. + +In twenty yards I had caught him up, and had to employ all my strength +to keep hold of him, for he was bent on getting away. + +"Hear me," I said. "I have changed my mind. Nay, you _must_ hear me, or +I shall believe you were never in earnest in your friendship for me. I +solemnly swear, Bastel, that I make way for you. I resign utterly and +for ever, every wish and every hope. I see it all clearly. You could +not recover it if she were to prefer me. I--why I should make up my +mind! You know one does not die of it even if all one's dream-blossoms +do not come to fruit. Give me your hand, Bastel, and not another word +about it." + +He threw himself on my breast. I meanwhile feeling very noble and +magnanimous, as though I had renounced a kingdom to which I was heir, +in favour of some cousin belonging to a collateral line. Any one who +had seen us walking on for an hour hand in hand, and been aware that we +were disposing of a fair creature who had probably never given either +of us a thought, could hardly have refrained from laughing at so +shadowy an act of generosity. I insisted upon accompanying him at once +to the shop. I was bent upon proving that my sacrifice did not exceed +my strength. "Success to you!" I cried, as he turned the handle of the +door, and I shewed him a cheerful face. And then I went away wrapped in +my virtue, whose heroic folds were full compensation for all that I had +resigned. + +I slept so soundly that night, that I felt ashamed of myself the next +morning for not having dreamed of her. Could it be that the flame of +this "new love" had gone out thus suddenly, not leaving so much as a +spark behind? I would not allow it to myself, and thereby diminish the +importance of so tragic a collision. As it was Sunday I had plenty of +time to give myself up undisturbed to my happy-unhappy sensations. A +few verses written down that morning still linger in my memory: + + "Sad and consumed by envious desire, + A Cinderella sits beside the fire: + The hearth grows cold, the ashes fly about, + There is no sunshine in the air without. + + "Oh strange that friendship should so cruel prove + As to inflict a pang on yearning _Love_: + Pale and half-blind she weeps the long hours thro', + Yet are they children of one mother too! + + "Love decks herself and proudly lifts her head; + More and more glows her cheek's soft rosy red: + The pale one bears the weight of household care, + In games and dances never claims a share. + + "Yet when her sister comes home late at night, + Poor Cinderella laughs and points with spite: + 'Blood's on your shoe for all you're gaily drest,' + And thus she robs the proud one of her rest!" + +And yet people persist in calling youth the time of unclouded +bliss--youth, which through mere mental confusions and self-invented +tortures lets itself be cheated out of heaven's best gifts; +counterfeits feelings in order to achieve unhappiness, and passionately +presses the unattainable to its heart! + + + * * * * * + + +About a fortnight may have sped away without my ever seeing my +fortunate rival except by accidental glimpses. From some delicate +scruple, for which I gave him full credit, he left off climbing the +stair to my study as heretofore, and if we met in the streets we soon +parted with a commonplace word or two, and a pretty cool shake of the +hand. + +However, by the time we reached the third week, this estrangement +became intolerable to me. It was holiday time; the days were too hot +for work or exercise, and I even found the Castalian fount run dry. I +became aware that the silent presence of my friend had grown to be a +positive want. I longed even to hear his deep voice sing once more, "I +think in the olden days," and was as uncomfortable in my isolation as +Peter Schlemihl when he had lost his shadow. + +At last I determined to seek him out. He lived the other side of the +Spree in an upper room of a house belonging to a tailor's wife, by whom +his cooking was done, and his few wants attended to. I must just +mention here that he received a very small allowance from his family, +and made up the deficit by giving music-lessons, for which indeed he +was but poorly paid. + +When I entered his little room he was sitting at an old, hired piano, +and writing down some notes in a music-book on his knee. He jumped up +with an exclamation of pleasure, let the book fall, and caught hold of +my hand in both his. He made me sit down on the hard sofa and light a +cigar, and spite of all I could say, would have me drink a glass of +beer which the tailors wife fetched from the nearest tavern. At first +we said but little, as was our wont, but often looked at each other, +smiled, and were heartily glad to be together again. + +"Bastel," said I at length, shrouding myself as completely as I +possibly could in tobacco-smoke, "I have a confession to make. You need +no longer keep up any reserve with me about--you know what. The wound +inflicted by a certain pair of eyes" (again the old lyrical style, this +time with a touch of Spanish colour), "either was not so deep as I at +first believed it, or else absence has done wonders. Suffice it that I +am perfectly recovered, and if you have turned these last weeks to good +account and been made happy, I shall rejoice with you unqualifiedly." + +He looked at me with beaming eyes. "Is it really so?" he said. "Well, +then, I can tell you, you remove a great weight from my heart. I have +reproached myself a hundred times for accepting your sacrifice, and my +best hours with her have been embittered by the thought of having done +you wrong. I did not indeed feel sure that you would have been +satisfied with what made me so happy. And besides I felt that it would +have been wholly impossible for me to have renounced her. But now--now +all is right." + +And again he pressed my hand, his joy so genuine and touching that I +felt myself and my artificially excited feelings, very small indeed in +comparison. + +He then went on to tell me how far matters had advanced. It certainly +did require a modest nature, and a very sincere affection, not to be +rather disheartened than encouraged by the amount of progress made in +the course of three entire weeks. He had gone evening after evening, to +spend an hour in that small reading-room. It was plain that his silent +reverential homage had touched her, and the last few evenings she had +permitted herself to sit with him, and keep up an innocent chat. Once +even, when he was two hours later than usual, she received him with +evident agitation, and confessed that his delay had made her anxious. +She had become, she said, so accustomed to their daily talk, and as +there was no one else who took the least interest in her; and then she +stopped--perhaps because he too vehemently expressed his delight at +this her first kind word. He, for his part, had told her all about his +relations, and everything connected with himself that could in any way +interest her. But she had not confided to him the very slightest +particulars about her family or her past history, had only said how she +was pining in this dark shop-corner, and longed to go far away into +foreign lands. She had been putting by, she told him, for a year past +to meet travelling expenses; and privately teaching herself both French +and English in order to go into the wide-world at the first +opportunity. "If you had only seen her, Paul," said he at the end of +his narrative, "and only heard her voice, how sadly and resignedly she +told me all this, you would have pledged your life that no evil thought +had ever stirred her heart, that she was as pure and innocent as saints +and angels are said to be, and you would understand my resolve to leave +nothing undone in order to make her happy." + +"You really then mean to marry her?" + +"Can you doubt it? That is if she will accept me. She must have plainly +seen that my intentions were honourable, although, as to any formal +declaration, you know that my heart overflows least when it is fullest. +And besides there is no hurry. She cannot be thinking of leaving for +some time to come, and as for me--if I make great efforts in four or +five years--" + +"Four or five years? Why, you will scarcely have passed your legal +examination." + +"True," he rejoined. "But I have given up the idea of it. I shall not +seat myself on the long bench of law students, which is but a rickety +one after all. I think I can in a shorter time make something of music, +and at the worst if we are not able to get on here--and indeed my +parents would hardly be pleased at the marriage--we can seek our +fortune in America." + +I looked at him sideways with pride and amazement. He seemed to me to +have suddenly grown ten years older, and I confessed to myself that all +the lyrical enthusiasm of my views of life, would not have rendered me +capable of so bold a plan. + +"And she," I asked; "will she consent to this?" + +"I do not know," he replied, looking straight before him. "As I told +you before, I have never asked her point-blank. Our talk once turned on +marriage. She said most positively she should never marry. 'Not if the +right man appeared?' I ventured to put in. 'Then least of all,' said +she suppressing a sigh. So one of us is wise it seems." + +"Nonsense," said I. "All girls say the same to begin with. Afterwards +they think better of it." + +"It seems, too, that she is a year older than we thought--only a month +younger than I am. Apropos, I have a request to make to you; that is, +if you are able--" + +"Come, no preamble. You know that I am never shy of asking you to do me +a favour." + +"To-morrow is her birthday. I had just contrived to find out the date, +when she said that she already felt herself very old, and was weary of +life. That if she knew she were to die on the morrow it would give her +no regret. I was busy just when you came in, writing out the air of one +of your songs: you know the one beginning, 'How could I e'er deserve +thee?' and I meant to give her a nosegay with it. But it does grieve me +to think that I have nothing better to offer her. She has her dress +fastened with an old black pin, and its glass head is cracked. A little +brooch would be sure to please her--only unluckily my piano and singing +lessons are over just now, most of my pupils are away, and so I cannot +get at some fees that are owing; and to sell any of my effects is +impossible, since all the superfluities I had--" + +He looked with sad irony around his bare apartment. + +"We must contrive something," I said. "It stands to reason that the +birthday must be duly honoured. Certainly I am no Cr[oe]sus at this +moment,"--and therewith I drew out a very small purse from my pocket, +in which rattled only a few insignificant coins--"but at all events I +have some superfluities. It now occurs to me that I have not used the +great _Passow_ for some months, never indeed, since I accidentally +discovered little _Rost_ at my father's, in which one can hunt out +words so much more conveniently. Come! The old folios will help us out +of a difficulty." + +After a few weak endeavours to prevent my laying this offering upon the +altar of friendship, he accompanied me to my room, and then we each +loaded ourselves with a volume of the thick lexicon. And an hour later, +richer by five dollars, we betook ourselves to the shop of a small +working-goldsmith, as we had not courage to make our intended purchase +at one of the great jewellers of _Unter den Linden_. + +It is probable that our man taxed us no less heavily. But, however, he +treated us like two young princes, who in Haroun-al-Raschid mood had +chosen to knock at a lowly door. For a gold snake which after a few +coils took its tail into its mouth, and glared at us with two square +ruby eyes, he asked ten dollars, but let himself be beat down to seven, +the pin being probably worth about half that sum. It was I who had to +carry on the whole transaction. Sebastian was so embarrassed, and +absorbed himself so persistently in the contemplation of the other +ornaments on the counter, that the shopkeeper evidently grew +suspicious, and kept a sharp look out after him, as though he might be +having to do with pickpockets. + +"Here is the trinket," said I, when we got into the street, "and now +good night, and I say--you may just congratulate her from me too +to-morrow. But indeed I ought to hope that she has forgotten all about +me. I certainly did not display my best side to her. Let me see you +again soon, and come and tell me what effect the snake has produced in +thy Paradise, happy Adam that thou art." + +And so I left him, conscious of a faint glimmer of envy. But I manfully +trod out the first sparks, and as I walked along the park in the cool +of the evening, sang aloud the following song, which apart from the +anachronism of budding roses in the dog-days, gave a pretty faithful +description of the mood I was then in: + + "The roses are almost full-blown, + Love flings out his delicate net: + 'Thou butterfly fickle and frail + Away thou shalt never more get.' + + "'Ah me! were I prisoner here, + With roses all budding around, + Though satisfied Love wove the bands, + My Youth would repine to be bound. + + "No musing and longing for me-- + I stray thro' the woods as I will. + My heart on its pinions of joy + Soars beyond and above them still!'" + +The following evening I was sitting innocently and unsuspiciously with +my parents at the tea-table, when I was called out of the room: a +friend it seemed wished to speak to me. It was about ten o'clock, and I +wondered who could be paying me so late a visit. + +When I entered my room I found Sebastian as usual in the grand-paternal +arm-chair, but I started when, turning the light on his face, I noticed +his pallor and look of despair. + +"Is it you?" cried I. "And in such agitation? Has the birthday +celebration come to a tragic end?" + +"Paul," said he, still motionless, as though some heavy blow had +stretched him out there. "All is over! I am a lost man!" + +"You will find yourself again, my good fellow," I replied. "Come, let +me help to look for you. Tell me all about it to begin with." + +"No jesting if you would not drive me out of the room. I tell you it is +all too true. I have only now fully discovered what an angel she is, +and I have seen her for the last time." + +"Is she gone away--gone to a distance?" + +He shook his head gloomily. Only by very slow degrees could I extort +from him the cause of his despair. Briefly it was as follows: He had +found himself in the presence of his beloved at the usual hour, and +after eating an extra tart and drinking a glass of bishop in honour of +the day, he had brought out the gifts with which he meant to surprise +her in a sequence which seemed well advised. First he had freed the +bouquet from its paper coverings, and she had thanked him with a kindly +glance, and put it at once in a glass of water. Then he gave her the +song, and sang it for her under his voice, she sitting opposite with +downcast eyes, and giving not the slightest sign by which to judge +whether she saw its application or not. Only when he had ended she held +out her hand--a favour of which she was chary--and said in a cordial +tone: "It is very kind of you to have thought of my birthday, and to +have brought me such beautiful flowers and such a charming song. There +is nothing I love so much as flowers and music, and I very seldom come +in for either. I shall soon know the tune; indeed I half know it now." +He could not part with the hand given him, and as her graciousness had +inspired him with courage, he now brought out the serpent-pin, and +placed it in her hand. "Here is something else," he said; "it is but a +humble offering, but I should be very happy if you would not disdain to +wear it." + +She looked full at him, opened the little case slowly and with evident +reluctance, and as soon as she saw the shining of the gold, dropped it +on the table as though the metal had been red-hot. "Why have you done +this?" she said, hastily rising. "I have not deserved it from you--at +least I do not think I have behaved in such a way as to authorise you +to make me a present like this. I see I have been mistaken in you. You, +too, think meanly of me because I am poor and dependent. I cannot +conceal that this pains me, from you of all people," and her eyes grew +moist. "Now I can only request that you will instantly leave me, and +never return," and with that she laid the flowers and song down before +him on the table, and spite of his distracted assurances and +entreaties, with burning face and tearful eyes she contrived to elude +him, and not only left the little inner room, but the shop as well. + +It was in vain that he awaited her return; in her stead the +square-built woman entered, but apparently without the least idea of +what it was that had scared the young girl away. A full half-hour he +continued in a most miserable state of mind to occupy his accustomed +seat on the sofa. But as she remained invisible, he at length took his +departure, and once in the street, plucked the nosegay to pieces, and +tore up the song into shreds, and--"There," he cried, "is that wretched +pin that has made all the mischief, you may take it, and give it to +whom you will! I could hardly resist the temptation as I came along to +open a vein with it." + +"And is that all?" enquired I coolly, when he had come to an end of his +shrift. + +He sprang up as if to rush away. "I see I might have spared myself this +visit!" he cried. "You are in so philosophical a mood that a friend +expiring at your side would seem nothing to wonder at. Good-night." + +"Stay," I remonstrated. "You ought to be very glad that one of us at +least has the use of his five senses. The story of the pin is a mere +trifle. Who knows whether she did not reject it after all from the +superstitious fancy that pins pierce friendship. Or even if there were +more in it, if she actually felt a suspicion that you meant it as a +bribe, that is still no cause for desperation; on the contrary she has +proved that she is a good girl, and respects herself; and if you go to +her in the morning as though nothing had happened, and in your own +true-hearted way explain--" + +"You forget she has forbidden me to return." + +"Nonsense! I would bet anything that she is already very sorry she did +so. Such a faithful Fridolin is not to be met with every day, and +whatever she may think she feels for you--whether much or little--she +would be conscious of missing something if you left off eating your two +cherry tarts daily, and she no longer had to strew the sugar over them +with her little white hand. Teach me to understand women indeed!" + +He gazed for a long time at the lamp. "You would do me a kindness by +going there with me and explaining matters for me. She would at least +allow you to speak; and if you were to bear witness for me--" + +"Willingly. I shall say things to her that would melt a heart of stone. +Trust me, this serpent will not long exclude thee from thy Paradise, or +Miss Lottka is not that daughter of Eve, which hitherto much to her +honour I have held her to be." + +He pressed my hand as if somewhat relieved, but was still gloomy, and I +soon lighted him down the stairs. + + + * * * * * + + +I had a very beautiful and touching address all ready composed when we +set out the next evening on our common mission, and my poor friend gave +me plenty of time to rehearse it, for he never said a word. When we +approached the shop he drew his arm out of mine, I was not to find out +that he was beginning to tremble! + +I myself was not thoroughly at ease. To see her again after so long an +interval, and now to address her on behalf of another--I was fully +conscious of the difficulty of the position, but my honour was pledged +to play my part well, and to guard against any selfish relapse into my +old folly. + +When we entered she was not alone. For the first time we found a +fashionable-looking man in the shop, sitting on a stool close to the +counter, and while drinking a glass of lemonade, trying apparently to +make himself agreeable to the young attendant. Sebastian's melancholy +visage darkened still more at this spectacle, although the calm manner +and monosyllabic replies of the girl might have convinced him that the +conversation of this coxcomb was as displeasing to her as to us. + +"We shall soon drive him away," whispered I, and ordering wine and +cakes with the air of an habitual customer, I together with my mute +companion took possession as usual of the familiar inner-room. + +I had, however, reckoned without my host. The stranger, who now carried +on his conversation in a lower tone, appeared to have no idea of +vacating his place in our favour. I was able to contemplate him at +leisure in the small mirror that hung between the royal pair. His hair +cut short round a head already bald at the top, his light whiskers, and +the gold spectacles on his pinched nose, were all highly objectionable +to me; and I wondered too at the insolent familiarity of his manner, +and the careless way in which he crumbled a heart-shaped cake in his +white effeminate hands, as if to typify his facility in breaking +hearts. I took him for a young nobleman or landed proprietor, and +little as I feared his making an impression upon the girl, yet it was +annoying to me to see her exposed in her position to the attentions of +such a man. I was even concocting some bold plan of getting rid of this +incumbrance, when I felt Sebastian convulsively clutch my arm. + +"What is the matter?" I said. "Are you going mad?" Instead of +answering, he pointed to the mirror, in which he too could see a +portion of the shop reflected. "Impudent fellow!" he muttered between +his teeth, "he shall not do that a second time." + +I had just time to see that the stranger was bending over the counter, +and trying to take the girl--who had retreated as far as ever she +could--under the chin, when my friend, having noisily pushed away the +table before us, confronted him with flushed cheeks and flashing eyes. + +"What do you mean, sir!" he began, and his deep voice put out all its +strength. "Who are you that you dare to take a liberty with a blameless +girl--a girl who--" + +His rage actually choked him. He stood with hand raised, as if +determined to punish any fresh act of audacity on the spot, while the +stranger, who had drawn back a step, measured this unexpected champion +from top to toe with a look, half amazement, and half compassion. + +"The bishop is too strong for your head, young friend," said he in a +sharp tone, while he twirled his smart cane between finger and thumb. +"Go home before you talk further nonsense, and be more careful another +time, for you may not always meet with persons who can take your +greenness into proper account. What I was saying to you, Lottka--'" + +And therewith he turned as if his opponent had already vanished out of +sight and mind, and addressed the girl, who, pale as death and with +eyes closed, was leaning back in the furthest corner between the window +and the wall. + +I had followed Sebastian, and whispered to him to take care what he was +about, but he never heard me. + +"I only wanted to ask you, Fräulein," he said in a hollow voice, +"whether it is with your consent that this gentleman allows himself to +take such liberties with you as are not generally permitted by +respectable young ladies; whether you know him sufficiently well to +justify him in using your Christian name, and whether it is agreeable +to you that he should remain talking to you so long?" + +She did not answer. She only raised her large eyes entreatingly to the +angry lover who did not understand their glance. + +"Who is this amiable youth, who plays the part of your knight, Lottka?" +now asked the stranger in his turn. "I begin to suspect that I have +interfered with some tender relations between you. I am sincerely sorry +for it, but still, my child, without venturing to impugn your taste, I +would advise you in future to pay more attention to solid advantages in +the choice of your adorers. The declamations of schoolboys are no doubt +pretty to listen to, but they may lead as you see to awkward +consequences. What do I owe?" + +He threw a dollar on the table. + +"You can give me the change another time. I will not disturb you +further just now." + +He took his hat and was about to leave when Sebastian barred the way. + +"You shall not go," said he in a constrained voice, "before you have in +my presence apologised to this young lady, and given your word of +honour never again to forget the respect due to her. I hope you +understand me." + +"Perfectly, my young friend," replied the other, his voice now +trembling with excitement. "I understand that you are a crazy +enthusiast, and take the world for a raree-show. I do not grudge you +your childish amusement, and esteem you accordingly; but I have no wish +further to prosecute your acquaintance, lest a joke should turn to +earnest, and I should be forced--spite of the lady's presence--to treat +you like a young whippersnapper who--" + +Here he made a pretty unequivocal movement with his cane. I had just +time and sense enough to interfere. + +"Sir," said I, "I have to request your card; we can best settle this +matter in another place." + +He laughed loud, drew out his pocket-book with an ironical bow, and +reached me a visiting-card. Then he nodded familiarly to the girl, +shrugged his shoulders, and pressing his hat low down on his brow, left +the shop. + +We three remained for several moments in the same position as if we had +been touched by a magic wand. + +I as the least deeply implicated was the first to recover myself. + +"For God's sake, Fräulein," said I to the pale statue in the window, +"tell us who this man is. How comes he to behave so to you? Since when +have you known him?" Then in a lower tone. "I pray you by all that is +good, speak, if but one word. You see the state my friend is in; this +concerns him more deeply than you are aware. You do not perhaps know +that there is nothing more sacred to him than yourself; you owe it to +him--" + +He seemed to have heard what I said. With a sudden gesture as though +shaking off some heavy weight, he tottered to the counter, behind which +she stood entrenched and unapproachable. + +"Only one word, Lottka," he murmured. "Do you know that insolent man? +Have you ever given him cause so to think of and speak to you? Yes or +No, Lottka?" + +She was silent, and her hands hung down helplessly by her side. I could +plainly see two great tears forcing their way between her lashes. + +"Yes or No, Lottka," he repeated more urgently, and his breast heaved +fast. "I wish to know nothing further. Do not imagine that the first +rude fellow I come across, has any power to shake my holiest +convictions. But how was it you had not a word to crush him with? Why +are you silent now?" + +A convulsive shiver passed over the young girl's frame. With eyes +still closed she felt for her chair in the window, but did not seat +herself--sank down on her knees beside it, and hid her face against it. +"I beseech you," she murmured in an almost inaudible voice, "do not ask +anything about me--go away--never come here again. If it can in any way +comfort you, I am innocent so surely as God lives; but so unfortunate +that it is almost worse than if I were a sinner too. Go away. I thank +you for all you have done, but go, and forget that I am in the world. I +would I were in another!" + +"Lottka!" cried Sebastian wildly, about to rush in and raise her up, +but that she put out her hands to ward him off with such a lamentable +gesture that I held him back; and after a struggle, during which I +represented to him that they were both too excited at present to +understand each other, I persuaded him to leave the poor child to +herself, and we went off, promising to return on the morrow. + +We walked in silence through the streets. It was impossible to tell him +that the scene we had witnessed had considerably shaken my faith in his +beloved. For the rest I was perfectly satisfied with the part he had +played, and owned to myself that I should have done just the same in +his place. + +It was only when we reached the door of my house that he broke silence. +"You must do me the favour," he said, "to go to that man very early in +the morning" (we had read his name and address on his card; he was an +assessor at the Town Court). "I leave all details to you." + +"Of course," I returned, "it stands to reason that I should do all I +can for you; but in this matter--I have never delivered a challenge, +and have only twice seen a duel of any kind; and in this case, as I +believe, we must employ pistols. If you knew any one more conversant +with such matters?--one would like to do things in the regular way with +a fellow like this, who treats us both like schoolboys." + +"You are probably right," said he. "But there is no help for it. I can +have no third party admitted into this affair. It is possible that he +may make some disclosures to you--invent more calumnies--how should I +know? So everything must be kept to ourselves. I shall be at home all +the morning, and as soon as you have done with him you will come +straight to me, will you not." + +That I promised, and we parted. What my parents must have thought of me +that evening, when I gave crooked answers to every question put, Heaven +only knows. + + + * * * * * + + +That night in good truth I really slept very little. I kept thinking of +all that might ensue, hearing pistol-shots fired, and seeing my poor +friend fall. But I was also much engaged in puzzling over Lottka's +conduct, and came more and more strongly to the belief that she was not +worth an honest true-hearted youth throwing down the gauntlet in her +cause, and answering for her virtue with his life. + +The day had scarcely dawned before I was up, but on this occasion I had +no idea of verse-making. I dressed myself at first entirely in black +like an undertaker's assistant; then it occurred to me it might be +better to be less carefully got up, and rather to treat the matter with +indifference, as though such things daily occurred to me. So I merely +put on a comfortable summer attire, just substituting a black hat for +the cap I usually wore, and drawing on a pair of perfectly new gloves. +When I looked in the glass, I viewed myself as decidedly grown up, and +also decidedly easy-going and dignified. But for all that I could make +nothing of my breakfast. I had a bitter taste on my tongue. + +About nine o'clock I set out. The house in which our enemy lived stood +in the best part of the town, and the porter told me he did not think +it would be easy to get an interview with the assessor. Nevertheless a +footman, although certainly treating me rather _de haut en bas_, +ushered me into a small room, and signified that his master would soon +appear. + +I had plenty of time to look about me, and firmly resolved as I was not +to be cowed by outward circumstances, I could not help feeling, while +silently comparing this elegant bachelor's snuggery with the four bare +walls of my friend's room, that the game was very unequal. Two raw +half-fledged novices pitted against a thorough man of the world, and +not even perfectly certain that we had the right on our side. I owned +to myself that we were in a fair way to act a ridiculous part, and all +my lyrical idealism was powerless against the awkwardness of prosaic +facts. + +The longer I waited, the more I made up my mind to see our enemy enter +with a mocking smile, and asked myself how to meet it with becoming +dignity. But to my surprise there was nothing of the kind. + +In about ten minutes the door opened, and the assessor just put in his +head, saying in the most urbane tone possible, that he was very sorry +to be obliged to keep me waiting, not being quite dressed, but that he +begged me in the meantime to use his cigars and make myself at home. + +Another five minutes, and in he came, shook my hand like an old +acquaintance, and begged me to be seated on his silk-covered divan. I +had to light a cigarette, but declined to share his breakfast which the +footman brought in on a silver tray, and I was looking out for the +pleasantest introduction possible to our affair, when he anticipated +me, and while pouring out his tea began in quite a friendly tone-- + +"I am very glad you have come. I can easily imagine what brings you, +and I may frankly tell you that yesterday's scene to which I owe your +acquaintance, made upon me a most painful impression. You will easily +understand that it is by no means pleasant to have a youth--an utter +stranger--fall upon one out of a clear sky with a perfect torrent of +invective. But on the other hand, I am sufficiently versed in human +nature to be able to explain the very peculiar conduct of your Hotspur +of a friend. He is in love with the little girl, and in that shows very +fair taste. He has diligently read romances and old legends, and thinks +he has gained from them a knowledge of the world. This sweet illusion +will vanish all too soon, but while it lasts it makes so happy, that it +is positive cruelty to blow away its soap-bubbles prematurely. I at +least would never deprive any one of his innocent enjoyment. And so I +am sincerely sorry to have disturbed any tender tie. I hope your friend +will be content with this explanation, and for my part I wish him +pleasant dreams, and when the time comes as gentle a waking as +possible. The cigar does not seem to draw well? Try another. What are +you studying if I may ask? You are still a student, are you not?" + +I felt myself blush crimson. For a moment I doubted whether I would not +deny my position. However I stuck to the truth. "We shall pass our +final examination at Easter," I said. + +He was magnanimous enough not to misuse his superiority. + +"So young," he said, with a good-natured shake of the head, "and +already such Don Juans! You seem entitled to fair hopes, my +young friend, and if you would only accustom yourself to more +self-restraint--" + +"Forgive me," said I, "but I must return to the matter in hand. My +friend, as you rightly perceive, has a serious affection for this girl, +and feels himself deeply aggrieved by the disrespectful manner in which +you behaved to her. I believe he might be satisfied by a few lines in +your handwriting, expressing your regret for your conduct to Fräulein +Lottka. If not--" + +He looked askance at me with such amazement, that I felt suddenly +paralysed. + +"Are you really in earnest?" he said. "You look too intelligent for me +to believe that you can approve of this commission you have undertaken +for your friend. My conduct to Fräulein Lottka! That is going a little +too far! No, my good friend, let us make ourselves as little absurd as +we can. Have you considered what you are proposing to me? With all the +respect to the honourable feelings and true-heartedness of a student of +the upper class, can he seriously imagine that I owe him reparation, +because in a public shop I chanced to stroke a girl under the chin." He +burst out laughing, and threw the end of his cigarette out of the +window. + +I rose. "I doubt," I said, "that this will satisfy my friend. If you +would at least declare that you know nothing of Fräulein Lottka, which +casts a shadow on her reputation." + +"Just sit down, and hear me out," he broke in. + +"Now that I see you are really in earnest, it is my duty to tell you +the truth in the interests of your friend who takes up the case so +tragically, that he is sure to commit himself to some folly. About ten +years ago I was acquainted with a lady of a certain character here in +Berlin. She was a German, but bore a Polish name, that of her first +lover, a Polish nobleman, who had left her, _plantée là_, with one +child. As she was beautiful and not inconsolable, she found plenty of +adorers, and lived in wealth, keeping a small gambling-house too; and I +can well remember the strange impression it made on me when first I +entered it, to see a child of eight years old sitting at the faro +table, looking at the gold heaps with her great sleepy eyes, and then +at her mother and her friends, till the Champagne, of which she seemed +to like a sip, took effect, and she fell asleep on a sofa amidst +laughter, the rattling of money, and very free talk indeed. I was sorry +for the pretty child, and it crossed my mind that she could have little +respect for her mother, who exercised no sort of self-control even in +her presence. After a few years I broke off the connection, which +proved a very expensive one, but I heard in a roundabout way that the +Polish Countess--as we used to call her--went on still in her old +course, except that she relied less on her own attractions, and called +in younger faces to her aid. I enquired casually after her daughter, +but the conversation had turned, and I received no answer. + +"Well--yesterday as I chanced to be passing by that miserable +cake-shop, thinking of anything else than of this old story, I saw an +old lady getting into a cab at the door, while the shop-girl put in the +various parcels of purchases. When she turned round to re-enter the +shop, I recognized the child with the weary eyes, now grown up into a +beauty, who might, if she chose, enter into formidable competition with +her mother. As I had nothing particular to do, I followed her into +the shop, reminded her of our old acquaintance, and was not a +little surprised to find her just as rigid and unapproachable +as her lady-mamma was the reverse. With all my long practice in +cross-examination, I was only able to get out from her that she had +parted from her mother three years ago, but as to what she had been +doing since, or through how many hands she had passed, or whether her +icy manners were artificial or natural, that I had not been able to +unravel, when our Orlando Furioso, your excellent friend, suddenly +burst in upon us. And now, after I have given you this explanation, you +may yourself judge, whether the idea of my coming forward to vouch for +the poor child's character or having to fight with an enthusiastic boy +about her virtue is not quite too absurd! + +"No, no," he continued, "if you have any influence over your friend, my +dear fellow, do warn him not to go too far. For even if the daughter +were as yet perfectly pure, what good could come of it with such +antecedents, and such a mother? Your friend is the son of respectable +people, tell him that he must not compromise his parents and himself--a +mere passing liason, _à la bonne heure!_ but to stake his very heart's +blood, and to interfere with fire and sword, _allons donc!