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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Manuscript, by Gustav Freytag
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Lost Manuscript
+       A Novel
+
+Author: Gustav Freytag
+
+Release Date: October 14, 2010 [EBook #33857]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST MANUSCRIPT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+  1. Page scan source:
+     http://www.archive.org/details/lostmanuscripta01freygoog
+  2. Diphthong oe represented by [oe].
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          THE LOST MANUSCRIPT.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                  THE
+
+                            LOST MANUSCRIPT
+
+                                A NOVEL
+
+
+                                   BY
+
+                             GUSTAV FREYTAG
+
+
+        Authorized Translation from the Sixteenth German Edition
+                        _COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME_
+
+
+                       SECOND, UNALTERED EDITION
+
+
+                                 PART I
+
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+                        "_A noble human life does not end on earth
+                     with death. It continues in the minds and
+                     the deeds of friends, as well as in the thoughts
+                     and the activity of the nation._"
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+
+
+                                CHICAGO
+                   THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY
+               LONDON: Kegan Paul, Trench, Truebner & Co.
+                                  1898
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        TRANSLATION COPYRIGHTED
+                                 --BY--
+                   THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY,
+                                 1887.
+
+
+
+
+                          PUBLISHERS' PREFACE.
+
+
+Gustav Freytag has expressed the central idea of his novel _The Lost
+Manuscript_ in the motto which he has written for the American edition:
+
+"A noble human life does not end on earth with death. It continues in
+the minds and the deeds of friends, as well as in the thoughts and the
+activity of the nation."
+
+This idea of the continuity and preservation of soul-life permeates the
+whole work. It meets us at every hand. We observe the professor in his
+study, ever eager to fathom the thoughts of the great thinkers of the
+past and imbuing his students with their lofty spirit. We sympathize
+with the heroine of this novel, the strong, pious Saxon maiden, in her
+religious and intellectual development; we behold her soul enlarging
+under the influence of unusual and trying situations; we watch her
+mentally growing amid the new ideas crowding in upon her. We enjoy the
+droll characterizations of the half-educated, of Mrs. Rollmaus and the
+servants, in whose minds the mysteries of soul-life appear in the shape
+of superstitious notions. And we see, again, the consequences of
+wrong-doing, of errors, and of mistakes continuing like a heavy curse,
+depressing the mind and hindering its freedom. And this last provokes a
+wholesome reaction and is finally conquered by unshirking courage in
+honest spiritual combat.
+
+Illustrations of psychical laws showing the connections and continuity
+of the threads in the warp and woof of human soul-life, are found
+indeed in all the works of Gustav Freytag. The great novelist
+anticipated the results that have of late been established by the
+experiments of modern psychology. He says in his Autobiographical
+Reminiscences:
+
+"What a man's own life accomplishes in the formation of his character,
+and the extent to which it fully develops his native capacities, we
+observe and estimate even in the best cases only with imperfect
+knowledge. But still more difficult is it to determine and comprehend
+what the living have acquired in the way of advancement and hindrance
+from their parents and ancestors; for the threads are not always
+visible that bind the existence of the present to the souls of
+generations past; and even where they are discernible, their power and
+influence are scarcely to be calculated. Only we notice that the force
+with which they operate is not equally strong in every life, and that
+sometimes it is too powerful and terrible.
+
+"It is well that from us men usually remains concealed, what is
+inheritance from the remote past, and what the independent acquisition
+of our own existence; since our life would become full of anxiety and
+misery, if we, as continuations of the men of the past, had perpetually
+to reckon with the blessings and curses which former times leave
+hanging over the problems of our own existence. But it is indeed a
+joyous labor, at times, by a retrospective glance into the past, to
+bring into fullest consciousness the fact that many of our successes
+and achievements have only been made possible through the possessions
+that have come to us from the lives of our parents, and through that
+also which the previous ancestral life of our family has accomplished
+and produced for us."
+
+Is not this a revival of the old idea of the transmigration of souls?
+To be sure, the soul is not a material thing made of an invisible and
+airy substance, fluttering about after death and entering into another
+body. There are no material migrations of soul taking place, however
+tenuous the substance of the soul might be imagined to be. The memories
+of the present, our recollection of our past existence, depend on the
+fact that the living matter which is constantly replacing itself in us
+by other living matter, like the water in a wave rolling on the surface
+of the sea, always assumes the same form. It is the form that is
+constantly reproducing. In this sense, man (that is his soul) is the
+_product_ of education. The soul of the future man stands in the same
+relation to our soul as the future edition of a book, revised and
+enlarged, stands to its present edition.[1] One man impresses his modes
+of thought, his habits, his methods of action, his ideals upon his
+fellow men, and thus implants his very soul into their lives. In this
+sense a transmigration of souls is taking place constantly, and he who
+opens his eyes will see it. No one has given plainer examples of this
+truth in the pleasant shape of novelistic narration, than Gustav
+Freytag.
+
+_The Lost Manuscript_ is in more than one respect a representative
+work, incorporating the spirit of the times. It is interesting from its
+descriptions of University circles, of country life, and of the vanity
+fair at the smaller princely courts of Germany. Yet these interesting
+descriptions gain in value, because we are taught by the author to
+comprehend the secret laws that rule the growth of, and determine the
+hidden interconnections between, the souls of men.
+
+The plot of _The Lost Manuscript_. Gustav Freytag briefly characterizes
+as follows:
+
+"In the upright soul of a German scholar, through the wish to discover
+something of great worth for knowledge, are cast juggling shadows,
+which, like as moonlight distorts the forms in the landscape, disturb
+the order of his life, and are at last overcome only through painful
+experiences."
+
+Concerning the invention of the plot as well as of the characters of
+_The Lost Manuscript_, the following account from Gustav Freytag's
+Reminiscences will be of interest:
+
+"In this story I depicted circles of life that were familiar to me
+since student days: the agricultural life of the country and the
+University life of the city. The reader will, I trust, discover in the
+characterizations of the work, that I have drawn cheerfully and
+unrestrainedly from this life at large. In the figures of the
+academical world he would seek in vain for special models, since Mr.
+and Mrs. Struvelius, Raschke, and others are types to whom in every
+German University single personalities will correspond. In the
+character of Professor Werner my friend Haupt has been recognized. But
+one can find in it only so much of the manner and method of Haupt, as a
+poet dares to take up of the being of a real man without interfering
+with the freedom of artistic creation, and without offending him
+through lack of delicacy. Haupt himself perceived with pleasure a
+certain remote resemblance, and of this connection with the romance he
+gave expression in his own way; having on several occasions, when
+sending me the prospectus of his Berlin lectures on the Latin
+historiographer Ammianus, good-humoredly signed himself 'Magister
+Knips,' which latter personage plays a sorrowful part in the story, and
+is only prevented from hanging himself by the thought of his
+professional researches in the Latin author mentioned.
+
+"Some years before the appearance of my 'Debit and Credit' Haupt had
+unexpectedly requested me to write a novel. This accorded at that time
+with secret designs of mine, and I promised him. To _The Lost
+Manuscript_ he contributed, however, in quite another manner. For as we
+were once sitting alone with one another at Leipsic, before he was
+called to Berlin, he disclosed to me in the greatest confidence, that
+somewhere in a small Westphalian town in the loft of an old house, lay
+the remains of a convent library. It was very possible that among them
+there was hidden a manuscript of the lost Decades of Livy. The master
+of this treasure, however, was, as Haupt had learned, a surly and quite
+inaccessible gentleman. Thereupon I put forward the proposition to
+travel together to the mysterious house, move the old fellow's heart,
+hoodwink him, and, in case of extreme necessity, drink him under the
+table, to secure the precious treasure. As Haupt had some confidence in
+my powers of seduction when joined with a good glass, he declared
+himself agreeable therewith, and we reveled in and developed to the
+fullest extent the pleasure we had in prospect of enlarging the tomes
+of the Roman historian for a grateful posterity. Nothing came of the
+affair; but the remembrance of the intended trip greatly helped me in
+developing the action of the novel.
+
+"In Leipsic I had lived a short time on the street nearest the
+Rosenthal with a hatmaker, who manufactured straw hats. Near to him, as
+it chanced, was another well-known firm, which administered to the same
+need of the male sex by felt-hats. This accident suggested the
+invention of the families Hummel and Hahn, although here also neither
+the characters nor the hostilities of the two families are copied from
+real life. Only the incident is made use of, that my landlord took
+particular pleasure in decorating his garden by ever new inventions:
+the White Muse, the Chinese lanterns, and the summer-house by the road,
+I have taken from his little garden. Moreover, two characters of his
+household,--the very ones which, by reason of their mythical character,
+have given offence, are exact copies of reality; namely, the dogs
+Fighthahn and Spitehahn. These my landlord had bought at an auction
+somewhere to act as warders of his property; they excited through their
+currish behavior the indignation of the whole street, until they were
+poisoned by an exasperated neighbor. Fighthahn died. Spitehahn survived
+and, after that time, was quite as bristly and misanthropical as he is
+portrayed in the novel, so that finally in consequence of the
+perpetration of numberless misdeeds his owner was obliged to banish him
+forever to rural life."
+
+The novel, as is the case with every work of prominence and influence,
+did not escape criticism, even among the friends of the author. In his
+Autobiographical Reminiscences, Gustav Freytag refers to the fact. He
+says:
+
+"The Lost Manuscript met with disapproval from many intimate critics of
+mine. The sombre coloring of the last volume gave offence. It was much
+objected that the religious struggles and the spiritual development of
+the heroine Ilse were not placed in the foreground, and again that
+Felix Werner was not more severely punished for the neglect of his duty
+towards his wife. But the insanity of the Sovereign was especially
+objectionable, and it was claimed that in our time such a figure was no
+longer possible. My friends were wrong in this criticism. The Sovereign
+and his son the Hereditary Prince were also taken as types. The former
+represents the perverted development of an earlier generation which had
+sprung up from the ruin of Napoleonic times; the latter the restriction
+and narrowness of life in the petty principalities that then made up
+the German nation."
+
+The American public will perhaps feel the strength of the criticism to
+which Gustav Freytag in the passage quoted refers, more strongly than
+the European friends of the Author. We at least have felt it, and
+believe that almost all the citizens of the New World will feel it.
+Nevertheless, considering all in all, we confess that Gustav Freytag
+was fully justified in preserving these traces of the national
+soul-life of Germany. For they form an important link in the
+development of German thought, and have cast dark shadows as well as
+rays of sunlight over the aspirations of scientific progress; now
+disturbing it by the vanity and egotism of these petty sovereigns, now
+promoting it by an enthusiastic protection of the ideal treasures of
+the nation.
+
+_The Lost Manuscript_ teaches us an object-lesson respecting the unity
+of human soul-life. Under the masterly treatment of Gustav Freytag's
+ingenious pen, we become aware of the invisible threads that
+interconnect our thoughts and the actions prompted by our thoughts. We
+observe the after-effects of our ideas and our deeds. Ideas live and
+develop not alone in single individuals, but from generation to
+generation. They escape death and partake of that life which knows no
+death: they are immortal.
+
+Gustav Freytag, it is true, did not write his novel with the intention
+of teaching psychology or preaching ethics. But the impartial
+description of life does teach ethics, and every poet is a psychologist
+in the sense that he portrays human souls. In a letter to the
+publisher, Gustav Freytag says:
+
+".... The essential thing with the poet was not the teachings that may
+be drawn from the book, but the joyful creating of characters and
+events which become possible and intelligible through the persons
+depicted. The details he worked into artistic unity under the impulsion
+of a poetical idea.
+
+"But I may now also express to you how great my pleasure is at the
+agreement that exists between the ethical contents of the story (_The
+Lost Manuscript_) and the world-conception (_Weltanchauung_) which you
+labor to disseminate...." (Translated from the German.)
+
+The laws that govern the warp and woof of soul-life in its evolution
+hold good everywhere, also among us. We also have inherited curses and
+blessings from the past; our present is surrounded with dangers, and
+our future is full of bright hopes, the fulfilment of which mainly
+depends upon our own efforts in realizing our ideals.
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS:
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I.
+
+      A Discovery
+
+                              CHAPTER II.
+
+      The Hostile Neighbors
+
+                              CHAPTER III.
+
+      A Fool's Errand
+
+                              CHAPTER IV.
+
+      The Old House
+
+                               CHAPTER V.
+
+      Among Herds and Sheaves
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+      A Learned Lady from the Country
+
+                              CHAPTER VII.
+
+      New Hostilities
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII.
+
+      Tacitus Again
+
+                              CHAPTER IX.
+
+      Ilse
+
+                               CHAPTER X.
+
+      The Wooing.
+
+                              CHAPTER XI.
+
+      Spitehahn
+
+                              CHAPTER XII.
+
+      The Departure from the Estate
+
+                             CHAPTER XIII.
+
+      The First Greetings of the City
+
+                              CHAPTER XIV.
+
+      A Day of Visits
+
+                              CHAPTER XV.
+
+      Among the Learned
+
+                              CHAPTER XVI.
+
+      The Professors' Ball
+
+                             CHAPTER XVII.
+
+      The Deception of Mr. Hummel
+
+                             CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+      Cloudlets
+
+                              CHAPTER XIX.
+
+      The Illness
+
+                              CHAPTER XX.
+
+      A Court Matter
+
+
+
+
+                              _CHAPTER I._
+
+                              A DISCOVERY.
+
+
+It is late evening in the forest-park of our town. Softly the foliage
+murmurs in the warm summer air and the chirping of the crickets in the
+distant meadows is heard far in among the trees.
+
+Through the tree-tops a pale light falls down upon the forest-path and
+upon the dark undergrowth of bush and shrubbery. The moon sprinkles the
+pathway with shimmering spots, and kindles strange lights in the mass
+of leaves and branches. Here, the blue streaks of light pour down from
+the tree-trunks like streams of burning spirits; there, in the hollow,
+the broad fern-branches gleam from out the darkness in colors of
+emerald gold, and over the pathway the withered boughs tower like huge
+whitened antlers. But between and beneath, impenetrable, Stygian gloom.
+Round-faced moon in heaven, thine attempts to light this wood of ours
+are feeble, sickly, and capricious. Pray keep thy scanty light upon the
+highway leading to the city; throw thy faded beams not so crookedly
+before us, for at the left the ground slopes precipitately into morass
+and water.
+
+Fie, thou traitor! Plump in the swamp and the wayfarer's shoe behind!
+But that might have been expected. Deceit and treachery are thy
+favorite pastimes, thou wayward freak of heaven. People wonder now that
+men of primitive times made a God of thee. The Grecian girl once called
+thee Selene, and wreathed thy cup with purple poppies, by thy magic to
+lure back the faithless lover to her door. But that is now all over. We
+have science and phosphorus, and thou hast degenerated into a wretched
+old Juggler. A Juggler! And people show thee too much consideration, to
+treat thee as a thing of life even. What art thou, anyhow? A ball of
+burnt out slag, blistered, airless, colorless, waterless. A ball? Why
+our scientists know that thou art not even round--caught in a lie
+again! We people on the earth have pulled thee out of shape. In truth
+thou art pointed, thou hast a wretched and unsymmetrical figure.
+Thou'rt a sort of big turnip that dances about us in perennial
+slavery--nothing more.
+
+The wood opens. Between the wayfarer and the city extends a broad
+stretch of lawn, and in the centre a large pond. Welcome, thou dale of
+verdure! Well-kept paths of gravel lead over the forest meadow; here
+and there a clump of waving undergrowth is seen, and beneath it a
+garden-bench. Here the well-to-do citizen sits of an afternoon, and
+resting his hands upon the bamboo-cane that he carries, looks proudly
+over upon the towers of his loved city.
+
+Is the meadow, too, transformed to-day? A swelling expanse of water
+seems to lie before the wayfarer; it seethes and bubbles and plays
+about his feet, in endless masses of mist, as far as the eye can reach.
+What army of hobgoblins do lave their garments here! They flutter from
+trees, they course through the air, faint in outline, now dissolving,
+now intermingling. Higher the dim, dark figures soar. They float above
+the wayfarer's head. The gloomy mass of forest disappears. The very
+vault of heaven itself is lost in the misty darkness, and every visible
+outline sinks in the chaos of paling light and floating shapelessness.
+The solid earth still stays beneath the feet of our traveler, and yet
+he moves on, separated from all actual earthly forms, amid glimmering
+bodiless shadows. Here and there, the floating illusions again gather.
+Slowly the phantoms of air sweep through the veil that encompasses our
+wayfarer. Now the bent figure of a woman in prayer presses forward,
+broken with sorrow; now a troop in long, waving robes appears, as of
+Roman Senators, with emperor, halo-encircled, at their head. But halo
+and head dissolve, and the huge shadow glides, headless and ghostly,
+by.
+
+Mist of a watery meadow, who hath so bewitched thee? Who else but that
+aged trickster of heaven, the moon, the mischief-maker moon.
+
+Retreat, illusory shadows! The low-ground is passed. Lighted windows
+shine before the wayfarer. Two stately houses loom up at the city's
+outskirts. Here dwell two men--taxpayers, active workers. They wrap
+themselves, at night, in warm blankets, and not in thy watery
+tapestries, Moon, woven of misty drops that trickle from beard and
+hair. They have their whims and their virtues, and estimate thy value,
+O Moon, exactly in proportion to the gas saved by thy light.
+
+A lamp, placed close to the window, shines from one of the upper rooms
+in the house on the left hand. Here lives Professor Felix Werner, a
+learned philologist, still a young man, who has already gained a
+reputation. He sits at his study table and examines old, faded
+manuscripts--an attractive looking man of medium size, with dark, curly
+hair falling over a massive bead; there is nothing paltry about him.
+Clear, honest eyes shine from under the dark eyebrows; the nose is
+slightly arched; the muscles of the mouth are strongly developed, as
+might be expected of the popular teacher of young students. Just now a
+soft smile spreads over it, and his cheeks redden either from his work
+or from inward emotion.
+
+The Professor suddenly left his work and paced restlessly up and down
+the room. He then approached a window which looked out on the
+neighboring house, placed two large books on the window sill, laid a
+small one upon them, and thus produced a figure which resembled a Greek
+[Greek: p], and which, from the light shining behind became visible to
+the eye in the house opposite. After he had arranged this signal, he
+hastened back to the table and again bent over his book.
+
+The servant entered gently to remove the supper, which had been placed
+on a side table. Finding the food untouched, he looked with displeasure
+at the Professor, and for a long while remained standing behind the
+vacant chair. At length, assuming a military attitude, he said,
+"Professor, you have forgotten your supper."
+
+"Clear the table, Gabriel," said the Professor.
+
+Gabriel showed no disposition to move. "Professor, you should at least
+eat a bit of cold meat. Nothing can come of nothing," he added, kindly.
+
+"It is not right that you should come in and disturb me."
+
+Gabriel took the plate and carried it to his master. "Pray, Professor,
+take at least a few mouthfuls."
+
+"Give it to me then," said he, and began to eat.
+
+Gabriel made use of the time during which his master unavoidably paused
+in his intellectual occupation, to offer a respectful admonition. "My
+late Captain thought much of a good supper."
+
+"But now you have changed into the civil service," answered the
+Professor, laughing.
+
+"It is not right," continued Gabriel, pertinaciously, "that I should eat
+the roast that I bring for you."
+
+"I hope you are now satisfied," answered the Professor, pushing the
+plate back to him.
+
+Gabriel shrugged his shoulders. "You have at least done your best. The
+Doctor was not at home."
+
+"So it appears. See to it that the front-door remains open."
+
+Gabriel turned about and went away with the plate.
+
+The scholar was again alone. The golden light of the lamp fell on his
+countenance and on the books which lay around him; the white pages
+rustled under his hand; and his features worked with strong excitement.
+
+There was a knock at the door; the expected visitor entered.
+
+"Good evening, Fritz," said the Professor to his visitor; "sit in my
+chair, and look here."
+
+The guest, a man of slender form, with delicate features, and wearing
+spectacles, seated himself at the bidding of his friend, and seized a
+little book which lay in the middle of a number of open volumes of
+every age and size. With the eye of a connoisseur he examined the first
+cover--discolored parchment, upon which were written old church hymns
+with the accompanying music. He cast a searching glance on the inside
+of the binding, and inspected the strips of parchment by which the
+poorly-preserved back of the book was joined to the cover. He then
+examined the first page of the contents, on which, in faded characters,
+was written, "The Life of the Holy Hildegard." "The handwriting is that
+of a writer of the fifteenth century," he exclaimed, and looked
+inquiringly at his friend.
+
+"It is not on that account that I show you the old book. Look further.
+The Life is followed by prayers, a number of recipes and household
+regulations, written in various hands, even before the time of Luther.
+I had bought this manuscript for you, thinking you might perhaps find
+material for your legends and popular superstitions. But on looking
+through it, I met with the following passage on one of the last pages,
+and I cannot yet part with the volume. It seems that the book has been
+used in a monastery by many generations of monks to note down
+memoranda, for on this page there is a catalogue of all the church
+treasures of the Monastery of Rossau. It was a poverty-stricken
+cloister; the inventory is either small or incomplete. It was made by
+an ignorant monk, and, as the writing testifies, about the year 1500.
+See, here are entered church-utensils and a few ecclesiastical
+vestments; and further on some theological manuscripts of the
+monastery, of no importance to us, but amongst them the following
+title: '_Das alt ungeh�r puoch von ussfahrt des swigers._'"
+
+The Doctor examined the words with curiosity. "That sounds like the
+title of a tale of chivalry. And what do the words themselves mean!
+'The old, immense book of the exit or departure of the _swiger_.' Does
+_swiger_ here mean son-in-law or a tacit man?"
+
+"Let us try to solve the riddle," continued the Professor, with
+sparkling eyes, pointing with his finger to the same page. "A later
+hand has added in Latin, 'This book is Latin, almost illegible;
+it begins with the words _lacrimas et signa_, and ends with the
+words--here concludes the history--_actorum_--thirtieth book.' Now
+guess."
+
+The Doctor looked at the excited features of his friend. "Do not keep
+me in suspense. The first words sound very promising, but they are not
+a title; some pages in the beginning may be deficient."
+
+"Just so," answered the Professor, with satisfaction. "We may assume
+that one or two pages are missing. In the fifth chapter of the Annals
+of Tacitus there are the words _lacrimas et signa_."
+
+The Doctor sprang up, and a flush of joy overspread his face.
+
+"Sit down," continued the Professor, forcing his friend back into the
+chair. "The old title of the Annals of Tacitus, when translated,
+appears literally 'Tacitus, beginning with the death of the divine
+Augustus.' Well, an ignorant monk deciphered perhaps the first Latin
+words of the title, '_Taciti ab excessu_,' and endeavored to translate
+it into German; he was pleased to know that _tacitus_ meant
+_schweigsam_ (silent), but had never heard of the Roman historian, and
+rendered it in these words, literally, as 'From the exit of the tacit
+man.'"
+
+"Excellent!" exclaimed the Doctor. "And the monk, delighted with the
+successful translation, wrote the title on the manuscript? Glorious!
+the manuscript was a Tacitus."
+
+"Hear further," proceeded the Professor. "In the third and fourth
+century A. D., both the great works of Tacitus, the 'Annals' and
+'History,' were united in a collection under the title, 'Thirty Books
+of History.' For this we have other ancient testimony. Look here!"
+
+The Professor found well-known passages, and placed them before his
+friend. "And, again, at the end of the manuscript record there were
+these words: 'Here ends the Thirtieth Book of the History.' There
+remains, therefore, no doubt that this manuscript was a Tacitus. And
+looking at the thing as a whole, the following appears to have been the
+case. There was, at the time of the Reformation, a manuscript of
+Tacitus in the Monastery of Rossau, the beginning of which was missing.
+It was old and injured by time, and almost illegible to the eyes of the
+monks."
+
+"There must have been something peculiar attaching to the book,"
+interrupted the Doctor, "for the monk designates it by the expression,
+'_Ungeheuer_,' which conveys the meaning of strange, monstrous."
+
+"It is true," agreed the Professor. "We may assume that some monastic
+tradition which has attached to the book, or an old prohibition to read
+it, or, more probably, the unusual aspect of its cover, or its size,
+has given rise to this expression. The manuscript contains both the
+historical works of Tacitus, the books of which were numbered
+consecutively. And we," he added, in his excitement throwing the book
+which he held in his hand on the table, "we no longer possess this
+manuscript. Neither of the historical works of the great Roman have
+been preserved in its entirety; for the sum of all the gaps would fully
+equal one-half of what has come down to us."
+
+The Professor's friend paced the room hurriedly. "This is one of the
+discoveries that quicken the blood in one's veins. Gone and lost
+forever! It is exasperating to think how nearly such a precious
+treasure of antiquity was preserved to us. It has escaped fire,
+devastation, and the perils of cruel war; it was still in existence
+when the dawn of a new civilization burst upon us, happily concealed
+and unheeded, in the German monastery, not many miles from the great
+high road along which the humanists wandered, with visions of Roman
+glory in their minds, seeking after every relic of the Roman times.
+Universities flourished in the immediate vicinity; and how easily could
+one of the friars of Rossau have informed the students of their
+treasure. It seems incomprehensible that not one of the many scholars
+of the country should have obtained information concerning the book,
+and pointed out to the monks the value of such a memorial. But, instead
+of this, it is possible that some contemporary of Erasmus and
+Melanchthon, some poor monk, sold the manuscript to a book-binder, and
+strips of it may still adhere to some old book-cover. But, even in this
+case, the discovery is important. Evidently this little book has
+occasioned you much painful pleasure."
+
+The Professor clasped the hand of his friend, and each looked into the
+honest countenance of the other. "Let us assume," concluded the Doctor,
+sorrowfully, "that the old hereditary enemy of preserved treasures,
+fire, had consumed the manuscript--is it not childish that we should
+feel the loss as if it had occurred today?"
+
+"Who tells us that the manuscript is irretrievably lost?" rejoined the
+Professor, with suppressed emotion. "Once more consult the book; it can
+tell us also of the fate of the manuscript."
+
+The Doctor rushed to the table, and seized the little book of the Holy
+Hildegard.
+
+"Here, after the catalogue," said the Professor, showing him the last
+page of the book, "there is still more."
+
+The Doctor fixed his eyes on the page. Latin characters without meaning
+or break were written in seven successive lines; under them was a
+name--F. Tobias Bachhuber.
+
+"Compare these letters with the Latin annotation under the title of the
+mysterious manuscript. It is undoubtedly the same hand, firm characters
+of the seventeenth century; compare the 's,' 'r,' and 'f.'"
+
+"It is the same hand!" exclaimed the Doctor with satisfaction.
+
+"These unmeaning letters are a cipher, such as was used in the
+seventeenth century. In that case it is easily solved; each letter is
+exchanged with the one that follows. On this bit of paper I have put
+together the Latin words. The translation is, 'On the approach of the
+ferocious Swedes, in order to withdraw the treasures of our monastery
+from the search of these roaring devils, I have deposited them all in a
+dry, hollow place in the Manor of Bielstein.' The day Quasimodogeniti
+37--that is on the 19th April, 1637. What do you say now, Fritz? It
+appears from this that in the time of the Thirty Years' War the
+manuscript had not been burned, for Frater Tobias Bachhuber--blest be
+his memory!--had at that time vouchsafed to look upon it with some
+consideration, and as in the record he had favored it with an especial
+remark, he probably did not leave it behind in his flight. The
+mysterious manuscript was thus in the Monastery of Rossau till 1637,
+and the friar, in the April of that year, concealed it and other goods
+from the Swedes in a hollow and dry spot in Manor Bielstein."
+
+"Now the matter becomes serious!" cried the Doctor.
+
+"Yes, it is serious, my friend; it is not impossible that the
+manuscript may still lie concealed somewhere."
+
+"And Manor Bielstein?"
+
+"Lies near the little town of Rossau. The monastery was in needy
+circumstances, and under ecclesiastical protection till the Thirty
+Years' War. In 1637 the town and monastery were desolated by the
+Swedes; the last monks disappeared and the monastery was never again
+re-established. That is all I have been able to learn up to this time;
+for anything further I request your help."
+
+"The next question will be whether the manor-house outlasted the war,"
+answered the Doctor, "and what has become of it now. It will be more
+difficult to ascertain where Brother Tobias Bachhuber ended his days,
+and most difficult of all to discover through what hands his little
+book has reached us."
+
+"I obtained the book from a second-hand dealer here; it was a new
+acquisition, and not yet entered in his catalogue. To-morrow I will
+obtain all further information that the book-seller may be able to
+give. It will, perhaps, be worth while to investigate further," he
+continued, more coolly, endeavoring to restrain his intense excitement
+by a little rational reflection. "More than two centuries have elapsed
+since that cipher was written by the friar; during that period
+destructive agencies were not less active than before. Just think of
+the war and devastation of the years when the cloister was destroyed.
+And so we are no better off than if the manuscript had been lost
+several centuries previously."
+
+"And yet the probability that the manuscript is preserved to the
+present day increases with every century," interposed the Doctor; "for
+the number of men who would value such a discovery has increased so
+much since that war, that destruction from rude ignorance has become
+almost inconceivable."
+
+"We must not trust too much to the knowledge of the present day," said
+the Professor; "but if it were so," he continued, his eyes flashing,
+"if the imperial history of the first century, as written by Tacitus,
+were restored by a propitious fate, it would be a gift so great that
+the thought of the possibility of it might well, like Roman wine,
+intoxicate an honest man."
+
+"Invaluable," assented the Doctor, "for our knowledge of the language,
+and for a hundred particulars of Roman history."
+
+"And for the early history of Germany!" exclaimed the Professor.
+
+Both traversed the room with rapid steps, shook hands, and looked at
+each other joyfully.
+
+"And if a fortunate accident should put us on the track of this
+manuscript," began Fritz, "if through you it should be restored to the
+light of day, you, my friend, you are best fitted to edit it. The
+thought that you would experience such a pleasure, and that a work of
+such renown would fall to your lot, makes me happier than I can say."
+
+"If we can find the manuscript," answered the Professor, "we must edit
+it together."
+
+"Together?" exclaimed Fritz, with surprise.
+
+"Yes, together," said the Professor, with decision; "it would make your
+ability widely known."
+
+Fritz drew back. "How can you think that I would be so presumptuous?"
+
+"Do not contradict me," exclaimed the Professor, "you are perfectly
+qualified for it."
+
+"That I am not," answered Fritz, firmly; "and I am too proud to
+undertake anything for which I should have to thank your kindness more
+than my own powers."
+
+"That is undue modesty," again exclaimed the Professor.
+
+"I shall never do it," answered Fritz. "I could not for one moment
+think of adorning myself before the public with borrowed plumage."
+
+"I know better than you," said the Professor, indignantly, "what you
+are able to do, and what is to your advantage."
+
+"At all events, I would never agree that you should have the lion's
+share of the labor and secretly be deprived of the reward. Not my
+modesty, but my self-respect forbids this. And this feeling you ought
+to respect," concluded Fritz, with great energy.
+
+"Now," returned the Professor, restraining his excited feelings, "we
+are behaving like the man who bought a house and field with the money
+procured by the sale of a calf which was not yet born. Be calm, Fritz;
+neither I nor you shall edit the manuscript."
+
+"And we shall never know how the Roman Emperor treated the ill fated
+Thusnelda and Thumelicus!" said Fritz, sympathizingly to his friend.
+
+"But it is not the absence of such particulars," said the Professor,
+"that makes the loss of the manuscript so greatly felt, for the main
+facts may be obtained from other sources. The most important point will
+always be, that Tacitus was the first, and in many respects is the
+only, historian who has portrayed the most striking and gloomy phases
+of human nature. His works that are extant are two historical
+tragedies, scenes in the Julian and Flavian imperial houses--fearful
+pictures of the enormous change which, in the course of a century, took
+place in the greatest city of antiquity, in the character of its
+emperors and the souls of their subjects--the history of tyrannical
+rule, which exterminated a noble race, destroyed a high and rich
+civilization, and degraded, with few exceptions, even the rulers
+themselves. We have, even up to the present day, scarcely another work
+whose author looks so searchingly into the souls of a whole succession
+of princes, and which describes so acutely and accurately the ruin
+which was wrought in different natures by the fiendish and distempered
+minds of rulers."
+
+"It always makes me angry," said the Doctor, "when I hear him
+reproached as having for the most part written only imperial and court
+history. Who can expect grapes from a cypress, and satisfactory
+enjoyment in the grand public life of a man who, during a great portion
+of his manhood, daily saw before his eyes the dagger and poison-cup of
+a mad despot?"
+
+"Yes," agreed the Professor, "Tacitus belonged to the aristocracy--a
+body unfit to rule, and unwilling to obey. In the consciousness of
+their privileged position they were the indispensable servants, while
+still the enemies and the rivals, of their sovereigns. In them the
+virtues and the vices of a mighty epoch grew to monstrous
+manifestations. Who but one of their own circle should write the
+history of Roman imperialism? The blackest crimes were concealed behind
+the stone walls of palaces; rumor, the low murmur of the antechamber,
+the lurking look of concealed hatred, were often the only sources the
+historian could command."
+
+"All that remains for us to do is discreetly to accept the judgment of
+the man who has handed down to us information concerning this strange
+condition of things. Moreover, whoever studies the fragments of Tacitus
+that have been preserved, impartially and intelligently, will honor and
+admire his profound insight into the inmost depths of Roman character.
+It is an experienced statesman, of a powerful and truthful mind,
+relating the secret history of his time so clearly that we understand
+the men and all their doings as if we ourselves had the opportunity of
+reading their hearts. He who can do this for later centuries is not
+only a great historian but a great man. And for such I always felt a
+deep, heartfelt reverence, and I consider it the duty of a true critic
+to clear such a character from the attacks of petty minds."
+
+"Hardly one of his contemporaries," said the Doctor, "has felt the
+poverty of his epoch's civilization as deeply as himself."
+
+"Yes," rejoined the Professor, "he was a genuine man, so far as was
+possible in his time; and that is, after all, the main point. For what
+we must demand, is not the amount of knowledge for which we have to
+thank a great man, but his own personality, which, through what he has
+produced for us, becomes a portion of ourselves. Thus the spirit of
+Aristotle is something different to us than the substance of his
+teaching. For us Sophocles signifies much more than seven tragedies.
+His manner of thinking and feeling, his perception of the beautiful and
+the good, ought to become part of our life. Only in this way does the
+study of the past healthily influence our actions and our aspirations.
+In this sense the sad and sorrowful soul of Tacitus is far more to me
+than his delineation of the Emperor's madness. And you see, Fritz, it
+is on this account that your Sanskrit and Hindu languages are not
+satisfactory to me--the men are wanting in them."
+
+"It is, at least, difficult for us to recognize them," answered his
+friend. "But one who, like you, explains Homer's epics to students,
+should not undervalue the charm that lies in sounding the mysterious
+depths of human activity, when a youthful nation conceals from our view
+the work of the individual man, and when the people itself comes before
+us in poetry, traditions, and law, assuming the shape of a living
+individuality."
+
+"He who only engages in such researches," answered the Professor,
+eagerly, "soon becomes fantastic and visionary. The study of such
+ancient times acts like opium, and he who lingers all his life in such
+studies will hardly escape vagaries."
+
+Fritz rose. "That is our old quarrel. I know you do not wish to speak
+harshly to me, but I feel that you intend this for me."
+
+"And am I wrong?" continued the Professor. "I undoubtedly have a
+respect for every intellectual work, but I desire for my friend that
+which will be most beneficial to him. Your investigations into Hindu
+and German mythology entice you from one problem to another; youthful
+energies should not linger in the endless domain of indistinct
+contemplations and unreal shadows. Come to a decision for other reasons
+also. It does not behoove you to be merely a private student; such a
+life is too easy for you; you need the outward pressure of definite
+duties. You have many of the qualities requisite for a professor. Do
+not remain in your parents' house; you must become a university
+lecturer."
+
+A heightened color spread slowly over the face of his friend. "Enough,"
+he exclaimed, vexed; "if I have thought too little of my future, you
+should not reproach me for it. It has perhaps been too great a pleasure
+to me to be your companion and the confidant of your successful labors.
+I also, from my intercourse with you, have enjoyed that pleasure which
+an intellectual man bestows upon all who participate in his creations.
+Good night."
+
+The Professor approached him, and seizing both his hands, exclaimed,
+"Stay! Are you angry with me?"
+
+"No," answered Fritz, "but I am going;" and he closed the door gently.
+
+The Professor paced up and down excitedly, reproaching himself for his
+vehemence. At length he violently threw the books which had served as a
+signal back on the shelf, and again seated himself at his desk.
+
+Gabriel lighted the Doctor down the stairs, opened the door, and shook
+his head when he heard his "Good night" curtly answered. He
+extinguished the light and listened at his master's door. When he heard
+the Professor's steps, he determined to refresh himself by the mild
+evening air, and descended into the little garden. There he met Mr.
+Hummel, who was walking under the Professor's windows. Mr. Hummel was a
+broad-shouldered gentleman, with a large head and a determined face,
+portly and well-preserved, of the honest old Saxon type. He smoked a
+long pipe, with a huge mouth-piece, which was divided into a number of
+capacious compartments.
+
+"A fine evening, Gabriel," began Mr. Hummel, "a good season; what a
+harvest we shall have!" He nudged the servant. "Has anything happened
+up there? The window is open," he concluded significantly, and
+disapprovingly shook his head.
+
+"He has closed the window again," answered Gabriel, evasively. "The
+bats and the moths become troublesome, and when he argues with the
+Doctor they both grow so loud that people in the street stop and
+listen."
+
+"Circumspection is always wise," said Mr. Hummel; "but what was the
+matter? The Doctor is the son of the man over yonder, and you know my
+opinion of them, Gabriel--I do not trust them. I do not wish to injure
+any one, but I have my views concerning them."
+
+"What it was about," answered Gabriel, "I did not hear; but I can tell
+you this much, there was much talk about the ancient Romans. Look you,
+Mr. Hummel, if the old Romans were among us now, much would be
+different. They were dare-devils; they knew how to forage; they knew
+how to carry on war; they conquered everywhere."
+
+"You speak like an incendiary," said Mr. Hummel, with displeasure.
+
+"Yes, that is the way they did," answered Gabriel, complacently. "They
+were a selfish people, and knew how to look out for their own
+interests. But what is most wonderful is the number of books these
+Romans wrote for all that, large and small--many also in folio. When I
+dust the library there is no end to the Romans of all sizes, and some
+are books thicker than the Bible, only they are all difficult to read;
+but one who knows the language may learn much."
+
+"The Romans are an extinct people," replied Mr. Hummel. "When they
+disappeared, the Germans came. The Romans could never exist with us.
+The only thing that can help us is the Hanseatic league. That is the
+thing to look to. Powerful at sea, Gabriel," he exclaimed, taking hold
+of his coat by a button, "the cities must form alliances, invest money,
+build ships, and hoist flags; our trade and credit are established, and
+men are not wanting."
+
+"And would you venture on the mighty ocean in that vessel?" asked
+Gabriel, pointing to a little rowboat which lay in the rear of the
+garden tilted over on two planks. "Shall I go to sea with the
+Professor?"
+
+"That is not the question," answered Mr. Hummel; "let the young people
+go first--they are useless. Many could do better than stay at home with
+their parents. Why should not the doctor up there serve his country in
+the capacity of a sailor?"
+
+"What do you mean, Mr. Hummel?" cried Gabriel, startled; "the young
+gentleman is nearsighted."
+
+"That's nothing," muttered Mr. Hummel, "for they have telescopes at
+sea, and for aught I care he may become a captain. I am not the man to
+wish evil to my neighbor."
+
+"He is a man of learning," replied Gabriel, "and this class is also
+necessary. I can assure you, Mr. Hummel, I have meditated much upon the
+character of the learned. I know my Professor thoroughly, and something
+of the Doctor, and I must say there is something in it--there is much
+in it. Sometimes I am not so sure of it. When the tailor brings the
+Professor home a new coat he does not remark what everybody else sees,
+whether the coat fits him or wrinkles. If he takes it into his head to
+buy a load of wood which has very likely been stolen, from a peasant,
+he pays more in my absence than any one else would. And when he grows
+angry and excited about matters that you and I would discuss very
+calmly, I must say I have my doubts. But when I see how he acts at
+other times--how kind and merciful he is, even to the flies that buzz
+about his nose, taking them out of his coffee-cup with a spoon and
+setting them on the window-sill--how he wishes well to all the world
+and begrudges himself everything--how he sits reading and writing till
+late at night--when I see all this, I must say his life affects me
+powerfully. And I tell you I will not allow any one to underrate our
+men of learning. They are different from us; they do not understand
+what we do, nor do we understand what they do."
+
+"Yet we also have our culture," replied Mr. Hummel. "Gabriel, you have
+spoken like an honorable man, but I will confide this to you--that a
+man may have great knowledge, and yet be a very hard-hearted
+individual, who loans his money on usurious interest and deprives his
+friends of the honor due them. Therefore I think the main point is to
+have order and boundaries, and to leave something to one's descendants.
+Regularity here," he pointed to his breast, "and a boundary there,"
+pointing to his fence, "that one may be sure as to what belongs to
+one's self and what to another, and a secure property for one's
+children on which they may settle themselves. That is what I understand
+as the life of man."
+
+The householder locked the gate of the fence and the door of the house.
+Gabriel also sought his bed, but the lamp in the Professor's study
+burned late into the night, and its rays intermingled on the windowsill
+with the pale moonshine. At length the Scholar's light was
+extinguished, and the room left empty; outside, small clouds coursed
+over the disk of the moon, and flickering lights reigned paramount in
+the room, over the writing-table, over the works of the old Romans, and
+over the little book of the defunct Brother Tobias.
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER II_.
+
+                         THE HOSTILE NEIGHBORS.
+
+
+We are led to believe that in future times there will be nothing but
+love and happiness; and men will go about with palm branches in their
+hands to chase away the last of those birds of night, hatred and
+malice. In such a chase we would probably find the last nest of these
+monsters hanging between the walls of two neighboring houses. For they
+have nestled between neighbor and neighbor ever since the rain trickled
+from the roof of one house into the court of the other; ever since the
+rays of the sun were kept away from one house by the wall of the other;
+ever since children thrust their hands through the hedge to steal
+berries; ever since the master of the house has been inclined to
+consider himself better than his fellow-men. There are in our days few
+houses in the country between which so much ill-will and hostile
+criticism exist as between the two houses near the great city park.
+
+Many will remember the time when the houses of the town did not extend
+to the wooded valley. Then there were only a few small houses along the
+lanes; behind lay a waste place where Mrs. Knips, the washwoman, dried
+the shirts, and her two naughty boys threw the wooden clothes'-pins at
+each other. There Mr. Hummel had bought a dry spot, quite at the end of
+the street, and had built his pretty house of two stories, with stone
+steps and iron railing, and behind, a simple workshop for his trade;
+for he was a hatter, and carried on the business very extensively. When
+he went out of his house and surveyed the reliefs on the roof and the
+plaster arabesques under the windows, he congratulated himself on being
+surrounded by light and air and free nature, and felt that he was the
+foremost pillar of civilization in the primeval forest.
+
+Then he experienced what often happens to disturb the peace of pioneers
+of the wilderness--his example was imitated. On a dark morning in
+March, a wagon, loaded with old planks, came to the drying-ground which
+was opposite his house. A fence was soon built, and laborers with
+shovels and wheelbarrows began to dig up the ground. This was a hard
+blow for Mr. Hummel. But his suffering became greater when, walking
+angrily across the street and inquiring the name of the man who was
+causing such injury to the light and reputation of his house, he
+learned that his future neighbor was to be a manufacturer by the name
+of Hahn. That it should of all men in the world be he, was the greatest
+vexation fate could inflict upon him. Mr. Hahn was respectable; there
+was nothing to be said against his family; but he was Mr. Hummel's
+natural opponent, for the business of the new settler was also in hats,
+although straw hats. The manufacture of this light trash was never
+considered as dignified, manly work; it was not a guild handicraft; it
+never had the right to make apprentices journeymen; it was formerly
+carried on only by Italian peasants; it had only lately, like other bad
+customs, spread through the world as a novelty; it is, in fact, not a
+business--the plait-straw is bought and sewed together by young girls
+who are engaged by the week. And there is an old enmity between the
+felt hat and straw hat. The felt hat is an historical power consecrated
+through thousands of years--it only tolerates the cap as an ordinary
+contrivance for work-days. Now the straw hat raises its pretensions
+against prescribed right, and insolently lays claim to half of the
+year. And since then approbation fluctuates between these two
+appurtenances of the human race. When the unstable minds of mortals
+wavered toward straw, the most beautiful felts, velveteen, silk, and
+pasteboard were left unnoticed and eaten by moths. On the other hand,
+when the inclinations of men turned to felt, every human being--women,
+children, and nurses--wore men's small hats; then the condition of
+straw was lamentable--no heart beat for it, and the mouse nestled in
+its most beautiful plaits.
+
+This was a strong ground for indignation to Mr. Hummel, but worse was
+to come. He saw the daily progress of the hostile house; he watched the
+scaffolding, the rising walls, the ornaments of the cornice, and
+the rows of windows--it was two windows higher than his house. The
+ground floor rose, then a second floor, and at last a third. All the
+work-rooms of the straw hat manufacturer were attached to the dwelling.
+The house of Mr. Hummel had sunk into insignificance. He then went to
+his lawyer and demanded redress for the obstruction of his light and
+the view from his residence; the man of law naturally shrugged his
+shoulders. The privilege of building houses was one of the fundamental
+rights of man; it was the common German custom to live in houses, and
+it was obviously hopeless to propose that Hahn should only erect on his
+piece of ground a canvas tent. Thus there was absolutely nothing to do
+but to submit patiently, and Mr. Hummel might have known that himself.
+
+Years had passed away. At the same hour the light of the sun gilds both
+houses; there they stand stately and inhabited, both occupied by men
+who daily pass each other. At the same hour the letter-carrier enters
+both houses, the pigeons fly from one roof to the other, and the
+sparrows hop around on the gutters of both, in the most cordial
+relations. About one house there is sometimes a faint smell of sulphur,
+and about the other, of singed hair; but the same summer wind wafts
+from the wood, through the doors of both dwellings, the scent of the
+pine-trees and the perfumes of the lime-flowers. And yet the intense
+aversion of the inhabitants has not diminished. The house of Hahn
+objects to singed hair, and the family of Hummel cough indignantly in
+their garden whenever they suspect sulphur in the oxygen of the air.
+
+It is true that decorous behavior to the neighborhood was not quite
+ignored; and though the felt was inclined to be quarrelsome, the straw
+was more pliant, and showed itself tractable in many cases. Both men
+were acquainted with a family in which they occasionally met, nay, both
+had once been godfathers to the same child, and care had been taken
+that one should not give a smaller christening gift than the other.
+This unavoidable acquaintance necessitated formal greetings whenever
+they could not avoid meeting each other. But there it ended. Between
+the shopmen who cleaned the straw hats with sulphur, and the workmen,
+who presided over the hare-skins, there existed an intense hatred. And
+the people who dwelt in the nearest houses in the street knew this, and
+did their best to maintain the existing relation. But, in fact, the
+character of both would scarcely harmonize. Their dialect was
+different, their education had been different, the favorite dishes and
+the domestic arrangements that were approved by one displeased the
+other. Hummel was of North German lineage; Hahn had come hither from a
+small town in the neighborhood.
+
+When Mr. Hummel spoke of his neighbor Hahn, he called him a man of
+straw and a fantastical fellow. Mr. Hahn was a thoughtful man, quiet
+and industrious in his business, but in his hours of recreation he
+devoted himself to some peculiar fancies. These were undoubtedly
+intended to make a favorable impression on the people who passed
+by the two houses on their way to the meadow and the woods. In his
+little garden he had collected most of the contrivances of modern
+landscape-gardening. Between the three elder-bushes there rose up a
+rock built of tufa, with a small, steep path to the top. The expedition
+to the summit could be ventured upon without an Alpenstock by strong
+mountain climbers only, and even they would be in danger of falling on
+their noses on the jagged tufa. The following year, near the railing,
+poles were erected at short intervals, round which climbed creepers,
+and between each pole hung a colored glass lamp. When the row of lamps
+was lighted up on festive evenings they threw a magic splendor on the
+straw hats which were placed under the elder bushes, and which
+challenged the judgment of the passers-by. The following year the glass
+lamps were superseded by Chinese lanterns. Again, the next year, the
+garden bore a classical aspect, for a white statue of a muse,
+surrounded by ivy and blooming wall-flowers, shone forth far into the
+wood.
+
+In the face of such novelties Mr. Hummel remained firm to his
+preference for water. In the rear of his house a small stream flowed
+toward the town. Every year his boat was painted the same green, and in
+his leisure hours he loved to go alone in his boat and to row from the
+houses to the park. He took his rod in his hand and devoted himself to
+the pleasure of catching gudgeons, minnows, and other small fish.
+
+Doubtless, the Hummel family were more aristocratic,--that is, more
+determined, more out of the common, and more difficult to deal with. Of
+all the housewives of the street, Mrs. Hummel displayed the greatest
+pretensions by her silk dresses and gold-watch and chain. She was a
+little lady with blonde curls, still very pretty; she had a seat at the
+theatre, was accomplished and kind-hearted, and very irascible. She
+looked as if she did not concern herself about anything, but she knew
+everything that happened in the street. Her husband was the only one
+who, at times, was beyond her control. Yet, although Mr. Hummel was
+tyrannical to all the world, he sometimes showed his wife great
+consideration. When she was too much for him in the house, he quietly
+went into the garden, and if she followed him there, he ensconced
+himself in the factory behind a bulwark of felt.
+
+But also Mrs. Hummel was subject to a higher power, and this power was
+exercised by her little daughter, Laura. This was the only surviving
+one of several children, and all the tenderness and affection of the
+mother were lavished upon her. And she was a splendid little girl; the
+whole town knew her ever since she wore her first red shoes; she was
+often detained when in the arms of her nurse; and had many presents
+given her. She grew up a merry, plump little maiden, with two large
+blue eyes and round cheeks, with dark, curly hair, and an arch
+countenance. When the little, rosy daughter of Mr. Hummel walked along
+the streets, her hands in the pockets of her apron, she was the delight
+of the whole neighborhood. Sprightly and decided, she knew how to
+behave toward all, and was never backward in offering her little mouth
+to be kissed. She would give the woodcutter at the door her buttered
+roll, and join him in drinking the thin coffee out of his cup; she
+accompanied the letter-carrier all along the street, and her greatest
+pleasure was to run with him up the steps, to ring and deliver his
+letters; she even once slipped out of the room late in the evening, and
+placed herself by the watchman, on a corner-stone, and held his great
+horn in impatient expectation of the striking of the hour at which it
+was to be sounded. Mrs. Hummel lived in unceasing anxiety lest her
+daughter should be stolen; for, more than once she had disappeared for
+many hours; she had gone with children, who were strangers, to their
+homes, and had played with them--she was the patroness of many of the
+little urchins in the street, knew how to make them respect her, gave
+them pennies, and received as tokens of esteem dolls and little
+chimney-sweeps, constructed of dried plums and little wooden sticks.
+She was a kind-hearted child that rather laughed than wept, and her
+merry face contributed more toward making the house of Mr. Hummel a
+pleasant abode, than the ivy arbor of the mistress of the house, or the
+massive bust of Mr. Hummel himself, which looked down imperiously on
+Laura's doll-house.
+
+"The child is becoming unbearable," exclaimed Mrs. Hummel, angrily
+dragging in the troubled Laura by the hand. "She runs about the streets
+all day long. Just now when I came from market she was sitting near the
+bridge, on the chair of the fruit-woman, selling onions for her.
+Everyone was gathering around her, and I had to fetch my child out of
+the crowd."
+
+"The little monkey will do well," answered Mr. Hummel, laughing; "why
+will you not let her enjoy her childhood?"
+
+"She must give up this low company. She lacks all sense of refinement;
+she hardly knows her alphabet, and she has no taste for reading. It is
+time, too, that she should begin her French letters. Little Betty, the
+councillor's daughter, is not older, and she knows how to call her
+mother _ch�re m�re_, in such a pretty manner."
+
+"The French are a polite people," answered Mr. Hummel. "If you are so
+anxious to train your daughter for the market, the Turkish language
+would be better than the French. The Turk pays money if you dispose of
+your child to him; the others wish to have something into the bargain."
+
+"Do not speak so inconsiderately, Henry!" exclaimed the wife.
+
+"Be off with you and your cursed French letters, else I promise you I
+will teach the child all the French phrases I know; they are not many,
+but they are strong. _Baisez-moi, Madame Hummel!_" Saying this, he left
+the room with an air of defiance.
+
+The result, however, of this consultation was that Laura went to
+school. It was very difficult for her to listen and be silent, and for
+a longtime her progress was not satisfactory. But at last her little
+soul was fired with ambition; she climbed the lower steps of learning
+with Miss Johanne, and then she was promoted to the renowned Institute
+of Miss Jeannette, where the daughters of families of pretension
+received education in higher branches. There she learned the
+tributaries of the Amazon, and much Egyptian history; she could touch
+the cover of the electrophorus, speak of the weather in French, and
+read English so ingeniously that even true-born Britons were obliged to
+acknowledge that a new language had been discovered; lastly, she was
+accomplished in all the elegancies of German composition. She wrote
+small treatises on the difference between walking and sleeping, on the
+feelings of the famed Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, on the terrors
+of a shipwreck, and of the desert island on which she had been saved.
+Finally, she gained some knowledge of the composition of strophes and
+sonnets. It soon became clear that Laura's strong point was German, not
+French; her style was the delight of the Institute; nay, she began to
+write poems in honor of her teachers and favorite companions, in which
+she very happily imitated the difficult rhymes of the great Schiller's
+"Song of the Bell." She was now eighteen, a pretty, rosy, young lady,
+still plump and merry, still the ruling power of the house, and still
+loved by all the people on the street.
+
+The mother, proud of the accomplishments of her daughter, after her
+confirmation, prepared an upper room for her, looking out upon the
+trees of the park; and Laura fitted up her little home like a fairy
+castle, with ivy-vines, a little flower-table, and a beautiful
+ink-stand of china on which shepherds and shepherdesses were sitting
+side by side. There she passed her pleasantest hours with her pen and
+paper, writing her diary in secret.
+
+She also partook of the aversion of her parents for the neighboring
+family. Even as a little child she had passed poutingly before the door
+of that house; never had her foot crossed its threshold, and when good
+Mrs. Hahn once asked her to shake hands, it was long before she could
+make up her mind to take her hand out of her apron pocket. Of the
+inhabitants of the neighboring house the one most annoying to her was
+young Fritz Hahn. She seldom associated with him, but unfortunately she
+was always in some embarrassment which enabled Fritz Hahn to act the
+part of her protector. Before she went to school, the eldest son of
+Mrs. Knips, already quite a big fellow, who painted fine pictures and
+birthday cards, and sold them to people in the neighborhood, wished to
+compel her to give the money she held in her hand for a devil's head
+which he had painted, and which no one in the street would have; he
+treated her so roughly and so ill, that contrary to her wont, she
+became frightened and gave him her pennies, and weeping, held the
+horrible picture in her hand. Fritz Hahn happened to come that way,
+inquired what had taken place, and when she complained to him of
+Knips's violent conduct, he grew so indignant that she became
+frightened about him. He set upon the lad, who was his school-fellow
+and in a class above him, and began to thrash him on the spot, while
+the younger Knips looked on laughing, with his hands in his pocket.
+Fritz pushed the naughty boy against the wall and compelled him to give
+up the money and take back his devil. But this meeting did not help to
+make her like Fritz any the better. She could not bear him, because
+already as an undergraduate he wore spectacles, and always looked so
+serious. And when she came from school, and he went with his portfolio
+to the lecture, she always endeavored to avoid him.
+
+On another occasion they happened to meet. She was among the first
+girls in the Institute; the oldest Knips was already Magister, and the
+younger apprentice in her father's business, and Fritz Hahn had just
+become a doctor. She had rowed herself between the trees in the park
+till the boat struck a snag and her oar fell into the water. As she was
+bending down to recover it, she also lost her hat and parasol. Laura,
+in her embarrassment, looked to the shore for help. Again it so
+happened that Fritz Hahn was passing, lost in thought. He heard the
+faint cry which had escaped her, jumped into the muddy water, fished up
+the hat and parasol, and drew the boat to the shore. Here he offered
+Laura his hand and helped her on to dry ground. Laura undoubtedly owed
+him thanks, and he had also treated her with respect and called her
+Miss. But then he looked very ridiculous, he bowed so awkwardly, and he
+stared at her so fixedly through his glasses. And when she afterwards
+learned that he had caught a terrible cold from his jump into the
+swamp, she became indignant, both at herself and at him, because she
+had screamed when there was no danger, and he had rushed to her aid
+with such useless chivalry. She could have helped herself, and now the
+Hahns would think she owed them no end of thanks.
+
+On this point she might have been at ease, for Fritz had quietly
+changed his clothes and dried them in his room.
+
+But indeed it was quite natural that the two hostile children should
+avoid each other, for Fritz was of quite a different nature. He also
+was an only child, and had been brought up tenderly by a kind-hearted
+father and a too anxious mother. He was, from his earliest childhood,
+quiet and self-possessed, unassuming and studious. In his home he had
+created for himself a little world of his own where he indulged in
+out-of-the-way studies. Whilst around him was the merry hum of life, he
+pored over Sanskrit characters, and investigated the relations between
+the wild spirits that hovered over the Teutoburger battle, and the gods
+of the Veda, who floated over palm-woods and bamboos in the hot valley
+of the Ganges. He also was the pride and joy of his family; his mother
+never failed to bring him his cup of coffee every morning; then she
+seated herself opposite him with her bunch of keys, and looked silently
+at him while he ate his breakfast, scolded him gently for working so
+late the previous night, and told him that she could not sleep quietly
+till she heard him push back his chair and place his boots before the
+door to be cleaned. After breakfast, Fritz went to his father to bid
+him good morning, and he knew that it gave his father pleasure when he
+walked with him for a few minutes in the garden, observing the growth
+of his favorite flowers, and when, above all, he approved of his garden
+projects. This was the only point on which Mr. Hahn was sometimes at
+variance with his son; and, as he could not refute his son's arguments,
+nor restrain his own strong aesthetic inclinations, he adopted methods
+which are often resorted to by greater politicians--he secretly
+prepared his projects, and surprised his son with the execution of
+them.
+
+Amidst this tranquil life, intercourse with the Professor was the
+greatest pleasure of the day to our young scholar; it elevated
+him and made him happy. He had, while yet a student, heard the first
+course of lectures given by Felix Werner at the University. A
+friendship had gradually arisen, such as is perhaps only possible among
+highly-cultivated, sound men of learning. Fritz became the devoted
+confidant of the inexhaustible activity of his friend. Every
+investigation of the Professor, with its results, was imparted to him,
+even to the most minute details, and the pleasure of every new
+discovery was shared by the neighbors. Thus the best portion of their
+life was passed together. Fritz, indeed, as the younger, was more a
+receiver than giver; but it was just this that made the relation so
+firm and deep. This intercourse was not without occasional differences,
+as is natural with scholars; for both were hasty in judgment; both were
+very exacting in the requirements which they made on themselves and
+others, and both were easily excited. But such differences were soon
+settled, and only served to increase the loving consideration with
+which they treated each other.
+
+Through this friendship the bitter relations between the two houses
+were somewhat mitigated. Even Mr. Hummel could not help showing some
+respect for the Doctor, as his highly-honored tenant paid such striking
+marks of distinction to the son of the enemy. For Mr. Hummel's respect
+for his tenant was unbounded. He heard that the Professor was quite
+celebrated in his specialty, and he was inclined to value earthly fame
+when, as in this case, there was profit in it. Besides, the Professor
+was a most excellent tenant. He never protested against any rule which
+Mr. Hummel, as chief magistrate of the house, prescribed. He had once
+asked the advice of Mr. Hummel concerning the investment of some
+capital. He possessed neither dog nor cat, gave no parties, and did not
+sing with his window open, nor play bravura pieces on the piano. But
+the main point was, that he showed to Mrs. Hummel and Laura, whenever
+he met them, the most chivalrous politeness, which well became the
+learned gentleman. Mrs. Hummel was enchanted with her tenant; and Mr.
+Hummel always deemed it expedient not to mention his intention of
+raising the rent to his family, because he foresaw a general
+remonstrance from the ladies.
+
+Now the hobgoblin who ran to and fro between both houses, throwing
+stones in the way, and making sport of men, had tried also to excite
+these two noble souls against each other. But his attempt was a
+miserable failure; these worthy men were not disposed to dance to his
+discordant pipes.
+
+Early the following morning, Gabriel took a letter from his master to
+the Doctor. As he passed the hostile threshold, Dorchen, the servant of
+the Hahn family, hastily came toward him with a letter from her young
+master to the Professor. The messengers exchanged letters, and the two
+friends read them at the same moment.
+
+The Professor wrote:--
+
+"My dear friend--Do not be angry with me because I have again been
+vehement; the cause of it was as absurd as possible. I must honestly
+tell you that what put me out was your having so unconditionally
+refused to edit with me a Latin text. For the possibility of finding
+the lost manuscript, which we in our pleasant dreams assumed for some
+minutes, was the more enticing to me, because it opened the prospect of
+an employment in common to us both. And if I wish to draw you within
+the narrow circle of my studies, you may take for granted that it is
+not only from personal feeling, but far more from the wish of my heart
+to avail myself of your ability for the branch of learning to which I
+confine myself."
+
+Fritz, on the other hand, wrote:--
+
+"My very dear friend--I feel most painfully that my irritability
+yesterday spoilt for us both a charming evening. But do not think that
+I mean to dispute your right to reproach me for the prolixity and want
+of system in my labors. It was just because what you said touched a
+cord, the secret dissonance of which I have myself sometimes felt, that
+I for a moment lost my equanimity. You are certainly right in much that
+you said, only I beg you to believe that my refusal to undertake a
+great work in conjunction with you was neither selfishness nor want of
+friendship. I am convinced that I ought not to abandon the work I have
+undertaken, even though too extensive for my powers; least of all
+exchange it for a new circle of interests, in which my deficient
+knowledge would be a burden to you."
+
+After the reception of these letters both were somewhat more at ease.
+But certain expressions in them made some further explanation necessary
+to both, so they set to work and wrote again to each other, shortly and
+pithily, as became thoughtful men. The Professor answered: "I thank you
+from my heart, my dear Fritz, for your letter; but I must repeat that
+you always estimate your own worth too low, and this is all that I can
+reproach you with."
+
+Fritz replied: "How deeply touched I feel by your friendship at this
+moment! This only will I say, that among the many things I have to
+learn from you, there is nothing I need more than your modesty; and
+when you speak of your knowledge so comprehensive and fertile in
+results, as being limited, be not angry if I strive after the same
+modesty with regard to my work."
+
+After sending the letter, the Professor, still disquieted, went to his
+lecture, and was conscious that his mind wandered during his discourse.
+Fritz hastened to the library, and diligently collected all the
+referenced which he could find respecting the Manor of Bielstein. At
+midday, on their return home, each of them read the second letter of
+his friend: then the Professor frequently looked at the clock, and
+when it struck three he hastily put on his hat and went with great
+strides across the street to the hostile house. As he laid hold of the
+door-knob of the Doctor's room, he felt a counter pressure from within.
+Pushing the door open, he found Fritz standing before him, also with
+his hat on, intending to visit him. Without saying a word the two
+friends embraced each other.
+
+"I bring you good tidings from the book-seller," began the Professor.
+
+"And I of the old Manor," exclaimed Fritz.
+
+"Listen," said the Professor. "The book-seller bought the monk's book
+of a retail-dealer who travels about the country collecting curiosities
+and old books. The man was brought into my presence; he had himself
+bought the little book in the town of Rossau, at an auction of the
+effects of a cloth-maker, together with an old cupboard and some carved
+stools. It is at least possible that the remarks in cipher at the end,
+which evade unpracticed eyes, may never, after the death of the friar,
+have excited observation nor caused investigation. Perhaps there may
+still be preserved in some church-record at Rossau an account of the
+life and death of the monk Tobias Bachhuber."
+
+"Possibly," assented Fritz, much pleased. "A congregation of his
+persuasion still exists. But Manor Bielstein lies at a distance of half
+an hour from the town of Rossau, on a woody height--see, here is the
+map. It formerly belonged to the ruling sovereign, but in the last
+century it passed into private hands; the buildings, however, remain.
+It is represented on this map as an old chateau, at present the
+residence of a Mr. Bauer. My father also knows about the house; he has
+seen it from the high road on his journeys, and describes it as a long
+stretch of buildings, with balconies and a high roof."
+
+"The threads interweave themselves into a satisfactory web," said the
+Professor, complacently.
+
+"Stop a moment," cried the Doctor, eagerly. "The traditions of this
+province have been collected by one of our friends. The man is
+trustworthy. Let us see whether he has recorded any reminiscences of
+the neighborhood of Rossau." He hastily opened and looked into a book,
+and then gazed speechless at his friend.
+
+The Professor seized the volume and read this short notice: "It is said
+that in the olden times the monks in the neighborhood of Bielstein
+walled up a great treasure in the manor-house."
+
+Again did a vision of the old, mysterious manuscript arise before the
+eyes of the friends so distinctly that it might be seized.
+
+"It is certainly not impossible that the manuscript may yet lie
+concealed," remarked the Professor, at last, with assumed composure.
+"Instances of similar discoveries are not lacking. It is not long since
+that a ceiling of a room in the old house of the proprietor of my home
+was broken through; it was a double ceiling, and the empty space
+contained a number of records and papers concerning the ownership, and
+some old jewels. The treasure had been concealed in the time of the
+great war, and no one for a century had heeded the lowly ceiling of the
+little room."
+
+"Naturally," exclaimed Fritz, rubbing his hands. "And within the facing
+of old chimneys empty spaces are sometimes found. A brother of my
+mother's found, on rebuilding his house, in such a place a pot
+full of coins." He drew out his purse. "Here is one of them, a
+beautiful Swedish dollar; my uncle gave it to me at my confirmation as
+a luck-penny, and I have carried it in my purse ever since. I have
+often struggled against the temptation to spend it."
+
+The Professor closely examined the head of Gustavus Adolphus, as if he
+had been a neighbor of the concealed Tacitus, and would convey
+information concerning the lost book in its inscription. "It is true,"
+he said, reflectively, "if the house is on a height, even the cellars
+may be dry."
+
+"Undoubtedly," answered the Doctor. "Often, too, the thick walls were
+built double, and the intervening space filled with rubbish. In such a
+case it would be easy, through a small opening, to make a hollow space
+in the inside of the wall."
+
+"But now," began the Professor, rising, "the question arises, what are
+we to do? For the knowledge of such a thing, whether it be of great or
+little importance, imposes upon the investigator the duty of doing all
+that is possible to promote the discovery. And this duty we must
+fulfill promptly and completely."
+
+"If you impart this record to the public, you will allow the prospect
+of discovering the manuscript to pass out of your own hands."
+
+"In this business, every personal consideration must be dismissed,"
+said the Professor, decisively.
+
+"And if you now make known the cloister-record you have found,"
+continued the Doctor, "who can answer for it, that the nimble activity
+of some antiquary, or some foreigner, may not prevent all further
+investigations? In such a case the treasure, even if found, would be
+lost, not only to you, but also to our country and to science."
+
+"That, at least, must not be," cried the Professor.
+
+"And besides, even if you apply to the government of the province, it
+is very doubtful whether they will render you any assistance," replied
+the Doctor, triumphantly.
+
+"I do not think of committing the matter to strangers and officials,"
+answered the Professor. "We have a person in the neighborhood whose
+good fortune and acuteness in tracing out rarities is wonderful. I have
+a mind to tell Magister Knips of the manuscript; he may lay aside his
+proof-sheets for a few days, travel for us to Rossau, and there examine
+the ground."
+
+The Doctor jumped up. "That will never do. Knips is not the man to
+trust with such a secret."
+
+"I have always found him trustworthy," replied the Professor. "He is
+wonderfully skillful and well-informed."
+
+"To me it would appear a desecration of this fine discovery, to employ
+such a man," answered Fritz, "and I would never consent to it."
+
+"In that case," cried the Professor, "I have made up my mind. The
+vacation is at hand; I will go myself to the old house. And as you, my
+friend, intended to travel for a few days, you must accompany me; we
+shall go together. Here is my hand on it."
+
+"With all my heart," cried the Doctor, clasping his friend's hand. "We
+will penetrate into the manor-house, and summon the spirits which hover
+over the treasure."
+
+"We will first come to an understanding with the owner of the house.
+Then we shall see what is to be done. Meanwhile let us keep the affair
+secret."
+
+"That is right," assented Fritz; and the friends descended, well
+satisfied, into the garden of Mr. Hahn, and, pausing for a few moments
+beneath the White Muse, they consulted with regard to the opening of
+the campaign.
+
+The imagination of the Scholar was fast pent up by his methodical train
+of thought; but in the depths of his soul there was a rich and abundant
+stream from the secret source of all beauty and energy. Now a hole had
+been torn in the dam, and the flood poured itself joyfully over the
+seed. Ever did the wish for the mysterious manuscript return to him. He
+saw before him the opening in the wall, and the first glimmer of light
+falling on the grey books in the hollow; he saw the treasure in his
+hands as he drew it out, and would not part with it till he had
+deciphered the illegible pages. Blessed spirit of Brother Tobias
+Bachhuber, if thou shouldst spend any of thy holiday-time in heaven in
+coming back to our poor earth, and if then at night thou glidest
+through the rooms of the old manor, guarding thy treasure and scaring
+inquisitive meddlers, pray, nod kindly to the man who now approaches to
+bring thy secret to the light of day, for truly he seeks not honor nor
+gain for himself, but he conjures you, in the name of all that is good,
+to assist a well-meaning man.
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER III_.
+
+                            A FOOL'S ERRAND.
+
+
+Whoever on a certain sunny harvest-morning in August had looked down
+from the heights in the direction of Rossau, would have observed an
+object moving along the road between the meadows that extended to the
+gates of the city. On closer observation two travelers might be
+perceived, one taller than the other, both wearing light summer
+clothes, the freshness of which had been sullied by the stormy rain of
+the last few days. They had both leather traveling-bags, which hung by
+straps from their shoulders; the taller one wore a broad-brimmed felt
+hat, the shorter one a straw hat.
+
+The travelers were evidently strangers, for they stopped at times to
+observe and enjoy the view of the valley and hills, which is seldom the
+custom with people born in the country. The district had not yet been
+discovered by pleasure-seekers; there were no smooth paths in the woods
+for the thin boots of towns-folk; even the carriage road was not a
+work of art, the water lay in the tracks made by the wheels; the
+sheep-bells and the axe of the wood-cutter only were heard by the
+dwellers of the neighborhood, who were working in the fields or passing
+on their way to their work. And yet the country was not without charm;
+the woody hills were marked in bold outlines, a stone-quarry might be
+seen between the fields in the plain, or the head of a rock jutted out
+from amongst the trees. From the hills on the horizon a small brook
+wound its course to the distant river, bordered by strips of meadow,
+behind which the arable land ran up to the woody heights. The lovely
+landscape looked bright in the morning sunshine.
+
+In the low country in front of the travelers rose to view, surrounded
+by hills, the village of Rossau, a little country-town with two massive
+church towers and dark-tiled roofs, which projected above the walls of
+the place like the backs of a herd of cattle that had crowded together
+for protection against a pack of wolves.
+
+The strangers looked from their high position with warm interest on the
+chimneys and towers behind the old discolored and patched walls that
+lay before them. In that place had once been preserved a treasure,
+which, if found again, would interest the whole civilized world and
+excite hundreds to intellectual labor. The landscape looked exactly
+like other German landscapes, and the village was exactly like other
+German villages; and yet there was an attraction about the place that
+inspired a joyful hope in the travelers. Was it the globe-like ornament
+that crowned the stout old tower? or was it the arch of the gate which
+just veiled from the travelers in alluring darkness the entrance to the
+town? or the stillness of the empty valley, in which the place lay
+without suburbs and outhouses, as the towns are portrayed on old maps?
+or the herds of cattle that went out of the gate into the open space,
+and bounded merrily on the pasture ground? or was it perhaps the keen
+morning air which blew about the temples of the wanderers? Both felt
+that something remarkable and promising hovered over the valley in
+which, as searchers of the past, they were entering.
+
+"Imagine the landscape as it once appeared to the eye," began the
+Professor; "the forest, in olden times, encircled the town more
+closely; the hills seemed higher, the valley deeper; the monastery then
+lay, with the dwellings of its dependants, as in a deep basin. There,
+to the south, where the country sharply rises, the monks had their
+vineyards. Gradually the houses of the town drew about the monastery.
+Take from those towers beyond us the caps that were placed upon them a
+century ago, give them back their old pinnacles, place here and there a
+turret on the walls, and you have an ideal, wondrously beautiful
+picture of mediaeval days."
+
+"And upon the same road that leads us thither, a learned monk once
+strode with his precious manuscripts towards the quiet valley; there to
+teach his companions, or to shield himself, perhaps, from powerful
+enemies," the Doctor said, with enthusiasm.
+
+The travelers passed by the pasture ground; the herdsmen looked with
+indifference at the strangers; but the cows placed themselves by the
+edge of the ditch and stared, while the young ones of the herd bellowed
+at them inquiringly. They went through the dark arch of the gate and
+looked curiously along the streets. It was a poor little town, the main
+street alone was paved, and that badly. Not far from the gate the
+sloping beam of a well projected high in the air, and from it hung
+along pole with a bucket attached. Few people were to be seen, those
+who were not working in the houses were occupied in the field; for the
+straws which stuck in the stone crevices of the arch of the gate showed
+that harvest wagons were carrying the fruits of the fields to the
+farm-yards of the citizens. Near many of the houses there were open
+wooden doors, through which one could look into the yard and barns, and
+over the dung heap on which small fowls were pecking. The last century
+had altered the place but little, and the low houses still stood with
+their gables to the front. Instead of the coats of arms, there
+projected into the street the signs of artisans, carved in tin or wood,
+and painted--such as a large wooden boot; a griffin, holding enormous
+shears in its hand; or a rampant lion, that extended a bretzel; or, as
+the most beautiful masterpiece of all, a regular hexagon of colored
+glass panes.
+
+"Much has been retained of medi�val times here," said the Professor.
+
+The friends came to the market-place, an irregular space, the little
+houses of which were adorned with bright paint. There on an
+insignificant building prominently stood a red dragon with a curled
+tail, carved out of a board, and supported in the air on an iron pole.
+Upon it was painted, in ill-formed letters; "The Dragon Inn."
+
+"See," said Fritz, pointing to the dragon, "the fancy of the artist has
+carved him with a pike's head and thick teeth. The dragon is the oldest
+treasure-preserver of our legends. It is remarkable how firmly the
+recollection of this legendary animal everywhere clings to the people.
+Probably this sign-board originates from some tradition of the place."
+
+They ascended the white stone steps into the house, utterly unconscious
+that they had long been watched by sharp eyes. A citizen, who was
+taking his morning draught, exclaimed to the stout host, "Who can these
+be? They do not look like commercial travelers; perhaps one of them is
+the new parson from Kirchdorf."
+
+"Parsons don't look like that," said the inn-keeper, decidedly, who
+knew men better; "they are strangers on foot, no carriage and no
+luggage."
+
+The strangers entered, placed themselves at a red-painted table, and
+ordered breakfast. "A beautiful country, mine host," began the
+Professor; "magnificent trees in your forests."
+
+"Yes," answered the host.
+
+"A wealthy neighborhood, apparently," continued the Professor.
+
+"People complain that they do not earn enough," replied the host.
+
+"How many clergy have you in the place?"
+
+"Two," said the host, more politely. "But the old pastor is dead;
+meanwhile, there is a candidate here."
+
+"Is the other pastor at home?"
+
+"I do not know," said the landlord.
+
+"Have you a court of justice here?"
+
+"We have a Justice of the Peace; he is now here--court is in session
+to-day."
+
+"Was there not in former times a monastery in the city?" said the
+Doctor, taking up the examination.
+
+The citizen and the landlord looked at each other. "That is long
+since," replied the master of the inn.
+
+"Does not the Manor of Bielstein lie in the neighborhood?" inquired
+Fritz.
+
+Again the citizen and the landlord looked significantly at each other.
+
+"It lies somewhere here in the neighborhood," answered the landlord,
+with reserve.
+
+"How long does it take to go to the manor?" asked the Professor,
+irritated by the short answers of the man.
+
+"Do you wish to go there?" inquired the landlord. "Do you know the
+owner?"
+
+"No," answered the Professor.
+
+"Have you any business with him?"
+
+"That is our affair," answered the Professor, curtly.
+
+"The road leads through the wood, and takes half an hour--you cannot
+miss it;" and the landlord abruptly closed the conversation and left
+the room. The citizen followed him.
+
+"We have not learnt much," said the Doctor, laughing. "I hope the
+pastor and magistrate will be more communicative."
+
+"We will go direct to the place," said the Professor, with decision.
+
+Meanwhile the landlord and the citizen consulted together. "Whatever
+the strangers may be," repeated the citizen, "they are not
+ecclesiastics, and they did not seem to care for the magistrate. Did
+you remark how they inquired about the monastery and the Manor?" The
+landlord nodded. "I will tell you my suspicion," continued the citizen,
+eagerly; "they have not come here for nothing; they are after
+something."
+
+"What can that be?" asked the landlord, pondering.
+
+"They are disguised Jesuits; that's what they look like to me."
+
+"Well, if they intend to seek a quarrel with the people at the Manor,
+they will find their match."
+
+"I am on my way now to the Inspector on business; I will give him a
+hint."
+
+"Do not meddle with what does not concern you," said the landlord,
+warningly. But the citizen only held the boots he carried, tighter
+under his arm, and drove round the corner.
+
+Our two friends left, disgusted with the lack of courtesy they
+encountered at the Dragon. They inquired the way to the manor of an old
+woman at the opposite gate of the city. Behind the town the path rose
+from the gravel bed of the brook to the woody height. They entered a
+clearing of underbrush, from which, here and there, rose up high oaks.
+The rain of the last evening still hung in drops on the leaves--the
+deep green of summer glistened in the sun's rays--the song of birds and
+the tapping of the woodpecker above broke the stillness.
+
+"This puts one in different frame of mind," exclaimed the Doctor,
+cheerfully.
+
+"It requires very little to call forth new melodies in a well-strung
+heart, if fate has not played on it with too rough a hand. The bark of
+a few trees covered with hoary moss, a handful of blossoms on the turf,
+and a few notes from the throats of birds, are sufficient," replied the
+philosophic Professor. "Hark! that is no greeting of nature to the
+wanderer," added he, listening attentively, as the sound of distant
+voices chanting a choral, fell softly on his ear. The sound appeared to
+come from above the trees.
+
+"Let us go higher up," exclaimed the Doctor, "to the mysterious place
+where old church-hymns murmur through the oaks."
+
+They ascended the hill some hundred steps, and found themselves on an
+open terrace, one side of which was surrounded by trees. In the
+clearing stood a small wooden church surrounded by a graveyard; some
+distance beyond on a massive extent of rock rose a great old building,
+the roof of which was broken by many pointed gables.
+
+"How all harmonizes!" exclaimed the Professor, looking curiously over
+the little church up to the Manor-house.
+
+A funeral chant was heard more clearly from the church. "Let us go in,"
+said the Doctor, pointing to the open door.
+
+"To my mind it is more seemly to remain without," answered the
+Professor; "it is repulsive to me to intrude either on the pleasures or
+sorrows of strangers. The hymn is finished; now comes the pastor's
+little discourse."
+
+Fritz meanwhile had climbed the low stone wall and was examining the
+church. "Look at the massive buttresses. It is the remains of an old
+building; they have repaired it with pinewood; the tower and roof are
+black with age; it would be worth our while to see the inside."
+
+The Professor held in his hand the long shoot of a bramble bush which
+hung over the wall, looking with admiration at its white blossoms, and
+at the green and brown berries which grew in thick clusters. The sound
+of a man's voice fell indistinctly on his ear, and he bent his head
+involuntarily to catch the words.
+
+"Let us hear," he said at last, and entered the churchyard with his
+friend. They took off their hats and quietly opened the church door. It
+was a very small hall; the bricks of the old choir had been
+whitewashed; the chancel, a gallery, and a few benches were of brown
+firwood. Before the altar lay open a child's coffin, the form within
+was covered with flowers. Beside it stood several country people in
+simple attire; on the steps of the altar was an aged clergyman with
+white hair and a kind face; and at the head of the coffin the wife of a
+laborer, mother of the little one, sobbing. Beside her stood a fine,
+womanly form in city dress; she had taken off her hat, and with folded
+hands was looking down on the child that lay among the flowers. Thus
+she stood, motionless; the sun fell obliquely on the waving hair and
+regular features of the young face. But more captivating than the tall
+figure and beautiful head was the expression of deep devotion that
+pervaded the whole countenance. The Professor involuntarily seized hold
+of his friend's arm to detain him. The clergyman made his concluding
+prayer; the stately maiden bowed her head lower, then bent down once
+more to the little one, and wound her arm round the mother, who leaned
+weeping on her comforter. Thus she stood, speaking gently to the
+mother, while tears rolled down from her eyes. How spirit-like sounded
+the murmurs of that rich voice in the ear of her friend! Then the men
+lifted the coffin from the ground and followed the clergyman, who led
+the way to the churchyard. Behind the coffin went the mother, her head
+still on the shoulder of her supporter. The maiden passed by the
+strangers, gazing before her with an inspired look, whispering in her
+companion's ear words from the Bible: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
+taken away. Let little children come unto me." Her gentle accents were
+heard even by the friends. The mother hung broken-hearted on the arm of
+the girl, and, as if borne along by the gentle tones, tottered to the
+grave. Reverently did the friends follow the procession. The coffin was
+lowered into the grave, the clergyman pronounced the blessing, and each
+one present threw three handfuls of earth on the departed one. Then the
+country people separated, leaving a free passage for the mother and her
+companion. The latter gave her hand to the clergyman, and then
+conducted the mother slowly across the churchyard to the road which led
+to the Manor.
+
+The friends followed at some distance, without looking at each other.
+The Professor passed his hand over his eyes. "Such incidents are always
+very touching," he said, sorrowfully.
+
+"As she stood at the altar," exclaimed the Doctor, "she seemed like a
+prophetess of the olden time, with an oaken crown on her head. She drew
+the poor, woman on by her gentle accents. The words were from our good,
+old Bible; and now I understand the significant meaning in ancient
+times of the word 'whisper,' to which a magic power was ascribed. She
+took possession of the mourner body and soul, and her voice sank deep
+into my heart also. What was she, maid or married woman?"
+
+"She is a maiden," answered the Professor, impressively. "She dwells at
+the Manor, and we shall meet her there. Let her go on, and we will wait
+at the foot of the rock."
+
+They sat some time on a projecting stone. The Professor never seemed
+weary of contemplating a tuft of moss; he brushed it with his hand,
+laying it now on one side, now on the other. At last he arose quickly.
+"Whatever may come of it, let us go on."
+
+They ascended the hill some hundred steps. The landscape before them
+suddenly changed. On one side lay the manor-precincts with a walled
+gateway and a courtyard, in which stood large farm-buildings; before
+them, a wide plain of arable land sloped down from the height into a
+rich valley. The lonely woodland landscape had disappeared; around the
+wanderers was the active stir of daily life; the wind waved through the
+seas of corn; harvest wagons were passing up the roads through the
+fields; the whip cracked and the sheaves were swung by strong arms over
+the rails of the wagons.
+
+"Hello! what are you looking for here?" demanded a deep bass voice
+behind the strangers, in an imperative tone. The friends turned
+quickly. Before the farmyard-gate stood a powerful, broad-shouldered
+man, with close-cut hair, and an expression of deep energy in his
+sunbrown face; behind him stood farm-employees and laborers, stretching
+their heads out with curiosity through the gate, and a large dog ran
+barking toward the strangers. "Back, Nero," called out his master, and
+whistled to the dog, at the same time scanning the strangers with a
+cold, searching look.
+
+"Have I the honor of addressing the proprietor of this estate, a Mr.
+Bauer?" inquired the Professor.
+
+"I am that person, and who are you?" asked the Proprietor in return.
+
+The Professor gave their names, and that of the place from which they
+came. The host approached and examined them both from head to foot.
+
+"There are no Jesuits there, I suppose," he said; "but if you come here
+to find some hidden treasure, your journey is useless; you will find
+nothing."
+
+The friends looked at each other; they were near the house, but far
+from the goal.
+
+"You make us feel," answered the Professor, "that we have approached
+your dwelling without an introduction. Although you have already made a
+guess as to the object of our journey, yet I beg of you to permit us to
+make an explanation before fewer witnesses."
+
+The dignified demeanor of the Professor did not fail to have an effect.
+"If you really have business with me, it would be better certainly to
+settle it in the house. Follow me, gentlemen." He lifted his cap a
+little, pointed with his hand to the gate, and went ahead. "Nero, you
+brute, can't you be quiet?"
+
+The Professor and the Doctor followed, while the farm hands and
+laborers and the growling dog closed in behind. Thus the strangers were
+conducted in a not very cordial manner to the house. In spite of their
+unpleasant position, they looked with curiosity at the great farmyard,
+the work going on in the barns, and a flock of large geese which,
+disturbed by the party, waddled cackling across the road. Then their
+eyes fell upon the dwelling itself, the broad stone steps with benches
+on both sides, the vaulted door, and the white washed escutcheon on the
+keystone. They entered a roomy hall, the Proprietor hung up his cap,
+laid hold with strong hand of the latch of the sitting-room door, and
+again made a movement of the hand, which was intended to be polite and
+to invite the strangers to enter. "Now, that we are alone," he began,
+"how can I serve you? You have already been announced to me as two
+treasure-seekers. If you are that, I must begin by plainly telling you
+that I will not encourage such follies. Apart from that, I am glad to
+see you."
+
+"But we are not treasure-seekers," rejoined the Professor; "and as we
+have kept the object of our journey a secret everywhere, we do not
+understand how you could hear so erroneous a report concerning the
+occasion of our coming."
+
+"The shoemaker of my steward brought him the intelligence together with
+a pair of mended boots; he saw you at the tavern in the town, and grew
+suspicious because of your questions."
+
+"He has exercised more ingenuity than was called for by our harmless
+questions," answered the Professor. "And yet he was not altogether
+wrong."
+
+"Then there is something in it," interrupted the Proprietor, gloomily;
+"in that case I must beg you, gentlemen, not to trouble yourselves or
+me further. I have no time for such nonsense."
+
+"First of all, have the goodness to hear us before so curtly
+withdrawing your hospitality," replied the Professor, calmly. "We have
+come with no other aim than to impart to you something concerning the
+importance of which you may yourself decide. And not only we, but
+others, might reproach you if you refused our request without taking it
+into consideration. The matter concerns you more than us."
+
+"Of course," said the host, "we are acquainted with this style of
+speech."
+
+"Not quite," continued the Professor; "there is a difference according
+to who uses it, and to what purpose."
+
+"Well, then, in the devil's name, speak, but be clear," exclaimed the
+Proprietor, impatiently.
+
+"Not till you have shown yourself ready," continued the Professor, "to
+pay the attention the importance of the subject deserves. A short
+explanation will be necessary, and you have not even invited us to sit
+down."
+
+"Be seated," replied the Proprietor, and offered chairs.
+
+The Professor began: "A short time ago, among other written records of
+the monks of Rossau, I accidentally found some observations in a
+manuscript which may be of the greatest importance to the branch of
+learning to which I devote myself."
+
+"And what is your branch of learning?" interrupted the host, unmoved.
+
+"I am a philologist."
+
+"That means one who studies ancient languages?" asked the Proprietor.
+
+"It is so," continued the Professor. "It is stated by a monk, in the
+volume I have mentioned, that about the year 1500 there existed in the
+monastery a valuable manuscript, containing a history by the Roman,
+Tacitus. The work of the renowned historian is only very imperfectly
+preserved to us in some other well-known manuscripts. A second notice
+from the same book, in April, 1637, mentions that during the troublous
+wartimes the last monks of the monastery had concealed from the Swedes
+their church treasures and manuscripts in a hollow, dry place in the
+Manor-house of Bielstein. These are the words I have found; I have
+nothing further to impart to you. We have no doubt of the genuineness
+of both notices. I have brought with me an abstract of the passages
+concerning it, and I am ready to submit the original to your
+inspection, or that of any competent judge whom you may choose. I will
+only add now that both I and my friend know well how unsatisfactory is
+the communication we make to you, and how uncertain is the prospect
+that after two centuries any of the buried possessions of the monastery
+should be forthcoming. And yet we have made use of a vacation to impart
+to you this discovery, even at the probable risk of a fruitless search.
+But we felt ourselves bound in duty to make this journey, not
+especially on your account--although this manuscript, if found; would
+be of great value to you--but principally in the interest of science,
+for in that point of view such a discovery would be invaluable."
+
+The Proprietor had listened attentively, but he left untouched the
+paper that the Professor had laid on the table before him. Then he
+began: "I see that you do not mean to deceive me, and that you tell me
+the whole truth with the best intentions. I understand your
+explanation. Your Latin I cannot read; but that is not necessary, for,
+with regard to this matter, I believe you. But," he continued,
+laughing, "there is one thing which the learned gentlemen living so far
+away do not know, and that is, that this house has the misfortune to be
+considered throughout the whole country as a place in which the old
+monks have concealed treasures."
+
+"That was not, of course, unknown to us," rejoined the Doctor, "and it
+would not diminish the significance of these written records."
+
+"Then you were greatly in error. It is surely clear that such a report,
+which has been believed in a country through many generations, has
+meanwhile stirred up persons who are superstitious and greedy of gain,
+to discover these supposed treasures. How can you imagine that you are
+the first to conceive the thought of making a search? This is an old,
+strong-built house, but it would be stronger still if it did not show
+traces from cellar to roof that in former times holes have been made
+and the damage left unrepaired. Only a few years ago I had, at much
+cost and trouble, to place new beams into the roof, because roof and
+ceiling were sinking, and it appeared, on examination, that
+unscrupulous men had sawed off a piece of the rafter, in order to grope
+into a corner of the roof. And I tell you frankly, that if I have met
+with anything disagreeable from the old house, in which for twenty
+years I have experienced both happiness and misfortune, it has been
+from this troublesome report. Even now an investigation is being
+carried on in the town respecting a treasure-seeker, who has deceived
+credulous people in giving out that he could conjure up treasures from
+this hill. His accomplices are still being tracked. You may ascribe it
+to your questions in the town, that the people there, who are much
+excited because of the deception, have taken you to be assistants of
+the impostor. My rude greeting was also owing to this. I must therefore
+ask your pardon for it."
+
+"Then you will not agree," asked the Professor, dissatisfied, "to make
+use of our communication for further researches?"
+
+"No," replied the Proprietor, "I will not make such a fool of myself.
+If your book mentions nothing more than what you have told me, this
+account is of little use. If the monks have concealed anything here, it
+is a hundred to one that they have taken it away again in quieter
+times. And even if, contrary to all probability, the concealed objects
+should remain in their place--as since then some hundred years have
+passed--other hungry people would long ago have disinterred them. These
+are, pardon me, nursery stories, only fit for spinning-rooms. I have a
+great aversion to all these notions that necessitate pulling down
+walls. The husbandman should dig in his fields and not in his house;
+his treasures lie beneath God's sun."
+
+The cold demeanor of the man made the Professor's blood boil. He with
+difficulty controlled his rising anger, and, approaching the window,
+looked out at a bevy of sparrows that were twittering vehemently at one
+another. At last, turning round, he began:--
+
+"The owner of a house has the right of refusal. If you persist we shall
+certainly leave you with a feeling of regret that you do not know how
+to appreciate the possible importance of our communication. I have been
+unable to avoid this meeting, although I was aware how uncertain are
+the impressions formed in a first interview with strangers. Our
+communication would perhaps have received more attention if it had come
+to you through the medium of your government, accompanied by a
+requisition to commence an active search."
+
+"Do you regret that you have not taken that course?" asked the
+Proprietor, laughing.
+
+"To speak frankly, no. I have no confidence in official protocols in
+such matters."
+
+"Nor have I," answered the Proprietor, drily. "Ours is a small
+province, the seat of Government is at a distance, and we are
+surrounded by foreign dominions. I have nothing to do with the court;
+years pass without my going there; the government does not bother us,
+and in my district I control the police. If my government were to
+attribute importance to your wishes, they would probably call for a
+report from me, and that would cost me a sheet of paper and an hour's
+writing. Perhaps, if you made enough ado, they might also send a
+commission to my house. These would announce themselves to me about
+dinner-time, and I should take them to the cellars after dinner; they
+would for form's sake, knock a little upon the walls, and I meanwhile
+would have a few bottles of wine opened. At last a paper would be
+quickly written, and the affair would be settled. I am thankful that
+you have not adopted this method. Moreover, I would defend my household
+rights, even against my sovereign."
+
+"It is vain, it appears to me, to speak to you of the value of the
+manuscript," interposed the Professor, severely.
+
+"It would be of no avail," said the Proprietor. "It is questionable
+whether such a curiosity, even if found on my property, would be of
+essential value to myself. As to the value to your branch of learning,
+I only know it from what you say; but neither for myself nor for you
+will I stir a finger, because I do not believe that such a treasure is
+concealed on my estate, and I do not choose to sacrifice myself for an
+improbability. This is my answer, Professor."
+
+The Professor again stepped silently to the window. Fritz, who,
+although indignant, had restrained himself, felt that it was time to
+put an end to the conversation, and rose to take his departure. "So you
+have given us your final decision?"
+
+"I regret that I can give you no other answer," replied the Proprietor,
+compassionately, looking at the two strangers. "I really am sorry that
+you have come so far out of your way. If you desire to see my farm,
+every door shall be opened to you. The walls of my house I open to no
+one. I am, moreover, ready to keep your communication a secret, and the
+more so, as this would also be to my own interest."
+
+"Your refusal to allow any search to be made on your property renders
+any further secrecy unnecessary," answered the Doctor. "All that
+remains to my friend now is to publish his discovery in some scientific
+periodical. He will then have done his duty, and perhaps others may be
+more successful with you than we have been."
+
+The Proprietor started up. "Confound you, sir; what the devil do you
+mean? Will you tell your story to your colleagues? Probably these will
+think very much as you do."
+
+"Undoubtedly hundreds will view the matter exactly as we do, and will
+also condemn your refusal," exclaimed the Doctor.
+
+"Sir, how you judge me is a matter of indifference to me; I am
+perfectly willing to have you paint me as black as your love of truth
+will allow," exclaimed the Proprietor, indignantly. "But I see that all
+will be of no avail. Hang the monks and their treasure! Now I may
+every Sunday and every hour of your vacation expect a visit like this
+one--strange people with spectacles and umbrellas, who will claim the
+right to creep under the wooden trestles of my dairy, and to climb on
+the ceiling of the nursery. The devil take this Tacitus!"
+
+The Professor took his hat. "We beg to take leave of you," and went
+toward the door.
+
+"Stop, my good gentlemen," cried the host, discomposed; "not so
+quickly. I would rather deal with you two than have an incessant
+pilgrimage of your colleagues. Wait a moment, and I will make this
+proposition to you. You, yourselves, shall go through my house, from
+garret to cellar; it is a severe tax upon me and my household, but I
+will make the sacrifice. If you find a place that you think suspicious,
+we will talk it over. On the other hand, promise me that you will be
+silent with respect to the object of your visit here before my people.
+My laborers are already sufficiently aroused without this; if you
+encourage this unfortunate rumor, I cannot answer for it that the idea
+will not occur to my own people to break through the foundation-wall at
+a corner of the house. My house is open to you the whole day as long as
+you are my guests. But then, when you speak or write concerning the
+matter, I demand that you shall add that you have done all in your
+power to search through my house, but have found nothing. Will you
+enter into this compact with me?"
+
+The Doctor looked doubtfully at the Professor to see whether the pride
+of his friend would stoop to such a condition. Contrary to his
+expectation, the countenance of the Scholar was radiant with joy, and
+he answered:
+
+"You have mistaken us on one point. We do not desire to take away the
+concealed manuscript from your possession, but we have only come to
+persuade you to make the experiment. It seems very likely to us, that
+we, in a strange house, not knowing the rooms, and unused to this kind
+of research, shall find nothing. If, however, we do not shun the
+ludicrous position in which you would place us, and accept your offer,
+we do it only in the hope that, during our stay here, we shall succeed
+in awakening in you a greater interest in the possible discovery."
+
+The Proprietor shook his head, and shrugged his shoulders. "The only
+interest I take in the matter is that it should be forgotten as soon as
+possible. You may do what you consider your duty. My business prevents
+me from accompanying you. I shall consign you to the care of my
+daughter."
+
+He opened the door of the adjoining room and called, "Ilse!"
+
+"Here, father," answered a rich-toned voice.
+
+The Proprietor went into the next room. "Come here, Ilse, I have a
+special commission for you to-day. There are two strange gentlemen from
+one of the Universities here. They are looking for a book which is
+supposed to have been concealed in our house ages ago. Conduct them
+through the house and open all the rooms to them."
+
+"But, father----" interposed the daughter.
+
+"It matters not," continued the Proprietor, "it must be." He approached
+closer to her and spoke in a low tone: "They are two scholars and are
+crackbrained"--he pointed to his head. "What they imagine is madness,
+and I only give in to them in order to have peace in the future. Be
+cautious, Ilse; I do not know the people. I must go to the farm, but
+will tell the Inspector to remain near the house. They appear to me two
+honest fools, but the devil may trust."
+
+"I have no fear, father," answered the daughter; "the house is full of
+people; we shall be able to manage."
+
+"Take care that none of the servants are about, whilst the strangers
+are sounding the walls and measuring. For the rest, they do not look to
+me as if they would find much, even though all the walls were built up
+with books. But you must not allow them to break through or injure the
+walls."
+
+"I understand, father," said the daughter. "Do they remain to dinner?"
+
+"Yes, your duty will continue till evening. The housekeeper can
+superintend the dairy for you."
+
+The friends heard fragments of the conversation through the door; after
+the first words of instruction they went quickly to the window, and
+talked aloud about the great accumulation of straw on the top of the
+barn, which, according to the Doctor, was a stork's nest, while the
+Professor maintained that storks did not build their nests so high. But
+intermingled with this talk the Professor said in a low tone: "It is
+very uncomfortable for us to continue in this humiliating position. But
+we can only convince the proprietor by our perseverance."
+
+"Perhaps we may yet discover something," said the Doctor. "I have some
+experience in masonry. As a boy I found opportunity while our house was
+building, to obtain a fair degree of knowledge in statics and climbing
+rafters. It is well that the tyrant leaves us alone. Do you entertain
+the daughter, I will meanwhile sound the walls."
+
+Whoever has followed an uncertain scent knows full well how difficult
+on a near approach are things that at a distance appeared easy. While
+at first the deceitful Goddess of Hope paints all favorable chances in
+bright colors, the very work of searching raises all possible doubts.
+The alluring picture fades, despondency and weariness cast their
+shadows across it; and what in the beginning was a happy venture
+becomes at last a mere effort of perseverance.
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER IV_.
+
+                             THE OLD HOUSE.
+
+
+The Proprietor re-entered with his whip in his hand and behind him the
+stately maiden of the churchyard. "This is my daughter Ilse; she will
+represent me."
+
+The friends bowed. It was the same beautiful countenance; but instead
+of exalted emotion, there now rested on her features a business-like
+dignity. She greeted the gentlemen calmly, and invited them to
+breakfast in the next room. She expressed herself simply, but again the
+friends listened with admiration to the deep tones of her melodious
+voice.
+
+"Before you begin your search you must sit down at my table; it is our
+custom," said the host, in better humor--on him also the presence of
+the daughter had a softening influence, "We meet again at noon." So
+saying, he departed.
+
+The friends followed into the next room--a large dining-apartment.
+There were chairs along the wall; in the middle a long table, at the
+upper end of which three covers were laid. The young girl seated
+herself between the gentlemen and offered them a cold repast. "When I
+saw you in the churchyard, I thought that you would visit my father;
+the table has been set for you for some time." The friends ate a
+little, and thanked her still more.
+
+"I regret that our coming should make such a demand on your time," said
+the Professor, gravely.
+
+"My task is easy," answered the young girl. "I fear that yours will
+give you more trouble. There are many sitting-rooms in the house as
+well as bedrooms and attics."
+
+"I have already told your father," answered the Professor, laughing,
+"that it is not our intention to examine the building like masons. Pray
+look upon us as curious people who only wish to see this remarkable
+house, in so far as it would otherwise be opened to guests."
+
+"The house may be considered remarkable by strangers," said Ilse; "we
+like it because it is warm and roomy; and when my father had been some
+years in possession of the estate, and had the means to do so, he had
+the house comfortably arranged to please my deceased mother. We require
+plenty of room, as I have six younger brothers and sisters, and it is a
+large estate. The overseers of the farm eat with us; then there are the
+tutor and Mamselle, and in the servants' hall there are also twenty
+people."
+
+The Doctor regarded his neighbor with a look of disappointment. What
+had become of the Sibyl? She spoke sensibly and very much like a
+citizen; with her something might be accomplished.
+
+"A$ we are searching for hollow spaces," he began slyly, "we would
+rather trust to your guidance, if you would tell us whether there are
+any places in the wall, or on the ground, or anywhere here in the
+house, that you know of, which could be discovered by knocking?"
+
+"O, there are plenty of such places!" answered Ilse. "If one knocks upon
+the wall at the back of the small cupboard in my room, it is evident
+there is an empty space behind; then there is the flagstone under the
+stairs, and many flags in the kitchen, and still more in other parts of
+the house, regarding which every one has his conjectures."
+
+The Doctor had taken out his memorandum-book and noted the suspicious
+places.
+
+The inspection of the house began. It was a fine old building; the
+walls of the lower story were so thick that the Doctor with extended
+arms could not span the depths of the window-niches. He eagerly
+undertook the sounding, and began measuring the walls. The cellars were
+partly hewn in the rock. In some places the rough stone still
+projected, and one could perceive where the wall rested on the rock.
+There were vast vaults, the small windows in the top of which were
+protected by strong iron bars,--in ancient times a secure refuge
+against the shot and assault of the enemy. All was dry and hollow, for
+the house was built, as the Doctor had already before so acutely
+suggested in speaking of old buildings, with outer and inner walls, and
+filled between with rubbish and broken stones. Naturally, therefore,
+the walls in many places sounded as hollow as a gourd. The Doctor
+knocked, and diligently took note. The knuckles of his hand became
+white and swelled, and the number of good places discouraged him.
+
+From the cellar they went to the ground-floor. In the kitchen, kettles
+and pots were steaming, and the women who were working looked with
+curiosity at the demeanor of the strangers, for the Doctor kept
+stamping with his heel on the stone floor, and with his hands sounded
+the blackened side-wall of the hearth. Behind were store-rooms and the
+visitors' rooms. In one of these they found a woman in mourning,
+occupied in arranging the beds. It was the mother from the churchyard.
+She approached the strangers, and thanked them for having helped to pay
+the last honors to her child. The friends spoke kindly to her; she
+wiped her eyes with her apron and returned to her work.
+
+"I begged her to remain at home to-day," said Ilse, "but she would not.
+It would, she thought, be good for her to have something to do, and we
+would need her help as you were coming to us."
+
+It pleased our scholars to see that by the female members of the house,
+at least, they were considered as guests entitled to remain.
+
+They went over the other side of the ground-floor, and once more
+examined the unpretentious room in which they had been first received.
+Behind it lay the private room of the proprietor, a small unadorned
+chamber, in which were a closet with shooting and riding gear, and a
+shelf for title-deeds and books; over the bed hung a sword and pistols,
+and on the writing-table there was a small model of a machine, and
+samples of corn and seeds in small bags; against the wall stood, in
+military array, gigantic water-boots, Russian leather boots, and
+top-boots for riding; and in the further corner half-boots of calf
+skin. In the next room they heard a man's voice, and the answers of
+children in regular succession.
+
+"That is the school-room," said Ilse, smiling. As the door opened, both
+solo and chorus stopped. The teacher, a student with an intelligent
+face, rose to return the greeting of the newcomers. The children stared
+with astonishment at the unexpected interruption. Three boys and three
+girls sat at two tables, a vigorous, fair-haired race. "These are
+Clara, Luise, Rickchen, Hans, Ernest, and Franz."
+
+Clara, a girl of fourteen, almost grown up, and a youthful picture of
+her sister, rose with a courtesy. Hans, a sturdy boy, twelve years old,
+made an ineffectual attempt at a bow. The others remained standing
+straight, staring fixedly at the strangers, and then, as if having
+sufficiently performed a tiresome duty, dropped down into their places.
+Only little Franz, a rosy-cheeked, curly-headed urchin, seven years
+old, remained sitting grimly over his troublesome task, and made use of
+the interruption quickly to find in his book something for his next
+answer. Ilse stroked his hair, and asked the tutor, "How is he doing
+to-day?"
+
+"He has studied his lesson."
+
+"It is too hard," cried Franz, bitterly.
+
+The Professor begged the tutor not to disturb himself, and the journey
+recommenced through the bedroom of the boys, and of the tutor, and
+again through the store-rooms, the ironing and wardrobe rooms. The
+Doctor had long since put his memorandum-book in his pocket.
+
+They returned to the main hall, where Ilse pointed out the stone slab
+on the step. Once more the Doctor knelt down, tried it, and said
+despondingly, "Hollow again." Ilse ascended the staircase.
+
+"Up here the girls and I live."
+
+"Here, then, our curiosity comes to an end," replied the Professor,
+considerately; "you see even my friend abandons the search."
+
+"But there is a fine view above; this, at least, you must see," said
+their guide. She opened a door. "This is my room." The friends stood on
+the threshold. "Come in," said Ilse, unembarrassed. "From this window
+you see the road by which you came to us."
+
+With hesitation the men approached. This also was an unpretentious
+room; there was not even a sofa in it. The walls were painted blue; at
+the window was a work-table and some flowers; in a corner was the bed
+concealed by white curtains.
+
+The friends walked immediately to the window, and looking out saw the
+little churchyard and the tops of the oaks, the small town in the
+valley, and the rows of trees behind, which ran in curved lines up the
+height where the view terminated. The Professor fixed his eyes on the
+old wooden church. How much in a few hours had his tone of mind
+altered! Glad expectation was followed by the seeming frustration of
+their hopes, and yet this disappointment was succeeded by a pleasing
+repose.
+
+"That is our road into the outer world," indicated Ilse; "we often
+look in that direction when father has been on a journey and we are
+expecting him, or when we hope for some good news by the postman. And
+when frequently our brother Franz tells how he will go into the world
+when a man, away from his father and family, he thinks that the
+roads there will always look like our footpath bordered with its
+willow-trees."
+
+"Is Franz the pet?" asked the Professor.
+
+"He is my baby-brother; we lost our good mother while he was still a
+mere infant. The poor child never knew his mother; and once when he
+dreamt of her, the other children maintained that he had changed her
+into me, for she wore my dress and my straw hat. This is the cupboard
+in the wall," she said, sorrowfully, pointing to a wooden door. The
+friends followed in silence, without looking at the cupboard. She
+stopped before the adjoining room, and opened the door: "This was my
+mother's room, it is unaltered, just as she left it; our father
+generally spends some time here on Sundays."
+
+"We cannot allow you to lead us any further," said the Professor. "I
+cannot tell you how painful I feel our position in regard to you to be.
+Forgive us this indelicate intrusion upon your privacy."
+
+"If you do not wish to see the house further," answered Ilse, with a
+look of gratitude, "I will gladly take you into our garden, and through
+the farmyard. Father will not be pleased if I withhold anything from
+you."
+
+A back door led from the hall into the garden; the flower-beds were
+edged with box, and filled with summer flowers--the old indigenous
+plants of gardens. Vines climbed up the house, as far as the windows of
+the upper story, and the green grapes everywhere peeped through the
+bright foliage. A hedge of quickset separated the flower-beds from the
+kitchen-garden, where, besides vegetables, there were hops climbing up
+high poles. Further on, a large orchard, with a fine lawn, sloped down
+into the valley. There was nothing remarkable to be seen here; the
+flower-beds were in straight lines; the fruit trees stood in rows; the
+venerable box and hedge were stiffly trimmed, and without gaps. The
+friends looked back constantly over beds and flowers to the house, and
+admired the brown walls showing through the soft foliage of the vine,
+as well as the stonework of the windows and gables.
+
+"In the time of our forefathers it was a sovereigns' residence,"
+explained Ilse, "and they used to come here every year to hunt. But now
+nothing but the dark wood back there belongs to him. In it is a
+shooting-box, where the head-forester resides. Our Sovereign seldom
+comes into the district. It is a long time since we have seen our dear
+prince, and we live like poor orphans."
+
+"Is he considered a good ruler?" asked the Professor.
+
+"We do not know much about him; but we believe that he is good. Many
+years ago, when I was yet a child, he once breakfasted at our house,
+because there was no convenient place in Rossau. Then I was surprised
+that he wore no red mantle; and he patted me on the head, and gave me
+the good advice to grow, which I have honestly followed. It is said
+that he will come again this year to hunt. If he stops with us again,
+the old house must put on its best attire, and there will be hot cheeks
+in the kitchen."
+
+While they were walking peaceably among the fruit trees, a clear-toned
+bell sounded from the farmyard. "That is the call to dinner," said
+Ilse. "I will take you to your room; the maid will show you to the
+dining-room."
+
+The friends found their valises in the visitors' room, and were shortly
+after summoned by a gentle knock at the door, and conducted into the
+dining-room. There the proprietor was awaiting them, together with
+half-a-dozen sun-burnt officials of the farm, the Mamselle, the tutor,
+and the children. When they entered, the Proprietor spoke to his
+daughter in a window-niche; the daughter probably gave a favorable
+report of them, for he came toward them with unclouded countenance, and
+said in his abrupt way, "I hope you will put up with our fare." He then
+introduced the strangers to those present, calling them by their names,
+and adding, "two gentlemen from the University." Every one stood behind
+his chair, placed according to his station and age. The Proprietor took
+the head of the table, next him Ilse; on the other side the Professor
+and Doctor; then on both sides the farm officials, after them, the
+Mamselle and the girls, the tutor and the boys. Little Franz approached
+his seat at the lower end of the table, folded his hands and
+monotonously pronounced a short grace. Then all the chairs were drawn
+forward at the same moment, and two maids in peasant costume brought in
+the dishes. It was a simple meal; a bottle of wine was placed between
+the strangers; the host, his family, and the dependants drank a dark,
+golden beer.
+
+Silently and zealously each one fell to; only at the upper end of the
+table was there any conversation. The friends expressed to the
+Proprietor the pleasure that the house and its surroundings afforded
+them; and the host laughed ironically when the Doctor praised the thick
+walls of the structure. Then the talk rambled on to the surrounding
+country, and the dialect and character of the peasantry.
+
+"It has struck me again to-day," said the Professor, "with what
+suspicion the peasants regard us city folks. They regard our language,
+manners, and habits as those of another race; and when I see what the
+agricultural laborer has in common with the so-called educated classes,
+I feel painfully that it is much too little."
+
+"And whose fault is it," retorted the host, "but that of the educated
+classes? Do not take it amiss, if I tell you, as a simple man, that
+this high cultivation pleases me as little as the ignorance and
+stubbornness which surprises you in our country people. You yourselves,
+for example, make a long journey, in order to find an old forgotten
+manuscript which was written by an educated man in a nation that has
+passed away. But I ask what have millions of men, who speak the same
+language as you, are of the same race, and live near you, what have
+they gained by all the learning that you have acquired for yourselves
+and small numbers of wealthy people of leisure? When you speak to my
+laborers, they do not understand you. If you wished to speak to them of
+your learning, my farm hands would stand before you like savages. Is
+that a sound state of affairs? I tell you, so long as this lasts, we
+are not a well-conditioned people."
+
+"If your words are meant as a reproach to my vocation," answered the
+Professor, "you are unjust; for we are now actively employed in making
+the discoveries of the learned accessible to the people. That much more
+should be done in this direction, I do not deny. But at all periods
+serious scientific investigations, even when only intelligible to a
+very small circle, have exercised an invisible influence on the souls
+and lives of the people in general. These scientific investigations
+develop the language, give certain tendencies to thought, gradually
+evolve customs, ethics, and laws, according to the needs of every age.
+Not only practical inventions and increasing wealth are facilitated by
+them; but also, what surely will not seem less important to you, the
+ideas of man about his own life, the manner in which he performs his
+duty toward others, the feeling with which he regards truth and
+falsehood,--for all this each one of us is indebted to the erudition of
+the nation, no matter how little interest he may take in the various
+investigations. And let me use an old simile. Science is like a great
+fire that must be incessantly maintained in a nation, because flint and
+steel are unknown to them. I am one of those whose duty it is
+constantly to throw fresh logs into the burning mass. It is the task of
+others to carry the holy flame throughout the land, to the villages and
+cottages. Every one whose object it is to diffuse that light, has his
+rights, and no one should think meanly of another."
+
+"There is some truth in that," said the host thoughtfully.
+
+"If the great fire does not burn," continued the Professor, "the single
+flames could not be spread. And, believe me, what most strengthens and
+elevates an honorable man of learning in the most difficult
+investigations, is the fact, confirmed by long experience, that his
+labors will in the end conduce to the benefit of mankind. They do not
+always help to invent new machines, nor discover new plants for
+cultivation, but they are nevertheless effective for all, when they
+teach what is true and untrue, beautiful and ugly, good and bad. In
+this sense they make millions freer, and therefore better."
+
+"I see at least by your words," said the host, "that you hold your
+vocation in high esteem; and I like that, for it is the characteristic
+of an honest man."
+
+This conversation produced a pleasant frame of mind in both men. The
+Inspector rose, and in a moment all the chairs of the farm dignitaries
+were pushed back, and the children and most of the party left the room.
+Only the host, Ilse, and the guests sat together for a few moments
+longer in pleasant conversation. Then they went into the next room,
+where coffee was prepared. Ilse poured it out, while the Proprietor
+from his seat scrutinized the unexpected guests.
+
+The Professor set the empty cup down and began: "Our task here is
+ended, and we have to thank you for a hospitable reception. But I do
+not like to part without once more reminding you--"
+
+"Why should you go?" interrupted the Proprietor. "You have had a long
+journey to-day; you will not find either in the town or in the
+neighboring villages any respectable lodging, and, in the pressure of
+the harvest, perhaps not even a conveyance. Pray be contented to pass
+the night here; we have, besides, to resume our conversation of this
+morning," he added, good-humoredly, "and I am anxious to come to a good
+understanding before we part. Will you accompany me for a while into
+the field, where my presence is required? When I ride to the distant
+part of the farm, Ilse will take my place. In the evening we will have
+a little sensible talk together."
+
+The friends readily agreed to this proposal. The three men walked
+through the field engaged in genial conversation. The Professor was
+interested to see the large ears of a new variety of barley, which grew
+very densely, and the Proprietor spoke thoughtfully of this new species
+of corn. They stopped where the laborers were busy. Then the overseer
+handed his report to the Proprietor, after which they crossed the
+stubble to the sheaves. The Proprietor glanced quickly over the
+gathered shocks, the industrious people, and the patient horses in the
+harvest wagons; the friends observed with interest the intercourse
+between the master of the property and his subordinates and laborers;
+the short orders and pertinent answers; the zeal and cheerful aspect of
+the working-people when they announced the number of the sheaves, all
+well-behaved, industrious, and acting in unison. They returned with a
+feeling of respect for the man who ruled his little domain so firmly.
+On their way back they stopped to look at the foals that were gamboling
+about in a meadow behind the barns, and when the Doctor praised, above
+all, two galloping browns, it appeared that he had admired the best
+horses, and the Proprietor smiled upon him benignantly. At the entrance
+to the farmyard a groom brought a riding-horse, a powerful black, with
+strong limbs and broad chest: the Doctor stroked the horse's neck, and
+the Proprietor examined the straps. "I am a heavy rider," he said, "and
+need a strong animal." He swung himself heavily into the saddle, and,
+taking off his cap, said, "We meet again in the evening." And stately
+did horse and rider look, as they trotted along the road through the
+field.
+
+"The young lady awaits you," said the groom; "I am to escort you to
+her."
+
+"Have we made any progress or not?" asked the Doctor, laughing, and
+taking hold of his friend's arm.
+
+"A struggle has begun," answered the friend seriously, "and who can say
+what will be the result?"
+
+Ilse was sitting in an arbor of honeysuckle in the garden, surrounded
+by the children. It was a pleasant sight to see the young fair-haired
+family together. The girls sat by their sister; the boys ran around the
+arbor playing, with their afternoon luncheon in their hands. Seven
+fresh, well-formed faces, as like each other as blossoms on the same
+tree, yet each developing itself at a different period of life, from
+Franz, whose round child's head resembled a blooming bud, to the
+beautiful, full-blown face and figure that sat in the centre, brightly
+lighted up by the glancing rays of the sun. Again were the hearts of
+the friends thrilled by the appearance of the girl and the sound of her
+voice, as she tenderly scolded little Franz because he had knocked the
+bread and butter out of his brother's hands. Again did the children
+stare suspiciously at the strangers, but the Doctor ignored the
+ceremonial of first acquaintance by taking Franz by the legs and
+placing him on his shoulders, seating himself with his rider in the
+arbor. The little lad sat for a few moments on his elevation quite
+surprised, and the children laughed aloud at his round eyes looking so
+frightened at the stranger's head between his little legs. But the
+laughter of the others gave him courage, and he began to pummel lustily
+with his feet, and to brandish his bread triumphantly round the locks
+of the stranger. Thus the acquaintance was made; a few minutes later,
+the Doctor went with the children through the garden, allowing himself
+to be chased, and trying to catch the shouting crew between the
+flower-beds.
+
+"If you like, we will go where you can obtain the best view of our
+house," said Ilse, to the Professor.
+
+Surrounded by the children they walked along the road that led to the
+church. A winding footpath ran down to the bottom, where a strip of
+meadow bordered the bubbling brook. From this deep dell they ascended
+some hundred steps. Before them rose from the copse a huge rock; they
+passed round it and stood by a stone grotto. The rock formed the portal
+and walls of a cave which penetrated about ten paces into the hill. The
+ground was level, covered with white sand; bramble-bushes and wild
+roses hung down over the entrance; in the midst of them grew a large
+bush of willow-rose; it hung with its thick blossoms like a plume of
+red feathers over the rocky arch of the grotto. The trace of an old
+wall on the side showed that the cave had once been a refuge either for
+the oppressed or the lawless; at the entrance lay a stone, the upper
+surface of which had been smoothed for a seat; in the obscure light of
+the background stood a stone bench.
+
+"There is our house," said Ilse, pointing over the valley to the height
+where the gables rose behind the fruit trees of the garden. "It is so
+near that a loud call would be heard here."
+
+The friends looked from the twilight of the cave into the bright light
+of day, on the stone house and the trees which stood below it.
+
+"All is quiet in the wood," continued Ilse; "even the voice of the
+birds has ceased; they have left their nests for the harvest fields,
+where they congregate in flocks."
+
+"I hear a gentle murmur, like the gurgling of water," said the
+Professor.
+
+"A stream runs over the stones below," explained Ilse. "Now it is
+scanty, but in the spring much water collects from the hills. Then the
+sound of the rushing water becomes loud, and the brook courses wildly
+over the stones; it covers the meadows below, fills the whole valley,
+and rises up to the copse-wood. But in warm weather this is a pleasant
+resting-place for us all. When my father bought the estate the cave was
+overgrown, the entrance choked up with stones and earth, and it was the
+abode of owls. He had it opened and cleared."
+
+The Professor examined the cave with curiosity, and struck the red rock
+with his cane. Ilse standing apart watched him with troubled look. "Now
+he is beginning his search," she thought.
+
+"It is all old stone," she exclaimed.
+
+The Doctor had been clambering outside the cave with the children. He
+now freed himself from Hans, who had just confided to him that among
+the thick alder bushes there was the empty nest of a mountain titmouse.
+
+"This must be a wonderful place for the legends of the country," he
+exclaimed, with delight; "there cannot be a more charming home for the
+spirits of the valley."
+
+"People talk absurd stuff about it," rejoined Ilse, with a tone of
+disapprobation. "They say that little dwarfs dwell here, and that their
+footsteps can be perceived in the sand, yet the sand was first brought
+here by my father. Nevertheless, the people are frightened, and when
+evening comes the women and children of the laborers do not like to
+pass it. But they conceal this from us, as my father cannot bear
+superstition."
+
+"The dwarfs are evidently not in favor with you," answered the Doctor.
+
+"As there are none, we ought not to believe in them," replied Ilse,
+eagerly. "Men ought to believe what the Bible teaches; not in wild
+beings that, as they say in the village, fly through the wood in the
+night. Lately an old woman was ill in a neighboring village, no one
+would bring her any food, and they disgracefully rejoiced in her
+sickness because they thought the poor woman could change herself into
+a black cat and injure the cattle. When we first heard of it, the woman
+was in danger of dying of starvation. This idle talk is therefore
+wicked."
+
+The Doctor had meanwhile noted down the dwarfs in his note-book; but he
+looked dissatisfied at Ilse, who, speaking from the dusk in the rear of
+the cave, resembled a legendary figure.
+
+"She does not object to sly Jacob, who deceived his blind father by
+putting kid skins on his arms; but our fairy-lore is distasteful to
+her."
+
+He put his note-book up again and went with Hans after the titmouse.
+
+The Professor had, with amusement, observed the secret vexation of his
+friend; but Ilse turned to him, saying:
+
+"I am surprised that your friend takes note of such stories; it is not
+right, such things should be forgotten."
+
+"You know that he himself does not believe in them," answered the
+Professor, in mitigation. "What he searches for are only the traditions
+of the people. For these legends originated in a time when our whole
+nation believed in these spirits, as they do now the teachings of the
+Bible. He collects these reminiscences in order to ascertain what was
+the faith and poetry of our ancestors."
+
+The maiden was silent. Then after a time she said:
+
+"This also, then, is connected with your labors."
+
+"It is," replied the Professor.
+
+"It is good to listen to you," continued Ilse, "for your mode of speech
+is different from ours. Formerly when it was said of any one, he speaks
+like a book, I thought it was a reproach; but there is no doubt that
+this is the correct expression, and it gives one pleasure to listen."
+
+Thus saying, with her large open eyes she looked from the interior of
+the grotto at the Scholar, who stood in the entrance leaning against
+the stone, brightly lighted up by the rays of the sun.
+
+"There are, however, many books that talk badly," answered the
+Professor, smiling; "and nothing tires one so much as lengthy
+book-wisdom from living mouths."
+
+"Yes, yes," acquiesced Ilse. "We have an acquaintance, a learned woman,
+Mrs. Rollmaus. When she visits us on Sundays, she places herself on the
+sofa, and begins a discourse with my father. He cannot escape her, turn
+which way he will, she knows how to pin him down by talking about the
+English and Circassians, comets and poets. But the children discovered
+she had a cyclopedia for conversation, from which she gathers it all;
+and when anything happens in the country, or the newspapers make a
+noise about anything, she reads in the cyclopedia what bears upon it.
+We have procured the same book, and when her visit is impending, we
+think over what subject is then uppermost. Then the children look out
+and read this beforehand, Saturday evenings; and our father also
+listens and himself looks at the book, and the next day the children
+are delighted that father vanquishes the lady by means of her own book;
+for our book is a newer edition, and has new events in it of which she
+knows little."
+
+"So Sunday is the time when we can win honors here," said the
+Professor.
+
+"In winter we meet often during the week," continued Ilse. "But there
+is not much intercourse in the neighborhood; and if we sometimes chance
+to have a visitor who leaves some pleasant thoughts behind, we are
+grateful and preserve them faithfully."
+
+"Yet the best thoughts are those which come to men through their own
+exertions," said the Professor, kindly. "The little that I have seen on
+the estate here tells me how beautifully life can thrive, even when far
+removed from the noisy bustle of the world."
+
+"That was a kindly speech," exclaimed Ilse. "But we are not lonely
+here; and we do interest ourselves about our countrymen, and about the
+great world. When the neighboring proprietors come to visit, not a word
+is said about the farm, and amusing subjects are talked of. Then there
+is our dear Pastor, who tells us about things in foreign parts, and
+reads the newspapers that are taken by my father with us. And when
+there are applications in them for contributions to serve a good
+object, the children are liberal, and each gives his mite from his
+savings, but our father gives abundantly. And Hans, as the eldest,
+collects, and has the right to pack up the money, and in the
+accompanying letter he sets down the initial of the name of each that
+has contributed. Then afterwards there comes a printed receipt, when
+each looks for his own initial. Often a wrong one has been printed, and
+this vexes the children."
+
+From the distance they heard the cries and laughter of the children,
+who were returning with the Doctor from their excursion. The girl rose,
+the Professor approached her, and said with much feeling:
+
+"Whenever my thoughts revert to this day, it will be with a feeling of
+heartfelt gratitude for the manner in which you have so honestly spoken
+of your happy life to a stranger."
+
+Ilse looked at him with innocent confidence.
+
+"You are not a stranger to me; for I saw you at the child's grave."
+
+The joyous troop surrounded them both, and they proceeded further into
+the valley.
+
+It was evening when they returned to the house where the proprietor was
+already awaiting them. After supper the elders passed another hour
+together. The strangers gave an account of their tour, and told the
+last news from the world; and then there was conversation on politics,
+and Ilse rejoiced that her father and the strangers agreed so well on
+the subject. When the cuckoo on the house dock proclaimed that it was
+ten, they separated with a friendly good-night.
+
+The housemaid lighted the strangers to their bedroom. Ilse sat on a
+chair with her hands folded on her lap, looking silently before her.
+After a short time the proprietor came from his room and took the
+bedroom candle from the table.
+
+"What! Still up, Ilse? How do the strangers please you?"
+
+"Very much, father," said the maiden, gently.
+
+"They are not such simpletons as they look," said the host, pacing to
+and fro. "What he said of the great fire was right," he repeated, "and
+that about our little governments was also right. The younger would
+have made a good schoolmaster; and as for the tall one, by heaven it is
+a shame that he has not worn jack-boots these four years; he would be a
+clever inspector. Good-night, Ilse."
+
+"Good-night, father." The daughter rose and followed her father to the
+door. "Do the strangers remain here to-morrow, father?"
+
+"Hum," said the host, meditating. "They will remain for dinner at all
+events; I will show them over the farm. See that you have something
+nice for dinner."
+
+"Father, the Professor has never in his life eaten roast pig," said the
+daughter.
+
+"Ilse, what are you thinking of? My pig for the sake of Tacitus!"
+exclaimed the Proprietor. "No, I cannot stand that; be content with
+your poultry. Stop! Just hand me the volume of the encyclopedia
+lettered T, I want to read up about that fellow."
+
+"Here, father; I know where it is."
+
+"See! See!" said the father, "just like Mrs. Rollmaus. Good-night."
+
+The Doctor looked through the window into the dark court. Sleep and
+peace lay over the wide space; from a distance sounded the tread of the
+watchman who went his rounds through the homestead, and then the
+suppressed howl of the farm dog.
+
+"Here we are," he said, at last, "two genuine adventurers in the
+enemy's fortress. Whether we shall carry anything away from it, is very
+doubtful," he continued, looking significantly at his friend, with a
+smile.
+
+"It is doubtful," said the Professor, measuring the room with long
+strides.
+
+"What is the matter with you, Felix?" asked Fritz, anxiously, after a
+pause; "you are very absentminded, which is not usually your way."
+
+The Professor stood still.
+
+"I have nothing to tell you. I have strong but confused feelings, which
+I am trying to control. I fear I have this day received an impression
+against which a sensible man should guard himself. Ask me nothing
+further, Fritz," he continued, pressing his hand vehemently. "I do not
+feel unhappy."
+
+Fritz, deeply troubled, placed himself on his bed, and looked for a
+boot-jack.
+
+"How does our host please you?" he asked, in a low tone, and, in order
+to appear unconcerned, tapping with his foot on the floor.
+
+"A worthy man," answered the Professor, again stopping, "but his manner
+is different from what we are accustomed to."
+
+"He is of old Saxon origin," the Doctor proceeded, "broad shoulders,
+giant height, open countenance, solidity in every movement. The
+children also are of the same type," he continued; "the daughter is
+somewhat of a Thusnelda."
+
+"The similitude does not apply," rejoined the Professor, roughly,
+continuing his walk.
+
+Fritz drew off the second boot in a slightly discordant mood.
+
+"How does the eldest boy please you? He has the bright hair of his
+sister."
+
+"No comparison," said the Professor, again laconically.
+
+Fritz placed both boots before the bed, and himself upon it, and said
+with decision:
+
+"I am ready to respect your humor, even when I cannot quite understand
+it; but I beg you to take into consideration that we have forced
+ourselves on the hospitality of these people, and that we ought not to
+take advantage of it beyond to morrow morning."
+
+"Fritz," cried the Professor, with deep feeling, "you are my dear, true
+friend; have patience with me to-day!" So saying, he turned round, and
+breaking off the conversation, approached the window.
+
+Fritz was almost beside himself with anxiety. This noble man, so
+confident in all he wrote, so full of deliberation, and so firm in
+decision, even with regard to the obscurest passages--and now some
+emotion was working in him which shook his whole being. How could this
+man be so disturbed? He could look back with majestic clearness on a
+past of many thousand years, and now he was standing at a window
+looking at a cow-stable, and something like a sigh sounded through the
+room. And what was to come of it? These thoughts occupied incessantly
+the Doctor's mind.
+
+Long did the Professor pace up and down the room; Fritz feigned to
+sleep, but kept peeping from under the bedclothes at his excited
+friend. At last the Professor extinguished the light and threw himself
+on his bed. Soon his deep breathing showed that beneficent nature had
+softened the pulses of that beating heart. But the Doctor's anxiety
+held its ground more pertinaciously. From time to time he raised his
+head from his pillow, searched for his spectacles on the nearest chair,
+without which he could not see the Professor, and spied through them at
+the other bed, again took off his spectacles, and lay down on the
+pillow with a gentle sigh. This act of friendship he repeated many
+times, till at last he fell into a deep sleep, shortly before the
+sparrows sang their morning song in the vine-arbor beneath.
+
+
+
+
+                              _CHAPTER V_.
+
+                        AMONG HERDS AND SHEAVES.
+
+
+The friends on awakening heard the clock in the courtyard striking, the
+wagons rolling before the window, and the bells of the herds tinkling.
+For a moment they looked bewildered at the walls of the strange room,
+and through the window out on the sunny garden. While the Doctor wrote
+his memoranda and packed up his bundle, the Professor walked out. The
+daily work had long begun; the men with their teams were gone to the
+field; the Inspector hastened busily about the open barns; encircled by
+the dogs, the bleating sheep thronged before the stable.
+
+The landscape shone in the light of a cloudless sky. The mist hovered
+over the earth, subduing the clear light of the morning sun, blending
+it with a delicate grey. The houses and trees still cast long shadows,
+the coolness of the dewy night still lingered in shady places, and the
+soft, light breeze fanned the cheeks of the Scholar, now with the
+warmth of the early daylight, now with the refreshing breath of night.
+
+He walked about the buildings and the farmyard in order to acquaint
+himself with the place, of which henceforth he was to have mingled
+recollections in his soul. The persons who dwelt here had with some
+hesitation disclosed their life to him, and much in their simple
+pastoral existence appeared to him pleasing and attractive. The
+influences that here produced activity and energy could everywhere be
+seen. The tasks for each one and the duties for each day grew in the
+soil of the farm and the surrounding country. Their views of life and
+of the world were all in accordance with their surroundings. He felt
+keenly how worthily and happily men could live whose life was so firmly
+interwoven with nature and the primitive necessities of man. But for
+himself his life was regulated by other influences, was actuated by the
+thousand impressions of ancient and modern times, and not unfrequently
+by the forms and circumstances of the distant past. For a man's doings
+in life are more to him than the passing labor of the day, and all that
+he has done continues to work within him as a living principle. The
+naturalist, whose desire for rare plants impels him to the towering
+mountain-top, whence return is impossible; the soldier, whose
+recollection of the excitement of old battles impels him into new
+combats--these are both led by the power of thoughts which their past
+lives have made a part of their being. Man, it is true, is not the
+slave of what he has done, if he has not stooped to a lower level; his
+will is free, he chooses as he likes, and casts off what he does not
+care to preserve; but the forms and ideas that have entered into his
+soul work on and guide him unceasingly; he has often to guard himself
+against their mastery, but in a thousand cases he joyfully follows
+their gentle guidance. All that was and all that is continues far
+beyond his mere earthly existence in every new being into which it
+penetrates. It may influence millions, for ages--ennobling, elevating,
+or degrading individuals and nations. Thus the spirits of the past, the
+forces of nature, even our own actions and thoughts become an
+inalienable, component part of the soul, influencing our lives. The
+learned man smiled as he thus thought how the strange, old
+reminiscences of thousands of years had brought him among these country
+people, and how differently the different activity and occupation of
+the man who ruled here, had shaped his mind and judgment.
+
+Amid these thoughts the lowing of the cattle sounded softly from the
+stalls. Looking up, he saw a number of maids carrying full milk-pails
+to the dairy. Behind them went Ilse, in a simple morning dress;
+her fair hair shone in the sun like spun gold, and her step was brisk
+and vigorous like the early morn. The Professor felt shy about
+approaching her; his eyes followed her thoughtfully; she also was one
+of the forms that henceforth was to live within him, the ideal of his
+dreams--perhaps of his wishes. For how long? and how powerfully? He did
+not realize that his Roman emperors were to aid in answering this
+question within the next hour.
+
+The proprietor came across the farm-yard and, greeting the Professor,
+invited him to take a short walk into the fields. As the two walked
+together--both able men, and yet so different in face and figure, in
+mind and manners--many would have noted the contrast with deep
+interest, and Ilse not last among them. But no one that did not have
+the eyes of a treasure-seeker or exorcist could perceive how different
+were the invisible retinues of tiny spirits that flitted round the
+temples and shoulders of each,--comparable to swarms of countless birds
+or bees. The spirits that attended the farmer were in homely working
+garb, blue blouses and fluttering bandanas, among them a few forms in
+the misty robes of Faith, Hope, and Charity. On the other hand, round
+the Professor swarmed an invisible throng of foreign phantoms with
+togas, and antique helmets, in purple robes and Greek chlamys, athletes
+also--some with bundles of rods and winged hats. The little retinue of
+the Proprietor flew incessantly over the fields and back again; the
+swarm round the Professor remained steadily by him. At last the
+proprietor stopped at one particular field; he looked at it with great
+delight, and mentioned that he had here succeeded by deep ploughing in
+growing green lupines, then newly introduced into cultivation. The
+Professor seemed surprised; among his spirit-retinue there arose a
+confused stir; one of the small antique spirits flew to the nearest
+clod of earth and fastened thereto a delicate web which it had spun
+from the head of the Professor. Whereupon the Professor told his
+companion how deep ploughing for green lupines had been the custom of
+the Romans, and how rejoiced he was that now after more than a thousand
+years this old discovery had been brought to light again in our
+farming. They then spoke of the change in agriculture, and the
+Professor mentioned how striking it was that three hundred years after
+the beginning of our era, the corn exchanges at the harbors of the
+Black Sea and Asia Minor were so similar to those of Hamburg and London
+in modern days, while at present other agricultural produce was
+principally cultivated in the East. Finally, he told him of a grain
+tariff that was imposed by a Roman emperor, and that unfortunately the
+price of wheat and barley, the two products on which then depended
+other prices and duties, were effaced from the stone tablet that had
+been preserved. And he explained why this loss was so much to be
+lamented. Then the heart of the host began to expand, and he assured
+the Professor that the fact need not be lamented, for the lost value
+might be fixed from the price of the remaining products bearing straw
+and husk, because the prices of all agricultural produce taken as a
+whole bore a firm and ancient ratio among each other. He gave this
+relation of their productive value in figures, and the Professor
+discovered with joyful astonishment that they agreed with the tariff of
+his old Emperor Diocletian.
+
+While the men were carrying on this desultory conversation, a
+mischievous wide-awake spirit, probably the Emperor Diocletian himself,
+flew from the Professor, made his way through the peasant spirits of
+the proprietor, placed himself in his purple robe on the head of the
+master, stamped with his little feet on his skull; and impressed the
+farmer with the belief that the Professor was a sensible and worthy
+man, who might give him further information on the value and price of
+agricultural produce. It also pleased the Proprietor much that he could
+give the learned gentleman instruction in his own department.
+
+When, at the end of an hour, the two strollers returned to the house,
+the Proprietor stopped at the door and said with some solemnity to the
+Professor, "When I brought you here yesterday, I little knew whom I had
+with me. It grieves me that I greeted so inhospitably a man like you.
+Your acquaintance has become a pleasure to me; it is rare to meet with
+a person with whom one can speak about everything as one can with you.
+As you are traveling for recreation, pray be pleased to pass some time
+with us simple folk--the longer the better. It is indeed not a season
+when a country host can make the house agreeable to his guests, so you
+must be content. If you wish to work, and require books, you may have
+them brought here; and pray observe whether the Romans had winter
+barley which was lighter than ours. Do me the honor of accepting my
+invitation." So saying, he cordially extended his hand to his guest.
+The Professor's countenance beamed with delight; he eagerly clasped the
+hand of his friendly host. "If you are willing to keep me and my friend
+a few days longer, I accept your invitation with all my heart. I must
+tell you that the insight into a new circle of human interests is most
+valuable to me, but still more so the kindness with which you have
+treated us."
+
+"Settled!" exclaimed the Proprietor, cheerfully; "now we will call your
+friend."
+
+The Doctor opened his door. When the Proprietor warmly repeated the
+invitation to him, he looked for a moment earnestly at his friend, and
+when the latter gave him a friendly nod, he also accepted for the few
+days which were still free before the promised visit to his relatives.
+Thus it happened that the Emperor Diocletian, fifteen hundred years
+after he had unvoluntarily left the world, exercised his tyrannical
+power over the Professor and Proprietor. Whether there were other
+ancient powers actively working in secret, is not ascertained.
+
+Ilse listened silently to her father's information that the gentlemen
+would be his guests some time longer, but her look fell so bright and
+warm on the strangers that they rejoiced in being welcomed by her also.
+
+From this hour they were introduced into the household as old
+acquaintances, and both, though they had never lived in the country,
+felt it indispensable, and as if they had returned to a home in which
+years before they had once bustled about. It was a busy life there, and
+yet, even when work was most pressing and earnest, there was a cheerful
+repose about it. Without much ado they all worked in unison. The
+daylight was the supreme patron, who, at its rise, called to work, and
+when extinguished, gave rest to weary limbs; the laborers looked up to
+the sky to measure their hours of work, and the sun and the clouds
+influenced their frame of mind, sometimes inducing comfort and
+sometimes anxiety. Slowly and gently, as nature draws the blossoms out
+of the earth and matures the fruits, did the feelings of these men grow
+into blossoms and fruits. In peaceful relations the workers passed
+their lives. Small impressions, such as a few kind words or a friendly
+look, sufficed to entwine a firm bond round these various natures--a
+bond woven with invisible threads; but which attained a strength
+sufficient to last through a whole life.
+
+The friends also felt the influence of the peace, daily activity, and
+small events of the country. Only when they looked toward the old house
+and thought of the hope which had led them hither, did something of
+the disquiet come over them which children feel when expecting a
+Christmas-box; and the quiet work of their fancy threw a brilliant
+light over all that belonged to the house, even down to the barking
+Nero, who, as early as the second day, expressed by the vehement
+wagging of his tail, his wish to be taken into their fellowship at
+table.
+
+The Doctor did not fail to remark how strongly his friend was attracted
+by this quiet life, and with what tact he adapted himself to the
+inhabitants of the house. The Proprietor, before he rode to the distant
+part of the farm, brought him some agricultural books, and spoke to him
+of the different varieties of grain, and the Professor answered him
+modestly, as became a young gentleman in top-boots, and immersed
+himself forthwith in these new interests. Also between Ilse and the
+Professor there was an evident understanding, the cause of which
+occasioned the Doctor some disquiet. When the Professor spoke to her,
+it was with deep respect, both in voice and look, and Ilse always
+turned by preference to him, and was quietly but incessantly
+endeavoring to give him pleasure. When at table he picked up her
+handkerchief, he handed it to her with a respectful bow as to a
+princess. When she handed him his cup he looked as happy as if he had
+discovered the secret meaning of some difficult passage in an author.
+Then in the evening, when he sat with the father in the garden and Ilse
+came behind them from the house, his countenance brightened up, though
+he had not yet seen her. When she distributed to the children their
+supper, and was obliged to scold little Franz for being naughty, the
+Professor suddenly looked as dismal as if he himself were a boy whom
+the displeasure of his sister was to improve. These observations set
+the Doctor a-thinking.
+
+Furthermore, when, shortly after study-time Hans proposed to the Doctor
+to play a friendly game of blind-man's-buff, Fritz assumed, as a matter
+of course, that the Professor would in the meantime converse with the
+father in the arbor, and he never dreamed of asking anything so
+extravagant of his learned friend as to join in the game. How
+astonished then was he when Ilse, having folded the handkerchief,
+approached the Professor, requested him to be blinded first, and
+he, the Professor, looked quite happy at the idea, offered his head
+gently--like a lamb to the sacrifice--to be covered, and allowed
+himself to be led by Ilse into the midst of the circle of little
+rompers. Noisily did the swarm circle round the Professor; the impudent
+children pulled him by the flaps of his coat, even Ilse contrived to
+lay hold of a button and draw him gently by it. This put him in a state
+of excitement; he felt about with his hands, and minded no attacks of
+the assaulting children, only seeking to seize the fair offender; and
+when he did not succeed, he kept poking about with his sticks and
+groping like the blind singer Demodokus to catch a Ph�acian. Now, at
+last, he hit exactly upon Ilse, but she passed the end of the stick to
+her sister, and Clara whistled on it, but he exclaimed, "Fr�ulein
+Ilse!" She was delighted that he had guessed wrong, and he looked much
+puzzled.
+
+Other games followed, in all of which the Professor showed such
+dexterity that the children were quite enchanted, though Franz called
+out indignantly that he did not strike Ilse hard enough when he had the
+knotted handkerchief. Ilse, however, took the handkerchief, and, much
+to the Scholar's astonishment and delight, struck him heartily over the
+shoulders.
+
+The Doctor joined in the sports, and looked with pleasure at the
+movements of the wild maidens in the games; and when Ilse stood by a
+tree and laid hold of a branch with her hand in order to support
+herself, her glowing face wreathed by the leaves of the nut-tree, she
+looked so lovely and happy that the Doctor was also enchanted.
+
+In such a bacchanalian mood it was not to be wondered at that the
+Professor at last called upon Hans to run a race twice around the
+square. Amidst the shouts of the children Hans lost the race, because
+he had as he sturdily maintained the inner side of the square, but the
+others scouted at any such excuse. As the runners dashed up to the
+arbor. Ilse handed to the Professor his great coat, which she had
+meanwhile fetched from the coat-rack in the hall. "It is late, you must
+not take cold while with us." It was not at all late, but he put on the
+coat at once, buttoned it up from top to bottom, and, with a look of
+satisfaction, shook his opponent Hans by the shoulder. Afterwards they
+all sat down again in the arbor, in order to cool themselves. Here, at
+the vociferous demands of the little ones, a thaler was passed round
+while a song was sung, and the more observant part of the family loudly
+declared that the thaler had twice fallen to the ground between Ilse
+and the Professor, because they had not passed it firmly enough into
+each other's hands. By this game the love of song was awakened among
+the young people, and great and small sang together as loud as they
+could, such songs as had become familiar to them--"On the Cool Banks of
+the Saal," "Song of the Cloak," and the catch of "The Bells of
+Capernaum," After that Ilse and Clara, at the request of the Doctor,
+sang a folk-song, very simple and unadorned, and perhaps on that
+account the melancholy style touched the heart, so that after the song
+all were quiet, and the strangers appeared much moved till the
+Proprietor called upon the guests to contribute their share. The
+Professor, recovering from his emotion, began immediately to sing, in a
+rich-toned bass, "In a deep, damp cellar I sat," so that the boys in
+their enthusiasm drank up the remains of their glasses of milk and
+clinked them on the table. Again the company broke out into a chorus;
+they began the dear old song, "What is the German Fatherland," so far
+as they knew the verses, and in conclusion they attempted "L�tzow's
+Wild Charge." The Doctor, as an experienced chorus-singer, carried the
+melody beautifully through the most difficult passages, and the refrain
+sounded wonderfully in the calm evening air; the tones passed along the
+vine arbor and wall, and over the top of the fruit trees up to the
+thicket of the nearest hill, and came back from thence as an echo.
+
+After this masterpiece the children's party broke up, and they were
+unwillingly taken by Ilse to the house, but the men continued in
+conversation a little longer; they had laughed and sung together, and
+became confidential. The Proprietor spoke of his early days, how he had
+tried his luck here and there, and at last had established himself
+firmly in this place. The struggle of daily life had been weary and
+toilsome; he gladly called it to mind at this hour, and spoke of it
+with the good sense of an energetic man.
+
+Thus passed the second day on the estate--beneath sun and stars,
+amongst the sheaves and the herds.
+
+The following morning the Professor was awaked by the loud noise of the
+feathered farmyard denizens; the cock flew upon a stone beneath the
+window of the visitor's room, and sounded his morning clarion
+imperiously; the hens and young chickens stood in a circle round him,
+and endeavored to practice the same art; in between the sparrows
+chirruped loud, then the doves flew up and cooed their song, at last
+there came an army of ducks who began quacking a second chorus. The
+Professor found it necessary to rise, and the Doctor called out
+querulously from his bed: "That comes from yesterday's singing; now we
+hear the effect it had on all the associated farmyard musicians." But
+in this he was in error, the little flock of the farmyard sang only
+from official zeal to announce that a stormy day might be expected.
+
+When the Professor went into the open air, the morning light still
+glowed like fire in the heavens, and the first rays of light shimmered
+over the fields in broken and trembling waves. The ground was dry, no
+dewdrops hung on leaf or turf. The air also was sultry, and the heads
+of the flowers drooped languidly on their stalks. Had a second sun
+appeared in the night? But the clear piping of the yellow thrush
+sounded from the top of an old cherry tree incessantly. The old
+gardener, Jacob, looked at the tree, shaking his head: "I thought that
+the rogue had gone away, he has made too much havoc among the cherries,
+and now he is giving us information before he leaves; something is
+brewing to-day."
+
+Ilse, as she came from the dairy, said: "The cows are unquiet, they low
+and push against one another."
+
+The sun rose red out of heavy vapor--the laborers in the field felt a
+weariness in their limbs, and continually stopped in their work to dry
+their faces. The shepherd was to-day discontented with his flock; the
+wethers were bent upon gamboling instead of eating, they bucked one
+another, and the young ones frisked and danced about as if they were
+set on wires. Disorder and willfulness could not be restrained. The dog
+circled round the excited animals incessantly; but his tail hung
+between his legs, and when he tugged at a sheep, the animal long felt
+the ungentle bite.
+
+The sun rose higher in the cloudless heavens--the day became hotter--a
+light vapor rose from the earth which made the distance indistinct; the
+sparrows flew restlessly about the tops of the trees, the swallows
+skimmed along the ground and circled round the men. The friends went to
+their room; here also they felt the exhausting sultriness; the Doctor,
+who was sketching a plan of the house, laid down his pencil. The
+Professor was reading about agriculture and the rearing of cattle, but
+he often looked up from his book to the sky, opened the window and
+closed it again. The dinner was quieter than usual, the host looked
+serious, and his staff hardly allowed themselves time to empty their
+plates.
+
+"We shall have trouble to-day," said the master of the house to his
+daughter, on rising. "I will ride to the outskirts; if I am not back
+before the storm, look after the house and farm."
+
+Again men and horses went to the field, but to-day they went
+unwillingly. The heat became unbearable, the afternoon sun fell
+scorchingly on their heads; rock and walls glowed with heat; a white
+cloud curtained the heavens, which visibly thickened and massed itself
+together. The ploughboys eagerly took the horses to the stables, the
+laborers hastened to unload the sheaves, and drove the wagons at a
+quicker pace in order to shelter one more load under a roof before the
+storm arose.
+
+The friends stood before the farm-gate and looked at the heavy clouds
+which were gathering upon the horizon. The yellow light of the sun
+struggled for a short time against the dark shadows; finally the last
+glare of light disappeared, and the earth lay darkened and mournful.
+Ilse approached them: "The time is come; about four o'clock the storm
+will rise. It seldom comes over the level land from the east, but when
+it does it is always severe with us, for people say it is because it
+cannot break over the hilltops which you see from the garden; then it
+hangs long over our fields, and they say the thunder here is more
+violent than elsewhere."
+
+The first burst of the wind howled over the house. "I must go through
+the farmyard to see that all is right," exclaimed Ilse, as she wrapped
+a handkerchief quickly round her head and hurried on, accompanied
+by the men, through the storm to the farm-building in which the
+fire-engine stood; she looked to see whether the door was open and
+whether there was water in the barrels; then she hastened forward to
+the stables while the straw whirled round her; she warned the servants
+once more with a cheerful call, rapidly spoke a few words to the
+officials and returned to the house. She looked into the kitchen and
+opened the door of the children's room to see whether all of her
+brothers and sisters were with the tutor. Lastly, she let in the dog,
+who was barking piteously at the gate of the farmyard, and then
+returned to the friends, who, from the window of the sitting-room, were
+watching the fury of the elements. "The house is secured, as far as it
+is possible for human beings; but we place our trust in a stronger
+Protector," said Ilse.
+
+The storm slowly approached, one dark mass rolling on after another,
+and under them, like a monstrous curtain, a pale veil of mist rose
+higher and higher; the thunder rolled at shorter intervals, and grew
+more wildly ominous; the storm howled round the house; thick clouds of
+dust chased angrily about the walls; leaves and blades of straw flew
+about in wild dance.
+
+"The lion is roaring," said Ilse, folding her hands. She bent her head
+for some moments, then looked silently out of the window. "Father is at
+the outlying farm under shelter," she began again, anticipating a
+question of the Professor.
+
+It was, indeed, a violent storm that raged about the old house. Those
+who listened for the first time in this place, on the open height,
+alongside the ridge of hills, from which the rolling, tumultuous crash
+of the thunder resounded, felt that they had never experienced such
+power in nature before. While the thunder roared, the room suddenly
+became dark as night, and ever and anon the dismal twilight was pierced
+by the flash of fiery serpents that swept over the farm.
+
+There was noise in the children's room; the crying of the little ones
+could be heard. Ilse went to the door and opened it. "Come to me," she
+called out. The children ran in terrified, and pressed round their
+sister; the youngest clung to her dress. Ilse took the little child and
+placed it under the charge of the Professor, who was standing by her
+side. "Be quiet, and say your prayer softly," she said; "this is no
+time for weeping and complaining."
+
+Suddenly came a light so blinding that it caused them to close their
+eyes--and a sharp concussion, ending in a discordant crash. When the
+Professor opened his eyes, by the light of another flash he saw Ilse
+standing by his side, her head turned toward him with a radiant look.
+He exclaimed, anxiously: "That has struck."
+
+"Not in the farmyard," replied the maiden, unmoved.
+
+Again a clap, and again a flash, and a clap, wilder, shorter, sharper.
+"It is just above us," said Ilse, calmly, pressing the head of her
+little brother to her as if to protect him.
+
+The Professor could not turn his eyes from the group in the middle of
+the room. The noble figure of the woman before him, erect, motionless,
+surrounded by the frightened brothers and sisters, the countenance
+raised, and a proud smile playing about the mouth. And she, in a moment
+of uncontrollable feeling, had confided to his care one of the lives
+that were so dear to her; he stood in the hour of danger near her as
+one of hers. He firmly held the child, which clasped him in terror.
+They were short moments, these; but between flash and thunder-clap the
+spark that glowed in him had blazed out into a bright flame. She who
+stood near him in the lightning, suffused with the blinding light, she
+it was who had become necessary to his life.
+
+Still longer did the thunder roar; the heavy rain beat against the
+window; it clattered and dashed round the house; the windows trembled
+under the raging outburst of the storm.
+
+"It is over," said Ilse, gently. The children separated and ran to the
+window. "Up-stairs, Hans!" cried the sister, and hastened with her
+brother out of the room to see whether the water had made its way in
+anywhere. The Professor looked thoughtfully toward the door through
+which she had disappeared; but the Doctor, who meanwhile had been
+seated quietly on a chair, with his hands on his knees, shaking his
+head, began: "These freaks of nature are against us. Since lightning
+conductors have come into discredit, one has not the poor comfort of
+thinking that the old manuscript has even their protection against the
+attacks of the weather. This is a bad habitation for our poor old
+manuscript, and it is verily a Christian duty to rescue the book as
+quickly as possible from such a dangerous thunder-trap. Shall we be
+able in the future, with any tranquillity of mind, to look upon a cloud
+in the heavens? It will remind us of the disasters that may befall this
+place."
+
+"The house has held out hitherto," answered the Professor, laughing.
+"Let us leave the manuscript meanwhile to the good Power in whom the
+people here so firmly trust. The sun's rays are already breaking
+through the mist."
+
+Half an hour later it was all over; the dark clouds still hovered above
+the hills, and from the distance resounded the harmless thunder. Life
+began to stir again in the empty farmyard. First, the ducks came forth
+with joyous haste from their hiding-place, cleaned their feathers,
+examined the puddles of water, and quacked along the ruts made by the
+wheels; then came the cock with his hens, cautiously treading, and
+picking the soaked seeds; the doves flew on to the projections of the
+window, wished each other good fortune with friendly nods and spread
+their feathers in the fresh sunlight. Nero bounded boldly out of the
+house, trotted through the farmyard, and barked in the air by way of
+challenge to frighten away the hostile clouds. The maids and laborers
+again stepped actively about the place, breathing the refreshing balsam
+of the moist air. The Inspector came and reported that the lightning
+had struck twice on the neighboring hill. The Proprietor, thoroughly
+wet through, rode rapidly in, anxious to see whether his house and
+farm-buildings were undamaged. He sprang gaily from his horse, and
+exclaimed: "The rain penetrated everything out there. But, God be
+praised, it has passed over. We have not had such a storm here for
+years." The people listened also for awhile as the head ploughman
+related that he had seen a pillar of water, which hung like a great
+sack from heaven to earth, and that it had hailed violently on the
+other side of the border. Then they entered the stable with great
+equanimity, and enjoyed the hour of rest that the bad weather had
+brought them. While the Proprietor was talking to his staff, the Doctor
+prepared to descend, with the boys and the tutor, into the valley,
+there to see the overflowing brook.
+
+But the Professor and Ilse remained in the orchard, and the former was
+astonished at the number of snails that now came out everywhere,
+trailing slowly over the path; and he took one after the other and
+placed them carefully out of the way, but the senseless creatures
+always returned again to the firm gravel, expecting that the
+foot-passengers were to get out of their way. They both examined the
+fruit trees to see how they had borne the storm. They were much broken,
+and their branches bent down. Much unripe fruit lay scattered on the
+grass. The Professor cautiously shook the branches, bending under the
+weight of the rain, in order to free them from their burden; he fetched
+some poles to support an old apple tree which was in danger of breaking
+under the weight, and both laughed heartily when, in the course of his
+work, the water from the leaves ran in small streams down his hair and
+coat.
+
+Ilse clasped her hands together, lamenting over the fall of so much
+fruit; but there was still much on the trees, and they might yet hope
+for a rich harvest. The Professor sympathized with her and advised her
+to dry the fallen fruit, and Ilse laughed again at this because most of
+it was unripe. The Professor confided to her that he as a boy had
+helped his dear mother when she used to arrange the fruit on the
+drying-board; for his parents had owned a large garden in the town in
+which his father was an official. Ilse listened with eager interest
+when he related further how he had lost his father as a boy, and how
+lovingly and wisely his mother had cared for him, how confidential his
+relations with her had been, and that her loss had been the greatest
+sorrow of his life. Then they walked up and down along the gravel walk,
+and in both of them an echo of the sorrow of past days intermingled
+with the cheerful mood of the present; just as in nature the movement
+of a violent storm leaves after it a gentle trembling, and the pure
+light of day sparkles on bower and blade like countless glittering
+precious stones.
+
+Ilse opened a gate which led from the lower part of the orchard into
+the open country, and standing still, said, hesitatingly: "I propose a
+walk into the village to see how our Pastor has stood the storm; would
+you like to make the acquaintance of our dear friend?"
+
+"I shall be delighted to do so," answered the Professor.
+
+They walked along a damp footpath that wound its way through the length
+of the valley by the side of the churchyard. Near it lay a little
+village of closely-packed houses, in which dwelt most of the laborers
+of the estate. The first building below the church was the Pastor's
+house, with a wooden roof and small windows, differing little from
+the dwellings of the country people. Ilse opened the door, and an old
+maid-servant hastened toward her with a familiar greeting.
+
+"Ah, Miss," she exclaimed, "we had bad weather to-day. I thought the
+day of judgment had surely come. Master stood constantly at the chamber
+window looking up to the manor and raising his hands in prayer for you.
+He is at present in the garden."
+
+The guests passed out through the rear door into a small space between
+the gables and barns of the neighboring farmyards. A few low fruit
+trees stood along the edges of the flower-beds. The old gentleman, in a
+dark dressing-gown, stood by an espalier, working industriously.
+
+"My dear child," he cried, looking up, and a smile of pleasure lighted
+up the kind face under his white hair, "I knew that you would come
+to-day."
+
+He bowed to the stranger, and, after a few words of greeting, turned
+again to Ilse.
+
+"Only think what a misfortune--the storm has broken our peach tree, the
+espalier is torn up and the branches are shattered; the damage is
+irreparable."
+
+He bent over the disabled tree, which he had just bound up with a
+bandage of tree-gum and matting.
+
+"It is the only peach tree here," he said, lamentingly, to the
+Professor; "they have none on the whole estate, nor any in the town.
+But I must not worry you with my little troubles," he continued, more
+cheerfully; "I pray you come with me into the house."
+
+Ilse entered the side door of an extension, near the house proper. "How
+is Flavia?" she inquired of the maid, who stood at the threshold,
+anticipating the visit.
+
+"Doing very well," answered Susannah, "and the little one also."
+
+"It is the dun cow and her young calf," explained the Pastor to the
+Professor, as Ilse returned into the narrow courtyard with the maid. "I
+do not like people to call animals by Christian names, so I have
+recourse to our Latin vocabulary."
+
+Ilse returned. "It is time that the calf should be taken away; it is a
+wasteful feeder."
+
+"That is what I said too," interposed Susannah, "but his Reverence the
+Pastor will not consent."
+
+"You are right, my dear child," answered the Pastor; "following the
+demands of worldly wisdom it would be best to deliver the little calf
+to the butcher. But the calf sees the thing in quite another light; and
+it is a merry little creature."