_--I do hope +you may be able to bring him to reason; and now you must excuse me, I +have a case coming on." + +He had risen, while I still sat petrified by such a revelation; then he +called his servant, and after reciprocal assurances of high esteem, had +me shewn out. I tottered down the steps like a drunkard. + + + * * * * * + + +It was not for an hour afterwards--I needed a long circumbendibus +before I could take heart to bring this melancholy business to an +end--that I found myself knocking at Sebastian's door. A faint voice +bade me come in, and then I found the unhappy fellow lying dressed upon +his bed, and one glance at his disordered hair and attire shewed that +he had spent the night in that fashion. Before I could say a word, he +held out a letter that was open beside him on the pillow. A boy had +brought it very early in the morning, but had not waited for an answer. + +Of course I do not pretend to give the exact words in which it was +couched, but their purport was as follows: + +"You had scarcely left me when the idea struck me that the dispute of +which I was the miserable cause, might have fearful consequences. I +write to you to entreat and beseech you, if there were any earnestness +in the feelings you professed for me, to let the matter drop, and to +believe that in reality _I am not worthy_" (these words were doubly +scored) "that you should sacrifice yourself for me. Promise me that you +will try to forget me utterly. I am a poor lost creature, and only +death can deliver me. But I shall not die yet, so have no anxiety on +that head. I will try whether it be possible for me to live without my +misfortune dogging every step I take. I thank you for all your love and +kindness, and I never shall forget you. But do not attempt to find me +out. I am firmly resolved never to see you again, and you will only +increase my misery if you do not obey my wishes, but attempt to force a +meeting." + +The letter had neither address nor signature, it was firmly written, +and there was not a mistake throughout. + +I silently returned him the letter, not liking at that moment to tell +him that under the circumstances nothing could be more propitious than +such a decided step on her part. But I gradually discovered that +nothing in the letter impressed him so much as the pretty clear +confession of her own liking for him. This it was he dwelt on; their +separation seemed to him comparatively unimportant, probably not +seriously resolved upon, and practically impossible. + +I therefore felt myself bound no longer to keep back my information, +and gave him an exact account of my interview with his enemy. To my +surprise it did not seem to produce on him the overwhelming effect I +had dreaded. He told me he had himself conjectured something of the +kind, and much as he regretted it, it could in no way change his +feelings, rather it could only increase his love to positive worship to +find that she had worked herself free from such degrading relations, +and was high-hearted enough to wish to bear alone a sorrow she had +never deserved. He knew indeed, that he should have some obstacles to +confront, as regarded his parents, friends, home, &c. But since she had +plainly told him that he was dear to her, no cowardly scruples would +prevent his making up to her for the sufferings brought on her by a +cruel fate. If the world bespattered her pure life, he would wash it +all away in his heart's blood. + +He ran on in this half-feverish way, and his high-wrought enthusiasm, +his innocent brave spirit so carried me along, that not only did I keep +all objections to myself, but actually became of opinion that this was +all exactly as it should be, and the one important matter now was to +find out the young girl, and induce her to change her mind. I threw +myself into a cab, and drove to the shop, hoping to get upon her track +there. Sebastian remained at home; he did not venture contrary to her +expressed command, to take any part in the search. We had settled to +meet again at noon. Alas! I came back as ignorant as I went. The +mistress of the confectionery business had only been apprised of the +departure of her young shopwoman early that morning by an open note +found on her table. None of the neighbours had seen her go away. Most +of her effects were left behind, she had only taken with her some linen +and a travelling-bag which the good woman knew her to possess, and +could not now find. She had instantly given information to the police. +But all in vain as yet--the poor child had utterly disappeared. + +It was now that grief and the after effects of the excitement of weeks, +began to tell severely upon my poor friend. He was in such utter +despair that I at first feared for his reason; not because of his +frantic outbursts, or delirious grief, but from a certain suppressed +wildness that tried to smile while the teeth chattered, a quite aimless +way now of walking, now standing still; speaking to himself and +laughing loud, while the tears, of which he seemed unconscious, rolled +down his cheeks. It was the first time that I had ever seen the +elemental throes of a true and deep passion, and I was so shocked that +I forgot all besides, and at all events never presumed to attempt +consoling the poor fellow by commonplaces. + +I remained with him the whole day and a good part of the night. It was +only about midnight, when I saw that he was quite exhausted (he had not +closed his eyes the previous night), that I yielded to his entreaties, +and consented to leave him alone, after exacting a solemn promise from +his landlady to listen how he went on, for that he was very ill. I knew +he had no weapons of any kind, and I hoped that sleep would do him some +good. + +The next morning, however, I could not rest, reproached myself for +having left him, and anxiously hurried to his lodgings. But there he +was no longer to be found. His landlady gave me a note of two lines, in +which he bade me farewell for the present. He could not rest till he +had found her, but he would do nothing rash, for he was not unmindful +of his other duties, and so I might confidently expect his return. + +He had packed his knapsack, and taken his walking-stick with him. And +the landlady told me he seemed to have had two or three hours sleep, +for that his eyes looked clearer. + +This was but meagre information, but I had to content myself with it. +And moreover I was about to accompany my parents on a tour which kept +me absent for several weeks. To the letters I wrote--for I was always +thinking of him--no answers ever came, so on my return when my first +walk led me to his lodgings, I was fully prepared to find an empty +nest. I was the more rejoiced, therefore, when he himself opened the +door, and I met a sad face, it is true, but free from the morbidly +strained expression which had so much pained me. + +That he had failed to meet with any traces of the lost one I guessed +rather than actually heard from him. A melancholy indifference seemed +to pervade him; he set about whatever was proposed, as one who took no +part in it, whether for or against,--and what to me was most striking +of all, his passion for music seemed completely over. He never sang a +single note, never alluded to any composition, and would willingly have +given up his music-lessons, had he been able to live without them. The +mainspring of his nature seemed hopelessly broken, something had got +wrong which there was no repairing. + +In the following spring, when we both went to the University, I used to +see him almost daily. He regularly attended law lectures, and had +become member of a society in which his admirable fencing and his now +proverbial taciturnity rendered him prominent, and I was hoping that +the incident which had so deeply affected him would after all leave no +bad results in his healthy nature, when something occurred that tore +open every wound anew. + +I will for the sake of brevity relate the sad tale consecutively, and +not as I learned it from him, bit by bit, and at long intervals. + + + * * * * * + + +It was the Christmas of 1847. He had resolved upon spending the +holidays--not as usual, in paying a visit to his parents, but in the +strenuous study of his law-books, a long indisposition having thrown +him back considerably. I had in vain attempted to coax him to come to +us for this Christmas Eve. Indeed as a rule he avoided parties, and if +he ever did appear at a social gathering, he usually made an +unfavourable impression, especially on ladies, because of his silence +and his obstinate refusal to sing. + +On this particular 24th of December, he spent the whole day hard at +work in his own room, got his landlady to give him something to eat, +and only went out at five o'clock when it had grown too dark to write, +leaving instructions to keep up his fire, as he should only spend an +hour or so looking at the Christmas market, and then return, and go on +writing late into the night. When he got into the street, he felt the +winter breeze refresh him. The intense cold of the last few days had +somewhat abated, snow was falling lightly in large flakes, which he did +not shake off, but liked to feel melting on his flushed face. His +beard, which had grown into a very handsome one during the last year, +and much improved his looks, was white with them. + +Slowly he went through Königsstrasse to the Elector's Bridge. There +were crowds of well-wrapped figures flitting about, who having made +their purchases at the last moment, were now hurrying home fast, for +already the windows were beginning to shine with Christmas candles. The +solitary student worked his way through the throng, without that +melancholy yearning for home which would, on this particular evening, +have oppressed most youths, if compelled to spend it away from their +own people. He had sent off presents to his parents and sisters two +days ago, and this very evening expected a Christmas box from them, +which, however, he felt no impatience about. No one could care less for +any addition to his possessions than he did; indeed, since he had lost +the one thing to which he had passionately clung, he had grown +indifferent to all besides. + +He stood for a while before the equestrian statue of the great elector, +who in his snow mantle looked even more majestic and spectral than +usual against the pale winter sky. Below, the stream, hemmed in by ice +on either side, flowed darkly and silently on, and in one of the barges +the bargeman had already lighted up a small Christmas tree, which sent +out a radiance through the open door. A couple of red-cheeked children +were standing by the lowly table, one blowing a penny trumpet, the +other eating an apple, and the solitary observer on the bridge might +have stood there long in contemplation of this humble idyll but that +the human stream swept him along with it, and landed him in the very +centre of the busy noisy Christmas market going on in the Schlossplatz. + +He walked awhile up and down the chief passages between the booths, +looking at the cheerful traffic of buyers and sellers, listening to the +chattering of the monkeys, and the shrill screams of boys advertising +their various wares; and silently he sighed, reflecting that he had +positively no connection with the world in which the festival was so +joyously kept, that it would be all one to him if he were suddenly +transported to Sirius, amongst whose inhabitants he could not feel more +alone than here. Then he suddenly resolved to cheer up, and actually +hummed the tune "I think in the olden days." A garrulous saleswoman in +a booth of fancy-goods now interrupted him, entreating him to look out +some pretty trifle for his "lady-wife." At that he hurriedly turned +off, and made for one of the less frequented alleys where small dealers +were offering their penny-worths as bargains. + +He had not proceeded far when a singular spectacle caught his eye. +Before a booth of cheap toys stood a lady in an elegant fur-trimmed +polonaise, such as were then worn, a square Polish hat on her head, and +a thick veil drawn over her face to protect her from the snow, so that +there was no seeing her features. She had put down her large muff on +the counter before her, and with tiny hands in daintiest gloves was +busy picking out various toys, and dividing them amongst a number of +street-children who crowded closely about her, and struggled for these +unexpected gifts in a very tumult of delight. A few expressive words on +the part of the seller in the booth reduced them to something like +order, and at length they all dispersed, their treasures tightly +clutched in their little fists, but it was only a minority that said +"thank you" to the giver. + +"And now what have I to pay you for them all?" said the lady. + +Her voice ran like an electric shock through the youth, who had +approached unobserved. + +"Lottka," he said in a whisper. + +The lady turned round quickly, and her first impulse was to draw her +veil closer about her face. Then, however, by the light of the booth +lamps and the glare from the snow, she was able to recognize the figure +that only stood two paces off. She hurriedly paid the sum required, +turned to Sebastian, and held out her hand. + +"It is you," she said, without showing any special excitement. "I had +not expected ever to see you again. But I am only the more glad of it. +Have you any engagement? Are you expected anywhere this evening? No? +Then give me your arm. I too am free--quite free," she added with a +singular expression. "It is so pleasant to walk about in the snow, and +see so many happy faces. It seems to me sometimes as though it could +not be necessary to take any great pains to be happy since so many are +so, and so cheaply too. Do you not agree with me?" + +He did not reply. The utterly unexpected meeting had positively +stupefied him, and the quick way in which she spoke and moved was +perplexing. She had at once hung upon his arm, whereas formerly she +carefully avoided every touch, and now she walked on beside him, +daintily putting down her little feet in the snow, her head bent, with +a bright thoughtful expression, as though planning some mysterious +surprise. He only dared to steal glances at her now and then. She had +evidently grown, her features were rather more marked, but that added +to her beauty, and her fur cap was wonderfully becoming. + +"Fräulein Lottka," said he at length, "that I should find you here! You +do not know--you would not believe how I have sought for you--how ever +since--" + +"Why should I not believe it?" she hastily replied. "Do you suppose I +have not known that you were the only human being in the world who ever +really loved me? That was the very reason why I was obliged to part +from you. Your love and goodness deserved something better than to be +made unhappy for my sake. It is enough that one wretched life should be +destroyed, and even that is not very intelligible when one thinks that +there is a Providence--but why should we talk of such melancholy +subjects? Tell me what you have been doing all this while. Do you know +that you are much better looking than you were? Your beard becomes you +so well, and with it you have the same innocent eyes that would better +suit a girl's face, and yet they can look brave and resolute enough too +when they flash out at a villain. + +"Forgive me," she went on, "for being so talkative, but you cannot +guess how long I have been silent--almost _always_, since we parted. I +had too much to think about. But now I have arranged it all, and since +then I am quite happy. It is not very long ago that I have done so. +Last night even I had quite too horrible thoughts; they actually +pierced my brain like needles of ice. So I said to myself, 'there must +be an end to this.' Neither man nor God can require any one to live on +with thoughts like these. And after becoming quite clear about that, my +spirits returned, and even my tongue is loosed again. But you are all +the more silent. What is the matter with you? Are not you a little tiny +bit glad that we can wander about together so confidentially, and feel +the snow on our faces, and see so many poor men enjoying their +Christmas Eve? I too wanted to make a festival for myself, and so I +spent my last two dollars in an improvised Christmas gift. But it did +not answer so very well either: unless one loves the person one gives +to, there is not much pleasure in giving. Now I am sorry that I have no +more money. You and I might so well have made presents to each other." + +"O Lottka," said he, "now that I have found you again--that you are so +kind to me--that you know how I love you--" + +"Hush!" interposed she, "this may be felt, but not spoken of. For +to-day everything is as sad as it ever was, and as utterly hopeless." + +He stopped suddenly and looked full at her. "Hopeless," he groaned. +"But are you aware that I know everything, and no more heed it than if +it were some story going on in the moon. That I have no one in the +world to consult but myself, and if my own father and my own mother--" + +"For God's sake do not go on," she cried, with a look of distress, and +placing her hand on his lips. "You do not know what you are saying, how +horrible it is, and how you would one day repent it. You have a mother +whom you can love and revere, and who loves nothing on earth better +than you, and who is proud of you, and you would bring sorrow and shame +on her? If you had rightly considered what that means--but we will say +no more about it. Come--I will confess to you that I am hungry; since +yesterday evening I have eaten nothing out of sheer disgust. I thought, +indeed, I should never have a pure taste in my mouth any more, but +since I have chatted so pleasantly with you, I feel much better. Take +me where there is something to eat. And then we can still go on +chatting away for a couple of hours, and you really must treat me, for +as I said I have spent the last money I had in those toys." + +At once he turned off into a side street, and rapidly led her to a +small eating-house that he knew, which was generally empty at this +hour. They were both lost in thought, and he was wondering, half in +terror, half in rapture, at the way things had come about, and asking +himself what turn they would take now. For although her dark allusions +made him very anxious, yet on the other hand he found comfort in her +free and frank manner towards him, and her clear recognition of his +feelings for her. + +"Here," said he, throwing open a small door over which a blue lamp was +burning. + +They entered a bright comfortable dining-room in which was only an +elderly waiter with a green apron of the good old fashion, sitting +half-asleep in a corner. He looked at the pair with some surprise, and +then hastened off to bring what Sebastian had ordered. + +"He takes us for brother and sister," whispered the young girl. + +"Or for a newly-married pair on their travels. Ah, Lottka!" and he +seized one of her little hands which she had just ungloved. + +She heartily but without any embarrassment returned his passionate +pressure. "It is charming here," said she, beginning to free herself +from her warm wraps. "I do so rejoice to be for once with you thus +before I--" She stopped short. + +"What are you thinking of?" he enquired in great agitation. "This is +not _really_ to be the last time--" + +"Do not ask me," said she. "I am provided for, you need have no anxiety +for me. When I wrote you that little note I really did not know what +would become of me. It was only at first that I was safe. While you and +perhaps others were looking everywhere for me, I sat up in the attic of +an old friend not far from that shop--the only friend I had, an +asthmatic sempstress who used often to buy cough-lozenges from me, and +got fond of me because I would put in a stitch for her now and then. +The poor thing when at her worst was unable for weeks together to earn +anything. It was at her door that I knocked in the night, and actually +I remained a couple of months hidden there, for no one concerned +himself about her, and I used to help her with her sewing, and to cook +our frugal meals; but at last I could no longer endure life in such a +cage. I had saved a little money, and meant to cross over into France, +where no one would have known me. But I was stopped on the way, there +was something wrong in my passport, and so I was of course transported +back like a vagrant; and here in Berlin--but we will say nothing about +it. I already feel that nausea coming back, and here is our supper, and +I must not let that be spoiled." + +He poured out for her a glass of the wine the waiter had brought, and +pledged her. "Thou and I," he whispered gently. + +"No, thou alone," she replied, and sipped at the glass. + +"Is the Rhine wine too strong for thee?" asked he. "Shall I order +Champagne?" + +She shook her head vehemently. "I could not touch a drop of it. I drank +it too early, and in too bad company. But you must eat with me if I am +to enjoy my supper." + +He put something on his plate, though he could not get a morsel down, +and kept watching her while she did full justice to their simple meal. +Her hair was cut as short as ever, her dress was quite as plain, her +form so full and so supple that each movement she made was enchanting +to contemplate. Every now and then she apologized for her appetite. + +"It is only," she said, "because I am for once happy, and everything is +so good, and we are so delightfully alone--you and I. There"--and she +put a bit of game from her plate on to his--"you must positively eat +that, or I shall believe you have a horror of eating from the same dish +even as I. If things had been different, and we could really have +travelled off together through the world--that would have been +beautiful! But it cannot be, and some day you will be happy with some +one else, and she with you; lots are very unequally divided, and one +must put up with one's own till it gets too bad. But do pour me out +some wine--I drank that last glass off unconsciously. Thanks--and +now--to thy mother's health! And that shall be the last." + +She emptied the glass, and as she put it down again, he noticed that +she shuddered as if some ice-cold hand had suddenly grasped hold of +her. + +"Let us go," she said. + +He paid the bill and again offered her his arm. When they got out they +found that the large soft flakes had changed into a driving snow-storm, +that met them full in the face. + +"Where shall we go now?" asked he. + +"It is all the same to me. I have no longer any home. I thought +indeed--but it is quite too boisterous and wretched to take leave of +each other in the open air. Are we far from your lodgings?" + +"I am in the old quarters still. Over the bridge, and then only a +hundred yards. Come." + +"That is--" said she, holding him back as if considering. "What will +the people you lodge with think if you suddenly bring a girl back with +you?" + +"Have you not your veil on!" + +"I? I do not care about myself. To-morrow I shall be--who knows how far +away, where I can defy all comments. But it might get told to your +mother, and give you trouble hereafter." + +"Have no fear," he said, pressing the hand that rested on his arm. "My +room has a private entrance, and the people of the house burn no light +on the stairs. We shall not meet any one." + +With rapidly beating heart, he led her along the now deserted streets, +and often they were obliged to stand still and lean against each other, +while the icy blast swept by. Once when he turned his back to the storm +and drew her closer to his breast, he bent down and hurriedly kissed +her through her veil. She made no resistance--only said, "I think the +worst is now over, we may go on." After that they did not speak another +word till they reached the house. + + + * * * * * + + +The steep staircase was--as he had said it would be--quite dark, and as +they went up it, on tip-toe, he first, holding her hand so that she +might not miss a step, no one came across them. Only they heard +children's voices through the door, and saw a light shine through the +key-hole of the room in the upper story, telling of a Christmas tree +there. + +He carefully closed his door, and let her precede him into the small +dark room, which was only lit by the glow in the stove, and the +reflection of the snow. He then bolted both doors. "The kitchen is next +to us," he said, "but there is no one there now. We need not talk in a +whisper. But the landlady may just come back once to enquire whether I +want anything." + +She answered nothing; she had placed herself on a chair in the window, +and was looking out at the whirls of snow. + +When he had lit his small student's lamp with its green shade he +noticed a box on the table. "Look," said he, "that is my Christmas box +from home, we can put that in a corner for the present. Will you not +take off some of your wraps, and seat yourself here on the sofa? You +must be too warm in your furs." + +"I shall soon be going," said she. "But thou art right, the stove does +burn well." And she began to draw off her polonaise, and put away her +fur cap and gloves--he helping her. + +"But now shall we not begin to unpack?" said she, shaking back her +hair. "I should much like to know what is in the box." + +"I am in no hurry," he laughingly replied. "I have just been unpacking +something far more precious to me." + +"You ought to be ashamed of yourself," returned she, suddenly assuming +a colder tone (she had been saying _thou_). "You do not deserve that +people should be planning how to give you pleasure. I--if a mother had +sent _me_ such a Christmas box from a distance--give it me--I will undo +the string." + +She hastily began cutting open the cover with a little knife of hers, +and he gazed in carefully suppressed emotion at every movement of her +exquisite hands. + +"Lottka," said he; "if you and I were both together in America, and +this box had come over the sea--" + +She shook her head. "No box would have come then." + +"And why not, Lottka? If my mother knew thee as I know thee, dost thou +suppose she would hold thee guilty for circumstances over which thou +art powerless. Naturally she has her prejudices--like all good mothers. +But I know that she loves me more than any of her prejudices." + +The girl left off her unpacking, and with her little knife cut all +sorts of patterns on the lid of the box. + +"Do you call that a prejudice?" said she, without looking at him. +"Could you eat an apple that you had found lying in the dirt of the +streets? You might wash it ten times over, the repugnance would be all +the same. And who knows what foot might have trodden on it, who knows +that some slime might not have penetrated the rind, even though it +should still be sound at the core? No, no, no! It is so once for all, +bad enough that so it should be--but it must not be made even worse." + +He wound his arm about her, but rather like a brother than one +passionately in love. "Lottka," he said, "it is impossible that this +can go on. You cannot waste your life in unavailing regrets." He +stopped short--he could not find words that expressed his meaning +without fearing to pain her. + +"In regrets," she repeated, looking at him firmly and sorrowfully. "Oh +no! Who is thinking of it? I have already told you that you may be +quite easy about my future. I am provided for. I am not so forsaken as +I appear, provided my courage does not desert me--my courage and my +disgust. And why must every one be married? If I chose I might be so, +and very well too. All possible pains have been taken to make me fall +in love, and I have had a choice of very desirable wooers, rich, young, +and handsome, and some were really willing regularly to marry me in a +regular church, with a regular clergyman in gown and bands. There was +only one hitch." + +"What was that?" he eagerly asked. + +"It is unnecessary to mention it. But no--I will tell it to you +straight out, that you may never judge me wrongly. Do you know what has +given me a horror of all men except perhaps yourself! I will whisper it +in your ear. It is because I did not know whether the proposed +bridegroom might not have stood too high in the mother's favour before +he concerned himself about the daughter." + +She turned away and went hastily to the window. + +After a time she again felt his arm around her. "What you must have had +to endure, dear heart!" he faintly whispered. + +She nodded slowly and significantly. "More than you would suppose so +young a creature could have survived. About seven years ago, when I +first understood it all, I still thought I could change my lot. I would +not remain another day in the house. I went out to service. I cut off +all my beautiful long hair to prevent any one admiring me, and the +ugliest clothes were good enough for me so only they would restore my +respectability. How little it has availed me thou knowest. Later, when +I was taken up as a vagrant, I was brought back to the house, to _her_ +who naturally had a legal right over me. I had to bear it. I was +powerless against the law. But I at once declared that I would destroy +myself if I were not left in peace. And so I have sat nearly a year in +my own room, and as soon as any one came near it I bolted the door. But +still as I was obliged sometimes to breathe the air, people saw me, and +she herself--though I never would speak a word to her--pretended that +she loved me very much, and only yesterday--it was to be a Christmas +treat--she sent me in a letter; guess from whom?" + +"How can I guess?" + +"You are right. No mortal ever could suppose it. But you remember the +creature with whom you quarrelled on my behalf?" + +"Lottka!" he cried beside himself. "Is it possible--" + +She nodded. "It was a very affectionate letter, the most beautiful +things were promised me in it--the paper smelt of Patchouli: since then +I have had that nausea, that loathing which only passed off when you +and I met again. But I have but to think of it, and--fie!--there it +comes again!" + +She wiped her lips, and the same strange shudder passed over her. He +seized her hands--they were stiff and damp. + +Suddenly she shook her head as if to get rid of some importunate +thought. "But we were going to unpack," said she. "Pretty subjects +these for Christmas Eve! Come to our box--_ours_ I say. You have +bewitched me with your dream about America." + +"We will make it come true," he impetuously cried. "I shall remind you +on some future day of our first Christmas Eve, and then you will be +obliged to confess that I have more courage, and am a better prophet +than you." + +She made no reply, but cut the last string and opened the box. All +sorts of small presents came to view, a pair of woollen gloves that his +eldest sister had knitted for him, a watch-chain woven of the fair hair +of the younger, with a pretty little gold key hanging to it, home-made +gingerbread, and finally a large sealed bottle. + +"Have you vineyards?" asked she playfully. + +He laughed in spite of all his sadness. "It is elder wine, and the +grapes grow in our little garden. As a child I thought it the best of +all things, and ever since my good mother believes she cannot please me +better than by sending me on every Christmas Eve, and every birthday, a +sample at least of her last year's making." + +"I hope it tastes better to you than the most costly Rhine wine," said +she earnestly, "or you would not deserve it. Look--there are letters." + +"Will you look them over? I am too much distracted. I should not know +what they were about if I read them." + +She had seated herself on the sofa, and taken the letters on her knee; +one after the other she read them with most devout attention, as though +their contents were wonderful and sublime, yet they were only made up +of sisters' chat; little jests, apologies for the insignificance of +their offerings; and in the lines written by the mother, there was +traceable, together with her pride in having so good a son, her sorrow +at being unable to embrace him at such a time, and her anxious fear +that it was not so much work that kept him away, but rather the +melancholy unsocial mood which even made his letters short. + +"Are you still reading them?" he at length asked. "They are simple +people, and when they write, the best that is in them does not always +get put on paper. Good God! thou art weeping, Lottka!" + +She laid the letters on the box, rose hurriedly, and pressed back the +tears that still welled from between her long eye-lashes. "I will go +now," she faintly said. "I shall be better out of doors." + +"Go? now? and where? The storm would blow you down. Remain here for +to-night, and if you like--the kitchen is close by--two chairs will do +for me--and besides I have not a thought of sleeping." + +She shook her head, and looked down. Then she suddenly raised her eyes, +and looked full at his with an expression that made his heart beat +wildly. + +"Not so," she said. "But it is true that the storm without would blow +me down, and where too could I go? Is this not Christmas Eve, and the +last that we shall ever spend together. And I must give thee something, +my presents to the children gave me no real pleasure, and why should I +not on this day at least think of _myself_ as well? Am I not right, +Sebastian?" + +She had never before called him by his name. + +"Thou wilt give me something?" enquired he, amazed and uncertain. + +"The only thing I still possess--myself," she gasped, and wound her +arms about his neck. + + + * * * * * + + +When he woke in the dark on the morrow, and half raised himself from +bed, still uncertain whether it had been real or only the most wondrous +of dreams, the chamber was empty, not a trace remained of the last +night's visitor. He felt all round his little sitting-room, called her +gently by name, thinking she had perhaps stolen into the kitchen just +for a freak, and would soon return. But all was silent. The intense +cold overcame him, and with teeth chattering he slipped back into bed, +and there, propped by pillows, tried to collect his thoughts. + +Before long a horrible fear sprung up within him. With burning brow, +despite the icy air, he hastily drew on his clothes, and kindled a +light. The Christmas gifts of his family were still on the table, and +he suddenly discovered a sheet written over in pencil pushed between +the letters from his mother and sisters. The characters were uncertain +and tremulous, as though written in the dark. The words ran as +follows:--"Farewell, my beloved friend, my _only_ friend! It grieves me +much that I must grieve you so, must leave you so! But there is no +other way. You would never let me go there where I needs must go, +unless both are to be made unhappy. I thank thee for thy true love. But +all the sweetness in thy soul can never wash away the bitterness from +mine. Sleep well--farewell! I kiss thee once more in sleep. I know not +whether thou wilt be able to read this. Do not grieve; believe that all +is well with me now. Thy own loving one even in death." + +The maid who was in the habit of coming about this time to light the +kitchen-fire, heard a hollow cry in the next room, and opened the door +in her terror. She there saw the young student lying on the sofa as +though prostrated by some heavy blow. When she called him by name, he +only shook his head as if to say she need not concern herself about +him, and then stooped to pick up the paper that had fallen out of his +hand. + +"What o'clock?" he enquired. + +"It has just struck six." + +"Give me my cloak and stick. I will--" + +He tottered to the door. + +"You are going out bare-headed in all this cold? All the shops are +closed, there is not a creature in the streets: you know this is a +holiday?" + +"A holiday," he said, repeating the syllables one by one as though +trying to make out their meaning. "Give me--" + +"Your cap? Here it is. Will you not first of all have a cup of coffee? +The water will soon boil." + +He made no further reply, but went out with heavy steps, and stumbled +down the dark staircase. The snow crunched under his feet, and thick +icicles hung in his beard. Far and near there was not a living creature +to be seen in the dim streets; the sentinels in the sentry-boxes looked +like stiff snow men. As he passed the bridge he saw that the river had +frozen over during the night. He followed its course a long way, his +eyes riveted on the ice as though looking for something there. Then he +plunged into the neighbouring streets, quite aimlessly, like one +walking in his sleep. For he could not expect to find what he was +searching for by any pondering or thinking of his own. But the fever of +an immeasurable agony drove him restlessly on, until he was utterly +exhausted. + +He might have been wandering a couple of hours or more, for the streets +were beginning to look alive, when he reached the Potsdam Gate. He +there saw a cab stopping in front of the small toll-house, coming as it +seemed from the park. The toll-keeper came out in his furs, and as he +reached out his snuff-box to a policeman who sat by the driver, asked +laughingly-- + +"Anything that pays duty?" pointing to the closed cab windows. + +"Not anything that pays duty here," was the reply. "I must give up my +contraband to the proper authorities. She has smuggled herself--not +into, but out of the world, but she is a rare piece of goods all the +same. I was making my first round this morning yonder there by +Louise-island, when I saw a well-dressed lady sitting on a bench, her +head drooping as though she were asleep. 'My pretty child,' said I, +'look out some warmer place than this to sleep in, in such bitter cold +as this.' But there was no waking her. Her hand still held a small +bottle--it smelt like laurel leaves. She must have drunk it off, and +then _tout doucement_ have fallen to sleep! Good morning. I must make +haste to deliver her up!" + +The driver cracked his whip. At that very moment they again heard the +toll-keeper's voice. + +"Stop!" (he called out). "You can take another passenger. A gentleman +looked into the cab window--and bang!--there he lies in the snow. Do +get down, comrade, he is quite a young man; he must have weak nerves +indeed to be knocked down in a second at the sight of a dead woman! How +if you put him in beside her? They seem much of a muchness." + +"No," returned the policeman, "that is contrary to regulations. Dead +and living are not to be shut in together. Wait, we will carry him into +the toll-house. If you rub his head with snow, and give him something +strong to smell at, he'll come round in five minutes. I am up to these +cases." + +They bore the unconscious figure into the house: then the cab set out +on its way again. But the policeman's prognostics were not fulfilled. +Sebastian's consciousness did not return for five weeks instead of five +minutes. It was only when the last snow had melted away that the +miserable man began to creep about a little with the aid of his stick. +Then he went off to his parents, who never knew what a strange fate had +desolated his youth, and cast a shadow over his manhood, that was never +entirely dispelled. When he died at the age of five-and-thirty he left +behind him neither wife nor child. + + + + END OF LOTTKA. + + + + + + + THE LOST SON. + + + + + + THE LOST SON. + + +About the middle of the seventeenth century there lived in the town of +Berne a worthy matron named Helena Amthor, the widow of a very rich and +respected burgher and town councillor, who after twelve years of happy +married life, left her with two children while she was still in the +prime of her age and beauty. Nevertheless she declined all the +advantageous and honourable offers of second marriage made to her, +declaring on every such occasion that she had now only one thing to do +on earth, and that was to bring up her children to be good and worthy +members of society. But as it often happens that too great anxiety +defeats itself and achieves the very reverse of what it aimed at, so it +proved here. The eldest child, a boy, who was eleven when his father +died--an intelligent but very self-willed fellow--rather required the +discipline of a man's strong hand than the tender but too indulgent +care of a mother who positively idolised him as the image of the +husband she had prematurely lost, and who never knew how to oppose any +of his impetuous wishes. The consequence was that the older the young +Andreas grew, the worse he behaved, and rewarded his mother's unwise +love by almost breaking her heart. When she first came to some +recognition of his faults it was already too late. The remonstrances +and admonitions of his uncles were all in vain, and even the grave +censure and heavy fines he incurred, from the town authorities, owing +to his irregular conduct, tamed his rude nature as little as did his +mother's tears. At length Frau Helena made up her mind to the greatest +pang she had known since her husband's death--to a parting with her +son, whom a cousin in Lausanne, a wealthy merchant, now offered to take +into his house, in the hope that change of scene and regular work might +exercise a healthy influence on the reckless youth. Andreas, who was +twenty years old at the time, consented willingly enough to leave the +old-fashioned "bear-garden," as he called his native town, for a +strange place, where he promised himself, spite of his cousin's +_surveillance_, a far freer and more amusing life. Neither did +he show the least tender feeling on parting from his mother and his +little sister of twelve, Lisabethli, but kept his large stock of +travelling-money far more carefully in his belt than his mother's +counsels in his heart. No wonder, therefore, before six months were +over, news came from Lausanne that Andreas had secretly quitted the +town, leaving behind him disgraceful debts at gambling-houses and +taverns, and making off with money entrusted to him for the business, +in lieu of which a heavy bill drawn on his mother was found in a corner +of his desk. + +That bill and all other debts Helena Amthor paid without delay; she +said not a word about them to anybody, and always gave one answer to +whatever enquiries might be made about her son, that he was well and +upon his travels, and that he wrote to her from time to time. Nor was +this statement untrue, for as soon as his money ran short--which often +happened--he turned to his mother, who at that time never refused him. +But as to what there was in his or her letters no mortal creature ever +knew. She left off speaking of him, never introduced his name, so that +at length people grew shy of touching on the sorrow of her life, and +Andreas was virtually dead as far as the whole town of Berne was +concerned. He himself seemed quite content to be so, nor ever expressed +any wish to see his home again. When he came of age and had to settle +matters with his guardian, he curtly sent the latter word what day and +hour he was to meet him at the "Vine-tree," in Strasburg, there to make +over the fortune inherited from his father. But his guardian, a man +already in years, neither could nor would travel so far on his ward's +account. Therefore Frau Helena resolved upon undertaking the sorrowful +journey herself, probably with a last unspoken hope that this meeting +might have some softening effect upon his estranged affections. When, +however, she returned after a ten days' absence, the traces of +confirmed sadness on her fine face were more marked than before, and +from that time forth no one could say that they ever saw her laugh. + +And yet fate that had laid this heavy burden on her, had also granted +her consolation in another direction, that might well have gladdened a +less deeply-wounded heart. Her other child Lisabethli, who was about +eight years younger than the lost son, was as admirably endowed, as +obedient and loving, and as completely the delight of every one who +saw her, as her brother was the reverse. And these sweet and lovely +characteristics, though originally a matter of temperament no +doubt, were in no small measure owing to her own self-training and +self-culture; for her mother--more particularly during the years when +Andreas was at home--had erred quite as much on the side of severity +towards her youngest child as on that of indulgence towards her +favourite. Even when Lisabethli was quite a small thing in the +school-room, she had shed many hidden tears over the reproofs and +constant putting-down she received; and pitied herself for her +inability by all her love and duty to win from her mother one of the +fond words or caresses which the else stern lady lavished upon her +unruly boy. All her anxiety on his account seemed but to estrange her +from her sweet girl, about whom, by the way, her brother no more +concerned himself than though she had not been in existence. And yet +the child continued to be gentleness and brightness itself, and was +soon wise enough to estimate the misery that disturbed the balance of +her mother's mind, and to resolve to treat all injustice towards +herself as she would the mood or caprice of a suffering invalid. + +Later--after the flight of Andreas from Lausanne, and while the rumour +of it was spreading more and more amongst the inhabitants of Berne--the +relations between mother and daughter improved. Indeed the former had +never been blind to the pure beauty of her child's nature, though, like +one under an