+
+"But when one asks it why, one receives no answer," said Ilse, "and
+therefore, it must be pleased with what we choose. Your Reverence must
+allow me to settle this with Susannah, behind your back; meanwhile you
+shall have milk from our house."
+
+The Pastor conducted them into his room; it was very small,
+whitewashed, and scantily furnished. There was an old writing-table, a
+black painted book-shelf with a small number of old books, a sofa and
+some chairs covered with colored chintz. "This has been my Tusculum for
+forty years," said the Pastor, with satisfaction, to the Professor, who
+looked with surprise at the scanty furniture. "It would have been
+larger if the addition had been made; there were fine plans arranged,
+and my worthy neighbor took much pains about it, but since my wife was
+carried out there"--he looked toward the churchyard on the height--"I
+will not hear of it any more."
+
+The Professor looked out of the window. Forty years in this narrow
+building, in the little valley between the churchyard, the huts, and
+the wood! He felt oppressed in spirit. "The community appears to be
+poor; there is but little space for cultivation between the hills. But
+how is it pray, in winter?"
+
+"Well, even then I am still able to get about," answered the clergyman;
+"I visit my old friends then, and am only troubled sometimes by the
+snow. Once we were quite snowed up, and had to be dug out." He laughed
+pleasantly at the recollection. "It is never lonely when one has lived
+many years in a place. One has known the grandfathers, trained the
+fathers, taught the children, and here and there a grandchild even, and
+one sees how men rise from the earth and sink down into it again like
+the leaves that fall from a tree. One observes that all is vanity and a
+short preparation for eternity. Dear child," he said to Ilse, who now
+entered, "pray be seated with us; I have not seen your dear face for
+three days, and I would not go up because I heard you had visitors. I
+have something here for you," taking a paper out of his desk; "it is
+poetry."
+
+"You see the song of the Muses does not fail us," he continued,
+speaking to the Professor. "It is, to be sure, humble, and bucolic in
+style. But believe me, as one who knows his village, there are few new
+things under the sun; there is everything here in a small way that
+there is on a large scale in the rest of the world; the blacksmith is a
+zealous politician, and the justice would gladly be a Dionysius of
+Syracuse. We have also the rich man of Scripture, and truly many a
+Lazarus--to which number the poet whose verses I here hold belongs; and
+our plasterer is a musician in winter--he does not play badly on the
+zither. But they are all too ambitious and not in harmony. Sometimes it
+is difficult to preserve good fellowship among them."
+
+"Our poet wishes to have his green wall again, as I interpret it," said
+Ilse, looking up from the paper.
+
+"For seven years he has been lying in his room half palsied with severe
+and incurable ills," explained the Pastor to his guest; "and he looks
+through a little hole of a window into the world at the clay-wall
+opposite and the men who can be seen passing; the wall belongs to a
+neighbor, and my dear child trained a wild vine over it. But this year
+our neighbor--our rich man--has built upon it and torn away the
+foliage. This vexes the invalid, and it is difficult to help him, for
+now is not the time to plant a fresh one."
+
+"But something must be thought of," interposed Ilse. "I will speak to
+him about it; excuse me, I will not be long."
+
+She left the room. "If you wish," said the Pastor, addressing the guest
+mysteriously, "I will show you this wall; for I have thought much about
+the matter, but cannot devise anything." The Professor silently
+acquiesced. They walked along the village lane, and at the corner the
+Pastor took the arm of his companion. "Here lies the invalid," he
+began, in a low tone. "His weakness makes him rather deaf, but still we
+must tread gently, that he may not observe it, for that disturbs him."
+
+The Professor saw a small sash-window open and Ilse standing before it,
+her back turned to them. While the Pastor was showing him the plastered
+wall and the height that was necessary for the trailing plant, he
+listened to the conversation at the window. Ilse spoke loudly and was
+answered from the bed by a shrill voice. He discovered with
+astonishment that they were not speaking of the vines.
+
+"And the gentleman is of a good disposition?" asked the voice.
+
+"He is a learned and good man," answered Ilse.
+
+"And how long does he remain with you?"
+
+"I know not," was Ilse's hesitating reply.
+
+"He should remain altogether with you, for you like him," said the
+invalid.
+
+"Ah, that we dare not hope, dear Benz. But this conversation will not
+help to find you a good prospect," continued Ilse. "I will speak to
+your neighbor; but nothing will grow between to-day and to-morrow. I
+have thought that the gardener might nail a shelf under the window, and
+we shall place some plants from my room upon it."
+
+"That will obstruct the view," answered the voice, discontentedly. "I
+could no longer see the swallows as they fly past, and little of the
+heads of the people who go by."
+
+"That is true," replied Ilse; "but we will put the board so low that
+only the flowers shall peep through the window."
+
+"What kind of flowers are they?" asked Benz.
+
+"A myrtle," said Ilse.
+
+"That does not blossom," answered Benz, surlily.
+
+"But there are two roses blowing and a plant of heliotrope."
+
+"I do not know what that is," interposed the invalid.
+
+"It smells very sweet," said Ilse.
+
+"Then let it come," assented Benz. "But I must also have some sweet
+basil."
+
+"We will see whether it can be had," answered Ilse; "and the gardener
+shall also train some ivy round the window."
+
+"That will be too dark for me," retorted the dissatisfied Benz.
+
+"Never mind," said Ilse, decidedly; "we will try, and if it does not
+suit you, it can be altered."
+
+To this the invalid agreed.
+
+"But the gardener must not make me wait," he exclaimed; "I should like
+to have it to-morrow."
+
+"Very well," said Ilse; "early in the morning."
+
+"And you will show my verses to no one, not even to the strange
+gentleman; they are only for you."
+
+"Nobody shall see them," said Ilse. "Call your daughter Anna, dear
+Benz."
+
+As she prepared to depart, the Pastor gently drew his guest back.
+
+"When the invalid has had such a conversation," he explained, "he is
+contented for the whole of the next day, and to-morrow he will again
+compose some verses. Sometimes--between you and me--he writes a good
+deal of nonsense, but it is well meant, and for him it is the best
+pastime. The people in the village avoid passing under his window as
+much as possible. This is the hardest work in my office; for the people
+are obstinate in the superstition that illness and suffering originate
+from evil spirits, that they are inflicted from hatred, or as
+punishment for past wrong; and though I preach to them incessantly that
+all is only a trial for the other world, this teaching is too high for
+them, only the infirm believe it; but those who are hale and hearty
+stubbornly struggle against the truth and salvation."
+
+The learned man turned his eyes up to the little window from which the
+invalid looked upon the plastered wall, and then again on the clerical
+gentleman who for forty years had preached the Holy Gospel in the
+valley. His heart was heavy and his eyes passed from the twilight of
+the deep vale to the hill-top, which still shone in the glad light of
+the evening sun. Then she returned to him, she who had descended to
+watch over the helpless and the poor; and when he ascended the height
+with her, it appeared to him as if they both emerged from gloomy
+earthly trouble into a lighter air; but the youthful figure and the
+beautiful, calm countenance near him, shining in the lingering evening
+light so wondrously, seemed to resemble one of those messengers whom
+Jehovah sent to the tent of his faithful servant. He rejoiced when she
+laughed at the joyous bounding of the dog, who came barking toward
+them.
+
+Thus passed another day, lighted up by the sun, and overshadowed by the
+clouds, amidst small events of daily life and quiet existence. When
+recorded by the pen it seems insignificant, but when a man lives it, it
+sends his blood coursing energetically through his veins.
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER VI_.
+
+                    A LEARNED LADY FROM THE COUNTRY.
+
+
+It was Sunday, and the estate wore its festive garment. The barns in
+the farmyard were closed, the farm servants and maids walked about in
+their best attire, not like busy laborers, but with the comfortable
+leisure which is the poetry of a toilsome life to the German peasant.
+The bells from the church tower called to service; Ilse, with her
+hymn-book in her hand, went with her sister slowly down the hill, the
+maids and men followed in small groups. The Proprietor passed the day
+in his study, in order to make up the accounts of the past week; but
+first he knocked at the door of his friends' room, and paid them a
+short morning visit.
+
+"We shall have guests to-day, the Crown Inspector Rollmaus and his
+wife; he is an excellent farmer; but his wife is irredeemably bent upon
+culture,--a paragon of learning. You must take care, she will press you
+hard."
+
+As the clock struck twelve, a carriage drawn by two well-fed brown
+horses stopped at the door; the children hastened to the window.
+
+"The Crown Inspector's wife is coming!" exclaimed the youngest,
+excitedly.
+
+A stout man in a dark green coat got out of the carriage, followed by a
+little lady in black silk, with a sunshade and a large bandbox. The
+Proprietor and Ilse met them at the door of the house, the host
+laughingly called out a welcome, and conducted the gentleman to the
+sitting-room. The guest had black hair and a round face, which by
+exposure to the sun and air had acquired a permanent tint of reddish
+brown.
+
+He had piercing eyes, red nose and red lips. Learning the names of the
+two strangers he made a slight obeisance, but looked displeased at
+their appearing in pretentious black coats; and as he had a vague but
+strong aversion to useless authors, needy scholars, and non-producers
+of all sorts who visited the country to write books, or because they
+had no permanent residence of their own, he assumed toward both these
+gentlemen a sulky and suspicious demeanor. After a while the lady made
+her appearance. She had in the mean time, with Ilse's help put on her
+best cap, which had been taken out of the bandbox; a work of art, upon
+which were set two dark red roses. She entered the room, rustling,
+curtsying, and laughing, polished from head to foot. She passed rapidly
+from one to another, kissed the girls, declared to the boys that they
+had grown much during the last week, and at last stopped, full of
+expectation, before the two strangers. The host presented them, and did
+not fail to add: "Two gentlemen from the University."
+
+The little lady pricked up her ears, and her gray eyes sparkled.
+
+"From the University!" she exclaimed; "what a surprise. These gentlemen
+are rare guests in our country. There is indeed little inducement to
+learned gentlemen to come among us, for materialism reigns supreme
+here, and the circulating library at Rossau is certainly not in good
+hands; actually they never get anything new. May I be allowed to ask
+what are the studies of the gentlemen, whether science generally or
+some particular specialty?"
+
+"My friend's studies are more of a general character. I have a
+specialty, and in addition to it, I teach the classics," replied the
+Professor; "this gentleman is also engaged in Indian research."
+
+"Pray be seated on the sofa?" interposed Ilse. Mrs. Rollmaus followed
+her reluctantly.
+
+"Indian!" she exclaimed, seating herself and arranging her dress. "That
+is a strange language. They wear tufts of feathers and their dress is
+scanty, and their trousers, if I may be pardoned the reference, hang
+down as is the case with so many pigeons, which also have long feathers
+to their legs. One sees pictures of them sometimes; in my Karl's
+picture-book of last Christmas there are a great many pictures of these
+wild men. They have barbarous customs, dear Ilse."
+
+"But why has not Karl come with you?" inquired Ilse, in an effort to
+rescue the gentlemen from the discourse.
+
+"It was because we shall have to return in the dark. Our carriage has
+only two seats, and there would have been no room to pack in a third
+with Rollmaus, so Karl would have had to sit by the coachman, and the
+poor child would be so sleepy at night that I should have been afraid
+of his falling off. And then there are his lessons for to-morrow--for
+only think, I have persuaded Rollmaus to take a tutor for our children,
+as your dear father has done."
+
+When the lady intimated the prospect of a return home after dark, the
+Doctor looked compassionately at his friend; but the Professor was
+listening so attentively to the conversation that he did not observe
+this expression of commiseration. Ilse continued to ask questions and
+Mrs. Rollmaus always answered, although sometimes she cast a longing
+look at the Doctor, whose connection with the Indians in Karl's picture
+book appeared to her very instructive. Meanwhile, the two country
+gentlemen had become engaged in conversation with regard to the merits
+of a horse in the neighborhood, which had been recommended for general
+purposes, so that the Doctor at last turned to the children and began
+to chat with Clara and Louise.
+
+After half an hour of quiet preparation, the maidservant appeared at
+the door of the dining room. The Proprietor gallantly offered his arm
+to Mrs. Rollmaus and escorted her to the table. The Professor conducted
+Ilse, and the Doctor attempted to take her sister Clara, but she
+blushed and resisted till he gave his other arm to Louise and Rickchen,
+whereupon Franz laid hold of his coat-tails and on the way whispered to
+him: "We have turkey today." But Mr. Rollmaus, who regarded attendance
+upon ladies a wearisome custom brought up the rear alone, greeting, as
+he passed, the farm officials, who were standing in the dining-room,
+with the query:
+
+"Is all the corn in yet?"
+
+To which the Inspector replied with emphasis that it was.
+
+Again all took their places according to rank and dignity. Mrs.
+Rollmaus had the place of honor, and between her and Ilse sat the
+Professor.
+
+It was not a quiet meal for the latter. Ilse was more silent than
+usual, but his new neighbor plied him with learned questions. She
+obliged him to tell her the regulations of the University, and in what
+manner the students were instructed. And the Professor informed her
+fully, and did so good-humoredly. But he did not long succeed in
+protecting either himself or others against the feeling of annoyance
+which the conversation of Mrs. Rollmaus always occasioned.
+
+"So you are a philosopher?" she said. "That is indeed interesting. I
+also have attempted philosophy; but the style is so incomprehensible.
+Pray, what is the purpose of philosophy?"
+
+"It endeavors," was the patient answer of the Professor to this
+perplexing question, "to instruct men in the life of their mind and
+spirit, and thus to strengthen and improve them."
+
+"The life of the spirit!" exclaimed Mrs. Rollmaus, excitedly; "but do
+you too believe that spirits can appear to men after death?"
+
+"Why, do you know any instance where that has happened?" asked the
+Professor. "It would be interesting to all to hear the exact details.
+Has anything of the kind occurred hereabouts?"
+
+"So far as ghosts and spirits are concerned, No," replied Mrs.
+Rollmaus, looking doubtfully at the Proprietor; "but of second sight,
+and what is called sympathy a great deal. Only think, we once had a
+servant; she was not obliged to live out, but her parents wished to
+send her away from home for a time; for there was in the village a poor
+lad who was a great fiddler and who strolled round her house morning
+and evening, and when the girl could come, they sat together behind a
+bush--he playing on the fiddle and she listening. And she could not
+part from him. She was a nice girl, and adapted herself to everything
+in our house, only she was always melancholy. The fiddler was impressed
+as a hussar, for which he was fitted because he was very courageous.
+After a year the cook came to me and said: 'Mrs. Rollmaus, I cannot
+stand it any longer, Hetty walks in her sleep. She gets out of bed and
+sings the song about a soldier whom a captain caused to be shot,
+because he was ordered to do so, and then she groans so that it would
+move a stone, and in the morning she knows nothing about her singing,
+but always continues to weep.' And this was the truth. I called her,
+and asked her seriously; 'What is the matter with you? I cannot bear
+this mysterious conduct, you are a riddle to me.' Whereupon she
+lamented much, and begged me not to think ill of her, as she was an
+honorable girl; but she had seen an apparition. And then she told me
+the whole story. Her Gottlob had appeared at the door of her room in
+the night, quite haggard and sorrowful, and had said: 'Hetty, it is all
+over with me; to-morrow it is my turn.' I tried to persuade the girl
+out of it, but her fears infected me. I wrote to an officer whose
+acquaintance my husband had made at the hunt, and asked whether it was
+nonsense, or whether it was due to the so-called second-sight. And
+he wrote back to me very much astonished. It was a true case of
+second-sight, for on the same day the fiddler had fallen from his horse
+and broken his leg, and then lay in the hospital at the point of death.
+Now, I pray you, was not that a real natural phenomenon?"
+
+"And what became of the poor people?" asked the Professor.
+
+"O, as for them," answered Mrs. Rollmaus, "it all came right; for a
+comrade of the invalid, who had a sick mother, was from our village. I
+wrote to him requesting him to send me a letter every third day to
+report how the invalid was getting on, and added that I would repay him
+by sending his mother bacon and flour. He wrote regularly; and the
+affair lasted many weeks. At last the fiddler was cured and came back;
+and both were white as a sheet when they met, and embraced each other
+before my eyes without hesitation; whereupon I spoke to the parents of
+the girl, which was of little avail. Then I spoke to my husband, to
+whom our village inn belongs, and who was then looking out for a good
+tenant. And that brought the history to a close, or, as the saying
+goes, to the _commencement du pain_. For Mr. Rollmaus is not a lover of
+fiddles and thinks them instruments of frivolity. But the people behave
+in an orderly way. I was the sponsor of their first child and Rollmaus
+of the second. But there have been no more apparitions."
+
+"That was indeed good and kind of you," exclaimed the Professor,
+warmly.
+
+"We are all human," said Mrs. Rollmaus, apologetically.
+
+"And I hope, all good," replied the Professor. "Believe me, madame,
+though there are many and various views in philosophy and in every
+branch of learning, and much contention respecting many points, and
+though one is easily led and tempted to consider another ignorant; yet
+with respect to honesty, uprightness, and benevolence, there has seldom
+been any difference of opinion, and all delight in and esteem those in
+whom they find these qualities. And it is these qualities, Mrs.
+Rollmaus, I now find and honor in you."
+
+This he said to the learned lady with much warmth and earnestness. On
+his other side he heard the gentle rustling of a dress, and when he
+turned to Ilse he met a look so full of humble gratitude that he could
+hardly preserve his composure.
+
+Mrs. Rollmaus, however, sat smiling and contented with the
+philosophical system of her neighbor. Again the Professor turned to
+her, and spoke of the difficulty of doing good to the helpless in the
+right way. Mrs. Rollmaus acknowledged that uneducated people had a way
+of their own, "But one can easily get on with them, if they only know
+that one means well by them."
+
+The Professor afterward occasioned a slight misunderstanding, when in
+answer he respectfully observed: "You are right, for in this field
+patient love is requisite to produce fruitful results."
+
+"Yes," acquiesced Mrs. Rollmaus, puzzled, "to be sure, these results
+which you mention are not wanting among us, and they marry for the most
+part just at the right time; but the patient love which you so truly
+speak of as requisite is not always forthcoming among our country
+people, for in marriage they frequently consider money more than love."
+
+If, however, the notes in the concert at the upper table were not quite
+in accord, yet the turkey and custard-pudding--a masterpiece of Ilse's
+kitchen--vanished without any adverse concussion of learned wisdom. All
+rose well pleased with one another, only the children, whose innocent
+mischief is most enduring, found with displeasure that Mrs. Rollmaus
+would not on this occasion enter into any contest in which the
+encyclopedia could rule as umpire. While the men drank their coffee in
+the next room, Mrs. Rollmaus again sat on the sofa, and Ilse had a
+difficult task to satisfy her curiosity in answering all the questions
+with which she was overwhelmed concerning the two strangers. Meanwhile
+the children besieged the sofa, lying in wait for an opportunity to
+undertake a small campaign against the unsuspecting Mrs. Rollmaus.
+
+"So they are making researches, and in our neighborhood. It cannot be
+about the Indians. I did not know that any had ever come to these
+parts. It must be a mistake; and they must mean gypsies, who do make
+their appearance here. Only think, dear Ilse, a man and two women, each
+with a child, have come within the last fortnight. The women tell
+fortunes. What they have prophesied to the house-maids is truly
+remarkable; and in the morning two hens disappeared. Can it be that
+their researches are concerning these gypsies? But that I cannot
+believe, as they are mere tinkers and good-for-nothing people. No, they
+are not making investigations concerning them."
+
+"But who are the gypsies?" asked Clara.
+
+"Dear child, they are vagabonds who formerly were a nation, and now
+spread themselves everywhere. They had a king, and manuscripts, and
+hounds, although they were great rogues. Originally they were
+Egyptians, but possibly also Indians."
+
+"How could they be Indians?" exclaimed Hans, disrespectfully; "the
+Indians live in America. We have got an encyclopedia too, and we will
+find it out immediately."
+
+"Yes, yes," cried the children, and ran with their brother to the
+book-shelf. Each of them brought a volume with new binding, and placed
+it among the coffee cups before Mrs. Rollmaus, who looked by no means
+pleased at seeing the secret source of her intelligence laid bare
+before all eyes.
+
+"And ours is newer than yours," cried little Franz, waving his hand. In
+vain did Ilse endeavor by signs of disapprobation to suppress this
+outbreak of family pride. Hans held the volume firmly in his hands
+seeking the word _Gypsy_, and the overthrow of Mrs. Rollmaus, to all
+human calculations, could no longer be averted. But suddenly Hans
+jumped up, and holding the book aloft exclaimed: "The Professor is put
+down here!"
+
+"Our Professor in the encyclopedia?" cried the children.
+
+Family feuds and gypsies were all forgotten. Ilse took the book from
+her brother's hand, Mrs. Rollmaus stood up in order to read the
+remarkable passage over Ilse's shoulder, all the children's heads
+gathered round the book, so that they looked like a cluster of buds on
+a fruit tree, and all peeped curiously at the lines which were so
+glorious for their guest and themselves.
+
+In the article there were the usual short remarks that are generally
+made of living scholars, which contained the place and day of the
+Professor's birth, and the titles--mostly in Latin--of his works. All
+these titles were, in spite of the unintelligible language, read aloud,
+with the dates and size of the volumes. Ilse looked into the book for a
+long time, and then handed it to the astonished Mrs. Rollmaus, then the
+children passed it from one to the other. The event made a greater
+impression here, on both young and old, than it ever could in literary
+circles. Happiest of all was Mrs. Rollmaus: she had sat next to a man
+who not only could refer to books, but was referred to himself. Her
+admiration of him was unbounded; she found, for the first time in her
+life, that she could hold agreeable intercourse with a man of this
+stamp.
+
+"What a distinguished scholar!" she exclaimed. "What were the titles of
+his works, dear Ilse?"
+
+Ilse did not know; her eyes and thoughts were fixed on the short notice
+of his life.
+
+This discovery had the good result of causing Mrs. Rollmaus to lay down
+her weapons entirely this day, and be content not to display any
+knowledge, for she saw that on this occasion a competition with the
+family was impossible, and she condescended to an unpretending
+conversation about household events. But the children arranged
+themselves at a respectful distance from the Professor, and examined
+him curiously once more from top to toe; and Hans imparted the news in
+a low voice to the Doctor, and was much surprised that the latter
+thought nothing of it.
+
+After coffee, the Proprietor proposed to his guests to ascend the
+nearest hill, in order to examine the damage which had been done by the
+lightning. Ilse loaded a maid with provisions for supper and some
+flasks of wine, and the party started. They went down from the rock
+into the valley, over the strip of meadow and the brook, then up the
+hill, through underbrush, amid the shadow of the lofty pines. The rain
+had washed away the steep path, and irregular water-channels furrowed
+the gravel; nevertheless, the women stepped valiantly over the wet
+places. But if it had been possible to fail to perceive from the dress
+and bearing of the Professor that he walked in the confidence of
+manhood, one might have imagined that he was a delicately clad lady,
+and Mrs. Rollmaus a gentleman in disguise, for she hovered round him
+reverently, and would not leave his side. She directed his attention to
+the stones, and, with the end of her umbrella pointed out the dry
+places to him, and stopped at times, expressing her fear that he would
+find this jaunt too fatiguing. The Professor submitted, though much
+surprised, to the homage of the little lady, sometimes looking
+inquiringly at Ilse, over whose face flitted a roguish smile. On the
+height the path became easier, and some trees of lighter foliage varied
+the dark green of the pines. The summit itself was clear; the heather,
+on which the fading blossoms of the year still hung, spread itself
+thickly among the stones. On all sides lay the view of the landscape,
+with its heights and valleys, the deep glen, and brook with its green
+border, the fields and the valley of Rossau. In the direction of the
+setting sun there rose, one behind another, long waves of undulating
+ground, tinted with the purple hue of twilight, passing off into the
+delicate gray of the mountains on the horizon. It was a delightful
+prospect, under a clear sky in the midst of pure mountain air, and the
+party sought out the softest and greenest spots of the heather, whereon
+to rest.
+
+After a short stay, they proceeded, led by Hans, to the spot where the
+tree had been struck by lightning. A belt of high fir trees was the
+place of the devastation. A strong, vigorous pine had been struck and
+prostrated; in desolate confusion the branches and gigantic splinters
+of the white wood lay around the broken trunk, which, blackened and
+cloven, without its top, still rose out of its ruins as high as a
+house. Through the mass of branches on the ground, it could be seen
+that the earth also had been torn up even under the roots of the
+neighboring trees. The older members of the party looked earnestly on
+the spot where one moment had turned vigorous life into frightful
+deformity; but the children pressed on into the thicket shouting,
+seized upon the scaly cones of the past year, and cut branches from the
+tree-top, each endeavoring to carry off the largest clusters of the
+scaly fruit.
+
+"It is only one of a hundred," said the Proprietor, gloomily; "but it
+is painful to contemplate such devastation, contrary to the usual order
+of the world, and to think of the destruction that impended over our
+heads."
+
+"Does this recollection cause you only discomfort?" asked the
+Professor; "is it not also exalting?"
+
+"The horns of the ram are hanging on the branches," said Ilse, in a low
+tone, to her father; "he was the sacrifice by which we were saved."
+
+"I think," added the Professor, "that even a person thus struck by
+lightning might, if time were left him for a last thought, say to
+himself that this was quite in harmony with the order of our world. We
+soon forget, amid the comforts of daily life, what we should always
+vividly bear in mind, that we only live, like all other creatures,
+subject to certain conditions. Countless forces and strange powers
+unceasingly work according to fixed laws of their own, maintaining,
+supporting, or injuring our life. The cold which checks the course of
+our blood, the breaking waves in which the human body sinks, the
+injurious vapors from the earth which poison our breath, are no
+accidental phenomena; the laws by which they act upon us are as
+primitive and holy as our need of food and drink, of sleep and light;
+and when a man reflects upon his position among the powers of earth,
+his life will be found to mean nothing else than an active struggle
+against them and an endeavor to understand them. Whoever may provide
+the bread that nourishes us, and whoever may hew the wood that warms
+us--every useful activity has no other purpose than, by subduing and
+wisely utilizing these forces, to strengthen and to protect us. In this
+work we also observe that there is a secret union between every
+movement of nature and our own minds, and that all living things,
+however adverse in individual existence, together form one vast and
+continuous unity. The presentiment and thought of this unity have, at
+all times, been the most sublime feeling of which man is capable. From
+this proceeds another impulse, an overwhelming desire and an
+irresistible longing to divine the deeper relations of these forces.
+And it is this that gives us faith. The method of procedure may vary in
+different individuals, but the goal is the same. Some, possessed of
+deep feeling, see only eternal wisdom in everything that to them seems
+incomprehensible; and in child-like faith they apply to it the most
+reverent and affectionate name. Others earnestly endeavor to observe
+the various laws and forces of nature and reverently to comprehend
+their relations to each other. These latter are the men of science. The
+men of faith and the men of science essentially do the same thing.
+Their attitude is very modest; for both recognize that all individual
+life, both subjective and objective, is very insignificant as compared
+with the great All. And the man who, when thus overtaken by death,
+could confidently believe he is going to his Father in Heaven, and the
+man who in a similar moment could bring himself to intently observe the
+manner in which the nervous elements that constitute his life cease
+their activity--both are assured of, and both would experience, an end
+of bliss and true contentment."
+
+Thus spoke the Professor as they stood before the shattered pine-tree.
+The Crown-Inspector looked at the speaker in astonishment, suspecting
+him to be one of that new class of apostles who at that time made their
+appearance in various parts, and traveled around the country preaching
+to the people. Mrs. Rollmaus stood reverently with folded hands,
+occasionally nodding her assent. Presently she nudged the Proprietor,
+whispering:
+
+"That belongs to the philosophy of which we were speaking."
+
+The Proprietor did not answer, but listened with bowed head. Ilse never
+turned her eyes from the speaker; his observations sounded strange, and
+excited a secret uneasiness in her, she knew not why. But she could say
+nothing against them, for the spring of genial life that issued from
+this noble soul entranced her. The choice of words, the new thoughts,
+the noble expression of his countenance, captivated her irresistibly.
+
+The party returned to their resting place on the height; the sun sank
+behind the hills, and the soft evening glow gilded first the tips of
+the heather, and then rose above their heads to the tops of the trees;
+purple shadows covered the ground, the trunks of the trees, and the
+distant prospect. But small light clouds of gold and purple floated in
+the heaven above, till there also the glowing colors faded into rosy
+twilight; the mist rose from the depths below, and the colors of the
+earth and the heavens died away into a uniform gray.
+
+Long did the party gaze on the changing lights of the evening. At last
+the Proprietor called for the contents of the basket; the children were
+busy unpacking and passing the cold meats to the assembled circle. The
+Proprietor poured out the wine and pledged his guests, and rejoiced in
+the fine evening. At a sign from his father, Hans ran into the thicket
+and fetched some pine torches.
+
+"There is no danger to-day," said the Proprietor to Mr. Rollmaus whilst
+lighting the torches.
+
+The children pressed forward to be torch-bearers, but only Hans was
+trusted with this honorable office; the gentlemen carried the others.
+
+Slowly did the procession wind down the hill-path; the torches threw a
+glaring light on copse and stones, and on the faces of the men, which
+in the curves of the road were lighted up with a glow like the rising
+moon, and again disappeared in the darkness. Mrs. Rollmaus had
+endeavored several times to draw the other illustrious stranger into
+conversation; she now at last succeeded, when in a bad part of the
+road. She began:
+
+"What your friend said was very good, for it was very instructive. He
+is right; one ought to struggle against the powers and seek the
+connecting link. But I assure you it is difficult for a woman. For
+Rollmaus, who is the first power of nature for me, has a hatred of
+principles; he is always for doing everything according to his own
+ideas, and, as an independent man, he has a right to do so; but he is
+not very much in favor of science, and even as regards a piano for the
+children I have trouble with him. But I seek after principles and
+powers, and what is called the connecting link; and I read what I can,
+for one likes to know what is going on in the world, and to raise
+oneself above ordinary people. But often one does not understand a
+thing even when read twice; and when it is at last understood it may
+have become obsolete and no longer worth anything, and so I have often
+been tempted to give up all research whatsoever."
+
+"You should not do that," exclaimed the Doctor; "there is always a
+secret satisfaction in knowing a thing."
+
+"If I lived in town," continued the lady, "I would devote myself
+entirely to learning; but in the country one is too much isolated, and
+there is the housekeeping, and one's husband, who is sometimes hard to
+please. You have no idea what a good farmer he is. Rollmaus, hold your
+torch aside, all the smoke blows in the Doctor's face."
+
+Rollmaus turned his torch away and grumbled. His wife drew close to
+him, seized his arm and whispered to him: "Before we go away you must
+invite the gentlemen to visit us; it is the right thing to do."
+
+"He is a mendicant priest," answered the husband, peevishly.
+
+"For God's sake, Rollmaus, don't do anything foolish; above all, do not
+blaspheme," she continued, pressing his arm; "he is mentioned in the
+encyclopedia."
+
+"In yours?" asked the husband.
+
+"In the one here," replied the wife, "which amounts to the same thing."
+
+"There are many things in books that are of less value than others that
+are not there," said the husband, unmoved.
+
+"I am not to be put off in that way. You will not confute me by that,"
+replied the wife. "I tell you that he is a man of renown, and propriety
+demands that we should take the fact into consideration, and you know
+that so far as propriety is concerned--"
+
+"Only be quiet," said Rollmaus, soothingly. "I say nothing to the
+contrary, if needs be; I have eaten many a sour apple on your account."
+
+"On my account!" cried the wife, offended. "Have I been
+unreasonable--am I a tyrant--am I an Eve who has stood with her husband
+under the tree, with loose hair, and not even a chemise? Will you
+compare yourself and me with such a state of things?"
+
+"No," said Rollmaus. "Only be content; you know how we get on
+together."
+
+"Don't you see that I am right?" replied the wife, soothed. "Believe
+me, I know also how others get on together, and I tell you I have a
+presentiment that something is brewing."
+
+"What is brewing?" asked Mr. Rollmaus.
+
+"Something between Ilse and the Professor."
+
+"The devil there is!" exclaimed Mr. Rollmaus, with more vivacity than
+he had shown the whole day.
+
+"Be quiet, Rollmaus, you will be heard; do not lose command of
+yourself."
+
+Ilse had remained behind; she was leading her youngest brother, who was
+tired. The Professor gallantly remained by her. He pointed out to her
+how well the procession looked; the torches, like large glow worms, in
+front; behind, the sharply outlined figures, and the flickering of the
+gleaming light upon the trunks and green branches of the trees. Ilse
+listened to him long in silence. At last she said: "The most charming
+thing of the day was the kind way you spoke to our dear neighbor Mrs.
+Rollmaus. When she was seated by you, I felt troubled in mind, for I
+thought it would annoy you to listen to the importunate questions of
+our friend, and it all at once struck me that toward us also you
+exercise constant consideration; and that thought tormented me. But
+when I saw that you so kindly and frankly recognized the good that is
+in our friend and her fullness of soul, I felt that it cost you no
+great effort of self-command to hold intercourse with us simple folk."
+
+"My dear Miss," exclaimed the Professor, anxiously, "I hope you are
+convinced that I only said to the worthy lady what came sincerely from
+my heart?"
+
+"I know it," said Ilse, with warmth, "and the honest soul felt it also
+herself--she has been quieter and more cheerful than usual the whole
+day--and therefore I thank you. Yes, from my heart," she added, softly.
+
+Praise from the lips of one beloved is not among the least of the
+pleasures that a man enjoys. The Professor looked beaming with
+happiness at his neighbor, who now in the darkness led her brother
+along at a quicker pace. He did not venture to break the silence; the
+pure hearts of both had been revealed, and, without speaking a word
+both felt the stream of warm sentiment that passed from one to the
+other.
+
+"For him who passes from the midst of books into the paths of men,"
+began the Professor, at last, "the pedantic habit of continued reading
+there acquired, often makes it easier to derive from a strange mode of
+life that which is of the highest benefit to his own. For, after all,
+there is in every life an element that commands reverence, however much
+it may often be veiled by wondrous accompaniments."
+
+"We are commanded to love our neighbors," said Ilse, "and we endeavor
+to do so; but when one finds that this love is given so cheerfully and
+nobly, it is touching; and when one sees such feeling displayed, it
+becomes an example and elevates the heart. Come, Franz," she said,
+turning to her brother, "we are not far from home." But Franz stumbled,
+and, half asleep, declared that his legs ached.
+
+"Up with you, little man," said the Professor, "let me carry you."
+
+Ilse, distressed, tried to prevent it. "I cannot allow that; it is only
+sleep that makes him so lazy."
+
+"Only till we reach the valley," said the Professor, raising the child
+on his shoulder. Franz clasped his arms round the Professor's neck, and
+clinging close to him, was soon fast asleep. When they came to a steep
+turn of the road, the Professor offered the arm which was free to his
+companion; but she refused, only supporting herself a little with his
+proffered hand. But her hand glided down and remained in that of her
+companion. Thus hand in hand they walked down the last part of the hill
+into the valley, neither of them speaking a word. When they arrived at
+the bottom, Ilse gently withdrew her hand, and he released it without a
+word or pressure; but these few minutes comprised for both a world of
+happy feelings.
+
+"Come down, Franz," said Ilse, taking her sleeping brother from the arm
+of her friend. She bent down to the little one to encourage him, and
+they went on to join the party, who were waiting for them at the brook.
+
+The carriage of the Crown-Inspector drew up. The parting greetings of
+his wife were very verbose, and her representations had mitigated his
+obstinacy, so that, cap in hand, he made up his mind to take, with
+tolerable decorum, a bite of the aforementioned sour apple. He
+approached the literary gentlemen, and asked them to grant him also the
+pleasure of a visit; and even the utterance of these friendly words had
+a softening influence on his honest soul. He now held out his hand to
+them, and receiving a hearty shake he began to think that the strangers
+were not in reality so bad as might be supposed. The Proprietor
+accompanied his guests to the carriage, Hans passed the bandbox in, and
+the two country-gentlemen, as they bade each other good night, watched
+the starting of the horses with the eyes of connoisseurs.
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER VII_.
+
+                            NEW HOSTILITIES.
+
+
+Whilst a bright womanly form rose on the horizon between the Professor
+and the Doctor, fate decreed that a new feud should break out betwixt
+the two neighboring houses in the city. It happened thus.
+
+Mr. Hahn had availed himself of the absence of his son to beautify
+his grounds. His garden ran in a point to the park, and he had
+bethought him much how this corner might be turned to good account;
+for the little mound which he had thrown up there, and planted with
+roses, seemed unsatisfactory. He determined, therefore, to erect a
+weather-proof summerhouse for such visitors as were not inclined in
+bad weather to retire to the residence. Everything had been wisely
+considered before the departure of his son. The following day he caused
+a slender wooden structure to be erected, with small windows toward the
+street, and above, instead of a roof, a platform with airy benches, the
+laths of which projected boldly over the wooden walls and garden
+palings out into the street. Everything seemed favorable. But when Mr.
+Hahn, with hearty satisfaction, led his wife up the small side steps on
+to the platform, and the plump lady, not anticipating anything wrong,
+sat down on the airy bench, and from thence looked with admiration on
+the world beneath her, it was soon discovered that the passers-by in
+the street had to go directly under her, and the sky above was darkened
+to whoever passed along the fence by the plumage of the great bird
+that, perched on her high nest, sat with her back turned to the street.
+Before a quarter of an hour had passed, accordingly, such sharp remarks
+were heard that the inoffensive Mrs. Hahn was on the point of weeping,
+and declared to her lord, with unwonted energy, that she would never
+again allow herself to be treated as a hen, or ascend the platform any
+more. The family frame of mind was not improved either by the part that
+Mr. Hummel had taken, for he had stood by the fence of his neighbor's
+garden during this exhibition of Mrs. Hahn, and had laughed at the vile
+speeches of the passers-by.
+
+Mr. Hahn, however, after a short struggle between pride and discretion,
+listened to the voice of his better self, removed the benches and the
+platform, and erected over the summer-house a beautiful Chinese roof;
+and on the projections of this roof he hung small bells, which sounded
+softly when the wind rose. This idea would have been a decided
+improvement; but, alas! the wickedness of man gave no rest to this work
+of art for the urchins in the street diverted themselves by continually
+keeping the bells in movement by means of long switches. On the first
+night, therefore, the neighborhood was awakened from its slumbers by a
+concert of many bells. That night Mr. Hahn dreamed that winter was
+come, and that a merry party of sleighs were passing round his house;
+he listened, and indignantly discovered that his own bells had been set
+in motion. He hastened into the garden in his nightdress, and called
+out, angrily:
+
+"Who is there?"
+
+In an instant the ringing ceased, deep silence and peaceful quiet
+reigned around. He went up to the garden-house, and looked at his
+bells, which might be seen swinging under the darkened sky; but
+roundabout no one was to be discovered. He went back to his bed, but
+scarcely had he laid himself down when the noise began again, quick and
+loud, as if pealing for a Christmas party. Again he rushed out of the
+house, and again the noise ceased; but when he raised himself above the
+railing and looked around, he saw in the garden opposite the broad
+figure of Mr. Hummel standing by the hedge, and heard a threatening
+voice call out:
+
+"What crazy conduct is this?"
+
+"It is inexplicable, Mr. Hummel," exclaimed Mr. Hahn, across the
+street, in a conciliatory tone.
+
+"Nothing is inexplicable," cried out Mr. Hummel, "but the mischievous
+insanity of hanging bells in the open air over a public street."
+
+"I resent your attack," called out Mr. Hahn deeply wounded. "I have a
+right to hang up what I like on my own property."
+
+Then there began a conflict of views across the street, weird
+and frightful. There Hummel's bass, here Hahn's sharp voice,
+which gradually rose into a counter-tenor; both figures in long
+night-dresses, divided by the street and railings, but like two heroes
+of antiquity belaboring one another with strong language. If one failed
+to perceive the wild effect given to Mr. Hahn by the red color of his
+night-dress, he yet might be seen towering upon the height near his
+Chinese temple, raising his arm imposingly across the horizon; but Mr.
+Hummel stood in the darkness, overshadowed by the wild vine.
+
+"I will have you before the police court, for disturbing the public
+peace," cried Mr. Hummel at last, but felt the small hand of his wife
+at his back, who seized him by his night-dress, turned him round, and
+gently entreated him not to make a scene.
+
+"And I will inquire before the court who gave you a right to heap abuse
+upon me from across the street," called out Mr. Hahn, likewise in the
+act of retiring, for amidst the noise of the fight he had now and then
+heard the soft words, "Come back, Hahn," and seen his wife behind him
+wringing her hands. But he was not in a disposition to abandon the
+field of battle.
+
+"A light and ladder here," he exclaimed, "I will unearth this shameful
+trick."
+
+The ladder and lanterns speedily made their appearance, brought by the
+frightened maid-servant. Mr. Hahn mounted up to his bells, and sought
+long in vain; at last he discovered that some one had contrived to
+unite the separate bells by a plait of horse-hair and thus had rung
+them from the outside by a string.
+
+This wild night was followed by a gloomy morn.
+
+"Go to the fellow across the street, Gabriel," said Mr. Hummel, "and
+ask if, for the sake of peace, he is willing to take down his bells at
+once. I require my sleep, and I will not suffer that a rabble of
+thieves shall be allured to my house, make inroads upon the fence,
+steal my plums, and break into my factory. This man, by his ringing,
+calls together all the rogues of the neighborhood."
+
+Gabriel replied: "I will go over there for the sake of peace; but only
+if I may say with civility what I think fit."
+
+"With civility?" repeated Hummel, winking slyly at his confidant. "You
+do not understand your own interest. So fine an opportunity of making
+yourself important will not occur soon again, and it would be a pity to
+let it escape you. But I foresee, Gabriel, that, civil or not, we shall
+be unable to deal with the man. He's malicious and obstinate and
+bitter. He is a bulldog, Gabriel. There, you have his character."
+
+Gabriel proceeded to the house of poor Mr. Hahn, who sat, still
+suffering, before his untasted breakfast, and looked suspiciously at
+the inmate of the hostile house.
+
+"I come only to inquire," began Gabriel, adroitly, "whether, perhaps,
+you may have received intelligence through your son of my master?"
+
+"None," answered Mr. Hahn, sorrowfully; "there are times when
+everything goes wrong, dear Gabriel."
+
+"Yes, what a roguish trick that was, last night," said Gabriel,
+pityingly.
+
+Mr. Hahn sprang up.
+
+"He called me insane and said I was a coxcomb. Am I to put up with
+that? I, a man of business, and in my own garden! As for the plaything,
+you may be right enough; one must not put too much confidence in men.
+But now my honor is touched, and I tell you the bells shall remain, and
+I shall place a watchman there every night."
+
+In vain did Gabriel speak rationally to him. Mr. Hahn was inexorable,
+and called out after him as he was leaving:
+
+"Tell him we shall meet again in court."
+
+Accordingly he went to his attorney, and insisted upon bringing a suit
+for the abusive language of the previous night.
+
+"Good," said Mr. Hummel, when Gabriel returned from his fruitless
+mission. "These people compel me to adopt measures of security for
+myself. I will take care that no strange horse-hair shall be attached
+to my house. When the rogues sound the bells over there, the dogs shall
+bark here. Measure for measure, Gabriel."
+
+He went gloomily to his factory, and paced about wildly. His
+bookkeeper, who appeared to be a much-oppressed man, because he never
+could obtain his rights from Mr. Hummel, thought it was his duty and a
+fitting time to speak.
+
+"The ideas of this man Hahn are absurd; all the world finds fault with
+them."
+
+But the speech did him no good.
+
+"What do this man's ideas signify to you?" cried Hummel. "Are you the
+householder, and are you or I head of this business? If I choose to be
+angry it is my affair and not yours. His new clerk, Knips, wears his
+hair in frizzy curls, and perfumes himself with Eau de Cologne; you may
+make fun of him about that; that is your right. As to what concerns the
+rest of the world, your blame of this man's devices is worth about as
+much as the twittering of the sparrow on the house-top; and if he
+should every day hang a peal of bells on his shoulders and go in that
+attire into the counting-house, he would still remain a respectable
+citizen so far as this street rabble is concerned. Only, as regards
+myself, it is another thing. I am his neighbor day and night, and if he
+gets into trouble I also have to suffer. For the rest, I object to all
+calumnies on my fellow-men. What must be said is my business alone,
+without associates; remember that."
+
+A few evenings later, Gabriel was standing before the house-door,
+looking up to the heavens and watching whether a small black cloud,
+which was slowly floating past, would cover the face of the moon. Just
+as this took place, and the street and both houses lay in darkness a
+carriage drove up to the house, and the voice of the master called out:
+"Is all well?"
+
+"All well," answered Gabriel, and unbuttoned the apron.
+
+Mr. Hummel descended heavily, and behind him was heard an angry growl.
+
+"What have you got in there?" asked Gabriel, with much curiosity,
+putting his hands into the carriage, but he quickly withdrew them. "The
+beast bites!" he ejaculated.
+
+"I hope it does," replied Mr. Hummel. "I meant it to bite. I have
+brought a pair of watch-dogs as a guard against the bell ringers."
+
+He pulled out by a rope two indistinct figures, which rushed about
+yelping hoarsely, and, circling round Gabriel's legs, viciously drew
+the cord round him like a noose.
+
+Gabriel extricated himself. The clouds had passed away, and in the
+bright moon light both dogs were plainly visible.
+
+"They are strange beasts, Mr. Hummel. A curious race. Evidently
+mongrels," he continued, in a deprecatory tone; "hardly medium size,
+thick in the chest, and with shaggy hair; the bristles hang over their
+muzzles like mustachios. The mother must have been a poodle, the father
+a spitz; I think I also detect some relationship with the pug, and the
+great-grandfather must have been a terrier. A remarkable product, Mr.
+Hummel, and somewhat rare. How did you come by the animals?"
+
+"By accident. I could not obtain a dog in the village to-day; but as I
+was returning through the wood the horses suddenly shied and would not
+move on. While the coachman was handling them, I all at once perceived
+near the carriage a large dark man, standing as if he had sprung out of
+the ground. He was holding the two dogs by a rope, and laughed
+jeeringly at the abuse of the coachman. 'What is the matter?' I called
+out to him; 'where are you taking the dogs to?' 'To whosoever wishes to
+have them,' said the black fellow. 'Lift them into the carriage,' said
+I. 'I shall do nothing of the sort,' growled the stranger; 'you must
+fetch them yourself.' I descended and asked him what he wanted for
+them. He replied 'Nothing.' The matter looked suspicious, but I thought
+it would be no harm to try them. I lifted the beasts into the carriage;
+and found them as quiet as lambs. 'What are their names?' I cried out
+from the carriage. 'Br�uhahn and Goslar,' said the man, laughing
+fiendishly."
+
+"But they are no dogs' names, Mr. Hummel," interposed Gabriel, shaking
+his head.
+
+"That was what I told the man, but he replied, 'they never suffered
+babtism.' 'But the rope is yours,' I said; and only think, Gabriel,
+this black fellow answered me: 'Keep it; and hang yourself with it.' I
+wanted to throw the dogs out of the carriage again, but the man had
+vanished into the wood like a will-o'-the-wisp."
+
+"That is a dreadful story," said Gabriel, much troubled; "these dogs
+have been raised in no Christian household. And do you really intend to
+keep the ill-omened creatures?"
+
+"I shall make the attempt," said Mr. Hummel. "After all, a dog is a
+dog."
+
+"Be on your guard, Mr. Hummel, there is something mysterious in these
+beasts."
+
+"Nonsense!"
+
+"They are monsters," continued Gabriel, counting on his fingers;
+"first, they have not the names of earthly dogs; secondly, they were
+offered without money; thirdly, no man knows what food they eat."
+
+"As to their appetite, you will not have to wait long to discover what
+that is," replied the master of the house.
+
+Gabriel drew a bit of bread out of his pocket, and the dogs snapped at
+it. "In that regard they are of the right species," he said, a little
+tranquillized; "but what are they to be called in the house?"
+
+"Br�uhahn I shall call Fighthahn," replied Mr. Hummel; "and in my
+family no dogs shall be called Goslar. I cannot bear the beastly
+drink." He cast a hostile look at the neighboring house. "Other people
+have such stuff fetched every day across the street, but that is no
+reason why I should suffer such a word in my household. The black shall
+from this day forth be called Fight_hahn_ and the red Spite_hahn_--that
+is settled.
+
+"But, Mr. Hummel, these names are clearly offensive," exclaimed
+Gabriel; "that will make the matter worse."
+
+"That is my affair," said Mr. Hummel, decidedly. "At night they shall
+remain in the yard; they must guard the house."
+
+"So long as they do but preserve their bodies," said Gabriel,
+warningly; "but this kind come and vanish as they please--not as we
+wish."
+
+"Yet they are not of the devil," rejoined Mr. Hummel, laughing.
+
+"Who speaks of the devil?" replied Gabriel, quickly. "There is no
+devil--that the Professor will never allow; but of dogs we have various
+kinds."
+
+So saying, Gabriel took the animals into the hall. Mr. Hummel called
+out into the room: "Good evening, Philippine. Here, I have brought you
+a present."
+
+Mrs. Hummel came to the door with a light, and looked astonished at the
+present, which whined at her feet. This humility disposed the lady to
+regard them with benevolence.
+
+"But they are frightful," she said, dubiously, as the red and the black
+sat down on each side of her, wagging their tails land looking up at
+her from under their shaggy eyebrows. "And why did you bring two?"
+
+"They are not intended for exhibition," returned Mr. Hummel in a
+pacifying tone; "they are country ware--one is a substitute for the
+other."
+
+After this presentation they were carried off to a shed. Gabriel once
+more tried their capacity of eating and drinking; they showed
+themselves thoroughly satisfactory in this respect, though as regards
+personal beauty they were not distinguished dogs; and Gabriel went to
+his room free from anxiety.
+
+When the clock struck ten, and the gate which separated the court-yard
+from the street was closed, Mr. Hummel went down himself to the dogs'
+shed to initiate these new watchers into their calling. He was much
+astonished, on opening the door, to find that they did not require any
+encouraging words from him--both rushed out between his legs into the
+yard. As if driven by an invisible whip, they dashed at a headlong pace
+round the house and factory--always together, and never silent.
+Hitherto they had been depressed and quiet; now, either as the result
+of the good food they had devoured or because their night watch had
+come, they became so noisy that even Mr. Hummel drew back in
+astonishment. Their hoarse short bark deafened the horn of the night
+watchman and the call of their master, who wished to recommend
+moderation. They chased wildly and incessantly around the court, and a
+continuous yelping accompanied their stormy career. The windows of the
+house were thrown open.
+
+"This will be a horrible night, Mr. Hummel," said Gabriel.
+
+"Henry," cried out his wife from her bedroom "this is insupportable."
+
+"It is their first outburst of joy," nothing more, said Mr. Hummel,
+consolingly, and withdrawing into the house.
+
+But this view of the matter turned out to be erroneous. Throughout the
+whole night the barking of the dogs sounded from the court-yard. In the
+houses of the neighborhood, shutters were thrown open, and loud words
+of reproach addressed to Mr. Hummel. The following morning he arose in
+a state of great uncertainty. Even his own sound sleep had been
+disturbed by the reproaches of his wife, who now sat at breakfast angry
+and depressed with headache. When he entered the court-yard, and
+gathered from his men the complaints they had heard from the neighbors,
+even he hesitated for a moment whether he should keep the dogs.
+
+Ill luck would have it that just at this moment Mr. Hahn's porter
+entered the court-yard, and with defiant mien announced that Mr. Hahn
+insisted upon Mr. Hummel putting a stop to this outrageous barking, or
+he should be obliged to seek redress before a justice of the peace.
+
+This attitude of his opponent at once decided the inward struggle of
+Mr. Hummel.
+
+"If I can bear the barking of my dogs, other people can do so too. The
+bells play on your side of the way and the dogs sing on mine, and if
+any one wishes to hear my views before a magistrate he shall hear
+enough to satisfy him."
+
+He returned to the house and with dignity approached his suffering
+wife.
+
+"Are two dogs to come between you and me, Henry?" asked the wife, with
+faltering voice.
+
+"Never," replied Mr. Hummel; "the domestic peace must be preserved. I am
+sorry that you have a headache, and to please you I would remove the
+beasts. But I have collided again with that coxcomb across the way. For
+the second time he threatens me with a suit and the magistrate. My
+honor is at stake, and I can no longer give in. Be a good wife,
+Philippine, and try to bear it a few nights longer. Put cotton in your
+ears, till the dogs have gotten accustomed to their work."
+
+"Henry," replied the wife, wearily, "I have never doubted your heart;
+but your character is rough, and the voices of the dogs are too
+horrible. Can you, in order to enforce your will, see your wife suffer,
+and become seriously ill, from sleeplessness? Will you, in order to
+maintain your position, sacrifice peace with the neighborhood?"
+
+"I do not want you to be ill, but I will not send away the dogs,"
+replied Mr. Hummel, seizing his felt hat, and going to the factory with
+heavy step.
+
+If Mr. Hummel indulged in the hope that he had ended the domestic
+struggle as conqueror, he was greatly in error. There was still another
+power in his home, who opened the campaign in a different manner. When
+Mr. Hummel approached his desk in his little counting-house, he saw
+near the inkstand a nosegay of flowers. Attached to the pink ribbon
+hung a note which was sealed with a forget-me-not, and addressed--"To
+my dear Father."
+
+"That is my bright-eyed girl," he murmured, and opening the note read
+the following lines:
+
+           "My dear pa, good morrow!
+            The dogs cause great sorrow,
+            They are not delightful;
+            Their bark is just frightful;
+            Their ardor and sanguinity
+            Disturb the vicinity.
+            For the sake of our neighborhood,
+            Be noble, generous and good."
+
+Hummel laughed so heartily that the work in the factory stopped, and
+every one was amazed at his good humor. Then he marked the note with
+the date of its reception, put it in his pocket-book, and after
+examining the letters that had arrived, he betook himself into the
+garden. He saw his little daughter sprinkling the beds with her
+watering-pot, and his heart swelled with a father's pride. With what
+grace she turned and bent, and how her dark locks hung round the
+blooming face, and how actively she raised and swung the watering-pot;
+and, on perceiving him, when she put it down and held her finger
+threateningly at him, he was quite enchanted.
+
+"Verses again," he called out to her, "I have received Number Nine."
+
+"And you will be my good papa," cried Laura, hastening toward him and
+stroking his chin; "do send them away."
+
+"But, my child," said the father, composedly. "I have already spoken to
+your mother about it, and I have already explained to her why I cannot
+dispose of them. Now, I cannot do to please you, what I have refused
+your mother; that would be contrary to all family regulations. Respect
+your mother, little girl."
+
+"You are a hard-hearted father," replied the daughter, pouting; "and
+more than that, you are unjust in this affair."
+
+"Oh, oh!" cried the father, "is that the way you approach me?"
+
+"What harm does the ringing of bells over there do to us? The little
+summer-house is pretty, and when we sit in the garden in the evening,
+and there is a breeze, and the bells tinkle gently, it sounds just
+lovely--it is like Mozart's _Magic Flute_."
+
+"Our street is not an opera-house," the father retorted sharply, "but a
+public thoroughfare; and when my pet dogs bark you can equally well
+pursue your theatrical ideas, and imagine that you are in the Wolf's
+Den, in the _Freisch�tz_."
+
+"No, my father," answered the daughter, eagerly, "you are unjust
+towards these people; for you wish to spite them, and that vexes me to
+my heart's core. It is not worthy of my father."
+
+"Yet you must bear it," he replied, doggedly, "for this is a quarrel
+between men. Police regulations settle such affairs, and your verses
+are altogether out of place. As regards the names, it is possible that
+other words like Adolar, Ingomar, and Marquis Posa, might sound better
+to you women-folk. But this is no reason for me; my names are
+practical. In the matter of flowers and books, I will do much to please
+you but in the matter of dogs I cannot take poetry into consideration."
+So saying, he turned his back upon his daughter, to avoid protracting
+the dispute.
+
+Laura, however, hastened to her mother's room, and the ladies took
+counsel together.
+
+"The noise was bad enough," complained Laura, "but the names are
+terrible. I cannot say those words for my life, and you ought not to
+allow our servant to do so, either."
+
+"Dear child," answered the experienced mother, "one has to pass through
+much in this world which is unpleasant, but what grieves me most is the
+wanton attacks upon the dignity of women in their own houses. I shall
+say no more on the subject. I agree with you, that both the names by
+which the dogs are called are an insult to our neighbor. But if your
+father were to discover that behind his back we called them Ph[oe]bus
+and Azor, it would make matters worse."
+
+"No one at least must utter those other names who cares for my
+friendship," said Laura, decidedly, and entered into the court-yard.
+
+Gabriel was employing his leisure in making observations on the new
+comers. He was frequently attracted to the dogs' kennel in order to
+establish the certainty of the earthly nature of the strangers.
+
+"What is your opinion?" asked Laura, approaching him.
+
+"I have my opinion," answered the servant, peering into the interior of
+the shed, "namely, that there is something mysterious about them. Did
+you remark the song of those ravens the other night? No real dog barks
+like that; they whine and moan and occasionally groan and speak like
+little children. They eat like other dogs, but their mode of life is
+unusual. See, how they cower down, as if they had been struck on the
+mouth, because the sun shines on them. And then, dear young lady, the
+names!"
+
+Laura looked with curiosity at the beasts.
+
+"We will alter the names secretly, Gabriel; this one shall be called
+Ruddy."
+
+"That would certainly be better; it would at least not be an insult to
+Mr. Hahn, but only to the tenant of the basement."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"The porter who lives over there is called Ruddy."
+
+"Then," decided Laura, "the red monster shall from henceforth be named
+The Other; our people shall call him Andres.[2] Tell this to the
+workmen in the factory."
+
+"Andres!" replied Gabriel. "The name will just suit him. The neighbors
+would dignify him with the name of Andreas if it were not too much
+honor to him."
+
+Thus were kind hearts occupied in thwarting the bad signification of
+the name. But in vain, for, as Laura had correctly noted in her diary,
+when the ball of mischief has been thrown amongst men, it mercilessly
+hits the good as well as the bad. The dog was supplied with the most
+inoffensive name that ever was given; but through a wonderful
+complication of circumstances, which bid defiance to all human
+sagacity, it happened that Mr. Hahn himself bore the name of Andreas.
+Thus the double name of the animal became a double affront to the
+neighboring house, and bad and good intentions mingled together in a
+thick, black soup of hatred.
+
+Early in the morning Mr. Hummel appeared at the door, and defiantly,
+like Ajax, called the two dogs by their hostile names. The porter,
+Ruddy, heard the call in the cellar, hastened to his master's room, and
+informed him of this horrible affront. Mrs. Hahn endeavored not to
+believe it, and maintained that they should, at least, wait for some
+confirmation. This confirmation did not fail to come; for at noonday
+Gabriel opened the door of the place where the dogs were confined, and
+made the creatures come out for a quarter of an hour's sunning in the
+garden. Laura, who was sitting among her flowers, and was just looking
+out for her secret ideal--a famous singer, who, with his glossy black
+hair and military gait was just passing by--determined, like a
+courageous maiden, not to peer after her favorite through the foliage
+of the vine arbor, and turned toward the dogs. In order to accustom the
+red one to his new name, she enticed him with a bit of cake, and called
+him several times by the unfortunate name, "Andres." At the same
+moment, Dorchen rushed to Mrs. Hahn, saying: "It is true; now even Miss
+Laura calls the dog by the Christian name of our master."
+
+Mrs. Hahn stepped to the window much shocked, and herself heard the
+name of her dear husband. She retreated quickly, for this insult from
+her neighbors brought tears into her eyes, and she sought for her
+pocket-handkerchief to wipe them away unperceived by her maid. Mrs.
+Hahn was a good woman, calm and agreeable, with a tendency to plumpness
+and an inclination quietly to do anything for the sake of peace. But
+this heartlessness of the daughter roused her anger. She instantly
+fetched her cloak from the closet, and went with the utmost
+determination across the street to the garden of the hostile neighbors.
+
+Laura looked up astonished from the hideous dogs to the unexpected
+visitor, who came toward her with dignified steps.
+
+"I come to complain, young lady!" began Mrs. Hahn, without further
+greeting. "The insults that have been heaped upon my husband from this
+house are insupportable. For your father's conduct you are not
+responsible; but I think it shocking that a young girl like you should
+also join in these outrages!"
+
+"What do you mean, Mrs. Hahn?" asked Laura, excitedly.
+
+"I mean the affront of giving a man's name to dogs. You call your dogs
+by all my husband's names."
+
+"That I have never done," replied Laura.
+
+"Do not deny it," cried out Mrs. Hahn.
+
+"I never speak an untruth," said the girl proudly.
+
+"My husband's name is Andreas Hahn, and what you call this beast is
+heard by the whole neighborhood."
+
+Laura's pride was roused. "This is a misunderstanding, and the dog is
+not so called. What you say is unjust."
+
+"How is it unjust?" returned Mrs. Hahn. "In the morning the father, and
+in the afternoon the daughter call him so."
+
+A heavy weight fell on Laura's heart; she felt herself dragged down
+into an abyss of injustice and injury. Her father's conduct paralyzed
+her energies, and tears burst from her eyes.
+
+"I see that you at least feel the wrong you are committing," continued
+Mrs. Hahn, more calmly. "Do not do it again. Believe me, it is easy to
+pain others, but it is a sorry business, and my poor husband and I have
+not deserved it from you. We have seen you grow up before our eyes; and
+even though we have had no intercourse with your parents, we have
+always been pleased with you, and no-one in our house has ever wished
+you ill. You do not know what a good man Mr. Hahn is, but still you
+ought not to have behaved so. Since we have dwelt here we have
+experienced many vexations from this house; but that you should share
+your father's views pains me most."
+
+Laura endeavored in vain to dry her tears. "I repeat to you that you do
+me injustice; more I cannot say in self-justification, nor will I. You
+have grieved me more than you know, and I am satisfied that I have a
+clear conscience."
+
+With these words she hastened into the house, and Mrs. Hahn returned
+home, uncertain as to the result of her visit.
+
+Laura paced up and down her little room wringing her hands. Innocent
+and yet guilty in spite of her good will, wounded to the quick, dragged
+into a family feud, the unhappy results of which could not be foreseen,
+she reviewed the events of the past day in her excited mind. At last
+she seated herself at her little writing-table, took out her journal,
+and confided her sorrows to this silent friend bound in violet leather.
+She sought comfort from the souls of others who had borne up nobly
+under similar griefs, and at last found the confirmation of her
+experience in the expressive well-known passage of Goethe's Faust:
+
+            "Reason doth folly, good doth evil grow;
+            The child must reap the mischief that the fathers sow."
+
+Had she not wished to do what was reasonable and kind, and had not
+folly and evil arisen from it? And had not misfortune befallen her
+without her fault merely because she was a child of the house? With
+this sentence she closed a passionate effusion. But in order not to
+appear to her conscience devoid of affection, the poor child wrote
+immediately underneath these words: "My dear, good father." Then she
+closed the book, feeling more comforted.
+
+But the severest humiliation to her was the feeling that she should be
+judged unjustly by the people over the way; and she folded her arms and
+thought how she could justify herself. She, indeed, could do nothing;
+but there was a worthy man who was the confidant of every one in the
+house, who had cured her canary bird when ill, and removed a stain from
+the nose of her little bust of Schiller. She resolved, therefore, to
+tell only the faithful Gabriel what Mrs. Hahn had said, and not a word
+to her mother unless obliged to do so.
+
+It happened that toward evening Gabriel and Dorchen entered into
+conversation in the street. Dorchen began to make bitter complaints of
+the spitefulness of the Hummels, but Gabriel earnestly advised her not
+to allow herself to be dragged into these disputes. Said he, "there
+must be some who take a neutral stand. Be an angel, Dorchen, and bring
+peace and good will into the house; for the daughter is innocent."
+Whereupon the history of giving the name was spoken of, and Laura
+honorably acquitted.
+
+Then, when Gabriel, a little later, incidentally remarked to Laura:
+"This matter is settled; and Mr. Hahn has said that it had at once
+appeared to him improbable that you should be so ill-disposed toward
+him,"--a heavy weight fell from her heart, and again her soft song
+sounded through the house. And yet she did not feel satisfied, for the
+annoyance to the neighboring house caused by her father's anger still
+continued. Alas! she could not restrain that violent spirit, but she
+must endeavor secretly to atone for his injustice. She pondered over
+this while undressing late at night; but when in bed, after
+entertaining and rejecting many projects, the right idea suddenly
+struck her; she jumped up at once, lighted her candle, and ran in her
+night-dress to the writing-table. There she emptied her purse, and
+counted over the new dollars that her father had given her at Christmas
+and on her birthday. These dollars she determined to spend in a secret
+method of reparation. Highly pleased, she took the precious purse to
+bed with her, laid it under her pillow, and slept peacefully upon it,
+although the spectral dogs raged round the house in their wild career,
+horribly and incessantly.
+
+The following morning Laura wrote in large, stiff characters, on an
+empty envelope, Mr. Hahn's name and address, and affixed a seal on
+which was the impression of a violet with the inscription, "I conceal
+myself," and put it in her pocket. On her way to town to make some
+purchases she stopped at a hot-house, the proprietor of which was
+unknown to her. There she bought a bushy plant of dwarf orange, full of
+flowers and golden fruit--a splendid specimen of the greenhouse; with a
+beating heart, she drove in a closed cab, till she found a porter, to
+whom she gave an extraordinary gratuity, and bade him leave the plant
+and envelope at Mr. Hahn's house without word or greeting of any kind.
+
+The man performed the commission faithfully. Dorchen discovered the
+plant in the hall, and it caused an agreeable excitement in the Hahn
+family--fruitless imaginations, repeated inspection, and vain
+conjectures. When at noon Laura peeped through the arbor into the
+garden, she had the pleasure of seeing the orange plant occupying a
+prominent place in front of the white Muse. Beautifully did the white
+and gold of the shrub glitter across the street. Laura stood long
+behind the branches, unconsciously folding her hands. Her soul was
+unburdened of the injustice, and she turned from the hostile house with
+a feeling of proud satisfaction.
+
+Meanwhile there was a complaint issued and a suit was pending between
+the two houses, which was seriously increased on that very day by the
+adoption of the dogs' names "Fighthahn" and "Spitehahn."
+
+Thus the peace in house and neighborhood was still disturbed. At first
+the pealing of bells had excited public opinion against Mr. Hahn, but
+this was entirely altered by the introduction of the dogs: the whole
+street went over to the man of _straw_; the man of _felt_ had all the
+world against him. But Mr. Hummel cared little for this. In the evening
+he sat in the garden on the upturned boat, looking proudly at the
+neighboring house, while Fighthahn and the other dog sat at his feet
+blinking at the moon, who in her usual way looked down maliciously on
+Mr. Hummel, Mr. Hahn, and all the rest of the world.
+
+It happened on the following night that amidst the barking of the dogs
+and the light of the moon all the bells were torn down from the temple
+of Mr. Hahn and stolen.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER VIII_.
+
+                             TACITUS AGAIN.
+
+
+There is a common saying that all lost things lie under the claws of
+the Evil One. Whoever searches for a thing must cry: "Devil, take thy
+paws away." Then it suddenly appears before the eyes of men. It was so
+easy to find. They have gone round it a hundred times. They have looked
+above and below, and have sought it in the most improbable places, and
+never thought of that which was nearest them. Undoubtedly it was so
+with the manuscript; it lay under the clutches of the Evil One or of
+some hobgoblin, quite close to our friends. If they were to stretch out
+their hands they might lay hold of it. The acquisition was only
+hindered by one consideration, by the single question, Where? Whether
+this delay would involve more or less suffering for both the scholars
+was still doubtful. Nevertheless, they might overcome even this
+uncertainty; the main point was, that the manuscript really existed and
+lay somewhere. In short, matters went on the whole as well as possible.
+The only thing missing was the manuscript.
+
+"I see," said the Doctor one day to his friend, "that you are
+strenuously exerting yourself to educate and fashion the ideas of the
+older people of the household. I put my hopes in the souls of the
+younger generation. Hans, the eldest, is very far from sharing the
+views of the father and sister; he shows an interest in the old
+treasure, and if we ourselves should not succeed in making the
+discovery, at some future period he will not spare the old walls."
+
+In conjunction with Hans, the Doctor secretly resumed his
+investigations. In quiet hours, when the Proprietor was unsuspectingly
+riding about his farm, and the Professor working in his room or sitting
+in the honeysuckle arbor, the Doctor went prying about the house. In
+the smock-frock of a laborer, which Hans had brought to his room, he
+searched the dusty corners of the house high and low. More than once he
+frightened the female servants of the household by suddenly emerging
+from behind some old bin in the cellar, or by appearing astride on one
+of the rafters of the roof. In the dairy a hole had been dug for the
+forming of an ice-pit; one day when the laborers had gone away at noon,
+Mademoiselle, the housekeeper, passed close to the uncovered pit,
+suspecting nothing. Suddenly, she beheld a head without a body, with
+fiery eyes and bristly hair, which slowly groped along the ground and
+which turned its face to her with a derisive, fiendish laugh. She
+uttered a shrill cry and rushed into the kitchen, where she sank
+fainting on a stool and was only revived by the copious sprinkling of
+water and encouraging words. At dinner she was so much troubled that
+every one was struck by her uneasiness. But at last it appeared that
+the fiendish head was to be found on the shoulders of her neighbor, the
+Doctor, who had secretly descended into the hole to examine the
+masonry.
+
+It was on this occasion that the Doctor discovered, with some degree of
+malicious pleasure, that the hospitable roof which protected him and
+the manuscript from the blast and storm stood over an acknowledged
+haunted house. There were strange creakings in the old building.
+Spirits were frequently seen, and the accounts only differed as to
+whether there was a man in a gray cowl, a child in a white shirt, or a
+cat as large as an ass. Every one knew that there was in all parts a
+knocking, rattling, thundering, and invisible throwing of stones.
+Sometimes all the authority of the Proprietor and his daughter was
+necessary to prevent the outbreak of a panic among the servants. Even
+our friends, in the quiet of the hight, heard unaccountable sounds,
+groans, thundering noises, and startling knocks on the wall. These
+annoyances of the house the Doctor explained to the satisfaction of the
+Proprietor by his theory of the old walls. He made it clear that many
+generations of weasels, rats, and mice had bored through the solid
+walls and tunnelled out a system of covered passages and strongholds.
+Consequently, every social amusement and every domestic disturbance
+which took place among the inmates of the wall was plainly perceptible.
+But the Doctor listened with secret vexation to the muffled noises of
+the denizens of the wall. For if they rushed and bustled thus
+indiscriminately around the manuscript, they threatened to render
+difficult the future investigations of science. Whenever he heard a
+violent gnawing he could not help thinking they were again eating away
+a line of the manuscript, which would make a multitude of conjectures
+necessary; and it was not by gnawing alone that this colony of mice
+would disfigure the manuscript that lay underneath them.
+
+But the Doctor was compensated by other discoveries for the great
+patience which was thus demanded of him. He did not confine his
+activity to the house and adjoining buildings. He searched the
+neighborhood for old popular traditions which here and there lingered
+in the spinning-room and worked in the shaky heads of old beldames.
+Through the wife of one of the farm-laborers, he secretly made the
+acquaintance of an old crone well versed in legendary lore in the
+neighboring village. After the old woman had recovered from her first
+alarm at the title of the Doctor and the fear that he had come to take
+her to task for incompetent medical practice, she sang to him, with
+trembling voice, the love songs of her youth, and related to him more
+than her hearer could note down. Every evening the Doctor brought home
+sheets of paper full of writing and soon found in his collection all
+the well-known characters of our popular legends--wild hunters,
+wrinkled hags, three white maidens, many monks, some shadowy water
+pixies, sprites who appeared in stories as artisan lads, but undeniably
+sprang from a merman; and finally many tiny dwarfs. Sometimes Hans
+accompanied him on these excursions to the country people, in order to
+prevent these visits from becoming known to the father and daughter.
+Now, it was not impossible that here and there a cave or an old well
+was supplied with spirits without any foundation; for, when the wise
+women of the village observed how much the Doctor rejoiced in such
+communications, the old inventive power of the people awoke from a long
+slumber. But, on the whole, both parties treated each other with truth
+and firmness, and, besides, the Doctor was not a man who could easily
+be deceived.
+
+Once when he was returning to the Manor from one of these visits he met
+the laborer's wife on a lonely foot-path. She looked cautiously about
+and at last declared that she had something to impart to him if he
+would not betray her to the Proprietor. The Doctor promised inviolable
+secrecy. Upon this the woman stated, that in the cellar of the
+manor-house, on the eastern side, in the right hand corner, there was a
+stone, marked with three crosses; behind that lay the treasure. She had
+heard this from her grandfather, who had it from his father, who had
+been a servant at the Manor; and at that time the then Crown Inspector
+had wished to raise the treasure, but when they went in the cellar for
+that purpose, there had been such a fearful crash and such a noise that
+they ran away in terror. But that the treasure was there was certain,
+for she had herself touched the stone, and the signs were distinctly
+engraved on it. The cellar was now used for wine, and the stone was
+hidden by a wooden trestle.
+
+The Doctor received this communication with composure, but determined
+to set about investigating by himself. He did not say a word either to
+the Professor or to his friend Hans, but watched for an opportunity.
+His informant sometimes herself carried the wine which was always
+placed before the guests, to the cellar and back. The next morning he
+followed her boldly; the woman did not say a word as he entered the
+cellar behind her, but pointed fearfully to a corner in the wall. The
+Doctor seized the lamp, shoved half a dozen flasks from their places
+and groped about for the stone; it was a large hewn stone with three
+crosses. He looked significantly at the woman--she afterwards related
+in the strictest confidence that the glasses before his eyes shone at
+this moment so fearfully in the light of the lamp, that she had become
+quite terrified--then he went silently up again, determined to take
+advantage of this discovery on the first opportunity in dealing with
+the Proprietor.
+
+But a still greater surprise awaited the Doctor; his quiet labor was
+supported by the good deceased Brother Tobias himself. The friends
+descended one day to Rossau, accompanied by the Proprietor, who had
+business in the town. He conducted his guests to the Burgomaster, whom
+he requested to lay before the gentlemen, as trustworthy men, whatever
+old writings were in the possession of the authorities. The
+Burgomaster, who was a respectable tanner, put on his coat and took the
+learned men to the old monastery. There was not much to be seen; only
+the outer walls of the old building remained; the minor officials of
+the crown dwelt in the new parts. Concerning the archives of the
+council the Burgomaster suggested as probable that there would not be
+much found in them; in this matter he recommended the gentlemen to the
+town-clerk, and went himself to the club in order, after his onerous
+duties, to enjoy a quiet little game of cards.
+
+The town-clerk bowed respectfully to his literary colleagues, laid hold
+of a rusty bunch of keys, and opened the small vault of the city hall,
+where the ancient records, covered with thick dust, awaited the time in
+which their quiet life was to be ended under the stamping machine of a
+paper mill. The town-clerk had some knowledge of the papers; he
+understood fully the importance of the communication which was expected
+from him, but assured them with perfect truth that, owing to two fires
+in the town and the disorders of former times, every old history had
+been lost. There were also no records to be found in any private house;
+only in the printed chronicles of a neighboring town some notices were
+preserved concerning the fate of Rossau in the Thirty Years' War. After
+the war, the place had been left a heap of ruins and almost
+uninhabited. Since that time the town had lived along without a
+history, and the town-clerk assured them that nothing was known here of
+the olden time, and no one cared about it. Perhaps something about the
+town might be learnt at the Capital.
+
+Our friends continued to walk unweariedly from one intelligent man to
+another, making inquiries, as in the fairy tale, after the bird with
+the golden feather. Two little gnomes had known nothing, but now there
+remained a third--so they went to the Roman Catholic priest. A little
+old gentleman received them with profound bows. The Professor explained
+to him, that he was seeking information concerning the ultimate fate of
+the monastery--above all, what had happened in his closing years to the
+last monk, the venerable Tobias Bachhuber.
+
+"In those days no register of deaths was required," replied the
+ecclesiastic. "Therefore, my dear sirs, I cannot promise to give you
+any information. Yet, if it is only a question of yourselves, and you
+do not wish to extract anything from the old writings disadvantageous
+to the Church, I am willing to show you the oldest of the existing
+books." He went into a room and brought out a long thin book, the edges
+of which had been injured by the mould of the damp room. "Here are some
+notices of my predecessors who rest with the Lord; perhaps they may be
+useful to the gentlemen. More I cannot do, because there is nothing
+else of the kind existing."
+
+On the introductory page there was a register of the ecclesiastical
+dignitaries of the place in Latin. One of the first notices was: "In
+the year of our Lord 1637, and in the month of May, our venerated
+brother Tobias Bachhuber, the last monk of this monastery, died of the
+plague. The Lord be merciful to him."
+
+The Professor showed the passage silently to his friend the Doctor, who
+wrote down the Latin words; they then returned the book with thanks and
+took their leave.
+
+"The manuscript after all lies in the house," said the Professor, as
+they went along the street. The Doctor thought of the three crosses and
+laughed quietly to himself; he had in no way assented to the tactics
+which his friend thought fit to adopt for the discovery of the
+manuscript. When the Professor maintained that their only hope rested
+on the sympathy which they might by degrees awaken in their host, the
+Doctor entertained the suspicion that his friend was brought to this
+slow way of carrying on the war not by pure zeal for the manuscript.
+
+The Proprietor, however, maintained an obstinate silence regarding the
+manuscript. If the Doctor threw out any hint upon the subject, the host
+made a wry grimace and immediately changed the conversation. It was
+necessary to put an end to this. The Doctor now determined to insist
+upon a decision before his departure. When, therefore, they were
+sitting together in the garden in the evening, and the Proprietor was
+looking cheerfully and calmly on his fruit trees, the Doctor began the
+attack:
+
+"I cannot leave this place, my hospitable friend, without reminding you
+of our contract."
+
+"Of what contract?" inquired their host, like one who did not remember
+it.
+
+"Regarding the manuscript," continued the Doctor, with emphasis, "which
+lies concealed in this place."
+
+"Indeed! why you yourself said that every place sounds hollow. So we
+would have to tear down the house from roof to cellar. I should think
+we might wait till next spring. When you come to us again; for we
+should be obliged, under these circumstances, to live in the barns,
+which now are full."
+
+"The house may, for the present, remain standing," said the Doctor;
+"but if you still think that the monks took away their monastic
+property, there is one circumstance which goes against your view. We
+have discovered at Rossau that the worthy friar, who had concealed the
+things here in April, died of the pestilence as early as May, according
+to the church register; here is a 'copy of the entry.'"
+
+The Proprietor looked at the Doctor's memorandum book, closed it and
+said: "Then his brother monks have taken away the property."
+
+"That is scarcely possible," replied the Doctor, "for he was the last
+of his order in the monastery."
+
+"Then some of the city people have taken it."
+
+"But the inhabitants of the town abandoned it then, and the place lay
+for years desolate, in ruins and uninhabited."
+
+"Humph!" began the Proprietor, in good humor; "the learned gentlemen
+are strict creditors and know how to insists upon their rights. Tell me
+straightforwardly what you want of me. You must, first of all, point
+out to me some place that appears suspicious, not only to you, but also
+to the judgment of others; and that you cannot do with any certainty."
+
+"I know of such a place," answered the Doctor, boldly, "and I wish to
+suggest to you that the treasure lies there."
+
+The Professor and the Proprietor looked on him with astonishment.
+
+"Follow me into the cellar," cried the Doctor.
+
+A candle was lighted; the Doctor led the way to the place where the
+wine lay.
+
+"What gives you such victorious confidence?" inquired the Professor, on
+the way, in a low voice.
+
+"I suspect that you have your secrets," replied the Doctor; "permit me
+to have mine."
+
+He quickly removed the bottles from the corner, threw the light on the
+stone, and knocked on the wall with a large key.
+
+"The place is hollow and the stone has a peculiar mark."
+
+"It is true," said the Proprietor; "there is an empty space behind it;
+it is certainly not small. But the stone is one of the foundation
+stones of the house, and has not the appearance of ever having been
+removed from its place."
+
+"After so long a time, it would be difficult to determine that,"
+rejoined the Doctor.
+
+The Proprietor examined the wall himself.
+
+"A large slab lies over it. It would, perhaps, be possible to raise the
+marked stone from its place." He considered for a moment, and then
+continued: "I see I must let you have your own way. I will thus make
+compensation for the first hour of our acquaintance, which has always
+lain heavy on my conscience. As we three are here in the cellar like
+conspirators, we will enter into an agreement. I will at once do what I
+consider to be very useless. In return, whenever you speak or write
+upon the subject, you must not refuse to bear testimony that I have
+given in to every reasonable wish."
+
+"We shall see what can be done," replied the Doctor.
+
+"Very well. In the stone quarry at the extremity of my property
+I have some extra hands at work; they shall remove the stone and then
+restore it to its place. Thus, I hope, the affair will be forever
+settled. Ilse, early in the morning let the shelving be removed from
+the wine-cellar."
+
+The following day the stone-masons came, and the three gentlemen and
+Ilse descended into the cellar, and looked on curiously while the men
+exerted their power with pickaxe and crowbar on the square stone. It
+was placed upon the rock, and great exertions were necessary to loosen
+it. But the people themselves declared that there was a great cavity
+behind, and worked with a zeal that was increased by the repute of the
+haunted house. At last the stone was moved and a dark opening became
+visible. The spectators approached--both the scholars in anxious
+suspense; their host and his daughter also full of expectation. One of
+the stone-masons hastily seized the light and held it before the
+opening. A slight vapor came out; the man drew back alarmed.
+
+"There is something white in there," he cried, full of fear and hope.
+
+Ilse looked at the Professor, who with difficulty controlled the
+excitement that worked in his face. He grasped the light, but she kept
+it from him, and cried out, anxiously: "Not you." She hastened to the
+opening and thrust her hand into the hollow space. She laid hold of
+something tangible. A rattling was heard; she quickly withdrew her
+hand; but, terrified threw what she had laid hold of on the ground. It
+was a bone.
+
+All gazed in horror at the object on the ground.
+
+"This is a serious answer to your question," exclaimed the Proprietor.
+"We pay a dear price for our sport."
+
+He took the light and himself searched the opening; a heap of bones lay
+there. The others stood around in uncomfortable silence. At last the
+Proprietor threw a skull out into the cellar, and cried out cheerfully,
+as a man who is relieved from painful feeling:
+
+"They are the bones of a dog!"
+
+"It was a small dog," assented the stone-mason, striking the bone with
+his pick. The rotten bone broke in pieces.
+
+"A dog!" cried the Doctor, delighted, forgetting for a moment his
+blighted hope. "That is instructive. The foundation wall of this house
+must be very old."
+
+"I am rejoiced that you are contented with this discovery," replied the
+Proprietor, ironically.
+
+But the Doctor would not be disconcerted, and related how, in the early
+middle ages, there had been a superstitious custom of enclosing
+something living in the foundation-wall of solid buildings. The custom
+descended from the ancient heathen times. The cases were rare where
+such things were found in old buildings, and the skeleton now found was
+an indisputable confirmation of the custom.
+
+"If it confirms your views," said the Proprietor, "it confirms mine
+also. Hasten, men, to replace the stone."
+
+Then the stone-mason lighted up and felt again in the opening and
+declared that there was nothing more there. The workmen restored the
+stone to its place, the wine was replaced and the matter settled. The
+Doctor bore the jeering remarks, of which the Proprietor was not
+sparing, with great tranquillity, and said to him:
+
+"What we have discovered is certainly not much; but we know now with
+certainty that the manuscript is not to be found in this part of your
+house, but in some other. I take with me a careful record of all the
+hollow places in your house, and we do not give up out claims in regard
+to this discovery; but we consider you from now on as a man who has
+borrowed the manuscript for his own private use for an indefinite time,
+and I assure you that our wishes and desires will incessantly hover
+about this building."
+
+"Pray allow the persons who dwell there to participate in your good
+wishes," replied the Proprietor, smiling, "and do not forget that in
+your researches after the manuscript you have in reality found the dog.
+For the rest, I hope that this discovery will free my house from the
+ill-repute of containing treasures, and for the sake of this gain I
+will be quite content with the useless work."
+
+"That is the greatest error of your life," replied the Doctor, with
+grave consideration; "just the reverse will take place. All people who
+have an inclination for hidden treasure will take the discovery in this
+light, that you are deficient in faith and have not employed the
+necessary solemnities, therefore the treasure is removed from your eyes
+and the dog placed there as a punishment. I know better than you what
+your neighbors will record for posterity. Tarry in peace for your
+awakening, Tacitus! Your most steadfast friend departs, and he whom I
+leave behind begins to make undue concessions to this household."
+
+He looked earnestly at the Professor and called Hans to accompany him
+on a visit to the village, in order to take a grateful leave of his old
+crones, and to obtain one of the beautiful songs of the people, of
+which he had discovered traces, to take home with him.
+
+He was gone a long time; for after the song there came to light
+unexpectedly a wonderful story of a certain Sir Dietrich and his horse,
+which breathed fire.
+
+When, toward evening, the Professor was looking out for him, he met
+Ilse who, with her straw hat in her hand, was prepared for a walk.
+
+"If you like," she said, "we will go to meet your friend."
+
+They walked along a meadow between stubble-fields, in which here and
+there grass was to be seen peeping up amongst the stubble.
+
+"The autumn approaches," remarked the Professor; "that is the first
+sign."
+
+"Winter-time is tedious to some people," answered Ilse, "but it puts
+us, like Till Eulenspiegel, in good spirits, for we enjoy its repose,
+and think of the approaching spring; and when the stormy winds rage
+round us, and the snow drifts to a man's height in the valleys, we sit
+at home in warmth and comfort."
+
+"With us in the city the winter passes away almost unheeded. The short
+days and the white roofs alone remind us of it, for our work goes on
+independently of changing seasons. Yet the fall of the leaf has from my
+childhood been depressing to me, and in the spring I always desire to
+throw aside my books and ramble through the country like a traveling
+journeyman."
+
+They were standing by a bundle of sheaves. Ilse arranged some of them
+as a seat, and looked over the fields to the distant hills.
+
+"How different it is with us here," she began after a pause. "We are
+like the birds which year after year joyously flap their wings and live
+in contentment. But you think and care about other times and other men
+that existed long before us. You are as familiar with the past as we
+are with the rising of the sun and the forms of the stars. If the end
+of summer is sorrowful to you, it is equally as sorrowful to me to hear
+and read of past times. Books of history make me very sad. There is so
+much unhappiness on earth, and it is always the good that come to a
+sorrowful end. I then become presumptuous, and ask why God has thus
+ordered it? It is really very foolish to feel thus. But for that reason
+I do not like to read history."
+
+"I well understand that frame of mind," answered the Professor. "For
+wherever men seek to enforce their will in opposition to their time and
+nation, invariably they meet the fate that befalls the weak. Even that
+which the strongest accomplish has no permanent lastingness. And as men
+and their works disappear, so do peoples. But we should not irrevocably
+attach our hearts to the fate of a single man or a single nation, we
+should rather strive to understand why they have grown great, and why
+they have perished, and what was the abiding gain that through their
+life the human race has eternally won. The account of their fortunes
+will then become but a veil, behind which we discover the operation of
+other forces and powers of life. We learn that in the men that succumb
+in this great struggle and in the nations that decline, a still higher
+hidden life dominates, which lives on creating and destroying in rigid
+accordance with eternal laws. To discover the laws of this higher life
+and to feel, to experience the blessing that this creating and
+destruction has brought into our existence, that is the duty and the
+ambition of the historian. From this point of view dissolution and
+death are transformation into new life. And they who have learned thus
+to look upon and observe the past--for them its study increases their
+security and ennobles their heart."
+
+Ilse shook her head and cast down her eyes.
+
+"And the Roman whose lost book brought you to us, and of which you have
+been talking to-day--is he interesting to you because he looked upon
+the world in the cheerful light that you do?"
+
+"No," answered the Professor, "it is just the reverse that impresses
+one in his work. His serious mind was never borne aloft by joyful
+confidence. The fate of his nation, the future of men, lay like a dark
+impenetrable riddle heavily upon his soul. In the past he saw a better
+time, freer government, stronger men, purer morals. In his own people
+and his own state he saw decadence and dissolution, which even good
+rulers no longer could retard. It is affecting to see how that
+high-minded, thoughtful man struggled in doubt. For he doubted whether
+the horrible fate of millions was the punishment of the Deity or the
+consequence that no God cared for the lot of mortals. Forebodingly and
+ironically he contemplates the history of individuals. To him the
+course of wisdom seems to be to bear the inevitable silently and
+patiently. When, even for a moment, a brief smile curls his lips, one
+perceives that he is looking into a hopeless desert; one can imagine
+fear visible in his eyes, and the rigid expression which remains on one
+who has been shaken to the innermost core by deadly horrors."
+
+"That is sad," exclaimed Ilse.
+
+"Yes, it is fearful. And it is difficult to understand how any one
+could endure life, burdened by such despair. The joyful satisfaction of
+belonging to a nation of growing vigor was not then the lot of either
+heathen or Christian. It is the highest and most indestructible
+happiness of man to have confidence in that which exists, and to look
+with hope to the future. And such is our life now. Much that is weak,
+corrupt, and perishable surrounds us. But with it all there is growing
+up an endless abundance of youthful vigor. The root and the trunk
+of our popular life are sound. Everywhere do we find sincerity in
+family-life, respect for morals and law, sturdy and solid labor,
+everywhere energetic activity. In many thousands we find the
+consciousness that they are increasing the national strength, and in
+millions that are still far behind them the feeling that they also are
+laboring to contribute to our civilization. This is our pleasure and
+glory in modern times, and helps to make us valiant and proud. We well
+know, indeed, that the joyful feeling of this possession may also be
+saddened; for temporary disturbances come to every nation in the course
+of its development. But its progress and prosperity of thriving cannot
+be thwarted, nor its career hindered, so long as these securities of
+power and soundness exist. It is this that gives happiness to him whose
+vocation it is to investigate the past, for he looks down from the
+salubrious air of the heights into the darkness beneath him."
+
+Ilse gazed on him with wonder and admiration, but he bent over the
+sheaves which were between them and continued with enthusiasm:
+
+"Each one of us derives the judgment and habit of mind with which he
+regards the great relations of the world, from the sphere of his own
+personal experience. Look about you. Here at the laughing summer
+landscape, yonder at the busy workingmen, and then at that which lies
+nearest your heart--at your own home and the circle in which you have
+grown to womanhood. How gentle the light, how warm the hearts, how wise
+and good and true the minds that surround you! And think what an
+inestimable gain it is for _me_, to see this, and to enjoy it--enjoy it
+by your side. And when, poring over my books, I hereafter shall vividly
+feel how valiant and noble, how sturdy and true is the life of my
+countrymen about me, I shall evermore in my inmost heart pay, for that,
+a tribute of thankfulness to you."
+
+He stretched out his hand across the sheaves; Ilse seized it, and
+clasped it between hers. A warm tear fell upon it. She looked at him
+with her moistened eyes, while a world of happiness lay in her
+countenance. Gradually a bright glow suffused her cheeks, she rose, and
+a look full of devoted tenderness fell upon him; then she walked
+hastily away from him adown the meadow.
+
+The Professor remained leaning against the sheaves. The meadow-larks on
+the tips of the ears of grain over his head warbled joyfully. He
+pressed his cheek against the stack which half concealed him; thus, in
+happy forgetfulness, he watched the girl descending toward the distant
+laborers.
+
+When he raised his eyes his friend was standing by him; he beheld a
+countenance which quivered with inward sympathy, and heard the gentle
+question:
+
+"What will come of it?"
+
+"Husband and wife," said the Professor decidedly; he pressed his
+friend's hands, and strode across the fields to the songs of the larks
+which greeted him from every sheaf.
+
+Fritz was alone. The word had been spoken. A new and awful fate
+overshadowed the life of his friend. So this was to be the end of it?
+Thusnelda, instead of Tacitus! Fritz felt alas! that the social custom
+of marriage might be a very venerable institution. It was inevitable
+that most men pass through the uprooting struggle which is the
+consequence of a change in the mutual relations of life. He could not
+think of his friend amid his books, with his colleagues, and this
+woman. He felt painfully that his relation to the Professor must be
+changed by it. But he did not think long of himself, but anxiously
+worried about his rash friend; and not less about her who had so
+dangerously impressed the soul of the other. The faithful rash friend
+looked angrily upon the surrounding stubble and straw, and he clenched
+his fists against the deceased Bachhuber; against the valley of
+Rossau; nay, even against the immediate cause of this mischievous
+confusion--against the manuscript of Tacitus.
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER IX_.
+
+                                 ILSE.
+
+
+Since the death of her mother Ilse had lived an unvaried home life.
+Though then scarcely grown up, she had taken charge of the household.
+Spring and autumn came and went. One year rolled over her head like
+another. Her father and sisters, the estate, the laborers, and the poor
+of the valley--these formed her life. More than once a suitor, a
+sturdy, worthy proprietor of the neighborhood, had asked her hand in
+marriage. But she felt contented with her home, and she knew that her
+father wished her to remain with him. In the evening, when the active
+man rested on the sofa, and the children were sent to bed she sat
+silently by him with her embroidery, or talked over the small
+occurrences of the day--the illness of a laborer, the damage done by a
+hail storm or the name of the new milch cow. It was a lonely country.
+Much of it was woodland. Most of the estates were small. There were no
+rich neighbors. And the father, who had worked his way by his energy
+until he became an opulent man, had no inclination for society life,
+nor had his daughter. On Sunday the Pastor came to dinner, and then the
+father's farm-inspectors remained and related the little gossip of the
+neighborhood over their coffee; the children, who, during the week,
+were under the charge of a tutor, amused themselves in the garden and
+fields. When Ilse had a leisure hour she seated herself in her own
+little sitting-room with a book out of her father's small library--a
+novel by Walter Scott, a tale by Hauff, or a volume of Schiller.
+
+But now a profusion of thoughts, images, and feeling had been awakened
+in her mind by this stranger. Much that she had hitherto looked upon
+with indifference in the outer world now became interesting to her.
+Like fire-works which unexpectedly shoot up, illuminating particular
+spots in the landscape with their colored light, his conversation threw
+a fascinating light, now here and now there, on a life that was strange
+to her. When he spoke, when his words, copious and choice, flowed from
+his innermost heart--she bent her head as in a dream, then fixed her
+eyes on his face. She felt a respect commingled with fear for a human
+mind that soared so loftily and firmly above the earth. He spoke of the
+past as intimately as of the present; he knew how to explain the secret
+thoughts of men who had lived a thousand years ago. Ah! she felt the
+glory and greatness of human learning to be the merit and greatness of
+the man who sat opposite to her. The intellectual labor of the
+centuries appeared to her as a supernatural being which proclaimed from
+a human mouth things unheard of in her home.
+
+But it was not learning alone. When she looked up at him, she saw
+beaming eyes, a kindly expression about the eloquent lips, and she felt
+herself irresistibly attracted by the warmth of the man's nature. Then
+she sat opposite to him as a quiet listener. But when she entered her
+room, she knelt down and covered her face with her hands. In this
+solitude she saw him before her and offered him homage.
+
+Thus she awoke to a new life. It was a state of pure enthusiasm, of
+unselfish rapture, such as a man knows not and only a woman can
+experience,--which comes only to a pure, innocent heart when the
+greatest crisis of earthly existence visits a sensitive soul in the
+bloom of life.
+
+She saw also that her father was partially under the same magical
+influence. At dinner, which used to be so silent, conversation now
+flowed as from a living spring; in the evening, when formerly he used
+to sit wearily over the newspaper, many things were now discussed, and
+there were frequent disputes which lasted late into the night. Her
+father, when he took his bedroom candle from the table, was always in
+cheerful humor; and more than once he repeated to himself, pacing up
+and down, sentences that had been uttered by his guest. "He is, in his
+way, a fine man," he said; "in all things stable and sound; one always
+knows how to take him."
+
+Occasionally she was alarmed at the Professor's opinions. The two
+friends, indeed, avoided what might wound the deep faith of their
+gentle hearer, but in the conversation of the Professor there sometimes
+seemed to lie hidden a different conception of venerated doctrines and
+of human duties; and yet, what he maintained was so noble and good that
+she could not guard herself against it by her own reasoning.
+
+He was often vehement in his expressions; when he condemned a thing he
+did it in forcible language, and sometimes became so vehement that the
+Doctor and even her father withdrew from the contest. She thought then
+that he was different from almost all men--prouder, nobler, and more
+decided. When he expected much of others, as is natural to one who has
+lived in closer intercourse with the ideal world than with real life,
+it alarmed her to think in what light she must appear to him. But, on
+the other hand, this same man was ready to acknowledge everything that
+was good, and he rejoiced like a child when he learned that any one had
+shown himself brave and energetic.
+
+He was a serious man, and yet he had become a favorite with the
+children, even more than the Doctor. They confided their little secrets
+to him, he visited them in their nursery, and gave them advice
+according to his youthful recollections, as to how they should make a
+large paper kite; he himself painted the eyes and the mustache, and cut
+the tassels for the tail. It was a joyful day when the kite rose from
+the stubble-field for the first time. Then, when evening came, he sat
+down, surrounded by the children, like the partridge amongst her young.
+Franz climbed up the arm-chair and played with his hair; one of the
+bigger ones sat on each knee. Then riddles were propounded and stories
+told. And when Ilse heard how he repeated and taught small rhymes to
+the children, her heart swelled with joy that such a mind should hold
+such intimate intercourse with simple children. And she watched his
+countenance and saw a child-like expression light up the features of
+the man, laughing and happy; and she imagined him as a little boy,
+sitting on his mother's lap. Happy mother!
+
+Then came the hour among the sheaves, the learned discourse which began
+with Tacitus and ended with a silent acknowledgment of love. The
+blessed cheerfulness of his countenance, the trembling sound of his
+voice, had torn away the veil that concealed her own agitated feelings.
+She now knew that she loved him deeply and eternally, and she had a
+conviction that he felt just as she did. He, who was so greatly her
+superior, had condescended to her; she had felt his warm breath and the
+quick pressure of his hand. As she passed through the field, a glow
+suffused her cheeks; the earth and heaven, fields and sun-lit wood,
+floated before her like luminous clouds. With winged feet she hastened
+down into the woody plain, where the foliage enveloped her. Now she
+felt herself alone. She unconsciously grasped a slender birch tree,
+which shook beneath her convulsive grasp, until its leaves fell in a
+shower around her. She raised her hands to the golden light of the
+heavens and threw herself down on the mossy ground. Her bosom heaved
+and panted violently and she trembled with inward excitement. Love had
+descended from heaven upon the young woman, taking possession of her
+body and soul with its irresistible power.
+
+Thus she lay a long time. Butterflies played about her hair. A little
+lizard crept over her hand. The white tips of the wild flowers and the
+branches of the hazel bent over her, as if these little children of
+nature wished to veil the deep emotions of the sister who had come to
+them in the happiest moment of her life.
+
+At last she rose upon her knees, clasped her hands together, and
+thanked and prayed to God for him.
+
+She became more collected and went into the open valley, no longer the
+quiet girl she was formerly. Her own life and what surrounded her shone
+in new colors, and she viewed the world with new feelings. She
+understood the language of the pair of swallows that circled round her,
+and with twittering tones passed by her swift as arrows. It was the
+rapturous joy of life which impelled the little bodies so swiftly
+through the air, and the birds greeted her with a sisterly song of
+jubilee. She answered the greeting of the laborers who were going home
+from the fields, and she looked at one of the women who had been
+binding the sheaves, and knew exactly what was the state of her
+feelings. This woman also had, as a maiden, loved a strange lad; it had
+been a long and unhappy attachment, attended by much sorrow; but now
+she was comforted going with him to her home, and when she spoke to her
+mistress she looked proudly on her companion, and Ilse felt how happy
+was the poor weary woman. When Ilse entered the farm-yard, and heard
+the voices of the maids who had waited for her in vain, and the
+impatient lowing of the cattle, which sounded like a reproach on the
+loitering mistress, she shook her head gently, as if the admonition was
+no longer for her, but for another.
+
+When she again passed from the farm buildings into the golden evening
+light, with fleet steps and elevated head, she perceived with
+astonishment her father standing by his horse ready to mount, and with
+him, in quiet conversation, the Doctor, and he whom at this moment she
+felt a difficulty in encountering. She approached hesitatingly.
+
+"Where have you been lingering. Ilse?" cried the Proprietor. "I must be
+off," and looking at the agitated countenance of his daughter, he
+added: "It is nothing of importance. A letter from the invalid forester
+calls me to his house. One of the Court people has arrived, and I can
+guess what is wanted of me. I hope to be back at night."
+
+He nodded to the Doctor. "We shall see each other again before your
+departure."
+
+So saying, he trotted away, and Ilse was thankful in her heart for the
+incident which made it easier for her to speak with composure to the
+friends. She walked with them on the road along which her father had
+ridden, and endeavored to conceal her disquiet by talking on
+indifferent subjects. She spoke of the hunting castle in the wood, and
+of the solitude in which the gray-headed forester dwelt among the
+beech-trees of the forest. But the conversation did not flow; each of
+those noble hearts was powerfully touched. The Professor and Ilse
+avoided looking at each other, and the friend could not succeed, by
+jocose talk, in drawing the lovers down to the small things of life.
+
+Ilse suddenly pointed with her hand to a narrow pass on one side, from
+which many dark heads were emerging.
+
+"Look! There are the Indians of Mrs. Rollmaus."
+
+A crowd of wild figures came on with quick step, one behind the other.
+In front a powerful man in a brown smock-frock and shabby hat, with a
+stout stick in his hand; behind him some young men, then women with
+little children on their backs; all around and about the troop ran
+half-naked boys and girls. Most of the strangers were bare-headed, and
+without shoes. Their long black hair hung about their brown faces, and
+their wild eyes, even from afar, shone covetously on the walking party.
+
+"When the autumn comes, these people sometimes wander through our
+country. They are jugglers, going to the fair. But for some years they
+have not ventured into the neighborhood of our estate."
+
+The troop approached; there was a wild rush out of the gang, and in a
+moment the friends were surrounded by ten or twelve dusky figures, who
+pressed on them with passionate gestures, loud cries, and outstretched
+hands--men, women, and children, in tumultuous confusion. The friends
+looked with astonishment on their piercing eyes and vehement movements,
+and on the children, who stamped with their feet, and clawed the
+strangers with their hands like madmen.
+
+"Back, you wild creatures," cried Ilse, pushing herself through the
+throng, and placing herself before the friends. "Back with you. Who is
+the chief of this band?" she repeated with anger, raising her arm
+commandingly.
+
+The noise was silenced and a brown gypsy woman, not smaller than Ilse,
+with shining hair arranged in braids and a colored handkerchief about
+her head, came out from the band, and stretched her hands toward Ilse.
+
+"My children beg," she said; "they hunger and thirst."
+
+It was a large face with sharp features, in which traces of former
+beauty were visible. With head bent forward, she stood before the young
+lady, and her sparkling eyes passed peeringly from one countenance to
+the other.
+
+"We have money only for the men who work for us," answered Ilse,
+coldly. "For strangers who are thirsty, there is our spring; and to
+those who are hungry we give bread. You will get nothing more at our
+house."
+
+Again dozens of arms were raised and again the wild crowd pressed
+nearer. The gypsy woman drove them back by a call in a foreign tongue.
+
+"We wish to work, Mademoiselle," she said, in fluent German, with a
+foreign accent; "the men mend old utensils, and we drive away rats and
+mice from the walls; and if you have a sick horse, we will cure it
+speedily."
+
+Ilse shook her head negatively. "We do not need your help; where is
+your pass?"
+
+"We have none," said the woman; "we came from foreign parts," and she
+pointed to where the sun rises.
+
+"And where will you rest to-night?" asked Ilse.
+
+"We do not know; the sun is going down and my people are weary and
+barefooted," replied the gypsy woman.
+
+"You must not rest near the farm nor near the village houses. The bread
+you will receive at the gate of the farm-yard; you may send some one
+there to fetch it. If you light a fire in any of our fields, take care
+not to go too near the sheaves; we shall look after you. Let none of
+you stroll about the estate or into the village to tell fortunes to
+people, for we do not permit it."
+
+"We do not tell fortunes," answered the woman, touching a small black
+cross which she wore around her neck. "None here below know the future,
+nor do we."
+
+Ilse bent her head reverently.
+
+"Well said," said she. "According to the meaning which seems conveyed
+in your words, you do not remind me in vain of the communion which
+exists between us. Come to the gate yourself, mother, and await me
+there; if you need anything for your little ones, I will endeavor to
+help you."
+
+"We have a sick child, my pretty young lady, and the boys are in want
+of clothes," begged the gypsy woman. "I will come, and my people shall
+do as you wish."
+
+She gave a sign, and the wild troop tramped obediently along the
+side-road that led to the village. The friends looked with curiosity
+after the band.
+
+"That such a scene should be possible in this country I could never
+have believed," cried the Doctor.
+
+"They were formerly quite a nuisance to us," replied Ilse, with
+indifference; "they are seldom about, now. My father keeps strict order,
+and that they know right well. But we must go back to the farm-yard,
+for there can be no harm in caution with this thievish race."
+
+They hastened back to the farm-yard. The Doctor lamented heartily that
+his intended journey prevented him from obtaining information from the
+strangers respecting the secrets of their language.
+
+Ilse called the Inspector, and the intelligence that there were gypsies
+in the neighborhood flew like wildfire over the farm. The stables were
+guarded, the poultry and families of fatted pigs were put in the charge
+of stout maids, and the shepherds and ploughmen received orders to keep
+watch at night. Ilse called the children and gave them their supper,
+but found it difficult to control their excitement. The youngest were
+given over to Mademoiselle, and under strong protest and many tears
+were consigned to the secure protection of their beds. Then Ilse
+collected old gowns and linen, gave a maid two huge loaves, and
+prepared to go to the gate of the farm-yard, where the gypsy woman was
+to await her. The Doctor, in his joy about the strangers, had cast off
+all anxiety concerning his friend.
+
+"Allow us to witness the interview with the sibyl," he begged.
+
+They found the gypsy woman sitting in the dusk before the gate. Near
+her was a half-grown maiden, with brilliant eyes and long tresses, but
+scanty dress. The woman rose and received with a distinguished air the
+bounty which Ilse handed to her.
+
+"Blessings on you, young lady," she exclaimed, "and may all the
+happiness that you now wish be your portion. You have a face that
+promises good fortune. Blessings on your golden hair and your blue
+eyes. I thank you," she concluded, bending her head. "Will not the
+gentlemen also give my little girl a keepsake?" The wild beauty held
+out her hand. "Her face is burnt by the sun; be kind to the poor dark
+girl," begged the old one, looking furtively round.
+
+The Professor shook his head. The Doctor got out his purse and placed a
+piece of gold in the hand of the woman.
+
+"Have you given up fortune-telling?" he asked laughingly.
+
+"Misfortune visits those who prophesy and those who ask," replied the
+gypsy woman. "Let the gentleman be on his guard against all that barks
+and scratches, for there is mischief in store for him from dogs and
+cats."
+
+Ilse and the Professor laughed. Meanwhile the eyes of the gypsy woman
+peered restlessly into the bushes.
+
+"We cannot tell fortunes," she continued. "We have no power over the
+future. And we make mistakes, like others. But we see much, my
+beautiful lady. And though you do not desire it, yet will I tell it
+you. The gentleman near you seeks a treasure, and he will find it. But
+he must take care lest he lose it. And you, proud lady, will be dear to
+a man that wears a crown, and you shall have the choice to become a
+queen. The choice and the torment," she added in a lower tone, and her
+eyes again wandered unquietly about.
+
+"Away with you," cried Ilse, indignantly; "such gossip does not agree
+with your professions."
+
+"We know nothing," murmured the gypsy woman humbly, grasping the
+talisman at her neck. "We have only our thoughts, and our thoughts are
+idle or true, according to a more powerful will. Farewell, my pretty
+lady," she cried out impressively, and strode with her companion into
+the darkness.
+
+"How proudly she walks away," exclaimed the Doctor. "I have much
+respect for the clever woman. She would not tell fortunes, but she
+could not help recommending herself by a bit of secret knowledge."
+
+"She has long ago learnt all about us from the laborers," replied Ilse,
+laughing.
+
+"Where have they pitched their camp?" asked the Doctor, with curiosity.
+
+"Probably beyond the village," answered Ilse. "You may see their fires
+in the valley. These strangers do not like people to come near their
+camp and see what they have for supper."
+
+They descended slowly into the valley and remained standing on the
+border of the brook, not far from the garden. All around them the
+darkness of the evening lay on bush and meadow. The old house stood out
+on the rock, gloomy under the twilight gray of the heavens. At their
+feet the water murmured and the leaves of the trees were agitated by
+the night wind. Silently did the three look upon the vanishing shadows
+of the landscape. The valley alongside the village lay invisible in the
+deep gloom of the night. Not one lighted window was to be seen.
+
+"They have disappeared silently like the bats, which are even now
+flying through the air," said the Doctor.
+
+But the others did not answer. They were no longer thinking of the
+gypsies.
+
+Then through the still evening a low moan was heard. Ilse started and
+listened. Again the same weak tone.
+
+"The children!" cried Ilse, in dismay, and rushed toward the hedge
+which divided the meadow from the orchard. Much alarmed she shook the
+closed gate, then broke through the hedge, and sprang like a lioness
+past the espaliers. The friends hastened after her, but could not
+overtake her. A bright light shone among the trees before her and
+something moved as she flew on. Two men rose from the ground; one
+encountered her, but Ilse threw back the arm which was raised to strike
+her, so that the man reeled and fell back over the weeping children who
+lay on the grass. Felix, who was behind Ilse, sprang forward and seized
+the man, while the Doctor the next moment struggled with another, who
+glided like an eel from under his hands and disappeared in the
+darkness. Meanwhile the first robber struck at the arm of the Professor
+with his knife, wrenched himself away from the hand which held him, and
+in the next moment broke through the hedge. One heard the crackling of
+the branches, and then all was quiet again.
+
+"They live!" cried Ilse, kneeling on the ground, with panting breath,
+and embracing the little ones, who now uttered piteous cries. It was
+Riekchen, in her night-dress, and Franz, also nearly stripped. The
+children had escaped from the eyes of Mademoiselle and the protection
+of the bedroom, and slipped into the garden, to see the fire of the
+gypsies, of which they had heard their sister speak. They had fallen
+into the hands of some of the fellows belonging to the band, who were
+looking out for something to steal, and had been robbed of their
+clothes.
+
+Ilse took the screaming children in her arms, and in vain did the
+friends try to relieve her of the burden. Silently she hastened with
+them into the house, rushed into the room, and, still holding them
+fast, knelt down by them before the sofa, and the friends heard her
+suppressed sobs. But it was only for a few moments that she lost her
+self-control. She rose, and looked at the servants, who thronged
+terrified into the room.
+
+"No harm has happened to the children," she exclaimed. "Go where you
+have to keep watch and send one of the overseers to me."
+
+The Inspector immediately came.
+
+"A robbery has been committed on our estate," said Ilse, "and those who
+perpetrated it should be handed over to the law. I request you to seize
+their camp."
+
+"Their fire is in the ravine behind the village," Replied the
+Inspector; "one may see the flame and smoke from the upper story. But,
+Miss Ilse--I say it unwillingly--would it not be more prudent to let
+the rogues escape? A large portion of the harvest still lies in
+sheaves; they may set it on fire in the night, out of revenge, or
+perhaps venture something still worse, in order to free their people."
+
+"No," exclaimed Ilse; "do not hesitate--do not delay. Whether the
+vagabonds injure us or not will be decided by a higher will. We must do
+our duty. The crime demands punishment, and the master of this estate
+is in the position of guardian of the law."
+
+"Let us be quick," said the Professor; "we will accompany you."
+
+"Well, so be it," replied the Inspector, after consideration; "the farm
+bailiff shall remain here and we others will seek the band at the
+fire."
+
+He hastened out. The Doctor seized a knobbed stick that was in the
+corner of the room. "That will suffice for me," he said, laughing, to
+his friend. "I consider myself bound to show some forbearance toward
+these thievish associates of my studies, who have not quite forgotten
+their old tongue." As he was on the point of leaving the room he
+stopped: "But you must remain behind, for you are bleeding."
+
+Some drops of blood fell from the sleeve of the Professor.
+
+The countenance of the maiden became white as the door against which
+she leant. "For our sake," she murmured faintly. Suddenly she hastened
+up to the Professor and bent down to kiss his hand. Felix restrained
+her.
+
+"It is not worth speaking of Miss Ilse," he exclaimed. "I can move my
+arm."
+
+The Doctor compelled him to take off his coat and Ilse flew for a
+bandage.
+
+Fritz examined the wound with the composure of an old duellist. "It is
+a slight prick in the muscles of the under part of the arm," he said,
+comforting Ilse; "a little sticking-plaster will be sufficient."
+
+The Professor put on his coat again and seized his hat. "Let us start,"
+he said.
+
+"Oh, no; remain with us," begged Ilse hastening after him.
+
+The Professor looked at her anxious countenance, shook her heartily by
+the hand and left the room with his friend.
+
+The hasty tread of the men had died away. Ilse went alone through all
+the rooms in the house. Doors and windows were closed. Hans watched at
+the door opening into the court-yard, his father's sword in his hand.
+And the housemaids overlooked the court-yard and garden from the upper
+floor. Ilse entered the nursery, where the two little ones, surrounded
+by Mademoiselle and their brothers and sisters, were sitting in their
+beds and struggling between their last tears and their sleep. Ilse
+kissed the tired little ones, laid them down on their pillows, then she
+hastened out into the yard and listened, now in the direction in which
+the band lay, now on the other side, where the clatter of horses' hoofs
+might announce the arrival of her father. All was quiet. The maids from
+above called to her that the fire of the gypsies was extinguished, and
+she again hastened up and down, listening anxiously and looking up to
+the starry heaven.
+
+What a day! A few hours before raised above the cares of earth, and now
+by a hostile hand dragged back into terror and anxiety! Was this to be
+a foreboding of her future life? Were the golden doors only opened to
+be closed again discordantly and a poor soul to be thrown back upon
+hopeless aspirations? The deceiver had prophesied of one who might wear
+a crown. Yes, in the realm in which he ruled as king there was a
+blessed serenity and happy peace. Ah, if it might be permitted to
+compare the joys of earth with those of heaven, such learning and power
+of thought gave a foretaste of eternal glory. For thus did the spirits
+of those who had here been good and wise soar, surrounded by light, in
+pure clearness of vision, and speak smilingly and happily to one
+another of all that had been upon earth; the most secret things would
+be revealed to them, and all that was most deeply veiled become
+apparent, and they would know that all the pains and sorrows of earth
+proceeded from eternal goodness and wisdom. And he who here trod this
+earth, a serene heaven in his heart, he had been wounded in the arm by
+a wandering vagabond for her sake; and from love for her he had again
+gone out into the fearful night, and she was troubled with endless
+anguish on his account. "Protect him, all-merciful God," she prayed,
+"and help me out of this darkness; give me strength, and enlighten my
+mind that I may become worthy of the man who beholds Thy countenance in
+past times, and among people that have passed away."
+
+At last she heard the quick trot, and then the snorting of an impatient
+horse at the closed door. "Father!" she cried out, hastily drawing back
+the bolt, and flying into his arms, as he dismounted. The Proprietor
+was much perplexed as he listened to her rapid report. He threw his
+horse's bridle to his son, and hastened to the nursery to embrace his
+little ones, who at the sight of their father remembered their
+misfortunes, and began to weep and lament.
+
+When the Proprietor entered the farmyard, the farming people were drawn
+near the house, and the Inspector stated "that no one was to be seen
+near the fire or in the neighborhood. There was not a trace near the
+fire of their having encamped there. It had been lighted to mislead.
+Theft had been their only object here. The greater part of the band had
+left early in the evening. They are lying concealed somewhere in the
+woods, and when the sun rises they will be far beyond the frontier. I
+know the rascals of old."
+
+"He is right," said the Proprietor to the friends, "and I think we have
+nothing more to fear. Yet we must be very watchful to-night. A poor
+father thanks you," he continued, with emotion. "The last day you have
+passed with us, Doctor, has been unpleasantly eventful, which is not
+usual with us."
+
+"I must say I depart in anxiety about what I leave behind me," replied
+the Doctor, half jesting, half serious. "Just fancy that now the lost
+children of Asia are sneaking about these walls!"
+
+"I hope we are rid of the rascals," continued the Proprietor, turning
+to his daughter; "but you may count upon a different visit soon; our
+sovereign will be here a few weeks hence. I have been called away only
+to hear gossip about his visit, and to learn that it is not yet decided
+where his Serene Highness will breakfast before the hunt. I know what
+that means. The same thing happened fifteen years ago. There is no help
+for it; he cannot remain at the Dragon at Rossau. But this visit will
+not cause us any very serious inconvenience. Let us now wish each other
+good night and sleep in peace."
+
+Both friends entered their bedroom thoughtfully. The Professor stood at
+the window, and listened to the tread of the watchmen, who paced around
+the yard within and without, to the chirruping of the crickets, and to
+the broken sounds which reached the ear from the slumbering fields. He
+heard a noise near him, and looked into the countenance of his faithful
+friend, who in his excitement had clasped his hands.
+
+"She is religious," began Fritz, doubtfully. "Are we not so also?"
+answered the Professor, drawing himself up to his full height.
+
+"She is as far removed from the tenor of your mind as the holy Saint
+Elizabeth."
+
+"She has sense," replied the Professor.
+
+"She is firm and self-confident in her own circle, but she will never
+be at ease in your world."
+
+"She has aptness here--she will have it everywhere."
+
+"You blind yourself," cried Fritz, in despair; "will you disturb the
+peace of your life by a discord, the issue of which you cannot foresee?
+Will you demand of her the great change which she must undergo from
+being a thorough housekeeper to becoming the confidant of your profound
+investigations? Will you deprive her of the secure self-dependence of
+an active life and bring into her future, struggle, uncertainty, and
+doubt? If you will not think of your own peace, it is your duty to show
+consideration for her life."
+
+The Professor leaned his hot head against the window. At last he began:
+
+"But we are the servants and proclaimers of truth; and while we
+practice this duty towards every one who will hear us, is it not right
+and a duty to do it where we love?"
+
+"Do not deceive yourself," answered Fritz. "You, the man of refined
+feeling, who so willingly recognize in every life the right to what
+befits it--you would be the last to disturb the harmony of her being,
+if you did not desire to possess her. What impels you is not a feeling
+of duty, but passion."
+
+"What I do not demand of a stranger, it behooves me to fulfil in the
+woman with whom I unite myself for life. And must not every woman that
+comes to share our life experience a similar change? How high do you
+place the knowledge of the women in the city who come into our circle?"
+
+"What they know is, as a rule, more unreliable than is good for them or
+for us," replied Fritz; "but from their youth they are accustomed to
+view the learning that interests men, with sympathy. The best results
+of intellectual work are so easily accessible to them that everywhere
+they find common ground on which they can meet. But here, however
+charming and admirable this life may appear to our eyes, it is
+attractive just because it is so strange and different from ours."
+
+"You exaggerate, you distort," cried the Professor. "I have felt deeply
+in the time that we have passed here how great are the rights that a
+noble passion has over one's life. This we have forgotten over our
+books. Who can tell what it is that makes two human beings so love one
+another, that they cannot part? It is not only pleasure in the
+existence of the other, nor the necessity of making one's own being
+complete, nor feeling and fancy alone, which joins the object of our
+love--although heretofore a stranger--so intimately to us. Is it
+necessary that the wife should only be the finer reed, which always
+sounds the same notes that the husband plays--only an octave higher?
+Speech is incapable of expressing the joy and exultation that I feel
+when near her; and I can only tell you, my friend, that it is something
+good and great, and it demands its place in my life. What you now
+express are only the doubts of cold reason, which is an enemy to all
+that is in process of becoming, and continues to raise its pretensions
+until it is subdued by accomplished realities."
+
+"It is not alone reason," replied Fritz, offended. "I did not deserve
+that you should so misconstrue what I have said. If it was presumptuous
+in me to speak to you concerning feelings which you now consider
+sacred, I must say in excuse, that I only assume the right which your
+friendship has hitherto granted me. I must do my duty to you before I
+leave you here. If I cannot convince you, try to forget this
+conversation. I shall never touch upon this theme again."
+
+He left the Professor standing at the window, and went to his bed. He
+softly took off his boots, threw himself upon the bed, and turned his
+face to the wall. After a short time he felt his hand seized, the
+Professor was sitting by his bed clasping his friend's hand without
+saying a word. At last Fritz withdrew his hand with a hearty pressure
+and again turned to the wall.
+
+He rose in the early dawn, gently approached the slumbering Professor,
+and then quietly left the room. The Proprietor awaited him in the
+sitting-room; the carriage came; there was a short friendly parting,
+and Fritz drove away, leaving his friend alone among the crickets of
+the field and the ears of corn, whose heavy heads rose and fell like
+the waves of the sea under the morning breeze, the same this year as
+they had done thousands and thousands of years before.
+
+The Doctor looked back at the rock on which the old house stood, on the
+terraces beneath, with the churchyard and wooden church, and on the
+forest which surrounded the foot of the hill; and all the past and the
+present of this dangerous place rose distinctly before him. Its ancient
+character of Saxon times had altered little; and he looked on the rock
+and the beautiful Ilse of Bielstein, as they would have been in the
+days of yore. Then the rock would have been consecrated to a heathen
+god. At that time there would have been a tower standing on it. And
+Ilse would have dwelt there, with her golden hair, in a white linen
+dress with a garment of otter skin over it. She would have been
+priestess and prophetess of a wild Saxon race. Where the church stood
+would have been the sacrificial altar, from which the blood of
+prisoners of war would have trickled down into the valley.
+
+Again, later, a Christian Saxon chief would have built his log-house
+there, and again the same Ilse would have sat between the wooden posts
+in the raised apartment of the women, using her spindle, or pouring
+black mead into the goblets of the men.
+
+Again, centuries later it would have been a walled castle, with stone
+mullions to the windows, and a watch-turret erected on the rock; it had
+become a nest for predatory barons, and Ilse of Bielstein again dwelt
+there, in a velvet hood which her father had robbed from a merchant on
+the king's highway. And when the house was assaulted by enemies. Ilse
+stood among the men on the wall and drew the great crossbow, like a
+knight's squire.
+
+Again, hundreds of years later, she sat in the hunting-lodge of a
+prince, with her father, an old warrior of Swedish times. Than she had
+become pious, and, like a city dame, she cooked jams and preserves, and
+went down to the pastor to the conventicle. She would not have worn
+flowers, and sought to know what husband Heaven destined for her by
+putting her finger at hazard on a passage in the Bible.
+
+And now his friend had met this same Saxon child, tall and strong in
+body and soul, but still a child of the middle ages, with a placid
+expression in her beautiful countenance which only changed when the
+heart was excited by any sudden passion; a mind as if half asleep, and
+of a nature so child-like and pliant that it was sometimes impossible
+to know whether she was wise or simple. In her character there still
+remained something of all those Ilses of the two thousand years that
+had passed away--a mixture of Sibyl, mead-dispenser, knight's daughter,
+and pietist. She was of the old German type and the old German beauty,
+but that she should suddenly become the wife of a Professor, that
+appeared to the troubled Doctor too much against all the laws of quiet
+historical development.
+
+
+
+
+                              _CHAPTER X_.
+
+                              THE WOOING.
+
+
+A few hours after his friend had left the estate, the Professor entered
+the study of the Proprietor, who exclaimed, looking up from his work:
+"The gypsies have disappeared, and with them your friend. We are all
+sorry that the Doctor could not remain longer."
+
+"With you lies the decision whether I too shall be permitted to tarry
+longer here," rejoined the Professor, with such deep earnestness that
+the host arose, and looked inquiringly at his guest. "I come to ask of
+you a great boon," continued the Professor, "and I must depart from
+here if you refuse it me."
+
+"Speak out. Professor," replied he.
+
+"It is impossible for us to continue longer in the open relations of
+host and guest. For I now seek to win the love of your daughter Ilse."
+
+The Proprietor started, and the hand of the strong man grasped the
+table.
+
+"I know what I ask of you," cried the Scholar, in an outburst of
+passion. "I know that I claim the highest and dearest treasure you can
+give. I know that I shall make your life thereby the poorer. For I
+shall take from your side what has been your joy, support, and pride."
+
+"And yet," murmured the Proprietor gloomily, "you spare me the trouble
+of saying that!"
+
+"I fear that at this moment you look upon me as an intruder upon the
+peace of your home," continued the Professor; "but though it may be
+difficult for you to be indulgent towards me, you ought to know all. I
+first saw her in the church, and her religious fervor impressed me
+powerfully. I have lived in the house with her, and felt more every
+hour how beautiful and lovable she is. The influence she exercises over
+me is irresistible. The passion with which she has inspired me has
+become so great, that the thought of being separated from her fills me
+with dismay. I long to be united to her and to make her my wife."
+
+Thus spoke the Scholar, as ingenuously as a child.
+
+"And to what extent have you shown your feelings to my daughter?" asked
+the father.
+
+"I have twice in an outburst of emotion touched her hand," answered the
+Professor.
+
+"Have you ever spoken to her of your love?"
+
+"If I had I should not stand before you now as I do," rejoined the
+Professor. "I am entirely unknown to you, and was brought here by
+peculiar circumstances; and I am not in the happy position of a wooer
+who can appeal to a long acquaintance. You have shown me unusual
+hospitality, and I am in duty bound not to abuse your confidence. I
+will not, unbeknown to you, endeavor to win a heart that is so closely
+bound up in your life."
+
+The father inclined his head assentingly. "And have you the assurance
+of winning her love?"
+
+"I am no child and can see that she is warmly-attached to me. But of
+the depth and duration of the feelings of a young girl neither of us
+can judge. At times I have had the happy conviction that she cherished
+a tender passion for me, but it is just the unembarrassed innocence of
+her feelings that makes me uncertain; and I must confess to you that I
+know it is possible for those feelings to pass away."
+
+The father looked at this man who thus endeavored to judge impartially,
+but whose whole frame was trembling. "It is, sir, my duty to yield to
+the wishes of my child's heart, if they are powerful enough to induce
+her to leave her home for that of another man--provided that I myself
+have not the conviction that it would be detrimental to her happiness.
+Your acquaintance with my daughter has been so short that I do not feel
+myself in the difficult position of having to give my consent, or to
+make my daughter unhappy, and your confession makes it possible for me
+to prevent what would, perhaps, in many respects, be unwelcome to me.
+Yes, even now you are a stranger to me, and when I invited you to stay
+with us I did something that may have an unfortunate sequel for me and
+mine."
+
+As the Proprietor spoke thus in the excitement of the moment, his eyes
+fell upon the arm which had bled yesterday, and then on the manly
+features of the pale countenance before him. He broke off his speech,
+and laying his hand on the shoulder of the other exclaimed:--"No, that
+is not the sentiment of my heart, and I ought not to answer you thus."
+
+He paced up and down the room endeavoring to find composure.
+
+"But you must listen to a word of confidence, and regard what I say as
+not the promptings of importunacy," he continued, more tranquilly. "I
+know well that I have not brought up my daughter for myself, and that I
+must at some time accustom myself to do without her. But our
+acquaintance is too short to judge whether my child would find peace or
+happiness if she were united to you. When I tell you that I honor you
+and take pleasure in your society, that admission does not affect the
+question I have to solve. If you were a country gentleman like me, I
+should listen to your communications with a lighter heart, for during
+the time of your stay here I should have been able to form a definite
+opinion of your qualifications. The difference of our vocations makes
+it not only difficult for me to judge of you, but also dangerous for
+the future of my child. If a father wishes his daughter to marry a man
+who pursues an occupation similar to his own, he is justified in so
+doing in every sphere of life, and more especially is it so with a
+country gentleman of my stamp; for the qualifications of our children
+consist partly in this, that they grow up as the helpmeets of their
+parents. What Ilse has learnt in my house gives me the assurance that,
+as the wife of a country gentleman, she would fill her place perfectly;
+nay, she might supply the deficiencies of her husband, and that would
+secure her a comfortable life, even though her husband did not possess
+all that was to be desired. As the wife of a Professor, she will have
+little use for what she knows, and she will feel unhappy at not having
+learnt many other things."
+
+"I admit that she will be deprived of much; I lay little stress on what
+you call her deficiencies," said the Professor. "I request you to trust
+this matter to me and the future."
+
+"Then, Professor, I will answer you as candidly as you have spoken to
+me. I must not decline your proposal hastily. I will not oppose what
+may perhaps be for the happiness of my daughter. Yet I cannot, with the
+imperfect knowledge which I have of your position, assent to it. And I
+am at this moment in the awkward position of not knowing how I can
+obtain this knowledge."
+
+"I can well understand how unsatisfactory to you must be any opinion
+concerning me which you may gather from strangers. Yet you will have to
+be content to do so," continued the Professor, with dignity.
+
+The father assented silently.
+
+"First," continued the Professor, "I beg to inform you concerning my
+pecuniary circumstances."
+
+He mentioned his income, gave a faithful account of the sources from
+which he derived it, and laid a written statement on the writing-table.
+
+"My legal adviser, who bears a high repute in the University, will give
+you any confirmation you may wish of these details. With respect to my
+capacity as teacher and my position at the University, I must refer you
+to the judgment of my colleagues and the opinion which is held
+concerning it in the city."
+
+The Proprietor looked at the statement.
+
+"Even the significance of these sums as regards your position is not
+quite clear to me. Having no acquaintance in your town, I have no
+facilities for obtaining further information concerning you. But,
+Professor, I will without delay endeavor to obtain all the information
+I can. I will start for the city of your residence to-morrow."
+
+"How I thank you!" exclaimed the Professor, grasping his hand.
+
+"Not yet," said the Proprietor, withdrawing it.
+
+"I will, of course, if you like, accompany you," continued the
+Professor.
+
+"I do not wish that," replied the Proprietor. "You need only write
+letters of introduction for me to your acquaintances. For the rest I
+must rely upon my own inquiries and on chance. But, Professor, this
+journey will only confirm your statements, of the truth of which I am
+already convinced. I may obtain the judgment of others concerning you,
+which will no doubt accord with mine. But let us suppose that the
+information is satisfactory to me, what will be the consequence?"
+
+"That you will permit me to prolong my stay in your house," said the
+Professor; "that you will trustingly permit me to pay my addresses to
+your daughter; and that you will give your consent to our marriage as
+soon as I am certain of your daughter's affection."
+
+"Such preliminaries to wooing are uncommon," said the father, with a
+saddened smile; "but they are not unwelcome to a farmer. We are
+accustomed to see fruits ripen slowly. Thus, Professor, after my
+journey we shall all three retain freedom of choice and a final
+decision. This conversation--shall it remain a secret?"
+
+"I entreat you, yes," said the Professor.
+
+Again a slight smile flitted over the grave countenance of the host.
+
+"In order to make so sudden a journey less surprising you had better
+remain here. But, during my absence, refrain from any increase of
+intimacy with my daughter. You see what great confidence I place in
+you."
+
+Thus the Professor had compelled his host to become the confidant of
+his love. It was a delightful compact between passion and conscience
+that the scholar had entered into, and yet there was an error in this
+arrangement. The agreement, which he had effected with eager spirit and
+beating heart, turned out a little different from the manner in which
+he had represented it to himself and to the father; for, between the
+three individuals who were now to enter upon this high-minded method of
+wooing, all easy intercourse had suddenly vanished. When Ilse, beaming
+with happiness, met the gentlemen on the morning of the eventful
+conversation, she found her heaven obscured and overshadowed with dark
+clouds. The Professor was uneasy and gloomy. He worked almost the whole
+day in his room, and when the little ones in the evening begged him to
+tell them some stories, he declined, took hold of the head of the
+little sister with both hands, kissed her forehead and laid his own
+head upon it as if he wished the child to support him. The words that
+he addressed to Ilse were few and constrained, and yet his eyes were
+fixed incessantly upon her, but inquiringly and doubtingly; and Ilse
+was surprised also at her father, who appeared absent-minded and
+sorrowful. A secret had arisen between her father and herself that
+deeply absorbed him; nay, even between the two men matters were not as
+they had been. Her father, indeed, spoke sometimes in a low voice to
+the friend, but she observed a constraint in both when they talked on
+indifferent subjects.
+
+Then the next morning there was the secret journey of the father, which
+in few words he described as on unimportant business. Had everything
+changed about her since that eventful evening? Her heart beat
+anxiously. A sense of insecurity came over her--the fear of something
+direful that was to befall her. Sorrowfully she withdrew to her room,
+where she struggled with bitter thoughts and avoided being alone with
+the man she loved.
+
+Of course the change became at once perceptible to the Professor, and
+it tortured the sensitive man. Did she wish to repel him in order not
+to abandon her father? Had that been only pleased astonishment which he
+had taken for affection of the heart? These anxieties made his demeanor
+constrained and unequal, and the change in his frame of mind reacted in
+turn upon Ilse.
+
+She had joyfully opened the flower-bud of her soul to the rising light,
+but a drop of morning dew had fallen into it and the tender petals had
+closed again under the burden.
+
+Ilse had acted as doctress and nurse to all who were ill or wounded on
+the estate. She had succeeded her mother in this honorable office; her
+fame in the district was considerable, and it was not an unnecessary
+accomplishment, for Rossau did not possess even one regular
+practitioner. Ilse knew how to apply her simple remedies admirably;
+even her father and the Inspectors submitted themselves obediently to
+her care. She had become so accustomed to the vocation of a Sister of
+Charity that it did not shock her maidenly feelings to sit by the
+sick-bed of a working man and she looked without prudery at a wound
+which had been caused by the kick of a horse or the cut of a scythe.
+Now the loved one was near her with his wound, not even keeping his arm
+in a sling, and she was fearful lest the injury should become greater.
+How glad she would have been to see the place and to have bandaged it
+herself!--and in the morning, at breakfast, she entreated him, pointing
+to his arm: "Will you not, for our sakes, do something for it?"
+
+The Professor, embarrassed, drew his arm back and replied, "It is too
+insignificant."
+
+She felt hurt and remained silent; but when he went to his room her
+anxiety became overpowering. She sent the charwoman, who was her trusty
+assistant in this art, with a commission to him, and enjoined her to
+enter with an air of decision and, overcoming any opposition of the
+gentleman, to examine the arm and report to her. When the honest woman
+said that she was sent by the young lady and that she must insist upon
+seeing the wound, the Professor, though hesitatingly, consented to show
+his arm. But when the messenger conveyed a doubtful report, and Ilse,
+who had been pacing restlessly up and down before the door, again
+ordered cold poultices through her deputy, the Professor would not
+apply them. He had good reason; for however painfully he felt the
+constraint that was imposed upon him in his intercourse with Ilse, yet
+he felt it would be insupportable entirely to lose sight of her and sit
+alone in his room with a basin of water. His rejection of her good
+counsel, however, grieved Ilse still more; for she feared the
+consequences, and, besides, it pained her that he would not accede to
+her wishes. When, afterwards, she learnt that he had secretly sent to
+Rossau for a surgeon, tears came into her eyes, for she considered it
+as a slight. She knew the pernicious remedies of the drunken quack and
+she was sure, that evil would result from it. She struggled with
+herself until evening; at last, anxiety for her beloved overcame all
+considerations, and when he was sitting with the children in the arbor,
+she, with anguish of heart and downcast eyes, thus entreated him: "This
+stranger will occasion you greater pain. I pray you, let me see the
+wound."
+
+The Professor, alarmed at this prospect which threatened to upset all
+the self-control which he had attained by laborious struggling,
+answered, as Ilse fancied, in a harsh tone--but, in truth, he was only
+a little hoarse through inward emotion--"I thank you, but I cannot
+allow that."
+
+Ilse then caught hold of her brother and sister who had been in the
+hands of the gypsies, placed them before him, and exclaimed eagerly:
+"Do you beseech him, if he will not listen to me."
+
+This little scene was so moving to the Professor, and Ilse looked, in
+her excitement, so irresistibly lovely, that his composure was
+overpowered; and in order to remain faithful to her father, he rose and
+went rapidly out of the garden.
+
+Ilse pressed her hands convulsively together and gazed wildly before
+her. All had been a dream; the hope she had entertained in a happy hour
+that he loved her had been a delusion. She had revealed her heart to
+him, and her warm feelings had appeared to him as the bold forwardness
+of a stranger. She was in his eyes an awkward country girl, deficient
+in the refined tact of the city, who had got something into her foolish
+head because he had sometimes spoken to her kindly. She rushed into her
+room. There she sank down before her couch and her whole frame shook
+with convulsive sobs.
+
+She was not visible for the rest of the evening. The following day she
+met the loved one proudly and coldly, said no more than was necessary
+and struggled secretly with tears and endless sorrow.
+
+All had been arranged for a refined and tender wooing. But when two
+human beings love one another they ought to tell each other so, frankly
+and simply, without any previous arrangement, and, indeed--without
+reserve.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+The father had started on his journey. He gave as an excuse some
+business that he meant to transact on the road. The day following his
+massive form and anxious countenance might be seen in the streets of
+the University town. Gabriel was much astonished when the gigantic man,
+taller than his old friend the sergeant-major of the cuirassiers, rang
+at the door and brought a letter from his master, in which Gabriel was
+instructed to place himself and the lodging at the disposal of the
+gentleman. The stranger walked through the rooms, sat down at the
+Professor's writing-table and began a cross-questioning conversation
+with Gabriel, the tenor of which the servant could not understand. The
+stranger also greeted Mr. Hummel, then went to the University, stopped
+the students in the street and made inquiries of them; had a conference
+with the lawyer; visited a merchant with whom he had had dealings in
+corn; was conducted by Gabriel to the Professor's tailor, there to
+order a coat, and Gabriel had to wait long at the door before the
+gossiping tailor would let the stranger go. He also went to Mr. Hahn to
+buy a straw hat; and in the evening the tall figure might be seen
+uncomfortably bent under the Chinese temple, conversing with Mr. Hahn,
+over a flask of wine. It was a poor father anxiously seeking from
+indifferent people intelligence which should determine whether he
+should give his beloved child into the arms of a stranger. What he
+learnt was even more favorable than he expected. He now discovered what
+Mrs. Rollmaus had long known, that he whom he had received into his
+home was, according to the opinion of others, no common man.
+
+When, on returning home, the evening of the following day, he reached
+the first houses of Rossau, he saw a figure hastening towards him. It
+was the Professor, who, in impatient expectation, had come to meet him
+and now hastened up to the carriage with disturbed countenance. The
+Proprietor sprang from his seat and said gently to the Professor:
+
+"Remain with us, and may Heaven give you every blessing."
+
+As the two men walked up the foot-path together, the Proprietor
+continued, with a sudden flash of good humor:
+
+"You have compelled me, dear Professor, to act as a spy about your
+dwelling-place. I have learned that you lead a quiet life, and that you
+pay your bills punctually. Your servant speaks reverentially of you,
+and you stand high in the opinion of your neighbors. In the city you
+are spoken of as a distinguished man, and what you have said of
+yourself is in all respects confirmed. Your lodgings are very handsome,
+the kitchen is too small, and your storeroom is smaller than one of our
+cupboards. From your windows you have at least some view of the
+country."
+
+Beyond this not a word was spoken concerning the object of the journey,
+but the Professor listened hopefully to the other observations of the
+Proprietor, how opulent were the citizens, and how brilliant the shops,
+also of the height of the houses in the market-place, the throngs of
+people in the streets, and of the pigeons, which, according to old
+custom, were kept by the town council, and boldly hopped about like
+officials among the carriages and passing human beings.
+
+It was early morning, and again the first rays of the sun warmed the
+earth. After a sleepless night, Ilse hastened through the garden to the
+little bath-house that her father had built among the reeds and bushes.
+There she bathed her white limbs in the water, dressed herself quickly
+and ascended the path which passed by the grotto to the top of the
+hill, seeking the rays of the sun. As she knew that the cool night air
+still lay in the lower ground, she climbed still higher, where the hill
+sloped steeply towards the grotto down into the valley. There, on the
+declivity, among the copse, she seated herself, far from every human
+eye, drying her hair in the sun's rays and arranging her morning
+attire.
+
+She gazed upon her father's house where she supposed the friend still
+lay slumbering, and looked down before her on the stone roof of the
+grotto, and on the large tuft of the willow rose, with the white wool
+of its seed bursting from the pod. She supported her head on her hand,
+and thought of the evening that had past. How little he had spoken, and
+her father had scarcely mentioned his journey. But whatever anxious
+cares passed through her mind, her spirits had been refreshed by the
+sparkling water, and now the morning cast its mild light over her
+heart.
+
+There sat the child of the house. She wrung the water out of her hair
+and rested her white feet on the moss. Near her the bees hummed over
+the wild thyme, and one little worker circled threateningly round her
+feet. Ilse moved, and pushed one of her shoes; the shoe slid down,
+turned a somersault, and went bounding away over moss and stone, till
+it leapt by the willow rose and disappeared in the depth. She put on
+the fellow of the fugitive and hastened along the path to the grotto.
+Turning round the corner of the rock she stepped back startled, for in
+front of the grotto stood the Professor, thoughtfully contemplating the
+embroidered arabesques of the shoe. The sensitive man was scarcely less
+startled than Ilse at this sudden encounter. He also had been impelled
+to go out into the early morning, to the spot where first the heart of
+the maiden had revealed itself to him. He had seated himself on a stone
+at the entrance, and leaned his head against the rock in deep and
+sorrowful thought. Then he heard a soft rustling, and, amidst gravel
+and sand, the little masterpiece of art fell close to his feet. He
+hastened forward, for he guessed at once to whom the bounding shoe
+belonged. There he saw the loved one standing before him, in a light
+morning dress, enveloped in her long blond hair, like a water fairy or
+a mountain nymph.
+
+"It is my shoe," said Ilse, with embarrassment, concealing her foot.
+
+"I know it," said the man of learning, equally embarrassed, pushing the
+shoe reverently to the border of her dress. The shoe was quickly
+slipped on, but the short glimpse of the white foot suddenly gave the
+Professor heroic courage, such as he had not had for the last few days.
+
+"I will not move from this spot," he cried, resolutely.
+
+Ilse drew back into the grotto and gathered her hair into the net she
+held in her hand. The Professor stood at the entrance of the sanctuary;
+near him hung the long shoots of the blackberry, the bees hummed over
+the wild thyme, and his heart beat. When Ilse, with blushing cheeks,
+stepped out of the grotto into the light of day, she heard her name
+uttered by a voice in deep emotion, she felt her hand pressed, an
+ardent look shot from those true eyes, sweet words fell from his lips,
+his arm clasped her, and she sank silently on his heart.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+As the Professor himself on another occasion had explained, man
+sometimes forgets that his life rests on a compact with the
+overwhelming powers of nature, which, unawares, influence the little
+lords of the world. Thus similar unexpected powers now controlled the
+Professor and Ilse. I know not what agencies of nature sent the bees,
+or threw the shoe. Was it the elves in whom Ilse did not believe?
+Or was it one of the antique acquaintances of the Professor, the
+goat-footed Pan, who blew his reed-pipes in the grotto?
+
+The wooing had begun in a scientific manner, but it had been brought to
+a conclusion with little wisdom and without any regard for formality.
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER XI_.
+
+                               SPITEHAHN.
+
+
+Raven-black night brooded over the hostile houses. The world looked
+like a great coal-pit in which the lights had been extinguished. The
+wind howled through the trees of the park. A rustling of leaves and
+crackling of branches was heard. Nothing was to be seen but a monstrous
+black curtain that concealed the neighboring woods and a black-tented
+roof which was spread over the houses. The streets of the city were
+empty. All who loved their beds had long been lying therein, and
+whoever possessed a nightcap had now pulled it over his ears. Every
+human sound was silenced; the striking of the tower-clock was
+interrupted by the stormy winds, and each tone was driven hither and
+thither, that no one could count the midnight hour. But around the
+house of Mr. Hummel the yelping dogs pursued their wild career in the
+courtyard, undaunted by storm or darkness; and when the wind blew like
+a bugle-horn between the houses, the pack dispelled sleep from men by
+their clamor and din.
+
+"This night suits them well," thought Gabriel, in his room. "This is
+just the weather for them." At last he slept, and dreamt that the two
+dogs opened the door of his room, placed themselves on two chairs
+before his bed and alternately snapped their pocket pistols at him.
+
+As he was lying in this unquiet sleep, there was a knock at his door.
+
+"Get up, Gabriel!" called out the old porter from the factory; "an
+accident has happened."
+
+"Through the dogs," exclaimed Gabriel, springing out of bed.
+
+"Some one must have broken in," cried the man again, through the door,
+"the dogs are lying on the ground."
+
+Gabriel, alarmed, put on his boots and hastened into the yard, which
+was dimly lighted by the dawn. There lay the two poor watch-dogs on the
+ground, with no other sign of life than helpless writhing. Gabriel ran
+to the warehouse, examined the door and windows, and then the house;
+every shutter was closed, and no sign of disturbance could be
+discovered. When he returned, Mr. Hummel was standing before the
+prostrate dogs.
+
+"Gabriel, a dastardly deed has been perpetrated here. Something has
+been done to the dogs. Let them both lie there; an investigation must
+be made. I will send for the police."
+
+"Indeed?" answered Gabriel; "compassion should come first, then the
+police. Perhaps something may yet be done for the poor brutes."
+
+He took the two animals, carried them to the light, and examined their
+condition.
+
+"The black one is done for," he said, compassionately. "The red one has
+still some life in him."
+
+"Go to the veterinary surgeon, Klaus," exclaimed Mr. Hummel, "and ask
+him to do me the favor to get up at once; he shall be remunerated. This
+case must be put into the morning paper. I require satisfaction before
+the magistracy and town council.--Gabriel," he continued, in angry
+excitement, "the dogs of citizens are being murdered: it is the work of
+low malice, but I am not the man to put up with such assassins. They
+shall be made an example of, Gabriel."
+
+Meanwhile Gabriel stroked the fur of the red dog, which rolled its eyes
+wildly under its shaggy brow and stretched out its paws piteously.
+
+At last the veterinary surgeon came. He found the whole family
+assembled in the court. Mrs. Hummel, still in her night-dress, brought
+him a cup of coffee, while drinking which he sympathized with them, and
+then began the examination. The verdict of the expert pointed to
+poisoning. The dissection showed that a little dumpling with arsenic
+had been eaten, and, what vexed Mr. Hummel still more, there were glass
+splinters besides. For the red dog there was a doubtful prospect of
+recovery.
+
+It was a gloomy morning for the Hummel family. Before breakfast Mr.
+Hummel sat down to his writing table and wrote out an advertisement for
+the daily paper, in which ten dollars reward was offered to any one who
+would make known the name of the malignant poisoner of his dog. The ten
+dollars were underlined with three dashes. Then he went to his window
+and looked savagely upon the haunts of his opponent and on the Chinese
+temple which had been the occasion of this new disturbance. Finally he
+began to pace up and down the room, turning to his wife as he passed
+and muttering:
+
+"I have not the slightest doubt about the matter--not the slightest
+doubt."
+
+"I do not understand you," answered his wife, who on this trying
+morning was taking a second breakfast; "and I do not understand how you
+can be so positive in this matter. It is true, there is something about
+those people that has always been repugnant to us, and it may be a
+misfortune to have such neighbors. But you have no right to assume that
+they have poisoned the dogs. I cannot think that such an idea could
+have entered into the head of Mrs. Hahn. I admit that she is an
+ordinary woman. Moreover, the doctor says it was dumplings; which
+points to a woman as the guilty person. But when our red dog was caught
+running off with the snipe they were going to have for dinner, she sent
+me back the dog with her compliments, saying she thought it was not
+good behavior in him, as he had eaten three of the birds. That was
+civil, and I can find no murderous intention in it. And he surely does
+not look as if he would do anything to our dogs at midnight."
+
+"He is a treacherous fellow," growled Mr. Hummel; "but you have always
+had your own opinion about those people. He has played the hypocrite
+toward me from the very first day, when he stood by his pile of bricks
+before these windows and turned his back upon me. I have always allowed
+myself to be persuaded by you women to treat him as a neighbor, with
+greetings and civil speeches; and I have always been silent when you
+have carried on your idle gossip with the woman over there."
+
+"Our idle gossip, Henry," exclaimed the wife, setting down her
+coffee-cup with a clatter; "I must beg of you not to forget the respect
+that is due to me."
+
+"Well, well, I meant no slight," Mr. Hummel hastened to add, hoping to
+allay the storm which he had inopportunely brought upon himself.
+
+"What you meant, you, of course, know. I take it as I heard it. But it
+shows little feeling in you, Mr. Hummel, for the sake of a dead dog to
+treat your wife and daughter as idle gossips."
+
+This disagreement added still more to the gloom and ill-humor of the
+morning, but did not in any way advance the discovery of the culprit.
+It was in vain that the mistress of the house, in order to divert her
+husband's suspicions from the Hahn family, raised many other
+conjectures, and, with Laura's help, tried to throw the blame on their
+own employ�s or the watchman, and that she at last suggested even the
+shop-porter over the way as the possible evil-doer. Alas! the
+reputation of the dogs was so dreadful that the Hummel family could
+more easily count the few people who did not wish evil to the dogs,
+than the many whose wish and interest it was to see the monsters at the
+bottom of Cocytus. The news ran like wildfire through the streets, a
+crowd gathered around the fruit-woman at the corner, and people spoke
+of the evil deed everywhere, pitilessly, hostilely, and maliciously.
+Even among those in the streets who tried to show outward signs of
+sympathy, the prevailing feeling was hardly concealed. It is true there
+were some sympathisers. First Mrs. Knips, the washerwoman, with voluble
+indignation; then even Knips the younger ventured pityingly into the
+neighborhood of the house--he was clerk in the hostile business, having
+gone over to the enemy, but never ceased to show respect to his former
+instructor on all occasions, and to pay unacceptable homage to Miss
+Laura. At last the comedian of the theatre, whom they generally invited
+on Sundays, came, and related many amusing stories. But even these few
+faithful adherents were suspected by some of the household. Gabriel
+distrusted the Knips family, while Laura detested the clerk, and the
+comedian, formerly a welcome guest, had, some evenings before, in
+passing by, inconsiderately expressed to a companion, that it would be
+a praiseworthy deed to remove these dogs from the stage of life. Now
+this unhappy suggestion was repeated to the mistress of the house, and
+it lay heavy on her heart. For fifteen years she had accepted this
+man's homage with pleasure, shown him much friendliness, and given him
+enthusiastic applause at the theatre, not to speak of the Sunday
+dinners and preserves. But now when the gentleman lowered his head
+sympathisingly and expressed his horror and indignation at the deed,
+his face, from the long habit of comic action, lengthened itself so
+hypocritically, that Mrs. Hummel suddenly fancied she saw a devil
+grinning out of the features of the once esteemed man. Her sharp
+remarks about Judases frightened in turn the comedian, revealing to him
+the danger of losing his best house of entertainment, and the more
+dolorous he felt, the more equivocal became his expression.
+
+During all these occurrences the Hahn family kept quiet in the
+background. They displayed no signs of undue pleasure, and no unnatural
+sympathy came from the silent walls. But at mid-day, when Mrs. Hummel
+went to refresh herself a little in the air, she met her neighbor; and
+Mrs. Hahn, who since the garden scene had felt herself in the wrong,
+stopped and expressed her regret in a friendly way that Mrs. Hummel had
+experienced such an unpleasant accident. But the hostile feeling and
+suspicion of her husband echoed in the answer. Mrs. Hummel spoke
+coldly, and both separated with a feeling of animosity.
+
+Meanwhile Laura sat at her writing-table, and noted down in her private
+journal the events of the day, and with a light heart she concluded
+with these lines:
+
+
+     "They're dead and gone! Removed the curse of hate--
+      Erased the stain is from the book of hate."
+
+
+This prophecy contained about as much truth as if, after the first
+skirmish of the siege of Troy, Cassandra had noted it down in Hector's
+album. It was confuted by the endless horrors of the future.
+
+Spitehahn at all events was not gone; his life was saved. But the
+night's treachery had exercised a sorrowful influence on the creature,
+both body and soul. He had never been beautiful. But now his body was
+thin, his head swelled, and his shaggy coat bristly. The glass
+splinters which the skillful doctor had removed from his stomach seemed
+to have gotten somehow into his hairs, so that they started bristling
+from his body like a bottle-brush; his curly tail became bare, only at
+the end did there remain a tuft of hair, like a bent cork-screw with a
+cork at the end. He no longer wagged his tail; his yelping ceased;
+night and day he roved about silently; only occasionally a low,
+significant growl was heard. He came back to life, but all softer
+feelings were dead in him; he became averse to human beings, and
+fostered dark suspicions in his soul; all attachment and fidelity
+ceased; instead of which he evinced a lurking malice and general
+vindictiveness. Yet Mr. Hummel did not mind this change; the dog was
+the victim of unheard-of wickedness, which had been intended for the
+injury of himself, the proprietor of the house; and had he been ten
+times more hideous and savage to human beings, Mr. Hummel would still
+have made a pet of him. He stroked him, and did not take it amiss when
+the dog showed his gratitude by snapping at the fingers of his master.
+
+Whilst the flames of just irritation still shot forth from this new
+firebrand of the family peace, Fritz returned from his vacation.
+His mother immediately related to him all the events of the last few
+weeks--the bell-ringing, the dogs, the new hostility.
+
+"It was well that you were away. Were the beds at the inns comfortable?
+They are so careless nowadays of strangers. I hope that in the country,
+where they rear geese, people show more care. You must talk to your
+father about this new quarrel, and do what you can to restore peace."
+
+Fritz listened silently to his mother's account, and said soothingly:
+
+"You know it is not the first time. It will pass over."
+
+This news did not contribute to increase the cheerfulness of the
+Doctor. Sadly he looked from his room on the neighboring house and the
+windows of his friend. In a short time a new household would be
+established there; might not then his friendship with the Professor be
+affected by the disturbances which of old existed between the two
+houses? He then began to arrange the notes that he had collected on his
+journey. But today the footprints of the grotto gave him an
+uncomfortable feeling, and the tales of the wild hunters made him think
+of Ilse's wise words, "It is all superstition." He put away his papers,
+seized his hat, and went out, meditating, and not exactly gaily
+disposed, into the park. When he saw Laura Hummel a few steps before
+him on the same path, he turned aside, in order not to meet any one
+from the hostile house.
+
+Laura was carrying a little basket of fruit to her godmother. The old
+lady resided in her summer house in an adjacent village, and a shady
+footpath through the park led to it. It was lonely at this hour in the
+wood, and the birds alone saw how free from care was the smile that
+played around the little mouth of the agile girl, and how full of glee
+were the beautiful deep blue eyes that peered into the thicket. But
+although Laura seemed to hasten, she stopped frequently. First it
+occurred to her that the leaves of the copper beech would look well in
+her brown felt hat: she broke off a branch, took off her hat, and stuck
+the leaves on it; and in order to give herself the pleasure of looking
+at it, she held her hat in her hand and put a gauze handkerchief over
+her head for protection against the rays of the sun. She admired the
+chequered light thrown by the sun on the road. Then a squirrel ran
+across the path, scrambled quick as lightning up a tree and hid itself
+in the branches; Laura looked up and perceived its beautiful bushy tail
+through the foliage, and fancied herself on the top of the tree, in the
+midst of the foliage and fruit, swinging on a branch, then leaping from
+bough to bough, and finally taking a walk--high in the air, on the tops
+of the trees--over the fluttering leaves as though upon green hills.
+
+When she came near the water that flowed on the other side of the path,
+she perceived that a large number of frogs, sitting in the sun on the
+bank, sprang into the water with great leaps, as if by word of command.
+She ran up to them and saw with astonishment that in the water, they
+had a different appearance; they were not at all so clumsy; they went
+along like little gentlemen with big stomachs and thick necks, but with
+long legs which struck out vigorously. Then when a large frog steered
+up to her and popped his head out of the water, she drew back and
+laughed at herself. Thus she passed through the wood, herself a
+butterfly, and at peace with all the world.
+
+But her fate pursued her. Spitehahn, from his usual place on the stone
+steps, had watched her movements from under the wild hairs that hung
+over his head whisker-like, he kept her in view, got up at last and
+trotted silently behind her, undisturbed by the rays of the sun, the
+basket of fruit, or the red handkerchief of his young mistress. Between
+the town and the village the road ascended from the valley and its
+trees to a bare plain, on which the soldiery of the town sometimes
+man[oe]uvred, and where in peaceful hours a shepherd pastured his
+flock. The path ran obliquely over the open plain to the village. Laura
+stopped on the height at times to admire the distant sheep and the
+brown shepherd, who looked very picturesque with his large hat and
+crook. She had already passed the flock when she heard a barking and
+threatening cry behind her; turning round she saw the peaceful
+community in wild uproar. The sheep scattered in all directions--some
+running away frightened, others huddled together in a ditch; the
+shepherd's dogs barked, and the shepherd and his boy ran with raised
+sticks around the disturbed flock. While Laura was looking astonished
+at the tumult, the shepherd and his boy rushed up to her, followed by
+two large dogs. She felt herself seized by a rough man's hand; she saw
+the angry face of the shepherd, and his stick was brandished close
+before her eyes.
+
+"Your dog has dispersed my flock. I demand punishment and
+compensation."
+
+Frightened and pale as death, Laura sought for her purse; she could
+scarcely find words to say, "I have no dog; let me go, good shepherd."
+
+But the man shook her arm roughly. Two gigantic black dogs sprang upon
+her and snapped at her handkerchief.
+
+"It is your dog; I know the red rascal," cried the shepherd.
+
+This was quite true, for Spitehahn had also observed the flock of sheep
+and devised his dire plan. Suddenly, with a hoarse yell, he sprang on a
+sheep and bit it severely in the leg. Then followed the flight of the
+flock, rushing together in a heap--Spitehahn in the midst of them,
+barking, scratching and biting, the brute sped along a dry ditch to the
+left, and finally down the slope to the wood into the thickest copse.
+At length he trotted home in safety, showing his teeth, and leaving his
+young mistress trembling beneath the hand of the shepherd, who was
+still brandishing his stick over her.
+
+"Let go of the young lady," called out the angry voice of a man. Fritz
+Hahn sprang forward, pushed back the arm of the shepherd, and caught
+Laura, fainting, in his arms.
+
+The interposition of a third party drew from the shepherd new
+complaints, at the conclusion of which he again, in a flaming passion,
+endeavored to lay hold of the girl, and threatened to set his dogs at
+the Doctor. But Fritz, deeply roused, exclaimed, "Keep your dogs back,
+and behave yourself like a man, or I will have you punished. If the dog
+injured your flock, adequate compensation shall be made. I am ready to
+be security to you or to the owner of these sheep."