evil spell, she wrought out her own wretchedness by her +partiality. Her mortally wounded maternal pride still forbade her to +betray to her daughter, even by a sigh, the pangs her son inflicted on +her. But in all other respects she now seemed to give the young girl +the next place in her affections, and was even anxious to make up for +all that in her earlier days she had inflicted or withheld. Still she +was sparing of her caresses. If she but passed her delicate white hand +over the girl's brown head when wishing her good night, still more if +she kissed her eyes and said, "my good child," Lisabethli would blush +crimson for joy, and the happy beating of her heart would keep her +awake a whole hour. + +At the same time, Frau Amthor endeavoured so far as was compatible with +her stern character, to procure for her daughter all the pleasures and +amusements of her age, and was in the habit of inviting her friends on +Sundays to the quiet home, behind which lay a beautiful terraced +garden, and during the summer time the young people used to enjoy +little excursions, and out-door parties; but she forbade them most +strictly to go to any dances however respectably carried on, or in +accordance with long established custom, they might be. It seemed that +some innermost feeling of her nature shrank from the idea of the sister +dancing while the brother, homeless and friendless, might at that very +moment be driven by despair to end his life. For that it would come to +this at last, was the one spectral thought that cast its shadow over +the mother's soul both in her waking and sleeping hours. + +The house that had belonged to the Amthors for many generations, was a +narrow three-storied antique building, with wainscoted walls and +ceilings, and handsomely furnished with old silk tapestry and heavy +hangings. On the ground-floor were the offices and the room in which +dwelt the old man-servant and the faithful maid by whom the work of the +house was done. Above were the rooms inhabited by the mother and +daughter, which opened at the back upon the garden; and in the third +story were what had been the late councillor's library and study, and +of later years rooms entirely devoted to Andreas. The chamber where his +bed stood had not since his departure been entered by any one but the +old maid-servant. His mother never set her foot in it, and if his +sister crept by it to take a book from the library, she held her breath +as she passed the door as though it were haunted. + +Our story begins on a September evening--on the very day that +Lisabethli had completed her nineteenth year. In honour of the +anniversary, her mother had invited some half-dozen of the girl's +favourite companions and what with singing and other amusements, which +the grave matron left the young people to carry on alone, the hour of +ten had struck unobserved. Indeed the girls, who after a very sultry +day were still pacing the garden walks arm in arm, deep in important +confidential talk, might easily have forgot time till midnight, if a +storm that had gathered on the other side of the river had not scared +them in. And once in, they found that their respective attendants had +come for them with lanterns, and so kisses and good-byes were heartily +exchanged, and in the great room looking out on the terrace the usual +stillness prevailed, when the first roll of thunder resounded through +the darkness. + +Frau Helena had joined her daughter, who stood in the open doorway +looking down, beyond the dark steps leading into the garden, to the +river Aar, lost in vague, dream-like thoughts, such as are wont to +succeed a festive day when the soul is once more free to retire into +itself. She gently laid her hand on her daughter's hair, and the sweet +child silently leaned her head down on the mother's shoulder, as though +to seek shelter from the vivid flash of lightning that suddenly rent +the black cloud above them. "Come in, child," said the mother, "we +shall soon have rain." + +The daughter shook her head without saying a word. She was now gazing +steadily on the clear space of sky at the horizon, where the snow peaks +of the Oberland far away from the range of the thunder-cloud, rose +glittering in the moonlight, a wondrous spectacle indeed. "Dear little +mother," at length she said, "how vast the earth is! Yonder they +neither see nor hear anything of the storm that rages here. And yet +still further off, in that star just above the Rothhorn, they would +know nothing of it if our earth were to be shivered to atoms!" + +Her mother made no reply. Her thoughts were--she herself did not know +where, but well she knew with whom--with the one they had always flown +to at the approach of bad weather for many years past; because, while +the sky was growing dark, she could not tell whether her boy had a roof +over his head or not. + +"How the river feels and answers to the storm!" resumed the girl. "One +might really fancy one saw the surface shudder with terror as the +lightnings flash down. And yet they can go on dancing and fiddling in +the tavern on the little island yonder. They must be a godless set." + +"They will soon leave off," said the mother, "it will be too bad even +for them. No human being is so hardened but what the hour comes when he +hearkens if God warns him. But let us come in. The drops that fall are +large as hazel-nuts." + +"Look, mother," said the daughter holding her back, "there is something +not right going on there. The door of the tavern is suddenly thrown +open--people are rushing out--there is a girl in their midst--something +flashes like a sword-blade--listen! they are quarrelling--oh, what wild +unruly creatures!" + +The thunder now paused, and a sound of angry voices as well as of +breaking glass was plainly audible, while a single clarionet, +undisturbed by all the noise and confusion, went shrilly on playing gay +dancing tunes. + +"I would give a hundred crowns," said Frau Helena with brows knit, "if +that sink of iniquity yonder were removed from the town. I really might +be driven to think of changing my house in my old days, merely to +escape hearing and seeing such things as these." + +"And just at this sweetest of all hours," interposed the girl, "when +everything else is so peaceful, and one might for once dream and think +at will. Just look, they are all crossing the bridge now. For God's +sake--why they are actually fighting--one is being pushed against the +railings--the woman throws herself between them--his arms are free +again--if they should push him into the river--" + +"Come, that is enough," said the mother authoritatively, "now let us go +in. It is no sight for Christians to gaze at when men attack each other +more cruelly than wild beasts would do. Just read me the evening lesson +and then we will go to bed." + +A brilliant flash now suddenly lit up the houses by the side of the +Aar, the tavern on the island, and the high sweltering current of the +river. + +For a moment the dark group massed on the narrow bridge was distinctly +seen: a tall youth with a red feather in his cap in their midst, +struggling against them, with only a woman with white head-gear on his +side. The clash of swords was heard, and a shrill female cry for help, +and then with a terrific thunder-clap like the fall of some mighty +tower, the clouds sent down sheets of rain, darkness swallowed up the +wild doings on the bridge, and nothing remained visible but the red +light in the window of the island tavern. + +The two women had retreated into the house horrified, and while the +mother slowly walked up and down the carpeted floor, Lisabethli sat at +the table, her hands folded on the open book before her, and her eyes +fixed upon a large nosegay which stood in a beautiful Venetian glass, a +present from her godfather on this her birthday. As to reading, that +was not to be thought of, the thunder would have drowned her voice; +still less was sleep possible, for the scene of violence was too +vividly present to her mind. She kept listening intently for what might +be going on without. "Oh God!" she almost unconsciously prayed, "have +pity upon them all, and let no harm be done!" Just then another flash +shone through the window and the door which had been left ajar that the +fresh night-air might enter the room, and she fancied that she saw a +shadow on the upper terrace show through the pane for one moment, and +then vanish. "Mother," she faintly called out, "let us lock the door, +someone has climbed over the wall, and--" + +She could not end her sentence, for the door was pushed open and a man +rushed into the room. "For the sake of God's mercy," cried he, sinking +half from exhaustion, half in the attitude of entreaty at the knees of +Frau Helena. "Whoever you be, noble lady, save an innocent man! They +are on my track. Where--where--" and he looked around, and with +blood-stained hands pushed his dripping hair from his eyes. "Where can +I hide myself! What can I say to move your heart to pity? If you knew +how it had all come about, how entirely without fault of mine I have +fallen into this horrible strait--am hunted down as a murderer--oh +noble maiden--" and he turned to the pale girl who gazed with a shudder +at the red feather in the stranger's cap; "if you have a brother who is +dear to you--who may perhaps at this moment be asking hospitality in +some strange land--implore your lady-mother not to thrust me out into +the night where Heaven knows what disgrace may overtake me. By the head +of your own son, noble lady--" + +"Silence!" interrupted Frau Amthor in a hollow trembling tone, more +awful in the ears of the suppliant than the roar of the thunder. +Meanwhile she looked at him with such an absent far-away expression +that her daughter flew to support her in case she should swoon. But it +passed over. + +"Close the terrace-door," she hastily said, leaning back in her chair, +"then call Valentin. But make haste! I seem to hear voices in the +garden below." + +The young girl bolted the heavy door in the twinkling of an eye, and +hurried off. The stranger remained a moment or two alone with the +mother. + +"You are saving my honour and liberty!" he stammered out, "perhaps my +life. But believe, noble lady, that what you do is not done for one +unworthy or reprobate, and my own mother, who would ransom the life of +her son with all she has, were he to fall among bandits, will in return +for your noble-hearted deed--" + +"Not another word," broke in the matron, "what I do is not done for +your sake. But you are bleeding," she suddenly said, and paused--her +glance falling upon a spot on his shoulder where great drops were +oozing through his black silk doublet. + +"It is nothing," returned he, hastily pressing his glove on the place. +"I hardly feel it. Would to God that the blow I dealt in return may not +be more dangerous! But I fear--" + +Lisabethli now returned with the old servant. "Valentin," said the +lady, "take this stranger gentleman to the upper story, and then see +him to bed--in the room--you know which. No one is to know that he is +in the house. I will give my own instructions to Donate. You understand +how to foment. Look to the gentleman's wounds; there is linen in the +cupboard; there are shirts in the press---he is to be treated _as +though he were my own son_. Go--I hear footsteps." + +They all listened with beating hearts. In spite of the noise of the +rain, voices were audible in the garden. The next moment the old +servant had pushed the stranger out of the room, and mother and +daughter were alone. + +"My child," said the mother, "go for a time downstairs to Donate. I +shall have to lie, and I would not that your ears should hear me." + +"Mother," returned the girl, "I pray you to let me remain with you. I +should die of terror down there. Never believe that anything you do can +seem wrong in my eyes; and you are doing it to save a human life." + +Meanwhile there were three knocks at the bolted door. "In the name of +the law, open," a deep voice called out. + +"Who knocks at this late hour?" returned Frau Amthor, and her voice +sounded as unconstrained as though nothing had happened. + +"The sergeant, with the train band," was the reply. "Open, or we burst +the door." + +"Go, Lisabethli," said the lady in so loud a tone that every word was +audible without. "I must say that customs are changing in our old town +of Berne: the idea of the watch breaking into a peaceable private +dwelling in the dark night-time! I hope you have some satisfactory +explanation to give of this visit of yours, sergeant," this in a +majestic tone to the intruder, "you know who I am, and that my house is +not likely to contain any disreputable character whom the bailiffs are +after." + +The sergeant who had cast a hasty glance all round the room, now stood +confounded opposite the lofty figure of the matron, and his eyes fell +before the steady gaze of hers. "Forgive me, Frau Amthor," he mumbled, +while he beckoned to his followers to stay where they were, and kept +awkwardly turning the handle of his dagger round and round. "We are on +the track of a dangerous fellow who has taken part in riotous, +murderous doings on the island yonder. When I and my men were +approaching the tavern the people in it saw him flying in this +direction, leaping over hedges and walls, and we traced his foot-marks +to your garden, and even found one of his gloves below the window. +Therefore I held it to be my duty--" + +"To break into my house as though it were a likely refuge for +murderers," interposed the matron, looking at him with so undaunted a +gaze that the bearded man stared down at the carpet much embarrassed by +the wet foot-prints he had left on its pattern. "Go your way," she +continued, "and be more careful another time at what door you knock. +To-morrow I shall go to the Town Council and lay a complaint before +them about their endurance of the disorder and riot that goes on on the +island, exposing even the quietest householder in the neighbourhood to +an invasion of the watch by night on a charge of unlawful concealment!" + +The sergeant would fain have broken out into further apologies, but an +imperative gesture of the lady, in the direction of the door, prevented +his uttering a word. He retired with head sunk low, and had scarcely +crossed the threshold, when Lisabethli shot the bolts after him, and +then sunk down on a seat, with a deep-drawn sigh, so much had the short +scene affected her. + +"Remain here," said the mother after a pause. "Light a taper for me. I +will go upstairs." + +"Dearest mother," pleaded the girl timidly, "would you not +rather-- Indeed you are too pale--it will distress you too much." + +Frau Helena made no reply, but taking the light out of her hand, left +the room with face rigidly set, as though no worse thing could happen +to her. She was a sternly virtuous woman, a proud woman, who had always +felt too much self-respect to condescend to a lie. Now she had degraded +herself in her own estimation and in the presence of her child, and +this for the sake of a stranger who had no other claim to such a +sacrifice than that of having adjured her by her deepest grief. + +The door through which she had passed remained half open, and +Lisabethli could hear with what slow and heavy steps she went up the +stairs, and how often she rested on the way, as though needing to +gather breath and courage for the painful entrance into her lost son's +room, which she had not visited for years. + +"He is in a swoon," said old Valentin, meeting her on the threshold. "I +have bound up his wounds, but as I was putting a clean shirt on him he +fell lifeless from under my hands. I will fetch some cold water: there +is no danger--it is only faintness from loss of blood." + +He hurried down stairs, and the lady entered the room. + +There lay the stranger on the bed, his eyes closed, his mouth half open +from pain, and showing his white teeth. His light hair still dripping +with blood and rain, was pushed back from his pale brow. His cap and +silken doublet lay on the ground, as well as the blood-soaked shirt +which the old servant had replaced by a clean one. Frau Helena trembled +all over when she saw this stranger clothed in the fine linen she +herself had spun for her son, and marked with his initials. That she +might avoid seeing anything else in the room, she fixed her eyes on the +young face that in spite of its deadly pallor had a boyish, harmless, +good-natured expression. She saw at once from his clothing that he was +the son of respectable parents, and the tone in which he had implored +her to save him, still rung pathetically in her ears. A motherly +feeling overcame her, and great tears rolled down her faded face. + +Then the old servant returned with a pitcher of cold water, and +prepared to wash the temples of the unconscious youth. "Leave that to +me," said his mistress, taking the sponge out of his hand. "Bring the +best vinegar out of the side-board, and a flask of our old wine. When +he comes to himself he will need a cordial." Then she washed the blood +out of his hair, and held the ice-cold sponge to his lips. This brought +him round: he opened his eyes, and on seeing the noble lady who had +saved him bending over his couch, he tried to sit up and speak to her. +But she gently constrained him to lie down again, and to let her go on +with her ministrations. "I am better already," he gasped out, while he +took hold of her hand to carry it to his lips. "O how much you are +doing for me! And you do not know me, and must think ill of me. Let me +just tell you how it all came about." + +"Not another word to-night," interposed the lady, gently laying her +hand on his lips. "You have lost too much blood to exert yourself +safely. I leave you in the care of my old servant who will sit up with +you. I hope that you will get some sleep, and to-morrow be on the way +to recovery. Good night." + +She left the room without casting a look around at any of the things +that evoked such bitter memories. But as soon as she found herself in +the dark lobby, she leant her head against the wall, and sobbed in +secret. This burst of grief lasted but a few minutes, then she raised +her head again, and with her usual lofty bearing went down to her +daughter. "Valentin thinks that there is no danger," she said. "Let us +go to our rest." + +"Mother," asked the girl, "do you believe that he is a murderer? There +is something about him that seems as if he would not hurt the meanest +thing that lives, let alone a fellow creature." + +"Yet on the other hand how did he get to that tavern on the island?" +said the mother, as if speaking to herself. + +"Because he was a stranger," hastily broke in the daughter. "He does +not speak the German of Switzerland. Did you not notice that, mother +dear?" + +"It is useless to theorise about it," abruptly replied Frau Amthor. +"Come to bed, child, the storm has passed over." + +And so after the daughter had read the evening prayers, they went to +their rest. But it was long after midnight before either of them closed +an eye. Lisabethli kept constantly seeing before her the true-hearted +terror-stricken gaze of the stranger, when he appealed to her to help +to soften her mother's heart, the blood on his forehead, the red +feather in his cap, while the scream of the woman who threw herself +between the combatants on the bridge, still sounded in her ears. Frau +Helena for her part was listening anxiously to what went on overhead. +For the room where the wounded man lay was immediately above her +chamber, and she thought of all the nights she had lain awake till +morning expecting the return of Andreas from his orgies, and how when +at length she heard his unsteady step, she used to turn on her pillow, +not to sleep, but to shed bitter tears. Now everything was silent +enough, only from time to time Valentin gave a short cough. The poor +lady sat up in bed, and tried to pray; "Oh Lord God," so ran her +prayer; "let him in foreign lands meet a mother to stand by him in all +time of need; and if no one will have pity on him, let him find his way +back to his own mother, that I may not die before I have once more held +his hand in mine." + + + * * * * * + + +The morning was just breaking pale and cloudy through the small round +panes, when Frau Helena left her room, and hastily dressed herself. +"Sleep another hour," said she to Lisabethli, who at once bestirred +herself too. "I will just go upstairs, and see how our guest is +faring." + +The girl, however, had no wish for further rest. Very quietly she too +rose and dressed, and crept on tip-toe after her mother. On the stair +she met Donate carrying a small tray. "He has not made much of his +breakfast," said the faithful old servant. "Fearfully weak he still is, +and his hand shakes so if he tries to hold the spoon. But for the rest +a very fine handsome creature, and I would rather bite my tongue out +than betray him." + +The young girl made no reply, but went on to the top of the staircase. +Once there, as the door had been left ajar, she could see the stranger +lying in bed, but raising his head a little to greet Frau Helena, who +was bending over him and enquiring how he had slept. + +"I really hardly know, noble lady," answered the youth. "My faithful +watcher there will be better able to tell you whether I was quiet or +talked nonsense and threw my hands and feet about. But I dreamed a +great deal, and such lovely dreams--nothing in them of blood or wounds. +And this morning when I came to myself it gave me a sudden stab in the +heart to think how I must have alarmed you last night, and that you do +not even know to whom you have been so unspeakably kind. Nay," +continued he, seizing hold of her hand on seeing that she was again +going to impose silence, "I will not let you go, even though it should +be better for me to remain four-and-twenty hours without speaking. It +makes me wild to lie here and let that good Samaritan, and yourself +above all, feel that you are wasting your time and trouble upon a +fellow who better deserves to lie on the straw of a hospital amongst +brawlers and swashbucklers whom the beadle picks up half-dead on the +streets. I owe my present plight to my greenness and presumption, +having always held that with a good conscience and good courage, nobody +need fear to face the devil. My father has often enough shaken his head +at me warningly and said, 'Touch not pitch if thou wilt keep clean +hands; and don't mix with wolves if thou dost not mean to howl with +them.' And when I left Augsburg how my mother charged me only to enter +respectable houses and keep good company! The egg, however, thought +itself wiser than the hen. For you see, noble lady, I am naturally a +restless sort of a fellow, and beautiful as my native town is, and +cheerful too at times, I found it too confined, and wanted to see the +world, Switzerland more especially, because I had heard so much of it +from my father. He served his apprenticeship here in Berne in the house +of the rich master-clothier, Aufdembühel, whom you doubtless know. +Afterwards he settled in Augsburg, and married my mother and set up a +great fabric of his own; and yet he has always thought fondly of +Berne, so that when I told him my wish to visit it he made no +objection. I almost think he had some idea of a daughter-in-law from +that house, which suited my notions too, for I have grown to the age of +five-and-twenty in Augsburg, and all the blue and brown, eyes there +have left me scathless. And so for about a fortnight I rode southward +in highest spirits, and crossed the beautiful Lake of Constance in a +boat, and last evening when it was getting rather late I came through +the gates by the bear-pits, thinking no evil; but I did not like to +come down at once upon Herr Aufdembühel, bag and baggage as they say, +so put up my horse at the 'Stork,' and then set out strolling about the +town to take a general survey of it, as I always do on first getting to +any new place. Yesterday, however, it was unfortunate that I did not +first of all have a meal at the inn. For owing to the long ride and +great sultriness while the storm was gathering, I suddenly became +intolerably thirsty, and felt that I should turn to tinder unless I +could get a draught of wine. I was looking about me, therefore, for a +tavern, just as I passed the one on the island where I heard music and +dancing going on, and I asked a well-dressed burgher whether one could +get tolerable wine there. 'The wine was good enough,' he said, 'much +better than the company. If he were to judge me by my dress he should +say I should not find people of my own class there.' 'I would go into a +stable full of cows and goats,' I laughingly replied, 'if I could find +red wine in one of the milk-pails.' And there I left my worthy, +standing, looking rather anxiously after me, and crossed the bridge to +the tavern. + +"When I opened the door, however, I saw that my friend had not +cautioned me for nothing, and that in a stable with brute beasts I +should have found better manners and customs than there. Whether it be +a haunt of thieves I cannot say, but most of the people looked to me as +if they had narrowly escaped the gallows, or were on the high way +thither, men and women both, and when I entered they nudged each other +with surprise. But I who did not like to show the white feather, and +held that a stranger might safely do what an inhabitant of the place +could not, boldly seated myself in a corner, and ordered a measure of +wine. And as I kept quiet, they seemed to be getting used to me, at +least most of them had either drunk themselves stupid, or else were +taken up with their female companions. Amongst the last class, was one +better dressed, and with hair neater than the others, but a bold hussy +like the rest. She neither danced nor sang, nor seemed to care for +drink. She sat on the knee of a tall strong man, whose clothes looked +as if they had originally been good, but were now stained with rain and +wine. His face too might once have been handsome, before he got the red +scar across his forehead, or his red eyelids and straggling beard. I +could not help watching the pair--he throwing down the dice +disdainfully, as though good or bad luck were all the same to him, and +when he won giving a push to the girl to collect the money, whereupon +she would take a long dagger that lay on the table, and with the bare +blade just sweep the coins to one side as if they were so much dirt. +Neither of them spoke a word, while their partners--rough young churls +with red faces and glassy eyes--cursed freely in Spanish and French, +and struck the table with their clenched fists. The girl seemed at +length to tire of the game, and looking round her with a yawn, chanced +to spy me out for the first time, for when I entered she was dozing on +the man's shoulder. I suppose my dress took her fancy, or the ring on +my finger; suffice it to say that she began to cast meaning glances at +me, and to make signs with her hand behind her lover's back, which I +neither understood nor attended to, but gulped down my wine the more +quickly that I might slip away, when all of a sudden she sprang from +the knee of the gloomy gambler, and seated herself on the bench beside +me as if intending to sleep, but in reality she kept ogling me all the +time. The man with the scar seemed aware of something wrong, for he +loudly called to her in French to come back at once, but she pretended +to be asleep, and not to hear him. At that he started up in a rage and +bade me go my ways at once--said he had seen me making signals to the +girl, and luring her from his lap. I who was inwardly furious at his +brutality, put on a careless semblance, and said that no one had a +right to bid me leave, that I was interfering with nobody, and paying +for my wine like the rest. At that he grew frantic, dragged the girl +from the bench, and called out to the host to know why he did not keep +his house clear of suspicious characters who only came to spy, called +me all sorts of opprobrious names, and when the girl took my part, +seized hold of my doublet, and tore my collar. I saw now pretty plainly +what I had brought upon myself, for all the rest of the gamblers joined +in the outcry, and the landlord, who got his livelihood through men of +that class, and did not want decent customers, rudely told me that I +was out of place in a house like his where people knew their manners. +'Very good,' I said, 'I will no longer disturb you.' I threw my money +on the table and moved away. But as I was opening the door, the girl +suddenly clung to me and begged me to take her with me for a walk, as +she was sick of the company. '_Allez-vous-en_,' cried I. '_Je ne veux +pas de vous_,' and what else of bad French I could muster. Just then +the storm began, and the uproar within got worse and worse, for the +lover wanted to tear her away, and the others screamed and stormed, and +she clung to me like a wild cat to a tree, and I could not help +thinking in my anger and vexation, 'What if thy good mother saw thee?' +Then came so dazzling a flash, that even those rude beings were quieted +for a moment, the music stopped, and the landlady put up a sort of +prayer. I took advantage of this interval to shake off my troublesome +fair one, and slip out of the house. But while I was on the bridge, +thanking God for having got off with only a black eye, the whole +of them rushed out upon me with drawn blades, and had they not been +half-drunk, my last hour would inevitably have struck! The French +girl too came to my aid, and when she saw her lover--the man with the +scar--drive his dagger into my shoulder, she yelled like a maniac, +pushed me against the railing, and covered me with her own body. +Meanwhile, seeing my life was at stake, I drew out my short sword, and +laid about me so lustily, that all fell back with the exception of my +chief foe who was maddened with jealousy and wine. He actually ran in +upon my sword, gave a roar like a bull, and then fell speechless on his +face. Instantly all was so still one only heard the thunder and +the rush of the river. But then came two flashes and showed us the +train-band marching towards the island. 'Get him into the boat,' said +one of the fellows to another. 'He is already in,' was the reply; 'the +best way were to throw him into the river.' Meanwhile they had caught +hold of the whimpering girl, and were pushing her off by the shoulders. +'_Allons, depêchez-vous_,' she cried. '_Voilà les gendarmes! On nous +attrapera tous._' And then there was such a rush along the narrow +bridge that no one took any notice of me, and under cover of the +darkness and pelting rain I made my escape. The rest, you know, noble +lady. And now just picture to yourself my fate if Heaven had not +touched your heart, if you had refused me your protection. Indelible +disgrace must have attached to me as a brawler, if not as a murderer; +found in a disreputable house; no worthy man to bear witness to my +innocence, and Herr Aufdembühel, instead of writing word to my father +that he rejoiced to renew their old friendship by welcoming his son, +would but have come to see me in prison, and have shaken his head +incredulously over my self-justification, whereas I read in your eyes +that you do not hold me an empty liar, but feel compassion for my +reckless youth, and will not withdraw your hand from me." + +After this impetuous narrative, which evidently excited him much, the +youth sank back on his pillows with a deep sigh, and closed his +eyelids. "Be of good cheer," said Frau Helena, her black eyes moist +with tears. "You shall want for nothing under my roof, and since I have +had you laid in this bed, I should look upon you as my son, even if +everything about you did not assure me that I might give credence to +your words. Valentin thinks that in about a week you may be able to +rise. Till then I shall only ask one thing from you, to be a tractable +patient, and not through impatience or anxiety to retard your recovery. +If you wish, as you cannot move your arm, I will write word to your +mother how you are, and that she need fear no danger for you." + +"Oh, my gracious hostess," cried the youth, catching hold of the sleeve +of her dress and pressing it to his lips; "you are indeed like a mother +to me, for you offer of your own accord what I scarcely dared ask. And +yet I know what a favour you will be conferring upon my dear mother. +For indeed both parents are now sitting anxiously together like two +birds in a nest whose young one has just taken his first flight, and I +had promised to send them tidings as soon as I reached my journey's +end. But now, if you are good enough to write to Frau Martina Brucker, +Augsburg, will you make light of my hurt and keep back from her the way +I got it, until I can send her a circumstantial account. For she is +very easily frightened, and as I am her only child, she has always +taken as much care of me as though I were a girl, and hitherto I have +tried to give her as little uneasiness as possible. If she were to know +what a scrape her Kurt got into on the very first night of his arrival +at Berne, she would not have an hour's peace until she could get him +out of this dangerous atmosphere. But you will see at once what to do. +You will know perfectly what to say to a mother so as to comfort even +more than alarm her." + +He grew so pale while uttering these last words, that Valentin hurried +to the bed-side with a cordial, and gave his mistress plainly to +understand that her interview had been too long. So after a few further +directions, she crept softly out on tip-toe, and in the lobby came upon +Lisabethli. + +"You have been listening?" said she sternly. + +"Dearest mother, forgive me," returned her child. "I could not help it. +I needs must know how it all happened. God be praised and thanked--I +was right--he is innocent." + +"Come down, child, you have nothing to do up here. Should any one call +I am engaged. I must sit down at once and write to his mother." + + + * * * * * + + +But nevertheless a visitor came whom neither Donate could send away, +nor Lisabethli receive alone. It was no other than the chief sergeant, +the greatest man in the town next to the mayor, and distantly related +to Frau Helena. He came on the part of the Town Council to apologise +for the intrusion of the previous night, and also to say that the +disorders on the island should now be effectually put a stop to by the +closing of the tavern, which had long been a thorn in the side of the +civic authorities. As to the savage doings of yesterday evening, a +mystery lay over them which up to the present hour no one had been able +to penetrate. Both combatants had disappeared as completely as though +the earth had swallowed them up, their bloody traces had been washed +away by the heavy rain, and nothing was known of their names or their +antecedents. Only a boat usually fastened to the bridge had been found +two or three miles from the town keel uppermost, and the landlord of +the Stork stated that a horse had been left in his stable last evening, +whose rider had never made his appearance since. + +During this communication Frau Helena had often changed colour, but did +not utter a syllable which could have betrayed her secret knowledge, +nay, she was even careful not to speak a word of any kind, as it must +needs have been at least indirectly untrue. As soon as she was alone +again, she wrote to Frau Martina Brucker in Augsburg, judiciously +keeping back all that might have made her uneasy as to her son's +conduct, and concluding by a cordially expressed promise to nurse +him as a real mother might, since she--this she added with silent +tears--was not so favoured by Heaven as to have her own son under her +roof. + +This letter she herself took in the afternoon to the post, accompanied +by her daughter, without whom, indeed, she seldom left the house. +Neither of them said a word about their hidden guest, and yet neither +thought of anything else. So it was in the evening too when they +silently sat at their spinning wheels. It was only when Donate came in +at a late hour to announce that the fever was higher, the patient +unable to sleep, and delirious, calling constantly for his mother, and +wanting to get up and ride off homewards, that they held a council as +to whether it was any longer possible or justifiable not to call in a +chirurgeon, but trust to the skill and experience of old Valentin, who +had served half his time as apprentice to a leech before Herr Amthor +took him into his service. At last Frau Helena went up herself to +inspect the wound. There was nothing in its aspect to alarm, and the +old man assured her that the rambling, Donate had been frightened by, +merely resulted from the full-bloodedness of youth, and that in +four-and-twenty hours all danger would be perfectly over. Frau Helena +knew that her faithful servant was accustomed to weigh his words before +he spoke positively. She stood for a while by the side of the feverish +sufferer, who did not know her, but when he felt the touch of her hand +called her "mother," and then with a sudden brightness in his face +began to talk to her in a tone of affectionate confidence, telling her +she was not to suppose he had set his heart on Herr Aufdembühel's +daughter--that she knew he would never marry unless he found some one +like her. Then he would break out into French, as if violently +remonstrating with the bold girl of the tavern, telling her not to hang +about his neck, since though she might stain his doublet with wine, she +could not ogle the ring off his finger--and all sorts of delirious +fancies. To all which the judicious matron listened attentively, for +she well knew men, and was silently touched by the evidence thus +afforded of a good and innocent nature. She felt her motherly +partiality for the young stranger grow hour by hour, till she was +almost angry that this youth should assert a claim to a place in her +heart, long entirely filled by sorrow for her lost one. + +The night was again restless, and so was the day. But just as Valentin +had foretold, on the third night came a refreshing sleep, and when Frau +Helena paid her morning visit to her guest, he looked at her with clear +intelligent eyes, and even tried to move his wounded arm, which was +still helpless, but going on as well as possible. The lady shook her +head lovingly at him, and bade him not play any pranks, or fancy +himself well before the time, and the youth, although in the highest +spirits, gravely assured her that he would be passive as an unweaned +child. But that very evening, as mother and daughter were sitting in +their saloon by candlelight, and Lisabethli practising some foreign +tune upon the spinett, there came a knock at the door, and in answer to +a somewhat nervous "Come in,"--for the ladies were not accustomed to +such late visitors--their young guest appeared leaning on the arm of +Valentin, who by silent shrugs, gave them to understand that this was +no doing of his, and that he washed his hands of the consequences of +such imprudence. Kurt, however, over whose pale cheeks a flush of +pleasure passed at this escape from the sick room, gaily and gracefully +bent his knee before the grave matron, and prayed her forgiveness for +having ventured once more to stand on his own feet contrary to her +command. He only wanted to wish his benefactress good-night, and to +thank the young lady too, whom he had not seen since that terrible +evening, for the trouble she had taken in making lint and sewing +bandages together. It was impossible to resist his lively cordial +manner: and even Lisabethli, who had been more startled by his +unexpected appearance on this occasion than on the first, soon regained +her natural ease and replied playfully and intelligently to his +friendly talk. At a signal from her mother she brought in a tray of +fruit and pastry, and their guest who had fasted for some days (first, +however, asking and obtaining leave from Valentin), was soon biting +with his white teeth into the juicy early pears. + +"Noble lady," he said, "I cannot describe to you how pleasant it is to +me to find myself at this table. When I first saw your lights shine +from the terrace below, and directed my fugitive steps hither, how +little I dreamed that I should ever sit here safely and happily, and +that you would be so very kind to me! You must know that I am a +thoroughly spoilt child, and on my journey here, much as I enjoyed the +freedom and novelty of it, yet in the wretched hostelries, spite of +good food and fiery wine, I used to long for the clean tablecloth laid +by our maid at home for our simple fare. I never ventured to sleep in +any of their beds without spreading my cloak over the sheets. Now here +I find everything just as it is at my own mother's--only better +appointed--and that there I have to be son and daughter in one, while +here I sit merely on sufferance, because, as my old friend tells me, +your son is on his travels, while a daughter is left to you such as my +mother has long vainly wished for." + +At these words the old servant slipped away, for this reference to the +absent son distressed him, but Lisabethli came to her mother's rescue. +"Often," she playfully observed, "did people wish themselves a cross, +and if her mother would be candid, she would admit that she not seldom +found herself desiring better companionship than that of a silly little +daughter, her head full of freaks and fancies, who strummed on the +spinet half the day through, roasted the meat too brown, and made the +soup too light, and cost more than she was worth in ribands and +tuckers." At this the mother with a faint smile, observed that the +picture was certainly like, though somewhat darkly shaded; but that +even were it a correct one, each must accept the punishment Heaven +adjudged him. And so saying her face grew very sad, for she thought +that in her case this was but too true. The young people, however, paid +no attention, but went on chatting in the liveliest manner, and +becoming so thoroughly at home with each other that they felt like old +acquaintances; and when Lisabethli had risen from her instrument after +playing three or four national airs to their guest, the minster tower +struck twelve before any of them knew that they had been more than an +hour together. + +There is little to record about the following days and evenings, except +that both the young people, and even the mother, daily thought the time +longer until--the house-door being barred and bolted--they were able to +receive their guest in safety, and chat half the night away in the +cheerful, well-lit sitting-room. They seemed to fall into this state of +things as if it always had been and must always continue, and the very +fact of having a secret to keep and a peril to avert, gave to these +innocent meetings an excitement and a charm against which even Frau +Helena herself was not quite proof. She was wise enough, however, to +foresee that there was another danger besides that of the discovery of +her hidden guest and of her own untruth. Lisabethli, who until the +present time had very seldom, and only for short periods, been in the +company of young men, had already spent eleven days under the same roof +with this stranger; and if, since she had fathomed his candid and +upright nature, the mother had learnt to love him, was it not expecting +too much to suppose the daughter blind to all his gifts and virtues? +He, indeed, confidential and friendly as he was, appeared to have taken +good care of his own heart, and in all the unchecked playfulness of +their talk throughout the long evenings, not a word escaped his lips +that sounded other than brotherly in its tone. But if it were really +so, if this bird of passage had no thought of nest-building, it would +be all the worse for the child, and a mother's duty was to put an end +to it at once. She blamed her own weakness and inability to remind her +guest (who was really now quite able to travel) of the journey he no +longer seemed anxious to take. She felt how much she should miss him, +when she had him no longer to expend her motherly care upon, and no +more heard his frank loving voice call her "lady-mother," or even vie +with her little daughter in devising pet names for her. Then, too, she +had a sense of the ungraciousness and unfitness of hastening a guest's +departure. And so she was glad and sorry both, when a letter arrived +from Augsburg, written by his parents, who at its close enjoined their +son not to trespass too long upon the hospitality of the noble lady to +whom he owed his life, but to set out as soon as ever his wound was +healed and journey homewards; as so only could his anxious mother be +fully convinced that he was really out of danger, and that the +punishment of his recklessness had been on this occasion a lenient one. + +When young Kurt had read out this letter to his two friends, not a word +was spoken by any of the three for a long time, and afterwards the talk +turned only on grave or indifferent subjects. For the sense of this +being their last evening was heavy upon the hearts of all, though none +chose to confess it. After midnight--when he had left them--mother and +daughter went on sitting up, pretending to have something to do, for +neither felt able to sleep. Then Lisabethli left the room to give some +last directions to Donate. On her return she held a sheet of paper in +her hand, and her face was as white as the paper. + +"Dear mother," she stammered out, "Donate has just given me this. It is +from _him_. Will you read it." + +"Read it yourself," said her mother, "there can be no harm in it." + +"Oh mother," whispered the girl, "I cannot see to read it. There is a +cloud before my eyes--I know that it is a farewell!" + +"Give it me," said Frau Helena. "He asks you," she said, after a pause, +"whether you have any objection to his applying to me for my consent to +give you to him. He does this in writing because if you do not love +him, which he fears is but too likely, as you have always seemed so +cheerful and unconcerned--he would prefer not to see you again, but to +set out without any leave-taking, and take his unhappy heart as far as +possible from hence." + +The girl did not answer, and her mother too was silent. Suddenly Frau +Helena felt her child's arms around her neck, her tears on her cheek, +while her soft little mouth whispered in her ear. "I should have died, +dearest mother, if he had not loved me." Then her mother took her upon +her knee as she had not done since she was a child, pressed her closely +to her heart, and said with trembling voice, "God bless you, my good +children: you have to make up to me for much." + +That night no one closed an eye till morning, when they snatched an +hour or two, and the daughter, who woke first, glad as she was that her +mother should have more rest, could yet hardly wait patiently until she +rose and went to return an answer to the young lover's letter. + +When Frau Helena went upstairs, she found her guest--who had like +herself only closed his eyes a short time before--fast asleep, and so +she sat by his bedside contemplating the good innocent countenance that +beamed with hope and happiness even in its sleep. But as still he did +not wake, she called him by his name. At that he started, and in his +confusion could find no words, especially as he did not know what she +would say to his letter. But though her face remained grave, her words +at once gave him comfort and confidence. "Dear son," said she, "you +must not remain here any longer. After what you have written to my +child, it would not be fitting that I should persuade you to go on +accepting our well-meant though poor hospitality. As soon as you are +ready to set out we must part, and Valentin will let you out at the +garden door, from whence you must make your way to the 'Stork,' and +there get your horse, explaining your long absence in the most credible +way you can. And further I must insist that you do not before your +departure say a word to my daughter that might not be spoken to a +stranger. She loves you dearly, and I may truly say that I could wish +nothing more than to have so worthy a son, since my own son," and here +she sighed from the depths of her heart, "is alas! lost to me, as I +shall tell you later. But I do not choose your parents to think that +after nursing you here we have taken advantage of your gratitude to +procure a husband for my daughter; and you yourself, when you go off +and mix with the world again, may wonder at the especial charm you +found in my simple child, when she was your only companion. Therefore +you must part without one binding word on either side, and thus my +child, too, will have time to examine her young heart, and to find out +whether compassion and the interest of an adventure may not have +produced an illusory belief that you are her Heaven-appointed +bridegroom. If when you have spoken to your parents and obtained their +consent you are still of the same mind as now, you can let us know by +letter or in person, and God will then give his blessing if this +marriage be really made in Heaven. And now, dear son, I leave you, and +shall expect you at breakfast, for you shall not leave my house fasting +and unrefreshed, although I must still impose abstinence upon your +yearning heart." + +She rose and pressed a mother's kiss on the brow of the youth, who had +listened in speechless rapture. But if he drew from this token of +affection any hope that she would not be so stern as to prevent him +pressing his loved maiden to his heart once at least before they +parted, he did not know the strong character of this mother, in whose +nature severity and tenderness were strangely blended. The farewell had +to take place exactly in the manner prescribed, and if Lisabethli had +not in reaching out her hand given him a look that was one long +confession of the deepest love and fidelity, he might have gone away, +not in joyous hope, but in uncertainty as to whether or not he had +found a heart that was his for life and death. He left a ring on the +table of his room, wrapped in paper, with just one line to the mother. +"Will you keep this token for me till you allow me to offer it to your +child." As to Valentin and Donate, he rewarded their care so liberally +that in their amazement they came to tell Frau Helena that Herr Kurt +must surely have made some mistake. But when they saw the traces of +tears in Lisabethli's eyes, they silently went their way, and began to +put many things together. + +This was about noon, when most persons were at home, and Kurt could go +through Frau Amthor's garden-gate with least risk of being observed. +Some hours passed by without the mother and daughter opening their lips +even to speak on indifferent subjects. They were more occupied with +each other than ever, and showed it in a hundred little loving ways, +only they hardly dared to allow their eyes to meet, for each had a +secret to keep. When the day got cooler, the mother was just going to +invite her child, who was walking alone in the garden, to put on her +hat and take a turn with her through the town, when Valentin suddenly +appeared with an anxious visage, and hastily announced that the chief +sergeant, who had paid his mistress a visit twelve days before, now +requested to know whether she was at home. He had something, he said, +of importance and urgency to communicate. Frau Helena--whose first idea +was some fresh imprudence on the part of Kurt--had just time to make a +sign to Valentin, enjoining silence towards Lisabethli, when in came +the stately dignitary, looking far more solemn and mysterious than he +had done on the former occasion, and requesting a private interview. +After she had led him into a small study, where he took his seat facing +her, coughed several times, and re-arranging the tags on his dress, he +began in evident embarrassment to address her as follows:-- + +"I need not to premise, worthy Frau Amthor, how not only your family +and house, but also your own character are held in honour by every +person, public or private, in our good town, and your virtues, as well +at the name and memory of your departed husband, looked up to as a +Christian example. It is, therefore, the universal wish to keep sorrow +far from you, and to offer you whatever consolation lies within human +power for such trial as Heaven has appointed. It will not have escaped +you that all as by common consent have long avoided touching the wound +that your son's conduct has inflicted, and I indeed as your friend and +relative, should have been especially bound never to name your lost +Andreas in your presence, if my official duty had not required me so to +do. Will you, therefore, not render my painful duty still harder to me +by suppression or evasion, but openly tell me what accounts of your son +you have lately had, and where you have reason to believe him now to +be?" + +"If you ask me thus earnestly," replied the mother, without betraying +either in look or tone how fast her heart was beating; "I must, alas! +return you for answer, that it will be four years next All Saints' +since I saw my unhappy son for the last time, and that since then I +have had no manner of communication from him. But now let me enquire +what leads you and the rest of the Town-Council to make such enquiries +about the absent one who--whatever his offences may be--has at least +not given his native town any cause for complaint for a space of nine +years?" + +The sergeant coughed again, and resumed after a pause, during which he +was evidently in search of the most appropriate words possible. "Hear +me out patiently, my worthy friend and relative, and do not be startled +if my communication should sound strange and alarming. Up to the +present time it is only a surmise which may--God grant it!--prove to be +entirely unfounded. You remember the night on which the train-band +intruded upon you, and the disorderly conduct on the island, respecting +which I waited upon you the following day, bearing the apologies of the +Council. The tavern which caused you so much annoyance, was closed at +once, and the scene of much nightly misdemeanour removed. Neither since +that night had any trace of the chief offenders been found, so that I +began to suspect the watchmen must have been bewildered with new wine, +and seen phantoms. But last evening, just as we were breaking up, a +young female was brought before us, who had gone to the sexton of St. +Ursula to request him to give private burial to a corpse then in her +room, since she feared--the fatal wound having been received in a +brawl--that she might else as a stranger in the place be held in some +way amenable to the law. The little money the girl possessed--she +seemed to be no better than a French courtesan, and could scarcely put +ten German words together--she had offered the sexton as a bribe for +secrecy, but when he, as his duty was, gave information of the death, +and took her with him to the Court, she seemed inspired with sudden +courage, and being thoroughly cross-examined by us, was yet able to +establish her innocence in this tragic matter. The dead man, who had +been her lover and brought her with him from Lyons, had on the night of +the storm picked a quarrel on the island with an unknown youth, and had +been stabbed by the latter during a struggle on the bridge. When the +train-band was seen approaching, she had just had time with the help of +two of their travelling companions, to get the unconscious man into a +boat, and to bring him to the obscure inn where they had arrived on the +previous day. The two other men seeing that there was nothing more to +be made, got themselves out of the scrape, but she had faithfully +tended the wounded man by night and day, and persuaded the host that he +was getting better, and would if secrecy were maintained reward him +liberally by-and-by. It was only when he had drawn his last breath that +she thought of herself with any anxiety, for during his illness she had +been obliged to spend all the money he had won at play, and the few +ornaments she had, she had sold to a Jew in hopes of getting him +quietly buried. As to her future maintenance, however, she continued +with brazen assurance, she should have no fear, as she was young +and--thank God!--not ugly, if only she were acquitted by us, and could +get to a country where people understood her. The dead man had, indeed, +treated her liberally as regarded dress, food, and presents, but she +had not had much pleasure with him, for he was of a sulky temper, and +not a thorough Frenchman, spite of his name. She rather thought he must +have been an Alsatian. He called himself Laporte, had travelled through +many lands, had served in the Dutch army, and was not fond of speaking +about his past. The idea of travelling in Switzerland occurred to him +when he had exhausted all his means. She had never found out whether he +had a treasure buried in this country, or friends who were in any way +bound to him, and at whose door he had only to knock in order to be set +on his legs again. This was the simple truth, and more she did not +herself know, and therefore could not tell us, even if she were put to +the torture. + +"After this declaration of Fleurette,--which was the female's name--the +mayor ordered that the body should be moved from the inn (where as yet +the death had not transpired) to the hospital, and last night it was +borne upon a bier into the dead house, and a protocol was made previous +to the interment of the stranger--as such--close to the churchyard +wall. The foreign hussy was meanwhile confined for a season in the +tower of the hospital. When we betook ourselves this morning to the +dead house, and the inspector had given us his report, namely, that +the wound had been dealt by a German sword between the fourth and +fifth ribs, and that it was a marvel such a wound had been so long +survived--there came a judicial investigation of the clothes and few +effects found, the result of which in no way contradicted, but rather +confirmed, the young woman's statement. We found that in his commission +as officer in the Dutch army, he was entered as a Monsieur Laporte or +De la Porte; there were no other papers. The clerk had indeed already +finished the protocol, when the surgeon called our attention to a +seal-ring on the dead man's clenched left hand. It was a thick gold +ring of curious make, with a blood-red cornelian, and it was impossible +to get it off. But as I chanced--being fond of antiques--to bend down +closer with a candle in order to examine the style of it, I saw to my +surprise and horror, that it was exactly--but you must not be alarmed, +it may as I said be merely accidental--_exactly_ I repeat, like the +family arms of the Amthors, two beams supporting a cornice with an open +door in the middle and a star above. The candle shook in my hand, all +the more that at the same moment I saw in the pale bearded face, which +had at first seemed to me that of a perfect stranger, an expression--I +pray you, my good cousin, to forgive me if I pain you--an expression +such as I had seen on the dead face of my excellent and honoured +friend, your late husband, when on the day of his burial I stood for +the last time beside his open coffin." + +The worthy man, having got so far in his narrative, made a pause, +during which he did not venture to look at the matron opposite him, +though indeed he could but poorly estimate the amount of the woe that +hung over her. He had no idea that the fate of both children might +depend on whether the stranger proved to be her own son or not. + +"Be comforted, my beloved friend," he at length resumed, wiping away +the cold drops from his brow. "I have taken upon myself not to say a +word of this discovery to any one but the mayor, whom you know to be an +honourable man heartily devoted to your family. I asked him whether +this melancholy supposition had not better be buried in our hearts. It +is not probable, but yet it is possible, that a branch of the Amthors +may have migrated to foreign lands, there changed their name to Laporte +or De la Porte for the sake of convenience, retaining, however, the +family arms. As to that look in the dead face, which is a good deal +disfigured by a deep scar, I said nothing about it to him, as he had +declared he saw no likeness whatever to Andreas, whom he remembered to +have often met nine or ten years ago. Nevertheless he was of opinion +that so singular a coincidence ought not to remain a secret to you. If +indeed, contrary to all probability, it should prove to be your poor +son who has met with so tragical an end, no one would deny a mother the +bitter consolation of blessing to its eternal rest, the head she had +carried beneath her heart. Again, as regards official formalities, it +is unfitting that we should satisfy ourselves with the declaration of a +vagabond female, when we have the most convincing witness at hand; for +it may prove desirable hereafter, with regard to future demises, +inheritances, and the like, to have some certain knowledge to go upon. +Therefore I determined to come to you, to lay the whole case before +you, and persuade you, if I can, to pay a visit to the hospital--as +secretly as you will--in order to prevent all useless suspense or +suspicion." + +So saying he rose and went to the window to give Frau Helena time to +collect herself and come to a decision. A quarter of an hour passed +away, during which nothing was audible in the small room but the +ticking of the great clock--a wedding present from Lisabethli's +grandfather to his daughter-in-law, bearing on its metal face the +family arms of the Amthors. Out of doors, too, all was still--nothing +to be heard but the cawing of a flight of rooks wending their way over +the terrace, or the muffled thud of an over-ripe apple on the grass. + +At length the lady rose and approached her old and tried friend, who +met her rigid gaze with an expression of sorrowful sympathy. "I thank +you," she said, "for having come to me, and performed this painful duty +with so much consideration. Say to the highly respected mayor that I +shall find myself at about nine o'clock at the side-door of the +hospital, and should wish to be met there by some trustworthy person, +and this painful step concealed from all who might be likely to talk of +it. The rest I leave in God's hand--He will order it aright." + +"I shall be there myself to meet you," replied the sergeant. "May our +Lord God strengthen your heart, and your frame, and grant us the +fulfilment of our hope that this may prove merely an accidental +coincidence!" + +"Amen!" said Frau Helena in a hollow voice, in which was no hope +whatever. + +Thereupon her visitor left her. As soon as she was alone she sank down +on her knees in the place where she had been standing, and waves of +anguish closed over her mother's heart. + + + * * * * * + + +It was already getting dusk, when her daughter's voice speaking in the +garden to old Donate, roused the mourner from her trance. Soon after +Lisabethli entered, and found her mother sitting at her desk, as though +evening had overtaken her at her accounts and letters. + +"Dearest mother," said the girl, "he has sent me another letter--a boy +brought it to Donate; he wrote it as soon as he had got beyond the +gates, because you said he might write when far away. Will you read it? +He says that I am to be as sure of his truth as of your love, and that +nothing can ever part us but death." + +She held the letter out to her mother, but the latter did not take it. +"Leave me alone, awhile, child," she replied. "I have got something to +think over." + +The girl went away, happy to keep her treasure all to herself. The +mother remained an hour longer in the darkening room, absorbed in +darkest thoughts, through which pierced not one heavenly ray. She never +for a moment doubted that the ring on the finger of the dead man, was +the same that she had placed on the finger of her Andreas the first +time that he went to Holy Communion. As to any accident which had +transferred this ring to the hand of some one else, she never +entertained the idea. He who lay in the dead house of the hospital with +that sword-thrust in his breast was none other than her much-loved, +much-wept son. And he who had killed this son--in self-defence it is +true--was one to whom she had promised her daughter, who would probably +return in a few weeks as a happy bridegroom to the desolate house, and +with laughing face carry off her daughter, so that through him she +should be bereaved of both her children. She hated him at that moment, +she cursed the hour in which he entered her house, cursed her own +tongue that had promised him protection and ratified that promise with +a falsehood, when saving him from his pursuers. And yet the next moment +her heart recalled that curse, for in her mind's eye she saw again the +candid face of the innocent fugitive, heard his clear tones, remembered +her own words when she vowed to be a mother to him, and her daughter's +voice when she came to her on the previous evening with her letter, and +said, "I should have died, dearest mother, had he not loved me." She +knew her child, and that these words were not lightly spoken. She felt, +moreover, what she owed to this child, who had been for years defrauded +of her due share of maternal love. Would she not have cause of bitter +complaint against a brother who, after years of long wild wandering, +had only returned to his country to bring fresh misery on his mother's +head, and to destroy the whole happiness of his sister's life? "No," +said the stronghearted woman, "it must not be. No one is guilty here +but I. I am the real cause of his miserable end, I with my foolish +indulgence and subservience from excess of love! No one shall +suffer--ought to suffer, but I. I shall not have any joy in the son +whom God seemed to have given me to replace my lost one; my other +child will go away, and I shall be left solitary, with only my own +misery--misery purchased by a double falsehood!" + +She sank again into gloomy brooding, till the minster clock struck +nine. Then she started, and gathering together all the strength of a +desolate soul, she called to Lisabethli to bring her her coif, as she +had a necessary errand that took her out. The girl wondered at her +going so late, but did not like to ask any questions, having indeed in +her early days too many experiences of unusual proceedings on her +mother's part to dwell much upon this wonder, especially now she had +such happy thoughts of her own. But old Valentin could not refrain from +enquiring whether he might not light the lantern and accompany his +mistress. She shook her head in silence, doubled her veil over her +face, and left the house. + +It was no great distance to the hospital, but she often felt as though +she should never be able to reach it. "O Lord God!" she inwardly +prayed, "take me away from earth! It is too much--Thou visitest Thy +servant too severely!" And yet something too seemed to draw her onwards +to the place where she should behold for the last time the long yearned +after face of her lost son! + +When she reached the site of the old pest-house, with its handsome +chapel, a man dressed in black drew near and whispered her name. It +was, she knew, her friend the chief sergeant, but they did not exchange +words, and he led her through the side-door, which he unlocked, into +the interior of the building. They entered a dimly-lighted hall, where +the hospital attendant on duty had fallen asleep on a bench. Their +footsteps wakened him, but at a signal from the sergeant he remained +where he was, while the former lighted another taper, and preceded the +lady. They went up some steps, and through a long passage to a kind of +cellar-door which stood half open. "If you prefer to go in alone," said +he, "take the taper. I will wait for you in the passage." + +She bowed assent in silence, took the tin sconce into her hand, and +entered the chamber of the dead. + +It was a low stone-roofed room, with bare walls blackened by smoke and +time, and entirely devoid of furniture. In its midst stood the coffin, +roughly made, and stuffed with nothing but half mouldy straw. In it +rested the corpse, beneath a grey pall, scarcely long enough to cover +the tall frame of the dead, who had been laid down in the clothes he +wore in life. At the lady's entrance two rats who had been gnawing at +his boots, jumped out of the straw into their holes. She did not notice +them. Her eyes were fixed upon the head of the coffin, where the pall +just showed a high white forehead with a deep scar down to the very +eyebrows. She placed the taper in a niche of the wall, and with her +remnant of strength approached to raise the pall. One glance at the +rigid face furrowed by the conflict of life and of death--and she sank +down beside the coffin. + +Yet it was no swoon that mercifully shrouded her senses. It was only +that her legs would no longer support her; her mind was fully awake, +and her heart felt all its old wounds open, and begin to bleed and burn +afresh. She had fallen on her knees, her hands folded, her eyes fixed +on the pale face of her dead son, averted as it seemed from her in +indifference, in almost anger, and upturned to the black arch of the +roof. Oh! she would have given her life, the last poor remnant of her +days on earth, if those eyes could but have opened once more for one +farewell look, if those discoloured lips could once--only once--have +called her "mother!" + +The sergeant who was waiting in the passage, was under the impression +that he heard a groan proceed from the chamber of the dead. What it +meant he did not know. If indeed it were her son he would not disturb +the mortal anguish of the mother. Suddenly he heard her steps approach +the door, and saw her coming out, the light in her hand, her head erect +as if no shock had bowed her down, her eyes strained and strange, but +meeting his. + +"I have kept you waiting," she said, "which was unnecessary. One glance +is sufficient to reveal the truth to a mother: but it has shaken me. I +had to rest a little." + +"So it is not he!" cried her faithful friend. "God be praised!" + +"To all Eternity!" said she. "Let us go. The place is ghastly." + +She went on hastily with the taper, and steadily descended the steps. +In the hall where the watcher sat, she put down the taper on the table, +and her hand no longer trembled. + +"You will see," said the sergeant to the sleepy official, "that +to-morrow, not later than five, the sexton comes and bears the body to +its rest." + +"The grave is already dug, sir," was the reply, "near the place where a +year ago Hans Frisdolin, the parricide was laid." + +"Not so," returned the sergeant, "he shall have no dishonourable +burial, only as a stranger he must lie next to the wall. His French +girl has offered to pay the sexton. You can remind her, Killian." + +"What I wanted to ask," the man broke in, "is whether the foreign lady +may have wine, and also a roast pigeon for which she longs. She will +pay for it, she says, and indeed she is a very good little thing, and a +pair of foreigners have been to pay her a visit in the tower and spent +three hours there. The warder turned them away at night, but the lady +was sadly put out, and she sent the warder to ask whether I would not +pay her a visit, for she found the time hang heavy." + +"She must conform to the regulations," growled the sergeant. "To-morrow +she will be free, and then she can recommence her godless trade, as she +too surely will so soon as she is beyond our jurisdiction. Good-night, +Killian." + +He turned to Frau Helena, who had gone to the door of the hall, and +there in deep shadow leant against the wall. While he led her out, and +on the way to her house, whither he accompanied her, he kept railing +against the dissolute creature, who might well have the unfortunate +dead on her conscience instead of throwing out baits for fresh victims +before the earth had closed over the last. He protested it removed a +stone from his heart to know that this Laporte was no Amthor, and he +hoped that the real Andreas might yet live to make up to his mother for +all that she had so christianly endured. The Council, however, was +truly indebted to the worthy matron for having given herself the +trouble of this late walk. + +And so saying he took leave of the silent lady, and wished her a night +of refreshing sleep. + +That wish was most certainly not realised. A storm arose that filled +the night with such wild uproar, that it seemed as if the very +earth trembled. In the room which had once been that of Andreas, a +window-shutter had been blown open, and now kept beating and flapping +against the wall. Lisabethli, who had fallen asleep, woke up in terror +at the sound. She saw her mother leave the room without a light, and +heard her go upstairs, and there was an end to that source of +disturbance as she fastened the shutter again. The young girl waited +awhile for her return, but fell asleep before it, and indeed she would +have waited in vain. For Frau Helena remained in the dark room above, +as though it were more tolerable to her to listen to the storm than to +the breathing of her child, who, in her happy dreams spoke of her Kurt, +and called him loving names. + +About dawn the wind went down, and in its place came a cold rain which +got heavier and heavier, and at length veiled town and river in a grey +mist. The sexton who, with two companions to help him, had by five +o'clock dug a grave by the churchyard wall, and lowered a rudely-made +coffin into it, was quicker than ever over his work, and the coffin +rested slantingly in the shallow pit. Then, since the clergyman who was +to have blessed it, omitted his duty in consequence of the terrible +weather, the man of the spade himself said a Paternoster for the poor +soul, and hastily shovelled in the coarse clods, leaving the rest to be +finished by his companions. He was about to hasten home and catch a +short morning-nap in his warm room, when he noticed a female figure +kneeling by a head-stone not far from the new grave, her head, covered +by a black veil, resting against the stone. That stone had long been +deserted, the family of the one who slept there having removed to +another country. What could the lady be doing there? As, however, she +remained quite still, and spite of the rain seemed absorbed in her +devotions, he did not venture to disturb her. For an instant it flashed +across him that it might be the foreign hussy who had paid for the +grave of the murdered man, but he heard afterwards that she had slept +till a late hour, and had, indeed, only awaked when the beadle came to +march her out of the town. + +A few days later there reached him from an unknown source, a +considerable sum of money, which purported to be payment for a +forgotten burial. He for his part gave himself no thought about the +matter, and pocketed the unexpected windfall as though it had dropped +from the sky. + + + * * * * * + + +What follows is soon told. In the next spring the marriage of Kurt +Brucker and Elizabeth Amthor was, according to custom, celebrated at +the home of the bride, and the Augsburg relations came in great state +to do all honour to the bride's mother, and the family of the Amthors. +Nothing which could be looked for on such an occasion was left undone, +and Lisabethli had no cause to complain of her dower, her outfit, or +the wedding banquet. One thing only was lacking--the smile of joy on +the face of the bride's mother. She was kind and courteous to all, to +strangers and relatives alike, and bowed assent when the guests +remarked to her how completely made for each other the young couple +were, and that both houses might well be congratulated on so fitting +and honourable an alliance. But amidst all the loud cheer of the bridal +banquet, she sat pale and silent as a ghost, and though the rest of the +family of the bridegroom who had not known her before, gradually grew +reconciled to this, and whispered to each other that it was the sorrow +for her absent son which pressed so hardly upon her on this joyous +day--yet Kurt had not been wont to see his mother-in-law thus, and it +struck him as strange that she never once gave him her hand, or +pressed him in her arms as she had done the stranger-guest when, but +half-recovered, he had ventured to woo her child. It was only when the +youthful pair set out to their new home, that the mother kissed her +daughter with such a violent burst of tears, it seemed as though her +heart would break and melt away, and then laid her damp hand on her +son-in-law's brow, murmuring words that no one could understand. Then +she turned hurriedly away, and even before they left the house, locked +herself up in the solitude of her own room. + +There she spent the few years that she had to live, avoiding all +society, reading religious books, and only opening her door to the poor +and the sorrowful. When, in a year's time, letters came from Augsburg, +pressingly inviting her to the christening of a grandson, she excused +herself on account of her age and infirmities which unfitted her to +travel. Yet she was often seen to walk with vigorous step in solitary +roads outside the town--old Valentin a few paces behind her. But she +never addressed him and seemed, indeed, almost to have lost the habit +of speech. It was only on her death-bed, when she felt her end drawing +near, that she sent for the parish priest, who spent some hours with +her. What she then imparted was told by him to one of her daughter's +children who travelled to Berne to see his grandmother's grave. That +she had ordered to be dug by the churchyard wall, close to the +long-ago-levelled mound under which her lost son had found his last +resting-place. + + + + END OF THE LOST SON. + + + + + + + THE FAIR KATE. + + + + + + THE FAIR KATE. + + +"It is incontestably true," said the old landscape-painter B----, +slowly stroking down his grey or rather mouse-coloured beard, "women +will be women, that is, sex dominates in the best as in the worst; and +though they are often obstinate enough in taking things into their +head, yet after all it is but seldom a head with any special or +original character, is only a feminine head. A genuine individuality +that can be measured by itself alone is far more rare among them than +among us men, and positively I do not know if the fact gives us +anything to boast of. Very often our peculiarity is only peculiar +folly--a departure from nature, whether through culture or mutilation; +while women, for whose training or spoiling less is done from without, +seldom become unnatural either in good or evil, seldom exceed the +average. But when they do so I have always found something to marvel +at. + +"For instance one case remains indelibly fixed on my memory, when I +actually witnessed a thing unheard of and unparalleled, a lovely girl +who had an actual hatred of her own beauty, not merely a conceited, +coquettish, pretended indifference to it, or even an over-strained, +saintly, nun-like renunciation of it, but what one might call an +honourable enmity against it, which had, indeed, its good grounds. + +"I became acquainted with the story in question in the following way. + +"At that time--it's now more than twenty years ago--I was very intimate +with a long-forgotten Dutch painter, Jan van Kuylen or Kuyden--you will +not find the name in any catalogue of known artists. + +"In the course of the usual journey to Rome, he had remained hanging +about Munich, the real reason being that Raphael and Michael Angelo +were secretly oppressive to him, crushed his own small personality, and +disgusted him with the neat Dutch style by which he made a good deal of +money. He was a curious fellow, the oddest mixture of humour and +phlegm, ideality and cynicism, sentimental tendencies and caustic +irony. And so, too, in his studio you found the oddest medley; there +were exquisite specimens of Venetian glass for which he had a great +love, costly instruments inlaid with silver and mother of pearl, for he +played the guitar and lute well; then again on some heavily embroidered +cloth you would see a tin-plate with bits of cheese-rind, or a quart +of beer in an ugly mug, and the room would be filled with thick, +strong-smelling, cheap tobacco which he had sent to him from Holland, +and smoked in a small black clay pipe the whole day through. + +"In his pictures, however, everything was so neat, clean, and accurate +that at the first glance there was not much to distinguish them from +those of the old masters--Netscher, Mieris, and Gerard Dow. But when +you looked closer you saw they betrayed a most eccentric vein, various +displays of a humour, which, however, chiefly delighted to disport +itself in caricature or parody. This was not the fashion then as now, +and therefore in Munich, where the pathetic or the simply naïve was +still in the ascendant, Jan van Kuylen's too often profane performances +did not go down well. The first picture that he exhibited there was one +of Paradise, where Adam, a gaunt, lean, yellow-visaged fellow, was +digging the ground in the sweat of his brow, while Eve darned an old +jacket, and glanced up in evident ill-humour at the forbidden fruit, +while the first person of the Trinity looked smilingly over the hedge. +The picture was at once removed, for naturally the clergy took umbrage +at it. And indeed Jan did not fare much better with the second, which +also showed the cloven foot. He called it the Temptation of St. +Anthony. It is true that this new version widely departed from the +simple honest absence of all propriety with which the worthy Teniers +has illustrated the legend. A young peasant woman--evidently returning +from a wedding or christening feast, as she was carrying a basket +filled with meat, cakes, and a bottle of wine--had let herself be +induced by the cool of the evening hour, and probably her own heavy +head, to take a nap in the shade of the wood. St. Anthony, a very +sturdy youth, with his cowl thrown back, had evidently been coming +unsuspectingly along, and at the sudden sight stood rooted to the spot, +looking now at the young woman, now at the basket of good things, and +manifestly waging a violent warfare with his conscience, during which +he scratched his head in absurd perplexity. The expression of his face +was so irresistibly droll, that on this occasion even the clergy could +not avoid winking at it with a smile. + +"But I have not yet mentioned the strangest part of it all: this Saint +in two minds, and the Adam in the picture of Paradise, were both exact +portraits of the painter himself. And this added immensely to the +drollery of the thing. For in point of fact my friend's appearance was +a perfect study for a humorist. He might have been painted entirely in +different shades of yellow, his complexion of the tender tone of a +fresh Edam cheese, his hair and beard like overgrown dusty stubble, his +grey eyes almost hidden by thick pale eyelashes. And to make the +matter more complete he always dressed himself from top to toe in +sand-coloured cloth for winter, in nankeen for summer, and was fond of +bringing forward and ridiculing his own personal peculiarities by the +most far-fetched comparisons. So, too, in his pictures, where he +regularly and as prominently as possible introduced himself moderately +caricatured, but always in positions that were half-comic and half-sad, +half-expressive of self-contempt, and half of resignation. It seemed as +if he wished to show that he did not take in ill-part, but rather was +the first to laugh over, the practical joke played him by the step-dame +Nature. + +"Well, it was Whit Monday, my wife had a party of her friends to +coffee, and the buzz and hum of female voices--which I could hear +through double doors--drove me out. As it was a beautiful afternoon, +with everything in its early freshness, and plenty for me to study on +the banks of the Isar, I determined to invite Van