+
+Thus he spoke, holding Laura firmly in his arms; her head lay upon his
+shoulders, and the red handkerchief hung over his waistcoat down to his
+breast. "Compose yourself, dear Miss," he said, with tender anxiety.
+
+Laura raised her head and looked fearfully on the countenance which,
+excited with tenderness and sympathy, bent over her, and she perceived
+her situation with alarm. Fearful fate! He again, for the third time,
+the inevitable friend and preserver! She extricated herself from him,
+and said, in a faint voice, "I thank you, Doctor, I can walk alone
+now."
+
+"No, I cannot leave you thus," cried Fritz, and again began to
+negotiate with the shepherd, who meanwhile had fetched the two victims
+of the murderous dog, and laid them down as proofs of the ill deed.
+Fritz put his hand into his pocket and handed the shepherd a part of
+the money promised as compensation, gave him his name, and settled a
+future meeting with the man, who, after the appearance of the money,
+became more calm.
+
+"I pray you take my arm," he said, turning chivalrously to Laura.
+
+"I cannot accept that," replied the girl, quite confused, and thinking
+of the existing hostility.
+
+"It is only my duty as a man," said Fritz, soothingly. "You are too
+exhausted to go alone."
+
+"Then I beg of you to take me to my godmother; she lives near here."
+
+Fritz took the little basket from her, collected the fruit that had
+fallen out, and then conducted her to the village.
+
+"I should not have been so much afraid of the man," said Laura, "but
+the black dogs were so fearful."
+
+She took his arm hesitatingly; for now, when the fright had
+passed, she felt the painfulness of her situation, and was alas!
+conscience-smitten. For early in the day she had thought the travelling
+toilet of the Doctor, as she saw him return home, unendurable; but
+Fritz was not a man who could long be considered unendurable. He was
+now full of tender feelings and care for her, endeavored to spare her
+every roughness on the road, stretching out his foot in going along to
+put the little stones out of the way. He began an indifferent
+conversation about her godmother, which obliged her to talk, and
+brought other thoughts into her head. It happened besides, that he
+himself highly esteemed the lady in question. Indeed, she had once,
+when he was a schoolboy, given him a cherry-cake and he had in return
+composed a poem on her birthday. At the word poem Laura was astounded.
+In that house, too! Could they write poetry? But then the Doctor spoke
+very slightingly of the elevating creations of happier hours, and when
+she asked him:
+
+"Have you really written poetry?"
+
+He answered, laughingly, "Only for home use, like every one."
+
+Then she felt much depressed by his cold disregard of the muse. There
+certainly was a difference between one style of verse and another; at
+Hahn's they only wrote about cherry-cakes. But immediately afterwards
+she blamed herself for her unbecoming thoughts towards her benefactor.
+So she turned in a friendly way to him and spoke of the pleasure she
+had found just before in watching the squirrels of the wood. She had
+once bought one of a boy in the streets and had set it free, and the
+little animal had twice sprung from the trees upon her shoulders; and
+she had at last run away with tears in her eyes, that it might remain
+in the woods. Now, when she saw a squirrel, it always appeared as if it
+belonged to her; and she undoubtedly deceived herself; but the
+squirrels seemed to be of the same opinion with regard to her. This
+story led to the remarkable discovery that the Doctor had had a similar
+experience with a small owl, and he imitated the way in which the owl
+nodded its head when he brought in its food; and in doing so his
+spectacles looked so much like owl's eyes that Laura could not help
+laughing.
+
+Conversing in this way they arrived at her godmother's house. Fritz
+relinquished Laura's arm and wished to take his leave. She remained
+standing on the threshold with her hand on the latch and said, in an
+embarrassed tone:
+
+"Will you not come in, at least for a moment, as you know my
+godmother?"
+
+"With pleasure," replied the Doctor.
+
+Her godmother was sitting in her summer cottage, which was somewhat
+smaller, damper, and less pleasant than her lodging in the town. When
+the children of the hostile houses entered together--first Laura, still
+pale and solemn, behind her the Doctor with an equally serious
+countenance--the good lady was so astonished that she sat staring on
+the sofa and could only bring out the words:
+
+"What do I see? Is it possible? You two children together!"
+
+This exclamation dispelled the magic which for a moment had bound the
+young souls to each other. Laura went coldly up to her godmother and
+related how the Doctor had accidently come up at the time of her
+distress. But the Doctor explained that he had only wished to bring the
+young lady safely to her; then he inquired after the health of the old
+lady and took his leave.
+
+While her godmother was applying restoratives and determining
+that Laura should return home another way under the care of her
+maid-servant, the Doctor went back with light steps to the wood. His
+frame of mind was entirely changed and a smile frequently passed over
+his countenance. The thought was constantly recurring to him how the
+girl had rested in his arms. He had felt her bosom against his; her
+hair had touched his cheeks and he had gazed on her white neck. The
+worthy youth blushed at the thought and hastened his steps. In one
+thing at least the Professor was not wrong--a woman is, after all, very
+different from the ideal that a man derives from the study of human
+life and the history of the world. It certainly seemed to the Doctor
+now that there was something very attractive in wavy locks, rosy cheeks
+and a beautiful form. He admitted that this discovery was not new, but
+he had not hitherto felt its value with such distinctness. It had been
+so touching when she recovered from her swoon, opened her eyes and
+withdrew herself bashfully from his arms. Also his having defended her
+so valiantly filled him with cheerful pride. He stopped on the field of
+battle and laughed out right heartily. Then he went along the same road
+by which Laura had come from the wood. He looked along the ground as if
+he could discover the traces of her little feet upon the gravel, and he
+enjoyed the brightness and warmth of the air, the alluring song of the
+birds, the fluttering of the dragon-flies, with as light a heart as his
+pretty neighbor had done shortly before. Then the recollection of his
+friend came across him. He thought, with satisfaction, of the
+agitations of the Professor's mind and the commotion which Thusnelda
+had brought into it. The result had had a droll effect upon the
+Professor. His friend had been very comical in the pathos of his rising
+passion. Such a firm, earnest being contrasted curiously with the
+whimsical attacks which fate makes on the life of earth-born creatures.
+When he came to the last bush in which rustled one of the little
+grasshoppers, whose chirping he had often heard in times of anxiety, he
+spoke out gaily, "Even these have their turn, first the sheep, then the
+grasshoppers." He began singing half aloud a certain old song in which
+the grasshoppers were asked to go away and no longer to burden his
+spirit. Thus he returned home from his walk in right cheerful frame of
+mind, like a man of the world.
+
+"Henry," began Mrs. Hummel, in the afternoon, solemnly to her husband,
+"compose yourself to listen to a terrible story. I conjure you to
+remain calm and avoid a scene, and take pains to overcome your
+aversion. And, above all, consider our feelings."
+
+She then related to him the misfortune that had occurred.
+
+"As to the dog," replied Mr. Hummel, emphatically, "it has not been
+clearly shown that it was our dog. The testimony of the shepherd does
+not satisfy me; I know this fellow and require an impartial witness.
+There are so many strange dogs running about the city nowadays that the
+safety of the community is endangered, and I have often said it is a
+disgrace to our police. But if it should be our dog, I cannot see
+anything particularly wrong about it. If the sheep stretched out its
+leg to him and he bit it a little, that is its own affair and there is
+nothing to be said about it. As to what further concerns the shepherd,
+I know his master--so that is my affair. Finally, with regard to the
+young man across the way that is your affair. I do not wish to visit on
+him the evil conduct of his parents, but I must say once for all that I
+will have nothing to do with the people opposite."
+
+"I must call your attention to the fact, Mr. Hummel," interposed his
+wife, "that the Doctor has already paid money to the shepherd."
+
+"Money for my child? That I will not tolerate," exclaimed Mr. Hummel.
+"How much did he pay?"
+
+"But father----" said Laura imploringly.
+
+"Can you expect," exclaimed Mrs. Hummel, reproachfully, "that your
+daughter, in danger of death, should count the groschens that her
+rescuer paid for her?"
+
+"That's just like a woman," grumbled the master of the house; "you have
+no head for business. Can you not incidentally ask him? The shepherd I
+take upon myself, but shall not trouble myself about the Doctor. Only
+this I tell you. The affair must be shortly settled and our relations
+with that house must remain as before. All I ask is to go on smoothly.
+I intend to take no notice of these Hahns."
+
+After this decision he left the ladies to their feelings.
+
+"Your father is right," said Mrs. Hummel, "to leave the principal
+matter to us. With his harsh disposition thanks would come very
+ungraciously."
+
+"Mother," said Laura, entreatingly, "you have more tact than I. Can you
+not go over there?"
+
+"My child," answered Mrs. Hummel, clearing her throat, "that is not
+easy. This unfortunate occurrence of the dogs has left us women too
+much at variance. No, as you are the principal person now concerned,
+you must go over there yourself."
+
+"I cannot visit the Doctor," exclaimed Laura alarmed.
+
+"That is not necessary," said Mrs. Hummel, soothingly. "There is one
+advantage our neighborhood possesses--we are able to see from our
+windows when the men go out. You may then rush over to the mother and
+address your thanks for the son to her. You are very judicious, my
+child, and will know how to act."
+
+Thereupon Laura took her seat at the window, not well pleased to sit as
+watcher upon her neighbors; this lying in wait was repugnant to her. At
+last the Doctor appeared on the threshold; he looked the same as usual;
+there was nothing chivalrous to be seen in him; his figure was slender
+and he was of middle height--Laura liked tall people. He had an
+intellectual countenance, but it was concealed by his large spectacles,
+which gave him a pedantic appearance; when he did smile his face became
+quite handsome, but his usual serious expression was not becoming to
+him. Fritz disappeared round the corner and Laura put on her hat with a
+heavy heart and went into the hostile house, which she had never yet
+entered. Dorchen, who was not in the secret, looked astonished at the
+visit, but with quick intuition connected it with the return of the
+Doctor and announced, of her own accord, that neither of the gentlemen
+were at home, but that Mrs. Hahn was in the garden.
+
+Mrs. Hahn was sitting in the Chinese temple. Both women stood opposite
+each other with a feeling of embarrassment; both thought at the same
+time of their last conversation and to both the recollection was
+painful. But with Mrs. Hahn the danger to which Laura had been exposed
+at once overcame this natural nervousness. "Ah, you poor young lady!"
+she began, but while overflowing with compassion, with delicate tact
+she drew away from the Chinese building, feeling that it was not an
+appropriate place for this visit and invited her to sit on a little
+bench in front of the white Muse. This was the pleasantest spot about
+the house; here the orange tree smiled upon its donor, and Laura could
+bring herself into a grateful mood. She told her neighbor how deeply
+she felt indebted to the Doctor, and she begged her to say this to her
+son, because she herself in the confusion had not properly fulfilled
+this duty. She then entered into the necessary business about the bad
+shepherd. Good Mrs. Hahn was pleased with her thanks and in a motherly
+way begged Laura to take off her hat for a little while, as it was warm
+in the garden. But Laura did not take off her hat. She expressed in
+fitting terms her pleasure in the garden, said how beautifully it
+bloomed, and heard with satisfaction of the splendid orange tree which
+had been sent anonymously to Mr. Hahn, the fruit of which was sweet,
+for Mr. Hahn had celebrated the return of his son by an artistic drink,
+for which he had taken the first fruit of the little tree.
+
+It was altogether a diplomatic visit, not extended unnecessarily; and
+Laura was glad when, on departing, she had repeated her compliments and
+thanks to the Doctor.
+
+In Laura's secret record, also, the events of this day were very
+shortly disposed of. Even an observation she had begun on the happiness
+of the lonely dwellers in the wood remained unfinished. How was it,
+Laura?--you, who write down everything; who, when an insect or a
+sparrow hops in at the window, burst forth into verse! Here was an
+event influencing your whole life--danger, unconsciousness in the arms
+of a stranger, who, in spite of his learned aspect, is a handsome
+youth! This would be the time to depict and indulge in fancy dreams.
+Capricious girl, why does this adventure lie like a dead stone in the
+fantastic landscape that surrounds thee? Is it with thee as with the
+traveler, who, weary of the Alpine scenery, looks below him and wonders
+that this marvelous nature so little impresses him, till gradually, but
+perhaps not for years, the scenes pursue him, waking or dreaming, and
+draw him anew to the mountains? Or has the nearness of the wicked
+animal who occasioned the outrage impeded the flight of your soaring
+wings? There he lies before your threshold, red and ragged, licking his
+lips.
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER XII_.
+
+                     THE DEPARTURE FROM THE ESTATE.
+
+
+Autumn had come. The trees about the house had assumed their colored
+dress of decay. White webs hung over the stubble, and the dew drops lay
+upon them till the wind tore the woven fabrics away and bore them from
+field and valley into the blue distance. A happy pair went hand in hand
+about the place. This year the fall of the leaf did not affect the
+Professor, for a new spring had begun in his life; and his happiness
+was written in his countenance in characters which might be read by the
+most unlearned.
+
+Ilse was betrothed. Modestly she bore the invisible crown which,
+according to the opinion of the household and neighborhood, now
+encircled her head. There were still hours in which she could scarcely
+believe in her happiness. When she rose early from her bed, and heard
+the trailing of the plough, or when she stood in the dairy amidst the
+clattering of the milk pails, her future appeared like a dream. But in
+the evening, when she was sitting near her beloved one, listening to
+his words and conversing on subjects serious and trifling, she would
+lay her hand gently on his arm in order to assure herself that he
+belonged to her, and that she was thenceforth to enter into the life in
+which his spirit moved.
+
+The marriage was to take place before the winter, and before the
+lectures began at the University. For the Professor had petitioned
+against a long engagement and the father had yielded.
+
+"I would gladly have kept Ilse with me over the winter. Clara must
+assume a portion of her duties, and the guidance of her sister would
+have been a great help to her. But it is better for you that it should
+be otherwise. You, my son, have sought the hand of my daughter after a
+short acquaintance, and the sooner Ilse accustoms herself to the life
+of the city, the better it will be for you both; and I think it would
+be easier for her in the winter."
+
+It was a time of happy excitement, and the necessity of providing for
+the new household brought down the feelings of the betrothed from their
+state of exaltation to earthly things.
+
+The Professor made a journey to the University. He went first to his
+friend.
+
+"Wish me joy," he exclaimed; "have confidence in her and me."
+
+The Doctor embraced him and never left his side during his stay. He
+accompanied him in all his shopping expeditions and assisted him in the
+arrangement of the rooms. Gabriel, who, from the visit of the country
+gentleman, had anticipated coming events, and who had become doubtful
+of his own indispensability, felt proud when the Professor said to him:
+
+"Between you and me things are to remain as they were. Do your best to
+make yourself useful to my wife."
+
+Then came Mr. Hummel. In the name of the family he extended his
+congratulations, and of his own accord offered the use of two rooms in
+his house which he himself did not occupy. But Laura was more anxious
+than all the rest about the new inmate. She burst forth in verse thus:
+
+           "How will she be, of sweet or lofty mien?
+            Proud, dignified, or charmingly serene?
+            My heart beats fast and thoughts in chaos seem!
+            Will fond anticipations prove a dream?"
+
+When the Professor begged of her and her mother to receive his future
+wife with friendliness and help her in her arrangements, and when he
+added to Laura that he hoped she would be on a friendly footing with
+his bride, he did not guess how much happiness he had given that young
+heart, which felt an unquiet longing to attach itself devotedly to some
+one. The indefinite descriptions which he gave concerning the character
+of his intended made a very vague impression which to Laura became a
+frame in which she daily depicted new faces.
+
+Meanwhile the women were occupied in the old house preparing Ilse's
+outfit. The approaching marriage of her sister had transformed Clara
+into a young lady; she helped and gave good advice, and in everything
+showed herself clever and practical. Ilse spoke of this in terms of
+praise one evening to her father and then threw her arms around his
+neck and burst into tears. The father's mouth quivered; he did not
+answer, but he held his daughter close to his heart. It fortunately
+happened that the last weeks before their separation were full of work
+and distraction. There was yet much to be done in the household and the
+father would not permit the betrothed couple to omit a single visit to
+his acquaintances in the neighborhood.
+
+One of the first was to the family of Rollmaus. Ilse in a special
+letter had informed Mrs. Rollmaus of her betrothal; and this had
+created great excitement. Mrs. Rollmaus burst forth into a stream of
+triumph; but Mr. Rollmaus saddled his horse and rode to Bielstein, but
+not to the house. He inquired for the Proprietor at the gate of the
+court-yard and rode to meet him in the field. There he took him aside
+and began his congratulations with this short question:
+
+"What is he worth?"
+
+The question was answered numerically, and he seemed satisfied. For he
+turned his horse round, trotted up to the house and extended his
+congratulations to Ilse and her betrothed, whom he now looked upon as
+her equal, and this time he pressingly repeated his invitation to call.
+After his return, he said to his wife:
+
+"I could have wished a better match for Ilse, but the man is not so bad
+after all."
+
+"Rollmaus," replied the wife, "I hope you will behave properly on this
+occasion."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked the Crown Inspector.
+
+"You must propose the health of the betrothed couple at dinner, when
+they come."
+
+The husband muttered a suppressed growl. "But I'll have none of your
+oratorical trash and sentiment; I will have nothing to do with that."
+
+"The eloquence must be in the introduction," said Mrs. Rollmaus; "and
+if you will not do it, I will undertake it myself. You may merely
+propose the health."
+
+The house of Rollmaus displayed its finest table linen and dinner
+service for the visit, and Mrs. Rollmaus showed not only a good heart
+but good cooking. After the first course she clinked her glass and
+began excitedly:
+
+"Dear Ilse, as Mr. Rollmaus in proposing your health will express
+himself shortly and laconically, I take the occasion to mention
+beforehand that as old friends of your parents, we wish you joy from
+the bottom of our hearts. And as we have lived together as good
+neighbors, sympathizing both in misfortune and when there was an
+agreeable addition to the family, and as we have often rendered each
+other mutual assistance in household matters, it is very sad for us to
+think that you are going to leave our country. Yet we rejoice that you
+are going to a city where intellect and higher aims are appreciated. I
+will not be voluminous, therefore I beg of you both to remember us with
+true friendship."
+
+She put her handkerchief to her eyes and Mr. Rollmaus expressed the
+family feeling generally, in four words:
+
+"Health to the couple."
+
+At departing Mrs. Rollmaus wept a little and begged the Proprietor to
+permit them to be at the marriage, though no other guests were to be
+present.
+
+There was to be still another distraction. The Sovereign wished to stop
+on the way to his hunting castle and take breakfast in the old house.
+
+"It is well. Ilse, that you are with us," said her father.
+
+"But one does not know at all what such a person is accustomed to,"
+rejoined Ilse, between pleasure and anxiety.
+
+"His own cook will come over from the Forester's house; he will help.
+Only see to it that he finds something in the kitchen."
+
+It was a day of busy preparation, and the children, the housekeeper and
+the workwomen sat among heaps of branches and autumn flowers, twining
+wreaths and garlands.
+
+"Spare nothing," said Ilse to the old gardener; "he is the beloved
+father of our country. We, his children, bring him our flowers as a
+tribute."
+
+Hans, with the help of the Professor, arranged immense emblems and
+monograms of dahlias.
+
+The evening before the hunt the purveyor and cook, with their
+attendants, arrived. The purveyor begged leave to set the table in the
+garden. "The Sovereign will be accompanied by the necessary servants;
+the rest of the waiting may be done by the waiting-maids of the house.
+Country customs please his Highness."
+
+On the morning of the chase the Proprietor rode in his best clothes to
+Rossau to receive the Sovereign, and the children thronged round the
+windows of the upper story, spying along the highway like bandits.
+Shortly before midday the carriage came up the hill and stopped at the
+door of the house. The Proprietor and Forester, who were riding on each
+side of the royal carriage, dismounted. The Sovereign descended with
+his suite, greeting them as he crossed the threshold. He was of
+advanced age and middle height; had a small delicate face, from which
+could be seen that in youth he had been considered a handsome man, with
+two intelligent eyes, beneath which were many small wrinkles. Ilse
+entered the hall and the Proprietor introduced his daughter in his
+simple way. The Sovereign greeted Ilse graciously with a few sentences
+and favored the Professor, who was presented to him as bridegroom of
+the daughter, with some attention; whereupon the Professor was invited
+by the master of the hounds to join the party at breakfast. The
+Sovereign stepped into the garden directly, praised the house and the
+landscape and recollected having been here with his father as a boy of
+fourteen.
+
+Breakfast passed off admirably. The Sovereign asked questions of the
+Proprietor, that evinced a great interest in the condition of the
+country. When they arose from the table, he approached the Professor,
+asked various particular questions about the University, and knew the
+names of several of his colleagues. The answers and general demeanor of
+the Scholar induced him to prolong the conversation. He told him that
+he himself was somewhat of a collector. He had brought ancient coins
+and other antiques from Italy and any increase in his collection gave
+him much pleasure. And he was pleased to find that the Professor was
+already acquainted with several of the more important ones.
+
+When the Sovereign, in conclusion, asked the Professor, whether he
+belonged to this country, Felix answered that accident had brought him
+there. It suddenly occurred to him that this was an opportunity, which
+might never recur, of making known to the highest power in the country
+the fate of the lost manuscript, and thereby, perhaps, gaining an order
+for further research in the residence. He began his account. The
+Sovereign listened with evident excitement. While cross-questioning him
+about it, he drew him further from the company and seemed so entirely
+engrossed in the affair as to forget the hunting. The master of the
+hounds, at least, looked at his watch often and spoke to the Proprietor
+of the interest, which the Sovereign seemed to take in his son-in-law.
+At last his Highness closed the conversation:--
+
+"I thank you for your communication. I value the confidence which you
+have shown me. If I can be of any use to you in this matter apply
+directly to me; and should you happen to come into my neighborhood, let
+me know. It would give me pleasure to see you again."
+
+When the Sovereign passed through the hall to the carriage he stopped
+and looked round. The master of the hounds gave the Proprietor a hint.
+Ilse was called and again made her obeisance, and the Sovereign in a
+few words thanked her for her hospitable reception. Before the carriage
+had disappeared from the farm-buildings the Sovereign again looked back
+to the house, and this civility was fully appreciated.
+
+"He turned quite round," said one of the laborer's wives, who had
+placed herself with the working people near the evergreen arch by the
+barns.
+
+All were contented and rejoiced in the graciousness and civility which
+had been given and received in good part. Ilse praised the Sovereign's
+attendants, who had made everything so easy; and the judicious
+questions of the ruler had pleased the Professor much. When the
+Proprietor returned in the evening, he related how well the chase had
+gone off, and that the Sovereign had spoken most kindly to him and had
+wished him joy of his son-in-law before everybody.
+
+The last day that the maiden was to pass in her father's house came.
+She went with her sister Clara down to the village, stood by the window
+of the poor Lazarus, stopped at every house and committed the poor and
+sick to the care of her sister. Then she sat a long time with the
+Pastor in his study. The old man held his dear child by the hand and
+would not let her go. On departing, he gave her the old Bible which his
+wife had used.
+
+"I meant to take it with me to my last abode," he said, "but it will be
+better preserved in your hands."
+
+When Ilse returned she seated herself in her room and the maids and
+workwomen of the house entered one after another. She took leave of
+each of them separately and spoke to them once more of what each had
+most at heart, gave comfort and good advice, and a small keepsake from
+her little store. In the evening she sat between her father and lover.
+The tutor had taught the children some verses; Clara brought the bridal
+wreath, and the little brother appeared as a guardian angel; but when
+he began his speech he burst out sobbing, concealed his head in Ilse's
+lap and would not be comforted.
+
+When at bed-time they had all left. Ilse for the last time sat in her
+chair in the sitting room. When her father prepared to retire, she
+handed him a candle. The father put it down and paced up and down
+without speaking. At last he began:
+
+"Your room, Ilse, shall remain unchanged. Should you return to us you
+shall find it as you left it. No one can replace you here. No one can
+be what you have been to your brothers, sisters, and to your father. I
+give you up with sorrow to enter upon a life which is unknown to us
+both. Good night, my beloved child. Heaven's blessing upon you. God
+guard your noble heart. Be brave. Ilse, for life is full of trials."
+
+He drew her to him and she wept quietly on his breast.
+
+The following day the morning sun shone through the windows of the old
+wooden church upon the place before the altar. Again Ilse's head was
+surrounded by a heavenly radiance and the countenance of the man into
+whose hand the old pastor laid that of his favorite beamed with
+happiness. The children of the house and the workwomen of the farm
+strewed flowers. Ilse, with her wreath and veil, stepped over the last
+flowers of the garden, looking heavenward. From the arms of her father
+and sisters, amid the loudly expressed blessings of Mrs. Rollmaus and
+the gently-murmured prayer of the old Pastor, her husband helped her
+into the carriage. Another hurrah from the people, one more glance at
+the old home, and Ilse pressed the hand of her husband and clung
+closely to him.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XIII_.
+
+                    THE FIRST GREETINGS OF THE CITY.
+
+
+The leaves were falling in the woods around the city. Ilse stood at the
+window thinking of her home. The wreaths over the door were faded, the
+linen and clothes were stowed away in the presses, her own life glided
+on so quietly, while all around her was noise and bustle. Her husband
+was sitting in the next room over his work; no sound but the rustling
+of the leaves as he turned them penetrated through the door and at
+times the clattering of plates in the kitchen which was close by. Her
+dwelling was very pretty, but hedged in on all sides; at one side the
+narrow street; behind was the neighboring house, with many windows for
+curious eyes; toward the wood, also, the horizon was shut in by grey
+trunks and towering branches. From the distance, the hum and cries of
+the busy town sounded in her ear from morning till night; above were to
+be heard the tones of a pianoforte, and on the pavement the unceasing
+tread of the passers-by, wagons rolling and loud voices quarreling.
+However long she looked out of the window, there were always new people
+and unknown faces, many beautiful equipages and, on the other hand,
+many poor people. Ilse thought that every passer-by who wore
+fashionable attire must be a person of distinction, and when she saw a
+shabby dress she thought how heavily life pressed upon the poor here.
+But all were strangers to her; even those who dwelt near, and could
+watch her proceedings on all sides, had little intercourse with her,
+and if she inquired concerning individuals, the inmates of her house
+could give but scanty account of them. All was strange and cold and all
+was an endless tumult. Ilse felt in her dwelling as if she were on a
+small island in a stormy sea, and the strange life caused her much
+anxiety.
+
+But, however gigantic and noisy the town seemed to Ilse, it was at
+bottom a friendly monster. Nay, it fostered perhaps, rather than
+otherwise, a secret inclination to poetic feelings and to private
+courtesy. It was true that the stern burgomasters had given up the
+custom of welcoming distinguished strangers with wine and fish, but
+still they sent their first morning greeting through their winged
+prot�g�s, which had already delighted Ilse's father. The pigeons flew
+round Ilse's window, crowded against the panes and picked at the wood
+till Ilse strewed some food for them. When Gabriel removed the
+breakfast, he could not refrain from taking some credit for this to
+himself:
+
+"I have for some weeks past scattered food before the window, thinking
+it would be agreeable to you to see the pigeons."
+
+And when Ilse looked at him gratefully, he continued ingenuously:
+
+"For I also came from the country, and when I first went to the
+barracks I shared my rations with a strange poodle."
+
+But the town took care that other birds should become intimate with the
+lady from the country. On the very first day that Ilse went out alone
+(it was an unpleasant walk, for she could scarcely resist stopping
+before the showy shop-windows, and she colored when people looked
+boldly in her face), she had found some poor children in front of a
+confectioner's, who looked longingly through the windows at the pastry;
+this longing look bad touched her and she entered and distributed cakes
+among them. Since then, it happened that every noon there was a slight
+ringing at Ilse's door, and little children, in tattered clothes,
+produced empty cans, which were filled and carried home, to the great
+vexation of Mr. Hummel, who could not approve of such encouragement to
+rogues.
+
+When Ilse, on the evening of her arrival, was taken by her husband into
+her room, she found a beautiful cover spread over her table, a
+masterpiece of fancy work, and on it a card, with the word Welcome.
+Gabriel stated that Miss Laura had brought this present. The first
+visit, therefore, on the following morning was made to those who
+occupied the lower story. When Ilse entered the sitting-room of the
+Hummel family, Laura sprang up blushing, and stood embarrassed before
+the Professor's wife; her whole soul went out to the stranger, but
+there was something in Ilse's demeanor that inspired her with awe. Ah!
+the much longed-for one was undoubtedly noble and dignified, even more
+so than Laura had expected; and she felt herself so very insignificant
+and awkward that she shyly received Ilse's warm thanks and drew back
+some steps, leaving it to her mother to do the talking. But she did not
+weary of gazing at the beautiful woman and, in imagination, adorning
+her figure with the finest costumes of the tragic stage.
+
+Laura declared to her mother that she would like to make the return
+visit alone, and on the first suitable day stole upstairs in the
+twilight hour with beating heart,--yet determined to have a good talk.
+But, as accident would have it, immediately after her arrival the
+Doctor entered, much to the disturbance of the general peace, and
+consequently there was nothing but a fragmentary conversation, and
+hackneyed commonplaces which were very unsatisfactory. She took leave,
+angry with the Doctor and dissatisfied with herself because she had
+found nothing better to say.
+
+Since then the new lodger upstairs became an object of incessant and
+secret adoration to Laura. After dinner she placed herself at the
+window, watching for the hour when Ilse went out with her husband. Then
+she watched her from behind the curtains with admiration. She would
+often flit across the hallway and about the door of the lodgers. But
+when Ilse appeared in the distance she would hide, or if she met her
+she would make a deep courtesy and, on the spur of the moment, could
+only think of ordinary things to say. She was much troubled lest her
+pianoforte playing might disturb her, and inquired at what hours it
+would be least annoying to her; and, one day when that nuisance of a
+red dog had snarled at Ilse and had maliciously bitten at her dress,
+she was so angry that she took her parasol and drove the monster
+downstairs.
+
+In her mother's name--for she could not venture upon it in her own--she
+began a campaign of small attentions against the tenants of the upper
+floor. When venders offered their tempting wares for the kitchen, Laura
+would frequently disappoint Mr. Hummel's epicurean tastes; for she
+regularly sent the young geese and fat hens upstairs, till at last the
+servant, Susan, became so bitter at this preference of the lodgers that
+she besought the aid of Mrs. Hummel. One day Laura learnt from Gabriel
+that the Professor's wife had asked for a certain kind of apple; Laura
+hastened to the market and searched till she found a little basket of
+them and brought them home; and this time she compelled even Mr. Hummel
+himself to send up the basket with many compliments. Ilse was pleased
+with these household courtesies, but did not guess the secret source.
+
+"There is one class of people of whom I am much afraid," said Ilse to
+her husband; "and that is the students. When I was scarcely grown up
+and on a visit to an aunt, I saw a whole company of them march through
+the gates with their great swords, hats with plumes, and velvet coats.
+They were so wild that I did not venture into the streets all that day.
+As I am now to associate with these fierce fellows, I shall not exactly
+be afraid of them, but still they make me uneasy."
+
+"They are not at all so bad," said the Professor, consolingly; "you
+will soon get accustomed to them."
+
+Notwithstanding this, Ilse awaited the first visit of the students with
+much anxiety.
+
+It happened that one morning the bell rang just when the Professor was
+detained at the University library, and Gabriel and the maid had been
+sent out. Ilse opened the door herself. A young man whose colored cap
+and black map under his arm proclaimed him a student, started back in
+surprise. He looked quite different from what she expected, being
+without ostrich feather or sword, and his face was pale and thin; yet
+Ilse felt respect for the learned young man, at the same time dreading
+that the rude nature of his class might suddenly break out. She was,
+however, a brave woman and took a practical view of the visit. As long
+as the misfortune has come I must be courteous. "You wish to speak to
+my husband; he is not at home at present. Will you have the kindness to
+walk in?"
+
+The student, a poor philologist who was a candidate for a scholarship,
+was thrown into great alarm at the majestic being who stood before him.
+He made many bows and did not venture to refuse. Ilse took him into the
+parlor, motioned him to an arm-chair and asked whether she could be of
+any service to him. The poor fellow became still more embarrassed and
+Ilse was also infected by his discomfiture. She made an effort,
+however, to begin a conversation, and inquired whether he belonged to
+the city. This was not the case. From what country did he come? she
+also was a stranger. He proved to be from her own province--not indeed
+close to her home, but within ten miles of it; he had, therefore, from
+his earliest youth looked on the same mountains and knew the dialect of
+her country and the songs of the birds. Now she moved nearer to him and
+made him converse, till at last they chatted together like old friends.
+At length Ilse said: "My husband will probably not be home for some
+time; I should not like to deprive him of the pleasure of seeing you.
+May we have the pleasure of your company at dinner next Sunday?"
+
+Surprised and with expressions of thanks the student arose to take
+leave and was accompanied to the door by Ilse. But he had been so
+confused by the adventure that he had forgotten his portfolio. Again he
+rang the bell diffidently. Again he stood embarrassed at the door and
+with many excuses asked for his portfolio.
+
+Ilse was pleased with this meeting and with having so well overcome her
+first difficulty. She called out joyfully to her husband when he came
+to the door, "Felix, the first student has been here."
+
+"Indeed," answered the husband, in no wise disturbed by the
+announcement; "what is his name?"
+
+"I do not know his name, but he wore a red cap and said he was not a
+freshman. I was not at all afraid and I asked him to dinner for
+Sunday."
+
+"Well," replied the Professor, "if you do that to everyone our house
+will soon be full."
+
+"Was it not right?" asked Ilse, troubled. "I saw that he was not one of
+the principal ones, but I wished, on your account, to do too much
+rather than too little."
+
+"Never mind," said the Professor; "we will not forget that he was the
+first one to look into your dear face."
+
+Sunday came, and with it, at the hour of noon, the student, who had on
+this occasion paid exceptional attention to his toilet. But Ilse,
+observing the demeanor of her husband toward the student, maintained a
+quiet, motherly dignity. In accordance with this she gave him a second
+helping of the roast and provided him with quantities of vegetables.
+This kindly treatment and several glasses of wine, the last of which
+was poured out by Ilse, strengthened the heart of the student and
+raised him above the petty things of earthly life. After dinner the
+Professor conversed with the Doctor on some learned subjects. But Ilse
+kindly kept up a conversation with the young gentleman and put him so
+much at his ease that he began to speak of his family affairs. Then the
+student became confiding and pathetic and began some very sorrowful
+disclosures. In the first place, naturally, that he had no money; then
+he ventured to add the painful confession of a tender attachment for
+the daughter of a lawyer who lived in the same house with him, and whom
+he had secretly worshiped for a whole year and expressed it in poetry.
+But at last the father interposed; he, with a tyranny peculiar to
+magistrates, forbade the acceptance of the poems by his daughter and
+contrived to remove the student from the house. Since that time the
+heart of the student had been an abyss of despair; no longer did any
+poem--they were sonnets--penetrate to the secluded beloved one. Nay, he
+even had grounds to believe that she too despised him; for she attended
+balls, and only the previous evening he had seen her with flowers in
+her hair alighting from her father's carriage at a brilliantly lighted
+house. Sorrowfully he had stood at the door of the house among the
+spectators; but she had glided past him smiling and beaming. Now he
+wandered about in despair and alone, weary of his life and full of
+dismal thoughts, concerning which he gave gloomy intimations. Finally,
+he asked Ilse's permission to send her these poems which expressed the
+condition of his heart. Ilse, of course, consented, with expressions of
+sincere compassion.
+
+The student took his leave and the next morning Ilse received a package
+with a very respectful letter, by post, in which he excused himself for
+not sending her all the poetical pieces which would place his
+misfortune in the right light, as he had not copies of them ready.
+Enclosed with them was a sonnet to Ilse herself, very tender and full
+of reverence, in which it was clearly the secret intention of the
+student to make Ilse the mistress of his dreams in the place of his
+unfaithful love.
+
+Ilse, somewhat embarrassed, laid this enclosure on the writing-table of
+her husband.
+
+"If I have done wrong, Felix, tell me."
+
+The Professor laughed.
+
+"I will send him back his poem myself; that will cool his ardor. You
+know now that it is dangerous to receive the confidence of a student.
+The poems, by the way, are poorer than need be."
+
+"Thus I have had a lesson," said Ilse, "which I have brought upon
+myself; for the future I will be more cautious."
+
+But she could not so easily banish the recollection of the student.
+
+Every afternoon, when the weather was favorable. Ilse went at the same
+hour with her husband to the adjacent wood. The happy couple sought out
+lonely by-paths, where the branches were more thickly intertwined and
+the green carpet beneath contrasted gaily with the yellow leaves. Then
+Ilse thought of the trees on her father's estate; and the conversation
+with her husband always reverted to her father, brothers, and sisters,
+and to the latest news she had had from home. In the meadow which
+extended from the last buildings of the town to the wood there stood a
+bench under a large bush; from there could be seen the hostile houses
+in the foreground and behind them the gables and towers of the city.
+When Ilse came upon the place the first time, she was pleased at the
+sight of her own windows and the surrounding gloomy towers, and it led
+her to think of the seat in the cave, from which she had so often
+looked on her father's house; she sat down on the bench, drew out the
+letters which she had just received from her brothers and sisters, and
+read to her husband the simple sentences in which they reported the
+latest events on the farm. From that time forth this became her
+favorite resting-place, as she and her husband bent their steps
+homeward.
+
+The day after the reception of the student's package, on arriving at
+the bench, she saw a small nosegay lying on it; she picked it up with
+curiosity; a delicately folded note of rose-colored paper was appended
+to it, with this inscription: "A greeting from B." After this as many
+stars as there were letters in the name of her father's country-place.
+Surprised, she handed the note to the Professor. He opened it and read
+these unpretentious lines:--
+
+            The little dwarfes in their stone-built bower,
+              Have written the rhyme on this card.
+            They send from thy father's home a flower,
+              With their heart-felt, innermost regard.
+
+"That is meant for you," he said, in astonishment.
+
+"How delightful!" exclaimed Ilse.
+
+"The '_dwarf_' must certainly be a joke of the Doctor," decided the
+Professor; "truly, he has well disguised his handwriting."
+
+Ilse, delighted, pinned on the nosegay.
+
+"When the Doctor comes this evening he shall not find out that we have
+discovered him."
+
+The Professor dilated upon the droll idea of his friend and Ilse, who
+before had looked upon the Doctor with secret distrust, heartily
+agreed.
+
+But when, in the evening, the Doctor feigned the greatest nonchalance,
+he was jestingly scolded for his art of dissimulation and loaded with
+thanks. When, however, he firmly declared that the nosegay and verse
+did not come from him, fruitless discussion arose as to the author, and
+the Professor began to look very serious.
+
+A few days later the offering in the wood was repeated; another nosegay
+lay on the bench with the same address and a verse. Again did Ilse
+endeavor gently to maintain, that there had been collusion on the part
+of the Doctor, but the Professor rejected that and put the rose-colored
+note in his pocket. Ilse took the nosegay with her, but this time did
+not place it in her girdle. When the Doctor came the adventure was
+again discussed.
+
+"It can be no one but the little student," said Ilse, much distressed.
+
+"That I fear, also," said the Professor, and related to the Doctor
+Ilse's annoyance at the confidential package from the devotee of the
+muses. "Harmless as the thing appears in itself, it still has a serious
+aspect. These addresses imply close watching, which is anything but
+agreeable, and such activity and assiduity may lead the adorer to still
+greater daring. He must be checked. I will endeavor to-morrow to
+convince him of his error."
+
+"And if he should deny the act," interposed the Doctor. "You should at
+least make this impossible. As the nosegay has escaped the observation
+of others passing by, it has probably been laid there the last moment
+before your appearance, which would not be difficult to do, as you
+always pass at the same hour. We must endeavor to surprise the daring
+man."
+
+"I will go alone to-morrow," said the Professor.
+
+"You ought not to watch a student in the wood," said the Doctor,
+decidedly. "Besides, if your wife remains at home the nosegay will
+probably not lie on the bench. Leave the affair to me. Go out as usual
+to-morrow and the following days and I shall watch the place from some
+other point."
+
+This being settled, the Professor took both the small nosegays from the
+glass and threw them out of the window.
+
+On the following day, a quarter of an hour before his friends started,
+the Doctor went to the wood, disguised in a grey coat and dark hat, in
+order to fall upon the presumptuous versifier from his hiding-place; he
+undertook to chastise the offender so that the Professor would be
+spared any personal interference. He found a good place just opposite
+the bench, where the dense beech foliage would conceal the hunter from
+his game. There he placed himself in a good position, drew a large
+opera-glass from his pocket and fixed his eyes attentively on the bench
+in question. The bench was still empty; the few pedestrians passed it
+by with indifference; the time seemed long; the Doctor looked for half
+an hour through the glasses, until his eyes began to ache, but he
+persevered. His place was well chosen; the offender could not escape.
+Suddenly, just as his eyes accidentally glanced toward Mr. Hummel's
+house, he saw the garden gate open; something dark passed out between
+the trees and came toward the bench out of the thicket, looked
+cautiously round, passed by the bench and disappeared again among the
+trees and through the hostile garden gate. An expression of infinite
+astonishment was depicted on the countenance of the Doctor; he closed
+his opera glass and laughed quietly to himself; then adjusted the
+glasses again, and peered after the vanished figure. He shook his head
+and fell into deep thought. He listened and heard the quiet steps of
+two promenaders. The Professor and Ilse came out of the wood. They
+stopped a few steps from the bench and looked at the fatal nosegay
+which lay there so innocently. The Doctor burst out from the copse,
+laughing, took up the nosegay, and, offering it to Ilse, said:
+
+"It is not the student."
+
+"Who then?" asked the Professor, uneasily.
+
+"That I cannot tell," replied the Doctor; "but the affair is
+harmless--the nosegay is from a lady."
+
+"Seriously?" asked the Professor.
+
+"You may depend upon it," replied Fritz, convincingly. "It is from some
+one whom we both know and your wife need not hesitate to accept the
+greetings. It is given with the best intentions."
+
+"Have the townspeople so many verses and secrets?" asked Ilse,
+curiously, taking the flowers with a light heart.
+
+Again there was guessing: they could not find any one on whom they
+could fix it.
+
+"I am glad that the mystery is thus solved," said the Professor; "but
+tell your poetess that such missives might easily fall into bad hands."
+
+"I have no influence over her," replied the Doctor; "but whatever may
+have put it into her head to do this, it will not always remain a
+secret."
+
+At last came the long-wished-for hour in which Laura was to have a
+private meeting with the distinguished stranger, as Ilse up to this day
+was designated in the private memoirs. Her mother had gone out when
+Ilse entered the sitting-room to ask a household question. Laura gave
+the information, gained courage and at last ventured to request Ilse to
+go with her into the garden. There they sat together under the last
+rays of an October sun and interchanged opinions concerning the boat,
+the Chinese temple and the passers-by. Finally, Laura respectfully took
+Ilse's hand and drew her into a corner of the garden to show her a
+great rarity--the abandoned nest of a hedge-sparrow. The birds had long
+flown away and the remains of the nest still hung on the half bare
+branches.
+
+"Here they were," cried Laura, impressively; "charming little
+creatures; there were five speckled eggs there and they reared their
+little ones successfully. I was in mortal terror all the time on
+account of the cats that prowl about here."
+
+"You have never lived in the country," said Ilse. "People here in the
+city are delighted if they can only keep one poor little sparrow in
+their garden. At home they chirruped, sang and flew about in all the
+trees; and unless there was something unusual about them, one took no
+particular notice of them. Here each little creature is valued and
+cared for, even the sparrows. The first morning I was here I was
+shocked at the sight of these poor creatures; they are not to be
+compared to their brothers in the country, their feathers are bristly
+and uneven, and their whole bodies are black and sooty, like
+charcoal-burners. I would gladly have taken a sponge to wash the whole
+lot."
+
+"It would be of no use; they would become black again," said Laura,
+despondingly. "It is caused by the soot in the gutters."
+
+"Does one become, so dusty and is one so roughly handled in the city?
+That is sad. It is certainly much more beautiful in the country." As
+Ilse softly acknowledged this, her eyes moistened involuntarily with
+the thought of the distant woody hills. "I am only a stranger here,"
+she added more cheerfully. "The city would be very pleasant if there
+were not so many people: they annoy me with their staring, whenever I
+go out alone."
+
+"I will accompany you if you like," said Laura, delighted; "I shall
+always be ready."
+
+This was a kind offer and was thankfully accepted. Laura, in her great
+joy, ventured to ask Ilse to go with her into her private room. They
+ascended to the upper story. There the little sofa, the ivy screen, the
+shepherd and shepherdess, were duly admired, and finally the new piano.
+
+"Will you play something for me?" asked Ilse. "I cannot play at all. We
+had an old piano but I learnt only a few tunes from my dear, mother for
+the children to dance to."
+
+Laura took a piece of music, the first leaf of which was beautifully
+ornamented with gilded elves and lilies, and played the "Elfin Waltz,"
+secretly trembling, but with great execution; and she explained,
+laughingly, with a shake of her black locks, the passages where the
+spirits came fluttering in and mysteriously chattered together. Ilse
+was highly delighted.
+
+"How quickly your little fingers fly," she said, regarding Laura's
+delicate hand with admiration. "See how large my hand is in comparison
+and how hard the skin--that comes from doing housework."
+
+Laura looked entreatingly at her. "If I might only hear you sing."
+
+"I can sing nothing but hymns and some old country songs."
+
+"Oh, do sing them," begged Laura. "I will endeavor to accompany you."
+
+Ilse began an old melody and Laura tried a modest accompaniment and
+listened with transport to the rich sound of Ilse's voice; she felt her
+heart tremble under the swelling tones and ventured to join in the last
+verse.
+
+After this she searched for a song which was known to both, and, when
+they succeeded tolerably in singing together, Laura clapped her hands
+enthusiastically, and they determined to practice some easy songs to
+surprise the Professor.
+
+In the course of conversation Ilse confessed that she had seldom heard
+a concert, and occasionally when visiting in the neighborhood, had seen
+a play, but only one opera.
+
+"The piece was called the _Freisch�tz_," said Ilse; "the heroine was
+the forester's daughter, and she had a friend just as merry, with
+beautiful locks and frank eyes like yours; and the man whom she loved
+lost his faith in the gracious protection of heaven, and in order to
+obtain the girl he denied God and surrendered himself to the Evil One.
+That was fearful; her heart became heavy and a foreboding came over
+her; but she did not lose her strength of mind, nor her trust in help
+from above; and her faith saved her lover, over whom the Evil One had
+already stretched out his hand."
+
+Then she accurately described the whole dramatic course of the action.
+
+"It was enchanting," she said. "I was very young, and when I came back
+to our hotel I could not compose myself and my father was obliged to
+scold me."
+
+Laura listened, sitting on a footstool at Ilse's feet; she held her
+hand fast and heard her account as a child listens to a tale she
+already knows.
+
+"How well you describe it; 'tis as if one was reading a poem."
+
+"Ah, no," exclaimed Ilse, shaking her head; "this compliment is just
+what I do not in the least deserve. I have never in my life made a
+verse and I am so prosaic that I do not know how my unpolished nature
+will adapt itself to the town, for here they write verses; they hum
+about in the air like flies in summer."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Laura, hanging her head.
+
+"Only think, even I, a stranger, have received verses!"
+
+"That is quite natural," said Laura, folding her handkerchief to
+conceal her confusion.
+
+"I have found little nosegays on the bench in the park, with dear
+little poems, and the name of my home given by a letter and stars. See,
+first a large B, and then----"
+
+Laura, in her delight at this account, looked up, from her
+handkerchief. Her cheeks were suffused with color. There was a roguish
+smile in her eyes.
+
+Ilse looked at the beaming countenance and, as she spoke, guessed that
+she was the giver.
+
+Laura bent down to kiss her hand, but Ilse raised the curly head,
+threatening her with her finger and kissing her.
+
+"You are not angry with me," said Laura, "for being so bold?"
+
+"It was very sweet and kind of you, but you must know that it caused us
+a great deal of uneasiness. The Doctor discovered you, but he did not
+tell us your name."
+
+"The Doctor?" exclaimed Laura, starting up. "Must that man always
+interfere where I am concerned!"
+
+"He kept your secret faithfully. Now I may tell my husband all about
+it, may I not? but, between ourselves, he was very much displeased for
+a time."
+
+This was a triumph for Laura. Again she seated herself at Ilse's feet
+and archly begged her to relate what the Professor had said.
+
+"That would not be right," answered Ilse, gravely; "that is his
+secret."
+
+Thus an hour passed in pleasant talk till the clock struck, and Ilse
+rose hastily. "My husband will wonder where I have disappeared to,"
+said she. "You are a dear girl. If you like we will become good
+friends."
+
+Ah! that pleased Laura very much. She accompanied her visitor to the
+staircase, and on the step it occurred to her that she had forgotten
+the principal thing she wanted to say; her room was directly above that
+of the Professor's wife, and when Ilse opened the window she could
+communicate quickly with her by signals. Just as Ilse was about to
+close her door, Laura ran down once more in order to express her joy
+that Ilse had granted her this hour.
+
+Laura returned to her room, paced up and down with rapid steps, and
+snapped her fingers like one who has won the great prize in a lottery.
+She confided to her journal her account of the consecrated hour, and of
+every word that Ilse had spoken, and concluded with verses:
+
+           "I found thee, pure one! Now my dream will live.
+              And tho' 'twixt joy and pain thy soul may pine,
+            I touch thy garment's hem and homage give,
+              And lovingly thee in my heart enshrine."
+
+Then she seated herself at the piano and played with impassioned
+expression the melody which Ilse had sung to her. And Ilse below heard
+this heartfelt outburst of thanks for her visit.
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER XIV_.
+
+                            A DAY OF VISITS.
+
+
+A carriage drove up to the door. Ilse entered her husband's study,
+attired for her first visit. "Look at me," she said; "do I look all
+right?"
+
+"Very well," cried the Professor, joyfully, scanning his wife. But it
+was well that everything was as it should be without his help, for in
+matter of the toilet the critical eye of the Professor was of doubtful
+value.
+
+"Now I begin a new game," continued Ilse, "such as the children used to
+play at home. I am to knock at your friends' doors and call out,
+Halloa, halloa! and when the ladies ask. Who is there? I shall answer,
+as in the game:
+
+           "I am a poor, poor beggar-maid,
+              And what I want is this:
+            For me I want a piece of bread;
+              For my husband I want a kiss."
+
+"Well, so far as the kisses are concerned that I am to dispense to the
+wives of my colleagues," replied the Professor, putting on his gloves,
+"I should, on the whole, be obliged to you if you would take that
+business upon yourself."
+
+"Ah, you men are very strict," said Ilse; "my little Franz also always
+refuses to play the game, because he would not kiss the stupid girls. I
+only hope that I'll not disgrace you."
+
+They drove through the streets. On the way the Professor gave his wife
+an account of the persons and the particular branch of learning of each
+of his colleagues to whom he was taking her.
+
+"Let us visit pleasant people first," he said. "Yonder lives Professor
+Raschke, our professor of philosophy, and a dear friend of mine. I hope
+his wife will please you."
+
+"Is he very famous," asked Ilse, laying her hand on her beating heart.
+
+The carriage stopped before a low dwelling at the further end of the
+suburb. Gabriel hastened into the house to announce the visitors;
+finding the kitchen empty, he knocked at the parlor-door, and, finally,
+being experienced in the customs of the family, opened the entrance
+into the court yard. "Professor Raschke and his wife are in the
+garden."
+
+The visitors passed through a narrow yard into a kitchen-garden, which
+the owner of the house had given his lodger permission to walk in, to
+get the benefit of the air. The couple were walking along the path
+under the noon-sun of an autumn day. The lady carried a little child on
+her arm; the husband held a book in his hand, from which he was reading
+to his companion. In order, however, to do as much family duty as
+possible, the Professor had fastened the pole of a baby carriage to his
+belt and thus drew a second child after him. The backs of the couple
+were turned to the guests and they moved slowly forward, listening and
+reading aloud.
+
+"An encounter in the narrow path is not desirable," said Felix; "we
+must wait until they turn round the square and face us."
+
+It was some time before the procession overcame the hindrances of the
+journey, for the Professor in the eagerness of reading, sometimes
+stopped to explain, as might be seen from the motion of his hands. Ilse
+examined the appearance of the strange pedestrians with curiosity. The
+wife was pale and delicate; one could perceive that she had recently
+left a sick bed. The man had a nobly formed, intellectual face, about
+which hung long dark hair with a sprinkling of gray upon it. They had
+come close to the guests, when the wife turned her eyes from her
+husband and perceived the visitors.
+
+"What a pleasure!" cried the Philosopher, dropping his book into the
+great pocket of his coat. "Good morning, my dear colleague. Ha! that is
+our dear Professor's wife. Unhitch me from the carriage, Aurelia; the
+family bonds hamper me."
+
+The unhitching took some time, as the hands of the mistress of the
+house were not free, and Professor Raschke by no means kept still, but
+struggled forward, and had already seized with both hands those of his
+colleague and wife.
+
+"Come into the house, my dear guests," he exclaimed, striding forward
+with long steps, while Felix introduced his wife to the lady. Professor
+Raschke forgot his baby carriage, which Ilse lifted over the threshold
+and rolled into the hall. There she took up the neglected child from
+its seat and both ladies entered the room with a diminutive chip of
+philosophy in their arms, exchanging their first friendly greetings,
+while the little one in Ilse's arms lustily swung his rattle, and the
+youngest child on the arm of its mother began to scream. Meanwhile
+colleague Raschke went about clearing the room, removed books and
+papers from the sofa, shook faded sofa-cushions into form, which
+emitted clouds of dust, and cordially invited his guests to be seated.
+
+At length the confusion subsided. Ilse played with the child on her
+lap, while Mrs. Raschke after a disappearance for a moment came back
+without the screaming infant. She sat shyly by Ilse, but asked her
+friendly questions in a gentle voice. The lively Philosopher, however,
+was always interrupting the conversation of the ladies; he stroked the
+hand of the Professor, while he nodded in the direction of his wife.
+"This is quite right; I rejoice that you accustom yourself to our mode
+of life while still so young, for our wives have not an easy time of
+it--their outer life is limited and they have many demands made upon
+them at home. We are often wearisome companions, difficult to deal
+with, peevish, morose, and perverse." He shook his head disapprovingly
+over the character of the world of learning, but his face smiled with
+genuine pleasure.
+
+The end of the visit was hastened by the baby, who began to cry
+piteously in the next room.
+
+"Are you going already?" said the Philosopher to Ilse; "this cannot be
+counted as a visit. You please me much, and you have true eyes; and I
+see that you have a kind disposition, and that is everything. All we
+want is, in the face a good mirror through which the images of life are
+reflected fully and purely, and in the heart an enduring flame which
+will communicate its warmth to others. Whoever has that will do well,
+even if it is her fate to be the wife as you are, of a sedentary
+student, and as is this poor mother of five screaming young ones."
+
+Again he strode rapidly about, fetched an old hat from the corner and
+handed it to the wife of his colleague. Ilse laughed.
+
+"Oh, I see. It is a gentleman's hat," said Professor Raschke; "perhaps
+it belongs to your husband."
+
+"I also am provided with one," said the Professor.
+
+"Then it must be my own after all," said Raschke; and jamming the hat
+on his head, he accompanied his guests to the carriage.
+
+For some time Ilse sat in the carriage dumb with astonishment. "Now I
+have regained my courage, Felix; the professors are still less alarming
+than the students."
+
+"All will not receive you so warmly," answered the Professor. "He who
+comes next is my colleague Struvelius; he teaches Greek and Latin, as I
+do; he is not one of my intimate acquaintances, but is a thorough
+scholar."
+
+This time it was a house in the city; the apartments were a little
+more ancient than in Ilse's new dwelling. This professor's wife wore a
+black silk dress, and was sitting before a writing-table covered with
+books and papers; a delicate lady, of middle age, with a small but
+clever face and an extraordinary coiffure; for her short hair was
+combed behind her ears in one large roll of curl, which gave her a
+certain resemblance to Sappho or Corinne, so far as a comparison is
+allowable with ladies of antiquity, the growth of whose hair is by no
+means satisfactorily ascertained.
+
+Mrs. Struvelius arose slowly and greeted the visitors with haughty
+demeanor; she expressed her pleasure to Ilse and then turned to the
+Professor. "I have to-day commenced reading the work of colleague
+Raschke and I admire the deep thought of the man."
+
+"His writings are delightful," replied the Professor, "because in all
+of them we discover a thorough and pure-minded man."
+
+"I agree with your premise and consequent conclusion in this particular
+instance, but with regard to the general proposition you assert, allow
+me to say that many works that form an epoch in literature would have
+no great excellence, if it were necessary to be a perfect man in order
+to write a good book."
+
+Ilse looked timidly at the learned lady who had ventured to oppose her
+husband.
+
+"Yet we will come to an agreement," continued the Professor's wife,
+fluently, as if she were reading from a book. "It is not requisite for
+every valuable work that its author should be a man of character, but
+he who truly has this noble qualification, would be unlikely to produce
+anything which would have an unfavorable influence on his branch of
+learning; undoubtedly the weaknesses of a learned work originate more
+frequently than one supposes in the author's weakness of character."
+
+The Professor nodded assentingly.
+
+"For," she continued, "the position which a scholar assumes with
+respect to the great questions of the day, affecting his branch of
+learning--nay, with respect even to the advantages and deficiencies of
+his method--may generally be explained from his character. You have
+always lived in the country," she said, turning to Ilse. "It would be
+instructive to me to learn what impression you have received of the
+mutual relations of people in the town."
+
+"I have met but few as yet," rejoined Ilse, timidly.
+
+"Of course," said Mrs. Struvelius. "But I mean that you will observe
+with surprise that near neighborhood does not always imply intimate
+intercourse. But Struvelius must be told you are here."
+
+She rose, opened the door of the next room, and standing bolt upright
+by the door, called out:
+
+"Professor and Mrs. Werner!"
+
+A slight murmur and the hasty rustling of leaves of a book were heard
+in the adjoining room. The wife closed the door and continued:
+
+"For after all we live among many and associate with few. In the city
+we choose from among many individuals with a certain arbitrariness. One
+might have more acquaintance than one has, but even this feeling gives
+you confidence, and such confidence is more easily acquired in town
+than in the country."
+
+The side door opened. Professor Struvelius entered with an
+absent-minded manner. He had a sharp nose, thin lips and wore an
+unusual style of head dress. For his hair stood so peculiarly after its
+own fashion, that one was justified in assuming that the head gear was
+hereditary and had suggested the name of the family. He bowed slightly,
+pushed a chair forward and seated himself in it silently--probably his
+thoughts were still occupied with his Greek historian. Ilse suffered
+from the conviction that the visit was an inopportune interruption and
+that it was a great condescension on the part of his wife to speak to
+her at all.
+
+"Are you musical?" said Mrs. Struvelius, inquisitively.
+
+"I can hardly say so," answered Ilse.
+
+"I am glad of it," said the hostess, moving opposite to her and
+examining her with her sharp eyes. "From my estimate of you, I should
+think you could not be musical. The art of music makes us weak and
+leads too frequently to an imperfect state of existence."
+
+Felix endeavored, with little success, to make the Professor take part
+in the conversation; and the visitors soon rose. On taking leave, Mrs.
+Struvelius stretched the lower part of her arm in a rectangular line
+toward Ilse and said, with a solemn pressure of the hand:
+
+"Pray feel yourself at home with us." And the words of her husband,
+bidding them adieu, were cut short by the closing of the door.
+
+"What do you say now?" said the Professor, as they drove away.
+
+"Ah, Felix, I feel very insignificant; my courage has left me, I would
+rather return home."
+
+"Be composed," said the husband, consolingly; "you are going about
+to-day as if you were at a fair, looking over the contents of the
+tables. What does not please you, you need not buy. The next visit is
+to our historian, a worthy man, who is one of the good genii of our
+University. His daughter also is an amiable young lady."
+
+A servant opened the door and conducted them into the reception-room.
+There were some good landscapes on the wall; a pianoforte, a pretty
+flower stand, with rare plants, well arranged and taken care of. The
+daughter entered hastily; she had a delicate face with beautiful dark
+eyes. A stately old gentleman with a distinguished air followed her. He
+looked something like a high official, only his lively way of speaking
+showed him to be a man of learning. Ilse was warmly and heartily
+welcomed. The old gentleman seated himself near her and began an easy
+conversation, and Ilse soon felt herself as comfortable as with an
+intimate acquaintance. She was also reminded of her home, for he asked:
+
+"Are any of the remains of the old monastery at Rossau still
+preserved?"
+
+Felix looked up with curiosity, and Ilse answered: "Only the walls; the
+interior is rebuilt."
+
+"It was one of the oldest ecclesiastical foundations of your region,
+and has stood many centuries, and undoubtedly exercised influence over
+a wide district. It is remarkable that the records of the monastery are
+almost all wanting, and all other accounts or notices, so far as I
+know, are very scanty. One may suppose that much still lies in
+concealment there."
+
+Ilse observed how the countenance of her husband lighted up; but he
+replied, quietly:
+
+"In the place itself, my inquiries were in vain."
+
+"That is possible," agreed the Historian. "Perhaps the documents have
+been taken to the seat of government, and lie there unused."
+
+Thus passed one visit after another. Next came the Rector, a
+Professor of Medicine, an agreeable man of the world, who kept up an
+elegant establishment. His wife was a plump, active lady, with
+restless, inquiring eyes. Then came the Secretary of the theological
+Consistory, a tall, thin gentleman with a sweet smile; his wife, too,
+was over-proportioned in everything,--in nose, mouth, and hospitality.
+The last was the Mineralogist, a clever young man with a very pretty
+wife; they had only been married a few months. While the young women,
+seated on the sofa, were rapidly becoming acquainted. Ilse was for the
+second time surprised by a question from the Professor:
+
+"Your home is not without interest for my department. Is there not a
+cave in the neighborhood?"
+
+Ilse colored and looked again at her husband.
+
+"It is on my father's estate."
+
+"Indeed! I am just now at work on a new discovery that has been made on
+your estate," exclaimed the Mineralogist.
+
+He produced a stone of remarkably radiated structure.
+
+"This is a very rare mineral that has been discovered in the
+neighborhood of the cave; it was sent me by an apothecary of the
+province."
+
+He told her the name of the mineral, and spoke of the stone of which
+the cave was formed, and the rock on which her father's house stood,
+just as if he had been there himself, and made Ilse describe the lines
+of the hills and the quarries of the neighborhood. He listened
+attentively to her clear answers, and thought the geological structure
+of the estate very remarkable.
+
+Ilse was delighted and exclaimed:
+
+"We imagined that no one in the world cared about us; but I see the
+learned gentlemen know more about our country than we ourselves do."
+
+"We know, at least, how to find something more precious than fragments
+of rock there," replied the Professor courteously.
+
+After their return home, Ilse entered her husband's room, where he had
+already sat down to his work.
+
+"Let me remain with you to-day, Felix? My head is confused with all the
+persons to whom you have taken me; I have seen so much within one day,
+and have had so much friendliness shown me by clever and distinguished
+men. The learned lady frightened me most; and, Felix, it is perhaps
+wrong in me to say so, for she is much more clever and refined, but I
+found a resemblance in her to a good old acquaintance of ours."
+
+"Mrs. Rollmaus," assented the Professor. "But this lady is in reality
+very clever," he added.
+
+"Heaven grant," said Ilse, "that she may be equally true-hearted! But I
+feel terrified at her learning. I like the other ladies, and the
+husbands still better. There is something noble about almost all of
+them, they converse wonderfully well, they are unconstrained and seem
+to have real inward happiness and gladness of heart; and naturally so,
+for they hover over the earth like your gods of old, and, therefore,
+they may well be cheerful. Ah! and there was the patched smoking jacket
+which dear Professor Raschke wore--moth and rust will never eat that!
+When I think that all these clever people have treated me with kindness
+and regard, solely on my husband's account, I do not know how I can
+thank you sufficiently. And now that I have been received into this new
+society, I can only ask that my entrance into it may be blessed."
+
+"The husband stretched out his hand and drew her toward him; she
+clasped his head with her hands and bent over him.
+
+"What are you working at now?" she asked, softly.
+
+"Nothing very important; merely a treatise that I have to prepare every
+year for the University."
+
+He then told her something of the contents of the work.
+
+"And when that is finished, what then?"
+
+"Then I must set about other tasks."
+
+"And thus it goes on always from morning to evening, every year, till
+the eyes fail and the strength breaks," said Ilse piteously. "I have a
+great favor to ask of you to-day, Felix. Will you show me the books
+which you have written--all of them?"
+
+"All that I still possess," said the Professor, and he collected books
+and treatises here and there from every corner.
+
+Ilse opened one work after another, and she found that she already knew
+the Latin titles of some of them by heart. The Professor became
+interested in this occupation, and was always finding more little
+treatises which he had forgotten. Ilse laid them all before her in a
+heap and began solemnly:
+
+"A great crisis has now come for me. I wish to learn from you the
+contents of each writing as far as you are able to explain it to your
+wife. When I was already secretly in love with you, the children found
+your name in the encyclopedia; we endeavored to read the strange titles
+of your books, and Mrs. Rollmaus made conjectures in her way as to the
+contents. Then I felt sorry that I could understand nothing of what you
+had done for mankind. Since that, I have always hoped the day would
+come when I could ask you what it was that you knew better than others,
+and by reason of which I should be proud of belonging to you. The hour
+is now come; for to-day you have introduced me to your friends as your
+wife, and I want to be your wife there too where your treasure and your
+heart are--as far as I can."
+
+"Dear Ilse," exclaimed the Professor, carried away by her frank
+dignity.
+
+"But do not forget," continued Ilse, with emphasis, "that I understand
+very little, and pray have patience with me. I have arranged how I wish
+to have it done. Write down for me, in a note-book that I have bought
+for the purpose, the titles, as they are in the foreign language and
+also in German, first of your earliest works and then the last.
+Together with this, note down what value you place on the work, and
+what is its importance for mankind. Underneath every work I will set
+down what I understand from your explanation, that I may well remember
+them."
+
+She produced a note-book; the Professor searched again for some more
+treatises, arranged them according to date, and wrote each title on one
+page of the book. Then he gave his wife some explanation of the
+contents of each work, and helped her to write her remarks in the
+note-book.
+
+"Those in German I will endeavor to read myself," said Ilse.
+
+Thus they both sat bending eagerly over the books, and the Professor's
+heart beat with pleasure at the earnestness with which his wife
+endeavored to understand his occupations. For it is the lot of the
+scholar that few look with sympathy upon his trouble, his struggles,
+and the worth of his work. The world regards him as a common laborer.
+What he has formed, with enduring strength, henceforth becomes a
+building-stone in the immeasurable house of learning on which all the
+races of the earth have been laboring for thousands of years. Hundreds
+of others make a foundation of it to advance their own work; thousands
+of new blocks are piled upon it, and there are few to inquire who has
+chiseled the separate columns, and still more seldom does a stranger
+grasp the hand of the workman. The light works of the poet are long
+greeted by those in whom he has raised a cheerful smile or an exalted
+feeling. But the scholar seldom makes a valuable confidant or friend of
+his reader by his individual works. He does not paint enchanting
+pictures for the imagination; he does not flatter the yearning soul; he
+demands the utmost seriousness and the closest attention from his
+readers, the benefit of which redounds to himself in every criticism
+that is made. Even where he inspires respect he remains a stranger.
+
+And yet he is not a mere stonemason who cuts formless blocks according
+to prescribed measures. He works independently and contributes his own
+life-blood, sometimes suffering great depression, sometimes full of joy
+and happiness. The fruits that he proffers his age have grown from the
+deepest roots of his life. Therefore the honest mind that enters
+heartily into the labor of the learned, and not only inquires for the
+ultimate result of learning, but takes an interest in the inward
+struggle of the workman, is to him a valuable treasure, a rare
+happiness.--Felix now looked with emotion at his wife, who was striving
+to occupy this position, and tender emotions swelled the heart of the
+strong-minded man while he explained to her the subjects of his
+labors,--while he told her about the Roman _tribus_ and the duties of
+the senate.
+
+When all was noted down, Ilse laid her hands on the books and
+exclaimed:
+
+"Here I have all. What a small space they occupy, yet they employed
+many laborious days and nights, and the best portion of your noble
+life. This has often given you flushed cheeks as you have to-day. For
+this you have studied till your poor brain has been on fire, and for
+this you have always sat in a confined room. I have hitherto looked
+upon books with indifference; now for the first time I perceive what a
+book is, a quiet endless labor."
+
+"That is not to be said of all," replied the Professor; "but the
+superior ones are more even than a labor."
+
+He gazed lovingly on the walls along which the high book-shelves
+reached up to the very ceiling, so that the room looked as if papered
+with the backs of books.
+
+"The great number of them quite frightens me," said Ilse, helping him
+to make room for his own books in a dark corner, which was now cleared
+for them as their resting-place. "They look so calm and composed, and
+yet many of them may have been written with such impassioned feeling,
+and have excited their readers, too."
+
+"Yes," said her husband, "they are the great treasure-wards of the
+human race. They preserve all that is most valuable of what has ever
+been thought or discovered, from one century to another; and they
+proclaim what existed once, and once only, upon the earth. Here is what
+was produced full a thousand years before our era, and close beside
+them those that have come into the world but a few weeks ago."
+
+"Yet, from the coats that they wear, they look almost like each other,"
+said Ilse. "I should have difficulty in distinguishing them."
+
+The Professor explained their arrangement and led her from one book
+shelf to another, pointing out those works which were his special
+favorites.
+
+"And you use them all?"
+
+"Yes, and many more at times. These that you see here are only an
+infinitely small portion of the books that have been printed; for since
+the invention of books, almost all that we know and call learning is to
+be found in them. But that is not all," he continued; "few know that a
+book is something more than simply a product of the creative mind,
+which its author sends forth as a cabinet-maker does a chair that has
+been ordered. There remains, indeed, attached to every human work
+something of the soul of the man who has produced it. But a book
+contains between its covers the actual soul of the man. The real value
+of a man to others--the best portion of his life--remains in this form
+for the generations that follow, and perhaps for the farthermost
+future. Moreover, not only those who write a good book, but those whose
+lives and actions are portrayed in it, continue in fact living among
+us. We converse with them as with friends and opponents; we admire or
+contend with, love or hate them, not less than if they dwelt bodily
+among us. The human soul that is enclosed in such a cover becomes
+imperishable on earth, and, therefore, we may say that the soul-life of
+the individual becomes enduring in books, and only the soul which is
+encased in a book has certain duration on earth."
+
+"But error persists also," said Ilse, "and so do liars and impure
+spirits when they are put in books."
+
+"They undoubtedly do, but are refuted by better souls. Very different,
+certainly, is the value and import of these imperishable records. Few
+maintain their beauty and importance for all periods; many are only
+valuable at a later time, because we ascertain from them the character
+and life of men in their days, while others are quite useless and
+ephemeral. But all books that have ever been written from the earliest
+to the latest, have a mysterious connection. For, observe, no one who
+has written a book has of himself become what he is; every one stands
+on the shoulders of his predecessor; all that was produced before
+his time has helped to form his life and soul. Again, what he has
+produced, has in some sort formed other men, and thus his soul has
+passed to later times. In this way the contents of books form one
+great soul-empire on earth, and all who now write, live and nourish
+themselves on the souls of the past generations. From this point of
+view the soul of mankind is an immeasurable unity, which comprises
+every one who ever thus lived and worked, as well as those who breathe
+and produce new works at present. The soul, which past generations felt
+as their own, has been and is daily transmigrating into others. What is
+written today may to-morrow become the possession of thousands of
+strangers. Those who have long ago ceased to exist in the body continue
+to live in new forms here on earth, and daily revive in thousands of
+others."
+
+"Stop," cried Ilse, entreatingly, "I am bewildered."
+
+"I tell you this now, because I too feel myself a modest worker in this
+earthly soul-empire. This feeling gives me a pleasure in life which is
+indestructible, and it also gives me both freedom and modesty. For
+whoever works with this feeling, whether his powers be great or small,
+does so not for his own honor, but for all. He does not live for
+himself but for all, as all who have before existed continue to live
+for him."
+
+He spoke earnestly, sitting surrounded by his books, with the setting
+sun casting its friendly rays on his head and on the home of his
+spirit--the book-shelves. And Ilse, leaning on his shoulder, said
+humbly: "I am yours. Teach me, form me, and make me understand what you
+understand."
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER XV_.
+
+                           AMONG THE LEARNED.
+
+
+Ilse popped her head into her husband's study: "May I interrupt you?"
+
+"Come in."
+
+"Felix, what is the difference between Fauns and Satyrs? Here I read
+that Satyrs have goats' feet, but that Fauns have men's feet and little
+tails."
+
+"Who says that?" asked Felix, indignantly.
+
+"Why, here it is in print," replied Ilse, And as she spoke she showed
+an open book to her husband.
+
+"But it is not true," answered the Professor, as he explained the
+matter to her. "The Greeks had Satyrs, the Romans Fauns. The gentleman
+with the goat's foot is called Pan. But how did this Bacchanalian train
+get into your household?"
+
+"You said yesterday that the Councillor of the Consistory had a Faun's
+face. Then the question arose what is a Faun's face, and what is a
+Faun? Laura remembered perfectly having learnt at school that he was a
+fabulous creature of the Romans, and she brought the book in which
+these creatures are portrayed. What a wild set they are! Why have they
+pointed ears like the deer, and what have you to say, if even in such
+things one cannot rely on your books?"
+
+"Come here," said Felix, "and I will soon introduce you to the whole
+company." He selected a book of engravings and showed her the figures
+of the whole train of Bacchus. For a time the instruction went on well;
+but then Ilse objected, saying: "They all have very few clothes on."
+
+"Art cares more for the body than for dress," said her husband.
+
+But Ilse at last became uneasy; she closed the book and exclaimed,
+coloring; "I must go; my help is needed in the kitchen to-day, as a new
+pudding has to be made. That is my high school, and the servant is
+still a novice." She hastened out. Once more popping her head through
+the door, she exclaimed, "Tell your Satyrs and Fauns that I had a
+better opinion of them; they are very immodest."
+
+"They are indeed," exclaimed Felix, "and they make no pretensions to
+being otherwise."
+
+At dinner, when Felix had sufficiently admired the pudding. Ilse,
+laying down her spoon, said seriously: "Do not show me such pictures
+again. I would like to love your heathens, but I cannot if they are
+like that."
+
+"They are not all so bad," said her husband, consolingly; "if you like,
+we will this evening pay a visit to some of the notables of antiquity."
+
+With this day Ilse began a new period of learning. Soon a fixed hour
+was arranged for her husband's explanations--the most valuable part of
+the day to Ilse. First the Professor gave her a short description of
+the great civilized nations of antiquity and the middle ages, and wrote
+down a few names and dates for her that she learnt by heart. He pointed
+out to her that the whole life of man was, in fact, nothing but an
+unceasing receiving, transforming, and giving forth of the materials,
+pictures, and impressions presented by the surrounding world; that the
+whole intellectual development of man is, in fact, nothing but an
+earnest and reverent search after truth; and that the whole of
+political history is, in fact, nothing but the gradual subduing of that
+egotism which produces disunion between men and nations, by the
+creation of new wants, the increase of a feeling of duty and the growth
+of love and respect for all mankind.
+
+After this preparation the Professor began to read the _Odyssey_ aloud
+to her, adding short explanations. Never had poetry so grand and pure
+an influence upon her soul; the lively legendary style of the first
+part and the powerful development of the second quite captivated her
+heart. The characters became almost like living forms to her; she
+wandered, suffered, and triumphed with them--raised into a new world of
+more beautiful images and higher feelings. Then when the conclusion
+came and the long-suffering Ulysses sat opposite to his wife, the bold
+touches of the scene of recognition struck a secret chord in the heart
+of the young wife. Deep was the impression. She sat near her beloved
+husband, her cheeks suffused with blushes, her eyes moist with tears
+and modestly cast down; and when he ended she clasped her white arms
+round his neck and sank on his breast, lost in transport and emotion.
+Her soul woke up, as it were, from long repose and glowed with deep
+feeling. The immortal beauties of this poem cast a radiance over every
+hour of the day, over her language, nay, over her bearing. She took
+pleasure in trying to read aloud herself, and the Professor listened
+with heartfelt pleasure as the majestic verses rolled melodiously from
+her lips, and as she unconsciously imitated his mode of speech and the
+modulations of his voice. When in the morning he went to his lecture
+and she helped him to put on his brown duffel overcoat he was greeted
+with the pleasant rhythm of this hexameter:
+
+     "Purple and rough was the coat of the cunning and noble Ulysses."
+
+And when she sat opposite to him during her hour of instruction and he
+came to a pause, these words of admiration broke from her lips:
+
+"Thus thou cleverly thinkest, and wisely speakest thou always."
+
+And when she wished to praise herself, she murmured to the singing of
+the boiling kettle:
+
+     "Even in me lives wit, to discover the good from the evil,
+      Formerly though I was but a child."
+
+Even the estate of her dear father now seemed to her illuminated with
+the golden splendor of the Hellenic sun.
+
+"I do not understand," said her father one evening to Clara, "how it is
+possible that Ilse should so quickly have forgotten our farming
+customs. In her letters she speaks of the time when the cattle shall
+again wander in the wide plains; she means, I suppose, the fallow
+fields; for we feed our cattle in the stalls."
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+The north wind howled round the two neighboring houses, and covered the
+window panes with ice flowers; but within doors one day followed the
+other with varied coloring and full of light, and each evening, more
+enjoyable than the other, passed over the heads of the happy couple,
+whether they were alone or whether the friends of the husband, the
+instructors of the people, sat with them at the tea-table where a
+simple meal was spread.
+
+For the friends of the husband and their clever conversations are
+pleasant to the lady of the house. The lamp throws a festive light in
+Ilse's chamber, the curtains are drawn, the table well-furnished, and a
+decanter of wine is placed on it when the gentlemen enter. Frequently
+the conversation begins with trifles; the friends wish to show their
+esteem for the Professor's wife--one talks a little about concerts and
+another recommends a new picture or book. But sometimes they come out
+from the study in eager conversation; their discourse is not always
+quite within her comprehension, nor always very attractive, but on the
+whole it gives her pleasure and refreshes her mind. Then Ilse sits
+quietly there, her hands, which have been active in her work, fall into
+her lap, and she listens reverently. No one who is not a professor's
+wife can have any idea how charmingly the conversation of the learned
+flows. All can speak well, all are eager, and all have a composed
+manner that becomes them well. Discussion arises and they begin to
+argue on weighty points, their opinions clash, they contradict each
+other, one says that something is black, another that it is white; the
+first shows that he is in the right and the second refutes him and
+drives him into a corner. Now his wife thinks, how will he get out of
+this; but she need have no anxiety, he is not at a loss--by a sudden
+sally he gains the advantage; then the other comes with new reasons and
+carries the matter still further, and the others join in, they become
+eager and their voices are raised, and whether at last they convince
+one another or each remains of his own opinion--which is frequently the
+case--it is always a pleasure to see light thrown on difficult
+questions from all sides. If one of them has said something really
+important and arrived at the heart of the matter, it puts them all into
+an elevated mood; it seems as if a supernatural light had burst in on
+them. But the cleverest of all, and he whose opinion is listened to
+with the greatest respect, is always the dear husband of the lady of
+the house.
+
+Ilse, however, remarked that all the learned gentlemen had not the same
+amiable character. Some could not bear opposition and seemed in weak
+moments to consider their own importance more than the advancement of
+truth. Again, one would only speak and would not listen, and narrowed
+the conversation by always returning to the point which the others had
+already surmounted. She discovered that even an unlearned woman could,
+from the discourse of the wise men, discern something of their
+character; and when the guests were gone she ventured to express a
+modest judgment upon the learning and character of individuals, and she
+was proud when Felix allowed that she had judged rightly.
+
+In such conversations the wife of the scholar learned much that to
+other women remained incomprehensible. Thus, for instance, there were
+the Roman plebeians. Few women understand what they were. The old
+plebeians never gave tea-parties, never played on grand pianos, never
+wore hoop skirts and never read French novels. This class is a very
+odious institution which has been buried in the ruins of antiquity. But
+the wife of a philologist is informed concerning all this. It would be
+impossible to recount all that Ilse heard about plebeians and
+patricians. Silently she sympathized with the plebeians. She entirely
+repudiated the idea that they consisted of insignificant people and a
+wanton rabble, and considered them to be sturdy farmers and fearless
+politicians who, in unison, valiantly fought against the unjust
+patricians to the very end. In connection with this she thought of her
+father, and at times wondered whether some of her acquaintances would
+not have been plebeians had they been Romans.
+
+The gentlemen were very friendly to her and almost all had one quality
+which made their intercourse very pleasant--they were always willing to
+explain. At first Ilse did not like to admit that she knew nothing of
+many subjects; but one evening she seated herself by her husband and
+began: "I have come to one conclusion. Hitherto I have been afraid to
+ask questions, not because I was ashamed of my ignorance, why should I
+be? but on your account, that people might not remark what a silly wife
+you have. But if you approve of it I will now do quite otherwise, for I
+observe that they take pleasure in talking and will be willing to favor
+me with a 'winged word,' as Homer says."
+
+"Just so," said the husband; "they will like you the better the more
+interest you take in them."
+
+"I should like to know everything about the whole world, in order to
+become like you. But I feel that I sadly lack the ability to comprehend
+it all."
+
+The new plan turned out admirably. Ilse soon learnt that it was easier
+to persuade her friends to talk than to desist from it. For they
+explained to her conscientiously and at great length what she wished to
+learn; but they sometimes forgot that the capacity of a woman who is
+receiving new impressions is not so fully developed as their own art of
+teaching.
+
+They seemed to her to hover like gods over the earth. But they partook
+of the lot of the ambrosial society, for the pure peace which they
+infused into the hearts of mortals did not always prevail among
+themselves. It was Ilse's fate that soon after her arrival, when she
+was beginning to feel at home, a vehement feud broke out among the
+immortals of Olympus.
+
+On a dark winter's day the stormy wind beat heavily against the window,
+concealing the adjacent wood behind clouds of driving snow. Ilse heard
+in her husband' s room the sharp tones of Professor Struvelius amid a
+weighty flow of eloquence, and at intervals the long and earnest talk
+of her husband. She could not distinguish the words, but the sound of
+the two voices was similar to the whir of bird's wings or the rival
+singing of the thrush and the ill-omened crow. The conversation
+continued a long time and Ilse wondered that Struvelius should speak at
+such length. When at last he was gone, Felix entered her room at an
+unusual hour and paced silently up and down for some time, occupied in
+deep thought. At last he began abruptly:
+
+"I am placed in a position that obliges me to communicate with my
+colleagues regarding our manuscript."
+
+Ilse looked up at him inquiringly. Since her marriage there had been no
+talk about Tacitus.
+
+"I thought it was your intention not to speak again of it to
+strangers."
+
+"I have unwillingly broken my silence. I had no choice but to be frank
+with my associate. The province of Science is extensive and it does not
+often happen that associates in the same university pitch upon the same
+work. Nay, for obvious reasons, they avoid competition. If, therefore,
+by accident such a coincidence occurs, the most delicate consideration
+should be mutually shown by members of the same institution. To-day
+Struvelius told me that he knew I had been occupied with Tacitus and he
+requested some particulars of me. He asked me about the manuscripts
+that I had seen and collated years ago in other countries and about the
+fac-simile of the characters I had made for myself."
+
+"Then you imparted to him what you knew?" inquired Ilse.
+
+"I gave him what I possessed, as a matter of course," replied the
+Professor. "For whatever he may do with it is sure to be a gain to
+learning."
+
+"Then he will make use of your labors for the advancement of his own!
+Now he will appear before the world in your plumes," lamented Ilse.
+
+"Whether he will make proper use of what has been given him, or misuse
+it, is his affair; it is my duty to have confidence in the honor of a
+respectable colleague. That I did not for a moment doubt; but, indeed,
+another idea occurred to me. He was not quite open with me: he
+acknowledged that he was occupied with a criticism of certain passages
+of Tacitus; but I feel sure that he concealed the most important
+particulars from me. Nothing then remained to me but to tell him
+plainly that I had long had a warm interest in that author, and that
+since last summer I had been the more attracted to him by the
+possibility of a new discovery. So I showed him the account which first
+brought me into your neighborhood. He is a philologist, like myself,
+and knows now of what great importance this author is to me."
+
+"My only consolation is," said Ilse, "that if Struvelius wishes to
+disinter the manuscript in our place, a hard fate awaits him at the
+hands of my sensible father."
+
+The thought of the defiance of his stem father-in-law was consoling to
+the Professor, and he laughed.
+
+"On this point I am safe; but what can he want with Tacitus?--his
+department was formerly not concerned with the historians. It can
+scarcely be imagined. But the most improbable things happen! Has,
+perhaps, the lost manuscript, by any accident, been found and got into
+his hands? But it is folly to worry about that."
+
+He strode vehemently up and down, and, shaking his wife's hand with
+great emotion, exclaimed at last:
+
+"It is so vexatious to find oneself mastered by selfish feelings."
+
+He again went to his work and when Ilse gently opened the door she saw
+him busy writing. Toward evening, however, when she looked after his
+lamp and announced the arrival of the Doctor, he was sitting leaning
+his head on his hand in moody thought. She stroked his hair gently but
+he scarcely noticed it.
+
+The Doctor did not take the affair so much to heart; but was very
+angry, both at the secret dealings of the other and at the magnanimity
+of his friend, and a lively discussion ensued.
+
+"May you never regret this frank action on your part!" exclaimed the
+Doctor. "The man will coin money from your silver. Believe me, he will
+play you a trick."
+
+"After all," concluded the Professor thoughtfully, "it is not worth
+while to excite myself about it. Should he, by any improbable and
+unforeseen accident, really have come into possession of something new,
+he has a right to all the materials at hand--both to what I have
+collected and to my assistance, so far as it is in my power to give it.
+If he is only exercising his critical acumen on the existing text, all
+he may be able to accomplish will be insignificant as compared with our
+childlike expectations."
+
+Thus imperceptibly and harmlessly did this cloud arise on the
+academical horizon.
+
+A month had passed, and the Professor had often met his colleague. It
+could not be deemed strange that Struvelius never let the name of
+Tacitus pass his silent lips; nevertheless, the Professor watched the
+conduct of his colleague with concern, for he thought he noticed that
+the other avoided him.
+
+One quiet evening Felix Werner was sitting with Ilse and the Doctor at
+the tea-table, when Gabriel entered and laid a small pamphlet, wrapped
+in a common newspaper, before the Professor. The Professor tore off the
+cover, glanced at the title, and silently handed the pamphlet to the
+Doctor. The Latin title of the book, translated, was this: "A Fragment
+of Tacitus; Being a Trace of a Lost Manuscript. Communicated by Dr.
+Friedobald Struvelius, etc." Without saying a word the friends rose and
+carried the treatise into the Professor's study. Ilse remained behind,
+startled. She heard her husband reading the Latin text aloud and
+perceived that he was compelling himself to master his excitement by
+slow and firm reading. The story of this fatal writing must not be
+withheld from the reader.
+
+Older contemporaries of the period in which tobacco was smoked in
+pipes, know the value of the twisted paper-lighter, an invention which
+was commonly called a _fidibus_; they know the normal length and
+breadth of such a strip of paper which our fathers formerly used to
+make out of musty old records. Such a strip, certainly not of paper,
+but cut from a sheet of parchment, had fallen into the hands of the
+author. But the strip had previously undergone a hard fate. Two hundred
+years before it had been glued by a bookbinder on the back of a thick
+volume, to strengthen the binding, and he had for this object covered
+it thickly with glue. On the removal of the glue there appeared
+characters of an old monk's writing. The word Amen and some holy names
+made it certain that what was written had served to promote Christian
+piety. But under this monk's writing other and larger Latin characters
+were visible, very faded, indeed almost entirely defaced, from which
+one could, with some difficulty, distinguish the Roman name Piso. Now,
+Professor Struvelius had, by perseverance, and by the employment of
+certain chemicals, made it possible to read this under-writing, and
+from the form of the characters he saw that it was a work of antiquity.
+But as the parchment fidibus was only a piece cut from an entire sheet,
+it naturally did not contain complete sentences, only single words,
+which fell on the soul of the reader like the lost notes of distant
+music borne by the wind to the ear: no melody could be made from it. It
+was that which had attracted the author. He had ascertained and filled
+in the disjointed words and guessed at the whole of the remaining leaf.
+By the wonderful application of great learning, he had, from a few
+shadowy spots of the fidibus, restored the whole page of a parchment
+writing, as it might have read twelve hundred years ago. It was an
+astonishing work.
+
+The most distinctly written of the characters on this strip of
+parchment, though scarcely legible to the common eye, was the name of
+_Pontifex Piso_--literally translated. Peas the Bridgemaker. The
+parchment strip appeared very much concerned about Peas, for the name
+occurred several times. But the editor had shown from this name, and
+from fragments of destroyed words, that the strip of parchment was the
+last remains of a manuscript of Tacitus, and that the words belonged to
+a lost portion of the Annals; and he had at last proved from the
+character of the shadowy letters that the strip of parchment did not
+belong to any extant manuscript of the Roman, but that it was a part of
+one quite unknown, which had been destroyed.
+
+After reading the treatise the friends sat gloomy and thoughtful. At
+last the Doctor exclaimed:
+
+"How unfriendly to conceal this from you, and yet to call upon you for
+assistance."
+
+"That signifies little," replied the Professor. "But I cannot approve
+of the work itself; hypercritical acuteness is applied to an uncertain
+matter, and objections might be made against much that he has restored
+and supposed. But why do you not say openly what interests us both much
+more than the mistakes of a whimsical man? We are on the track of a
+manuscript of Tacitus, and here we find a fragment of such a
+manuscript, which has been cut up by a bookbinder after the Thirty
+Years' War. The gain which might accrue to our knowledge from this
+little fragment is so insignificant that it would not pay for the
+energy expended on it, being a matter of indifference to all the world
+except to us. For, my friend, if a manuscript of Tacitus has really
+been cut into such strips, it is in all probability the same which we
+have been in search of. What is the result?" he added, bitterly. "We
+free ourselves from a dreamy vision which has perhaps too long made
+fools of us."
+
+"How can this parchment be a part of the manuscript of our friend
+Bachhuber?" asked the Doctor; "many prayers have been written here over
+the old text."
+
+"Who can assure us that the monks of Rossau have not written their
+spiritual aspirations over at least some faded sheets? It is not usual,
+but nevertheless possible."
+
+"Above all, you must see Struvelius's parchment strip yourself," said
+the Doctor, decidedly. "An accurate examination may explain much."
+
+"It is not agreeable to me to speak to him about it, yet I shall do so
+to-morrow."
+
+The day following the Professor entered the room of his colleague
+Struvelius more composedly.
+
+"You can imagine!" he began, "that I have read your treatise with
+especial interest. After what I have communicated to you concerning an
+unknown manuscript of Tacitus, you must perceive that our prospect of
+discovering this manuscript is very much diminished, if the strip of
+parchment has been cut from the leaves of a Tacitus which was preserved
+in Germany two hundred years ago."
+
+"If it has been cut?" repeated Struvelius, sharply. "It _has_ been cut
+from it. And what you have communicated to me about this concealed
+treasure at Rossau was very indefinite and I am not of the opinion that
+much value is to be attached to it. If, in reality, there was a
+manuscript of Tacitus in existence there, it has undoubtedly been cut
+up, and this ends the question."
+
+"_If_ such a manuscript was in existence there?" retorted Felix. "It
+_was_ in existence. But I have come to request you to show me the
+parchment leaf. Since the contents have been published there can be no
+objection to it."
+
+Struvelius looked embarrassed and answered: "I regret that I cannot
+meet your wishes, which are certainly quite justifiable, but I am no
+longer in possession of the strip."
+
+"To whom am I to apply?" asked the Professor, surprised.
+
+"Even upon that point I am at present obliged to be silent."
+
+"That is strange," exclaimed Felix; "and forgive me for speaking
+plainly, it is worse than unfriendly. For be the importance of this
+fragment great or little, it ought not to be withdrawn from the eyes of
+others after the publication of its contents. It is incumbent upon you
+to enable others to prove the correctness of your restoration of the
+text."
+
+"That I allow," replied Struvelius. "But I am not in a position to
+enable you to see this strip."
+
+"Have you sufficiently considered," exclaimed the Professor, excitedly,
+"that by this refusal you expose yourself to the misinterpretation of
+strangers, to charges which never ought to be brought in contact with
+your name?"
+
+"I consider myself quite capable of being the keeper of my own good
+name and must beg of you to leave its care entirely in my hands."
+
+"Then I have nothing further to say to you," replied Felix, and went
+toward the door.
+
+In going he observed that the middle door opened, and the Professor's
+wife, alarmed at the loud tones of the speakers, made her appearance
+like a good spirit, with her hands stretched imploringly toward him.
+But he, after a hurried salutation, closed the door and went angrily
+home.
+
+The cloud had gathered and the heavens were darkened. The Professor
+once more took up the treatise of his ungracious colleague. It was as
+if a mountain-lion, wildly shaking his mane, had dashed in upon the
+prey of a lynx or fox, and wresting the booty from the clutches of the
+weaker animal, ignominiously routed him.
+
+Twice Ilse called her husband to dinner in vain; when she approached
+his chair anxiously she saw a disturbed countenance. "I cannot eat," he
+said, abruptly; "send over and ask Fritz to come here directly."
+
+Ilse, alarmed, sent for their neighbor and seated herself in the
+Professor's room, following him with her eyes as he strode up and down.
+"What has so excited you, Felix?" she asked, anxiously.
+
+"I beg of you, dear wife, to dine without me to-day," he said,
+continuing his rapid strides.
+
+The Doctor entered hastily. "The fragment is not from a manuscript of
+Tacitus," said the Professor, to his friend.
+
+"Vivat Bachhuber!" replied he, while still at the door, waving his hat.
+
+"There is no reason to rejoice," interrupted the Professor, gloomily;
+"the fragment, wherever it may have come from, contains a passage of
+Tacitus."
+
+"It must have come from some place," said the Doctor.
+
+"No," cried the Professor, loudly; "the whole is a forgery. The upper
+part of the text contains words put together at random and the attempts
+of the editor to bring them into a rational connection are not happy.
+The lower portion of the so-called fragment has been transcribed from
+one of the old fathers, who has introduced a hitherto unobserved
+sentence of Tacitus. The forger has written certain words of this
+quotation under one another on the parchment strip, regularly omitting
+the words lying between. This cannot be doubted."
+
+He led the Doctor, who now looked as much perplexed as himself, to his
+books, and demonstrated to him the correctness of his statement.
+
+"The forger gathered his learning from the printed text of the father,
+for he has been clumsy enough to transcribe an error in the print made
+by the compositor. So there is an end of the parchment sheet and of a
+German scholar also!"
+
+He took out his handkerchief to dry the perspiration on his forehead
+and threw himself into a chair.
+
+"Hold!" exclaimed the Doctor. "Here the honor and reputation of a
+scholar are concerned. Let us once more examine calmly whether this may
+not be an accidental coincidence."
+
+"Try, if you can," said the Professor; "I have done with it."
+
+The Doctor long and anxiously collated the restored text of Struvelius
+with the printed words of the father.
+
+At last he said sorrowfully: "What Struvelius has restored agrees with
+the sense and tenor of the words of the father so remarkably, that one
+cannot help considering the slight variation in the words of his
+restoration as a cunning concealment of his acquaintance with the
+quotation; but still it is not impossible that by good luck and
+acuteness a person might arrive at the true connection, as he found
+it."
+
+"I do not doubt for a moment that Struvelius made the restoration
+honorably and in good faith," replied the Professor; "but still his
+position is as annoying as possible. Deceiver or deceived, the
+unfortunate treatise is a terrible humiliation, not only for him but
+for our University."
+
+"The words of the parchment strip itself," continued the Doctor, "are
+undoubtedly transcribed and undoubtedly a forgery; and it is your duty
+to reveal the true state of the case."
+
+"The duty of my husband!" exclaimed Ilse, rising.
+
+"Of him who has discovered the forgery, and if Struvelius were his most
+intimate friend, Felix would have to do it."
+
+"Explain it first to him," implored Ilse. "Do not treat him as he has
+treated you. If he has been in error let him repair it himself."
+
+The Professor reflected a moment and nodding to his friend said: "She
+is right." He hastened to the table and wrote to Professor Struvelius,
+expressing a wish to speak to him immediately on an important subject.
+He gave the letter to Gabriel and his heart felt lighter; he was now
+ready to enjoy his dinner.
+
+Ilse begged the Doctor to remain with her husband and endeavored to
+lead their thoughts to other subjects. She took a letter from Mrs.
+Rollmaus from her pocket, in which the latter begged Ilse to send her
+something profound to read, selected by the Professor; and Ilse
+expressed a wish that they might thus make some return for the
+partridges and other game that Mrs. Rollmaus had sent to them. This
+helped in some degree to cast the sanguinary thoughts of the gloomy men
+into the background. At last she produced a huge round sausage, which
+Mrs. Rollmaus had especially destined for the Doctor, and placed it on
+the table. When they looked at the sausage as it lay there so peaceable
+and comfortable in its ample dimensions, encircled by a blue ribbon, it
+was impossible not to acknowledge that, in spite of false appearances
+and empty presumption, there was still something sterling to be found
+on earth. As they contemplated the good solid dish, their hearts
+softened, and a gentle smile betrayed their natural human weakness.
+
+There was a ring at the door and Professor Struvelius made his
+appearance. The Professor collected himself and went with firm steps
+into his room; the Doctor went quietly away, promising to return again
+shortly.
+
+It must have been apparent to Struvelius, after a glance at his
+colleague, that their last conversation was doomed to throw a shadow
+over their present meeting, for he looked frightened and his hair stood
+on end. The Professor laid before him the printed passage of the old
+monk and only added these words: "This passage has possibly escaped
+you."
+
+"It has, indeed," exclaimed Struvelius, and sat for some time poring
+over it. "I ought to be satisfied with this confirmation," he said at
+last, looking up from the folio.
+
+But the Professor laid his finger on the book, saying:
+
+"An extraordinary typographical error in this edition has been copied
+into the text of the parchment strip which you have restored--an error
+which is corrected at the end of the book. The words of the parchment
+strip are thus partly put together from this printed passage and are a
+forgery."
+
+Struvelius remained mute, but he was much alarmed, and looked anxiously
+upon the contracted brow of his colleague.
+
+"It will now be to your interest to give the necessary explanations
+concerning this forgery to the public."
+
+"A forgery is impossible," retorted Struvelius, incautiously. "I myself
+removed the old glue that covered the text from the parchment."
+
+"Yet you tell me that the strip is not in your possession. You will
+believe that it is no pleasure to me to enter the ranks against a
+colleague; therefore you yourself must without delay make the whole
+matter public. For it stands to reason the forgery must be made known."
+
+Struvelius reflected.
+
+"I take for granted that you speak with the best intentions," he began
+at last, "but I am firmly convinced that the parchment is genuine, and
+I must leave it to you to do what you consider your duty. If you choose
+to attack your colleague publicly, I shall do my best to bear it."
+
+Having said this, Struvelius went away obdurate, but much disquieted,
+and matters took their evil course. Ilse saw with sorrow how severely
+her husband suffered from the obstinacy of his colleague. The Professor
+set to work and published a short statement of the affair in the
+classical magazine to which he contributed. He introduced the fatal
+passage of the monk, and forbearingly expressed his regret that the
+acute author of the pamphlet had thus been imposed upon by a forgery.
+
+This decisive condemnation created a tremendous sensation in the
+University. Like a disturbed swarm of bees, the colleagues moved about
+confusedly. Struvelius had but few warm friends, but he had no
+opponents. It is true that in the first few days after this literary
+condemnation, he was considered as done for. But he himself was not of
+this opinion and composed a rejoinder. In this he boasted, not without
+self complacency, of the satisfactory confirmation of his restoration
+by the passage in the monk's writing, which he had undoubtedly
+overlooked; he treated the coincidence of the error in printing with
+that in his parchment as an extraordinary, but in no ways unheard of
+accident; and finally, he did not scruple to cast some sharp, covert
+hints at other scholars, who considered certain authors as their own
+peculiar domain, and despised a small accidental discovery, though an
+unprejudiced judge could not hope for a greater.
+
+This offensive allusion to the hidden manuscript cut the Professor to
+the quick, but he proudly disdained to enter into any further contest
+before the public. The rejoinder of Struvelius was certainly
+unsuccessful; but it had the effect of giving courage to those members
+of the University who were ill-disposed toward Felix to join the side
+of his opponent. The thing was, at all events, doubtful, they said, and
+it was contrary to good fellowship to accuse a colleague openly of such
+a great oversight; the assailant might have left it to others to do so.
+But the better portion of the leading members of the University
+contended from the camp of the Professor against these weak ones. Some
+of the most distinguished, among them all those who assembled at Ilse's
+tea-table, determined that the affair should not drop. In fact, the
+quarrel was so unfavorable to Struvelius, that it was seriously
+represented to him that he was bound in honor to give some kind of
+explanation of the parchment; but he kept silent against this array of
+propositions as best he could.
+
+Even the evenings in Ilse's room assumed from this circumstance a
+warlike character. Their most intimate friends--the Doctor, the
+Mineralogist, and, not last, Raschke--sat there as a council of war,
+consulting against the enemy. Raschke acknowledged one evening that he
+had just been with the obstinate opponent and had implored of him, at
+least to contrive that a third person should obtain a view of the
+parchment. Struvelius had in some measure relented and had regretted
+that he had promised silence, because a prospect had been held out to
+him of obtaining other rare manuscripts. Then Raschke had conjured him
+to renounce such dubious treasures and thus to buy back freedom of
+speech. It must clearly have been an animated discussion, for Raschke
+wiped his nose and eyes with a small fringed tea-napkin, which was
+Ilse's pride, and put it into his pocket; and when Ilse laughingly
+reminded him of his theft, he brought out not only the napkin, but also
+a silk pocket-handkerchief, which he maintained must also belong to
+Ilse, although it was evidently the property of some gentleman who took
+snuff. It was, therefore, hinted that he might have brought the
+handkerchief from Struvelius's room.
+
+"Not impossible," he said, "for we were excited." The strange
+pocket-handkerchief lay on a chair and was looked upon by the party
+present with frigid and hostile feelings.
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER XV_.
+
+                         THE PROFESSORS' BALL.
+
+
+The Professors' ball took place during these academical disturbances.
+It was the only festival of the year which gave to all the families of
+the University the opportunity of meeting in gay society. The students
+and town-acquaintances were also invited. The ball was an important
+event in the city and invitations were in great demand.
+
+An academical ball is something quite different from other balls; for
+besides all the merits of a distinguished meeting, it had the three
+excellences of German scholarship--industry, freedom, and indifference:
+industry in dancing, even in the case of the gentlemen, freedom in
+agreeable intercourse between young and old, and indifference to
+uniforms and patent leather pumps. Of course, the young people even
+here bore a cosmopolitan character, for the same modes of dancing,
+dresses, nosegays, and courtesies, glancing eyes and blushing cheeks,
+can be found at a thousand similar festivals from the Neva to
+California; but any one who was more observant might perceive in the
+faces of many of the girls the intellectual eyes and eloquent lips that
+descended to them from their learned fathers, and perhaps certain
+little academical peculiarities in curls and ribbons. The old saying
+which came from a past generation of students, that professors'
+daughters are either pretty or homely, commended itself here also to
+the notice of observers, the ordinary mixture of both qualities being
+rare. Besides a few officers and the flower of the city youth, there
+might be seen among the dancers here and there a young scholar, thin
+and pale, with smooth lank hair, more fitted to bend thoughtfully over
+books than to float about in the giddy dance. But what gave its value
+to this festival was, not the young people, but the middle aged
+gentlemen and ladies. Among the elderly gentlemen with grey hair and
+joyful countenances who stood together in groups or sauntered
+pleasantly among the ladies, were many important faces, with delicate
+features, brisk, animated, and cheerful demeanor. Among the ladies
+there were not a few who, the rest of the year, moved noiselessly about
+the studies of their husbands and the nursery, and who now saw
+themselves displayed in unwonted gala-dress under the bright glare of
+lights, and were as shy and bashful as they had been long ago in their
+maiden days.
+
+There was upon this occasion, at the beginning of the festive meeting,
+an evident excitement in certain individual groups. Werner's tea-party
+had taken for granted that Struvelius would not come. But he was there.
+He stood wrapt in thought, with his usual absent look, not far from the
+entrance, and Ilse and her husband had to pass him. When Ilse walked
+through the ball-room on the Professor's arm, she saw that the eyes of
+many were directed curiously toward her, and a heightened color rose in
+her cheeks. The Professor led her up to the wife of his colleague
+Gunther, who had agreed to remain with her that evening, and Ilse was
+glad when she found herself established on one of the raised seats next
+to the vivacious woman; and at first she only ventured to look shyly
+about. But the splendor of the hall, the many fine people who moved
+about in it, and then the first sounds of the overture, raised her
+spirits. She now ventured to look more about her and search out her
+acquaintances and, above all, her dear husband. She saw him standing
+not far from the door of the room, in the midst of his friends and
+fellow-professors, towering head and shoulders above them. She saw not
+far from the other door his opponent, Struvelius, standing with his
+little retinue, chiefly of students. Thus stood these men, in every way
+divided, honorably restraining the angry feelings of their bosoms. Many
+of her husband's acquaintances came up to Ilse; amongst others the
+Doctor, who teased her because she had been so afraid that they would
+not find each other in the confusion of strange people. The
+Mineralogist also came and declared his intention of asking her to
+dance. But Ilse, earnestly entreating him, said:
+
+"I beg of you not to do it. I am not perfect in these new city dances,
+and you would not get on well with me; I had rather not dance. Besides,
+it is not necessary, for I am in a very gay mood and it amuses me to
+look at all the fine people."
+
+Soon various strangers approached and were introduced to her, and she
+acquired greater ease in refusing to dance.
+
+The Historian then brought his daughter up to her and the worthy
+gentleman at last placed himself near Ilse and talked to her for a long
+time; she felt with pleasure that this was a great distinction.
+Afterward she ventured to move some steps from her place in order to
+ask the wife of Professor Raschke to sit by her. Thus, before long, a
+charming little circle of acquaintances collected about her. Pretty
+Mrs. Gunther joked pleasantly and gave her information about the
+strange ladies and gentlemen. The wife of the Rector also came up and
+said she must sit near her, as she observed that all were so merry
+about her. And the Rector's wife darted glances here and there which
+attracted one gentleman after another to the group; and all who wished
+to show their respect for the wife of the University president paid
+their compliments also to the wife of the colleague. There was a coming
+and going all around her like a fair, and Ilse and the Rector's wife
+sat there like two twin stars, the brilliancy of one increasing that of
+the other. All went well and charmingly. Ilse was delighted beyond
+measure, and there certainly was more shaking of hands in her vicinity
+than comports with the etiquette of a ball. When Felix approached her
+once and looked inquiringly at her, she pressed the tips of his fingers
+gently and gave him such a happy smile that he needed no further
+answer.
+
+During a pause Ilse looked along the sides of the room and perceived
+the wife of Professor Struvelius on the opposite side. She wore a very
+dark dress and her Sappho lock hung seriously and sadly from her fine
+head. The wife of her husband's enemy looked pale and her eyes were
+quietly cast down. There was something in the beauty of the lady that
+moved Ilse's heart and she felt as if she must go over to her. She
+revolved in her mind whether Felix would think it right and was afraid
+of meeting with a cold rejection; but at last she took heart and walked
+right across the room up to the learned lady.
+
+She had no idea of the effect produced by this step. Ilse had attracted
+much more attention and had been much more sharply watched than she
+knew, and those present were more occupied with the quarrel between the
+two professors than she imagined. As she now went with firm step up to
+the other lady and stretched out her hand, even before she reached her,
+there was a remarkable stillness in the room and many eyes were
+directed to both ladies. The wife of Struvelius rose stiffly, descended
+one step from her seat, and looked so freezing that Ilse became nervous
+and could scarcely frame her lips even into the every-day inquiry after
+her health.
+
+"I thank you," replied the lady. "I do not enjoy noisy gatherings. It
+is perhaps because I am entirely deficient in all the necessary
+qualifications, for people are only in the right place when they have
+an opportunity of making their talents in some way available."
+
+"As to my talents, they will go for nothing," said Ilse, shyly; "but
+everything is new to me here, and therefore it entertains me much to
+look on, and I would like to see everything."
+
+"It is quite a different thing with you," replied the other, coldly.
+
+Fortunately this embarrassed conversation was soon interrupted, for the
+wife of the Consistorial Councilor popped into the group like a curious
+magpie in order to mediate philanthropically or to take part in this
+startling scene. She broke into the conversation and talked for a short
+time on indifferent subjects.
+
+Ilse returned to her place much chilled and a little discontented with
+herself. She had no reason for it. Little Mrs. Gunther said to her
+gently:
+
+"That was right, and I am much pleased with you."
+
+Professor Raschke darted up to her and did not allude to it, but he
+called her constantly his dear colleague's wife. He asked her anxiously
+whether he could not bring her something good--tea or lemonade. He
+admiringly took the finely carved fan that Laura had pressed upon her
+from her hand and placed it in the breast-pocket of his coat for safe
+keeping. Then he began to amuse her by telling her how, as a student,
+to please his wife, he had taught himself to dance in his own little
+room, and in the eagerness of the narration, he began to show Ilse the
+way in which he had privately learnt his first steps. As he was
+swinging round, the swan's down of the fan projected like a great
+feather out of his pocket, and a new dance beginning the Professor was
+carried off through the whirling couples with Laura's fan.
+
+It was only a few steps that Ilse had taken through the hall; but this
+little expression of independent will had gained her the good opinion
+of the University; for, if there had been some remarks upon her country
+manners, now, on the other hand, men and women agreed in acknowledging
+that she had heart and character.
+
+According to old custom, the ball was here interrupted by a general
+repast. Worthy professors had already wandered beforehand into the
+neighboring room, peering at the laying of the table, and had carefully
+placed their card in the places they reserved and arranged with the
+waiters about the wine. At last the whole company gathered about the
+table. When Ilse went on her husband's arm to her place, she asked, in
+a low tone:
+
+"Was it right in me to go over there?"
+
+And he replied, gravely:
+
+"It was not wrong."
+
+With this she was for the present obliged to be content.
+
+During the supper the Rector proposed the first toast--"Our Academical
+Society"--and the assembled gentlemen thought his slight allusion to
+friendly concord among the colleagues touched in an indelicate way on
+the burning question of the day. But this effect passed away
+immediately in other toasts, and Ilse remarked that the supper speeches
+here were carried on very differently to those in the Rollmaus family.
+One colleague after another clinked the glass; and how elegantly and
+intellectually they knew how to portray things with their hands behind
+their backs and looking coolly around, and alluding, in fine sentences,
+to the guests, the ladies and the rest of mankind. When the corks of
+the champagne popped, the eloquence became overpowering, and two
+professors even clinked their glasses at the same time. Then the
+Professor of History arose; all became still. He greeted the new
+members of the University--women as well as men--and Ilse saw that this
+applied to herself and looked down on her plate. But she grew alarmed
+when she found that he became more personal, and at last her own name
+as well as that of the wife of the Mineralogist, who was sitting by
+Felix, sounded through the room. The glasses resounded, a flourish of
+trumpets was blown, many colleagues and some of the ladies arose and
+proceeded with their glasses toward them. A little procession took
+place behind the chairs, and Ilse and the Mineralogist's wife had to
+clink their glasses incessantly, to bow and return thanks. When Ilse
+rose blushingly for this purpose, her eyes glanced involuntarily to the
+next table, where the wife of Struvelius was sitting opposite, and she
+observed that the latter half moved her hand toward her glass, then
+quickly drew it back, and looked gloomily down.
+
+The company rose, and now the hilarity began in good earnest, for
+the Professors became lively, and called to mind their old agility.
+There was a changed aspect in the room, for soon even respectable,
+middle-aged gentlemen waltzed with their own wives. Oh! it was a
+cheering and touching spectacle to Ilse. Many an old dress-coat and
+clumsy boot moved to the measure; and many of the gentlemen danced with
+various slidings of the feet, and bold movements of the knees,
+determined to recall the style of their youthful days, and with the
+feeling that they still understood the art. Some of the ladies clung
+shyly to the arms of the dancers, some were ungraceful in their
+movements, others showed how well they were able to govern at
+home,--for, when their husbands were not sufficiently practiced in the
+art, they knew how to carry them round the circle with vigorous swings.
+The Rector danced very neatly with his chubby wife, and Raschke danced
+with his wife, and looked triumphantly toward Ilse. The noisy merriment
+increased; all Ilse's neighbors were carried away by the excitement,
+and commenced waltzing. And Ilse stood looking on not far from a
+pillar. Somebody came behind and touched her; there was a rustling of a
+silk dress, and the wife of Struvelius approached her.
+
+Ilse looked startled at the large grey eyes of her opponent, who began
+slowly:
+
+"I take you to be a noble-minded woman, quite incapable of any mean
+feeling, and this is why I have now come to speak to you."
+
+Ilse bowed slightly, in order to express her thanks for the unexpected
+declaration.
+
+"I go about," continued Mrs. Struvelius, in her measured way, "as if a
+curse were on me. What I have suffered the last few weeks is
+unutterable; this evening I feel like an outcast in this joyous
+gathering." Her hand trembled, but she continued in a monotonous tone:
+"My husband is innocent, and is convinced that he is right in the main.
+It is fitting for me, as his wife, to share his views and his fate; but
+I see him inwardly disturbed by an unfortunate entanglement, and I
+perceive with dismay that he may lose the good opinion of his most
+intimate friends, if he should not succeed in dispelling the suspicions
+which gather about his head. Help me!" she cried, with a sudden
+outburst, wringing her hands, while two big tears rolled down her
+cheeks.
+
+"How can I do that?" asked Ilse.
+
+"There is a secret in the affair," continued Mrs. Struvelius: "my
+husband was incautious enough to promise unconditional silence, and his
+word is sacred to him; he is a child in matters of business, and is
+quite at a loss what to do in the matter. What may be necessary to
+justify him must be sought without his knowledge or co-operation. I beg
+of you not to refuse your assistance."
+
+"I can do nothing that my husband would disapprove of, and I have never
+kept a secret from him," replied Ilse, seriously.
+
+"I desire nothing that the strictest judgment could condemn," continued
+the other. "Your husband will be the first to know whatever I may be
+able to ascertain, and therefore I apply to you. Ah! not only on that
+account; I know no one whom I can trust. What I now tell you I have not
+learnt from my husband: he received the unfortunate parchment from
+Magister Knips, and he returned it to him."
+
+"Is that the little Magister in our street?" inquired Ilse.
+
+"The same. I must persuade him to produce the parchment again, or to
+tell me where it is to be found. But this is not the place to discuss
+this matter," she exclaimed, as the music ceased. "Situated as our
+husbands now are, I cannot visit you; it would be too painful for me,
+should I meet your husband, to feel his altered demeanor; but I wish
+for your advice, and beg of you to allow me to meet you at some other
+place."
+
+"If Magister Knips is concerned in the matter," replied Ilse, with
+hesitation, "I would propose to you to come to the room of our
+landlord's daughter, Laura Hummel. We shall be undisturbed in her room,
+and she knows more of the Magister and his family than we do. But I
+fear we poor women can hardly accomplish much alone."
+
+"I am determined to risk everything, in order to free my husband from
+the unworthy suspicion which threatens to be cast upon him. Prove
+yourself to be what you appear to me, and I will thank you on my
+knees."
+
+She moved her hand convulsively, and then looked about her with an air
+of indifference.
+
+"We shall meet to morrow," replied Ilse; "so far, at least, I can agree
+to your wishes."
+
+They then settled the hour.
+
+Thus the ladies separated. From behind the pillar Mrs. Struvelius once
+more gazed imploringly at Ilse with her large eyes; then both were lost
+in the throng of the departing ball-guests.
+
+After her return home, Ilse long continued to hear in her dreams the
+music of the dance, and saw strange men and women come to her bedside,
+and she laughed and wondered at the queer people who chose to visit her
+now as she was lying in bed without her beautiful dress and fan. But in
+the midst of these pleasant musings she felt a secret anxiety as to
+what her Felix would say of all these visitors; and when she gently
+sighed over this anxiety, the dream floated back towards the ivory
+portals from whence it had come. She sank into a sound sleep.
+
+The following morning Ilse went up to Laura and confided to her the
+events of the previous evening, and the request of Mrs. Struvelius. The
+secret meeting with the Professor's wife quite pleased Laura. She had
+for some time past more than once heard about the mysterious parchment
+at the tea-table. She thought the determination of Mrs. Struvelius very
+courageous, and spoke with contempt of anything that Magister Knips
+could contrive.
+
+Just as the clock struck, Mrs. Struvelius entered. She looked much
+oppressed, and one could perceive anxious excitement even through her
+immovable features.
+
+Ilse shortened the unavoidable introductory compliments and excuses by
+beginning:
+
+"I have told Miss Laura of your desire to obtain the parchment, and she
+is ready to send over directly for Magister Knips."
+
+"That is far more than I had ventured to hope," said Mrs. Struvelius.
+"I had intended with your kind assistance to look him up myself."
+
+"He shall come here," said Laura, decidedly, "and he shall answer for
+himself. I have always found him unendurable, although I have
+frequently bought pretty pictures of him. His humility is such as does
+not become a man, and I consider him a sneak at heart."
+
+The cook Susan was called, and despatched by Laura as a herald to the
+fortress of Knips.
+
+"You are, under no consideration, to tell him that any one is with me;
+and when he comes, bring him up directly."
+
+Susan returned with a sly look, and brought the Magister's compliments:
+"he desired her to say he would have the honor of waiting upon her
+immediately. He seemed astonished, but pleased."
+
+"He shall be astonished," exclaimed Laura.
+
+The allied ladies sat down around the sofa-table, feeling the
+importance of the task which was before them.
+
+"When I am talking with him," began Mrs. Struvelius, solemnly, "have
+the kindness to attend accurately to his answers, that you may in case
+of necessity repeat them, and thus be my supporters and witnesses."
+
+"I can write quickly," exclaimed Laura, "I will write down what he
+answers, then he cannot deny it."
+
+"That would be too much like a trial," interposed Ilse, "and will only
+make him suspicious."
+
+The furious bark of a dog was heard outside.
+
+"He is coming," said Mrs. Struvelius, drawing herself up with dignity.
+
+A loud step was heard on the stairs, Susan opened the door, and
+Magister Knips entered. He did not look dangerous. He was a short,
+crooked man; it was doubtful whether he was young or old. He had a pale
+face, prominent cheek bones, on which were two red spots, screwed up
+eyes such as short-sighted people generally have, and red from much
+night-work by dull lamps. He stood there, in a threadbare coat, with
+his head bent on one side, a humble servant, perhaps a victim of
+learning. When he saw the three ladies sitting, all stern and solemn,
+where his heart had only hoped to find one, and among them the wives of
+important men, he stopped confounded at the door; he composed himself,
+however, and made three low bows, probably one to each lady, but
+refrained from speaking.
+
+"Sit down, Magister," began Laura, condescendingly, pointing to an
+empty chair opposite the sofa.
+
+The Magister approached hesitatingly, pushed the chair further out of
+reach of the three goddesses of fate, and with another bow seated
+himself on the corner of the chair.
+
+"It must be known to you, Magister," began Mrs. Struvelius, "that the
+last publication of my husband has occasioned discussions which have
+been painful to all engaged in them, and I assume also to you."
+
+Knips made a piteous face, and dropped his head entirely on one
+shoulder.
+
+"I now appeal to the interest which you take in the studies of my
+husband, and I appeal to your heart, when I beseech you to give me
+frankly and straightforwardly the information which must be desirable
+to us all."
+
+She stopped. Knips, with bent head, looked askance at her, and also
+remained silent.
+
+"I beg for an answer," said Mrs. Struvelius, emphatically.
+
+"With all my heart," began Knips at last, in a piping voice. "But I do
+not know what I have to answer to."
+
+"My husband received from you the parchment which was the subject of
+his last treatise."
+
+"Did the Professor tell you that?" asked Knips, still more piteously.
+
+"No," answered Mrs. Struvelius; "but I heard you come, and I also heard
+that he promised to be silent about something, and when I entered his
+room later I saw the parchment lying on his table, and when I enquired
+about it, he said, 'That is a secret.'"
+
+The Magister looked round about uneasily, and at last cast his eyes
+down on his knees, where his trousers were unusually threadbare and
+smooth from wear.
+
+"If the Professor himself considers that the affair is a secret, it is
+not for me to speak of it, even if I did know anything about it."
+
+"Then you refuse to give us the information?"
+
+"Ah, my dear lady, there is no one to whom I would rather make a
+communication than to the excellent ladies whom I have the honor of
+seeing here, but I am much too insignificant to be able to serve you in
+this."
+
+"And have you taken into consideration the embarrassing consequences of
+your refusal, for my husband, for the whole University, and--what you,
+an advocate of truth, must consider more important than all--for
+science?"
+
+Knips acknowledged himself to be the advocate of truth.
+
+Laura remarked that the examination was wandering into by-paths on
+which the parchment was not to be found; she jumped up, and cried out:
+
+"Go out of the room for a little while, Magister Knips, I wish to
+confer with the Professor's wife."
+
+Knips rose very readily and made a bow.
+
+"But you must not go away. Go into the next room. Come, I shall call
+you in again directly."
+
+Knips followed her with bowed head, and Laura came back on tiptoes and
+said, in a low tone:
+
+"I have locked him in, that he may not escape."
+
+The ladies put their heads together in close consultation.
+
+"You deal too tenderly with him, Mrs. Struvelius," whispered Laura.
+"Offer him money. That will allure him. It is hard for me to say so,
+but I know the Knips family--they are selfish."
+
+"I also have thought of that, for an extreme case," replied Mrs.
+Struvelius, "only I did not wish to hurt him by such an offer, if there
+were any manly feeling in him."
+
+"Pshaw!" exclaimed Laura, "he is not a man, he is only a coward. If at
+first he refuses, offer him more. Here is my pocket-book; I beg of you
+to take it."
+
+She ran to her writing-table and fetched out the embroidered purse.
+
+"I thank you from my heart," whispered Mrs. Struvelius, taking out her
+purse from her pocket. "If there is only sufficient," she said,
+anxiously drawing the strings. "Let us see quickly how much we have."
+
+"God forbid!" cried Laura, hastily. "It is full of gold."
+
+"I have turned everything that I could into money," replied Mrs.
+Struvelius hurriedly; "everything else is of little value."
+
+Ilse took the purses out of the hands of both ladies and said firmly:
+
+"That is far too much. We ought not to offer him such sums; we do not
+know whether we should not thus be exposing the poor man to the
+temptation of doing wrong. If we offer him money we embark in a
+transaction which we do not thoroughly understand."
+
+The others disputed this, and there was much whispered consultation. At
+last Laura decided:
+
+"He shall have two pieces of gold, that is settled." Laura hastened out
+to bring back the prisoner.
+
+When the Magister entered, Mrs. Struvelius looked so imploringly at
+Ilse, that the latter made up her mind to carry on the negotiation.
+
+"Magister, we have set our hearts upon having this bit of manuscript
+with which the professors have been so much occupied, and as you know
+about it, we request your help to obtain it."
+
+A submissive smile played over the lips of Magister Knips.
+
+"We wish to buy it," interposed Mrs. Struvelius; "and we beg of you to
+undertake the purchase. You shall have the money necessary for it."
+
+Forgetting her agreement in their intense anxiety, she put her hand
+into her purse and counted one louis d'or after another on the table,
+till Laura sprang up, terrified, and tugged at her shawl from behind.
+
+Knips again laid his head on his shoulder, and fixed his eyes upon the
+small fingers of the Professor's wife, from which fell one gold piece
+after another.
+
+"This, and still more, shall be yours," cried Mrs. Struvelius, "if you
+will procure me the parchment."
+
+The Magister fumbled in his pocket for his handkerchief, and wiped his
+forehead.
+
+"It must be well known to the ladies," he said, plaintively, "that I
+have to read many proof-sheets, and to work late into the night before
+I can earn the tenth portion of what you lay before me. It is a great
+temptation to me; but I do not believe that I can obtain the strip of
+parchment; and if I should succeed I fear it will only be upon
+condition that it shall not get into the hands of any of the
+professors, but be destroyed here in your presence.
+
+"Go out again, Magister Knips," cried Laura, springing up, "and leave
+your hat here that you may not escape us."
+
+The Magister disappeared for the second time. Again the women put their
+heads together.
+
+"He has the parchment, and he can produce it; we know that now,"
+exclaimed Laura.
+
+"We cannot agree to his offer," said Ilse. "It is not right for us to
+take possession of the parchment; it must be examined by our husbands,
+and then returned to the Magister."
+
+"I beg of you to take away all this money," cried Laura, "and permit me
+now to adopt another tone with him, for my patience is at an end." She
+opened the door: "Come in, Magister Knips. Listen attentively to me.
+You have refused, and the money has disappeared, all but two pieces,
+which may still be yours; but only on the condition that you procure
+for us at once what Mrs. Struvelius has begged of you. For we have
+clearly seen that you possess the strip, and if you still refuse we
+shall have cause to suspect that you have acted dishonorably in the
+matter."
+
+Knips looked terrified, and raised his hands imploringly.
+
+"I shall go directly," continued Laura, "to your mother, and tell her
+that there is an end to all connection between her and our house; and I
+shall go over to Mr. Hahn, and tell him of your conduct, that he may
+set your brother at you. Your brother is in business, and knows what is
+upright; and if he does not see it in that light, Mr. Hahn will, and
+that would not be to the advantage of your brother. Finally, I tell you
+further, I will at once send over for Fritz Hahn and tell him
+everything, and then _he_ shall deal with you. Fritz Hahn will get the
+better of you, you know, and so do I, for he always did when we were
+children. I know you, Magister. We, in our street, are not the sort of
+people to allow ourselves to be hoodwinked, and we value good conduct
+in the neighborhood. Therefore, procure the parchment, or you shall
+know Laura Hummel."
+
+Thus spoke Laura with flaming eyes, and clenching her little hand at
+the Magister. Ilse looked with astonishment at her determined friend.
+
+If a discourse is to be judged by its effect, Laura's speech was a
+pattern, for it worked most disturbingly on the Magister. He had grown
+up among the people and customs of that little street, and could well
+appreciate the consequences which Laura's hostility would exercise on
+the needy circumstances of his private life. He, therefore, struggled
+for a time for words, and at last began, in a low voice:
+
+"As even Miss Laura suspects me, I am undoubtedly compelled to tell how
+the affair stands. I know an old traveling pedlar who carries about
+with him various antiquities--wood-cuts, miniatures, and also fragments
+of old manuscripts, and anything of the kind that comes in his way. I
+have frequently obtained him customers, and given him information upon
+the value of rare things. This man, during his stay here, showed me a
+collection of old parchment leaves, concerning which he was already, he
+said, in negotiation with a foreigner. Attention being drawn to the
+double writing on the leaves, the strip appeared noteworthy to him, and
+to me also. I read some of it, as far as could be made out through the
+paste that lay upon it; and begged him at least to lend me the
+parchment that I might show it to our scholars. I carried it to
+Professor Struvelius, and as he judged that it might perhaps be worth
+the trouble of examining, I went again to the dealer. He told me he
+would not sell the strip outright, but he should like something to be
+written concerning it, as that would increase its value; and he
+delivered it into my hands till his return. This week he came again to
+take it away with him. I do not know whether it is still to be had, or
+whether he will take this money for it. I fear not."
+
+The ladies looked at each other.
+
+"You all hear this statement," began Mrs. Struvelius. "But why,
+Magister, did you beg my husband to tell no one that the parchment came
+from you?"
+
+The Magister turned on his chair and again looked at his knees
+embarrassed.
+
+"Ah, the lady will not be angry if I speak out. Professor Werner had
+always been very friendly to me, and I feared that he might take it
+amiss if I did not first show him such a discovery. But Professor
+Struvelius had also a claim to my gratitude, for he had graciously
+intrusted to me the proof-sheets and table of contents of the new
+edition of his great work. I was, therefore, in fear of offending two
+valuable patrons."
+
+This was unfortunate, certainly, and not improbable.
+
+"Oh! do contrive that your husband may hear him," exclaimed Mrs.
+Struvelius.
+
+"We hope, Magister, that you will repeat your words before others who
+can understand the import of them better than we do," said Ilse.
+
+The Magister expressed his willingness timidly.
+
+"But you must, nevertheless, procure the parchment," interposed Laura.
+
+Knips shrugged his shoulders. "If it is possible," he said; "but I
+don't know whether the man will give it up for this sum."
+
+Mrs. Struvelius was again putting her hand into her pocket; but Ilse
+held it back, and Laura cried out:
+
+"We will give no more."
+
+"Nevertheless," continued the Magister, impelled by the determination
+of his judges, "as doubts have been raised of its genuineness, the
+parchment may have lost some of its value for the dealer. But if I
+should succeed in being of service to you, I respectfully entreat you
+not to bear any malice against me for the unfortunate share which,
+without any fault on my part, I have had in this sad business. It has
+grieved me much the whole time; and since the criticism of Professor
+Werner has been printed, I have daily lamented that I ever set eyes on
+the parchment. I should sink into an abyss of misery if I were to lose
+my respected patrons."
+
+These words excited the compassion of his judges, and Mrs. Struvelius
+said, kindly:
+
+"We believe you, for it is a dreadful feeling to have deceived others,
+even unintentionally."
+
+But Laura, who had established herself as president of the council,
+decided shortly:
+
+"I beg that all who have taken part in this will meet here to-morrow at
+the same hour. I give you to that time, Magister Knips, to procure the
+parchment. After the expiration of this respite our house will be
+closed to you, our washing withdrawn, and notice given to the Hahn
+family. See, therefore, that we come to an amicable settlement."
+
+The Magister approached the table, drew with one finger the gold pieces
+into the palm of his hand, which he modestly held under the edge of the
+table, made three low bows, and took leave of the ladies.
+
+Ilse related the adventure to her husband, and Felix listened with
+astonishment at the r�le which the learned factotum had played in the
+tragedy.
+
+On the following morning the Magister made his appearance before the
+Professor. Breathless he drew out of his pocket the unfortunate strip
+of parchment, and carried it with bowed head and outstretched hand,
+bending lower and lower, humbly and imploringly, from the door to the
+writing-table of the Professor.
+
+"I venture to bring this to you, rather than encounter the ladies for a
+second time. Perhaps you will graciously deign to deliver this through
+your wife into the hands of its new possessor."
+
+When the Professor examined him severely, he began a statement in
+defence of himself. What he said was not improbable. The name of the
+doubtful trader was known to the Professor. He was aware that he had
+been staying in the town during the course of the last few weeks, and
+from the numerous communications that Knips had had with this man in
+the interest of his patrons, there was nothing extraordinary in their
+intimacy. The Professor examined the parchment carefully. If there had
+been a forgery here, it had been carried out in a masterly way; but
+Knips produced a microscope from his waistcoat pocket, and pointed out
+how, by means of the magnifying glass, one could discover that
+sometimes the shadowy characters of the apparently very ancient
+handwriting had been introduced _over_ the words of the church prayers,
+and had therefore been painted on at a later period.
+
+"Your strictures in the _Classical Gazette_ drew my attention to this,
+and early this morning, when I obtained the parchment, I carefully
+examined what had been rendered indistinct by the paste. So far as I
+may be permitted to have a judgment in such things, I now venture to
+share your opinion that a forgery has been perpetrated on this strip."
+
+The Professor threw it aside.
+
+"I regret that you have ever had anything to do with it, even though
+unintentionally; you have done a mischief, the painful effects of which
+you cannot fail to see. I am sorry for it on your own account. This
+unfortunate occurrence will throw a shadow over your life; and I would
+give much to be able to wipe it away. For we have known one another
+through much mutual work, Magister, and I have always felt a sympathy
+in your self-sacrificing activity in favor of others. In spite of your
+book-chaffering, which I do not approve of, and in spite of your waste
+of time in labors which might be done by less efficient persons, I have
+always considered you as a man whose extraordinary knowledge inspires
+respect."
+
+The humble Magister raised his head, and a smile passed over his face.
+
+"I have always, Professor, considered you as the only one among my
+distinguished patrons, who has the right to tell me that I have learned
+too little; you are also, Professor, the one to whom I venture to
+confess that I have secretly never ceased to esteem myself as a man of
+learning. I hope that you will not deny me the testimony that I have
+always been a trustworthy and faithful laborer in that cause."
+
+He fell back into his humble attitude, as he continued:
+
+"What has happened will be a lesson for me in future."
+
+"I demand more of you. First, you must take the trouble of ascertaining
+through your acquaintance the hidden source from which this forgery has
+emanated, for it can scarcely be the accidental idea of an unscrupulous
+man; it is rather the work of an ill-directed industry, which in time
+will produce more evil. Further, it is your duty at once to deliver the
+parchment to Professor Struvelius, and impart to him your discovery.
+You yourself will do well to be more cautious in future in the choice
+of the traders with whom you deal."
+
+In these views Knips fully acquiesced and departed, whilst he
+imploringly besought the kind consideration of the Professor for the
+future.
+
+"He has, I am certain, to some extent been concerned in the knavery,"
+exclaimed the Doctor.
+
+"No," rejoined the Professor. "His fault has been, that up to the last
+moment he cared more for his bargain than for the discovery of the
+truth."
+
+In the afternoon Mrs. Struvelius said to Ilse:
+
+"What we have succeeded in obtaining has been very painful to my
+husband. For it has convinced him that he was deceived, while others
+discovered the true state of the case. It is a cruel grief to a wife
+when she is the instrument of bringing about such humiliation to him
+she loves best. This sorrow I shall long continue to feel. Besides
+this, our husbands are so estranged from one another, that a long time
+will elapse, before their wounded feelings will admit of a
+reconciliation, or allow them to cherish for each other the respect
+which as colleagues they mutually owe. I hope, however, that the
+relations between you and me will not suffer. I have discovered the
+worth of your heart, and I beg of you--in spite of my unprepossessing
+manner, of which I am well aware--to accept the friendship which I feel
+for you."
+
+As she walked slowly towards the door in her black dress. Ilse looked
+after her with a feeling of surprise, that the first impression made
+upon her by the learned lady should have been so quickly obliterated by
+other feelings.
+
+In the next number of the _Classical Gazette_ there appeared a short
+explanation by Professor Struvelius, in which he honorably acknowledged
+that he had been deceived, by undoubtedly a very expert deception, and
+that he must be grateful to the acuteness and friendly activity of his
+honored colleague who had contributed to the clearing up of the matter.
+
+"This explanation has been written by his wife," said the obdurate
+Doctor.
+
+"We may hope that the disagreeable affair has come to an end for all
+concerned in it," concluded the Professor with a light heart.
+
+But the hopes even of a great scholar are not always fulfilled. This
+quarrel of the scepter-bearing princes of the University had not only
+introduced Ilse into a new position, but had brought another into
+notice.
+
+On the evening of the decisive day that revealed the worthlessness of
+the parchment, Magister Knips sat shivering upon the floor in an
+unwarmed room of his poverty-stricken dwelling. Books lay in disorderly
+heaps on the shelves by the wall and on the floor, and he sat
+surrounded by them, like an ant-lion in his den. He shoved into a dark
+corner an old cigar chest of his brother's, which was filled with many
+small bottles and paint-pots, and laid the old books upon it. Then he
+placed the lamp on a stool near him, and with secret satisfaction took
+up one old book after another, examined the binding, read the title and
+last page, stroked it caressingly with his hand, and then again laid it
+on the heap. At last he seized an old Italian edition of a Greek author
+with both hands, moved nearer to the lamp, and examined it leaf by
+leaf.
+
+His mother called through the door:
+
+"Leave your books and come from that cold room to your supper."
+
+"This book has not been seen by any scholar for two hundred years.
+They deny, mother, that it is even in existence; but I have it in my
+hands--it belongs to me! This is a treasure, mother."
+
+"What good will your treasure do you, wretched boy?"
+
+"But I have it, mother," said the Magister, looking up at the
+hard-featured woman; and his winking eyes glistened brightly. "To-day I
+have read some proof-sheets in which a man of note maintains that this
+volume which I hold here has never existed. He wishes the 'never
+existed' to be printed in italics, and I have so marked it for the
+compositor, though I know better."
+
+"Are you coming?" called out the mother angrily. "Stop your work. Your
+beer is getting flat."
+
+The Magister rose unwillingly, slipped out of the room with his felt
+shoes, and seating himself at the table helped himself to the scanty
+fare before him and without further ado began to eat.
+
+"Mother," he said to the woman, who was watching his rapid meal, "I
+have some money remaining; if you want anything, buy it; but I will
+know how you spend it, and I will see that my brother does not again
+borrow anything from you, for it has been earned by hard work."
+
+"Your brother will now pay all back, for Hahn has improved his
+position, and he has a good salary."
+
+"That is not true," replied the Magister, looking sharply at his
+mother. "He has become too stylish to dwell with us now; but whenever
+he comes he always wants something of you, and you have always loved
+him more than me."
+
+"Do not say so, my son," cried Mrs. Knips. "He is quite different; you
+are always industrious, quiet, and collected, and even as a small boy
+you began to save."
+
+"I have obtained for myself what was dear to me," said the Magister,
+looking toward his room, "and I have found much."
+
+"Ah, but what hardships you suffer for it, my poor child!" said the
+mother flatteringly.
+
+"I take things as they come," answered the Magister, making a cheerful
+grimace. "I read proof-sheets, and I do much work for these learned
+men, who drive in carriages like people of distinction, and when I come
+to them they treat me like a Roman slave. No man knows how often I
+correct their stupid blunders, and the bad errors in their Latin. But I
+do not do it for all--only for those who have deserved well of me. I
+let the mistakes of the others remain, and I shrug my shoulders
+secretly at their empty heads. All is not gold that glitters," he said,
+holding his thin beer complacently up to the light, "and I alone know
+many things. I am always correcting their miserable manuscripts, but do
+not correct their worst errors. I see how they torment themselves and
+the little they do know they pilfer from other books. One sees that
+every day, mother, and one laughs in secret at the course of the
+world."
+
+And Magister Knips laughed at the world.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XVII_.
+
+                      THE DECEPTION OF MR. HUMMEL.
+
+
+In the houses of the park there reigned peace, forbearance, and secret
+hope. Since the arrival of Ilse the old strife seemed to have ceased,
+and the hatchet to have been buried. It is true that Mr. Hummel's dog
+snarled and snapped at Mr. Hahn's cat and was boxed on the ear in
+return; and that Rothe, the porter, of A. C. Hahn, declared his
+contempt of the storekeeper of the factory of Mr. Hummel. But these
+little occurrences passed away like inoffensive air-bubbles which rise
+in the place where there has been a whirlpool of enmity. The
+intercourse between the two houses flowed on like a clear brook, and
+forget-me-nots grew on its banks. If a misanthropical spell had
+penetrated the ground at the time when Madame Knips ruled there alone,
+it had now been expelled by female exorcists.
+
+One morning, shortly before the fair, a book-seller's porter placed a
+pile of new books on the Doctor's writing-table; they were the advance
+copies of the first great work he had written. Fritz opened the book
+and gazed at the title-page for a moment in quiet enjoyment; then he
+hastily seized his pen, wrote some affectionate words on the fly-leaf
+and carried it to his parents.
+
+The book treated, in the words of Gabriel, of the old Aryans as well as
+of the old Germans; it entered into the life of our ancestors before
+the time in which they took the sensible resolution of making pretty
+nosegays on the Blocksberg and rinsing their drinking horns in Father
+Rhine. It was a very learned book, and so far as the knowledge of the
+writer reached, it revealed many secrets of antiquity.
+
+It was not necessary for strangers to inform the father and mother of
+the importance of the book which Fritz now brought them. The mother
+kissed her son on the forehead, and could not control her emotion when
+she saw his name printed in such large and beautiful characters on the
+title-page. Mr. Hahn took the book in his hands, and carried it into
+the garden. There he laid it on the table of the Chinese temple, read
+the dedication several times and took a turn or so about the pavilion,
+looking in again occasionally, in order to observe whether the style of
+building harmonized well with the book; then he cleared his throat in
+order to master his joyful emotions.
+
+Not less was the pleasure in the study of the Professor; he went
+hastily through the book from beginning to end. "It is remarkable," he
+then said, much pleased, to Ilse, "how boldly and firmly Fritz grapples
+with the subject; and with a self-control, too, for which I should not
+have given him credit. There is much in it that is quite new to me. I
+am surprised that he should have concluded the work so quickly and
+quietly."
+
+What the learned world thought of the Doctor's book may be known from
+many printed eulogies. It is more difficult to determine what effect it
+had in his own street. Mr. Hummel studied a detailed review of the work
+in his paper, not without audible remarks of disapprobation however; he
+hummed at the word Veda and grumbled at the name Humboldt, and he
+whistled through his teeth at the praise which was accorded to the deep
+learning of the author. When at the conclusion the reviewer formally
+thanked the Doctor in the name of science, and urgently recommended the
+work to all readers, Mr. Hummel's humming broke into the melody of the
+old Dessauer, and he threw the paper on the table. "I do not intend to
+buy it," was all that he vouchsafed to say to his wife and daughter.
+But in the course of the day he cast an occasional glance at the corner
+of the hostile house where the Doctor's room was, and then again at the
+upper story of his own house, as if he wished to weigh the comparative
+merits of both the learned men and their abodes.
+
+When Ilse told Laura her husband's opinion of the book, Laura colored a
+little, and replied, throwing back her head: "I hope it is so learned
+that we need not meddle with it." Yet this disinclination to meddle
+with the book did not prevent her some days later from borrowing the
+book from the Professor, upon the plea that she wished to show it to
+her mother. It was carried to her own little room, where it remained
+for a long time.
+
+Among the other inhabitants of the street, the importance of the Hahn
+family--whose name had acquired such renown, and whose Fritz was
+praised so much in the papers--was greatly increased. The scales of
+popular favor sank decidedly on the side of this house, and even Mr.
+Hummel found it expedient not to object to his family's speaking with
+moderate approbation of their neighbor's son. When Dorchen, as
+sometimes happened, met Gabriel in the streets, she even ventured to
+accompany him for a few minutes into the courtyard of the enemy, in
+spite of the growling of the dog and the sinister frowns of the master.
+
+One warm evening in March she had said a few civil words to Gabriel in
+passing and was tripping neatly across the street to her own house,
+with Gabriel looking after her full of admiration, when Mr. Hummel came
+out just in time to witness the last greeting.
+
+"She is as pretty as a red-breast," said Gabriel to Mr. Hummel. The
+latter shook his head benevolently. "I well see, Gabriel, how the wind
+blows, and I say nothing, for it would be of no use. But one piece of
+good advice I will give you. You do not understand how to deal with
+women; you are not gruff enough with the girl. When I was young they
+trembled at the faintest movement of my handkerchief, and yet they
+swarmed about me like bees. This sex must be intimidated and you'll
+spoil all by kindness. I think well of you Gabriel, and I give you this
+counsel therefore as a friend. Look you, there is Madame Hummel. She is
+a strong-willed woman, but I always keep her under restraint; if I
+didn't growl, she would. And, as there must be growling, it is more
+agreeable for me to do it myself."
+
+"Every animal has its ways," replied Gabriel. "I have no talent for
+developing into a bear."
+
+"It can be learnt," said Mr. Hummel, benignantly. He raised his
+eye-brows, and made a sly grimace. "Something is in progress in the
+garden over there; they are probably speculating again on some new
+arrival, to which I, in due time, shall take upon myself, under all
+circumstances, to give the right name"--he lowered his voice--;
+"something anonymous has been unpacked, and brought out into the
+garden." With a feeling of indignation at his own caution, he
+continued: "Believe me, Gabriel, the world is growing cowardly from
+this over-production of children; and people are so crowded that
+freedom ceases to exist; life is now slavery from the cradle to the
+grave. Here I stand on my own ground, and if I choose to dig a hole on
+this spot to the centre of the earth, no man can prevent me; and yet,
+on my own property, we cannot express an outspoken opinion; and why?
+Because it might be heard, and displease the ears of strangers. To such
+a point have we come; a man is the slave of his neighbors. Now, only
+think, I have but one neighbor opposite; on the other side I am
+protected by the water and the factory, yet I must swallow the truth,
+as I dare not speak out beyond my boundary. He who is surrounded on all
+sides by neighbors must lead a lamentable life; he cannot even cut off
+his head in his own garden without the whole neighborhood raising a cry
+because the sight is not pleasing to them." He pointed with his thumb
+to the neighboring house, and continued, confidentially: "We are
+reconciled now; the women would not rest until we were. I assure you
+they lacked the true spirit to carry on a quarrel over there; the
+affair became tedious and so I gave in."
+
+"Yet it is well that all is settled," said Gabriel. "If the fathers
+quarrel, how can the children meet on good terms?"
+
+"Why shouldn't they make faces at each other?" returned Mr. Hummel,
+crossly. "I can't bear this everlasting bowing and scraping."
+
+"Every one knows that," replied Gabriel. "But if Miss Laura meets the
+Doctor in our house, which often happens, she surely cannot growl at
+him."
+
+"So they meet often!" repeated Hummel, thoughtfully. "There again you
+have an instance of this overcrowding; they can't get out of each
+other's way. Well! I can trust to my daughter, Gabriel; she has my
+disposition."
+
+"I wouldn't be so sure of that," replied Gabriel laughing.
+
+"I assure you she is quite of my mind," affirmed Hummel, decidedly.
+"But, as to this cessation of hostilities, you need not rejoice so much
+at it; for, depend upon it, it cannot last long between our houses.
+When the ice has thawed, and the garden amusements begin, there will be
+trouble again. It has always been so and I do not see why it should not
+continue so, in spite of reconciliations, and in spite of your new
+mistress, for whom I nevertheless have great respect."
+
+The conversation, which had been carried on in the garden, was
+interrupted by a dark, solemn-looking man, who presented a large letter
+in a tinted envelope. He introduced himself to Mr. Hummel, and brought
+him an invitation for his absent daughter to undertake the office of
+godmother to a baby that had just been born to limit the space in the
+world still more. To this invitation no objection could be made; the
+young mother, the wife of a lawyer, was Laura's friend, and the
+daughter of her godmother. It was an old connection of the family, and
+Hummel, as father and citizen, duly accepted the invitation.
+
+"For whom is the other letter you have in your hand?" he asked of the
+messenger.
+
+"For Doctor Hahn, who is to stand with Miss Laura."
+
+"Indeed!" said Hummel, ironically; "matters are going at a great
+pace. Take your letter over there. Did I not tell you so, Gabriel?" he
+added, turning to his confidant. "Scarcely reconciled before the
+tribunal, and at once sponsors together; who may know but that
+to-morrow morning the old scarecrow himself will come over and offer
+to be 'hail-fellow-well-met' with me. There again you have the
+consequences of over-crowding, and of Christianity too. This time my
+poor child is the victim."
+
+He took the letter into the room and threw it on the table before his
+wife and daughter.
+
+"This comes from reconciliation, weak women," he cried, tauntingly. "Now
+you will have nurse, midwife, godfather, and all, about your heels."
+
+The ladies studied the letter, and Laura thought it inconsiderate in
+her godmother to have chosen just the Doctor for her partner.
+
+"That's to accommodate the sponsor's carriage," exclaimed Mr. Hummel,
+mockingly, from the corner. "It was made to carry two at once. Now,
+that fellow Humboldt will come over here in white gloves in order to
+fetch you to church, and I believe he will have impudence enough to
+send you a sponsorial present."
+
+"If he did not do so, it would be an insult," replied the wife. "He
+must do it, or it would give occasion for people to talk. We cannot
+object to it; he will send a basket of flowers with gloves for the
+godmother, and Laura will send him in return the pocket-handkerchief,
+as is the custom among our acquaintances. You know that Laura's
+godmother thinks a great deal of these things."
+
+"His flowers in our house, his gloves on our fingers, and our
+handkerchief in his pocket!" said the master of the house, bitterly;
+"Pray, what are things coming to."
+
+"I beg of you, Hummel," rejoined his wife, displeased, "do not annoy us
+by finding fault with the civilities which are unavoidable, on such an
+occasion, and of which no one takes advantage."
+
+"I thank you for your civilities which one cannot avoid, and to which
+no one attributes anything. Nothing is so insupportable to me, among
+the people here, as their eternal obeisances before one's face, whilst
+they pull one to pieces behind one's back."
+
+He left the room and slammed the door behind him.
+
+The mother then began:
+
+"He has nothing really to say against it; he only wishes to maintain
+his character for sternness. It is not absolutely necessary that you
+should send the Doctor a present on this occasion, but you still owe
+him some little attention from that encounter with the shepherd."
+
+Laura was reconciled to the thought of becoming godmother with the
+Doctor, and said:
+
+"I will make a design for the corner of the handkerchief, and will
+embroider it."
+
+The following morning she went out to buy cambric. But Mr. Hummel also
+went out. He visited an acquaintance who was a furrier, took him
+confidentially aside, and ordered a pair of gloves of white cat's skin
+for a small hand; he directed that a cat's claw be fastened at the
+point of each finger. But he wished it to be a delicate one, of an
+unborn cat, or failing in that, of a very young kitten, and that the
+claw should stand out stiffly. Then he entered another shop and asked
+for some colored printed cotton pocket-handkerchiefs--such as one buys
+for a few pennies--and chose one black and red, with a frightful
+portrait, that just suited his frame of mind. This purchase he put in
+his pocket.
+
+The morning of the christening arrived. In the house of Mr. Hummel the
+flat-irons clattered; the mother added some last stitches; and Laura
+tripped busily up and down the stairs. Meanwhile, Hummel wandered back
+and forth between the door of the house and factory, watching every
+person that entered. Spitehahn was sitting on the threshold growling
+whenever the foot of a stranger approached the door of the house.
+
+"Show yourself as you are, Spitehahn," grumbled Hummel, approaching his
+dog; "and catch hold of the woman from yonder by the dress; she will
+not venture in, if you keep watch."
+
+The red dog answered by showing his teeth maliciously at his master.
+
+"That's right," said Hummel, and continued his walk.
+
+At last Dorchen appeared at her own house-door, and tripped with a
+covered basket in her hand to the steps of Mr. Hummel's house.
+Spitehahn rose grimly, uttered a hoarse growl, and bristled his hair.
+
+"Call that frightful dog away, Mr. Hummel," cried Dorchen, snappishly.
+"I have a message for Miss Laura."
+
+Mr. Hummel assumed a benevolent expression of countenance and put his
+hand in his pocket.
+
+"The ladies are at work, my pretty child," he said, drawing out a heavy
+piece of money; "perhaps I can attend to it."
+
+The messenger was so startled at the unexpected politeness of the
+tyrant, that she made a mute courtesy and let the basket slip out of
+her hand.
+
+"It shall be attended to carefully," completed Mr. Hummel, with an
+engaging smile.
+
+He carried the basket into the house, and called Susan to take it to
+the ladies; after which he went into the hall again, and stroked the
+dog. It was not long before he heard the door of the sitting-room fly
+open and his name called loudly in the hall. He entered cautiously into
+the ladies' room, and found them in a dreadful state of disturbance. A
+beautiful basket was standing on the table, flowers were scattered
+about, and two little fur gloves, with large claws at the ends of the
+fingers, lay on the floor, like paws cut from a beast of prey. Laura
+was sitting before them sobbing.
+
+"Holloa!" cried Mr. Hummel, "is that one of the sponsorial
+pleasantries?"
+
+"Henry," cried his wife vehemently, "your child has received an insult;
+the Doctor has dared to send these to your daughter."
+
+"Ha!" cried Hummel; "cat's paws, and with claws! Why not? They will
+keep you warm in church; you can lay hold of the Doctor with them."
+
+"It must be a joke," cried Laura, with the hot tears flowing down her
+cheeks; "it is because I have sometimes teased him. I should never have
+believed him capable of such rudeness."
+
+"Do you know him so well?" inquired Mr. Hummel. "Well, if it is a joke,
+as you say, take it as a joke then; this emotion isn't necessary."
+
+"What is to be done now?" cried the mother; "can she still stand
+godmother with him after this insult?"
+
+"I should think so," replied Mr. Hummel, ironically; "this insult
+is a childish affair compared to others--compared to house-building,
+bell-ringing, and dog-poisoning. If you can stomach all that, why not
+cats' paws, too?"
+
+"Laura has hemmed and embroidered a handkerchief for him," exclaimed
+the mother; "and she had taken the greatest pains to finish it in
+time."
+
+"I will not send it to him," cried Laura.
+
+"So you hemmed and embroidered it yourself?" rejoined Hummel. "It is
+charming to live in friendship with one's neighbors. You are weak
+womenfolk, and you take the matter too seriously. These are courtesies
+which one cannot avoid, and to which no importance is attached. Do as
+you said you would. You must just send the thing over to him. You must
+not give him or any one else occasion to make remarks. Keep your
+contempt to yourself."
+
+"Father is right," cried Laura, springing up; "away with the
+handkerchief, and my account with the Doctor will be closed for ever."
+
+"That's right," assented Hummel. "Where is the rag? Away with it."
+
+The handkerchief lay ready on a plate, wrapped up in fine blue paper,
+and also covered with spring flowers.
+
+"So this is the hemmed and embroidered thing? We will send it over
+immediately."
+
+He took the plate from the table, and carried it quickly into the
+factory; from thence the blue packet went, with many compliments, to
+the godfather in the house of the enemy.
+
+Mrs. Hahn brought the card of greeting and the present to her son's
+room.
+
+"Ah, that is a charming attention," remarked the Doctor, closely
+examining the flowers.
+
+"It is not so customary now-a-days to send presents to the gentlemen
+too," said the Doctor's mother. "But I always thought it such a pretty
+custom."
+
+She unfolded the paper inquisitively, and looked up in astonishment. A
+printed cotton handkerchief lay within, as thick as leather and woven
+with coarse threads. It might be a mask only, and in this hope she
+unfolded it, but a frightful caricature alone appeared in diabolical
+colors of red and black.
+
+"That is not a nice joke," said the mother, vexed.
+
+The Doctor looked downcast. "I have sometimes teased Laura Hummel. This
+probably has reference to some bantering that has passed between us. I
+beg of you, mother, to place the flowers in a glass."
+
+He took the handkerchief, concealed it in a drawer, and again bent over
+his writing.
+
+"I should not have expected this of Laura," continued the mother, much
+disturbed. But as her son did not encourage further complaints, she
+arranged the flowers for him and left the room, pondering upon the
+mortification of her child.
+
+The carriage drove up and the Doctor got into it to fetch the
+godmother.
+
+"Our doors are so near together," said Hummel, who was standing at the
+window, "that he will only just have time to creep out from the other
+side."
+
+After some difficulty in turning, the carriage arrived at the steps of
+Mr. Hummel. The servant opened the door, but before the Doctor could
+jump down Susan appeared on the steps and called out:
+
+"Do not take the trouble of entering, the young lady will come
+immediately."
+
+Laura swept down the steps, all in white as if veiled in a snowcloud;
+and how pretty she looked! Her cheeks were indeed paler than usual, and
+her brows were gloomily knit, but the sad expression gave an enchanting
+dignity to her countenance. She avoided looking at the Doctor, only
+slightly moving her head at his greeting, and when he offered his hand
+to assist her, she passed by him and seated herself in her place as if
+he were not there. He had some difficulty in finding room next to her;
+she nodded, ignoring him, to Mr. Hummel, who was standing on the steps
+looking far more cheerful than his child. The horses trotted slowly on;
+Laura looked neither to the right nor to the left. "It is the first
+time she officiates as godmother," thought the Doctor, "that causes
+this solemn mood; or perhaps she is repentant because of the colored
+handkerchief!" He looked at her hands; the gloves that he sent were not
+to be seen. "Have I offended against etiquette?" he thought again, "or
+were they too large for her little hands?"
+
+"He is silent," she thought, "that is his bad conscience; he is
+thinking of the cat's claws, and has not a word of thanks for my
+pocket-handkerchief; I have been sadly mistaken in him." This
+consideration made her so sorrowful that tears again rose to her eyes;
+but she pressed her lips tightly together, squeezed the thumb of her
+right hand, and silently counted from one up to ten, an old recipe she
+had formerly used for restraining vehement feeling.
+
+"Things cannot go on so," thought the Doctor, "I must speak to her."
+
+"You have not been able to use the gloves that T ventured to send you,"
+he began modestly; "I fear I have made a bad selection."
+
+This was too much; Laura turned her head sharply toward the Doctor. For
+a moment he saw two flashing eyes, and heard the contemptuous words: "I
+am no cat." Again her lips were compressed, and she clenched her hand
+convulsively.
+
+Fritz reflected with astonishment whether gloves that wrinkle could
+ever have been considered a characteristic sign of our domestic animal.
+He thought the remark incongruous. "What a pity she is so whimsical!"
+After a time he began again: "I fear you will feel the draught; shall I
+close the window?"
+
+"Not at all," answered Laura, with icy coldness.
+
+"Do you know what the baby is to be called?" continued the doctor.
+
+"He is to be called Fritz," returned Laura; and for the second time a
+flaming look of anger met his spectacles, then she turned away again.
+
+Ah! in spite of the lightning that flashed from her eyes, the Doctor
+could not deny but that she was at this moment wonderfully lovely. She
+also felt obliged to say something now, and began, over her shoulder:--
+
+"I think the name a very common one."
+
+"It is my own name," said the Doctor; "and as I hear it every day,
+I must agree with you. It is at least a German name," he added,
+good-humoredly. "It is a pity that they are so much neglected."
+
+"As my name is a foreign one," replied Laura, again over her shoulder,
+"I have a right to prefer foreign names."
+
+"If she continues like this the whole day," thought Fritz, discouraged,
+"I shall have a very pleasant time of it, indeed."
+
+"I must sit next him at dinner, and bear the insult," thought she. "Ah!
+life is terrible."
+
+They arrived at the house, both glad to find themselves among others.
+When they entered the room, they hurried to different parts of it; but,
+of course, being obliged to greet the young mother, they again had to
+meet. When Laura turned to her godmother, the Doctor also approached
+from the other side, and the good lady called to mind the day when they
+had come together to her summer residence, and she could not refrain
+from exclaiming: "That portends something; you have again come
+together, dear children."
+
+Laura raised her head proudly, and replied: "Only because you have
+wished it."
+
+They went to church. The little Fritz tossed about in his godmother's
+arms, frightened at the baptismal font; but when he was handed over to
+the tall Fritz, he broke out into an angry cry; and Laura observed
+with contempt how disconcerted the Doctor was, and what awkward
+efforts he made, by raising and lowering his arms, and by his looks, to
+appease the little squaller, till at last the nurse--a very resolute
+woman--came to his assistance.