Kuylen to take a +walk. He was living at that time in Theresa-meadows, in a small house +with a room to the north, that he had fitted up for a studio. You +entered it by a little garden, in which of course the inevitable tulips +were not now wanting, but which equally abounded with lilacs and +jessamine. Next you turned into a small court where a fountain was +playing, which the eccentric artist had adorned with a misshapen +Triton, the work of his own hands, for he dabbled in modelling. Then +you came to the studio door, which was seldom open, for Jan painted +away with unwearied diligence from morning to night, and neither sought +amusement nor society. + +"I was, therefore, surprised on the present occasion, to find the door +open, and for a moment thought he must have gone out, and that his maid +might be busy arranging the room, when I heard his voice saying to some +one, 'If you are weary, we will leave off for to-day, and besides it is +a high festival. Let us hope your father confessor will not be angry at +our being engaged with such worldly subjects, instead of keeping it +holy!' + +"No answer was returned, or at all events none that I heard. I was +amazed. To have a model sitting with an open door was no more usual or +befitting at that time than it is now. And that the strong smell of the +Dutch tobacco should not come through that door, bordered on the +miraculous. + +"When, however, I drew a step nearer, I soon saw why my good Jan had +given up smoking, and though I was only a landscape painter, I did not +at all wonder at him. For such a model was worth while losing one's +head for, to say nothing of one's pipe. + +"The colours on the face of the young girl who sat there in the best +light, as motionless as a picture, with a red damask curtain behind +her, were really so brilliant, that they exceeded all probability, and +made me perfectly stupid with amazement. Such a white satin-skin, just +tinged with faintest rose-colour, and here and there with blue, such +vividly red lips, such velvety brown eyes and silky hair of the same +colour growing rather low on a superbly arched brow, I have never +before nor since seen, except, indeed in pictures, where they make +little impression because they are exaggerated. Nature can certainly +venture upon much that Art can never safely aspire to. When I had +somewhat got over the first shock of this sensational style of +nature-painting, I saw that in the drawing, too, the very best possible +had been done; done with a grandeur and solidity which were almost +prodigal, for it is not wise to expend every resource, colour and form, +both in perfection, on any one figure. Even a sculptor must have +confessed that only in the best antiques had he seen anything of the +kind. Above all I was amazed at the contour of the cheeks, the noble, +massively-rounded chin, the half-opened lips that seemed to breathe out +a very overflow of life, and the perfect shape of the straight, +scornful little nose, which was just a trifle too broad, perhaps, +for modern taste. It was only the eyes that afforded any room for +fault-finding, if after seeing those calm and melancholy stars beaming +on one, one had the heart for it. At least I found out later that the +line of the eyelids might have been more curved, and they themselves a +degree broader. + +"For the first ten minutes I stood there actually spell-bound, did not +even say 'Good-day,' and was--as people often stupidly call it--all +eyes. And indeed no one spoke. Van Kuylen, his extinct pipe in his +mouth, had merely given me a side nod, and continued painting hard. The +motionless beauty queened it before her red curtain on an old satin +ottoman with gilt lions' heads, her eyes fixed upon the great +half-darkened window, her hands--which were very slender and white, +but not small--carelessly folded on her lap. She wore a common +dark-coloured cotton gown, with an old tulle frill crammed in at her +throat, but had neither ear-rings, rings, nor ornaments of any kind. + +"Beside her on a low stool, sat a little girl of about seven, slowly +and reluctantly knitting away at a coarse blue stocking. + +"At length I found it necessary to make some remark. + +"'I am disturbing you, Mynheer,' said I, though for a quarter of an +hour past I had seen that he did not permit himself to be disturbed by +me. We painters used to call him Mynheer in jest. + +"'Send me away at once,' I went on, 'if I am in any way inconvenient +either to you or the young lady. Though indeed when one has hit upon +such a discovery, it is but a man's Christian duty to share it with his +neighbours.' + +"Van Kuylen muttered a Dutch word or two between his teeth; the girl +looked gloomy as though I had said something to offend her; the child +with the stocking yawned heartily, and dropped a dozen stitches. + +"'My good friend,' I at length resumed in Dutch, in which he had taught +me to jabber a little, 'tell me honestly whether you wish me at the +Devil, or whether I may remain a little longer to stare at this really +quite unreasonably exquisite face that your lucky star has led you +to--Heaven knows how--and which, to speak plainly, is infinitely too +good for you. Such a subject--begging your pardon--is not appropriate +for your foot-square canvas, and your finickin genre-brush. Life-size, +indeed, and faithfully and humbly copied--as it pleased God to make +her--in the manner of the old Venetians, that would be a different +thing. But I know you too well, with your worthy visage; you would want +to be peeping down upon her from some window-corner or other, or giving +scope to some of your antic humour, and that would be an insult to such +a paragon of Grecian perfection, with whose face that wretched cotton +gown is no more in keeping than a modern crinoline with the Juno +Ludovisi.' + +"I had no scruple in thus crudely speaking my mind to him; he was +rather fond of pungent personal remarks, and did not remain long in my +debt. + +"He rose to get something that he wanted for his work, and answered +without removing his empty pipe from his lips: 'I can well imagine your +mouth watering after such an exceptional morsel. You would like, +perhaps, to paint her as another pigeon-breasted Diana emerging from a +pool under a German oak-tree, and setting horns on the brow of an +Acteon who has stolen his legs from the Apollo Belvedere? The girl +seems to you good enough for that, does she not? But that's not to be +done. You will never get her to consent to any mythological +ambiguities. Do you suppose I have ever seen an inch more of her than +what she is gracious enough to shew us both at this present moment? And +even for this I have had to run after her long, and almost despaired of +her ever sitting to me at all. But hunger is the best of go-betweens. +And so I have had to give in to all her severe conditions. The door is +always to stand open, the little school-girl is always to sit there, +and if I ever venture to visit her at her own abode, there is to be an +end of us both! Of course I agreed to everything she chose; I was so +besotted by her face, I could have committed one of the seven deadly +sins just to see her once in this light, sitting on that seat, and so +to be able to study her to my heart's content. As to what I am to make +of it afterwards that is immaterial. But if I secretly hoped gradually +to melt the ice between us--at all events to a kind of brotherly +friendship and regard--why, I was much mistaken. It is no great wonder +after all. I am not to her taste, and I think none the worse of her for +that. But there have been others who accidentally turned in--this is +the third sitting--who were thoroughly discomfited, very showy +audacious gentry--handsome Fritz, and Schluchtenmüller, and our Don +Ramiro, with his languishing tenor voice. They were all tinder at once, +but after a little burning and glowing had to retire, extinguished as +if by a gush of cold water. Is it not so, Miss,' said he suddenly in +German to the silent beauty, 'it is perfectly useless to pay you +compliments? This gentleman--who is only a landscape-painter it is +true, but still a connoisseur in women--would willingly express his +wonder and admiration. But I have told him that you would rather not +hear anything of the sort.' + +"'You are right,' she replied with the utmost indifference. 'It is the +fact, I know, and I cannot alter it. But God knows if I had had +anything to do with it, I should never have chosen the face He has +given me.' + +"Her manner of saying this perfectly amazed me. It had not a touch of +that mock modesty, which says the very reverse of what it thinks, in +hopes of being contradicted. No, it expressed a weary, but unalterable +contempt for the gift of beauty; it was the tone of one who has to drag +a sack of gold through a desert, and sighs from the very core of his +heart, 'I would give it all for one morsel of bread.' + +"Then, too, her way of expressing herself, showed more culture than you +usually find amongst girls who hire themselves out to be painted. It +was easy to see that the fair creature had some strange story connected +with her. + +"'Nay, nay,' said I, 'if you had chosen your own face you would not +have shown bad taste in the matter. And though, indeed, beauty is +transient, while ugliness endures, and there may be inconveniences, or +even dangers in the impressions it makes on those who see you, still +you would hardly convince me, young lady, that you are seriously +annoyed at having such a face. You would be quite unique if it were +so.' + +"'You may think what you like,' she replied negligently, and her lovely +full upper lip assumed a scornful expression. 'I know perfectly well +what men are. If a poor thing is vain of her little bit of pink and +white, _that_ does not suit them, and if she is not vain at all, but +rather curses the beauty which has cost her so dear, why that will not +please them either! But after all I have nothing to do with setting +other people right, it is enough that I know what I know.' + +"After this unflattering declaration came a long pause. Mynheer van +Kuylen sat at his easel, and attempted by the tenderest glazing to +convey the smoothness of that skin, and the lustre of those moist eyes; +the child had laid down her stocking, and was turning the pages of a +picture-book, and by way of putting a good face on my embarrassment I +lit a cigar. + +"'You have no objection, Miss?' I enquired in my most ingratiating +tones. + +"She slightly nodded, and in so doing gave a sigh, and her delicate +nostrils quivered. + +"'May one venture to ask your name, Fräulein?' I resumed after a while. + +"'My name is Katharine,' she replied in the same curt, out-spoken way. +'But all who know me call me Kate. As to my parent's name that would +not interest you.' + +"'Miss Kate,' I said, 'I notice from your manner of speech that you do +not belong to Munich." + +"'No.' + +"'Your accent has something Rhinelandish about it.' + +"'Very possibly.' + +"'Have you any reasons for objecting to speak of your home?' + +"'Why do you ask?' + +"'I should like one of these days to go and see whether there are many +faces there like yours.' + +"'Only one,' she replied in the most matter-of-fact tone. 'But that is +painted on glass in St. Catharine's Church.' + +"'Then you sat for it?' + +"'No,' returned she; 'it was just the other way.' + +"I looked at Van Kuylen to see whether he could make anything of this +strange speech, but he seemed so taken up with his work as not even to +hear our conversation. + +"'You must not be offended with me, Miss Kate,' said I after an +interval, 'if I put a few more questions to you. Your answers are so +many riddles. I am not prompted believe me by mere curiosity, but by +sincere interest in knowing what circumstances can have led you to +leave your home, and after so good an education, and with so beautiful +a face, to adopt here--' + +"'You mean that I seem to have been brought up for something better +than to make money of my looks. That may be. But this is what things +have come to, and since it is my face that has brought me into trouble, +it must help me out of it--at least so far as it can do creditably.' + +"A cloud passed over her eyes; she looked before her even more +steadfastly than her wont, with an expression between anger and sorrow +that rendered her more enchanting than ever. We were silent. Suddenly +she resumed-- + +"'I really do not know why I should make any mystery about my story. +There is no disgrace in it, and you two gentlemen would only imagine +something far worse. Besides you both look thoroughly good and +trustworthy,' (Van Kuylen gave a short cough) 'and if you were ever to +hear any slander about me I could appeal to you. Babette, dear,' +turning to the little girl, 'go into the garden and make yourself a +very smart wreath of lilac and jasmine--do not gather any tulips. It is +only,' she went on in a low voice as soon as the child had left, +'because there is no need the people I lodge with should know +everything, and that little creature--young as she is--has already very +long ears, and repeats whatever she picks up. Not, indeed, that I need +to be ashamed of my past, but that they would look upon me as crazy if +they knew all its ins and outs, whereas as things stand now, they are +sorry for me, believing that I have only had some common unfortunate +love-affair, and therefore consider myself unworthy that the sun should +shine upon me.' + +"She was once more silent, and seemed to have forgotten all about her +intended narration. There was a Sabbath stillness all around; we only +caught through the open door the sound of little Babette's heavy shoes +on the gravel walks, and the twittering of birds in the meadows. Van +Kuylen had risen and gone to a carved cupboard, in which he had a habit +of keeping all sorts of odds and ends; he now brought out of it a +wicker-covered flask of curious shape, filled three small glasses from +it, and presented them on an old china-tray, first to the young girl, +then to me. After we had both declined, he tossed them all three off in +succession, and then sat down before his easel, not painting, but +resting his head on his hand. + +"'What surprises me,' said I, breaking silence at length, 'is that I +have never met you before, Miss Kate. Yet I am a pretty constant +lounger in our streets, and not unobservant; indeed, my dear wife +reproves me for looking over-boldly under the bonnets of pretty girls. +You must live like a mole in some underground dwelling, or you never +could have escaped me.' + +"'Nay,' said she with a slight smile, the first which had lit up her +melancholy; 'I walk out every day. I cannot sit still. I find time hang +so heavy, as I am not skilled in work. But then I wear a very thick +veil, the everlasting staring is so hateful to me, particularly in a +strange place. There was only one evening, when standing before a +bright shop-window, that I did venture to throw back my veil--at that +very moment Herr van Kuylen chanced to pass, and since then he has +often and often recognized me, though I am wrapped up like a nun. +Besides I always have Babette with me. I should be afraid of going out +alone, for though it is now more than a year since I left home, I still +feel so desolate and forlorn, and my heart aches so, that I am often +tempted to jump into the first deep water I come across, and get rid of +myself, and my whole useless existence.' + +"Her smile had vanished, and instead, tears stood in her eyes. + +"'Were you not then beloved in your home?' I enquired. 'So beautiful +and sweet a child must--' + +"'Loved! Yes, indeed, if only there had been sense in their affection. +I was loved sometimes too much, sometimes too little. If I had had +another face it would all have been right enough. But they expected all +sorts of wonders, and out of sheer vanity must make me unhappy. There +were six brothers and sisters older than myself--I am the youngest and +last--and all the rest, who had quite common-place human countenances, +are now contented and well provided for, married unnoticed folk of whom +no bad or good is said, and about whom no one troubles himself to +enquire. But as for me, no sooner was I out of my swaddling-clothes +than I was pronounced a little wonder of the world, and all the aunts +and cousins lifted their hands in amazement at the sight of me, and +told my mother no princess need be ashamed of having brought such a +child into the world. And there was something wonderful in it, too. My +father was a poor schoolmaster, my mother a sexton's daughter, neither +of them particularly handsome; only through my maternal grandmother, +pretty hands and feet, and beautiful long hair, had come into the +family. But as it happened, while I was coming into the world, Count +F----, the patron of our church, put up a magnificent new window +in St. Catharine's, representing the Saint kneeling by the wheel, a +palm-branch between her folded hands, and painted in such beautiful +vivid colours, people were never tired of looking at it. Our whole +village, Catholics and Protestants, crowded to see it, and for weeks +nothing else was spoken of, at least in our house. My eldest brother, +who already drew very well, copied it at once, but my good mother +especially saw the picture--as she afterwards told us--constantly +before her day and night, whether her eyes were open or shut; and when +I was born, she insisted upon it that I must be baptised by the name of +Katharine. It was not long before they all took to calling me "the fair +Kate," and all agreed that I had stolen my face from the picture on the +window. + +"'You may suppose that when I first came to understand this, trotting +about as a little child, I had no cause to regret it. Everybody coaxed +and praised me, and if the kissing and stroking was at times rather too +much of a good thing, yet on the whole it had its advantages. As the +last of the batch, too, I was better treated in every way than my +brothers and sisters, nor had I anything to endure from their jealousy, +for they really, as well as my parents, did consider me a thing apart, +a special gift and grace of God to the family, reflecting some glory on +its other members. It was a thing, of course, that I--so far as our +poverty permitted it--should be well dressed, have the best food kept +for me, and receive more instruction than the rest. My father used to +devote his two hours of leisure to me; I must needs learn French and +pianoforte playing, and it was evident to all that not only must I take +no share in the house-work, but that my delicate fingers must not be +spoilt by sewing or knitting. I only wonder that I did not become more +idle and vain than I actually was. But indeed to me, too, it seemed so +much a thing of course that I did not give it any particular thought. +Apricots have different flavours to wild pears, and cost different +sums. That is all very natural. One man has a hundred thousand dollars, +another a voice in his throat that bewitches people, a third is so +learned that all take off their hats to him, and _I_ was "the fair +Kate," with whom everybody fell in love. What the exact value of _that_ +was--I mean the falling in love--I did not know; I had not found out +that I too had a heart, I was not even very fond of my own family, +because I found it tiresome to be always so much made of, and as to +falling in love with myself, that couldn't well happen, as I had been +used to my bit of red and white, and all the rest that people made such +a fuss about, from a child. + +"'I had only one playfellow that I cared at all for, and for the very +reason that he was rather cross than kind to me; a youth different to +the rest, but neither particularly handsome or lively, and one of the +poorest. His father shipped charcoal up and down the Rhine, and worked +very hard; his mother was a quiet sickly woman, always at home or in +the church, with a sorrowful face that made me feel ashamed of my smart +clothes. Her son, too--he was about five years older than I, and had +often to help his father--would look more crossly than ever out of his +eyes if he met me on a Sunday, when my mother had decked me with all +sorts of colours. He made no remarks, but he always avoided me on those +occasions, and childish as I was, and vain, too, of being the fair +Kate, this never failed to give me a pang. I would contrive to get into +my every-day clothes to creep down about twilight to the banks of the +Rhine where his cottage stood, and I was quite happy if Hans Lutz would +only be good-natured to me and say, "Now you look like a human being +again, and not like a doll." He had a way--silent as he was--of amusing +me better than anybody else, would cut me out little boats of bark that +rode at anchor in a little harbour that he built; he could play me my +favourite airs on a reed-pipe, and it was often night, and I had to be +scolded away before I would consent to part from him. + +"'You see already what that was leading to. I could no longer do +without him, although others held him cheap as being inferior to +them all, because he had had the small-pox and went about in the +coarsest and most thread-bare jacket. I almost think there was some +vanity in it. I seemed to myself to be a princess condescending to the +charcoal-burner; then again in my better hours I noticed that I had an +especial respect for him, more indeed than for any other human +creature, and that I never respected myself so much as when he had +given me a kind word. + +"'Our years of childish play were nearly over; he was fifteen, I ten, +when a legacy came to his parents, not, indeed, enough to set them up +with carriage and horses, but to make them much more comfortable than +before. The father gave up the charcoal-loading business, and became--I +really do not quite know what--a sort of factor or agent. The eldest +son, my Hans Lutz, was sent off to a school for artisans; he was to be +an engineer, and was indeed made for it. His younger brother, who was +about my own age, remained at home and took to violin playing, in hopes +of gaining admission into the Ducal Chapel; they had a distant cousin +there who played the bassoon. + +"'Time went on: at first I missed my companion dreadfully, I did +not know what to do with myself on Sundays, and found out fully how +much he had been to me. However, I gradually got accustomed to his +absence, to going about again dressed like a doll, to being serenaded +by the students who passed through the town, or to reading poems and +love-letters which were thrown in to me through the window, but which I +never answered. For my mother was pretty strict with me, and after my +first Communion, I was never allowed to leave the house alone. I +believe she was afraid that one of the mad Englishmen, who stared at me +worst of all, would carry me off, or that the Rhine water-sprites would +draw me down out of envy and spite. Now and then real wooers would make +their appearance, very respectable people, quite able to support a +wife. But they had a pretty reception! My father was not going to part +with me on such easy terms; he would hear of nothing under a Count, as +I overheard him telling my mother, or else a man so rich as to be able +to lay down my weight in money. It was all one to me, the privilege +that I enjoyed of being the beautiful Kate, and treated as the most +remarkable and important person in our district quite satisfied me, and +since the departure of Hans Lutz I did not so much as know that I had a +heart. + +"'He never wrote to me, never sent me a message. It was only seldom +that I heard from his mother how well he was doing, how industrious he +was, and how much he was praised by his instructors. I used to wonder +that he never came over for a visit. The distance from Carlsruhe was +not so great after all, and however sparing of his time or his money, +he might, I thought, have made the effort if he cared about seeing me +again. + +"'But the most wonderful thing of all, and to me wholly +incomprehensible, was that he _did_ once come over, spent a whole long +day with his parents, and seemed to think that there was nothing else +to be seen in the neighbourhood. I never so much as got a distant +glimpse of him, nor did he leave a single message for me. Naturally I +was very much offended, and determined if I ever saw him again to make +him rue it. A year or so later there came an opportunity of doing this. +I was just seventeen years old, he, therefore, was two-and-twenty, when +it was rumoured that he had passed through all the schools with great +honour, and was now looking out for some post or other which he was +sure to get. That he should in the first instance pay a visit to his +parents, stood to reason, but he had not fixed the day and hour. I was, +therefore, not a little startled one afternoon, when sitting with my +sister in the wood behind the old castle and sketching the view,--for +I, too, took drawing-lessons, though I had no particular talent--just +when I was about to pronounce his name and to ask Lina if she knew the +day of his return, I saw a tall, slender, dark young man emerge from +the bushes, take off his hat, and prepare to go down the hill without a +word. I knew him instantly; he had still his old face, only with the +addition of a dark beard, and he was much better-looking. The marks of +the small-pox had almost disappeared. "Good Heavens!" cried I springing +from my seat, "it is you, Hans Lutz! How can you startle one so!" "I +beg your pardon," he said, in a formal polite way, "I had no idea that +I should be disturbing young ladies here; I will no longer intrude upon +them," and therewith he again took off his hat, the abominable man, and +went straight away as if he had only met an old woman picking sticks, +and not the playfellow of his childhood, the paragon of beauty whom +other people took long journeys to admire, and who had such a fine +lecture to read him, too. + +"'I do believe I should have burst into tears if I had been alone, but +before Lina I restrained myself, only saying, "He has indeed grown +haughty and rude," and tried to go on with my drawing. To no purpose. I +could not put in another stroke, my eyes swam so in tears. + +"'And in the midst of all my disappointment and vexation, the worst +part of it was that I could not be angry with him, that I would have +done anything to get a friendly look from him; and my shame at this +weakness made me so thoroughly unhappy, that at that moment, spite of +my much-extolled beauty, I seemed to myself the most wretched human +creature in the whole world. + +"'I could not go on keeping up appearances much longer, but threw my +arms round my good sister's neck, and with many tears confessed to her +how deeply hurt I was, and that I must find out the reason of his +estrangement, or my heart would break. The kind soul comforted me as +well as she could, and when evening came, helped me to invent a pretext +to induce our mother to let us both go down together to the river, to +the very place where in former days our little harbour used to be. +There Lina left me alone, found out that she had something to do at +Hans Lutz's home, and whispered into his ear that I was waiting outside +under the willow, and had something to ask him. At first, as she told +me afterwards, he had looked very gloomy, and left her in doubt as to +what he would do. Then he seemed to relent, and a little later I saw +him coming down the road straight towards me, and I do not yet know how +I had courage to stand still and wait for him. + +"'But at least I was rewarded for my courage. For he was by no means as +chilling as before, he even gave me his hand and said, "It is very kind +of you, Katharine, still to remember an old playfellow, and what is it +you have to say to me?" "Nothing," I said, "only that I wanted to know +what I had done to offend him, or whether anybody had been gossiping +about me that he should treat me as if I was not worth a word or a +look. That was all I asked to know, and then I would go away again +immediately." Upon which he told me in his quiet way as if it did not +signify to _him_ in the least, that he had heard I had grown into a +vain conceited little princess, held my head very high, did nothing but +look in the glass, or let myself be stared at by foreign fools, and as +he was not the man to come in to that, and had, indeed, other things to +do than to be always swinging incense before such a Madonna, he thought +I should have no loss of him, and that it would be better for us both +if he kept out of my way. + +"'All that he said to me, and still more the way in which he said it, +hurt me so cruelly that I had not a word to answer, but burst into a +flood of tears that I could not check, that got worse and worse, till I +was shaken by such a convulsion of sobs that I thought I must have died +on the spot. When he saw this, he was suddenly transformed; he embraced +me, and in the tenderest voice said a thousand things that at first, +owing to the confusion in my head, I only half understood. He told me +he had behaved so rudely merely to guard against his own heart, that +through all these years he had had no other thought but me, and had +only kept away in order not quite to lose his senses, and that if it +were true that I cared at all for him--well, you can imagine the rest! +That evening we pledged ourselves to live only for each other, and when +at last Lina came and drew me away, that our parents need not scold, I +had quite forgotten that I was the _fair_ Kate, and only thought that a +_happier_ Kate was not to be found in all Rhineland, or anywhere under +the sun.' + +"When she had got so far, she rose and went to the door, as if to look +after the child, who was quietly sitting on a garden-seat, and weaving +her garland. When Kate turned round to us again, I noticed the traces +of tears. Van Kuylen, however, did not seem to observe them; he had got +hold of an old cork and was carving away at it, his cold pipe still in +the corner of his mouth. + +"'And how was it,' said I after a while, 'that fortune deserted you, +and that what began so well had so melancholy an issue? I find it hard +to believe that he was not true to you!' + +"'_He!_' returned she with an indescribable tone and expression. 'If it +had only all depended upon him! But you see the misfortune was just +this, that I was such a wonder of the world they needs must make the +most of me, however unhappy I myself might be. My elder sisters--if +Hans Lutz had taken a fancy to one of them, why he would have had her +with all the pleasure in the world, and indeed the husbands that they +did get were not fit to hold a candle to my lover. But _I_, that he +should aspire to _me_, he who was neither a Count nor made of money, +that was such audacity that he could hardly be supposed to be right in +his mind. True he did not himself think of marrying at the present +time, all that he wanted was our betrothal, and then a couple of years +to try his fortune in, and I--to wait ten years for him would have been +as nothing to me. But you should have heard my father! The Emperor of +China, if some crazy sailor were to apply for his daughter's hand, +could not put on a more majestic aspect, or pronounce a more +compassionate "No." He was not even angry, he treated the whole thing +as a mere stupid jest. It was only when my mother--who well knew how my +heart stood--ventured to address him on the subject, and to represent +Hans Lutz as not after all a quite despicable suitor, that he was +roused to indignation and silenced her at once. As for me, when I +declared that I never would have any one else for my husband, I was +locked up, and sat for eight days like an imprisoned princess in the +best room, only visited by my mother and sister. To be sure I still had +my pretty face, but what was that to me, I was made to feel that I +myself had no right to it. + +"'I sent through Lina, a letter to Hans Lutz, declaring that I would +remain true to him, and begging for God's sake, that he would not +punish me for my father's vengeance and anger. To which he wrote me +back word that he had no hope, that he was going far away, perhaps to +America, and did not know that he should ever return. I was to give up +all thought of him, and he formally returned both my word and my ring. +For well he knew what would be the end of it all; my parents would look +me out some husband after their own heart, and at last I too should get +tired of waiting, and so he would not bind me, and add to all other +sorrow, the weight of a broken promise on my heart. You may well +imagine with how many tears I read that letter, when Lina told me that +the writer was already no one knew how far away, and had not wished her +to give it me till after his departure. + +"'After this all went on apparently in the old way, with this +exception, that though I was still "the fair Kate," and estimated as +such, there stole over me a silent and unconquerable detestation of my +own face, since it had cost me my dearest happiness. But for my father, +who was bent upon cutting a figure with me, I should never have come +down from my upper room, and as it was I only did so when I could not +possibly help it. I never sat in the open window except with my back +turned, no power on earth could get me on a steamer where the English +stared so, and when artists came to draw or paint me, I never _would_ +sit still, let my father be as angry as he liked. + +"'But all my indoor life, and fretting and grieving did nothing for me; +I grew handsomer day by day, and since I had become indifferent to what +I wore, I seemed to be more admired than ever, most people having +probably thought before with Hans Lutz that I was an over-dressed doll. +But no letter came from the one I loved best, and no news of any kind; +and so from three to four years passed by, and I found that life is a +most wretched pastime when one has not got one's heart's desire. + +"'Then, besides, there were constant disputes at home, for every fresh +offer of marriage was a new bone of contention. There were many of +these suitors--though, indeed, none of them were Counts--to whom my +father would most willingly have given me; there was a rich Russian, +who swore he would jump into the Rhine if he did not get me, but +afterwards preferred to drown himself in Champagne, and went about +Wiesbaden with ladies of all kinds. Then there was a young baron, who +was master of the horse to some prince, and was wild about horses as +well as about me, and there were numbers of worthy well-to-do people +who were all intolerable to me because I secretly compared them with my +Hans Lutz. My sister Lina was long ago married and happy, and I still +sat useless at home, and as my father was not the best of managers, and +my mother was sickly, we were often straitened enough, and while one +rich suitor after another went away rejected, want began to stare us in +the face. Now nothing sours the temper so much as not having enough to +eat, and what with unkind words and spiteful remarks, you may believe I +spent wretched days, and cried my eyes red at night. + +"'At last my father lost all patience, and when another suitor appeared +who seemed to him worthy to carry away the jewel of beauty, since he +was able to bid high for it, he declared to me either I must consent, +or he would make me feel the whole weight of his anger. What he exactly +meant by that I really did not know, but I was glad of a change myself, +for I could no longer endure my father's anger and my mother's grief. +So I said that I would give my hand to Mr. So-and-so, provided no +message came from Hans Lutz in the course of the next three months. +This contented my parents, and made the bridegroom more than blessed; +he was actually idiotic with rapture, said the craziest things to me, +and in spite of my misery, it made me again feel proud and childish to +find that I had such power over any human being. He was a young and +very rich tanner from the neighbouring town of M----, not so bad as to +face or figure; indeed he passed for a handsome man; but it made me +positively ill if I had to sit by him longer than a quarter of an hour, +first because his love rendered him so silly and mawkish, and then +because he had a habit of deluging himself with scents, probably to get +rid of the smell of the tan-yard. I will not weary you with the history +of this horrible engagement. I get goose-skin all over at the very +recollection of it; the visits here, there, and everywhere; the +congratulations at which I had to smile when I would much rather have +cried; the day when he took me over his house and factory, and I +thought the smell of the dyes and skins would have suffocated me. Well, +it went on as long as it could go on, that is till it came to the +point. On the day before the wedding day, my bridegroom gave a party to +my favourite friends and my parents at his own house; the actual +marriage was to be solemnized at my parent's house. He was so +inordinately happy, foolish, and scented, that I suddenly said to +myself, "Better suffer anything than please such a simpleton as this," +and that very night when they were all asleep, I actually left the +house, only taking with me a few necessaries in a bundle, and leaving +behind a letter to my parents saying they must forgive the sorrow I had +caused them, but that marry I could not and would not, and so in order +to be no longer a burden to them, I had gone off to my aunt at Speyer, +and would see whether I could not do something to support myself. + +"'I was helped in my flight by the brother of my Hans Lutz, who +happened to be on a visit to his parents at the time, and would have +gone through fire and water for me. He took me safely to where I wanted +to go, to my aunt Millie's, her real name was Amelia, but so we +children always called her. She was an old widow-woman, lived upon her +small means, and had always been very fond of me, though she used to +shake her head at the way in which my family idolised me. When I told +her all that had happened she neither praised nor blamed me, but wrote +to my parents and tried to bring them round. That, alas, was in vain. +My father answered very curtly that if I did not marry the young tanner +I was no child of his; my mother tried persuasion. I now found out that +it was only my unfortunate beauty that they had really loved, that a +red-and-white mask stood between my own parents' hearts and that of +their child. Out of sheer admiration and worship, they had less +fondness for me than for any of their other children. + +"'But for this would they not have found time in the course of the +whole year since I have left them, to comprehend that what I had run +away from could not have made me happy, and that I was not necessarily +a bad daughter, because unable to gratify them in that respect? But no, +they have remained as hard as stone, hard as no one could be to any +living creature who had a soul, but only towards a soulless picture +such as they had long considered me, and as such set me up for show. It +is true that while I remained at Speyer they might have hoped that I +should change my mind. But my stay there was but short. My old aunt was +accustomed to a very quiet life. Now when a beauty suddenly made her +appearance in the house, whom all young men followed, and that visits +and enquiries became incessant, and this person and that were always +bringing me an offer from some one or other, it was too much for the +good woman to bear. She told me one day that I could not remain any +longer with her, but that she had found me a very good situation with a +baroness who lived on her estates near Munich, and wanted a governess +for her two little daughters; and as I had been well educated, could +speak French and play the pianoforte, my aunt had arranged it all, and +I was to set off the next day but one. + +"'I was very much pleased at this; I longed to begin life on my own +account, and earn my own bread. But this too was to be a failure, and +again there was no one to blame but this hateful face that I cannot get +rid of. Well, to make a long story short, the baroness and the children +took to me and I to them, and during the first days when we were alone, +everything went well. Then came the baron from the city to pay us a +visit, and instantly the sky changed; he behaved, indeed, very +politely, only that he made the usual face of amazement which I am so +sick of, and that all people make who see me for the first time. I, +indeed, am accustomed to it, take no notice, and go my way quietly, but +the gracious lady, who had not seen that expression on her husband's +face before, could not take it so easily, and the end of the matter +was, that on the following day, after a very lively discussion between +the master and mistress of the house, I was sent for to her boudoir, +and told that she much regretted being unable to keep me, but needed +the room that I occupied for a young relative who had suddenly +announced herself for the whole winter. However, she was conscientious +enough to give me, without my demanding it, my salary for that whole +winter. + +"'There I was again on the wide world! I had a great mind to buy myself +a black mask, like the lady with the death's head, and hide my face +once for all, that it might not get me into any further trouble. + +"'And indeed if I could only have foreseen what I had yet to endure I +should have done so, or something madder still. I should have become a +Catholic just to go into a nunnery. + +"'Three times in this town I have had to change my rooms because people +would not leave me alone. I can assure you, if I had stolen or forged, +or done any other disgraceful thing that I feared might come out, I +could not live in greater anxiety and uncertainty than now, when I have +no one to stand by me in the right way and guard me from wicked men and +my unfortunate fate: but I will spare you all details; you can imagine +them. And then to have nothing to do, and not rightly to understand +anything, to read half the day, the other half to wonder what is to +become of me when my money and my patience come to an end, as they +must. The people with whom I lodge at present--Babette's parents--have +all been sorry for me since they saw that I was no worthless runaway +creature, but had only been afflicted with that church-window face. But +what can _they_ do? I help a little in the house, I have learnt some +sewing, as the man is a regimental tailor; I teach Babette to read and +write, but the good souls are too poor to keep a governess. So this +last March when I had had to give up a situation in a jeweller's +shop--of course on account of my face--I was obliged to write again to +my parents, and ask them to take me back. No doubt they thought they +need only remain hard for a little time in order perfectly to soften +me. They wrote me word, therefore, that the tanner was still waiting +for me, and that all would be forgiven if I came to my senses at last, +but if I did not do so, I might just remain where I was. My aunt Millie +sent me a little money, but not much; she has herself been swindled +latterly out of great part of her means. And so there I had to sit +again, my hands in my lap; and if I accidentally saw myself in the +glass, I was so angry and wild with the unlucky face that looked back +at me, that I should have scratched my eyes out if only my nails and my +courage had had strength for it. + +"'Meanwhile the tailor's wife had often advised me to make a +maintenance by sitting as a model. A relation of hers lived that way, +who was no real beauty, but only well-grown. Looks were a gift of God +like everything else, and if a singer hired out her beautiful voice for +gold, why should not I let the same face that had brought me into +trouble help me out of it again? But to all such propositions I always +returned the same answer; I knew that nothing could be so bitter to my +lover as to hear that I had let myself be looked at for money like a +show at a fair, and had gone to serve as lay figure first to one and +then to another. That I knew he would never forgive. "_He_ forgive, +indeed," said the woman, "he ought to think himself very happy if you +forgive him for having taken himself off, and never making a sign +since." However, I remained quite resolute, till at length I was at the +last gasp, and did not know how I was to pay my next month's lodgings. +If Herr van Kuylen had not come forward--whom I could trust to have no +bad intentions--God knows I have many a time walked through the English +garden, and thought if I took a cold bath there, it would be the best +and quickest way of escape! + +"'And now forgive me for telling you such a long story from beginning +to end. But you have done me a real kindness by listening without +laughing or shaking your heads. For most people will not believe that +one can be unhappy except through his own fault, and least of all +unhappy through what is considered the greatest good fortune. Babette,' +said she to the child, who just then brought in her wreath, 'take up +your knitting and put the book back in its place. We must go, it has +struck five, and your mother will be waiting.' + +"Van Kuylen jumped up as if some one had shaken him out of sleep. + +"'Will you come to-morrow at the same time, Miss Kate?' said he, +without looking at her. + +"'To-morrow my landlady goes to a wedding,' she replied, tying on a +little black bonnet that framed her face most exquisitely. 