+
+With the approach of sunset the duties of the day became more
+insupportable. At the christening feast all Laura's most gloomy
+anticipations were fulfilled, for she was seated beside the Doctor;
+and, for both, it was a most disagreeable meal, indeed. The Doctor once
+more ventured to make some advances, hoping to break through her
+incomprehensible mood, but he might as well have attempted to thaw the
+ice of a glacier with a lucifer match, for Laura had now become an
+adept in the expression of social contempt. She conversed exclusively
+with the father of the child, who sat at her other side, and encouraged
+by his cheerful gossip she recovered her wonted elasticity of spirit;
+while Fritz became more silent, and noticeably neglected a pleasing
+young woman, his left-hand neighbor. But things grew still worse. When
+the proper time approached, the other godfather, a city councillor, a
+man of the world and a good speaker, came behind the Doctor's chair,
+and declared that he could not undertake to bring the christening toast
+as he was suffering with a headache, which drove away all his thoughts,
+and that the Doctor must speak in his stead. The possibility of this
+had never occurred to the Doctor, and it was so unpleasant to him in
+his present mood that he quietly, but firmly, refused his consent to
+the proposal. Laura again listened with deep contempt to the discussion
+between the two gentlemen about an oratorical exercise which was not
+even to be put in writing. The master of the house also observed it,
+and a feeling of awkward expectation threw a gloom over the society,
+which is not calculated to encourage unwilling after-dinner speakers,
+but rather to depress them, and scatter their thoughts. Just, however,
+as the Doctor was on the point of performing his duty, Laura, after
+giving him another cold look, rose and clinked her glass. She was
+greeted with a loud bravo; and she then said, to the astonishment of
+herself, and delight of all present: "As the gentlemen sponsors are so
+little inclined to do their duty, I crave your pardon for undertaking
+what they ought to have done." Thereupon, she bravely proposed and led
+the toast; it was a bold undertaking, but it was successful, and she
+was overwhelmed with applause. On the other hand, sarcastic speeches
+were made against the Doctor by the gentlemen present. Nevertheless, he
+extricated himself tolerably, the situation being so desperate that it
+restored to him his powers; nay, he had the impudence to declare that
+he delayed intentionally, in order to procure for the society the
+pleasure which all must have experienced in listening to the eloquence
+of his neighbor. He then made an amusing speech on every possible
+subject; and all laughed, but they did not know what he was aiming at,
+till he adroitly turned it upon the godfathers and godmothers and in
+particular proposed the health of his charming neighbor who sat beside
+him. This answered well enough for the other guests, but to Laura it
+was insufferable mockery and hypocrisy; and when she had to clink
+glasses with him, she looked so indignantly at him, that he quickly
+drew back from her.
+
+He now began to show his indifference after his fashion; he talked
+loudly to his neighbor, and drank many glasses of wine. Laura drew her
+chair away from him; fearing that he might drink too much, he became an
+object of annoyance to her, and she gradually relapsed into silence.
+But the Doctor took no heed of this; again he clinked his glass, and
+made another speech, which was so comical that it produced the happiest
+effect on the company. But Laura sat as stiff as a stone image, only
+casting an occasional stolen glance towards him. After that the Doctor
+left her side; his chair stood vacant, but, figuratively speaking, the
+cotton pocket-handkerchief and the small fur gloves still lay upon it,
+and it seemed quite uneasy under its invisible burden. The Doctor,
+meanwhile, went about the table, stopping here and there to pay his
+respects; and wherever he stopped there was laughing and clinking of
+glasses. When he had finished his round, he approached the host and
+hostess; and Laura heard them thank him for the merry evening, and
+praise the gaiety of his spirits.
+
+He then returned to his place; and now he had the impudence to turn to
+Laura, and, with an expression in which she clearly perceived a sneer,
+he held out his hand to her under the table, saying, "Let us make
+peace, naughty godmother; give me your hand." Laura's whole heart
+revolted, and she exclaimed, "You shall have my hand immediately." She
+put her hand quickly into her pocket, put on one of the cat's-skin
+gloves, and scratched him with it on the back of his hand. "There, take
+what you deserve."
+
+The Doctor felt a sharp pain; he raised his hand, and he perceived it
+was tattooed with red streaks. Laura threw her glove into his lap, and
+added: "If I were a man, I would make you feel in another way the
+insult you have offered me."
+
+The Doctor looked about him; his left-hand neighbor had risen; and on
+the other side, the master of the house, bending over the table, formed
+a convenient wall between them and the outer world. He looked in
+astonishment at the challenge in his lap; it was all incomprehensible
+to him; he was conscious but of one thing, that Laura, in spite of her
+passion, was enchantingly beautiful.
+
+He too put his hand into his pocket, and said: "Happily, I am in a
+position to bind your present of this morning about the wounds." He
+pulled out the red and black handkerchief, and began to wind it round
+his wounded hand; in doing which, it could not fail being seen that the
+hand had a most uncanny murderous appearance. When Laura saw the bloody
+scratches, she was shocked, but she bravely concealed her repentance,
+saying coldly, "At least it would be better for your hand if you would
+take my handkerchief as a bandage, instead of that stiff clumsy thing."
+
+"It is your handkerchief," replied the Doctor, sorrowfully.
+
+"This is worst of all," cried Laura, with quivering voice. "You have
+behaved towards me to-day in a manner that is highly humiliating to me,
+and I ask you what have I done to deserve such treatment?"
+
+"What have I done to deserve such reproaches?" asked the Doctor, in
+return. "This morning you sent me this with your compliments.
+
+"I?" cried Laura; "you sent me these cat's paws. But I did not send
+that handkerchief. My handkerchief had none of the beauty of this
+colored print--it was only white."
+
+"I may say the same of my gloves; they were not blessed with
+claws--they were plain kid."
+
+Laura turned to him, anxiously gazing into his face. "Is that true?"
+
+"It is true," said the Doctor, with convincing sincerity; "I know
+nothing about these gloves."
+
+"Then we are both victims of a deception," cried Laura, confounded.
+"Oh, forgive me, and forget what has passed." Guessing the state of the
+case, she continued: "I beg of you to say no more on the subject.
+Permit me to bind your hand with this handkerchief."
+
+He held out his hand; she staunched the blood with her handkerchief,
+and hastily wound it about the scratches.
+
+"It is too small for a bandage," she said, sorrowfully; "we must put
+your own over it. This has been a disagreeable day, Doctor. Oh, forget
+it, and do not be angry with me."
+
+The Doctor was by no means inclined to be angry, as might be perceived
+from the eager conversation into which they now fell. Their hearts were
+lightened; they vied with each other in their efforts at sincerity; and
+when the carriage set them down at their own doors, they bade each
+other a cordial good-night.
+
+The following morning, Mr. Hummel entered Laura's private room, and
+laid a blue paper upon the table.
+
+"There was a mistake yesterday," he said; "here is what belongs to
+you."
+
+Laura opened the paper quickly; it contained an embroidered
+handkerchief.
+
+"I have also sent back the gloves to the Doctor, with my compliments,
+informing him that there was a misunderstanding, and that _I_, your
+father, Hummel, sent him what was his own."
+
+"Father," cried Laura, going up to him, "this new insult was
+unnecessary. Upon me you may inflict whatever your hatred to your
+neighbors prompts you to do, but that you should again wound another
+after what has happened yesterday, is cruel of you. This handkerchief
+belongs to the Doctor, and I shall give it to him at the first
+opportunity."
+
+"Exactly," said Hummel; "was it not hemmed and embroidered by your own
+hands? You are responsible for whatever you do now. But you know, and
+he knows too, how I feel about these exchanges of civilities. If you
+choose to act contrary to my expressed wishes, you may. I will not
+consent to our house being upon terms of exchanging presents, either
+small or great, with the Hahn's; and since you, as I hear, often meet
+the Doctor at our lodger's, it will be as well for you to bear this in
+mind."
+
+He went out of the room complacently, and left his daughter in revolt
+against his harsh commands. She had not ventured to contradict him, for
+he was unusually calm to-day, different from his ordinary blustering
+manner, and she felt there was a meaning in his words that checked her
+utterance and sent the blood to her cheeks. It was a stormy morning for
+her journal.
+
+Mr. Hummel was busy at his office with a consignment of soldiers' caps,
+when he was disturbed by a knock at the door, and to his surprise,
+Fritz Hahn entered. Hummel remained seated with dignity, till his
+caller had made a respectful bow, then he slowly rose, and began, in a
+business tone:
+
+"What can I do for you, Doctor? If you need a fine felt hat, as I
+presume you do, the salesroom is on the floor below."
+
+"I know that," replied the Doctor, politely. "But I am come, in the
+first place, to thank you for the handkerchief you so kindly selected
+and sent me as a present yesterday."
+
+"That's pretty good!" said Hummel. "Old Bl�cher was painted upon it; he
+is a countryman of mine, and I thought on that account the handkerchief
+would be acceptable to you."
+
+"Quite right," answered Fritz. "I shall be careful to preserve it as a
+keepsake. I must, at the same time, add to my thanks the request that
+you will deliver these gloves to Miss Laura. If a mistake occurred
+yesterday in the delivery, as you kindly informed me, it was not my
+fault. As these gloves already belong to your daughter, I, of course,
+cannot take them back."
+
+"That's better still!" said Hummel, "but you are in error. The gloves
+do not belong to my daughter; they were bought by you, and have never
+been seen by her; and early this morning they were returned to their
+possessor."
+
+"Pardon me," rejoined Fritz, "if I take your own words as testimony
+against you; the gloves were yesterday, according to the custom of the
+country, sent as a present to Miss Laura; you yourself received them
+from the hands of the messenger, and, by your words, acknowledged them.
+The gloves, therefore, by your own co-operation, have become the
+property of the young lady, and I have no claim to them."
+
+"No advocate could put the case in a better light," replied Hummel
+easily. "There is only one objection to it. These gloves were
+non-apparent; they were covered with paper and flowers, like frogs in
+the grass. Had you come to me openly with your gloves, and requested to
+be allowed to give them to my daughter, I should have told you
+yesterday what I now say, that I consider you a worthy young man, and
+that I have no objection to your standing as godfather every day in the
+year, but I do very much object to your showing my daughter what
+hereabouts are called attentions. I am not kindly disposed towards your
+family and, what is more, I do not wish to be; therefore I cannot
+permit that you should be so towards mine. For what is right for one is
+fitting for the other."
+
+"I am placed again in the unfortunate predicament of confuting you by
+your own actions," rejoined the Doctor. "You, yesterday, honored me
+with a mark of civility. As you have made me a present of a
+handkerchief, in token of your favor, to which, as I had not stood
+godfather with you, I had no claim, I also may say that what is right
+for one is fitting for the other. Therefore you cannot object to my
+sending these gloves to a member of your family."
+
+Mr. Hummel laughed. "With all respect to you, Doctor, you have
+forgotten that father and daughter are not quite the same thing. I have
+no objection that you should occasionally make me a present if you
+cannot resist the inclination to do so; I shall then consider what I
+can send you in return; and if you think that these gloves will suit
+me, I will keep them as a token of reconciliation between us; and if
+ever we should stand together as godfathers, I shall put them on and
+exhibit them for your benefit."
+
+"I have delivered them to you as the property of your daughter,"
+replied Fritz, with composure; "how you may dispose of them I cannot
+decide. You know my wishes."
+
+"Yes, perfectly, Doctor," assented Hummel; "the affair is now settled
+to the satisfaction of all concerned, and there is an end of it."
+
+"Not quite yet," replied the Doctor. "What now comes is a demand I have
+upon you. Miss Laura, as godmother with me, prepared and sent me a
+handkerchief. The handkerchief has not come into my hands, but I have
+undoubtedly the right to consider it as my property, and I beg of you
+most humbly to send it to me."
+
+"Oho!" cried Hummel, the bear beginning to stir within him, "that looks
+like defiance, and must be met with different language. You shall not
+receive the handkerchief with my good will; it has been given back to
+my daughter, and if she presents it to you she will act as a
+disobedient child, contrary to the commands of her father."
+
+"Then it is my intention to oblige you to recall this prohibition,"
+replied the Doctor, energetically. "Yesterday I accidentally discovered
+that you exchanged the gloves I sent to Miss Laura for others which
+must have excited in her the belief that I was an impertinent jester.
+By such deceitful and injurious treatment of a stranger, even though he
+were an adversary, you have acted as does not become an honorable man."
+
+Hummel's eyes widened, and he retreated a few steps.
+
+"Zounds!" he growled, "is it possible? Are you your father's son? Are
+you Fritz Hahn, the young Humboldt? Why you can be as rude as a boor."
+
+"Only where it is necessary," replied Fritz. "In my conduct towards you
+I have never been deficient in delicacy of feeling; but you have
+treated me with injustice, and owe me due satisfaction. As an honorable
+man you must give me this, and my satisfaction will be the
+handkerchief."
+
+"Enough," interrupted Hummel, raising his hand, "it will be of no
+avail. For, between ourselves, I have nothing of what you call delicacy
+of feeling. If you feel yourself offended by me, I should be very
+sorry, in so far as I see in you a young man of spirit, who also can be
+rude. But when, on the other hand, I consider that you are Fritz Hahn,
+I convince myself that it is quite right that you should feel aggrieved
+by me. With that you must rest content."
+
+"What you say," replied Fritz, "is not only uncivil, but unjust. I
+leave you, therefore, with the feeling that you owe me some reparation;
+and this feeling is, at all events, more agreeable to me than if I were
+in your position."
+
+"I see we understand each other in everything," replied Hummel. "Like
+two business men, we both seek our own advantage. It is agreeable to
+you to feel that I have injured you, and to me that is a matter of
+indifference. So let it remain, Doctor; we are at heart, and before all
+the world, enemies, but for the rest, all respect to you."
+
+The Doctor bowed and left the office.
+
+Mr. Hummel looked meditatingly on the spot where the Doctor had stood.
+
+He was during the whole day in a mild, philanthropic mood, which he at
+first showed by philosophizing with his book-keeper.
+
+"Have you ever raised bees?" he asked him, over the counter.
+
+"No, Mr. Hummel," replied he; "how could I manage it?"
+
+"You are not very enterprising," continued Hummel, reproachfully. "Why
+should you not give yourself this pleasure?"
+
+"I live in a garret, Mr. Hummel."
+
+"That does not matter. By the new inventions you may keep bees in a
+tobacco-box. You put the swarm in, open the window, and from time to
+time cut your honey out. You might become a rich man by it. You will
+say that these insects might sting your fellow-lodgers and neighbors;
+do not mind that; such views are old-fashioned. Follow the example of
+certain other people, who place their bee-hives close to the street in
+order to save the expense for sugar."
+
+The book-keeper seemed to wish to comply with this proposition.
+
+"If you mean----" he replied humbly.
+
+"The devil I mean, sir," interrupted Hummel; "do not think of coming to
+my office with a swarm of bees in your pocket. I am determined under no
+circumstances to suffer such a nuisance. I am Bumble-bee enough for
+this street and I object to all humming and swarming about my house and
+garden."
+
+In the afternoon, when he was taking a walk in the garden with his wife
+and daughter, he suddenly stopped.
+
+"What was it that flew through the air?"
+
+"It was a beetle," said his wife.
+
+"It was a bee," said Hummel. "Are this rabble beginning to fly about.
+If there is anything I detest, it is bees. Why there is another. They
+annoy you, Phillipine."
+
+"I cannot say so," she replied.
+
+A few minutes after, a bee flew about Laura's curls, and she was
+obliged to protect herself with a parasol from the little worker, who
+mistook her cheeks for a peach.
+
+"It is strange; they were not so numerous formerly," said Hummel, to
+the ladies; "it seems to me that a swarm of bees must have established
+itself in a hollow tree of the park. The park-keeper sleeps out there
+on a bench. You are on good terms with the man; call his attention to
+it. The vermin are insufferable."
+
+Madam Hummel consented to make inquiries, and the park-keeper promised
+to look to it. After a time he came to the hedge, and called out, in a
+low voice:
+
+"Madam Hummel."
+
+"The man calls you," said Hummel.
+
+"They come from the garden of Mr. Hahn," reported the park-keeper,
+cautiously; "there is a beehive there."
+
+"Really?" asked Hummel. "Is it possible that Hahn should have chosen
+this amusement?"
+
+Laura looked at her father anxiously.
+
+"I am a peaceful man, keeper, and I cannot believe my neighbor would do
+us such an injury."
+
+"It is certain, Mr. Hummel," said the park-keeper; "see, there is one
+of the yellow things now."
+
+"That's so," cried Hummel, shaking his head; "it's yellow."
+
+"Don't mind, Henry; perhaps it will not be so bad," said his wife,
+soothingly.
+
+"Not so bad?" asked Hummel, angrily. "Shall I have to see the bees
+buzzing around your nose? Shall I have to suffer my wife to go about
+the whole summer with her nose swollen up as large as an apple? Prepare
+a room for the surgeon immediately: he will never be out of our house
+during the next month."
+
+Laura approached her father.
+
+"I can see you wish to begin a quarrel anew with our neighbors: if you
+love me, do not do so. I cannot tell you, father, how much this
+quarreling annoys me. Indeed I have suffered too much from it."
+
+"I believe you," replied Hummel, cheerfully. "But it is because I love
+you that I must in good time put an end to this annoyance from over
+there, before these winged nuisances carry away honey from our garden.
+I don't intend to have you attacked by the bees of any of our
+neighbors, do you understand me?"
+
+Laura turned and looked gloomily in the water, on which the fallen
+catkins of the birch were swimming slowly towards the town.
+
+"Do something, keeper, to preserve peace between neighbors," continued
+Hummel. "Take my compliments to Mr. Hahn, with the request from me that
+he will remove his bees, so that I may not be obliged to call in the
+police again."
+
+"I will tell him, Mr. Hummel, that the bees are disagreeable to the
+neighborhood; for it is true the gardens are small."
+
+"They are so narrow that one could sell them in a bandbox at a
+Christmas fair," assented Hummel. "Do it out of pity to the bees
+themselves. Our three daffodils will not last them long as food, and
+afterwards there will be nothing for them but to gnaw the iron
+railings."
+
+He gave the park-keeper a few coppers, and added, to his wife and
+daughter:
+
+"You see how forbearing I am to our neighbor, for the sake of peace."
+
+The ladies returned to the house, depressed and full of sad
+forebodings.
+
+As the park-keeper did not appear again, Mr. Hummel watched for him on
+the following day.
+
+"Well, how is it?" he asked.
+
+"Mr. Hahn thinks that the hives are far enough from the street; they
+are behind a bush and they annoy no one. He will not give up his
+rights."
+
+"There it is!" broke out Hummel. "You are my witness that I have done
+all in the power of man to avoid a quarrel. The fellow has forgotten
+that there is a Section 167. I am sorry, keeper; but the police must be
+the last resort."
+
+Mr. Hummel conferred confidentially with a policeman. Mr. Hahn became
+excited and angry when he was ordered to appear in court, but Hummel
+had in some measure the best of it, for the police advised Mr. Hahn to
+avoid annoyance to the neighbours and passers-by by the removal of the
+hive. Mr. Hahn had taken great pleasure in his bees; their hive had
+been fitted with all the new improvements, and they were not like our
+irritable German bees; they were an Italian sort, which only sting when
+provoked to the utmost. But this was all of no avail, for even the
+Doctor and his mother herself begged that the hives might be removed;
+so, one dark night they were carried away, with bitter and depressed
+feelings, into the country. In the place which they had occupied he
+erected some starlings' nests on poles. They were a poor comfort. The
+starlings had, according to old customs, sent messengers of their race
+through the country and hired their summer dwellings, and only the
+sparrows took exulting possession of the abode, and like disorderly
+householders, left long blades of grass hanging from their nests. Mr.
+Hummel shrugged his shoulders contemptuously, and in a loud bass voice,
+called the new invention the sparrow telegraph.
+
+The garden amusements had begun; the sad prognostication had become a
+reality; suspicion and gloomy looks once more divided the neighboring
+houses.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XVIII_.
+
+                               CLOUDLETS.
+
+
+A Professor's wife has much to bear with her husband. When Ilse found
+herself seated with her friends, the wives of Professors Raschke,
+Struvelius, and G�nther, over a cozy cup of coffee, which was by no
+means slighted, all manner of things came to light.
+
+Conversation with these cultured ladies was indeed delightful. It first
+touched lightly on the subject of servants, and the troubles of
+housekeeping called forth a volubility of chatter, like the croaking of
+frogs in a pond, and Ilse wondered that even Flamina Struvelius should
+express herself so earnestly on the subject of pickling gherkins, and
+that she should anxiously inquire as to the marks of age on a plucked
+goose. Merry Mrs. Gunther shocked the ladies of greater experience and
+at the same time made them laugh, when she told them she could not bear
+the cry of little children, and that as to her own--of which she had
+none yet--she would from the beginning train them to quiet habits with
+the rod. As has been said, the conversation rambled from greater
+matters to small talk like this. And amidst other trivial remarks it
+naturally happened that men were quietly discussed, and it was evident
+that, although the remarks were made as to men in general, each thought
+of her own husband, and each, without expressing it, thought of the
+secret load of cares she had to bear, and each one convinced her
+hearers that her own individual husband was also difficult to manage.
+The lot of Mrs. Raschke was indeed not to be concealed, as it was
+notorious throughout the whole town. It was well known that one
+market-day her husband went to the lecture-room in a brilliant orange
+and blue dressing-gown, of a Turkish pattern. And the collegians, who
+loved him dearly and knew his habits well, could not suppress a
+loud laugh, while Raschke hung his dressing-gown quietly over the
+reading-desk and began to lecture in his shirt sleeves, and returned
+home in the great-coat of a student. Since then Mrs. Raschke never let
+him go out without looking after him herself. It also transpired that
+after living ten years in the town he constantly lost his way, and she
+did not dare to change her residence, being convinced that if she did,
+the Professor would always be going back to his old abode. Struvelius
+also gave trouble. The last affair of importance had come to Ilse's
+personal knowledge; but it was also known that he required his wife to
+correct the proof-sheets of his Latin writings, as she had a slight
+knowledge of the language--and that he could not resist giving orders
+to traveling wine merchants. Mrs. Struvelius, after her marriage, found
+her cellar full of large and small casks of wine, which had as yet not
+been bottled, while he himself complained bitterly that he could not
+replenish his stock. And even little Mrs. G�nther related that her
+husband could not give up working at night; and that on one occasion,
+poking about with a lamp amongst the books, he came too close to a
+curtain, which caught fire, and on pulling it down he burnt his hands,
+and rushed into the bedroom with his fingers black as coals, more like
+an Othello than a mineralogist.
+
+Ilse related nothing of her short career, but she had also had some
+experience. True, her husband was very good about working at night, was
+very discreet over his wine, though on great occasions he drank his
+glass bravely, as became a German Professor. But as to his eating,
+matters were very unsatisfactory. Certainly it does not do to care too
+much about food, especially for a Professor, but not to be able to
+distinguish a duck from a goose is rather discouraging for her who has
+striven to procure him a dainty. As for carving he was useless. The
+tough Stymphalian birds which Hercules destroyed, and the ungenial
+Ph[oe]nix, mentioned with such respect by his Tacitus, were much better
+known to him than the form of a turkey. Ilse was not one of those women
+who delight to spend the whole day in the kitchen, but she understood
+cooking, and prided herself on giving a dinner worthy of her husband.
+But all was in vain. He sometimes tried to praise the dishes, but Ilse
+clearly saw that he was not sincere. Once when she set a splendid
+pheasant before him, he saw by her expression that she expected some
+remark, so he praised the cook for having secured such a fine chicken.
+Ilse sighed and tried to make him understand the difference, but had to
+be content with Gabriel's sympathizing remark: "It's all useless. I
+know my master; he can't tell one thing from another!" Since then, Ilse
+had to rest content with the compliments that the gentlemen invited to
+tea paid her at the table. But this was no compensation. The Doctor
+also was not remarkable for his acquirements in this direction. It was
+lamentable and humiliating to see the two gentlemen over a brace of
+snipes which her father had sent them from the country.
+
+The Professor, however, looked up to the Doctor as a thoroughly
+practical man, because he had had some experience in buying and
+managing, and the former was accustomed to call in his friend as an
+adviser on many little daily occurrences. The tailor brought samples of
+cloth for a new coat. The Professor looked at the various colors of the
+samples in a distracted manner. "Ilse, send for the Doctor to help me
+make a choice!" Ilse sent, but unwillingly; no Doctor was needed, she
+thought, to select a coat, and if her dear husband could not make up
+his mind, was not she there? But that was of no avail; the Doctor
+selected the coat, waistcoat, and the rest of the Professor's wardrobe.
+Ilse listened to the orders in silence, but she was really angry with
+the Doctor, and even a little with her husband. She quietly determined
+that things should not continue so. She hastily calculated her
+pocket-money, called the tailor into her room, and ordered a second
+suit for her husband, with the injunction to make this one first. When
+the tailor brought the clothes home, she asked her husband how he liked
+the new suit. He praised it. Then she said: "To please you I make
+myself as nice-looking as I can: for my sake wear what I have made for
+you. If I have succeeded this time, I hope that I may in future choose
+and be responsible for your wardrobe."
+
+But the Doctor looked quite amazed when he met the Professor in a
+different suit. It so happened, however, that he had nothing to find
+fault with; and when Ilse was sitting alone with the Doctor, she
+began--"Both of us love my husband; therefore let us come to some
+agreement about him. You have the greatest right to be the confidant of
+his labors, and I should never venture to place myself on an equality
+with you respecting them. But where my judgment is sufficient I may at
+least be useful to him, and what little I can, dear Doctor, pray allow
+me to do."
+
+She said this with a smile; but the Doctor walked gravely up to her.
+
+"You are expressing what I have long felt. I have lived with him for
+many years, and have often lived for him, and that was a time of real
+happiness to me; but now I fully recognize that it is you who have the
+best claim to him. I shall have to endeavor to control myself in many
+things; it will be hard for me, but it is better it should be so."
+
+"My words were not so intended," said Ilse, disturbed.
+
+"I well understand what you meant; and I know also that you are
+perfectly right. Your task is not alone to make his life comfortable. I
+see how earnestly you strive to become his confidant. Believe me, the
+warmest wish of my heart is that in time you should succeed."
+
+He left with an earnest farewell, and Ilse saw how deeply moved he was.
+The Doctor had touched a chord, the vibration of which, midst all her
+happiness, she felt with pain. Her household affairs gave her little
+trouble, and all went so smoothly that she took no credit to herself
+for her management. But still it pained her to see how little her work
+was appreciated by her husband, and she thought to herself, "What I am
+able to do for him makes no impression on him, and when I cannot
+elevate my mind to his, he probably feels the want of a soul that can
+understand him better."
+
+These were transient clouds which swept over the sunny landscape, but
+they came again and again as Ilse sat brooding alone in her room.
+
+One evening, Professor Raschke having looked in late, showed himself
+disposed to pass the evening with them, and Felix sent the servant to
+the Professor's wife, to set her mind at rest as to the absence of her
+husband. As Raschke, among all her husband's colleagues, was Ilse's
+favorite, she took pains to order something that would please him. This
+order doomed to death some chickens that shortly before had been
+brought in alive. The gentlemen were sitting in Ilse's room when a
+dreadful scream and clamor issued from the kitchen, and the cook, pale
+as death, opened the door and appealed to her mistress. It appeared
+that the girl's heart failed her in attempting to kill the fowls and as
+Gabriel, who had hitherto performed all such necessary slaughter, was
+absent, she did not know what to do, so Ilse herself had to perform the
+indispensable act. When she returned, Felix unfortunately asked why she
+had left the room, and Ilse told him what had occurred.
+
+The chickens were placed upon the table and did the cook no discredit.
+Ilse carved and served them, but her husband pushed back his plate,
+whilst Raschke, out of politeness, picked at the breast, but forbore to
+eat a morsel. Ilse regarded the two gentlemen with astonishment.
+
+"You do not eat anything, Professor?" she at last said to her guest,
+anxiously.
+
+"It is only a morbid weakness," replied Raschke, "and it's very foolish
+indeed, but the screams of the poor bird still linger in my ear."
+
+"And in yours, too, Felix?" asked Ilse, with increasing wonderment.
+
+"Yes," rejoined he. "Is it not possible to have these things done
+quietly?"
+
+"Not always," answered Ilse, mortified, "when the house is so small,
+and the kitchen so near." She rang and ordered the ill-fated dish to be
+taken away. "Those who can't bear things to be killed should eat no
+meat."
+
+"You are quite right," replied Raschke, submissively, "and our
+sensitiveness has but little justification. We find the preparations
+unpleasant, yet as a rule we are well satisfied with the result. But
+when one is accustomed to observe animal life with sympathy, he is
+necessarily shocked at the sudden termination of an organism for his
+own selfish purposes, when it is done in a way to which he is not
+accustomed. For the whole life of an animal is full of mystery to us.
+The same vital power which we observe in ourselves, is fundamentally at
+work with them, only limited by a less complicated, and, on the whole,
+less complete organization."
+
+"How can you compare their souls with that of man's?" asked Ilse; "the
+irrational with the rational; the transitory with the eternal?"
+
+"As to irrational, my dear lady, it is a word to which in this case one
+does not attach a very clear meaning. What the difference may be
+between man and beast is difficult to decide, and on this subject a
+little modesty becomes us. We know but little of animals, even of those
+who pass their lives among us. And I confess that the attempt to fathom
+this unknown problem fills me with awe and reverence, which
+occasionally rises into fear. I cannot bear that any one who belongs to
+me should grow fond of an animal. This arises from a weakness of
+feeling which I own is sentimental. But the influence of the human mind
+on animals has always seemed to me wonderful and weird; phases of their
+life are developed, which in certain directions make them very similar
+to man. Their affectionate devotion to us has something so touching in
+it, that we are disposed to bestow much more love on them than is good
+either for them or us."
+
+"Still an animal remains what it was from the creation," said Ilse;
+"unchanged in its habits and inclinations. We can train a bird, and
+make a dog fetch and carry what he would rather eat, but that is only
+an outward compulsion. If let to themselves, their nature and manners
+remain unaltered, and what we call culture they lack utterly."
+
+"Even upon that point we are by no means sure," rejoined Raschke. "We
+do not know but that each race of animals has a history and an
+evolution which extends from the earliest generation to the present. It
+is not at all impossible that acquirements and knowledge of the world,
+so far as they may exist in animals, have acted among them, though in a
+narrower sphere, just as with men. It is quite an assumption that birds
+sang just the same way a thousand years ago as they do now. I believe
+that the wolf and the lynx, in cultivated regions, stand on the same
+footing in the struggle for life as do the remnants of the red
+Indians among the whites; whilst those animals that live in comparative
+peace with man, like sparrows and other small creatures, and bees
+especially, improve in their mode of work, and in the course of time
+make progress--progress which we in some cases surmise, but which our
+science has not yet been able to describe."
+
+"Our forester would quite agree with you in this," said Ilse, quietly;
+"as he complains bitterly that the bullfinches of our neighborhood
+have, within his memory, quite deteriorated in their singing, because
+all the good singers have been caught, and the young birds have no one
+to teach them."
+
+"Exactly," said Raschke; "among animals of every species there are
+clever and stupid individuals, and it must follow that to some of them
+is assigned a definite spiritual mission which extends far beyond their
+own life. And the experience of an old raven, or the enchanting notes
+of a melodious nightingale, are not lost on the future generations of
+their race, but influence them continuously. In this sense we may well
+speak of culture and continued improvement among animals. But as
+regards the cooking, I admit that we exhibited our sympathies at the
+wrong time and place, and I hope you are not angry with us, dear
+friend."
+
+"It shall all be forgotten now," replied Ilse, "I  will give you boiled
+eggs the next time; they will involve no scruples."
+
+"The egg, too, has its story," answered Raschke; "but for the present,
+I may fitly waive discussing this. What has brought me here,"
+addressing Felix, earnestly, "was neither fowls nor eggs, but our
+colleague, Struvelius. I am seeking forgiveness for him."
+
+Felix drew himself up stiffly. "Has he commissioned you to come?"
+
+"Not exactly; but it is the wish of some of our colleagues. You know
+that next year we require an energetic Rector. Some of our acquaintance
+are speaking of you. Struvelius will probably be Deacon, and for this
+reason we wish to bring you into friendly relations; and still more for
+the sake of peace at the University. We regret exceedingly to see our
+classicists at variance."
+
+"What the man has done to me," replied the Professor, proudly, "I can
+easily forgive, although his mean and underhand conduct has deeply
+offended me. I feel much more seriously the effect of his foolish work
+upon himself and our University. What separates me from him is the
+dishonesty of spirit that has actuated his conduct."
+
+"The expression is too strong," cried Raschke.
+
+"It applies to his behavior exactly," returned the Professor. "When the
+forgery was pointed out to him, his fear of humiliation was greater
+than his love of truth, and he lied in order to deceive others--conduct
+unworthy of a German professor, and I can never forgive it."
+
+"Again you are too severe," replied Raschke; "he has frankly and
+loyally admitted his error."
+
+"He did so only when Magister Knips and others clearly proved the
+forgery that had been committed in the manuscript, and so made any
+further evasion impossible."
+
+"Human feelings are not so easy to analyze as numbers are," rejoined
+Raschke; "and only he who judges charitably, judges rightly. He
+struggled with wounded pride perhaps too long, but he gave in at last."
+
+"I tolerate no unknown quantity in the sense of honor of a scientist;
+the question here was: Black or white? Truth or falsehood?"
+
+"You have, nevertheless," said Ilse, "shown the Magister much greater
+leniency, and I have seen him with you since, more than once."
+
+"The Magister was less to blame in the matter," her husband replied.
+"When the question was clearly before him, he employed his acuteness to
+some purpose."
+
+"He took money for it," said Ilse.
+
+"He is a poor devil, accustomed, as a broker, to take his profits on
+any exchange of antiquities, and no one would expect in such a
+transaction that he should act like a gentleman. So far as his
+oppressed spirit belongs to science, it is not without a sort of manly
+pride; and I have the warmest sympathy for a nature of that kind. His
+life on the whole is a continual martyrdom to the interests of others;
+and when I employ such a man, I know exactly how far to trust him."
+
+"Do not deceive yourself in that!" cried Raschke.
+
+"I shall take the risk and the responsibility," replied the Professor.
+"But have done with the Magister--it is not he who is in question. When
+I compare his offense with that of Struvelius, there is no doubt in my
+mind as to who has shown the greater deficiency in sense of honor.
+
+"This again is so unjust," cried Raschke, "that I cannot listen to such
+expressions in the absence of my colleague. It is with deep regret that
+I miss in you the candor and dispassionate impartiality which I
+consider to be unreservedly demanded in judging a fellow-professor."
+
+"You yourself told me," replied Felix, more quietly, "that he promised
+silence to the trader, because the latter had held out the prospect of
+obtaining other secret parchments. How can you, after such an
+exhibition of selfishness, find a word to say in his defense?"
+
+"It is true he did so," replied Raschke, "and therein was his
+weakness?"
+
+"Therein was his dishonesty," said the Professor, "and that I shall
+never condone. Whoever thinks otherwise, may shake his hand in
+approbation of his conduct."
+
+Raschke rose. "If your words mean that he who grasps the hand of
+Struvelius in pardon for what he has done, has lost in character and
+self-respect, I reply to you that I am the man, and that this act of
+mine has never lessened my sense of dignity nor humiliated me in my own
+eyes. I entertain the highest respect for your pure and manly feelings,
+which I have ever deemed exemplary; but I must now tell you, that I am
+not satisfied with you. If this obduracy has come upon you merely
+because Struvelius has personally offended you, you are violating the
+standard which we are ever in duty bound to observe in judging our
+fellow men."
+
+"Let it not be observed then!" exclaimed the Professor. "I recognize no
+standard of leniency when I have to do with the demands which I make
+upon the sense of honor and propriety in my personal acquaintances. It
+affects me deeply that you are opposed to me in this way of thinking;
+but such as I am, an erring and imperfect mortal, I cannot moderate
+these claims upon those about me.
+
+"Let me hope then," broke in Raschke, "that it will never be your
+misfortune to have to confess to others that you have been deceived
+by an impostor in the very matter wherein your consciousness of
+self-reliance has been so strongly aroused. For he who judges others so
+proudly, would suffer no small affliction in the confession of his own
+shortsightedness."
+
+"Yes, that would be fearful for me," said Felix, "to involve others in
+error and falsehood against my will. But trust me, to atone for such a
+wrong I would use all my life and strength. Meanwhile, between that man
+and me the gulf will remain as dark as ever."
+
+Raschke shoved back his chair. "I must go, then, for our discussion has
+so excited me that I should make a very unentertaining companion. It is
+the first time, my dear lady, that I have ever left this house with any
+feeling of unpleasantness; and it is not my least annoyance, that my
+untimely advocacy of the existence of souls in poultry made me bristle
+up my crest against you also."
+
+Ilse regarded the excited countenance of the worthy man with pain, and,
+in order to soothe him and restore the old friendly relations, she said
+to him, coaxingly: "But you shall not escape the poor chicken, you'll
+have to eat it, and I shall take care that your wife gives it to you
+to-morrow morning for breakfast."
+
+Raschke pressed her hand, and rushed out through the door. The
+Professor walked up and down the room in agitation, and then stopping
+before his wife said, abruptly, "Was I in the wrong?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Ilse, hesitating; "but when our friend spoke to
+you, all my feelings went with him, and I felt that he was right."
+
+"You, too!" said the Professor, moodily. He turned on his heel and went
+into his study.
+
+Ilse once more sat alone with a heavy heart, and she murmured, "In many
+things he looks on life very differently from what I do. Towards
+animals he is kinder, and towards men sometimes harsher than I am.
+Strive as I may, I shall always be to him an awkward country lass. He
+was kind to Madam Rollmaus, and will be so towards me; but he will ever
+have to make allowances for me."
+
+She sprung from her chair with a burning face.
+
+In the meantime Raschke was roving about in the anteroom; there too
+disorder prevailed. Gabriel had not returned from his distant errand,
+and the cook had put all the dinner things upon a side-table till his
+return, and Raschke had to look for his own great-coat. He groped among
+the clothes and seized a coat and a hat. As to-day he was not as
+absent-minded as usual, a glance at the rejected meal reminded him of
+the fact that he had to eat a chicken, as enjoined by Ilse. He,
+therefore, seized a newspaper which Gabriel had carefully laid out for
+his master, took the chicken from the dish, wrapped it up in the paper,
+and deposited it in his pocket, the depth and capacity of which
+agreeably surprised him. Rushing past the astonished cook he left the
+house. On opening the front door he stumbled over something on the
+threshold, and heard a fearful growl behind him as he hurried down the
+steps into the open air.
+
+The words of the friend whose house he had just left, still rung in his
+ear. Werner's whole bearing had been very characteristic, and his
+nature was a strong one. Strange, that in a moment of anger his face
+had suddenly assumed a likeness to that of a Danish dog. Here the
+philosopher's chain of ideas was broken by the sudden recollection of
+the talk about animal souls.
+
+"It is indeed to be deplored that it is still so difficult to determine
+the significance of expression as revealing the animal soul. If success
+attended our efforts here, science too would gain by it. If the
+expressions and gestures exhibited in moments of passion by man and the
+higher animals could be compared and collated in every detail,
+important and interesting inferences might be drawn, both from that
+which they manifested in common and from that wherein they differed.
+For, in this way, the true nature and purport of their dramatic
+actions, and probably new laws governing the same, might be
+ascertained."
+
+Whilst the philosopher was thus meditating, he felt a repeated tugging
+at the end of his overcoat. As his wife was accustomed, when he was
+wrapt in thought, to nudge him gently if he met a friend, he paid no
+attention, but took off his hat politely to the post on the bridge, and
+said, "Good evening."
+
+"The common character and origin of mimical expression in man and the
+higher animals might, perhaps, if fully known, give us glimpses into
+the great secret of life." Again something pulled him. Raschke
+mechanically lifted his hat. Another tug. "No more, dear Aurelia, I
+have taken my hat off." It then occurred to him that it could not be
+his wife who was pulling so low down at his coat. It must be his little
+daughter Bertha, who occasionally walked with him, and, just like her
+mother, would also nudge him gently when he had to bow to any one.
+"Very well, dear child," said he, as Bertha kept continually pulling at
+his hind coat pocket, and he put his hand behind him to catch the
+little teazer. He caught hold of something round and shaggy, and at
+once felt the sharp edges of teeth in his fingers, which made him turn
+round with a start. He then saw, by the lamplight, a red, brindled
+monster, with a great head and bristly hair, and a tuft instead of a
+tail. It was an awful transformation of wife and daughter, and he
+stared with amazement at this mysterious being, that stood opposite to
+him, likewise regarding him in silence.
+
+"A remarkable meeting," cried Raschke. "What art thou, unknown
+beast--presumably a dog? Get away with thee!" The animal slunk back a
+few paces, and Raschke pursued his inquiry further. "If the facial
+expression and the gesticulation attendant upon emotion could be thus
+referred and traced back to original and common forms, the instinctive
+tendency to appropriate and to adapt what is foreign would undoubtedly
+result as one of the most universal and effective of laws. It would be
+instructive from the involuntary actions of men and animals to
+ascertain that which naturally belonged to each species and that which
+each had acquired. Get away, dog;--home with you, I say! What is he
+after, anyway? He is apparently one of Werner's people. The poor brute
+is possessed of some overpowering idea and will lose his way running
+about the city!"
+
+In the meantime, Spitehahn's attacks had become more violent, and he at
+last dropped into a ludicrous march upon his hind legs, while, placing
+his forefeet on the Professor's back, he buried his nose in the
+latter's coat-pocket.
+
+Raschke's interest in the thoughts of the dog increased. He stopped by
+a lamp-post and carefully examined his overcoat. He found that it
+possessed a cape and long sleeves, which the philosopher had never
+observed before on his own coat. The matter was now clear: he had
+thoughtlessly taken the wrong coat, and the honest dog meant to
+preserve his master's wardrobe, and to make the thief restore it.
+Raschke was so pleased with the dog's cleverness, that he turned round
+and spoke coaxingly to Spitehahn, trying to stroke his bristly coat.
+The dog snapped at his hand. "You are quite right," said Raschke, "in
+being angry with me. I will show you that I confess I am in the wrong."
+So he took the coat off, and hung it over his arm. "It is, indeed, much
+heavier than my own." He marched briskly on in his light coat, and saw
+with satisfaction that the dog made no more attacks on his skirts. On
+the other hand, Spitehahn seized the greatcoat, and began biting at it,
+snapping at the Professor's hand and growling furiously.
+
+The Professor got angry with the dog, and as he came to a bench in the
+Promenade, he laid the coat down on it, in order to deal with the
+animal in earnest, and drive him home. By this means he got rid of the
+dog and, what was more, of the coat too; for Spitehahn, jumping up
+eagerly on the bench with a mighty leap, seized the coat, and kept the
+Professor at bay. "It is Werner's coat," said the Professor, "and it is
+Werner's dog, and it would be unjustifiable to beat the poor animal
+because in his fidelity he has become excited, and it would be also
+wrong to leave both dog and coat." So he remained with the dog, trying
+to coax him; the animal, however, took no further notice of the
+Professor; on the contrary, he devoted himself to the coat, which he
+turned over and over again, scraping and gnawing at it. Raschke
+perceived that the coat would not long stand such treatment. "The dog
+must be mad," he said to himself, suspiciously, "and I shall have to
+resort to violence after all towards the poor creature;" and he
+considered whether it were better to jump up on the bench and drive the
+mad dog off with a good kick, or to make the unavoidable attack from
+below. He decided on the latter, and searched about for a stone or
+stick to arm himself for the encounter. He then looked up at the trees
+and the dark sky, and could not in the least tell where he was. "Is
+this witchcraft?" he said to himself, amused. "Pray tell me,"
+addressing a solitary passer-by, "in what part of the town we are; and
+will you have the goodness to lend me your stick for a moment?"
+
+"These are strange questions," replied the stranger, in a surly tone.
+"I want my stick myself at this time of night. And who are you, sir, I
+should like to know?" And he approached the Professor menacingly.
+
+"I am a peaceable man," replied the Professor, "and little inclined to
+violent courses. But a struggle has commenced between that dog on the
+bench and me about an overcoat, and I should be extremely obliged to
+you if you would rescue the coat from the dog. But pray do no more harm
+to him than is absolutely necessary."
+
+"Is it your coat?" asked the man.
+
+"Unfortunately, I cannot say it is," replied Raschke, conscientiously.
+
+"There is something wrong here," cried the stranger, again looking with
+suspicion at the Professor.
+
+"Something, indeed," replied Raschke; "the dog is mad, the coat has
+been changed, and I don't know where we are."
+
+"Close to the Valley Gate, Professor Raschke," answered the voice of
+Gabriel, who rapidly joined the group. "But, pardon me, how came you
+here?"
+
+"How opportune," cried Raschke, delighted; "just take charge of the
+coat and the dog."
+
+With astonishment Gabriel saw his friend Spitehahn, who was now sitting
+on the coat, quite abashed and chapfallen at the sight of his master.
+Gabriel drove the dog off, and seized the coat. "It is my own
+overcoat!" he said.
+
+"Yes, Gabriel," rejoined the Professor, "that was my mistake, and the
+dog has displayed a wonderful fidelity in guarding it."
+
+"Fidelity!" said Gabriel, indignantly, as he pulled a parcel out of the
+pocket; "it was greedy selfishness. There must be something to eat in
+here."
+
+"Ah! I recollect now," cried Raschke; "it is the fowl that's to blame.
+Give me the parcel, Gabriel; I must eat it myself. And we may now wish
+one another good-night in peace, unless you will go with me a little
+way to show me the road amongst these trees."
+
+"But you can't go in this night air without an overcoat," said the
+tender-hearted Gabriel. "We are not far from our house, and it would be
+better for you to return with me to the Professor's."
+
+Raschke paused a while, and laughed. "You are quite right, my good
+Gabriel: my sudden departure was all wrong, and the soul of an animal
+has this day given a lesson to a human soul."
+
+"If you mean this dog," replied Gabriel, "it is the first time in his
+life he has given anybody a lesson. I suppose that he followed you from
+our door, for I put bones there for him every evening."
+
+"At one time I thought he was quite mad," said the Professor.
+
+"He is a sly one when he chooses," replied Gabriel, with an air of
+mystery; "but if I were to tell all my experiences with him to this
+day----"
+
+"Do tell me, Gabriel," cried the Professor, quite excited. "Nothing is
+so valuable with respect to animals as authentic anecdotes, collected
+by those who have observed them closely."
+
+"I can vouch for my experience," said Gabriel, with an air of
+confidence; "and if you really wish to know what he is, I can tell you
+he is possessed--he is a devil--he's a depraved brute--and bears a
+grudge against the whole human race!"
+
+"Hum!--is that so?" murmured the philosopher. "I believe it is much
+easier to look into the heart of a Professor than that of a dog."
+
+Spitehahn crept along quietly but depressed, with his tail between his
+legs, listening to the praise bestowed on him, whilst Raschke,
+accompanied by Gabriel, returned through the park to the house. Gabriel
+flung open the parlor door, and announced "Professor Raschke."
+
+Ilse stretched out both hands, "Welcome--welcome, dear Professor!" and
+led him in to her husband's study.
+
+"Here I am again," said Raschke, in a cheerful tone, "after an
+adventure like a fairy tale. I have been brought back by two animals
+who have shown me the right path--a roast fowl and a perverted dog."
+
+Felix sprang to his feet, the two friends shook hands cordially, and,
+after all misunderstanding, the evening passed off most pleasantly.
+
+When Raschke at length withdrew, Gabriel said sorrowfully to his
+mistress: "It was the new coat; the chicken and the dog have ruined it
+beyond all recognition."
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER XIX_.
+
+                              THE ILLNESS.
+
+
+It was the first burst of spring in the wood and gardens adjoining the
+city. The buds and the caterpillars had slumbered together in quiet
+winter dreams; now the leaves expanded, and the grubs crawled over the
+young green shoots. Under the bright rays of the sun in its higher
+course, the struggle of life began,--the blooming and withering, the
+rich colors, and the frost under which they were to fade, the bright
+green leaves and the caterpillars that gnawed them; the eternal strife
+began anew in buds and blossoms just as in the heart of man.
+
+Ilse, in her hours of instruction, was now reading Herodotus; he, too,
+was a harbinger of spring for the human race; hovering above the
+borderland between dreamy poetry and unclouded reality, the glad
+proclaimer of a time in which the people of the earth rejoiced in their
+own beauty and perfection, and first began to seek seriously truth and
+knowledge. Again Ilse read with passionate excitement the pages which
+brought a shattered world before her eyes with such vivid reality. But
+there was not the same serene and exalted pleasure in the narrative as
+in the works of the great poet who so directed the fate and deeds of
+his heroes as to produce a pleasing impression upon the mind, even when
+they excited sorrow and fear. For it is the privilege of human
+invention to form the world as the tender heart of man desires it; with
+alternations and fitting proportions of happiness and sorrow, the
+recognition of each individual according to his powers and actions, and
+due compensation. But the mind which here delineated the life of the
+past, did so in a superhuman manner, life crowded life, so that one
+devastated the other, destruction mercilessly overtook them, good and
+bad alike; here too, there was retribution; here, too, there was a
+curse, but their effect was incomprehensible and cruel. What was good
+ceased to be good, and evil gained the victory. What was first a
+blessing afterwards became ruin; what was now beneficent greatness and
+dominion, afterwards became a disease, which destroyed the state. The
+individual heroes were of little importance; if a great human power
+rose and dominated for a moment. Ilse soon saw it disappear in the
+whirling stream of events. Cr[oe]sus, the over-confident, good-hearted
+king, fell; the powerful Cyrus passed away, and Xerxes was beaten. But
+nations also sank, the blooming flower of Egypt withered, the golden
+realm of Lydia was shattered, and mighty Persia first corrupted others
+and then itself. In the young Hellenic people, that rose with such
+heroic strength, she already saw busily at work violence, evil deeds,
+and enmities, through which the most beautiful picture of antiquity,
+after short prosperity, was to pass away.
+
+Ilse and Laura were sitting opposite each other, with an open book
+lying between them. Laura, indeed, was not admitted to the private
+lessons of the Professor, but her soul faithfully accompanied Ilse on
+the path of learning. Ilse imparted the acquisitions of her hours of
+instructions to her, and enjoyed the sweet pleasure of infusing new
+ideas into the mind of her friend.
+
+"I felt great indignation at this Xerxes," cried Laura, "even from what
+I read in the primer:
+
+            'Xantippe was a cross, mean thing
+            No peace her husband had.
+            But Xerxes was a Persian King
+            And he was just as bad.'
+
+I long thought that Xantippe was his wife, and I wish he had had her.
+On the other hand, look at the three hundred Spartans who sent the
+others home and encircled themselves with wreaths, anointed themselves,
+and put on the festive garb to march to death. That elevates the heart;
+they were men. If I could show my veneration for their memory by means
+of my stupid head and weak hands, I would work for it till my fingers
+ached. But what can a poor creature like me do? At the utmost,
+embroider traveling-bags for their journey to the lower world, and
+these would come two thousand years too late. We women are pitiable
+creatures," she exclaimed, with vexation.
+
+"There were others in the battle," said Ilse, "who affected me more
+than the three hundred Spartans. These were the Thespians, who fought
+and died with them. The Spartans were impelled by their proud hearts
+and the strict discipline and commands of their rulers. But the
+Thespians died willingly. They were a small people, and they well knew
+that the greatest honor would attach to their distinguished neighbors.
+But they were faithful in their humble position, and that was far more
+self-sacrificing and noble. Ah! it was easy for all of them," she
+continued, sorrowfully; "but for those who remained behind, their poor
+parents, wives and children at home, what destruction of happiness and
+unspeakable misery!"
+
+"Misery!" cried Laura; "if they thought as I do, they were proud of the
+death of their loved ones, and like them wore garlands in their sorrow.
+What is the purpose of our life if we cannot rejoice in giving
+ourselves up for higher things?"
+
+"For higher things?" asked Ilse. "What men value higher than wife and
+child, is that higher for us also? Our duty is to devote our whole
+hearts to them, our children, and our home. When, therefore, they are
+taken from us, our whole lives are desolated and nothing remains but
+endless sorrow. It is natural for us to view their vocation differently
+than they do themselves."
+
+"I would like to be a man," cried Laura. "Are we then so weak in mind
+and spirit, that we must have less enthusiasm, less feeling of honor,
+and less love for our Fatherland than they? It is a fearful thought to
+be one's whole life long only the waiting-maid of a master who is no
+stronger or better than oneself, and who wears overshoes, that his feet
+may not get wet, and a woollen muffler the moment a breath of cold air
+blows."
+
+"They do wear these things here in the town," replied Ilse, laughing.
+
+"Yes, nearly all of them do," said Laura, evasively; "but believe me,
+Frau Ilse, these men have no right to expect us to devote our whole
+heart and lives to them. It is just the most thorough of them that do
+not give us their full heart. And how should they? We are good enough
+to entertain them, and darn their stockings, and perhaps become their
+confidants, if they should accidentally be at a loss what to do; but
+the best of them look beyond us to the great All, and in that is their
+special life. What is right for them should also be fitting for us."
+
+"And have we not enough in what they give us of their life?" asked
+Ilse. "If it is only a portion it makes us happy."
+
+"Is it happiness never to experience the highest of emotions?"
+exclaimed Laura. "Can we die like Leonidas?"
+
+Ilse pointed to the door of her husband's room. "My Hellas sits there
+within and works, and my heart beats when I hear his step, or only the
+scratching of his pen. To live or die for the man one loves is also an
+elevating idea, and makes one happy. Ah, happy only if one knows that
+one is a source of happiness to him also!"
+
+Laura threw herself at the feet of her friend, and looked entreatingly
+into her anxious face. "I have made you serious with my prattling, and
+that was wrong of me; for I would gladly conjure a smile to your lips
+every hour, and always see a friendly light in those soft eyes. But do
+bear with me; I am a strange, unaccountable girl, and often
+discontented with myself and others, and frequently without knowing
+why. But Xerxes was a good for nothing fellow, to that I stick; and if
+I had him here I could box his ears every day."
+
+"At all events he received his due," replied Ilse.
+
+Laura started suddenly. "Was that a proper retribution for the wretch
+who had destroyed or made miserable hundreds of thousands, to return
+home without a scratch? No punishment would be severe enough for such a
+wicked king. But I know right well how he became so; his mother and
+father spoiled him; he had always lived at home, had grown up in luxury
+and all men were subject to him. And so he treated all with contempt.
+It would be the same with others if they were in the same position. I
+can well imagine myself such a monster, and many of my acquaintances
+too."
+
+"My husband?" asked Ilse.
+
+"No, he is more like Cyrus or Cambyses," replied Laura.
+
+Ilse laughed. "That is not true. But how would it be with the Doctor
+over there?"
+
+Laura raised her hand threateningly towards the neighboring house. "He
+would be Xerxes, just as he is in the book, if one could think of him
+without spectacles, in a golden dressing-gown, with a sceptre in his
+hand, without his good heart (for Fritz Hahn undoubtedly has that);
+somewhat less clever than he is, and still more spoilt, as a man also
+who has written no book, and learnt nothing but to treat others badly;
+he would then be Xerxes out and out. I see him sitting before me on a
+throne, by a brook, striking the water with a whip because it made his
+boots wet. He might have become a very dangerous fellow if he had not
+been born here close to the city park."
+
+"I think so too," replied Ilse. In the evening, in the course of her
+hour of study. Ilse said to her husband: "When Leonidas died with his
+heroes, he saved his countrymen from the rule of foreign barbarians;
+but after him many thousands of these glorious men fell in the civil
+wars of the cities. In these quarrels the people became deteriorated,
+and before long other strangers came and deprived their descendants of
+their freedom. For what end did these many thousands die?--of what use
+was all the hatred, and enthusiasm, and party zeal?--it was all in
+vain, it was all a token of decay. Man is here like a grain of sand
+that is trodden down into the earth. I find myself facing a terrible
+mystery and I am afraid of life."
+
+"I will endeavour to give you a solution," replied her husband,
+seriously; "but the words which I am now about to speak to you are like
+the key to the chambers of the wicked Bluebeard: do not open every room
+too hastily, for in some of them you will discover what, in your
+present frame of mind, may raise anew your fears."
+
+"I am your wife," cried Ilse, "and if you have any answer for the
+questions which torment me I demand it of you."
+
+"My answer is no secret to you," said the Professor. "You are not only
+what you consider yourself--a human being born to joy and sorrow,
+united to individuals by nature, love, and faith--but you are bound
+body and soul to an earthly power, of which you think but little, but
+which, nevertheless, guides you from the first breath you drew to the
+last gasp of life. When I tell you that you are a child of your people,
+and a child of the human race, the expression will come so naturally to
+you that you will not assign any deep meaning to it. Yet this is your
+highest earthly relation. We are too much accustomed from childhood on
+to cherish in our hearts only the individuals to whom we are bound by
+nature or choice, and we seldom stop to think that our nation is the
+ancestor from whom our parents are descended, that has produced our
+language, laws, manners, that has given us all we possess, given us
+everything that constitutes our life, and almost all that determines
+our fortunes, and elevates our hearts. Yet not our nation alone has
+accomplished this; the peoples of the earth stand to one another as
+brothers and sisters, and one nation helps to decide the life and fate
+of others. All have lived, suffered, and worked together, in order that
+you may live, enjoy, and do your part in life."
+
+Ilse smiled. "The bad king Cambyses, and his Persian also?"
+
+"They also," replied the Professor; "for the great net of which your
+life is one of the meshes, is woven from an infinite number of threads,
+and if one had been lost the web would be imperfect. Take first a
+simple illustration. You are indebted to the people of a period, of
+which every record is now wanting, for the table by which you sit, the
+needle which you hold in your hand, and the rings on your fingers and
+in your ears; the shuttle was invented by an unknown people in order
+that your dress might be woven, and a similar palm-leaf pattern to that
+which you wear, was devised in the manufactory of a Ph[oe]nician."
+
+"Good," said Ilse; "that pleases me; it is a charming thought that
+antiquity has provided so considerately for my comfort."
+
+"Not that alone," continued the scholar. "What you know, and believe
+also, and much that occupies your heart, has been delivered to you
+through your nation from its own and foreign sources. Every word that
+you speak has been transmitted and remodelled through hundreds of
+generations, to receive thereby that sound and significance which you
+now so easily command. It was for this object that our ancestors came
+into the country from Asia, and that Arminius struggled with the Romans
+for the preservation of our language, that you might be able to give
+Gabriel an order which both could understand. It was for you the poets
+lived, who, in the youth of the Hellenic people, invented the powerful
+rhythm of the epic verse, which it gives me such pleasure to hear from
+your lips. Furthermore, that you may believe, as you do, it was
+necessary that three hundred years ago there should take place in your
+Fatherland a great and mighty struggle of opinion; and again, more than
+a thousand years earlier, a mighty conflict of the soul in a small
+people of Asia; and again, fifty generations earlier still, venerated
+commandments given under the tents of a wandering people. You have to
+thank a past which begins with the first life of man on earth for most
+that you have and are, and in this sense the whole human race has lived
+in order that you might be able to live."
+
+Ilse looked excitedly at her husband. "The thought is elevating," she
+exclaimed, "and is calculated to make man proud. But how does that
+agree with this same man being a nonentity, and crushed like a worm in
+the great events of history?"
+
+"As you are the child of your nation, and of the human race, so has
+every individual been in every age; and as he has to thank that greater
+human fabric, of which he is a portion, for his life and nearly all its
+content, so is his fortune linked to the greater fortune of his nation
+and to the destiny of mankind. Your people and your race have given you
+much, and they require as much from you. They have preserved your body
+and formed your mind, and they demand in return your body and mind.
+However lightly and freely you move about as an individual, you are
+answerable to these creditors for the use of your freedom. Whether, as
+mild masters, they allow you to pass your life in peace, or at some
+period demand it of you, your duty is the same; whilst you think that
+you live and die for yourself, you live and die for them. Contemplated
+in this way, the individual life is immeasurably small compared with
+the great whole. To us, the individual man who has passed away can only
+be discerned in so far as he has influenced others; it is only in
+connection with those who preceded him, and those who come after him,
+that he is of importance. But in this sense great and little are both
+of value. For every one of us who brings up his children, or governs
+the State, or in any way increases the welfare, comfort, and culture of
+his race, performs a duty towards his people. Countless numbers do this
+without any personal record of them remaining; they are like drops of
+water, which, closely united with others, run on as one great stream,
+not distinguishable by later eyes. But they have not on that account
+lived in vain; and, as countless insignificant individuals are
+preservers of culture, and workers for the duration of national
+strength, so the highest of powers in individuals--the greatest heroes
+and the noblest reformers--only represent in their lives a small
+portion of that national strength. Whilst man struggles for himself and
+his own ends, he unconsciously influences his own time, and his own
+people for all futurity. By ennobling the ideals and duties of future
+generations, he pays his own debt to life. You see, my beloved, how
+death vanishes from history in such a conception. The result of life
+becomes more important than life itself; beyond the man is the
+nation--beyond the nation is mankind; every human being that has moved
+upon earth has lived, not only for himself, but for all others, and for
+us also; thus our life has been benefited by him. As the Greeks grew up
+in noble freedom and passed away, and as their thoughts and labors have
+benefited later generations of men, so our life, though it moves in a
+small circle, will not be useless to future generations."
+
+"Ah!" cried Ilse, "that is a view of earthly life which is only
+possible to those who do great things, and in whom later times will
+take an interest; my blood runs cold at the thought. Are men, then,
+only like flowers and weeds, and a nation like a great meadow, and what
+remains, when they are mowed down by time, only useful hay, for later
+generations? Surely all that once existed and all existing at present
+have lived also for themselves, and for those whom they have loved, for
+wife and children and friends, and they were something more than
+ciphers among millions; something more than leaves on an enormous tree.
+Though their existence is so insignificant and useless that you can
+perceive no trace of their work, yet the life and the soul of the
+beggar and the life and the soul of my poor invalid in the village are
+guarded by a power which is greater than your great net that is woven
+of the souls of men."
+
+She arose and gazed anxiously into her husband's face. "Bow your human
+pride before a power that you do not understand."
+
+The scholar looked at his wife with deep solicitude. "I do bow humbly
+before the thought that the great unity of human beings on this earth
+is not the highest power of life. The only difference between you and
+me is, that my mind is accustomed to hold intercourse With the higher
+powers of earth. They are to me revelations so holy and worthy of
+reverence, that I best love to seek the Eternal and Incomprehensible by
+this path. You are accustomed to find the inscrutable in the
+conceptions which have been impressed on your mind through pious
+traditions; and I again repeat what I before said, your faith and
+yearnings arise from the same source as mine, and we seek the same
+light, though in different ways. What the Gods, and also the Angels and
+Archangels were to the faith of earlier generations--higher powers
+which, as messengers of the Highest, hovered about and influenced the
+lives of men--the great intellectual unity of nations and mankind are
+in another sense to us, personalities which endure and yet pass away,
+though according to different laws from what individual men do. My
+endeavour to understand these laws is one form of my piety. You
+yourself will gradually learn to appreciate the modest and elevating
+conceptions of the holy sphere in which I live. You also will gradually
+discover that your faith and mine are about the same."
+
+"No," cried Ilse, "I see only one thing, a great gulf which divides my
+thoughts from yours. Oh, deliver me from the anguish which tortures me
+in my concern for your soul."
+
+"I cannot do it, nor can it be done in a day. It can only be done by
+our own lives, by thousands of impressions and by thousands of days, in
+which you will become accustomed to look upon the world as I do."
+
+He drew his wife, who was standing as if transfixed, nearer to him.
+"Think of the text: 'In my father's house are many mansions.' He who so
+spoke knew that man and wife are one through the strongest of earthly
+feelings, which bears all and suffers all."
+
+"But what can I be to you to whom the individual is so little?" asked
+Ilse, faintly.
+
+"The highest and dearest being on earth, the flower of my nation, a
+child of my race in whom I love and honour what was before and will
+survive us."
+
+Ilse stood alone among the strange books; without, the wind howled
+round the walls, the clouds flitted across the face of the moon; soon
+the room became dark, and then was lighted up by a pale glimmer. In the
+flickering light the walls seemed to spread and rise to an immeasurable
+height; strange figures rose from among the books, they glided by the
+walls, and were suspended from the ceiling, an army of grey shadows,
+which by day were banished to the bookshelves, now came trooping
+towards her, and the dead who continued to live as spirits on earth
+stretched out their arms to her and demanded her soul for themselves.
+
+Ilse, with head erect, raised her hands on high, and called to her aid
+the beautiful images, which from her childhood had surrounded her life
+with blessing, white figures with shining countenances. She bent her
+head and prayed: "O guard the peace of my soul."
+
+When Ilse entered her room she found a letter from her father on her
+table; she opened it hastily, and, after reading the first lines, sank
+down sobbing.
+
+Her father had informed her of the death of an old friend. The good
+pastor had been borne away from the narrow valley to the place of rest,
+which he had chosen in the churchyard, near his wife. He had never
+recovered from the disquiet which the departure of Ilse had caused him;
+he had passed the winter in lingering illness, and one warm spring
+evening death came upon him while sitting before his peach-tree in the
+garden. There the faithful servant found him, and ran with the terrible
+news to the manor. A few hours before he had requested Clara to write
+to his dear child in the city, that all was well with him.
+
+Ilse had often been anxious about the life of her friend during the
+winter, so the account was not a surprise to her. Yet now she felt his
+loss as a terrible misfortune; it was a life which had been firmly and
+faithfully devoted to her; she well knew that in later years she had
+become almost exclusively the object of his thoughts and fond
+affections. She had abandoned one who had been part of her life,
+impelled by a stronger feeling, and it now appeared as if she had done
+wrong in parting from him. She saw the staff broken which had bound her
+firmly to the feelings of her childhood. It seemed as if the ground
+tottered beneath her, as if all had become insecure, the heart of her
+husband, and her own future.
+
+The Professor found her dissolved in tears and bending over the letter;
+her grief moved him, and he anxiously begged her to think of herself.
+He spoke to her tenderly, and at last she raised her eyes to him and
+promised to be composed.
+
+But it was in vain. After a few hours he was obliged to carry her to
+bed.
+
+It was a dangerous illness. There were days in which she lay
+unconscious in death-like weakness. When, at times, she opened her
+weary eyes, she looked into the careworn countenance of her husband,
+and saw Laura's curly head tenderly bending over her; then all would
+vanish again in vague insensibility.
+
+It was a long struggle between life and death, but life was victorious.
+Her first impression, when she awoke as from a painless slumber, was
+the rustling of a black dress, and the large curl of Mrs. Struvelius,
+who had popped her head through the closed curtains, and was gazing
+sorrowfully on her with her great grey eyes. She gently called her
+husband by name, and the next moment he was kneeling by her bed,
+covering her hand with kisses; and the strong man had so completely
+lost all self-control that he wept convulsively. She laid her hand on
+his head, stroked the matted hair, and said to him, gently: "Felix, my
+love, I will live."
+
+There followed now a time of great weakness and slow convalescence; she
+had many an hour of helpless depression, but withal a faint smile would
+play at times over her thin, pale lips.
+
+Spring had come. The buds had not all been destroyed by the frost of
+the previous night, and the birds twittered before her windows. Ilse
+was deeply moved to see what a good nurse her husband was,--how
+adroitly he gave her medicine and food, and would scarcely suffer
+anyone to take his place by her bedside; he stubbornly refused to take
+a few hours' sleep in the night, till she herself begged him to do so,
+and then he could not resist. She learned from Laura that he had been
+in great distress of mind, and when she was at the worst had been quite
+distracted and moody, and angry with every one. He had sat day and
+night by her bedside, so that it was wonderful how he had been able to
+endure it. "The physician was unable to manage him," said Laura; "but I
+found the right way, for I threatened him seriously that I would
+complain to you of his obstinacy. Then he consented to my taking his
+place for a few hours, and at last Mrs. Struvelius also, but
+unwillingly, because he maintained that her dress rustled too much."
+
+Laura herself showed how devoted was her love; she was always on the
+spot, hovering noiselessly about the sick-bed like a bird; she would
+sit motionless for hours, and when Ilse opened her eyes, and her
+strength was a little restored, she had always something pleasant to
+tell her. She informed her that Mrs. Struvelius had come on the second
+day, and, after making a little speech to the Professor, in which she
+solemnly claimed the right of a friend, she seated herself on the other
+side of the bed. He, however, had not listened to what she said, and
+had suddenly started and asked who she was, and what she wanted there.
+She had answered him quietly that she was Flaminia Struvelius, and that
+her heart gave her a right to be there; thereupon she repeated her
+argument, and at last he gave in. "Her husband, too, has been here,"
+added Laura, cautiously. "Just when you were at the worst, he rushed up
+to your husband, who shook hands with him, but, between ourselves, I do
+not think he knew him. Then," related Laura, "that absurd fellow,
+the Doctor, came the very first evening, with a blanket and a tin
+coffee-machine, and declared he would watch also. As he could not be
+allowed in the sick-room, he placed himself with his tin apparatus in
+the Professor's room; the Professor took care of you, and the Doctor
+took care of the Professor." Ilse drew Laura's head down to her, and
+whispered in her ear, "and sister Laura took care of the Doctor." Upon
+this Laura kissed her, but shook her head vehemently. "He was not
+troublesome, at any rate," she continued; "he kept very quiet, and he
+was useful as a Cerberus to keep away the visitors and dismiss the many
+inquirers. This he did faithfully. If it were possible for you to see
+him, I believe it would give him great pleasure."
+
+Ilse nodded. "Let him come in." The Doctor came; Ilse stretched out her
+hand towards him; and felt from the warm pressure, and from the emotion
+on his countenance, that the learned confidant of her beloved husband,
+on whose approbation she had not always counted, was a true friend.
+Ilse found also that other gentlemen pressed to her bedside.
+
+"If the wife of my colleague will give me audience, I beg to apply for
+admittance," said a cheerful voice, outside.
+
+"Come in, Professor Raschke," cried Ilse, from her bed.
+
+"There she is," exclaimed he, louder than is usual in a sick-room,
+"returned to the glad light after a dangerous crisis."
+
+"What are the souls of animals doing, dear Professor?" asked Ilse.
+
+"They are eating the leaves in the adjacent woods," answered Raschke;
+"there have been numerous ladybirds this year; see, there is one flying
+about the medicine bottle; I fear it has used me as a stage-coach to
+come in to visit you. The trees stand like brooms, and the poultry
+are so fat that all prejudices concerning the enjoyment of these
+fellow-creatures are quite set aside. I count the days until the happy
+moment arrives when my friend will follow me to give evidence of my
+improvement."
+
+It was a slow recovery, but accompanied by abundant feelings of
+comfort; for fate grants to convalescents, as a compensation for
+danger and suffering, to see all around them, free from the dust of the
+work-a-day world, in pure outlines and fresh brilliancy. Ilse now felt
+this mild poetry of the sick-bed, when she held out her hand to the
+honest Gabriel, which he kissed, holding his handkerchief to his eyes,
+whilst the Professor extolled his devoted service. She felt this
+pleasure also when going down into the garden, supported by Laura's
+arm. Mr. Hummel advanced to her respectfully, in his best coat, with
+his hair brushed down and his defiant eyes softened almost into a mild
+expression, and behind him followed slowly his dog Spitehahn, his head
+also bent in unwilling respect. When Mr. Hummel had offered his homage,
+he said, sympathisingly: "If you should ever wish for a little quiet
+exercise, I beg of you to make use of my boat at your pleasure." This
+was the greatest favor that Mr. Hummel could show, for he did not
+credit the inhabitants of the neighborhood in which he lived with any
+of the qualifications which are necessary to make aquatic excursions.
+He was undoubtedly right when he called a voyage in his boat a quiet
+amusement; for this season the boat had mostly rested upon bottom on
+account of the shallowness of the water and the greatest amusement that
+it could offer was to stretch out the hands to both banks, and tear up
+a tuft of grass with each.
+
+When Ilse could sit in her room again, it often happened that the door
+opened gently, her husband entered, kissed her, and then returned with
+a light heart to his books. When she saw his tender anxiety, and his
+happiness in her recovery, and in again having her near him, she no
+longer doubted his love, and felt that she ought no longer to be
+anxious about what he thought of the life and passing away of
+individuals and of nations.
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER XX_.
+
+                            A COURT MATTER.
+
+
+Among the inquiries after the Professor's wife during her illness,
+there was one made by a stranger. Gabriel excited a little astonishment
+in the household when he mentioned: "Once, as I was running to the
+apothecary, a man of refined appearance was standing in the street
+talking with Dorchen. Dorchen called to me, and the man made inquiries
+concerning everything, and your illness seemed very inopportune to
+him."
+
+"Did you ask his name?"
+
+"He would not give it. He was from your part of the country, and had
+only made inquiries through the town."
+
+"Perhaps it was some one from Rossau," said Ilse, annoyed. "I hope he
+has not made father anxious by his talk."
+
+Gabriel shook his head. "He meant something by it; he tried to find out
+everything about the house, and asked impudent questions that I would
+not answer. As he had a crafty look, I followed him to the nearest inn,
+and the waiter told me that he was the chamberlain of a Prince."
+Gabriel mentioned the name.
+
+"That is our Prince!" cried Ilse; "what can make him take such interest
+in me?"
+
+"The man wished to take some news home," replied her husband. "He was
+among the retinue on the hunting expedition last year; and it was
+kindly meant."
+
+This answer quieted Gabriel, and Ilse, much pleased, said: "It is so
+nice when one's Prince takes such interest in his children who are in
+trouble far from home."
+
+But there was some foundation withal for Gabriel's shaking his head;
+the inquiries did signify something.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+Behind the buildings of a country farm-house, a young lady could be
+seen, tying up the wild flowers of the meadow in a large bouquet; a
+ball of blue yarn rolled in her lap whenever she added a fresh handful
+of flowers. A youth was running about in the deep grass before her,
+busily engaged in collecting flowers, placing them in order and
+arranging them according to color for the nosegay-maker. It was evident
+that the youth and young lady were brother and sister from the marked
+family likeness of both countenances, and the rich walking-dress left
+no doubt that they had not blossomed amidst the clover and camomile of
+the soil, even though the horses' heads and the galoon-trimmed hats of
+their attendants had not been visible through a gap between the barns.
+
+"You will never finish your bouquet, Siddy," said the young man,
+incredulously, to the lady, as she awkwardly tried to knot the broken
+thread.
+
+"If the thread were only stronger!" cried the busy maiden; "do knot it
+for me!" But it turned out that the young gentleman was not more expert
+himself.
+
+"Look, Benno, how beautiful the bouquet will be,--that was my idea."
+
+"It is all much too loose," retorted the young man.
+
+"It is good enough for the first time," replied Siddy; "there, see my
+hands, how sweet they smell." She showed the blue points of her little
+fingers, holding them up to his face; and as he good-humoredly sniffed
+at them, she playfully rapped him on the nose. "I have enough of the
+red flowers," she continued, again occupied with the nosegay; "now I
+must have one more circle of white."
+
+"What kind of white?"
+
+"If I did but know their names," replied Siddy, thoughtfully; "I mean
+Marguerites. What do you call these white flowers?" she asked, looking
+back to a countrywoman who stood in a respectful attitude some steps
+behind the busy pair, looking on at their proceedings with a pleased
+smile.
+
+"We call them daisies," said the woman.
+
+"Ah, that's it?" cried Siddy; "cut long stalks, Benno."
+
+"They haven't got long stalks," said Benno, plaintively, carrying her
+what he could pick near at hand. "I will tell you what astonishes me,"
+he began, sitting down by his sister on the grass. "This meadow is full
+of flowers; when it is mowed the grass becomes hay, and one doesn't see
+a thing of all the flowers in the hay."
+
+"Really?" replied Siddy, tieing another thread. "They are probably dried
+up."
+
+Benno shook his head. "Only look at a bundle of hay; you will see few
+of them in it. I think the people gather them beforehand, and sell them
+in the city."
+
+Siddy laughed, and pointing over the green fields, said, "Look around
+you; they are countless, and people only buy the more lasting garden
+flowers; yet these are far prettier. How lovely is the star in the
+flower of our Lady Marguerite." She held the nosegay up to her brother,
+and looked lovingly at her work of art.
+
+"You have completed it after all," said the young man, admiringly; "you
+were always a clever girl, Siddy, and I am so sorry that you are going
+away from us," he added, feelingly.
+
+His sister gazed earnestly at him. "Are you, really? And will you always
+think kindly of me, my brother? You are the only one here from whom I
+find it hard to part, Benno. We are like two orphan children sitting in
+the snow of a cold winter's night."
+
+She who thus spoke was Princess Sidonie, and the sun was shining warm
+on the blooming meadow before her.
+
+"How do you like my bridegroom?" she asked, after a pause, busily
+winding the blue thread around the finished nosegay.
+
+"He is a handsome man, and was very kind to me," said Benno,
+thoughtfully. "But is he clever?"
+
+Siddy nodded. "I think he is. He writes nice letters. If you like, you
+shall read one."
+
+"I shall be glad to do so," said Benno.
+
+"Do you know," continued Siddy, mysteriously, "that I write to him every
+day! For I think a woman ought to confide everything to her husband,
+great and small, and I wish to accustom him and myself to that. To make
+sure, I write to him under a false address, and my maid takes the
+letters to the post, for I fear my stupid words might otherwise be read
+before they go." She said this with apparent indifference, examining
+her bouquet all the while. "He will hear every little detail of this
+visit to Lady Marguerite, and that it has given you pleasure. Now the
+bouquet is ready," she exclaimed, gaily. "I will fasten a handkerchief
+round it; we will take it in the carriage, and I will set it on my
+writing-table."
+
+Benno laughed: "It looks like a club. You can lend it this evening to
+the savages in the ballet."
+
+"It is better than the flat things which one can't even put in water,"
+replied the sister, jumping up; "come along, we will carry it to the
+pump."
+
+They hastened to the farmyard, followed by the peasant woman. Benno
+took a bucket and carried it to the pump.
+
+"Let me pump," cried Siddy. She seized the handle and tried to move it,
+but did not succeed; only a few drops ran into the pitcher.
+
+Benno objected. "You are too clumsy," he said, "let me try it." He now
+took hold of the wooden handle, and Siddy held the bucket. He pumped
+vigorously, and the water spurted out over the bucket, upon the hands
+and dress of the Princess. She made a slight exclamation, let the
+bucket drop, and then both burst out laughing.
+
+"You have made a nice mess of me, you naughty wretch," cried Siddy.
+"Oh, it makes no difference, mother," she added, to console the woman,
+who ran up terrified, clasping her hands. "Now, Benno, an idea has
+occurred to me: I will put on a gown of our dame Marguerite, and you a
+smock-frock of her husband, and when our cousin comes he will not know
+us, and we will surprise him."
+
+"If all only turns out well," rejoined Benno, doubtfully.
+
+"No one sees us," urged Siddy. "Good mother," she said, coaxingly, to
+the country-woman, "come into your room, and help us to dress."
+
+The young Prince and Princess took the woman by the hand and led her
+into the house. Benno laid his coat down in the hall, and looked
+doubtfully at the smock-frock, which was brought to him by a stout
+maid, who assisted him in putting it on. The elegant peasant lad seated
+himself patiently on a bench, while waiting for his companion, and
+employed his leisure in turning a grinding-stone and inquisitively
+holding the tips of his fingers close to it. Whilst he was making this
+experiment, he received a slight blow on his back, and with
+astonishment beheld, standing behind him, a little peasant maid, in
+blue petticoat and black jacket, and the usual cap of the country on
+her head.