'I must +stay at home with the children, but the day after to-morrow if it suits +you--' + +"He silently bowed, and prepared to help her on with her dark woollen +shawl, which, however, she declined. She muffled herself up so +completely in it that her slender form was hardly apparent, even to an +artist's eye; then she tied on an almost impervious black veil, and +curtsied to me with a bewitching blush. I smiled and heartily shook +hands with her. 'I am much indebted to you, my dear young lady,' said +I, 'for having acquainted me with your singular story. I am a married +man, and, thank God! still in love with my wife, so that there can be +no fear of jealousy in our case; therefore, if ever you need counsel or +help, my house is--so-and-so--and I should be delighted if you had +confidence in us and allowed us to render you some slight service. For +the rest I cannot look upon the matter so despairingly. Who knows +whether you will not have to apologise to your face for all the hard +words you have bestowed upon it? He who wins the first prize in a +lottery may have indeed some perplexities in consequence, but for all +that the first prize is no bad thing, and makes up to us for many a +drawback. Everywhere there is light and shade'--and so forth, for I do +not suppose that the cheap wisdom with which I sought to console the +poor child would be tolerable repeated. + +"Indeed I was aware even at the time that it did not produce much +effect. On the contrary the beautiful face grew sad and weary, as if +she was at confession, and she went away without saying another word; +only I heard a sigh under the thick veil, which fell, and produced a +total eclipse. + +"I was alone with Van Kuylen, and for a short time we each went on +silently puffing out thick clouds, for the little Dutchman lit his +clay-pipe the moment the beautiful girl disappeared. + +"'Well, Mynheer,' said I at last, 'I must congratulate you; you are a +lucky dog.' + +"'I!' he returned, with a short ironical laugh. 'Through what sort of +glasses do you look upon the world that you can utter such a prophecy?' + +"'Through my own unaided eyes,' returned I. 'Are you not indeed +enviable enough in this, that you have caught in your net the shy bird +after which so many have followed in vain. If you only set about it +rightly, the bird will grow so tame that you will be able to cage it at +last.' + +"He turned away: he did not wish me to see the vivid red that suffused +his yellow face. + +"'You don't know her,' he muttered, 'she is quite different to all +others, and if I were the fool you take me to be--' + +"'You would be no fool at all,' I continued, exciting myself as I went +on. 'You need not of course repeat it to my wife, but by St. Katharine +I swear to you, Master Jan, that were I in your place I should not long +play St. Anthony's part. I would do everything on earth to deliver that +poor child from her purgatory--' + +"'And to lead her into a Paradise where such an Adam--get off with +you,' said he, with a very unpolite gesture. + +"But I knew how to take him; I drew nearer and placed my hand on his +shoulder. + +"'If it is disagreeable to you, I will not say another word, but can +you suppose that a certain Hans Lutz--' + +"He sprang from his low seat and ran distractedly up and down the +studio. + +"'Don't make me mad,' he cried. 'If you have noticed that I am over +head and ears in love with the girl--as far as _that_ goes there is no +disgrace in it; but I am not such an insane idiotic ape as to imagine +for a moment that my respectable visage will drive the sweet child's +first love out of her heart, and that a mere settlement in life will +not decoy her you have yourself heard. Why then come and blow upon the +coals with the bellows of your common-place philosophy? Am I not +already wretched enough, in that I plainly see how hopeless the whole +matter is, and yet cannot leave off gazing at her by the hour, just to +burn in that cruel face of hers upon my memory? And now, forsooth, +you must come and prate of solid possibilities, and congratulate me, +and--the devil take it! It is just as if you were to hold the pin on +which a living cockchafer is impaled in a candle, and make it red-hot.' + +"He threw himself down on a low ottoman in the corner with such +vehemence, that he broke off the neck of a costly Florentine lute lying +there, without even noticing it. + +"I would now gladly have recalled my thoughtless words. + +"'If the case is really so, Mynheer,' said I, 'I own there is nothing +to congratulate you upon. But I do not understand why a man like you +should so utterly despair. You have no tannery, but you are a famous +artist; you do not smell of scents, but as a man should, of strong +Porto Rico; and all the rest is mere matter of taste. Women are women, +and it is impossible to reckon upon their fancies. That she is not +exactly set upon an Adonis is evident--' + +"I might have gone on for some time putting forth these platitudes, +with the best intentions, if he had not suddenly turned upon me with +a quite phlegmatic air, and asked me--not without a quiver in his +voice--what o'clock it was, and whether the 'Muette de Portici' was not +going to be performed that night. I then saw plainly how things stood, +swallowed down my annoyance at having so stupidly interfered in so +tender a matter, and took leave under the pretext that my wife was +waiting for me to pay a visit. + +"A visit on Whit Monday afternoon when no one is at home! but so one +stumbles on from one discrepancy to another. + +"Accordingly the series of my mortifications was not yet over for that +particular day; for when I had got home to my good wife, and given her +a true and faithful account of where I had been, and what I had seen +and heard, and finally (though indeed her silence in listening +foreboded no good), added: 'It would be a real comfort to me if I could +do something for the pretty child, and might it not be as well to offer +her our spare room as it chanced to be empty,'--a small matrimonial +tempest burst at once, which I had passively to endure. My wife had, +indeed, long been upon the point of telling me that this Van Kuylen +exercised the worst influence over me, and was the most unfit +companion; a frivolous bachelor who had no respect for holy things, +and had already infected me with his mocking and blasphemous spirit. +She had supposed, when she married a landscape painter, that her +house would at least be free from such a disreputable set as models +generally are, lost to all sense of decency and shame, and of whom the +most horrible stories were heard. And now I had returned from that +trumpery Dutchman, not only with my clothes reeking of the very worst +tobacco-smoke, but in such a wholly perverted state of mind, and with +such entire forgetfulness of what was due to a virtuous young wife, +that I could actually propose to her to receive into our family this +suspicious person, who had turned my head with her bit of prettiness +and her dubious adventures. Rather than consent to such a step, she +would take her innocent children in her arms, and at once leave the +field clear; for it was too plain to see from the fervour with which I +had proposed this fine plan, what must eventually come of it. And so +saying, she caught up our little Christopher who had tripped in, with +such a passionate burst of tears, and pressed his small fair head so +closely to her breast, it seemed as if she would fain save the poor +harmless child from the evil eye of a sinful father who had irrevocably +made over his soul to him who shall be nameless. + +"I had no small difficulty in allaying the excitement of my dear +better-half; she was generally patience and self-abnegation itself, but +there is one point on which women are not to be trifled with, which +makes hyenas of them, as Schiller says, and I inwardly called myself a +confounded ass for having displayed my aesthetic enthusiasm for the +beautiful girl in so wrong a quarter. + +"Of course I took good care not to revert to the dangerous subject, but +remained at home the whole of the next day, and devoted myself to +painting an old oak-forest, as if the riven and rugged bark of the +secular trees was far more bewitching than the smoothest satin-skin of +a maiden of twenty, and a gnarled oak-branch more ensnaring than the +exquisite little Venus-like nose of our poor persecuted beauty. + +"The next day I even accomplished a greater triumph over myself, in +that I withstood the temptation of looking in--quite accidentally, of +course--at Van Kuylen's studio, there to play the part of comforter to +a distressed child of humanity. I was certainly a little absent-minded +all the afternoon, and as we walked to Nymphenburg, our children pushed +along in the perambulator by the maid, failed to get up any very +animated conversation. I apologised somewhat lamely for it, on the plea +that I was studying atmospheric effects, though indeed there was +nothing very noticeable in the sky. But my wife found it much +pleasanter than if I had indulged my bad habit of too earnestly +studying the faces of the girls and women we passed. There is +indisputably about the sex this one weakness, that they have themselves +no conception of a purely artistic standpoint, and therefore never +allow for it in others. + +"At last after four or five days, I found it intolerable to my manly +self-respect, thus suddenly to withdraw from my worthy Dutchman, merely +because he was in my wife's bad books. Consequently, after washing my +brushes, I set out just about twilight, when I knew that though he +could paint no longer, he was sure to be at home; and in this was most +perfectly justified in my own eyes, since I could not possibly be +expecting to find the fair Kate there, but only my small and unjustly +calumniated friend. + +"And to be sure I saw from a distance the shining of his lamp through +the window: nevertheless I had to be told by the old servant that her +master was gone out. Neither did I fare any better on the following day +when I knocked at his studio during his hours of work. I called out my +name as loud as I could, but he wouldn't open. When I enquired from the +old servant whether he was occupied with a model, she shook her head, +and shrugged her shoulders; then tapping her forehead with a very +significant gesture, she sighed and said, 'Things had not been right +with the good gentleman for some days past; he ate and drank nothing to +speak of, walked up and down his bed-room half the night, and spoke to +no one.' I asked whether the young lady who was with him on Whit Monday +had been there since. The answer was that she had not, but that he +still went on painting her, out of his head, and the good woman herself +had already thought that love might have something to do with her +master's silence and absence of mind. + +"The truth flashed in upon me too plainly, and I tacitly reproached +myself with having poured oil on the flame by speaking of his +attachment to the lovely being as something quite reasonable and by no +means hopeless. Truly, if we always reflected the serious mischief our +jesting words might make, we should be at least as cautious in uttering +them, as we are in ascertaining upon what we are about to throw the +burning end of our cigar. + +"Meanwhile there was nothing to be done. I knew my eccentric Mynheer +Jan too well. If he had taken it into his head to eat a whole Edam +cheese for his breakfast, no one could have dissuaded him. I made two +other attempts to get at him, but in vain; and one evening when I +accidentally met him by the 'Aukirche'--we had almost run up against +each other--he was off like a shot, and all my calling, and scolding, +and running after him did no good; he _would_ not have anything to do +with me. + +"By-and-bye I came to take the matter more quietly, and to say to +myself, 'If he can do without thee, thou canst get on without him.' +This mood of mine won me approving looks from my dear wife. I willingly +allowed her the triumph--of which, by-the-way, she did not boast +ungenerously--of believing that her remonstrances had weaned me from +that soul-destroyer, Jan, and brought me back to the paths of virtue +and landscape-painting. When my oak forest was done, we broke up our +tent in the town, to pitch it, as we annually did, in the mountains. I +wrote a kindly note to wish my friend good-bye, but got no answer in +return. And so most of the summer passed away without my knowing +whether he were dead or alive. The fair Kate seemed to have been +swallowed up by an earthquake. Of all my friends and colleagues, who +were generally not long in tracking out anything rare, none had +discovered the slightest trace of our poor wonder of the world. + +"When, however, the middle of September came, and I had got a little +tired of painting studies, and perhaps, also, of the monotonous fare of +our country abode, and began to long for a return to the amenities of +town life, I became conscious of a lively desire to know what had +become of my Dutchman and his beauty. My first walk in Munich was to +his studio, where I found the nest empty indeed, but left upon his +little slate my name and a hearty greeting. After that I went with my +wife to the exhibition, for where one has been so long face to face +with nature, it is a pleasure to see how art has been getting on in the +meantime. But what was my amazement, when the first picture my eyes +fell upon, was nothing else than an unmistakable genuine Van Kuylen, in +which his unfortunate studies of Kate were turned to account in his +well-known manner, and certainly so questionably, that I at first +pretended not to notice it, in order to get my wife safely past. But +she with her lynx-eyes instantly made out the whole story. + +"'But do look,' she said, in a tolerably calm voice, in which, however, +I could detect a satirical tone; 'here is a picture by your Dutch +painter of holy subjects, and on a larger scale than any we have seen +before. I must say, if the subject were not so objectionable, it would +go far to reconcile me to him. It seems to me that he has made great +progress: one might almost call this picture beautiful; not only the +colouring, but the whole composition has something grandiose, +historical as you call it, a style--' (You may see that the little +woman had not consorted with artists for the last six years for +nothing, and could deliver her art-criticisms as confidently as any +newspaper writer, only rather more intelligently.) 'But I believe,' she +continued, 'that the Bathsheba who is there undressing to take a bath +in a very shallow reservoir, is your marvellous creature from the +Rhine. At all events, she does not look like any of the other studies +in the room, and the little King David who peeps from an upper window, +and naturally shows us the beautiful cheese-coloured face of the +painter, looks at the lady with a genuine artist's eye, such as I have +seen in other people's heads when staring under the bonnets of pretty +girls,' (with that, a side glance at her faithful husband.) 'Well! I +must say she is not bad-looking, if he has not idealised his model too +much; but was I not right to refuse to take that persecuted innocence +into our house? A pretty snake, indeed, I should have warmed in my +breast! _She_ helpless! I think one who lets herself be painted thus, +knows very well how to help herself. And really I do not know which I +ought to wonder at most, at my good unsuspicious husband, who was so +easily taken in by an experienced adventuress, or, if indeed he were +not so entirely harmless in the matter, at his sanguine hope of +humbugging me. At all events I am very glad that things have taken this +turn.' + +"After this attack and these imputations clothed in the most discreet +and proper language, to which I had not so much as a word to answer, my +domestic guardian angel drew me hastily away, as if fearing that +dangerous person might even in her picture exercise some witchcraft +over me. And really there was nothing out of the way in the idea, for +all that my eccentric friend possessed of taste and love of beauty, had +been expended on the figure of the young woman, who, already undraped +to the hips, sat on a low stool in the act of taking off her little +shoe. While so doing she turned to the left the well-remembered +profile, which was drawn with the tenderest contour, not a single +feature altered, and a striking likeness; her hair, which seemed to +have been just loosened, fell in bewitching confusion over her lustrous +neck. Her back and arms were so beautifully drawn, that I knew not how +to give the good 'genre' painter credit for them. But what specially +attracted me was the sad impassive expression with which the fair being +bent her head, and cast her long-lashed eyes on the ground. King David +up there in his balcony did not appear to me at that moment to be such +a great sinner after all; or at least the extenuating circumstances +under which that abominable letter anent Uriah was written, came before +me more impressively than they had ever done in the presence of any +painting of the subject before. + +"I confess that I spent the rest of the day in a somewhat perturbed +mood; my old creed, namely, that women _were_ women, was once more +confirmed, and the apparent exception turned out to be an illusion. +Whether it were through vanity, or distress, or mere apathy, the +beautiful girl had not maintained her inviolability. But although it is +very pleasant to be proved right, and though I ought, besides, to have +rejoiced that the poor _innamorato_ should in this not unusual way be +healed of his madness, and probably at this moment happily betrothed, +if not already a husband, there nevertheless lurked a certain +uncomfortable feeling in my mind, and I caught myself involuntarily +shaking my head as though there were something not quite right about +it. My quick-witted wife seemed to discern what was going on within me, +but as though the subject of my musings were too low and common to bear +discussion, she never referred to the picture, and treated me with a +gentleness and consideration befitting a penitent; in the spirit, in +short, of the beautiful axiom, 'If a man have fallen, let love bring +him back to duty.' + +"On the following morning I was anxious to go to work, with fresh +energies, at a new picture which I had already mentally composed; but I +discovered that there was something wrong with me--there was still that +story to unravel. What I should have liked best would have been to have +gone at once to Mynheer Jan, and heard the truth, but he never got up +before ten o'clock in the morning; so I lounged off again to the +exhibition, that I might study the picture I had too hurriedly looked +at the previous day, and was not a little annoyed at being reminded by +the closed door that it was Saturday, the day when the pictures are +hung and the public excluded. The official told me that Herr van +Kuylen's picture had been taken back to his studio in the course of the +previous evening. + +"To while away the hours till ten, I turned off through the arcades, +and betook myself to the English garden, where I never found time long. +It is so celebrated that I need not praise it; but I venture to say +there are not many, even among our good old Munich inhabitants, who +know it at the time of its very greatest beauty, and that is early on +an autumn, or late-summer morning, when it is as solemn and deserted +as a primeval forest, and you can wander along the lofty avenues +of shade without meeting a human creature. The gold-daisied meadows +are luxuriant in the sun, the trees have lost none of their gorgeous +foliage, the sun-light falls, I might say, in _pasto_ on the +mirror-like ponds, and the magical dreamy silence thrills with the +quiet rushing of the Isar, and the light and noiseless hopping of birds +and squirrels from branch to branch. There was no one to be seen on the +lonely benches, unless, perhaps, a student preparing for his +examination, or some poor poet meditating his love-songs. As to my +colleagues the landscape painters, I have never met one of them here. + +"Accordingly as I said, I was lounging on this particular morning in +the well-known paths, but not in a particularly good mood for making +studies, for Van Kuylen's picture, and what could have happened to +enable him to paint it, was constantly running in my head. When I had +dreamingly sauntered on to the vicinity of the famous waterfall, which +the grateful inhabitants prepared at so much expense as a surprise for +King Ludwig, I saw a lady on the bench upon the little hill overlooking +it, sitting motionless, and having nothing about her to excite my +interest, till all at once it struck me that she had a black veil down. +I thought, however, 'she has some reason for not wishing to be +recognized except by the one for whom she is waiting, and I will pass +quickly by,' when a strange impulse led me to turn round and give her +another look. The veiled figure made a little start, as though it +recognized me, but the next moment sat as motionless as before. But +there was a something in the turn of the head which seemed to me so +familiar, that I involuntarily turned back a step or two, and--'Good +Heavens! It is you, Miss Kate,' I cried, 'and what brings you here?' +and I held out my hand in cordial greeting. But she did not take it, +and seemed on the point of running off. 'Stop,' said I, 'I have not +bargained for this,' and in a friendly way I detained her. 'One is not +to fly from an old friend in this manner, but to tell him where one has +been for so many months past.' Meanwhile some uncomfortable terror was +creeping over me, partly by reason of her strange silence and her +looking about her as if for a way of escape, and partly because I had +seen her hide a bottle under her shawl. It was, therefore, so plainly +my duty not to leave her, that even my wife must have allowed it. + +"'I shall not go away, Miss Kate,' I began, 'till you restore me a +little of that confidence you showed at our first interview. You know I +have only friendly intentions. You have something on your mind; it is +vain to deny it; and I believe there is no one who can be so unselfish +a confidant and adviser as I. Come, my dear young lady, let us seat +ourselves on this bench. And now tell me why you seemed so shocked at +seeing me again, and what sort of a cordial you are carrying there, and +hiding from me. Fie, fie, Miss Kate, are you going to take to drinking +secretly in your early youth?' + +"She made no reply, but allowed herself to be led back to the bench, +where I seated myself beside her. + +"In order to give her time to compose herself, I began to talk of quite +indifferent subjects: of the weather, and how beautiful it was here by +the waterfall, and of how I had spent my summer, purposely dwelling a +good deal upon my wife and children, as it always makes a good +impression when doctors and spiritual pastors are affectionate husbands +and parents. + +"She seemed to be deaf to everything. There was no help for it, then, I +must take the bull by the horns. + +"'Miss Kate,' I said, 'is it long since you have seen Herr van Kuylen? +My first expedition yesterday was to his house, but as I found no one +at home--' + +"She started at the sound of his name. Aha! I thought, there is +something wrong here. + +"'He must have been very industrious these last months,' I continued, +as unconcernedly as I could; 'I myself have only seen one picture of +his in the exhibition, but--' + +"No sooner were the words spoken than from beneath the veil of the +silent girl beside me, there burst such heart-rending sobs that I +jumped up in horror. + +"'For God's sake!' I cried, 'what is the matter with you? Here is a +secret that will break your heart if you don't give it words. Tell +me--explain to me--' + +"'Let me go,' she cried out passionately, and again tried to make her +escape. 'I am so unhappy that nobody can help me, and even if you do +really wish me well--still it is too late. Nothing remains for me now +but to--' + +"Die--she would have said, but her sobs choked her. Meanwhile I had +availed myself of the opportunity to get hold of the bottle, which she +had put down on the bench beside her. With one quick gesture I at once +hurled it into the little cascade below us. + +"'So then,' said I, 'that was it! You are a little fury, Kate, and in +your present heroic frame of mind, you were on the point of drinking +off that little bottle, and making me your executor!' + +"She shook her head. 'You are mistaken,' she said, 'it was not poison, +it was only common _aquafortis_, not intended for internal use. If you +must know everything, I was only going to wash my face with it.' + +"'Kate!' I cried in horror. 'Are you mad?' + +"'Not at all,' she gravely replied. 'The expedient would be rather +rough, but efficient. I should then get rid of this accursed face which +has been the cause of all my misery, and now, too, at length--of my +shame.' + +"These last words were scarcely audible, her face being hidden in her +hands. I misunderstood their purport, and consequently did not at once +know what to reply. + +"It was she who solved my perplexity. + +"She suddenly left off sobbing, and looked me full in the face with a +singularly resolute expression. + +"I could therefore contemplate her at my leisure, and found that if +possible she was more beautiful than ever, her features still more +delicate and refined, the tears on her fair cheeks--altogether she was +the most enchanting and touching spectacle that a man could behold. + +"'You think a good deal of what you have done,' she said in her +quietest tones. 'However if it is not in this hour it will be in some +other; carried out my purpose will surely be, for I am sick of life. If +you knew all you would certainly not blame me, but in the main you do +know; you have been yourself at the exhibition, you have there seen how +a wicked and cruel-hearted man has dared to behave to a poor, virtuous, +unhappy girl who would have nothing to say to him.' + +"'What!' I cried, and the solution of the mystery flashed across me; +'he has then--you have not sat to him once for it?' + +"'I!' she cried, with all the offended dignity of a little queen. 'I do +not so much as know what it looks like. I have only been told of it by +my landlady, who has not herself seen it, but an officer, to whom she +carried back a uniform yesterday evening, said to her: "Your lodger, +the pretty girl, who is so vastly coy whenever one comes to propose +anything to her, and always locks herself up, does not seem to be so +inaccessible to civilians; there she is at the exhibition, painted just +as God made her; to be sure Dutch ducats are more valuable than our +uniform buttons." At this the tailor's wife asked further questions, +and told me again all that she learnt. She herself is quite furious, +and never would have believed it of Herr van Kuylen. And all because I +had refused to go again to his studio after he had come the third day +of Whitsuntide to pay me a visit, when he knew I should be alone with +the children, and made me an offer of marriage in French that Babette +might not understand him; for which very reason I answered in German +that I did not mean to marry, and that he knew very well why, and that +now after his declaration I could no longer sit to him as he must +perfectly understand. But he seemed to understand nothing, he was like +a maniac, and I had great difficulty to get him out of the room at all, +for he always broke out anew, now with jests, now with the most fearful +adjurations. Since then I have never spoken a word to him, nor let him +in when he knocked at my door, and in the street I always got out of +the way so speedily, that he could have no hope at all. And then what +does he go and do? Out of revenge and wickedness he puts me as it were +in the pillory, so that every one may point their finger at me, and I +no longer dare look up in the presence of respectable women. Oh, what +men are! And I had thought that he, at least, was an exception, because +he did not prate, and had a kind of appearance which was not likely to +lead any one into folly and shame for his sake. Now I have had to pay +for my stupid confidence by the misery of my whole life.' + +"Then again she burst into tears. + +"I now attempted to comfort her, and also to defend my friend Jan, by +representing to her that painters think very differently on these +matters to what ladies do; that he had most certainly not done it out +of revenge; and that she could lose nothing in the eyes of any rational +beings if this picture--like all the rest of Van Kuylen's--were +destined for the gallery of some Amsterdam merchant, who knew as little +of the existence of 'the fair Kate,' as she did of his. + +"But it was all in vain. With the active imagination of all +self-torturers, she pictured to herself that the picture might be +engraved or lithographed, and then hung up in the windows of all the +print-shops, and in all the public-rooms of the hotels along the Rhine, +and that then everybody would say, 'Only see what our coy little +schoolmaster's daughter has come to! A pretty face may lead a person +great lengths indeed!' and what would her parents and sisters think of +her--and suppose that such a print ever got as far as America, and came +one day to the eyes of Hans Lutz. No, no, she would much rather--having +rendered herself unrecognizable so far as she could--leap into the +Isar, than day and night imagine such fearful things. + +"'Do you know what?' said I at length. 'All these desperate +lamentations and resolutions have no practical sense in them, and do +not lead us any nearer the goal that you wish to reach--the nullifying +as much as possible the mischief done. Be reasonable, Miss Kate, and +accompany me at once to our common friend, who has certainly no idea +how evil-disposed you are towards him. There you can at all events +obtain a written assurance from him that he painted the picture in +question entirely out of his own head, that you never sat to him except +for a most unexceptionably decorous portrait, and even then were not +alone with him. I will also try to induce him either to remove the +likeness of the lady Bathsheba to you, or to put an honest drapery over +her back. Come now, will not this be much more to the purpose than your +spoiling your complexion either with the water of the Isar, or +_aquafortis_? Only think what people would say about it; that you had +done yourself a mischief out of an unfortunate attachment to our little +Dutchman to whom you had sat!' + +"This last quite too appalling idea seemed to remove all her +objections; she saw that a rational measure taken now, need not prevent +her doing the most despairing things by-and-bye, and as an empty cab +happened to be coming up the great avenue, we both got into it, with +the intention of at once bringing Van Kuylen to book. + +"During the whole of the way she was silent, only answering Yes and No +to my questions. Indeed I did not say much either, and pushed myself +back as far as I could into the corner of the half-open vehicle; for we +had to pass through the street in which I lived. If my good wife should +chance to be looking out of the window, or were out walking, and met +her husband driving with a veiled lady! As I have said she is one of +the best of women, but all have a spot where they are vulnerable, and +appearances would have been decidedly against me; for what could induce +a landscape-painter to engage a female model in the English garden, and +to get into a cab with her?--his own family may well suffice _him_ as +lay figures! + +"Meanwhile we had safely arrived at Van Kuylen's house in the meadows. + +"An empty cab waiting in the street showed we had been preceded by some +other visitor. As we passed through the little garden and approached +the studio, we plainly heard the sound of voices within. + +"'Sit down for a few moments on this bench, Miss Kate,' said I, 'I will +just listen whether I know the other voice, and whether there seems any +prospect of the person soon going away.' + +"So saying, I went up to the door, which certainly was closed, but as +it was only a very thin one--in winter another door was added--one +could distinctly hear every word, unless, indeed, the speakers lowered +their voices intentionally. + +"The girl was far too excited and impatient to think of sitting down; +she came and stood immediately behind me. + +"'I have already explained to you,' we now heard Van Kuylen say, 'that +I am not going to sell the picture, and as for the copy you wish for, I +never copy any of my pictures. I am only too glad when I have once got +myself expressed, however poorly it may be, and I lack the mercantile +genius necessary for picture-multiplying.' + +"'If you yourself do not intend to repeat it,' said a rather rough +manly voice which was entirely strange to me, 'perhaps you will allow +another to copy it for me, or at least let me have a photograph of it.' + +"'I am sorry,' repeated Van Kuylen, 'that I cannot consent to have that +picture reproduced in any way. The circumstances are quite peculiar,' +and then he murmured something that we did not catch. + +"'He is making short work of him,' said I, turning round to the girl. +'It is our time to appear on the scene,' I was going to add, but the +words stuck in my throat. Pale as death, with wide-staring eyes, as +though she saw a spectre, I do believe the poor child would have fallen +if I had not thrown my arm around her and supported her in the very +nick of time. + +"'What is it? What is it?' I cried. 'Let me take you in to Van Kuylen's +sofa. Are you ill?' + +"She, however, shook her head in silence, and made a sign signifying, +'Hush! I must listen,' and now we heard the stranger speak again. 'I +must request you at least to answer me one more question. Had you a +model for the female figure?' + +"'Certainly,' replied Van Kuylen, 'I never paint a stroke but from +nature.' + +"'Then you must know this girl intimately; you know where she lives, +and can tell me--' + +"'Give yourself no further trouble, sir,' interrupted Van Kuylen. 'I +can well understand that this picture may excite other than artistic +admiration, but as for telling who sat to me for it--no, sir. My studio +is no bureau of enquiry, and besides--' then came some more muttered +words. + +"'Forgive me,' said the stranger, his voice all the more raised; 'I can +comprehend that under the peculiar relation in which you seem to stand +to your model--' + +"At this moment the girl tore away from me like lightning, rushed to +the door, and before I could try to hold her back, had burst in, and +now stood--the most exquisite little fury that ever defended her good +name--between the two men. + +"I followed her instantly, and was just opening my mouth to interpose, +when I heard the stranger give a hollow groan, and saw him reel back a +step or two. I looked at him more closely. He was really a fine-looking +man, remarkably well-dressed in black, with a resolute somewhat +sunburnt face, in which I at once detected a few slight marks of +small-pox. + +"'Excuse me,' I stammered out in much embarrassment; 'I have the +honour, Mr. Hans Lutz--' + +"But Kate did not let me finish my speech; one quick glance at the +picture, which stood on an easel in the middle of the studio, had sent +all the blood back to her face. 'That is scandalous,' said she, going +straight up to Van Kuylen, who with his straw-coloured face and nankeen +attire cut a most unfortunate figure on this occasion. '_That_, then, +is your gratitude to me for making an exception in your case, and +consenting to sit for my portrait to you; and because I would consent +to nothing else, you would degrade me in this way before the whole +world, and represent me as a bad bold girl who lets herself be seen for +money, and has no objection to her shame being openly exhibited! +Declare now once for all before these two witnesses, whether you have +ever seen me as I am painted there, whether I was ever alone with you, +whether I did not show you the door when you came to me at my lodgings +and begged and entreated me to be your wife.' + +"Her eyes flashed, and now that she was silent, her nostrils quivered, +and I noticed that she pressed her clenched fist closely to her side, +as though she feared she might be tempted to commit an assault upon the +little yellow man. + +"I for my part, marvelled that he took it all so calmly. + +"'I find out now,' he said at length with the utmost phlegm, and laying +down his pipe, 'who it is I have before me. You are no doubt the +engineering gentleman of whom the young lady has already told us. I +congratulate you on your return, which will probably set all things to +rights. If they went wrong it was your own fault. A person who allows +so long a time to pass without being heard of, cannot be surprised at +others coming forward in his absence. For the rest, I am prepared to +give the lady whatever spoken or written assurance she may require. The +best explanation, perhaps, will be found in _this_! + +"So saying he went to a corner of the room, where all sorts of sketches +and unfinished pictures were heaped up together, and after a short +search, produced a study painted on paper, a female figure in the +precise position of Bathsheba, and although the face was merely an +outline, one saw at a glance that a quite different model must have sat +for it--a coarse common-place person with black hair whose back and +shoulders were widely celebrated amongst artists. + +"'I thank you,' said the stranger, who seemed somewhat to have +recovered the unexpected meeting. 'I believe every word you have said, +but I hope you will not consider me too importunate if I repeat the +request that the picture may be mine. You understand--' + +"'I understand it all,' drily returned Van Kuylen, while lighting his +clay-pipe with a large match; 'and as I have something to apologise +for, and very much wish that the lady should not eternally resent my +inconsiderate freak, I give you the picture for your new establishment. +And now--you will excuse me. I have some business which cannot be +postponed. A good journey to you.' + +"Before one of us could find a word to reply, he made us an abrupt bow, +and passed through a door leading into the interior of the house. + +"We three who remained behind stood there in utter helplessness. I felt +that I was one too many, and was planning how best to leave the pair +alone, when suddenly the lovely girl came up to me, held out her hand, +and with apparent composure said: + +"'Farewell, dear sir; I thank you for all the kindness you have shown +me. I will now go home and trouble you no further.' + +"With that she turned round without casting one glance at her sun-burnt +lover, and moved towards the door. + +"'Katharine!' cried the young man, rushing towards her. + +"'Leave me!' said the incensed beauty. 'We have no longer anything to +do with each other. One who could believe _that_ of me--who could +suppose that I should ever degrade myself so far--' + +"'Listen to me, dear Kate,' I interposed, for I saw that both the proud +high-tempered creatures were just in the mood to part as suddenly as +they had met; 'if you really believe that I am a friend to you, do try +to follow me and consider the question more calmly. Just put yourself +in the place of your Hans Lutz, (you will forgive me, my dear sir, for +using your Christian name though we have not even been introduced,) and +ask yourself whether a lover is very likely to retain his five senses, +when he chances to enter a picture-gallery, and sees the girl of his +heart turn her back upon him in that fashion. And yet supposing you had +really been Frau van Kuylen, and your husband _had_ painted you behind +your back, as our greatest artists have been wont to do with their +wives and mistresses, that would have been nothing so very out of the +way either. Instead, therefore, of treating the matter so tragically, +you ought rather to thank God for having brought things so happily +round; to be reconciled to your lover; to my poor friend, who after all +is the one to be pitied, for he goes empty away; and to your own face +with which you were so very angry. It has, indeed, been an infliction +to you, but at last it is to it that you are indebted for the happiness +of having Mr. Hans Lutz again. For if Mrs. Bathsheba had not stolen +your bewitching profile, who knows whether your lover would ever have +come on your track here in Munich, and finally carried off picture and +original both!' + +"Such was the gist of my address, and my eloquence had the happiest +results. There ensued a most affecting reconciliation, an embracing, +kissing, and handshaking, whereof--as regards the last at all events--I +had my due share, and in another five minutes I saw the happy pair +drive off in the cab, radiant with delirious bliss, and had scarcely +time to invite them to pay a visit to my house, and to call after the +driver to go through the English garden, that being the best scene for +such an idyll. + +"Van Kuylen did not show himself again. But as I slowly followed the +cab, and turned round once more, I thought I saw from the upper window +of the small house, a resigned cloud of smoke eddy up from a white +clay-pipe. He had not spared himself the pain of looking after the +lovers from his lonely watch-tower. + +"I need not say that I instantly went home, and accurately repeated the +whole remarkable story to my dear wife. Alas! I failed to produce the +desired effect thereby. There lurked in the soul of that excellent +woman a prejudice against a girl who presumed to be so beautiful that +all men ran after her, and even the steadiest landscape painters took +in her an interest--fatherly, indeed, but dangerously warm. The +suspicion that all might not have been so very right after all, seemed +to gain confirmation, when day after day passed without bringing the +happy pair to pay their promised visit. My wife went about again with a +well-known air of magnanimously suppressed triumph, and treated me with +such compassionate indulgence, that it almost drove me wild. But what +was to be done? I must needs put up with it, and had only the choice of +passing as a bad judge of character, or a secret sinner. + +"However, in a fortnight's time the tide turned. I was sitting quietly +over my work about noon, when in ran my little Christopher, and called +out to me that I was to come instantly to mamma, that there was a most +beautiful lady there with a gentleman, and that they had asked for me. +There they were then, husband and wife, on their marriage trip through +Italy to New York. On the day I had last seen them they had set out +homewards to present themselves to their parents, and as Hans Lutz--his +real name was Johann Ludwig Weinmann--was making a quantity of money +over there in America, it was probably much the same to the father of +the fair Kate, whether the result was attained by railway-making and +bridge-building, or the tanning of leather. My good wife had at +first--she afterwards confessed to me--sat rather monosyllabically +there, but when I came in, and neither the young woman nor I blushed, +nor exchanged any sign whatever of a private understanding, she finally +resumed her equipoise, and was obliged to believe in me: more--in the +course of the next half-hour she fell so completely in love with the +beautiful world's wonder, she did not know how to let her go, and +finally parted from her with the tenderest embraces. Later she said to +me, 'It really is a very good thing she is gone to America.' + +"The same evening brought another leave-taking, but only in the form of +a letter. My good mynheer sent me a note, in which he after his own +fashion, and with divers humorous marginal illustrations, announced his +journey to Italy. He enclosed a small pen-and-ink drawing as a +keepsake; which was very highly finished and in all respects a genuine +Van Kuylen. Before a hut in a primeval forest sat a young pair under +the shade of palms, bananas, and bread-fruit trees, a couple of fine +children playing about their feet, the wife occupied with needle-work, +the husband reading to her. Above them on the branch of a majestic tree +squatted a small thin ape who was just about to throw a date into the +beautiful young woman's lap. Whom the faces of the wedded pair +resembled, and who had sat to the artist for the odd, pinched, resigned +countenance of the ape it were needless to particularise." + + + + END OF THE FAIR KATE. + + + + + + + GEOFFROY AND GARCINDE. + + + + + + GEOFFROY AND GARCINDE. + + +About the time of the second crusade, there lived near Carcassonne in +Provence, a nobleman, Count Hugo of Malaspina, who after the death of +his fair and virtuous wife, sent his only daughter Garcinde, then ten +years old, accompanied by her foster-sister Aigleta, to be educated at +the convent of Mont Salvair, and recommenced himself, spite of +grizzling hair, a wandering bachelor life. He was a stately knight, and +popular both with men and women, so he had no lack of invitations to +merry-making tournaments, and banquets at the castles of the wealthy +nobles, far and near. But, however, his delight in military exercises +and minstrelsy grew cool with years, so that he left the palm in both +to be carried off by younger aspirants, developing, at the same time, +an increasing love for wine and dice, and falling from his former +character of a wise manager of himself and of his substance, to that of +a degraded night-reveller, who even occupied the castle of his fathers +as tenant to his creditors, and had nothing left to call his own but +his unstained knightly courage, and the heart of his child. In order +not to grieve that child, Count Hugo took the greatest care to prevent +the rumour of the low state of his finances reaching the convent. He +was in the habit of twice a year visiting his daughter, and the young +girl, who up to this time had devoted all the power of loving she as +yet had to her father, and admired him as the ideal of every human and +knightly virtue and perfection,--did not fail to notice that the eyes +of the fast aging man, had for some time back lost their open and +joyous expression, that his cheeks were sunk, and his lips habitually +compressed. But as she knew the way to cheer him, and for the time to +make him forget the world outside the cloister-walls, she naturally +attributed his depression to his solitude, and lovingly urged him to +take her back, and keep her near him. At which the Count would sigh, +gloomily shake his head and declare that it would not be consistent +with her fair fame to live in a castle inhabited by men only, without +better protection than he could offer. He could not, therefore, remove +her from the cloister until she should exchange the companionship of +the pious sisters for that of some worthy husband. This was not +pleasant hearing to the intelligent girl, for although her life had not +been otherwise than happy with the nuns, who were cheerful and busy, +and though she had had, moreover, the companionship of the bright-eyed +Aigleta--a lively girl and full of whatever fun was possible in a +convent--yet Garcinde yearned to know and enjoy something of the world +without, and above all to devote her loving heart entirely to her +father. But he persisted that the honour of his house allowed of no +other arrangement than the present, and after every conversation on the +subject--as though stung by some secret vexation--he would abruptly +take leave of his lovely child, who on such occasions sat in the turret +of the convent-garden wall, lost in thought, and gazing on the road her +father had taken. + +Thus year after year passed by: the Count's daughter had long out-grown +childhood, and the good nuns, reluctant as they might have been to part +with their charge, yet began to wonder that nothing was said about +marrying her. For they had no idea that Count Hugo, shrinking from +confessing to a son-in-law that he was a beggar, spoke as little about +his daughter as though she had been changed in her cradle, and a fairy +bantling placed there in her stead. + +Now it happened that early one morning, when no one was expecting +him at his own castle, the Count returned quite alone on his roan mare, +and gave a faint knock as a man mortally sick might give at a +hospital-gate. The porter, growling over the untimely guest who roused +him from his morning sleep, looked through the grating in the iron +court-door, and was so startled by what he saw, that his trembling +hands could scarcely draw the heavy bolt in order to admit of his +master's entrance. For the face of the Count was pale as that of the +dead, and his eyes hollow, fixed, and expressionless, as if, instead of +having returned from a merry-making at the castle of his rich +neighbour, the Count Pierre of Gaillac, he might have been emerging +from the cave of St. Patrick, or from a still more terrible place where +he had spent the night with spectres. He threw the bridle of his horse +(the animal was covered with foam, and greedily drank the rain-water on +the ground,) to the alarmed domestic, and uttered one word only, +"Geoffroy." Then he ascended the winding-stair to his lonely room, +shaking his head when the servant enquired whether the Count would have +any refreshments, and whether he should wake up the other retainers. + +The porter, who had never seen his master in such a plight, would have +been slow to recover from the shock he had received, had not the horse, +with a shrill neigh of distress, sunk on the ground. With some +difficulty he got it to its feet again, and led the utterly exhausted +animal to the stable, where he rendered it every care; then still +talking to himself, and calling upon all saints and angels, he ran to +the Geoffroy whom the Count had demanded. + +The youth who bore this name dwelt in a lonely ivy-grown turret close +to the moat, and as the dawn had hardly broken, he still lay in the +sound sleep beseeming his health and early years. He was only twenty, a +nephew of the Count's, the offspring of the unfortunate love between +the high-born Countess Beatrix and a wandering minstrel, who knowing +the proud spirit and the customs of the house of Malaspina, had no way +of winning, except persuading her to elope with him. Count Rambaut her +father, when he discovered the disgrace that had befallen his family, +took no one into his counsels but his son Hugo; and father and brother +rode forth by night to follow the track of the offenders. In seven days +time they returned, walking their horses, a closed litter between them, +in which the young Countess lay with snow-white face, more like a waxen +form than a living woman. Her brother had killed her lover, her father +had cursed the dying man. From that time she never spoke another word +to either of them, but lived a widow in a detached turret, where she +brought her boy into the world. She made no complaint, but resisted all +attempts at reconciliation, though on their father's death, her +brother, who had always been deeply attached to her, endeavoured by all +the means in his power, to conciliate her. He himself bore her son to +the font, and when he married, he imposed upon his wife the duty of +daily visiting the lonely one, who never of her own accord left her +self-elected prison. Both ladies had now departed this life; the young +man Geoffroy--he was named after his father--was brought up almost as +the Count's own son, and truly the proudest might have gloried in such +a son. He was a beautiful youth, broad-shouldered, dark-complexioned, +with great earnest eyes, and a sweet sad mouth almost feminine in form, +which seldom smiled. For although he had in abundance all that a young +heart could desire, gay garments, finely-tempered weapons, horse, +falcon, and leisure enough for every knightly practice, and though, +too, from his earliest infancy no one had ever spoken an unkind word to +him, or reproached him with his birth, yet for all that a shadow hung +over him. Unless he were wandering in the forest--which bordered on the +moat, and was reached by a narrow bridge in ten paces or so--he would +keep himself apart from all joyous company, in the same room where his +mother had brought him into the world, as though there were no other +place on earth where he had a right to be. In his mother's lifetime he +had planted the little tower about with roses, and he still kept her +chamber, bed, and wardrobe, just as she had liked them to be. He for +his part had but few wants, and always held himself prepared to leave +even this corner where he was tolerated, at the first insulting word. +However, no one thought of such an event less than did Count Hugo, +whose heart the boy had entirely won, for he had transferred his love +for his sister, to her fatherless child. But as spite of all the +kindness and care shown him, the son could never force himself to +return the friendly grasp of the hand that had slain his father, all +that the Count could do was to leave his nephew in perfect freedom. He +never required any service from him, thanked him as for a favour +conferred if Geoffroy tamed a falcon, or broke a horse for him, and +when his means began to fail, he would rather himself dispense with a +necessary than that Geoffroy should be disappointed of a wish. However, +he never took him with him on a visit, not that he wished to deny this +illegitimate sprout of the family tree--especially since his +unfortunate mother was no longer there to blush for him--but rather +that he did not wish the youth to witness his own reckless mode of +life, or to be corrupted by the loose manners and dissolute society of +the neighbouring nobles. + +Therefore it was that the nephew, who had never received an order from +his uncle, was surprised to be thus suddenly disturbed at so unusual an +hour by the porter, who breathlessly told him what had happened, and +summoned him to the castle. He did not, however, delay to dress and +obey the call. When he entered the chamber, dimly lighted by the +dawning day, he saw the Count sitting at a table with a taper before +him, by the aid of which he had evidently been writing a letter. He now +sat motionless, his head resting on his hands, which were buried deep +in his grey hair. Geoffroy had to call him three times before he could +rouse him from his trance, then when he saw the haggard face and +lifeless eyes he, too, was shocked, although he did not love his uncle. +But he made an effort, enquired whether he was ill, and whether he +should ride to Carcassonne to fetch a leech. + +"Saddle a horse, Geoffroy," returned Count Hugo, slowly rising, folding +the letter he had written, and sealing it with his signet-ring. "You +must take this letter to-day to the Lady Abbess of the Convent of Mont +Salvair, and to-morrow she must send me off my daughter Garcinde, for I +have something to say to her. And as I myself cannot reach her--my ride +this night has done me harm, and my gout admonishes me to get into bed +rather than into the saddle--I could wish that you should escort your +cousin, and see to her safe journey hither. Take a servant with you who +will bring back, on a baggage-horse, whatever may be personally needed, +till the abbess can send the rest. The convent will lend Garcinde a +horse. I have requested this to be done in my letter. You will rest for +a night half-way, at the farm of La Vaquiera, my daughter being +unaccustomed to riding, and the summer heat great. On the evening of +the third day I shall expect to see you here." + +The youth received the letter, lingered for a moment on the threshold +as though some question were burning on his lips, then merely said, "It +shall be done, my lord," and with a slight inclination, took his +departure. When he got outside the door, he fancied that he heard +himself recalled, and stood still a moment to see whether it really +were so, but hearing nothing further he ran down the winding-stair, got +his horse out of the stable, gave the requisite orders to one of the +few servants that remained about the fallen house, and as the man was +sleepy and slow in his movements, ordered him to follow after, while he +himself sprang through the gate past the wondering porter, to whose +questions as to what the Count wanted, and whether it really were all +over with him, he merely replied by a shrug of the shoulders. + +The reason of his haste in fulfilling his mission, was a fear that the +Count might change his mind and call him back, for during the eight +years that his cousin had been away from her father's house, whenever a +message had to be sent to her, he was never the one appointed to carry +it, and there seemed to be a deliberate purpose to prevent their +meeting. It is true that when they were both children there had been +no one of whom the little Countess was so fond as of her silent, +proud-spirited playfellow, the wandering minstrel's son, who at that +time already led a strange and solitary life in the small tower where +his mother had died. The servants had concluded that it was on account +of young Geoffrey that Sir Hugo had sent his daughter to a convent, +instead of taking a duenna into his house as many a widower had done, +so as not to be separated from his child; and now here was the cousin +sent to bring back the young lady, who had meanwhile, according to +common report, grown up into unparalleled beauty. Had some suitor made +his appearance on the previous evening, so that it was no longer +necessary to guard the girl against an unsuitable attachment? Or had +Death on his spectral horse accompanied the Count on his last night's +ride, so that all earthly considerations having now fallen off from +him, he merely thought of making his peace with God, and leaving his +child free to be happy or unhappy in her own way? There was no solving +the mystery. + +As soon, however, as the turrets of the Castle of Malaspina were out of +sight, Geoffroy threw away all care and sadness, and only suffered +pleasant thoughts--rare guests in his mind--to go forth to meet the +playfellow of his childhood, whose delicate face with its laughing +white teeth and large dark eyes, shone out as plainly before him as +though he had seen them but yesterday. The day was cloudless, the woods +resounded with the song of birds, the beautiful fields of Provence +spread before him golden with the ripening corn, and for the first time +life appeared to him to be indeed a heavenly boon. He took to singing +the song with which his father had won his mother's heart; he had found +it in a music-book with the words written in the margin by her own +hand. + + "Le donz chans d'un auzelh, + Tue chantava en un plays, + Me desviet l'autr'ier + De mon camin--" + +He knew not why this particular song should come to his mind: he had +never till now thought of it but with sorrow, but to-day he sang it +with clear voice and joyous heart. + +As he approached the convent at evening, his mood became quieter, and +his brow clouded. With fast beating heart he knocked at the gate, and +delivering the letter through a grating to a lay-sister, awaited a +message from the abbess. Before long the answer came, saying the +command of the Count would be obeyed, that with the dawn of morning +both the young girls would be given over to the messenger's charge, and +that meanwhile he might spend the night at the house of the convent +bailiff, who was accustomed to receive strangers, and dwelt in the +vineyards of Mont Salvair. + +The night, however, seemed long to the youth, for his trusty friend +sleep came not as usual to speed it away; he envied the servant (who +had only arrived about midnight with the baggage-horse,) the influence +of the strong convent wine, and the deep unconsciousness that followed. +In Geoffroy there was something awake which was stronger than wine or +fatigue. + +Once more it was day: they saddled their horses, took leave of the +bailiff, and rode to the gate of Mont Salvair, there to await the +youthful Countess. They were not there long before the door opened, the +abbess came out, her train of nuns behind her, and in their midst the +young Garcinde and her foster-sister, who were about to enter upon life +and liberty, while the sisters returned to their pious bondage. There +were so many tears and sighs, embraces and benedictions, that Geoffroy +had still to wait some time before he could see the face of his cousin, +now lost to him under one veil after another. But one glance of her +black eyes, and the sheen of her fair hair, had wrought such an effect +upon him, that he stood by his horse in utter confusion of mind, and +hardly heard the abbess, who enquired in evident wonder whether he were +really the messenger who yesterday brought Count Malaspina's letter, +and to whom his daughter was to be confided. The servant, who was +standing by with folded hands and open mouth, staring at the holy +women, had to nudge the youth with his elbow before he came to himself, +and reverentially bowed assent to what he had only imperfectly heard. +"Sir Hugo himself," he said, his eyes still fixed on his cousin's fair +hair, "had been prevented coming. He had charged him to ride slowly, +and to spend the night at La Vaquiera." By mentioning this prudent +plan, he hoped to remove any scruple the abbess might have in confiding +the maiden to so young an escort. He seemed however, to have produced a +quite contrary effect, for after one perturbed heavenward look, the +noble lady turned away to some of the older nuns, and began in a low +voice to take counsel with them. Then when the bailiff had led out the +horses for the young women, and while some of the lay-sisters helped +the servant to load the baggage horse with clothes and provisions, a +lively face emerged from the living hedge of black and white veils. It +belonged to Aigleta, the child of Garcinde's nurse, who had grown up to +be a blooming maiden, and who now approached the mute messenger, +holding out a small but vigorous hand, and exclaiming, "In God's name +be welcome, Sir Geoffroy! Is it you?" After which she went up to the +abbess and whispered a word or two in her ear which seemed to dispel +all anxiety. The pious lady depended too fully on the lessons of wisdom +and virtue, which her charge had imbibed with conventual milk, to hold +it possible that she should give her heart to a nameless illegitimate +cousin, especially at a time when, in all probability, a distinguished +alliance awaited her. Accordingly she clasped Garcinde--who burst into +tears--in her motherly embrace, herself helped her to mount the old +convent grey, while Aigleta was lifted by Geoffroy on to a spirited +pony, and with much sobbing and waving of hands and handkerchiefs, the +small cavalcade was at last sent off from the old arched gate of Mont +Salvair, through which the band of the Brides of Heaven slowly and +mournfully returned. + +But the young travelling-companions, too, proceeded on their way more +silently and thoughtfully than might be expected, when a knightly +youth, on the fairest of summer days, guides two fair maidens mounted +on fresh horses upon their first expedition into a smiling world. After +a hasty question as to how her father was, Garcinde had not again +addressed Geoffroy, influenced, perhaps, by the curt although +reverential manner in which he had seemed to avoid entering into +further details. But Aigleta, who for her part had not allowed the +departure from Mont Salvair to weigh the least upon her spirits, took +up a livelier tone, and after a sigh of gratitude for being at last +delivered from the pious monotony of cloistered life, began to give +Geoffroy an amusing account of its course from day to day. She was an +excellent mimic, and counterfeited the voices of the different sisters, +their mild whispers, and downcast eyes, their unrestrained laughing and +screaming as soon as they were unobserved, their petty spiteful +quarrels, their cloying affectionateness to each other, ready at a +moment's notice to turn into deadly enmity. In the midst of all this +she introduced the solemn bass voice of the abbess, exhorting to peace, +and painting the dangers of the world; and finally she concluded with a +wild medley of pious and godless speeches, in which the nuns were +supposed to express their feelings on the departure of the young +Countess, their envy, their fear that Satan with all his crew might be +waiting for them outside the gates; lastly the prayer of the abbess for +their deliverance from all dangers, especially from the temptations of +bold knights, and suspicious young cousins. + +Garcinde who had been riding a yard or two in advance, now cut short +this burst of spirits, and with her gentle voice--without, however, +turning towards Aigleta--rebuked her frivolous tone. It was sinful, she +said, after all the love and kindness they had enjoyed, to expose to +view the weaknesses of the poor and sadly limited life, and she at +least should never forget that when orphaned, she had found there a +second home. Whereupon the pert girl, who in Geoffroy's presence did +not at all approve of having this well-merited sermon addressed to her, +only replied with a couple of proverbs, "Each bird sings according as +it is fed," and-- + + "To tell the simple truth I ween, + May be unwise, but 'tis not sin." + +But she was all the more vexed and put out because the handsome youth +by her side treated her as so perfect a stranger, while she for her +part remembered him so well, and how glad she used to be when their +childish games were so arranged that "Jaufret"--so they called him +then--should be on her side to deliver her from a dragon, or to wake +her by a kiss out of magic sleep. And while she now engaged the servant +in commonplace talk, she could not help stealing frequent glances at +her other companion, noticing how handsome and manly he had become; how +with a slight turn of the wrist he could rein in a fiery horse, and yet +had such a sad and earnest beauty in his eyes as would have become the +very saints in the church of Mont Salvair. What could make him so +silent, she kept wondering; and if she were below the attention of so +noble a gentleman, how was it that he abstained from all attempt to +find favour in the eyes of his lady-cousin? All this perplexed her so +much that she gradually left off talking, and entirely forgot the +slight anger she had felt at the admonition received. Meanwhile the +youth on his side, who had so impatiently watched for this day, wished, +as the sun rose higher, that it had never dawned upon him at all, +instead of looking down on his joy and sorrow with so heartless a +splendour. It is true that from his boyish years he had preserved the +image of his cousin as his ideal of all beauty and loveliness, but the +spark had smouldered on as a quiet memory in a well-guarded portion of +his heart; but now at the first greeting from her lips, at the perfume +that floated over to him from her hair, this spark burst out into a +mighty flame, and he suffered tortures such as he had never known +before. And then her apparent estrangement from him increased his +anguish, for although he did not know whether it were disinclination to +him personally, or the calm contempt of the Count's daughter for her +father's poor retainer which closed her lips and kept her eyes averted, +he had leisure enough in these silent hours to estimate with miserable +accuracy the social gulf between them, and the duty of crushing every +foolish hope. Then, again, his thoughts turned to conjectures as to +what possessor he would have to make over the jewel entrusted to him, +whether her hand would be given away without her heart, or whether her +father in the gloom of sickness had so yearned for his only child, as +suddenly to recall her to his deserted home. Even were it so, would his +case be less hopeless if he had longer time to learn the full +preciousness of the treasure which must at length be surrendered to +another? + +Thus he sank more and more into a profound melancholy, so that even +Garcinde, who was not herself joyous, remarked it, and asked him +whether he were suffering, whether he would rest and refresh himself +with a draught of wine? Geoffroy, crimsoning to the roots of his hair, +excused himself for his absent mood, accounted for it by a sleepless +night, and did all he could to appear more cheerful. And at noon when +they halted in a wood beside a spring to recruit themselves with the +provisions with which the pious sisterhood had laden the baggage-horse, +his spirits in a measure revived, while Aigleta, who had long got over +her fit of sullenness, recovered the audacity of her mood, and +flavoured the mid-day meal with the drollest freaks of fancy. Garcinde +sat in the shadow of a tall black-thorn, and patiently endured that the +little witch who could not rest a moment, should adorn the whole party +with garlands, even to the servant and the grazing horses, singing +merry songs the while, not always of spiritual import, at which even +the servant laughed, so that the young Countess rose with a grave air, +removed the wreath from her brow, and proposed that they should ride on +again. The last to rise from the green grass was Geoffroy; to him the +spot seemed a Paradise where he would willingly have dreamed his days +away, yet when he lifted his cousin into her saddle, he did not dare to +bestow on the little foot that she placed in his hand, anything more +than the very slightest pressure. She turned her face away from him, +and he was for an instant's space veiled in the flow of soft tresses +that fell down to her girdle. Then she put her horse into a gentle +canter. Thus they all rode on for a while, men and beasts refreshed by +their hour's repose, and even Geoffroy carried his head higher, as +though the red wine that Aigleta had given him in a cup garlanded with +flowers, had put new life into his veins, and inspired him with energy +to enjoy the bliss of the present hour. + +La Vaquiera, which they reached early in the afternoon, was a +dairy-farm, beautifully situated between richest pastures and wooded +grounds; until late years in the possession of the house of Malaspina, +but staked and lost at play, by the Count to a neighbouring noble, +Pierre de Gaillac, who had, however, something else to do than to look +after herds of cattle and flocks of sheep in this quiet corner. The +farmer himself and his wife, who lived here with a troop of shepherds +and milkmaids, and whom Sir Hugo greeted as usual whenever he rode +past, had not a notion that they no longer held under him, and they +received his daughter--whom they well remembered in her childhood--with +all the reverence and attention due to their young mistress. They had +only a small house, as the servants slept in the stables, but they at +once gave up their one sleeping-chamber to the two girls, and +themselves found a resting-place in the kitchen. Geoffroy had to put up +with a loft reached by a ladder, fortunately an airy one having plenty +of fresh hay. It was late, however, when he betook himself to it, for +the best part of the starry night had been spent in such earnest and +serious converse, that his impetuous feelings were somewhat subdued, +and spite of the vicinity of Garcinde, he made up for the lost sleep +of the night before. The two girls, on the contrary, although they +too--what with the long ride and the strong wine--owned to being very +tired, yet enlivened themselves during their unrobing, by much of that +seeming confidential talk common to maidens who share the same couch, +and yet would fain conceal their heart's secrets from each other. For +girls believe there is no better way of holding their tongue on one +subject than letting it run on unguardedly on every other. "Why have +you been so little glad all day long, and are you sure you are not +still angry with me for all the nonsense I have talked, out of sheer +delight at getting back into the world?" said Aigleta to her friend, +while helping her to braid and bind her hair. "Not so, dear heart," +replied her thoughtful companion, letting her delicate arms drop into +her lap. "I envy you your light-heartedness, I do not censure it. But +my heart is heavy. Oh, Aigleta, I used to have such happy dreams of +returning to my father, of breathing free air, and seeing the world as +it lay beyond the hill of Mont Salvair. And now--" + +"Does not the world seem to you fair enough, the sky blue enough, the +meadows green enough, the stream clear enough to reflect back your +beauty?" laughed Aigleta. + +"How can you mock at my anxiety and gloom?" returned the Count's +daughter. "Just think--on the very day when I re-enter the world, my +dear father is absent from me. I cannot grasp his hand or hear his +voice. Oh believe me, there is something mysterious, dark, perhaps +appalling, that is kept back from me, the foreboding of which +has--spite of all the sunshine--darkened for me this much longed for +day." + +"Nonsense!" said Aigleta. "Shall I tell you where the cloud lay that +threw its dull shadow over you? On the brow and in the eyes of that +simple Sir Jaufret. Deny it as you will I know what I know, and have +not got eyes in my head for nothing. And have you not, indeed, every +right to be offended with his uncourteous, indifferent manner? Fie! To +make such a melancholy face when one has the good fortune to serve as +knight to two sweet young ladies, one of whom, moreover, is a high-born +countess and his own first cousin! And this evening, too, when we +walked round the pastures, could he not have found something more +lively to talk of than the stars above us, and whether we went to them +after death, and horrid subjects of that kind? I think he might have +found some stars nearer at hand, and only to talk about dying we need +not have left Mont Salvair! He is certainly--as one can see--likely to +die of love, but that is no excuse. Such gloom may do very well for +poems when he writes you them, but while you were together and +alone--for as for me, I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep--" + +"What art thou prating about, foolish one?" said Garcinde, trying to +look angry, although a sweet emotion sent the blood tingling to her +cheeks. "Dost thou not know why he is so grave and sad, and never, +indeed, will be quite happy all his life long? Not though that he need +take his birth thus to heart. If he would only go to the court of some +foreign prince, and there gain renown, no one would reproach him with +what he could not help; and he might win wealth, and land, and fame, +and be a fit wooer for any count's daughter. But even though he be a +dreamer, and does not understand his own advantage, he is not so +foolish as to turn his thoughts towards me, for well he knows my father +would never give me to him. Nay I rather think that he hates me as +being my father's daughter--above him in position--though I for my part +would always behave to him as in our childish days, and do everything +in my power to renew the old intimacy." + +"Hm," said Aigleta, as she unlaced her bodice, "it may be that you are +right, and yet I wish he hated _me_ in the way he hates _thee_. I +should desire nothing better, but I am a servant's daughter. Who would +give himself the trouble to look and see whether I deserve love or +hate? And yet I think," and so saying she shook her thick hair over her +white shoulders, "it might be well worth their while too, and whether +high-born or not, you shall see, _Domna Comtessa_, in the net of these +black hairs. I shall catch gay-plumaged birds as well as you with your +gold threads, and even if that black crow Jaufret keeps out of them--" + +"Any one who heard you speak," interposed Garcinde, "would think that +you came from some quite other place than a convent. But now we will go +to sleep. I wish morning were come and that I had embraced my father." + +They lay quiet for an hour, yet neither of them closed an eye; the bed +at the farm was certainly harder than their Mont Salvair couch, but +that alone would not have troubled the repose of girls of eighteen. +They both held their breath, and kept motionless, till Aigleta suddenly +sat up and said, "I never believed the nuns when they said the outer +world would steal away our rest; and now see, we have hardly put our +foot outside their gates, and already sleep flies from us. And yet we +are not even in love, I at least am not. Oh, Blessed Lady of Mont +Salvair, what _will_ happen when it comes to that! You of course will +have some distinguished husband, and then lovers as many as you will, +but I--suppose one took my fancy whom I could not have--I believe I +should set a wood on fire and jump into the midst of it!" + +"What are you dreaming about?" answered Garcinde, without raising her +head from the pillow. "Do you suppose that I would take a husband whom +I did not love, or that my father would give me to any one against whom +my heart rebelled? Do you not know that he loves nothing on earth so +well as me, and could have no greater sorrow than to see me suffer? Go +to sleep--the wine has got into your head. I think you have been let +out of the convent too soon." + +"Amen," said the merry girl in the deep voice of the abbess; then she +laughed out loud, but left off talking, and was asleep before her young +mistress. + +The next morning the horses had stood saddled and pawing the ground in +the courtyard, for a good hour before the girls appeared on the +threshold. They nodded familiarly to Geoffroy, and chatted a little +with the good people of La Vaquiera. Then they spurred their horses in +order to get over the four hour's ride to Malaspina, before the mid-day +heat. + +Again but little was said on the way; the youth, spite of his sound +sleep, was still paler and sadder than on the previous day; even +Aigleta seemed lost in thought, bit her full lip, and now and then +sighed. Moreover they had difficulty to keep up with the young +Countess, who urged her horse as though the wild huntsmen were on her +track. Once she turned to Geoffroy, who kept near her for fear the +over-urged palfrey should make a false step. "Do you think my father +will ride to meet us?" she enquired, and anxiously waited for his +answer. "I should think so," replied the youth without daring to look +at her, for his mind, too, was full of gloomy forebodings. + +When they first came in sight of the Castle of Malaspina, Garcinde +suddenly drew bridle, and shading her eyes with her hand gazed for +several moments at the well-remembered ancient pile. The road wound +like a bright narrow ribbon through the short-cut grass, and they could +see every pebble on it. But of any horseman crossing the drawbridge and +hastening to meet them, nothing was to be seen; even when they came so +near that the warder blew his horn, everything remained unchanged, and +there was no sign of the festal reception of which the girl had +dreamed. The porter appeared in the open gateway, and behind him a few +shabby-looking retainers, who stood round as if confused, and for the +first time aware how high the grass and nettles grew between the flags +in the courtyard. Geoffroy had made some pretext for remaining behind, +for his heart bled at the idea of witnessing such a return home. For +although the innocent, inexperienced girl could not take in the whole +extent of the change--as she had only a childish recollection of the +place, and it was not written over the gateway that scarcely the bare +walls remained in her father's possession--yet the paucity of +domestics, and their thread-bare attire, might well startle her; and +above all, that her own parent had not the heart to welcome his beloved +child in front of the ancestral dwelling! + +"Is my father ill?" she cried, as without awaiting help she leapt from +her saddle. + +"It is only a sharp attack of gout, lady," replied the porter, glancing +up at an arched window that looked into the court, as if expecting that +at least his master would beckon from thence to his daughter, even +though his ailments might prevent his descending the stairs. But the +window was empty, and a blush suffused Garcinde's face as her glance, +which had taken the same direction, came back unsatisfied and +distressed. "I will go upstairs to him, Aigleta," she whispered, "wait +here till I call you." + +She went, the others descended from their horses and made them over to +the servants. Geoffroy after exchanging a few rapid words with the +porter: "Anything new?" "All as it was," took his own horse to the +stable, unbridled him, and then crossed the courtyard on his way to his +little turret without taking any notice of Aigleta, who, lost and +forsaken, sat on a stone bench amongst the menials, and could have wept +heartily over so disappointing a return to the much desired home, had +there not been too many lookers on. She saw the young man take his way +to the well-known rose-embowered tower, but his head hung down so +dejectedly that she did not venture to address him, or ask him to let +her go with him to their old play-ground. As for him, he seemed to have +forgotten that he was in the world, or that he walked among men. +Although he had only had a little bread and wine in the early morning, +and it was now past noon, he had no thought of eating or drinking, but +sat in his turret-chamber on his mother's bed, motionless like one +struck by lightning, his widely-opened eyes fixed on his father's +song-book, which on his entrance he had taken down from the shelf and +opened out on his knee. Yet he did not seem to be reading, but rather +listening to some words that his own heart was setting to the music, +whether glad or sorrowful none could have guessed from his stony +aspect. All at once, however, he started back into life, and his dark +face flushed deeply; he sprang so hastily from the bed that the +song-book slipped from his knee and fell open upon the flags, then he +held his breath, and listened to some sound in the garden of roses +below. Yes, it was her step, no other human being's was like it, and +now her hand was upon the turret-door, now she crossed the dark and +narrow hall, now she opened the inner door and stepped over its +threshold into his small chamber. + +As she entered, his eyes involuntarily fell, and he sought to disguise +his emotion by lifting from the floor the parchment-book that lay +between her and him, and now that he raised his eyes to her he started, +horror-stricken. For her face but lately blooming with youth and +health, had so changed in one short hour that she seemed to have +traversed years of hopeless grief. + +"I disturb you, cousin," she said in a voice from which the music had +fled, "but I come to you because I think you are my friend--perhaps the +only one I have. Let me sit down, I am mortally weary. No, not on the +bed; my dear aunt died there. Oh, Jaufret, if I only knew that it would +be my death-bed too--and that my heart would grow still the moment I +lay down there--God is my witness I would throw myself upon it at +once!" + +She sank down on the seat that he offered her, hiding her face in her +hands, and tears streaming between her white fingers. "For God's sake, +cousin," he cried, "you break my heart. What has happened? What has +your father said?" + +Then she removed her hands from her face, pressed back her tears, and +looked steadfastly at him. "I will not weep," she said, "it is +childish. If all is true that I have heard, tears are too weak for such +sorrow. But I want to hear it from you, cousin. Is it indeed the case +that the Count of Malaspina is a beggar, and that his daughter has +nothing to call her own except the clothes she wears? You are silent, +Jaufret. Be it so then; what should I care for that? I have long had a +foreboding that there was trouble before me, and as to poverty, I have +seen _that_ in the convent, and know it, and it does not affright me. +But shame, Jaufret, shame--" + +"By the blood of our Lord," he exclaimed. "Who dares to say that shame +threatens you so long as I can bear a sword, and lay a lance in rest?" + +She did not appear to hear him. Then after a pause in which she, as if +unconsciously, drew her rosary through her hands, she shudderingly +enquired, "Do you know the Count de Gaillac?" The youth started as +though he had trodden upon a snake, he muttered a curse between his +teeth, and convulsively clutched the silken coverlet. + +"You seem to know him," the maiden continued, "and I know him too. +About two years ago a hunting-party came to Mont Salvair, a great +gathering of knights and fair dames. They all sat themselves down to +feast in the wood that bordered the convent garden, and we from +our shrubbery could see what was going on; the drinking, the +banqueting; and could hear the songs that the Count's mistress--a tall, +proud-looking woman--sang to her lute. Oh cousin, what dreadful human +beings there are! Even then I felt a terror come over me, and was glad +when the abbess came to drive us out of the garden, and set us down in +the refectory to our spinning-wheels. There nothing was heard but the +whispering of the nuns, every one of whom knew something of the +wildness and godlessness of the Count de Gaillac. For they know +everything in the convent, know all about the outer world and its ways, +otherwise they would die of tedium. Then the abbess came in, told me +that the Count was standing at the grating, and desired to see me, as +he was the bearer of a message from my father. I do not know how I had +strength enough to rise, and walk across the long hall to her; then, +however, she took my hand in her mother-like clasp, and whispered, +'Remember that thou art here in a consecrated place; here the evil one +himself could have no power over thee.' So saying she led me to where +the godless man with his hawk's eyes in his wolf's face, was waiting +behind the grating, the handsome, bold-looking woman by his side. They +were laughing loud when we appeared, but suddenly grew silent. I heard +the Count say something in Italian to the lady that I perfectly +understood, but could not contradict. What his message to me was I +never knew, but it cut me to the heart to hear him name my father, and +call him his best friend. A cloud darkened my eyes,--when I came to +myself again, they were gone. The abbess never alluded to this visit, +and forbade the nuns ever to name Pierre de Gaillac before me. Thus I +never heard of him again, till to-day, when my own father has told me +that on one wretched night, after gambling away the remnant of his +possessions to this man, he had staked the hand of his daughter upon +the last throw of the dice, and lost that too." + +A sound forced its way from the young man's breast, a hollow cry of +horror and of rage, but his limbs seemed paralysed, and his tongue +bound, for he did not speak a word, and there was such stillness in the +small chamber, that the grinding of the sand beneath his feet was +plainly heard. + +"You hate my father," the girl at length continued with downcast eyes +but calm voice. "Oh, Jaufret, I have known this for many years, and it +has grieved me enough. But what I have now told you ought not to +increase your hatred, for if there be one miserable being on earth, who +in the burning torture of his soul already endures hell-fire, and +expiates his sins, believe me, cousin, it is the Count of Malaspina, +who would gladly change places with the dropsical cripple at his castle +gate, if only he could undo what he has done. He writhed as though +impaled at the stake, and buried his face in the pillows that I might +not see him while he told me how it all came about; how they clouded +his mind with hippocras; how at every throw they pressed the goblet +into his hand, till at length the mocking laughter of the Count seemed +to awake him from a dream, and he gazed with sheer horror at the abyss +into which he had hurled his last possession, the happiness of his +child. He did everything he could to propitiate his malicious enemy and +conqueror, nay he offered to be his serf, his bondservant, if only he +might pay the fearful debt thus. But the Count had merely laughed and +said, 'A Jew's bargain indeed you would make with me, my friend, to +offer me a plucked old cock for a plump young hen. I have more servants +to feed than I care for, but a young wife I do want, for you know that +I am getting old, and I am not so fond of my mistress as to wish to +leave her my lands and castles after my death. Moreover, I fear she +might make me a very bad return, and before my eyes were closed, drink +with some younger fellow to my approaching end. But your daughter has +been chastely and piously brought up, and will convert me--grey in sin +as I am--to an orderly life. Therefore I would not take all the +treasures on earth in exchange for her small hand, which can alone open +the door of Heaven to me; and so I charge you by your honour that +within three weeks you bring her to celebrate the marriage here in +Gaillac. I on my part, as my gift on the morning after the nuptials, +will make over to you all the woods and lands that I have won from you +of late years, in order that your child need not provide for you like a +beggar, but that you may live out your old age in state and comfort.' +And so saying he called for his servants to light him to bed, and left +my father alone." + +At this moment Geoffrey made a gesture as though about to speak; but +she rose quickly, advanced towards him, and laid her small, cold, +trembling hand beseechingly on his clenched fist. "Cousin," said she, +"do not speak yet. I know what you would say: that it would be better +to go forth as a beggar from home and hearth, and to wander through the +wide world, than to endure disgrace, and give up body and soul to a +demon. But consider that my father has nothing on earth besides his +honour, his sacred, inviolable, knightly word, and that it would ill +become me, his daughter, to counsel him to break it. At the same time, +I feel that if there were no other means of fulfilling the pledge +given, and paying this debt than by giving my hand to this abhorred +suitor, I should prefer what is honourable in the sight of God, to what +men call honour. But let us hope, my friend, that this last alternative +may be spared me. I propose to write a letter to the man who has us in +his power, and you--if you are really my friend--you must take it this +very day to Gaillac, for until I know the answer I cannot lay me down +to sleep. But do you rest here awhile and take some food. I will go and +write the letter; they always commended my skill in writing at the +convent; God grant that it may stand me in good stead now! See, I leave +you much calmer than I was when I came, although you have not spoken +one word of comfort to me; but here in this place where we were so +happy as children, here where it seems as if no bad spirits had power +over me, here--I cannot persuade myself that the hideous dream is true, +and the father's honour pledged to the child's disgrace." + +She paused for a moment, but when the youth bent before her with a deep +sigh, and pressed her hand to his lips in token that she might depend +upon him, she laid her other hand affectionately on his shoulder, and +took leave of him, saying, "Aigleta will bring you the letter. +Farewell, dear friend, and God go with you," and then on the threshold +of the door, folding her hands after kissing the image of the Virgin on +the wall, she repeated in a low voice the following prayer: + + "Maires de Crist, ton filh car + Prega per nos, quens ampar + E quens gardo de cazer + A la fin en desesper." + +Then she left him alone. + + + * * * * * + + +A day and night passed away, and yet another day and night. Geoffroy +did not return. + +Sir Hugo never missed him; he was, indeed, accustomed to the youth +going his own way, and weeks often passed without his seeing him, and +at the present time he hated the sight of any human being. He would sit +for hours in one place in his room. The food carried in to him remained +untouched, but he drank wine greedily, as though seeking forgetfulness +from it; forgetfulness of himself, of the past, and the future. + +On the evening of the first day, when Garcinde had gone to see him, he +could not even face his own child, but when she approached him, and +gently threw her arm over his shoulder, his whole frame was convulsed, +and slipping from his chair on to the stone floor, sobbing he clasped +her knees and pressed his brow against her feet, so that she had +difficulty in raising him and leading him back to his couch. Since then +she avoided his chamber, for if she had tried to comfort him by telling +him the reason of Geoffroy's absence, her own desponding heart would +have contradicted her words. + +The third morning she woke early out of a painful dream, and called to +Aigleta who shared her couch: "Do you hear nothing, dear? I thought I +caught the sound of horses' hoofs beyond the drawbridge--no, I was only +dreaming. Oh, Aigleta! if I have also made _him_ unhappy--sent _him_ to +his ruin. But hark! the sound comes nearer--I hear the gate creak on +its hinges--it is he. Mother of God! What does he bring--Life or +Death!" + +She had sprung up and thrown a cloak around her. Aigleta, too, hastily +rose and bound up her hair; the rosy morning light shone into the room, +and coloured the pale, worn face of the Count's daughter. She would +have gone to meet Geoffroy had her knees supported her; as it was she +was standing in the middle of the room when he entered. He, too, was +pale, and as he bent before her, it struck Aigleta that he did not +raise the leathern cap which covered one-half of his brow. But Garcinde +saw nothing but his eyes which sought to avoid hers. + +"You bring no comfort?" she said. "I knew it." Then seating herself on +a bench in the window, she listened impassively to what he narrated +with a faltering voice. + +He reached Gaillac that same evening, for he had not spared his horse. +When he was ushered into the hall where the Count was, he found him at +supper, a couple of his riotous companions with him, and the one of his +mistresses who just then was highest in his favour. On a low stool at +his feet crouched a mis-shapen dwarf, who played the part of fool and +fed his dogs. The beautiful bold woman sat by his side, and poured him +out red wine into a silver goblet, putting her lips to it before he +drained it at a draught. "They all looked at me," said Geoffroy, "as +though I arrived very opportunely to divert their dulness by some +novelty or other, for none of them appeared in spirits except the fool, +who with shallow jests that waked no laughter, went on throwing +fragments of food to the dogs. I delivered your letter without speaking +a word, and while the Count unfolded and read it, I could not but think +how she who wrote it would have been received at such a table. The +thought made the blood rush to my head, and such a giddiness came over +me that I was obliged to lean upon my sword. One of the guests who +noticed this ordered that wine should be brought me, for I must be +weary and thirsty after my rapid ride, but I shook my head and said I +would only await the answer, and then return at once. Meanwhile the +Count had read the letter, and made it over in silence to his +neighbour; she had scarcely run her eyes over the first few lines +before she burst out into loud laughter. 'A sermon!' she cried, 'God's +death! You are going to get a saint for a wife,' and then she began to +read the letter aloud, line for line; and the words that would have +made stones weep and moved the gates of hell, waked only mocking echoes +here. Blasphemies and impious jests broke out, interrupting the +reading. Then the woman rose, and casting a proud look upon the Count, +said with curled lip, 'The saint may come and welcome. I was averse to +her, thinking she might turn your heart from us all and rule here +alone, but now that I have read her letter I am not afraid of her. You, +Pierre de Gaillac are not the man to wear a hair-shirt and a prickly +girdle. You are accustomed to the fires of hell, and the air of +heaven would but chill you. In hell, however, there is more joy over +one who sickens of penance and returns to his evil ways than over +ninety-and-nine lost souls. Whereupon I empty this goblet to the last +drop, and call upon you to pledge me.' She drank, the Count drew her +closer to his side, and whispered something into her ear that made her +laugh loud. They all seemed to have forgotten the messenger who had +brought the letter; the letter itself was handed to the others, and +when it came back to the Count, the dwarf snatched at it and cried, +'You have not read it rightly, godmother. Now listen how it ought to be +sung to move you all to laughter,' and he began to read it once more +aloud in the manner in which they chant litanies in church, wagging +head and hands like a preacher giving out the blessing, and if they had +all laughed the first time, they knew not now what to do, they held +their sides and groaned out responses. At last rage got the better of +me. I sprang upon the shameless fellow, tore the letter from him, and +struck him such a blow that he rolled over backwards, and upset the +silver vessel that held the food for the dogs. 'If I am to obtain no +answer,' I cried, 'worthy of the lady who has sent me here, I will at +least silence the daring mouth that has mocked at a noble virgin, and +dragged the words of a pure and lofty soul through the mire!' + +"For a moment there was silence. I even thought I might pass through +the hall unhindered, but I had reckoned without my host. Servants +rushed in, the guests raged and railed at me, the dogs howled, but the +Count still sat in his place, pale as death, and motionless with fury, +and the woman by his side shot fiery looks at me. When--a quarter of an +hour later--I found myself on damp straw behind a bolted door, a wound +in my head, and darkness before my eyes, I thanked my Saviour that I +was delivered from the neighbourhood of those brutal men, and could no +longer hear them blaspheme the name dearest to me. I do not know how I +passed the night and the following day. I think I must have slept +through them, but about the middle of the second night, I was gently +waked by a soft hand passing over my face, and the light of a small +lamp shone into my eyes. It was the Count's mistress who stood before +me there, and signed to me to be silent; gently she led me up the +broken stairs, through empty passages and halls to a narrow door of +which she had the key. 'I cannot let you starve to death in unbroken +darkness down there,' said she. 'Outside you will find your horse and +something to eat at the saddle-bow. Fly! if ever thou needest a friend +come to Carcassonne, and ask for Agnes the Sardinian. You will easily +find me out.' She waited an answer, perhaps she had even dreamed of a +tenderer farewell, but as I was silent she opened the door, and again +passed her hand over my blood-stained hair. 'Poor youth,' said she, +'thou deservedst a better fate.' Then I leapt into the saddle, and +spurred my horse hard, and thus I rode on without stopping, for in the +night air my senses gradually awoke and the fever of my wound left me. +And here I am--and this is all the answer that I bring back." + +So saying he bared his head, and showed his brow--a thick curl of his +hair lay upon the wound and seemed to have stanched its bleeding. + +Then Garcinde rose from her seat and advanced towards him as though she +had something to say, but she stopped short and remained speechless +with downcast eyes before him. Aigleta was the one to speak. "I will go +and bring linen and salves to dress the wound properly," said she; then +she looked at her friend as though she had some quite other thought, +secretly sighed, and left the two alone. And scarcely had she turned +away when Geoffroy fell on his knees before the fair and silent +mourner, and cried as he seized her hands' and pressed them +passionately to his heart: "Command me--what shall I do? For my life is +worthless to me unless I can offer it up to thee. Never should I have +betrayed the sweet pangs I endured, if sorrow had not overshadowed +thee. But now thou art no longer the Countess, the proud daughter of +Malaspina, at whom I gazed as at a star far above me. Thine is a poor +unfortunate tortured heart which will not despise another heart which +devotes itself to thee for life and death. Oh, cousin! loveliest love, +say but one word, and I mount again the horse that still stands saddled +in the courtyard, to ride back to Gaillac, and plunge this dagger into +the breast of the enemy of thy honour and peace, in the midst of all +his boon companions, even though his dogs should tear me to pieces the +next moment!" + +Then she bent down towards him, and for the first time a smile played +over her pale face. "Jaufret," said she, pressing her lips to his +blood-stained brow; "the fever of thy wound shows in thy speech. Go and +lie down, and let Aigleta--who understands such tasks--wash away the +blood and dress thy wound, and then refresh thyself with sleep and +food. For by our dear lady of Mont Salvair I accept the life you offer +me. I am no rich countess to disdain such a gift, and yet I am rich +enough to repay it. While you were relating your adventure--hideous and +cruel enough to destroy all hope--I was considering what I would and +could do. But this is not the time for talking. See, here comes your +doctress, I make you over to her, and you must do all she tells you, +and if you are tractable and obedient, be sure, cousin, you shall not +rue it! See that he sleeps and gets strong, Aigleta," she said to her +friend, who nodded, and looked as though she understood more than was +uttered. Meanwhile, the youth who still gazed at Garcinde in utmost +perplexity, had risen from his knees, and loosed her hands. He could +not understand how she could be so composed since he had brought her no +hope. But half from the exhaustion of his wound, and half from his +blind confidence in her strong and lofty nature, he parted from her +with a lightened heart, and followed Aigleta who had now lost all her +gaiety. "What can she be planning?" said he to the girl, as they both +went down the stair together. "Who can tell--obey and sleep," said +Aigleta with a quick hoarse voice, and then turning her head away, she +added, "The Lord gives to those He loves in sleep." + +She led him into his turret hermitage; she saw to his wound, which was +indeed but slight, and already disposed to heal; she furnished him with +all that he could need for refreshment, and then seeing that his eyes +were growing heavy she left him. + +She herself, however, did not instantly return to Garcinde; she still +lingered among the roses, made a nosegay, pulled it to pieces again, +and when at last she returned to the castle, her eyes were red, and she +washed them long with cold water that no one should observe it. + +Geoffroy only slept a few hours: then he awoke a new man, with brow +cool, thanks to Aigleta's salve, and heart on fire, thanks to the +mysterious hope-encouraging words of his cousin. Like a wanderer on +whom the fairy of the woods has bestowed the wishing-rod, by which at +the hour of midnight he may find and possess himself of a treasure, and +who dreams away the intervening time, so the youth sat hour after hour, +gazing only at the sunbeam which slowly moved along the stone floor, +and listening only to the song of the birds around his turret. No one +came to disturb him: the servants lay yawning in shady corners of the +court, the horses were stamping in the stable to shake off the flies; +both girls had locked themselves up in their castle chamber, and did +not appear all day. Once only through his narrow window did he catch +sight of Sir Hugo, who stepped out on the balcony before his chamber, +and looked down into the castle moat as though considering whether it +would not be better for him to dash himself to pieces there. His hair +and beard had become white as snow, his face was worn to a shadow; soon +he vanished again like a restless ghost. And now the sun went down, and +the moon rose above the wood, and silvered the rose-garden around +Geoffrey's tower. The birds were silent, but the bull-frogs in the moat +seemed to croak the louder, and in the distance a nightingale's song +was heard. It was so light in the tower that the youth could read every +letter in his parchment book, but he knew not what he was reading. + +Another hour passed away, and yet another, and then light and rapid +steps along the narrow path woke the listener out of his trance. He +rushed to the door and threw it open wide, and saw with amazement not +only the one that his heart foretold, but her friend also beside her on +the threshold. They greeted him with a silent nod, and it was only when +they had passed into his narrow chamber that Garcinde shyly spoke, "You +see that I keep my word, cousin, but have you not in the course of the +day changed your mind? Do you not regret what you said to me this +morning?" and as he looked at her with mute enquiry she blushingly +continued: "That you loved me, Jaufret, loved me more than your life, +and would devote that life to me in sorrow until death. You may speak +out your heart openly, this faithful friend knows all. She knew even +earlier than I did myself that my heart belonged to thee, as thine to +me. Oh, Jaufret, even at La Vaquiera, when we spoke by night about the +stars, what made me so still and so sad was that I kept saying to +myself, Is there no place amongst those countless orbs where he and I +may belong to each other? Must I lose him whom I have only just +regained? For I foresaw too clearly that my heart and my hand would not +long remain my own. And God is my witness I was resolved to obey my +father, had he betrothed me to any worthy husband, however distasteful +he might have proved. But to fall a victim in an unholy hour to the +mere chance of the dice, that cannot be God's will, though he has +commanded us to honour father and mother; for I have in dreams seen my +mother weeping over me, and I know that were she still living, she +would go with me into poverty rather than give me to such a husband. +And therefore am I come to thee, my beloved, and if thou art in earnest +as I believe and know thou art, I will in this very hour before God and +this witness, take thee for my husband, and fly forth with thee into +the wide world. And sure am I that when our flight is discovered, my +father will not mount his horse and follow us to punish the son as he +did the father; he knows that he dare not judge, that a judge should +have a guiltless heart. But we--where shall we fly? Are not all places +home to us, so I am with thee, Jaufret, and thou with thy Garcinde?" + +With these words she gave him her little hand, but while he, in a +transport of silent rapture, took it and held it fast, Aigleta stepped +forward and said in her lively way, and with a smiling face. "Just look +at this coy gentleman, Garcinde. Can this be the son of the man whose +lips overflowed with sweetest sayings, and not a single poor word falls +from _his_ mouth; even when one brings him the fairest of count's +daughters, who whistles all the castles and lands of Gaillac down the +wind, in order to beg her way through the world with this helpless +lover. But come, come, we cannot wait till a miracle is wrought, and +the dumb regains his speech. You must exchange rings, and pronounce the +marriage-vow, and then go forth and far away, and I--poor forsaken +one--have only to make the sign of the cross behind you; for to me you +are dead and buried, that I know all too well. I shall--" + +Her voice broke down, spite of all her self-control and her effort to +smile, and she had to stoop and pretend to adjust her shoe, that her +tears might drop unnoticed. Geoffroy, meantime, had collected himself +and now drew a ring from his finger. + +"Do you know it?" he said to Garcinde. "With this little ring my father +betrothed himself to my mother, and as in his case it betokened the +firmest constancy--a constancy that was sealed by death--I now give it +to thee, my passionately loved bride, and swear in presence of the Holy +Trinity, and before our true friend, I will never be the husband of any +other woman than Garcinde of Malaspina." + +"And I will never be the wife of any other man than my Geoffroy," said +the bride. + +"Amen. So be it," said Aigleta, in corroboration of their vow, +laying--after the exchange of rings--their hands together. Then the +pair knelt down before the picture of the Mother of God, and remained +for a short season, in silent prayer. But when they rose again and sank +into each other's arms, and with heart on heart, and mouth on mouth, +ratified their holy vow, the witness slipped softly away. By-and-bye, +they found her outside amongst the roses, of which she had woven two +garlands. "No wedding without a garland," said she, and smiled, though +her eyes were wet, while she crowned them both. Then the youth hurried +to the stable and noiselessly saddled his horse and led him to the +garden, where Garcinde lay on the breast of her friend, and whispered +amidst her tears: "I know why thou weepest. God make thee as happy as +thou hast been brave, and true to me." + +They set off quietly, Geoffroy leading the horse, who with dilated +nostrils snorted at the moonlight, the girls following him over the +bridge; then he lifted his young wife into the saddle, sprang up +himself behind her, and waving his hand to Aigleta, spurred his +faithful charger on. It did not feel the weight it bore too heavy, for +with the exception of his sword and dagger, Geoffroy had taken nothing +with him but his father's song-book, and Garcinde only a few ornaments +which she had inherited from her mother, and which her father had never +touched. Thus, then, they rode through the moonlit forest. They did not +say much: every now and then when the horse was slowly crossing boggy +ground, she would turn half round to him, and then he kissed her cheek, +and her black eyes smiled while she whispered, "My dearest husband." + +She rested in his arms so sweetly, and the good horse trod so securely, +that they hardly realised their circumstances--a hasty flight by +night--a dark future before them--but enjoyed their bliss as though no +shadow of care and danger hung over their love. + +But when they got out of the wood and reached the hill from whence +Garcinde a few days ago had first beheld again her father's castle, she +suddenly pulled the rein and turned the horse round. + +"What ails thee, sweet wife? And why dost thou halt here?" asked +Geoffroy. + +She did not reply, but gazed over the wide plain towards the dark pile +with its leaden-roofed turrets that shone in the moonlight. + +"What is it that you see, dearest?" asked the youth, who felt her +tremble on his breast, as though a frosty chill had overtaken her on +the warm summer night. "Let us look forwards, not back. Our happiness +lies before us." But she only shook her head sorrowfully, turned away +when he wished to kiss her, and said not a word. All of a sudden she +had seemed to see in the deserted castle her father with a taper in his +hand wandering from room to room, and crying, "Where is my daughter +Garcinde? I have pledged my honour, she must redeem my pledge. Where is +my child, and where is my honour? I was a beggar. I had nothing but my +unstained name, and now that is lost. The last of the Malaspina has +destroyed the good fame of the house, for she knows that I can no +longer pursue her as in former years I should have done. I am old and +sick, and a sinful man. Now, therefore, I must go down disgraced to the +grave, for mine enemy will say I have connived at this, and that to +avoid paying my debt, I have preferred even to give my last jewel to a +beggar, than to the creditor I hated!" Then again this image vanished, +and she now saw herself and her lover pursued on strange roads by an +angry band, Pierre de Gaillac at their head, resolved to claim his +bride from her ravisher. She saw her Jaufret fight with the energy of a +despairing man, and yet at length conquered by numbers, shed his life's +blood on the green grass, and she heard the mocking conqueror laugh, +"So thou enviest me my gains at play, thou player's son; the creditor +reclaims the debt the debtor would have withheld from him!" Then a +deadly shudder passed over her; she thought for a moment that her heart +had ceased to beat. All the joys of her young love seemed crushed by an +icy hand. She knew now that what had appeared to her in her trouble a +way of escape and an immeasurable bliss was a false dream; that she +should but bring death and ruin to both the beings whom she supremely +loved! + +"For the love of the Saints!" cried Geoffroy, who felt her cherished +form grow heavy as a lifeless body in his embrace, "come to thyself +again. What fearful thoughts hast thou in thy mind that thus thy lips +move silently as though speaking with the departed? Give me the bridle +and let us turn to life, to liberty. The spirits that hover over those +towers will have no power over thee when once thou art the other side +of this hill. Wilt thou make us both wretched? Wilt thou even--" + +He stopped when he saw the stony eyes of his young wife from which +every beam of hope and joy had utterly vanished. But this did not last +long, the convulsion was now over. She gave a deep sigh, turned on him +eyes of yearning love, and said, while endeavouring to smile: + +"I have scared thee; forgive me, my beloved. What have we two to fear +from any spirits that may hover over that house and envy us our bliss. +Thou, my husband, and I, thy wife, eternally one, body and soul! But I +have been thinking about our flight, that it is not the will of Heaven; +and if we persisted, Jaufret, against my conscience, we should be +punished, and should end as miserably as did thy father and my dear +aunt. Trust to me, I have another idea which thou shalt know tomorrow +early. Thou wilt praise thy wife when thou seest how she has contrived +both to pay the debt to the creditor, and yet to be the wife of no man +except her dearest cousin, to whom she has given herself in the +presence of God. Lift me down from the saddle, I do not wish to ride +any longer. If it pleases you, my husband, let us walk back through the +wood, there are still many hours before day, and a fairer wedding-night +no count's daughter could ever wish for. And now kiss me, so that I may +again see a smile on thy lips; for truly this poor life is too short +for us to spoil even one moment of it by care and gloom." He +reluctantly did what she required of him; but when he took her into his +arms and their lips met, he could not refrain from asking, "Oh +Garcinde! What art thou thinking of? Hast thou not too much confidence +in thyself, and wilt thou not if thy plan fails make us both eternally +wretched?" But she smiled at him with bright eyes, laid her finger on +his mouth, and said, "You are the happiest married man on earth, Sir +Geoffrey; you have a wife who knows how to keep a secret. But now do +not press me any further. What have we to do with the morrow? To-day +are we already such old married people that we can find more important +subjects to speak of than our love? Say, Jaufret, do I really please +thee better than Agnes of Sardinia, and was her hand when she stroked +thy hair not softer than mine? Nay, but thou must not embrace me so +ardently here, the moon looks too boldly down, and after all she does +not know that thou art my dear husband. Come into the wood, I am weary +with our ride and would fain rest awhile. I know a bank where a brook +runs through the moss, numbers of flowers bloom there, and I will weave +them into fresh garlands, for those Aigleta made are quite crushed. +Poor Aigleta! Dost thou know that she loved thee too well? But that +cannot be helped now: no one can be the husband of two women; that is +against God's law. And I, though I be not indeed better than she, I am +the more unhappy of the two, or at least I should have been if thy +heart, my beautiful love, had not been mine." + +With such words as these, which intoxicated the youth like strong wine, +they went down the hill and entered the wood. Their gentle horse +followed them of his own accord, and peacefully grazed near them in the +flowery glade where they laid them down. Through the whole of the night +the brook rippled and the nightingales sang, and the moon shone so +brightly that no one could have thought of sleep, not at least two who +had so much to confide to each other, and knew not whether there would +be time for it on the following day. When the morning drew near, and +the dew began to fall, and a cooler air swept through the wood, +Garcinde arose and said, while a shudder passed over her, "It is +growing cold, my husband. I think we ought to go home." "Where?" asked +he, looking at her in amazement, but she smiled. + +"Only come," said she, "I will show you. Can I have any other home than +thine?" With that she took his arm and led him out of the wood, and +over the bridge back into his tower. + +"Here let me rest," said she, as she seated herself on his mother's +bed. "Here I would fain sleep for an hour until the sun rises. But +leave me alone, my beloved, otherwise we shall go on talking, and I +shall not be able to close an eye. And give me your song-book too, I +should like to read a verse or two before I fall asleep. And now, one +good-night kiss, and then go! Oh, Jaufret, I love thee more than my +life! Are we not two happy beings to have enjoyed such bliss that +nothing can trouble us. And if we lived a hundred years, could time +make us richer in joys when we have drunk from the cup of eternal +blessedness?" Once more he embraced the lovely one, and kissed her long +and fervently on her mouth. Then he left her alone. + +An hour later the cock crew. But it did not wake the youth who lay in +the rose-garden, his cloak thrown over him, smiling in his dream as +though he were inwardly happy, and murmuring the name of his young +wife. Neither did it wake the sleeper in the turret-room, whose lips +were half-open as though they, too, would pronounce a name, but all was +still as death in the dim chamber. + +It was only when the sun had already risen over the tops of the trees, +that Aigleta came by with weary eyes and pale face, listless and +absorbed in her own thoughts. When she saw Geoffroy lying in the +garden, she was horror-stricken as though she had seen a ghost, and it +was only when she ascertained that he was breathing that she bent down +to wake him. "You still here?" she whispered. "And where is--your +wife?" + +He sprang up in haste, and without answering a word, rushed to his +turret. When he opened the door, he gave a cry like a man mortally +wounded, and fell upon the bed. There lay his young bride, one hand +pressed to her heart, from which a little stream of blood still flowed, +her other hand rested on the song-book, which was open at its last +page, and the white fingers pointed to a newly written line that ran +thus in the language of Provence: + +Lo deuteire paqua al crezedor tot lo deute. + +The debtor pays to the creditor all the debt. + + + * * * * * + + +It was noon before the servants ventured carefully to apprise Count +Hugo of the heart-rending truth. He listened to the tidings as though +he did not rightly understand their purport; even when they led him +down to where his child, like a proud and beautiful statue of whitest +marble, lay outstretched on the bed he knew so well, he gave no token +of what he felt, spoke not a word, shed not a tear. All night he shut +himself up with the dead. The next morning he ordered a bier to be +prepared. He would redeem his word, he said, and carry the bride to her +bridegroom. The servants silently obeyed. Geoffroy--who might else have +put in his claim--lay in a raging fever, tended by Aigleta; his wound +on the forehead had burst open afresh, and no salve availed to close +it. + +When the procession came to Gaillac, Count Hugo at its head, the dead +bride on a high bier borne by his servants, a great crowd of peasants +and retainers behind, the bride's father sent a herald in advance to +blow his trumpet three times, and cry with a loud voice, "The debtor +pays to the creditor all that he owes him!" At this cry, Count Pierre +de Gaillac appeared on the balcony of his castle; but when he saw the +lamentable spectacle he turned away horrified, and violently signed to +them to go back, that he would have no such wedding. Then he flung +himself on his horse and rode far away, and only returned after many +days a broken-down man who had forgotten how to laugh. + +Count Hugo, however, without giving one sign of grief, next ordered the +bearers to carry the bier to a chapel that stood in the open country, +and was dedicated to the blessed Lady of Mont Salvair. There on the +land and property belonging to the Count de Gaillac, to whom he had to +pay his debt, he buried the beautiful body of his child. And no one +dared to touch a spade, for he determined with his own hands to prepare +her last resting-place. When this ceremony had been performed amidst +the tears of the crowd, all went away and left him. He remained alone +in the chapel; no one knew whether he was praying or speaking with the +dead. But when they went to look after him the next day, and to offer +him food and drink, he was no longer living, and they buried him beside +his child. + +Of Geoffroy the chronicle tells nothing further, except that in the +autumn of the same year he joined the crusaders, and travelled towards +Jerusalem, from whence he never came back. But any one turning over the +old records of the Convent of Mont Salvair would there find that +towards the end of the century, there was an abbess of the name of +Aigleta von Malaspina--in religion named Sor Sofrenza (in modern French +S[oe]ur Souffrance,)--who only at an advanced age entered into eternal +rest. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: + Sack that's torn will not hold grain. + To poor men good advice is vain.] + + + + THE END. + + + + + * * * * * * * * * + PRINTING OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Barbarossa and Other Tales, by Paul Heyse + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARBAROSSA AND OTHER TALES *** + +***** This file should be named 33789-8.txt or 33789-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/7/8/33789/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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