+
+"How do you like my appearance?" asked Siddy, crossing her arms.
+
+"Charming," exclaimed Benno. "I had no idea that I had such a pretty
+sister."
+
+Siddy made a rustic curtsy. "Where have you kept your eyes, you foolish
+boy? Now we must help in the household. What work can you give your new
+servants, Mother Marguerite?"
+
+The woman simpered. "There is the fodder for the cows to be steeped in
+hot water," she said.
+
+"No more water, we have had enough of that. Come, Benno, we will set
+the table in the garden under the fruit-trees, and then carry out the
+curds and cream."
+
+They went into the room, and brought out a small bench placing it on
+the grass-plot, under an apple-tree; then they hurried back for the
+plates and spoons. The woman and the maid carried out the table with a
+large bowl of milk, and some rye bread. Siddy tripped about nimbly,
+laid the tablecloth, and carefully smoothing it out, placed the colored
+earthenware upon it.
+
+"Look!" whispered Benno, pointing with a troubled air to the worn
+pewter spoons.
+
+"We can wash them, and dry them with green leaves," advised his sister.
+
+They ran with the spoons to the pump, and rubbed them hard with leaves,
+but they could not polish them.
+
+"That's just their way," said Benno, consolingly; "it is part of a
+country picnic."
+
+The table was laid, and Siddy brought forward some stools and wiped
+them with her cambric handkerchief.
+
+"You are the Hereditary Prince," said Siddy, "so you must sit on the
+bench, and we others on each side of you. The rye bread must be
+crumbled, but every one can do that for themselves. There is no sugar,
+but that doesn't matter."
+
+They sat waiting before the milk bowl, beating time with the spoons. A
+little green apple fell plump into the milk, and spattered it about.
+Both burst out laughing, jumped up, and collected the unripe apples and
+plums from the grass, peering across the hedge at a path which led
+through the woods to the town.
+
+"There he comes," cried Benno; "hide yourself!"
+
+A horseman rode up at a gallop. It was a young officer. He threw
+himself off his snorting horse, fastened it to a post, and leaped over
+the hedge. But he stopped amazed, for he was greeted with a crossfire
+of unripe apples and plums from each side of the hedge. He quickly
+collected some of the green shot, and defended himself as well as he
+could against the assault. The little peasants sprang forth, and Benno
+cried out, "You have kept us waiting a long time."
+
+Siddy made him a curtsy, saying, "Prince, the butter-milk is served."
+
+Prince Victor looked with evident admiration at the young peasant.
+"Ah!" he said, good-humoredly, "now one sees how small the feet are
+before which one does homage. All right, children. But first of all I
+must have satisfaction for the attack."
+
+So saying, he knotted his pocket-handkerchief; the brother and sister
+laughed, and said, beseechingly, "Be good, cousin, we will not do it
+again." "Oh, dear Ogre, pardon and compassion!" implored Siddy, raising
+the corner of her apron to her eyes.
+
+"Nothing of the kind," cried Victor; "I shall no doubt be arrested
+again on your account, and shall therefore punish you beforehand." He
+chased them round the table.
+
+"This is disagreeable, cousin," cried Siddy; "let us leave off this
+nonsense, and come to the table. I will help you. There is the cream.
+Everything must be fairly distributed when Victor is present."
+
+Victor examined the table. "It is all very nice, but there is no
+sugar."
+
+"There was none to be had," cried the brother and sister, in chorus.
+
+Victor put his hand into his pocket, and placed a silver box on the
+table. "What would become of you without me? Here is the sugar." He
+again dipped into his pocket, and brought out a leathern flask with a
+small drinking-glass. "Here is another important thing, the cognac."
+
+"What for?" asked Siddy.
+
+"To drink, most gracious cousin. If you will put this cold mess into
+your interior without cognac, I shall not venture to oppose you; but I
+advise you, Benno, as a man, to take care of your health."
+
+Both held their spoons with an air of embarrassment.
+
+"Is that necessary?" asked Benno, distrustfully.
+
+"It is a pacifier, as our doctor says," declared Victor; "it calms and
+quells the rebel substances into quiet submission. If you refuse the
+cognac, it is just like on the way to hell. The path is easy at the
+beginning, but what follows is chaos. At all events, you would be
+spared the ballet to-day. Is that clear to you?"
+
+"It is very clear," cried Siddy, "that you are as usual making sport of
+us. Give him a rap on his fingers, Benno."
+
+Benno tapped his hand with the spoon. Victor sprang up and parried it,
+in fencing posture, with his spoon; and the brother and sister chased
+their cousin merrily about among the trees.
+
+They were disturbed by a hasty tread, and a lackey made his appearance
+for a moment at the garden-gate. "His most Serene Highness is riding
+this way," he called out.
+
+All three stood still; the spoons fell into the grass. "We are
+betrayed," cried Siddy, turning pale. "Away with you, Victor."
+
+"I am an officer, and dare not run away," he replied, shrugging his
+shoulders. He seized his sword and hastily fastened it.
+
+"You must take it all upon yourself," Benno, exclaimed the sister.
+
+"I would willingly do it," replied he, timidly, "but I have never had
+any skill in invention."
+
+The Prince dismounted in front of the farm-house, helped by his
+equerry. The lackey hastened forward to open the doors, and the Prince
+approached slowly like a threatening storm. He entered the garden, and
+his sharp eyes rested on the embarrassed Prince and Princess, who
+stiffy made their obeisances to him.
+
+An ironical smile curled his lip when he saw the dishes on the table.
+"Who has arranged this country carnival?" he asked. All were silent.
+"Answer, Benno," he said, turning sharply to the young gentleman in the
+blue smock-frock.
+
+"Siddy and I wished to have a little pastime in the meadow before she
+left our country. I spilled some water over my sister, and she was
+obliged to change her dress."
+
+"Where is your lady in waiting, Sidonie?" he asked his daughter.
+
+"I begged her to go to her aunt who lives in this neighborhood, and to
+return in an hour," replied the Princess Sidonie.
+
+"She has not done right in forgetting, my commands, in order to gratify
+yours; and she neglected her duty in exposing the Princess to such an
+adventure. It's not fitting that princesses should enter village houses
+alone, and disguise themselves."
+
+The Princess compressed her lips. "My gracious lord and father, forgive
+me. I was not alone. I had the best protector with me that a princess
+of our house could have, that was your Highness's son, my brother."
+
+The Prince drew back a few steps, and looked silently into her face;
+and, so strong was the expression of anger and displeasure in his
+countenance, that the Princess turned pale and cast down her eyes.
+
+"Has the Princess appointed Prince Victor to be her protector in the
+peasant's farm?" he inquired. "Has Lieutenant"--he mentioned his family
+name--"permission to leave the garrison?"
+
+"I came here on horseback without permission," replied Victor, with
+military composure.
+
+"Report yourself under arrest," commanded the Prince.
+
+Victor saluted and turned away. He unfastened his horse, and, nodding
+behind the Prince's back, over the hedge, to his cousin, he trotted
+back to the town.
+
+"Make haste and cease this mummery," ordered the Prince. "The Princess
+will drive home in a carriage with the Hereditary Prince."
+
+The young people made their obeisances and left the garden.
+
+"I had a foreboding of this misfortune," said the Hereditary Prince, to
+his sister, when in the carriage. "Poor Siddy!"
+
+"I would rather be the maid of this countrywoman, and wear wooden
+shoes, than continue to bear this life of slavery," cried the angry
+Princess.
+
+"But do not make any remarks at dinner," begged Benno.
+
+The nosegay of wild flowers stood in the bucket, and was torn to pieces
+in the evening by the countrywoman's cow.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+The day following, the Lord High Steward, von Ottenburg, an old
+gentleman with white hair, entered the apartment of the Prince.
+
+"I have requested your Excellence to call on me," began the Prince,
+politely, "because I wish to obtain your advice in a family matter. The
+day approaches when the Princess will leave us. Have you seen my
+daughter to-day?" he said, interrupting himself.
+
+"I come from her Highness," answered the old gentleman respectfully.
+
+The Prince smiled. "Yesterday I had to speak seriously to her. The
+children took into their heads to act an idyl, and I found them in
+peasants' dresses and in high glee. Our dear Siddy had forgotten that
+such sport might expose her to misinterpretation, which she has every
+reason to avoid."
+
+The Lord High Steward bowed in silence.
+
+"But it is not a question of the Princess now. The time has arrived
+when a decision must be made concerning the next few years of the
+Hereditary Prince's life. I have thought of his entering one of the
+large armies, in spite of the consideration due to his delicate health.
+You know that there is only one empire in which this is possible, and
+even there unexpected difficulties have arisen. There are two regiments
+in which one might be certain that the Prince would only have familiar
+intercourse with the officers of high birth. One of these regiments is
+commanded by Colonel Kobell, who quitted our service some years ago. It
+is not fitting to make the Prince his subordinate. In the other
+regiment an unexpected occurrence has taken place within this last
+month. A certain Mr. Miller has been introduced into it, contrary to
+the wishes of the corps of officers. Thus the Hereditary Prince is
+debarred from belonging to the only army which he could enter."
+
+"Allow me to ask whether this second hindrance might not be removed?"
+said the Lord High Steward.
+
+"They would gladly do anything to please us," replied the Prince, "but
+they do not know how to manage it; for the appointment of this
+unaristocratic lieutenant was made for political reasons."
+
+"Could the difficulty not be removed by giving rank to the family of
+the lieutenant?" suggested the Lord High Steward.
+
+"That has been cautiously tried, but the father would not consent; and,
+indeed, your Excellence, the objection would remain the same. You know
+that I am not a purist in these things, but daily intercourse with such
+a person would be unpleasant to the Hereditary Prince. Whether Miller,
+or Von Miller, the dust of the flour would remain."
+
+There was a pause. At last the Lord High Steward began: "The advantages
+of a military career are certainly undeniable for young princes who
+have no means or chance of finding other active employment; but is this
+course advisable for a future sovereign who needs a preparation for a
+great career? I remember that in former times your Highness did not
+take a favorable view of a soldier's life at Court."
+
+"I do not deny that," replied the Prince. "I must acknowledge to you
+that I still take this view. The usual condition of society is not now
+that of war, but of peace. The necessary training of a young prince for
+war undoubtedly develops some manly parts of his character, but
+delivers him helplessly into the hands of his officials in all
+essential matters. In confidence, your Excellence, a pleasure in
+epaulets lasts just during the time of peace; but in case of a great
+war, where real military talent is requisite, the military
+dilettanteism of princes, with few exceptions, turns out to be quite
+useless. All this is undeniable. Unfortunately it is at present no
+longer fashion that determines a military career for young princes, it
+is a serious necessity. The times in which we live are such that a
+strict connection between the Court and armies is inevitable; and what
+at one time was thought to be unnecessary is now the support of
+princes."
+
+"I do not see that the position of reigning princes is strengthened by
+their being bad generals," answered the Lord High Steward. "Indeed, I
+venture to assert that many of the difficulties which now occur between
+princes and their people arise from the fact that our princes occupy
+themselves too much with the shoeing of horses, the training of
+recruits, and with the prejudices and ill conduct of garrisons, and
+have too little of the firmness, noble pride, and princely feeling
+which can only be developed by practice in worthier affairs."
+
+The Prince smiled. "Your Excellence, then, is of the opinion that the
+Hereditary Prince should visit the University, for there is no other
+mode of training when he leaves this Court. The Prince is weak and
+easily led, and the dangers he would incur on this path are still
+greater than intercourse with officers of inferior grade."
+
+"It is true," interposed the Lord High Steward, "that during the next
+few years the Hereditary Prince may find certain drawbacks in the
+advantages of an academy; but with respect to personal intercourse,
+there are sons of ancient families who are worthy of the honor of
+associating with the Prince. It would perhaps be easier there for the
+young gentleman to keep clear of unsuitable society than in a
+regiment."
+
+"It is not this danger which I fear for him," replied the Prince; "but
+the unpractical theories and disturbing ideas which are there
+promulgated."
+
+"Yet we should learn what one has to battle against," rejoined the Lord
+High Steward. "Does your Highness think, from the varied experience
+which you have attained through a highly intellectual life, that an
+acquaintance with these ideas is so dangerous?"
+
+"Does a person go to hell in order to become pious?" asked the Prince,
+good-humoredly.
+
+"A great poet having ventured this," replied the Lord High Steward,
+"wrote his divine poem; and my gracious lord, who himself has always
+preserved a warm interest in learned pursuits, considers our
+Universities at best a species of mild purgatory. If an infernal flame
+should cling to the soil of our illustrious Prince after his return
+from this place, it will soon be eradicated by the high interests of
+his princely calling."
+
+"Yes," assented the Prince, with lofty expression, "there is a
+consecration in the office of princes which fits even a weak man for
+the great interests which he has to grapple with through his life. But,
+your Excellence, it is difficult to observe without contemptuous pity
+the sentimental fools' paradise of the new rulers, and hear the old
+phrases of love and confidence believed in and spoken of by princely
+mouths. Undoubtedly these popular ebullitions are transitory, and many
+of us older ones have once indulged in dreams, and endeavoured to plant
+green moss where it has been withered by the sun; but the fearful
+dangers of the present times make such wavering more dangerous to the
+new rulers, and false steps in the beginning of a reign may often ruin
+the position of the ruler afterwards."
+
+The Lord High Steward replied apologetically: "It is perhaps well to be
+wiser than others, but to be more moderate is at no period
+advantageous. Still a little poetry and youthful enthusiasm may be
+allowed to our princes; and if I therefore venture to recommend a visit
+to the University for his Highness, the Hereditary Prince, it is with
+the satisfactory feeling that in doing so I express your Highness's own
+opinion."
+
+The Prince looked sharply at the Lord High Steward, and a sudden cloud
+passed over his brow. "How should you know what my secret thoughts
+are?"
+
+"That would be quite a vain attempt with your Highness," replied the
+old courtier, gently, "and it would little benefit an old servant to
+spy into the secret thoughts of his master. But your Highness has
+always hitherto given the Hereditary Prince tutors and attendants who
+were not military. This leads every one to a conclusion respecting your
+Highness's wishes."
+
+"You are right, as always," said the Prince, appeased. "It is a
+pleasure to me to find that your views coincide with mine. For it is a
+serious decision that I have to make; it robs me for a long time of the
+company of my dear Benno."
+
+The Lord High Steward showed his sympathy by a silent bow. "Your
+Highness's decision will undoubtedly produce great changes, for it will
+at the same time remove all the young people from the Court."
+
+"All?" asked the Prince, surprised. "The Hereditary Prince will depart
+shortly after the marriage of his sister, but Prince Victor will still
+remain here."
+
+"Then I humbly beg your pardon," rejoined the Lord High Steward. "I had
+taken for granted that the departure of the Hereditary Prince would be
+followed by the entrance of Prince Victor into a foreign army."
+
+"What makes you think that?" said the Prince, with surprise. "I have
+not the least intention of providing for Prince Victor abroad; he may
+practice the art of riding in our squadrons."
+
+"In this case his position at Court would be changed," said the Lord
+High Steward, thoughtfully; "on occasions he would rank and act as the
+representative member of this illustrious house."
+
+"What are you thinking of, my Lord High Steward?" replied the Prince,
+captiously.
+
+"Will your Highness graciously explain how that can be avoided? The
+rights of blood can never be given or taken away. The Prince is the
+nearest relative of the Royal Family, and the rules of the Court
+require a corresponding position, and the Court will insist that he be
+not deprived of it."
+
+"The Court!" exclaimed the Prince, contemptuously; "You might as well
+say at once, the Lord High Steward."
+
+"The Lord High Steward is appointed by your Highness to watch over the
+regulations of the Court," replied the old gentleman, with solemnity.
+"But as my personal opinion, I venture to suggest that service in this
+capital and the proximity of the Court are not advantageous for the
+active and energetic spirit of Prince Victor; it may be foreseen that
+your Highness will often have occasion to be dissatisfied with him, and
+that the loss of your Highness's favour, considering the lively and
+popular character of the Prince, may give occasion to continual scandal
+and malicious talk. Therefore I venture to assume that the
+considerations which hinder the military career of the Hereditary
+Prince in a foreign army will have no weight as regards Prince Victor."
+
+The Prince looked down moodily. At last he began, as if convinced: "I
+thank you for having called my attention to these considerations: I
+will come to a decision after mature deliberation. Your Excellence may
+be satisfied that I know how to value the warm sympathy you take in me
+and mine."
+
+The Lord High Steward bowed and left the room; the furrows deepened in
+the face of the Prince as he looked after the old man.
+
+The consequence of this conversation was that the Hereditary Prince was
+sent to the University, where the event did not create so much
+commotion as was expected at Court.
+
+The Rector, one evening, came to Professor Werner, and after greeting
+Ilse, began, "You set a good example to your country when you came to
+us; a communication has been made from head-quarters to the University
+that in the next term your Hereditary Prince will begin his studies
+with us." Then, turning to the Professor, he continued: "It is expected
+that we shall all do what we can, compatibly with the duties of our
+office, to advance the education of the young Prince. I have to convey
+to you the wishes of his Highness that you should lecture to the
+Hereditary Prince in his own room."
+
+"I shall give no Prince's lectures," replied the Professor; "my branch
+of learning is too comprehensive for that; it cannot be put into a
+nutshell."
+
+"Perhaps you could lecture on some popular theme," advised the prudent
+Rector. "It appears to me that greater value attaches to the beneficial
+effect of your personal intercourse with the Prince than to the
+contents of your lectures."
+
+"If it is agreeable to the Prince to be in our house, and he will
+accommodate himself to our habits, I shall show him every respectful
+and fitting attention. But in my course of instruction I shall make no
+change on his account. If he attends my lectures as a student, well and
+good; but I will never give any private lessons in his room or in that
+of any one else."
+
+"Will not your refusal be regarded as an incivility?" rejoined the
+Rector.
+
+"It is possible," replied the Professor, "and I must acknowledge to you
+that in this case it is particularly painful to me. But no personal
+consideration shall induce me to give up a principle. I have formerly
+experienced how humiliating it is to have to fashion and fit a serious
+subject to the comprehension of a boy who has not the necessary
+preparatory knowledge and the power of grasping and taking a real
+interest in it. I shall never do it again. But I will do all that I can
+for this young gentleman, although I must confess that my studies lie
+far from the high road of princely education. If they wish to learn of
+us what may be profitable for their future life, they must do so in a
+regular way, and they should come to us with the preparatory knowledge
+which alone will make it possible for them to derive advantage from
+learning. I have here and there observed from a distance how sad is the
+education of most of them. The shallow and superficial nature of their
+training, which renders it almost impossible for them to take a warm
+interest is any domain of intellectual labor, is also of little value
+for their future life, and gives them little capacity for their duties
+as rulers. We participate in inflicting this injury, if we impart a
+mere varnish of learned culture to youths who have not in truth as much
+knowledge as a freshman. And that is usually the object. It is not
+necessary to visit the University in order to become a useful man; but
+if one enters this difficult path--and I think undoubtedly that every
+future ruler ought to do so--it should be in a way that will secure
+valuable results. I do not condemn the teachers who think otherwise,"
+concluded the Professor, "there are undoubtedly subjects in which a
+succinct presentation of some of the leading principles is possible and
+profitable. But the study of ancient learning is not of this class,
+and, therefore, I beg to be excused from giving private lessons to the
+young Prince."
+
+The Rector expressed his approbation of these principles.
+
+"My poor Hereditary Prince," cried Ilse, pityingly, when the Rector
+left.
+
+"My poor manuscript," retorted the Professor, laughing.
+
+"But you have made an exception in favor of your wife," rejoined Ilse.
+
+"Here the instruction is only the guide to the elucidation of our whole
+life," replied the Professor. "Under these circumstances, you will be
+able to contemplate only from a distance the future Sovereign of
+Bielstein as belonging to you; and I shall also lose certain faint
+hopes which I had built upon the passing acquaintance with his father.
+For it is undoubtedly probable that my refusal will be considered as an
+act of capricious pride."
+
+The Professor might have been at ease upon this point. Care would be
+taken that his views should not reach the destination for which they
+were intended. The sharpness would be blunted, the point broken, for
+indeed in the higher regions such an idea would be considered so
+monstrous that it could only be put down to the account of a reprobate
+man; and this was by no means the case with the Professor.
+
+The Rector was cautious enough to give plausible reasons for Werner's
+refusal, and at the Prince's palace it was determined that the
+Hereditary Prince should attend the Professor's lectures. From a
+syllabus of Werner's lectures a course was selected; it was on the
+inspection and explanation of casts of antique sculpture, during which
+the Hereditary Prince and his attendant had at least not to sit among a
+crowd of colored caps, but could wander about in princely isolation.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+Again did the ripened ears of corn wave gently under the autumn breeze,
+when Ilse went with her husband to the home of her childhood to visit
+her father. A year abounding in happiness, but not free from pain, had
+passed. Her own life also had been a little history in which she had
+experienced peace and strife, progress and weakness. Her pale cheeks
+showed that she had encountered suffering, and her thoughtful
+countenance portrayed the serious thoughts that had passed through her
+mind; but when she glanced at the weather-beaten church, and fixed her
+eyes on the dark roof of her father's house, everything was forgotten,
+and she felt again as a child in the peaceful home which now appeared
+so refreshing and comforting. The farm-people thronged round the gate;
+and her sisters rushed to meet her, and her father, towering above all,
+helped her and her husband out of the carriage. She clasped every one
+of them in a silent embrace; but when little Franz sprang up to her,
+she pressed him to her heart, and, losing all her composure, burst into
+tears, and the father was obliged to take the child from her arms.
+
+They could only pay a short visit, for his professional duties
+compelled the Professor to return home soon; and though he had proposed
+to Ilse to remain longer with her father, she declined doing so.
+
+The father looked searchingly at the manner and countenance of his
+daughter, and made the Professor tell him repeatedly how rapidly and
+easily she had made herself at home in the city. Meanwhile Ilse flew
+through the farm-yard and garden out into the fields, again gambolling
+with her little sisters, who would not let go her hand.
+
+"You are all grown," she exclaimed, "but my curly head most of all--he
+will be like his father. You will be a country gentleman, Franz."
+
+"No, a Professor," answered the boy.
+
+"Ah, you poor child!" said Ilse.
+
+The laborers left their work and hastened to meet her, and there were
+many kind greetings and questions: the head carter stopped his horses,
+and the grey mare tossed her head. "She knows you well," said the man,
+cracking his whip gaily.
+
+Ilse went into the village, to pay a tribute of respect to the dead and
+to visit the living. It was with difficulty that she could get away
+from the invalid Benz, and when at last she did so, he called for his
+slate, and with trembling hands gave expression to his joy in poetry.
+She then made a careful inspection of the farm-yard. Accompanied by a
+train of maids, she walked between the rows of cattle, in spite of her
+fashionable dress, like the legendary Frau Berchta, who scattered
+blessings throughout the stable and house. She stopped before every
+horned head; the cows raised their mouths to her, lowing; and there was
+some important news to tell of each. The maids proudly showed her the
+young calves, and begged her to give names to the grown-up heifers--for
+the proprietor had desired that these young ones should be named by
+Ilse--and she gave them the distinguished names of Kalypso and
+Xantippe. All was familiar, all as formerly, and yet at every step
+there was something new to eye and ear.
+
+Clara showed her household accounts: the young girl had kept them
+admirably. The praises which were bestowed upon her by the house-keeper
+and by the dairy maid, in confidential conversations, gave Ilse great
+pleasure, and she said: "Now, I am quite satisfied you can do without
+me here."
+
+Towards evening the Professor sought his wife, who had been absent some
+hours. He heard the noise of the children by the brook, and guessed
+where Ilse was. When he turned round the rock by the cave he saw her
+sitting in the shadow, her eyes turned to her father's house. He called
+her name, and stretched out his arms towards her; she flew to his
+bosom, and said, softly: "I know that my home is in your heart; bear
+with me, when old recollections crowd upon my mind and move me deeply."
+
+At night, when her father conducted the Professor to his bedroom, still
+conversing with him upon business and politics, Ilse sent her sister
+Clara to bed, and seated herself in her chair. When her father came in
+to fetch his candle from the table, he found Ilse again in her old
+place, waiting to bid him good night, while she handed him the candle
+stick. He placed it on the table, and, walking up and down the room, as
+he had done of yore, began, "You are paler and more serious than you
+used to be. Will that pass?"
+
+"I hope it will," replied his daughter. After a time she continued,
+"They believe and think very differently in the city from what we do,
+father."
+
+The father nodded. "That was the reason I was anxious about you."
+
+"And it is impossible for me to free myself from painful thoughts,"
+said Ilse, softly.
+
+"Poor child," said the father, "it passes my powers to help you. For
+us, in the country, it is easy to believe in a father's care, when one
+goes across the fields and sees the growth of everything. But let a
+simple countryman say a word in confidence to you. Moderation and
+self-renunciation are necessary in all earthly concerns. We are not
+better in the country and more sensible because we care little for what
+is mysterious to man. We have no time for subtle inquiries, and if a
+thought alarms us, our work helps to dispel our doubts. But thoughts
+return frequently. I have had days--and have still--when my brains have
+been on the rack, although I knew that no good would come of it;
+therefore I now endeavor to keep such thoughts away. This is prudence,
+but it is not courage. You are placed in a sphere in which hearing and
+reflecting are unavoidable. You must struggle through it, Ilse. But do
+not forget two things: on difficult subjects men take very different
+points of view, and on that account they have, from the most ancient
+times, hated and slaughtered each other like cannibals, merely because
+each considered himself in the right. This should be a warning to us.
+There is only one thing effectual against doubts: to do your duty and
+concern yourself with what lies in your daily path; for the rest, do
+not despair because one thinks differently from another. Are you sure
+of your husband's love?"
+
+"Yes," replied Ilse.
+
+"And have you a thorough respect for his conduct to yourself and
+others?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then all is well," said the father; "for a tree is known by its
+fruits. As regards the rest, do not worry about the present or the
+future. Give me the candle, and go to your husband. Good night, Frau
+Professor."
+
+
+
+                         [END OF FIRST VOLUME.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                  THE
+
+                            LOST MANUSCRIPT
+
+
+                                A NOVEL
+
+
+                                   BY
+                             GUSTAV FREYTAG
+
+
+
+        Authorized Translation from the Sixteenth German Edition
+                        _COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME_
+
+
+
+                       SECOND, UNALTERED EDITION
+
+
+
+                                PART II
+
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+                        "_A noble human life does not end on earth
+                        with death. It continues in the minds and
+                        the deeds of friends, as well as in the
+                        thoughts and the activity of the nation._"
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+
+
+                                CHICAGO
+                   THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY
+               LONDON: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUEBNER & CO.
+                                  1898
+
+
+
+_No one who has written a book has of himself become what he is; every
+one stands on the shoulders of his predecessor; all that was produced
+before his time has helped to form his life and soul. Again, what he
+has produced, has in some sort formed other men, and thus his soul has
+passed to later times. In this way the contents of books form one great
+soul-empire on earth, and all who now write, live and nourish
+themselves on the souls of the past generations. From this point of
+view the soul of mankind is an immeasurable unity, which comprises
+every one who ever thus lived and worked, as well as those who breathe
+and produce new works at present. The soul, which past generations felt
+as their own, has been and is daily transmigrating into others. What is
+written to-day may to-morrow become the possession of thousands of
+strangers. Those who have long ago ceased to exist in the body continue
+to live in new forms here on earthy and daily revive in thousands of
+others._
+
+                                              Gustav Freytag.
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS:
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XXI.
+
+The Butter Machine
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXII.
+
+Three Councils
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+Philopena
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+Among the Students
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XXV.
+
+Chaos
+
+                             CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+The Drama
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+The Sovereign
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+In the Pavilion
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+Two New Guests
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XXX.
+
+Vexations
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+Hummel's Triumph
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXXII.
+A Chapter from Tacitus
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+C�sarean Insanity in the Hummel Family
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+Old Acquaintances
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+In the Princess's Tower
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+Ilse's Flight
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+The Lord High Steward
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+The Magister's Exit
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+Before the Crisis
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XL.
+
+On the Road to the Rock
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XLI.
+
+In the Cave
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XLII.
+
+Tobias Bachhuber
+
+
+
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER XXI_.
+
+                           THE BUTTER MACHINE
+
+
+In the large hall of the University a select audience was assembled;
+state and municipal dignitaries, and men of learning, and students,
+were constantly streaming backwards and forwards through the doors of
+the great entrance. The wives of the Professors sat above in the
+gallery: Ilse was in the place of honor, in the middle of the front
+row, with Laura. This was a great day for Ilse, for the splendor of the
+highest academical dignity rested upon her husband's head. Felix Werner
+had been chosen Rector Magnificus, and was now about to enter upon his
+office.
+
+The instructors of the University walked in a long procession into the
+hall; before them went the beadles in their antique dress of office,
+carrying great maces in their hands; the gentlemen themselves walked in
+the order of their several faculties. Theology began the procession,
+and Philosophy closed it; the latter, both from the number and
+importance of its members, was the strongest division; altogether they
+formed a stately company; by the side of some nonentities went men of
+the highest repute, of whom the country might well be proud; and it was
+a pleasure to every one to see so much learning assembled. These great
+minds, however, did not make a very dignified appearance in the
+procession: they kept their ranks badly; many looked as if they were
+thinking more of their books than of the impression made by their
+appearance on the public; one had come behind time--it was Raschke--he
+entered carelessly, running behind the tutors and nodding familiarly to
+his acquaintances. The procession was received by the Academical Choir
+with a Latin song, solemn, but unintelligible. The Professors ranged
+themselves on their seats; the ex-Rector mounted the platform, which
+was decorated with flowers; he first made a learned speech upon the
+benefits which medical science had long ago derived from the wandering
+tribes of Arabia, and then read a report of the academical events of
+the last year. The discourse was fine; the proceedings were imposing;
+the distinguished guests from the city and government sat immovable;
+the Professors listened attentively, the students rattled only a little
+at the door; and if at times from the high ceiling of the great hall
+the spirit of weariness waved its great bat-wings before the eyes of
+the audience, as is inevitable at academical ceremonies, Ilse to-day
+did not remark it. When the Rector had ended his discourse, with a
+graceful wave of his hand and some complimentary words, he invited his
+successor to join him on the platform. Felix did so. The Rector took
+off his cap and the golden chain and mantle, which looked like an old
+regal mantle, and put them all upon his successor, with warm wishes and
+expressions of esteem. Laura whispered to her neighbor: "If our
+Professor had a sword at his side he would look like one of the
+Electors in the pictures up there." Ilse assented joyfully; it was
+precisely what she thought. Now Werner came forward with his scarlet
+mantle and chain. The beadles crossed their maces on both sides of the
+chair, and the new Rector majestically began an address to the
+Professors and students, in which he begged for their good will and
+promised good government. Again the Academical Choir began a Latin song
+of triumph, and the procession of University instructors retired into
+the neighboring room, where the Professors surrounded their Rector,
+shaking hands with him, and the beadles packed the scarlet mantle and
+chain in a chest, to be preserved for future occasions. Ilse, too,
+received the congratulations of the ladies, who placed themselves on
+the gallery steps and greeted her gaily as "Magnifica."
+
+As soon as she got home. Ilse threw her arms round her husband's neck,
+and told him how stately he looked in his grand attire. "What the gipsy
+said," she exclaimed, "has been fulfilled to-day: the man whom I love
+has worn a prince's dress; I greet you, my Prince and Lord."
+
+It was on the afternoon of this great day that the visit of the
+Hereditary Prince was announced. Ilse once more looked into every
+corner of her bright dwelling, that she might experience no disgrace as
+mistress of the house, and made her husband instruct her as to the
+right form of speaking to an illustrious prince; "In order that I may
+know what to say if he addresses me. I am anxious, Felix, for it is a
+great thing to meet the future Sovereign of one's country."
+
+As the clock struck, the carriage drove up. Gabriel, in his best coat,
+conducted the gentlemen to the Rector's room. Meanwhile Ilse walked up
+and down, burning with expectation. It was not long before her door was
+opened, and two gentlemen entered, introduced by her husband. The
+Prince was of a slight figure, medium height, black hair, with small
+face and features; over the delicate lips there was a dark line, which
+showed the beginning of a mustache; his carriage was awkward and
+embarrassed, and he gave one the impression of being a delicate and
+weak man. He seemed confused when he approached Ilse, and he told her,
+in so low a tone that she could scarcely make out his words, how much
+he rejoiced in meeting with a countrywoman.
+
+His shy manner gave Ilse courage; she was touched by the countenance of
+her young Prince, and accosted him: "We in our country cling to our
+home, and as I now have the opportunity of making your Highness's
+acquaintance, I venture to say that I remember your Highness. You were
+quite a young gentleman, and I was only a half-grown girl when I first
+saw you in your father's capital. Your Highness was sitting on a very
+small horse; whilst my father and I made our obeisances, the horse
+stood still and would not go on. You looked kindly at me, just as you
+do now. I had a couple of roses in my hand, and, as you were our young
+Prince, I offered them to you. But you shook your head and could not
+take them, as you had to hold the bridle, and I believe you were a
+little timid about your horse: but the horse poked its head into the
+flowers. Then a tall man in uniform rode up and held the horse, and we
+retreated. You see I remember it all, for it was an important thing for
+a country girl to remember.--But will your Highness do me the honor to
+take a seat?"
+
+The Prince's attendant, the Chamberlain von Weidegg, addressed Ilse
+courteously; he was a man of middle age, tall, of good address, and not
+bad looking; he took the lead in the conversation, and spoke pleasantly
+of the hills and woods of their common country; it was an agreeable
+interchange of words on every day subjects. The Prince was silent,
+played with his eyeglass, and looked cautiously and wonderingly at the
+stately wife of the Professor, who was sitting opposite him. At last
+the Chamberlain inquired at what hour Ilse received strangers, and
+expressed a wish that the Prince and he might be allowed occasionally
+to visit her. "On account of the few persons with whom my illustrious
+Prince can associate in this city, a house in which he may expect not
+to be treated as a stranger will be particularly acceptable to him."
+This was very pleasant and courteous, and when the Professor had
+accompanied the strangers to the entrance, he said to his wife, "They
+appear to be very amiable."
+
+"I had imagined my Prince to be quite different, Felix, bold and
+haughty; but he has not even a star on his breast."
+
+"It must have been in his pocket," said the Professor, consolingly.
+
+"But he looks like a good youth," concluded Ilse, "and, as he is my
+countryman, he shall be well treated."
+
+"That is right," replied the Professor, laughing.
+
+In a short time the Hereditary Prince and his Chamberlain found out
+that this good treatment was very pleasant. The Chamberlain proved
+himself an agreeable man; he had travelled much, had experience of all
+sorts, had seen much, and read a good deal on various subjects; he
+collected autographs, had no vices and no bad habits. During a long
+sojourn in Rome he had been intimate with old acquaintances of the
+Professor, he had wandered through the ruins of Pompeii, and showed a
+warm interest in the details of old Roman houses. Besides this he
+understood how to listen and how to ask questions, and could, with
+decorum, tell doubtful anecdotes of people of note. His conversation
+was agreeable to the Professor, he was welcome at Ilse's tea-table, and
+liked by her guests. It seemed also to give him pleasure to converse
+with the learned men; he visited the Doctor and examined his old
+wood-cuts; he treated Professor Raschke with considerate politeness,
+and, with his Prince, accompanied the Philosopher on a fine winter
+evening to his distant dwelling, and during the walk Raschke imparted
+to them very interesting observations upon plants.
+
+It cannot be said that the Hereditary Prince was much at home among the
+Professors; he listened with toleration to their conversation, as
+became an academical student, and said the right thing at the right
+time; but he showed by an impatient jerk of his lorgnette that he would
+much have preferred any other kind of entertainment.
+
+Ilse was not pleased when he fidgeted with his glass, for she wished
+that he should conduct himself with dignity among other men, and she
+seemed to feel as if the gentlemen would reproach her because the
+Prince took no real interest in serious subjects. As mistress of the
+house, therefore, she was very attentive to him; she ventured to advise
+him not to drink his tea too strong, and prepared it for him herself.
+The Prince was pleased with this, and enjoyed sitting next to her or
+watching her perform her duties at the table as hostess. It was only
+with her that he ever lost his cautious reserve; he talked to her of
+the remarkable things he had seen in the town, and when he had nothing
+to say, he assisted her in her duties; he placed the cream jug before
+her, and always passed the sugar-bowl when he thought that Ilse wanted
+it.
+
+One evening as the Prince was sitting silently by Ilse's side, and the
+gentlemen present were engaged in passing indignant judgment on the
+arbitrary management of the Vatican Library, Ilse proposed to him to
+look over a work that her husband had bought, containing good portraits
+of famous men of learning and artists. They went to examine it by a
+lamp in the next room, and the Prince looked at the portraits with
+languid interest. "Of many of them I only know," began Ilse, "what my
+husband has told me; I have not read their books, and of the beautiful
+things they have painted and composed, I know but little."
+
+"That is just my case," replied the Prince, honestly, "it is only about
+the musicians that I know anything."
+
+"Yet it is a pleasure to look at their portraits," continued Ilse; "one
+judges from them what the character and merits of these men may have
+been, and when one asks any person who knows more, one finds one's
+views sometimes confirmed and sometimes erroneous. That seems to make
+us like the men and become intimate with them, and we seek for
+opportunities of making acquaintance with their works of art and
+learning. I long to know more about them. But when one has read about a
+great man, and after a time sees his picture, then his face appears
+like that of a dear friend."
+
+"Do you like to read?" asked the Prince, looking up.
+
+"I am beginning to like it," replied Ilse; "but unlearned heads do not
+take in serious things at once, especially when they excite earnest
+thoughts."
+
+"I do not like to read," replied the Prince; "at least in the way in
+which it is pressed upon me. It is tedious to me, for I have never
+learned anything thoroughly, and I know nothing well."
+
+He said this with bitterness. Ilse was shocked at the confession. "Your
+Highness will find that that will change now,--you will have such
+excellent opportunities here."
+
+"Yes," replied the Prince, "from morning till evening, and one thing
+after another. I am always glad when the lectures are over."
+
+Ilse regarded the young Prince sympathizingly. "That is very
+unfortunate for your Highness. Is there nothing that you would care to
+know or possess? no collection of minerals or butterflies, or of rare
+books or engravings, like the Doctor over there has? In this way one
+can find enjoyment the whole year, and while collecting these valuable
+things one learns a great deal."
+
+"If I wish to have anything of the kind I can have any quantity of them
+collected," replied the Prince; "but to what end? I have already so
+many things about me. If I were to express a wish to collect minerals,
+everybody about me would be in a state of excitement, and it would
+either be forbidden or I should have a whole collection brought into
+the house."
+
+"That indeed is of no use," said Ilse, pityingly; "the only pleasure is
+in looking after each individual thing one's self; no man can know all,
+but everyone should have something which he understands thoroughly. If
+I may venture to compare my insignificant life with the important one
+that awaits your Highness, I should like to tell you my own experience.
+When my good mother was laid on her deathbed I was quite a young girl,
+but I wished to take her place in the household. I found, however, that
+I was quite at a loss what to do. I did not even know whether the
+people were industrious or lazy; I did not understand how to do
+anything, and if it was done badly I could not teach them better. One
+evening I sat discouraged and angry with myself, and I believe I wept.
+Then my good father said, 'You should not undertake so much at once,
+you should first learn some one thing accurately.' Then he took me into
+the dairy. Does your Highness know what that is."
+
+"Not exactly," replied the Prince.
+
+She then explained to him the whole day's work of the dairy. "This was
+the result: I took it in hand myself, learned the work thoroughly, and
+thus was able to judge the maids. I learned everything about the cows
+accurately, and which was the best kind for us, and why; for every
+species does not thrive everywhere. I soon became ambitious of making
+good butter and cheese. I obtained information from those who were
+skilled in it, and sometimes read a book about it. Then I conferred
+with my father about improvements, and just when I came away we were
+thinking of getting a new machine instead of our large wooden churn. It
+is now set up; it is said to be very good, and to make good butter; but
+I have not seen it. Does your Highness know anything about churning?"
+
+"No," replied the Prince.
+
+Ilse described the process to him as far as she could, and continued:
+"When my father made up his books at midsummer, it was my pride that
+the dairy produce should every year increase in amount; but I was
+provoked that my father laughed at my small profits; he valued the cows
+for other reasons." Ilse gave a slight explanation on this point, and
+then continued: "From this time, your Highness, I felt quite at home in
+the world. Now, if I go to a factory, I find myself looking upon it as
+another kind of dairy, and when state revenues and government
+expenditure are talked of, I compare them with our house and farming
+accounts. But it is very silly in me to talk to your Highness about
+butter and cheese."
+
+The Prince looked frankly into her eyes. "Ah kind lady," he said,
+"yours has been a happy life; I have never been so fortunate as to be
+able to enjoy quietly what I like. From morning to evening I have been
+in leading-strings, and passed on from one person to another. When, as
+a child, I went into the garden, the governess or tutor was always
+there, and when I ran or jumped about on the grass, I was to do it in a
+becoming manner; once, when I wished to turn a somersault, like other
+boys, it excited the utmost dismay, on account of its indecorum. Every
+moment it was said, 'that was not befitting a Prince,' or, 'this is not
+the proper time.' When I came out of my room I was stared at by
+strangers, and had always to take notice of them and bow to them; I was
+told with whom I was or was not to shake hands, and who I was or was
+not to accost. Every day passed thus. One was always to use empty forms
+of speech in three languages, and every day the uppermost thought was,
+whether one had conducted one's self well. Once I and my sister wished
+to lay out a little garden; immediately the head gardener was called to
+dig and plant for us, thus all our pleasure was spoilt. Then we wished
+to act a little play, and had thought of a nice piece; again we were
+told that it was foolish trash, and that we must learn a play by heart,
+with French modes of speech, in which the children always exclaimed how
+dearly they loved papa and mamma, whilst we had no mother. In this
+training for mere show my childhood passed. I assure you I know nothing
+thoroughly, and though I remain here at study forever, I feel that it
+can do me no good, and I shall enter the world a very useless being."
+
+"Ah, that is sad," exclaimed Ilse, with deep sympathy; "but I entreat
+of your Highness not to lose courage. It is impossible that the life
+here, among so many men of the highest capacity and worth, should not
+be beneficial to you."
+
+The Prince shook his head.
+
+"Think what a future lies before your Highness," continued Ilse. "Ah,
+you have every reason to be brave and confident. Your office is the
+highest on earth. We others work, and are happy if we can only preserve
+one human being from evil; but you will have the welfare and lives of
+thousands in your power. What you do for schools and learning through
+the selection of good or bad teachers, and your decisions as to peace
+or war, may ruin or make the whole country happy. When I think of this
+exalted vocation, I feel a deep respect for you, and I would implore
+you on my knees to do your utmost to make yourself a worthy prince.
+Therefore, the best advice for you is, that you should be willing to
+learn even what is wearisome to you. For the rest, have confidence in
+the future: you will yet have pleasure in life, and a feeling of worth
+and capacity."
+
+The Prince was silent; for every allusion to his future position as
+Sovereign was forbidden at Court, and even less than others was the
+heir to the throne allowed to indulge in such a thought or cherish such
+a hope.
+
+"I hear lectures enough," said the Prince, at last; "but I wish that I
+might have been brought up by a country gentleman, as you have been."
+
+They returned to the gentlemen, and the Prince paid much attention to
+their conversation during the rest of the evening. When he went away,
+Ilse said to her husband: "There is one who has what would make
+thousands happy, yet he is unhappy, for they have bound up his honest
+heart in leather like an automaton. Oh, be kind to him, Felix; open
+your soul to him, that he may gain some of your confidence and power."
+
+Her husband kissed her, and said, "That will be easier for you to do
+than for me. But he has himself suggested the right thing; three years
+with your father would be the best training for him and his country."
+
+At breakfast the following morning the Chamberlain took the newspapers
+from the hand of the lackey; the Prince was sitting silently at table,
+playing with a tea-spoon, and watching a fly which was disrespectfully
+trying to make its way from the edge of the cream-jug into the princely
+cream. As the written instructions imposed upon the Chamberlain the
+duty of guarding the Prince from all dangerous reading--by that was
+meant all discontented newspapers and improper novels--he thought it
+best to give him the inoffensive "Daily Gazette," whilst he himself
+took up a loyal paper, in order to examine the court news and accounts
+of promotions and the bestowal of decorations. He had long finished his
+reading, but the Prince was still engaged with his shellfish and
+oysters. The Chamberlain observed with regret how little interest
+his young Highness took in the course of the world. An acquaintance
+of the Chamberlain had been promoted to be master of the horse,
+another announced his betrothal, and he did not fail to draw the
+attention of the Prince to this news; but the latter only smiled in
+his absent-minded way.
+
+The Chamberlain then entered upon his next duty: he reflected upon the
+programme of the day. As it was incumbent upon him to make the Prince
+acquainted with the novelties in art and literature in the city, he
+waited impatiently till the Prince had done with the "Daily Gazette,"
+in order to obtain information from it on these points. At last the
+Prince interrupted his cogitations by saying to him, "Mention is made
+here of a permanent exhibition of agricultural implements; what is
+there to see in such exhibitions?"
+
+The Chamberlain tried to explain, and was delighted to make a proposal
+to visit this exhibition. The Prince expressed his assent by a slight
+nod, looked at his watch, and went up to his room to go through his
+three hours' morning course: one for the science of politics, one for
+mythology and �sthetics, and one for tactics and strategy; then he
+accompanied his attendant to the exhibition.
+
+Even the Chamberlain was bored as he followed his young master through
+the great rooms, in which stood countless inexplicable machines. The
+agent of the manufacturers began his explanations; the Chamberlain
+asked such questions as would show a fitting love of knowledge; the
+Prince went patiently from one unintelligible object to another, and
+heard something of plows, scarifiers and rollers. At last, at the great
+threshing-machine, the expounder had to call a workman to bring a
+step-ladder, by ascending which they would be enabled to admire the
+internal mechanism. The Prince left this labor to the Chamberlain;
+played meanwhile with his lorgnette, and asked the agent, in the low
+tone in which he was wont to speak:
+
+"Have you any butter-machines?"
+
+"Yes," was the reply, "several different kinds."
+
+The Prince then quietly turned his attention to the great
+threshing-machine, and learnt to value the beautiful arrangement by
+which it threw out the straw into an invisible hayloft. At last they
+came to the row of machines on which he had set his heart--the modern
+successors of the old time-honored churn. There they stood beside each
+other--the little hand-chum, by which, if the assertion of the guide
+was to be trusted, a housewife could make her butter in an incredibly
+short time; and the great machine, which could work sufficient to
+supply the needs of the largest dairy. It was described to the Prince
+how the cream, when poured in, was put in quick circular motion, and
+how, as a result of this, the butter was separated from the milk. He
+had already heard this much more agreeably told; but it gave him
+pleasure to see the advantages of the modern invention, and he became
+thoroughly convinced of its superiority. To the astonishment of his
+attendant he asked intelligent questions, and took hold of the crooked
+handle, endeavoring to turn it a little, but withdrew his hand with an
+embarrassed smile. At last he inquired about the price. The Chamberlain
+had rejoiced at the laudable desire of knowledge which his young master
+had shown, but was much humiliated when the Prince turned to him and
+said, in French, "What do you think? I have a mind to buy this little
+machine." "For the sake of turning the handle," thought the
+Chamberlain, with an inward shrug of the shoulders.
+
+"How is it that your Highness takes an especial interest in this?"
+
+"It pleases me," replied the Prince, "and one ought to buy something of
+the man."
+
+The pretty machine was bought, carried to the Prince's apartments, and
+placed in his study. Towards evening, whilst the Prince was taking his
+music lessons, the machine had to appear in the report which the
+Chamberlain prepared for the reigning Prince. The writer extolled the
+interest which his Prince had shown in the useful implements of German
+agriculture. But seldom had it been so difficult to the poor
+Chamberlain to perform the duty of a true courtier, whom it behooves to
+suppress his own personal feelings and to gloss over agreeably what is
+annoying; for, in truth, he felt deep humiliation at the silly trifling
+of his Prince. But at Court one does not thoroughly learn all the
+intricacies of a princely mind, however much one may study them. Even
+to the wisest chamberlain there remain certain inscrutable depths.
+
+The Hereditary Prince covered the butter-machine with a silk cloth, and
+when he was alone, approached it carefully, turned the handle, and
+examined the mechanism.
+
+Some days after, when the valet had undressed the Prince, placed his
+slippers for him, and made his bow for the night, the Prince, contrary
+to custom, remained sitting in his chair, and stopped the departure of
+the servant by thus accosting him: "Kr�ger, you must do me a favor."
+
+"What are your Highness's commands?"
+
+"Obtain for me to-morrow morning early, without any one seeing you, a
+large jug of milk; but do not put the milk in the account."
+
+"Does your Highness wish it boiled or not boiled?"
+
+This was a difficult question. The Prince twirled his moustache
+silently and looked helplessly at Kr�ger.
+
+"I hardly know," he began at last. "I should like to try churning a
+little."
+
+Kr�ger was sharp enough to understand that this wish was connected with
+the new machine, and, long accustomed not to be astonished at anything
+in people of rank, he replied: "Then the machine must first be scalded,
+otherwise the butter will taste bad; and, besides, I must order the
+cream; so your Highness must wait patiently for a day."
+
+"I leave everything to you," said the Prince, well pleased; "take the
+machine, and be careful that no one hears anything about it."
+
+When Kr�ger, two days after, entered the Prince's room, early in the
+morning, he found his young master already dressed. Proud of his
+confidential position, he informed him, "The Chamberlain is still
+asleep, and all is ready."
+
+The Prince hastened on tip-toes into the room. A large can of cream was
+poured into the machine; full of expectation, the Prince seated himself
+by the table and said; "I will turn it myself." He began to turn while
+Kr�ger looked on.
+
+"But it must be done with regularity, your Highness," admonished
+Kr�ger.
+
+The Prince could not resist opening the cover and looking in. "It will
+not come, Kr�ger," he said, despondingly.
+
+"Cheer up, your Highness," said Kr�ger, "and graciously permit me to go
+on with the turning."
+
+After that Kr�ger turned while the Prince looked on.
+
+"It comes," cried the Prince, delighted, as he looked in.
+
+"Yes, it's made," replied Kr�ger. "But now comes other work. The butter
+must be taken out and washed, if it please your Highness?"
+
+"No," said the Prince, doubtfully, "that will never do. But the machine
+is good; bring me a spoon and some white bread, I will fish out what I
+can; one must learn to help one's self."
+
+The Prince plunged his spoon into the mess, took out some of the
+half-made butter, and spread it on his white bread with a feeling of
+satisfaction that was quite new to him. "It tastes a little sour,
+Kr�ger," he said.
+
+"Of course," replied Kr�ger; "the butter-milk is still in it."
+
+"It does not matter," said the Prince, consoling himself. "Kr�ger, I
+did not think there was so much to be attended to in churning."
+
+"Yes, all things are difficult in the beginning," replied Kr�ger,
+cheerfully.
+
+"It is all right," concluded the Prince, graciously; "take the machine
+out, and clean it properly."
+
+After that the churn stood peacefully under the silk cloth; the Prince
+in his lonely hours, would sometimes stand before it, and revolve in
+his mind how he could deliver it into the hands of the person for whom
+he had secretly intended it.
+
+The stars themselves appeared to favor him; for the revolving earth had
+rolled into the last sign of the zodiac, which guides the souls of our
+people with magic power to the most charming festival of the year.
+Christmas was near, and the ladies of the street near the Park moved
+about in secret activity. Intercourse with intimate acquaintances was
+interrupted, books that had been begun were laid aside, theatres and
+concert-rooms were empty; the tones of the piano-forte and of new
+bravuras rarely sounded to the rattling of carriage-wheels in the
+street; inward struggles were hushed, and bad neighbors little thought
+of. From morning to evening, little fingers were occupied with beads,
+wools, silk, paint-brush and palette; the day lengthened into
+eight-and-forty hours; even during the minutes of unquiet morning
+slumber, obliging crickets and other invisible spirits worked in the
+pay of the ladies. The nearer the festival approached, the more
+numerous were the secrets: in every closet were concealed things which
+no one was to see; from all sides, packages were brought into the
+house, that were forbidden to be touched. But whilst the other inmates
+of the house secretly slipped past one another, the lady of the house
+was the quiet ruler in the invisible realm of presents, and the
+confidant and clever adviser of all. She was never weary; she thought
+and arranged for every one; the world had become to her like a great
+cupboard with numerous compartments, from which she was incessantly
+fetching things, and in which she was always cautiously stowing
+covered packages. When on Christmas Eve the spangled stars shine, the
+wax-lights drip, and the golden balls glimmer and glisten on the
+Christmas tree, it is then that the fancies of the children celebrate
+their great day; but the poetic vision of the housewife and her
+daughters, for months before, have filled the room with joyful
+splendor.
+
+If one may regard the judgment of Mr. Hummel as valid, it is rarely
+that the enthusiasm of Christmas week is fully developed in the men who
+have the honor of being the representatives of the family. "Believe me,
+Gabriel," said Mr. Hummel, one December evening, as he was watching
+some children who were passing by with toys, "at this time man loses
+his importance; he is nothing but a money-chest, in which the key is
+turning from morning till evening; the best wives become barefaced and
+foolish, all family confidence vanishes, everybody avoids everybody
+else, the order of the house is disturbed, one's night's rest is
+unscrupulously destroyed; when it is meal time, one's wife runs to the
+market, and when the lamps ought to be extinguished, one's daughter
+begins a new piece of embroidery. When at last the long bother is over,
+then one must be delighted at a pair of new slippers which are an inch
+too short, and for which later on one has to pay a long shoemaker's
+bill, and to be pleased with a cigar case of beads, which is flat and
+hard, like a dried flounder. Finally, after one has shot out golden
+sparks like a rocket, the ladies expect one to show one's good feeling
+by making them a present. Now, I have trained mine differently."
+
+"But I have seen you yourself," rejoined Gabriel, "With a package and
+bandbox under your arm."
+
+"That is true," replied Mr. Hummel, "a bandbox is inevitable. But,
+Gabriel, I have given up all worry, for that was the most humiliating
+part of the affair. I go every year to the same milliner now, and say,
+'a hood for Madame Hummel;' and the person says, 'You shall be served,
+Mr. Hummel;' and she places the structure ready made before me. Besides
+this, I go every year to the same shop and say, 'I want a dress for my
+daughter Laura, at such and such a price, more or less,' and a dress
+well worth its value is placed before me. In confidence I must tell you
+I have a suspicion that the women have seen through my trick, and
+select the things themselves beforehand, for now they are always very
+much to their taste, whilst in former years they were often objected
+to. They have the trouble now of selecting the finery, and in the
+evening they practice all sorts of dissembling artifices, unfold and
+examine the goods, pretend to be astonished, and praise my excellent
+taste. This is my only satisfaction in the whole childish amusement.
+But it is a poor one, Gabriel."
+
+Such was the discordant strain in which the master of the house
+indulged; but the dwellers in Park Street cared little for it, and like
+opinions will always be regarded with like indifference. So much
+sweeter is it to care for others than for one's self, and so much
+happier to give pleasure than to receive it.
+
+For Ilse also the festival this year was to be a great event; she
+collected like a bee, and not only for the dear ones at home; in the
+city also she had nestled many great and little children in her heart,
+from the five young Raschke's down to the little barefooted creatures
+with the soup-pot. The sofa-corners assumed a mysterious appearance
+whenever her husband, or Laura, or the Doctor entered unexpectedly.
+
+When the Chamberlain, some time before the holidays, deemed it becoming
+for his Prince to pay a visit to the new Rector, the gentlemen found
+Ilse and Laura busily at work, and the parlor of the Rector's wife was
+changed into a great market stall. On a long table stood little
+Christmas trees, and full sacks were leaning against the legs of the
+table; the ladies were working with yard-measures and scissors,
+dividing great hanks of wool, and unrolling pieces of linen, like
+shop-keepers. When Ilse met the gentlemen and made excuses for the
+state of her room, the Chamberlain entreated her not to disturb
+herself. "We will remain here only if we are allowed to make ourselves
+useful." The Prince also said, "I beg permission to help, if you have
+anything for me to do."
+
+"That is very kind," replied Ilse, "there is still much to be done
+before evening. Permit me, your Highness, to give you your work. Pray
+take the bag of nuts; and you, my Lord Chamberlain, have the goodness
+to take the apples in charge; you, Felix, will have the gingerbread. I
+beg the gentlemen to make little heaps, to each twenty nuts, six
+apples, and a package of gingerbread."
+
+The gentlemen went zealously to work. The Prince counted the nuts
+conscientiously, and was provoked that they would always roll together
+again, but discovered that he could keep the portions apart by means of
+strips of paper folded together. The gentlemen laughed, and related how
+once, in a foreign country, they had introduced this German Christmas
+amusement. The perfume of the apples and of the fir-trees filled the
+room, and gave a festive feeling to the souls of all present.
+
+"May we ask the kind lady who are to benefit by our exertions?" said
+the Chamberlain; "I hold here an uncommonly large apple, which I hope
+may fall to the lot of one of your favorites. At all events, we are
+doing what will give the poor children pleasure."
+
+"Finally it will," replied Ilse; "but that is not all; we shall give
+this to their mothers, for the greatest pleasure of a mother is to give
+presents herself to her children, to adorn the Christmas tree and to
+work what the little ones need. This pleasure we shall not deprive them
+of, and therefore we send them the stuff unmade. The Christmas trees,
+too, they prefer buying themselves, each according to their tastes;
+those you see here are only for children who have no mothers. These
+trees will be adorned by us. Everything for the festive evening will be
+carried out of the house today, so that the people may receive them in
+good time, and arrange them for themselves."
+
+The Prince looked at the Chamberlain. "Will you allow us," he began,
+hesitatingly, "to contribute something towards these presents."
+
+"Very willingly," replied Ilse, joyfully. "If your Highness wishes it,
+our servant can look after it immediately. He understands it, and is
+trustworthy."
+
+"I should like to go with him myself," said the Prince. The Chamberlain
+listened with astonishment to this idea of his young master; but, as it
+was laudable and not against instructions, he only smiled respectfully.
+Gabriel was called. The Prince, much pleased, took his hat. "What shall
+we buy?" he asked eagerly.
+
+"We want some little tapers," replied Ilse, "besides some
+playthings;--for the boys, leaden soldiers; and for the girls, little
+kitchen things; but all must be strong and cheap." Gabriel followed the
+Prince out of the house with a large basket.
+
+"You heard what the lady ordered," said the Prince, in the street, to
+Gabriel. "First the wax-tapers; you do the selecting and I will pay. We
+are to buy them cheap; see that we are not cheated."
+
+"We need not fear that, your Highness," replied Gabriel; "and if we
+should pay a few pennies too much, other children will benefit by it."
+
+At the end of an hour the Prince returned. Gabriel had a heavily-laden
+basket, while the Prince also carried under his arms bundles of toys
+and large paper bags full of sweetmeats. When the young gentleman
+entered thus loaded, with color in his cheeks and as happy as a child,
+he looked so good and pleasing that all were delighted with him. He
+unpacked his treasures before the Professor's wife, and emptied the
+contents of the paper bags on the table.
+
+His embarrassment had disappeared: he played with childish pleasure
+with the pretty things, showed the others the artistic work in the
+marchpane plums, begged of Laura to keep a candy knight-templar for
+herself, and moved about and arranged everything so gracefully and
+actively on the table that all looked at him with admiration and joined
+in his childish jokes. When the ladies began to adorn the Christmas
+trees, the Prince declared he would help them. He placed himself before
+the saucer with white of egg, and was shown the way to lay it upon the
+fruits and then roll them in gold and silver foil. Ilse arranged as a
+prize for the gentleman who worked best and did most, a large
+gingerbread lady with a hooped petticoat and glass eyes; and a
+praiseworthy contest arose among the gentlemen to produce the best
+things. The Professor and the Chamberlain knew how to employ their old
+skill; but the Prince as a novice worked somewhat carelessly--there
+remained some bare spots, and in others the gold foil bulged out. He
+was discontented with himself, but Ilse cheered him, saying, "But your
+Highness must be more sparing with the gold, otherwise we shall not
+have enough." Finally, the Chamberlain obtained the lady in the hooped
+dress, and the Prince, as an extra reward for his activity, a babe in
+swaddling-clothes which looked on the world with two glassy bead eyes.
+
+Out of doors in the Christmas market, little children were standing
+round the fir-trees and Christmas shops, looking hopefully and
+longingly at the treasures there. And in Ilse's room the great children
+were sitting at the table, playful and happy. Here there were no
+cautious admonitions, and the Prince painted the outlines of a face
+with the white of egg on the palm of his hand, and gilded it with a
+gold-foil.
+
+When the Hereditary Prince rose to go, the Professor asked, "May I
+venture to inquire where your Highness intends to pass Christmas Eve?"
+
+"We remain here," answered the Prince.
+
+"As some remarkable musical performances are in prospect," added the
+Chamberlain, "his princely Highness has denied himself the pleasure of
+having the Prince with him at this festival; we are, therefore, to pass
+a quiet Christmas here."
+
+"We do not venture to invite you," continued the Professor; "but in
+case your Highness should not pass this evening in other society, it
+will be a great pleasure if you would do so with us."
+
+Ilse looked thankfully at her husband, and the Prince this time did not
+leave it to the Chamberlain to answer, but eagerly accepted the
+invitation. As he walked with his attendant through the crowded
+streets, he began, cautiously, "But we must contribute something to the
+Christmas table."
+
+"I had just thought of that," replied the Chamberlain; "but if your
+Highness honors those worthy people with your company that evening, I
+am not sure how your Highness's father will approve of a contribution
+to the Christmas tree from my gracious Prince."
+
+"I do not wish it to be any of those eternal brooches and ear-rings
+from the court jeweler's cases," cried the Prince, with unwonted
+energy; "it should be some trifle; best of all, something as a joke."
+
+"That is my view," assented the Chamberlain; "but it is advisable to
+leave the decision to his Grace, your father."
+
+"Then I had rather remain at home," replied the Prince, bitterly. "I
+will not enter with some stupid present in my hand. Can it not be
+managed that the visit be without any ceremony, just as the invitation
+was?"
+
+The Chamberlain shrugged his shoulders. "A few days afterwards the
+whole city will know that your Highness has shown Professor Werner this
+unusual honor. Without doubt the occurrence will be reported to the
+palace by persons who have no business to do so. Your Highness knows
+better than I do how your father will receive such an account, coming
+to him first from a stranger."
+
+The Prince's pleasure was spoilt. "Write, then, to my father," he
+cried, angrily; "but represent the invitation just as it was given, and
+express yourself as opposed to any conventional present from the court:
+it would only wound this family."
+
+The Chamberlain rejoiced in the tact of his young master, and promised
+to write the letter as he desired. This appeased the Prince, and after
+a time he began: "It has just occurred to me, Weidegg, what we should
+give. As the Professor's wife comes from the country, I will present
+her with the machine which I lately bought, as a case for pretty
+_bonbons_ or something of that kind, that I will put in it."
+
+"Now he wishes to get rid of the useless plaything," thought the
+Chamberlain. "That is impossible," he replied, aloud: "Your Highness is
+not quite sure whether the lady would take the joke as it is intended.
+It would not do to give a present which might give rise to
+misinterpretation. Your Highness should on no account venture upon such
+a thing. Even if the amiable lady herself did not object, it would be
+much discussed in her circle. Your Highness's joke might be easily
+considered as an ironical allusion to country manners, which
+undoubtedly become the lady well, but might here and there occasion a
+slight smile."
+
+The Prince's heart froze within him; he was furious with the
+Chamberlain, and, on the other hand, shocked at the thought of wounding
+Ilse. The poetry of the festival was entirely spoilt for him. He went
+silently to his apartment.
+
+The answer to the Chamberlain's letter was to the effect that the
+Prince, in spite of the apparent unsuitability, would not object to an
+incidental visit, and that, if some mark of attention was unavoidable,
+it might be procured from a gardener or confectioner. The Chamberlain,
+therefore, bought a quantity of flowers and sweetmeats, and laid them
+before the Prince. But he looked cold and silently on the gay bright
+colors. Towards evening two lackeys carried the things to the Rector
+with a little note from the Chamberlain, in which, in the name of his
+Most Serene Prince, he begged the accompanying gift might be applied to
+the ornamenting of the Christmas tree. Meanwhile the Prince stood
+gloomily before his butter-machine, and quarrelled bitterly with his
+princely dignity.
+
+When at the proper hour he entered Werner's apartment, the Christmas
+gifts had been distributed and the candles extinguished. Ilse had done
+it purposely. "It is not necessary to let these strangers see what
+delight we take in these presents." The Prince received Ilse's thanks
+for the splendid adornment of her table with reserve, and sat before
+the tea-kettle silent and absent-minded. Ilse thought, "He is sorry
+that he has had no glad Christmas Eve: the poorest child is merry with
+his Christmas tree, and he sits as if shut out from the pleasures of
+this happy time." She made a sign to Laura, and said to the Prince:
+"Would your Highness like to see our Christmas tree? The lights had to
+be extinguished lest they should burn down, but if your Highness likes
+we will light it up again in all its splendor, and it would be very
+kind of your Highness to help us."
+
+This was a welcome proposal to the Prince, and he went with the ladies
+into the festive room. There he offered to take the staff, at the end
+of which a wax-taper was fastened, in order to reach the highest lights
+of the mighty tree. Whilst he was thus busily working at the tree his
+heart became lighter, and he looked with interest at the presents which
+were lying under the tree.
+
+"Now will your Highness have the kindness to go out of the room," said
+Ilse, "and when I ring it will signify to you and Mr. von Weidegg that
+your Highness is wanted."
+
+The Prince hastened out; the bell rang. When the gentlemen entered they
+found two small tables laid out; on them small lighted trees, and under
+each a large dish of pastry, made after the fashion of their own
+country. "This is to be a remembrance of our home," said Ilse, "and on
+the trees are the apples and nuts which you have gilded: those with the
+red spots are your Highness's work. Here is a respectful gift sent from
+the farm of my dear father. I beg the gentlemen to eat this smoked
+goose's breast with a good appetite; we are not a little proud of this
+dish. But here, my gracious Prince, there is, as a keepsake from me, a
+small model of our churn; for this is at what I served my
+apprenticeship as a child." On the Prince's seat stood this useful
+instrument, made of march-pane. "On the bottom of it, your Highness, I
+have written my motto of long ago. May the gentlemen accept my good
+intentions!"
+
+She said this so joyously, and offered her hand to the Chamberlain so
+kindly, that all thoughts of his dignity were forgotten, and he shook
+her hand right honestly. The Prince stood before his machine, and
+thought: "Now is the moment, or never." He read below the simple words,
+"If a person has devoted himself with honest perseverance to some one
+thing, it will be a blessing to him throughout his whole life." Then,
+without any thought of the threatening consequences of his daring, he
+said: "May I propose an exchange to you? I have bought a small churn;
+it has a large wheel and a small one for turning, and one can churn as
+much as one wants each morning. It would be a great pleasure to me if
+you would accept this."
+
+Ilse thanked him with a bow; and the Prince requested that a servant
+might at once be sent to his apartment for it. Whilst the Chamberlain
+was still reflecting with amazement on the strange coincidence, the
+piece of mechanism was brought into the room. The Prince placed it with
+his own hands upon a corner of the table, explained the internal
+arrangements to the company, and was much delighted when Ilse said she
+had confidence in the invention. He was again the joyous child of the
+other day, gaily drank his glass of wine, and, with charming grace,
+proposed the health of the master and mistress of the house, so that
+the Chamberlain scarcely knew his Telemachus again. On taking leave, he
+himself packed up the marchpane, and carried it home in his pocket.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XXII_.
+
+                            THREE COUNCILS.
+
+
+The year of the Rectorate had so changed the household and the current
+of Ilse's thoughts that she remarked with astonishment to her husband,
+"I feel as if I had just come from school into the bustle of the
+world." Her husband's days were engrossed with distracting business:
+difficult transactions between the University and Government, and
+vexatious occurences among the students, took up a great portion of his
+time.
+
+The evening, also, did not pass as in the first year, when Ilse watched
+the quiet labors of her husband, or listened to his friends; for many
+were occupied by the sessions of the Senate, and others by large
+parties, which, as Rector, he could not avoid. When their friends came
+to tea, the master of the house was often absent.
+
+Ilse had taken her father's lessons to heart; she lived in the present,
+and avoided distracting thoughts. Her husband took pains to keep from
+her anything that could disturb her repose of mind, and the
+intellectual diet which he now gave her did her good. When he again saw
+her in society in all her health and strength, with color in her cheeks
+and a cheerful expression in her countenance, he felt it his duty for
+ever to preserve this soul from the intrusion of conflicting ideas; and
+he was pleased that, by frequent intercourse with various kinds of men,
+and by the light bonds of a genial society, she began to feel at home
+in his circle. It delighted him, too, to find that her ingenuous nature
+was appreciated; and she was not only treated with distinction by the
+men, but was also a favorite with the ladies.
+
+Ilse would not, however, allow her private conclave--as she called the
+hours during which she received her husband's instruction--to be
+disturbed; she adhered to it with rigid strictness; and if a day was
+missed, the lost time had to be made up on the following one. But even
+these lessons took a different course. The Professor now read to her
+small extracts from old writers, who portrayed, in prose and verse, the
+attractive beauty of the life of the ancients; her innocent mind
+entered into the cheerful enjoyment of this strange world, and the
+impressions which she received agreed perfectly with the way in which
+she now regulated her own life. The Professor explained to her some of
+the poems of the Greek anthology and of Theocritus, and a few of the
+Roman lyrics; and, by way of comparison, he read to her the poems of
+the great German who, in a remarkable way, had been able to unite Greek
+beauty with German feeling.
+
+At her reception, Ilse showed all the dignity of her position as the
+Rector's wife; every room was opened; the apartments were decorated and
+brilliantly illuminated; the heads of the University and city, with
+their wives, made their appearance in numbers; and the Prince and his
+Chamberlain did not fail to be present. Laura assisted gracefully in
+doing the honors, and quietly gave directions to the servants; cake and
+wine were passed around; the guests made themselves very agreeable, and
+separated in the highest spirits. The great evening had passed off
+happily; the Doctor and Laura had left; Ilse gave her last injunctions
+to Gabriel, and passed through the rooms once more, with the glad
+feeling that she had done honor to Felix and herself. She came into her
+dressing room, and glanced into the mirror.
+
+"You need not examine yourself critically," said the husband,
+"everything was beautiful; but the most beautiful of all was the
+Rector's wife."
+
+"Damon, my shepherd," replied Ilse, "you are blinded. It is not the
+first time you have said this, but I like to hear it; you may still
+tell it often to me. But Felix," she continued, as she unloosened her
+hair, "there is something inspiring about such a society even where
+people do nothing but talk. One does not carry away much of it, but
+still there is a pleasure in being among them; they are all so
+courteous and endeavor to appear to the best advantage, and each tries
+to please the other."
+
+"They do not all succeed in giving a fair idea of what they are on such
+occasions, least of all we book-worms," replied Felix. "But there is no
+doubt these gatherings give a certain similarity of language and
+manner, and, finally, also of ideas to persons who live in the same
+circle. This is very necessary, for even those who live together often
+differ as much in their thoughts and feelings as if they had been born
+in different centuries. How did you like the Chamberlain?"
+
+Ilse shook her head. "He is the most courteous and lively of all, and
+knows how to say something civil to every one; but one cannot trust
+him, for, as with an eel, one has no hold on him, and can never for a
+moment look into his heart. I prefer our Prince with his stiff manner.
+He talked to me about his sister to-day; she must be very clever and
+charming. To which of your centuries does he belong?"
+
+"To the middle of the last," replied, her husband, laughing; "he is a
+full century earlier than we are, of the period when men were divided
+into two classes--those who were fit to be received at Court, and
+serfs. But if you examine those about us, you will discover even
+greater disparities. There is our Gabriel, who in his prejudices and
+his poetry belongs to an age three centuries earlier than the present.
+His ways of thinking remind one of the time in which the great
+Reformers first educated our people to think. On the other hand, the
+hostile neighbors are, in many points of view, the representatives of
+two opposing tendencies which ran parallel to each other towards the
+end of the last century--in our house, obstinate rationalism; in the
+old people over there, a weak sentimentality."
+
+"And what time do I belong to?" asked Ilse, placing herself before her
+husband.
+
+"You are my dear wife," he exclaimed, trying to draw her towards him.
+
+"I will tell you," continued Ilse, eluding him: "in your opinion, I
+belong to a former age, and once that made me more unhappy than I
+can express. But I no longer care about it. For when I can compel you
+to kiss my hand as often as I desire it"--the Professor was very
+willing--"when I see that it requires no persuasion to induce you to
+kiss me on the lips--it is not necessary that you should try it now,--I
+believe you. Further, when I observe that the learned gentleman is not
+disinclined to hand my slippers to me, and perhaps even my dressing
+gown--I do not wish to give you trouble now, but unhook my ear-rings
+and open the jewel-box,--and when I, besides, observe that you are
+anxious to please me, that at my wish you took the wife of the
+Consistorial Councillor to dinner, whom you could not bear, and that
+you have bought me this beautiful dress, although you understand
+nothing about buying; when I, further, see that Magnificus is quite
+under my sway, that I have the keys of the pantry, and even manage the
+accounts; and, lastly, when I bear in mind that you, good bookworm,
+think me, your wife Ilse, worthy of a little discussion together with
+your Greeks and Romans, and that it is a pleasure to you when I
+understand a little of your learned writings--I come to the conclusion
+that you belong entirely to me, you and your century, and that it is
+quite indifferent to me in what period of the world's history my spirit
+originated. Then when I, the relic of a distant century, pinch your
+ear, as I do now, the great master of the present and future, and his
+philosophizing on the different natures of men, become simply
+ludicrous. Now that I have held this discourse, can you sleep quietly?"
+
+"That would be difficult," replied the Professor, "whilst the learned
+housewife is fluttering about the bed, holding discourses in her
+dressing-gown which are more lengthy than those of a Roman philosopher,
+and whilst she rattles the doors of the cupboards and wanders about the
+room."
+
+"My tyrant requires his coffee early in the morning, so it must be
+given out now, and I cannot sleep if I have not all the keys near me."
+
+"I see nothing will be of any use." said the Professor, "but a serious
+exorcism."
+
+"I must see whether there are any lights burning in the rooms." But
+immediately afterwards she knelt down by the bed, and threw her arms
+round his neck. "Everything is so charming in the world, Felix,"
+exclaimed she; "let us humbly pray that our happiness may last."
+
+Yes, you are happy. Ilse; but, as your father said, you have to thank
+your prudence for it, not your courage.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+When Ilse wrote to her father, to describe how the great evening party
+had passed off, she did not forget to add that her future Sovereign had
+been among the guests, and that she had had much intelligent
+conversation with him. Her father did not appear to attach much value
+to this last communication, for he answered, rather irritated, "If you
+are so influential an adviser, exert yourself to obtain a decision for
+us in regard to the highway. The affair has been before the magistrates
+for ten years; it is a shame that we should be so cut off from all the
+world. The gray has broken his leg. Our estate would be worth ten
+thousand dollars more if the Government were not so dilatory."
+
+Ilse read the letter to her husband, and said, "We can tell the Prince
+about the road; he can arrange it with his father."
+
+Her husband laughed. "I will not undertake this commission: it does not
+appear to me as if the Prince would have great influence with the
+Government."
+
+"We will see about that," replied Ilse, gaily; "at the next opportunity
+I shall speak to him about it."
+
+This opportunity soon occurred. The Consistorial Councillor, who was
+now Theological Dean, had a tea-party. It was a distinguished and
+dignified assembly, but not agreeable to Ilse; she had long mistrusted
+the piety of the Dean, for beneath the gown of the bland gentleman she
+clearly saw a fox's tail peeping out; in the speeches of the Dean's
+wife there was an unpleasant mixture of honey and gall. The rooms were
+small and hot, and the guests seemed bored; but the Hereditary Prince
+and his Chamberlain had promised to come. As he entered, the master of
+the house and some of the guests who were acquainted with the customs
+of the Court endeavored to form a line for his reception; but all their
+attempts were vain, from the heedlessness or obstinacy of most of the
+company. The Prince, led by the Dean, had to make his way through the
+groups up to the mistress of the house. His eyes turned from her sharp
+features and wandered about to where Ilse stood, like a being from
+another planet; she looked quite majestic; her ribbon head-dress sat
+like a coronet on her wavy hair, which in great abundance almost
+surrounded her head. The Prince looked shyly up to her, and could
+scarcely find proper words with which to accost her. When, after a
+short greeting, he again turned to the rest of the company. Ilse was
+displeased; she had expected more attention from their intimacy. She
+did not consider that his position in society was not that of a private
+man, and that he had to fulfill his princely duties before he could go
+about like others. Whilst with inward disgust he did what his position
+required of him, going slowly round, he went first to Ilse's husband,
+then to the other dignitaries; had some presented to him, and asked the
+questions that are considered right in these cases; but he waited
+impatiently for the time when fate would allow him to have a little
+conversation with his countrywoman. But he did his duty bravely; the
+Professor of History expressed his pleasure that some old chronicles of
+his country would be published, and endeavored, half-talking and
+half-teaching, to impress him with their importance. Meanwhile the
+Prince thought that the Rector's wife would, at least, sit at his left
+hand, the Chamberlain having pointed out to him that the Dean's wife
+might be at his right.
+
+The affair was doubtful. The Dean's wife was certainly the hostess, but
+the evening had a certain official University tone about it, and Ilse
+was undoubtedly entitled to precedence among the professors' wives.
+Nevertheless, all question ceased to exist when the fact was considered
+that the Dean, on account of numerous presentations of theological
+works, and many letters of admiring homage, had been made by the
+reigning sovereign, Knight Commander of his order. He had been so
+exalted by this, as the Chamberlain explained, that the difference of
+dignity between the Magnificus and Dean was more than compensated, and
+the Dean's wife had therefore the first place. The Chamberlain
+acknowledged that in reality it was a matter of no consequence how
+people were seated here, for there could be no question of any right of
+rank in this society. But it would be more becoming for the Prince not
+to neglect all distinctions.
+
+At his left, at all events, the Prince hoped to have Ilse. But even
+this hope was frustrated by the artfulness of the Dean's wife. For
+there was amongst the company a Colonel's wife; they were people of old
+family, but recently come to the place. The lady of the house lost no
+time in taking the Colonel's wife up to the Chamberlain, and on
+meeting, it turned out that they had common relations. By this the
+whole arrangement of rank at supper was disturbed. The lady claimed her
+right to be presented. The Chamberlain took her to the Prince, who
+cleverly anticipated the former's intention, and expressed a wish to
+make the lady's acquaintance.
+
+"She allows herself to be presented to a student!" said little Mrs.
+G�nther, astonished.
+
+"That is a breach of social rights, which touches the dignity of
+woman," said Mrs. Struvelius, displeased.
+
+"But she did it very nicely," said Ilse; "her manner with him pleases
+me."
+
+The ladies did not know that the object of their remarks was, in this
+moment of apparent humiliation, enjoying the triumph of a higher
+position. The Prince, the Colonel's wife, and the Chamberlain for a
+short time formed a group, from which the light of the evening
+radiated, all three with the proud consciousness that they were united
+in a bond of fellowship among strangers.
+
+The consequence of this presentation was that the Colonel's wife sat at
+the left of the Prince, and Ilse between two Deans opposite to him. It
+did not make it easier for the Prince to preserve his princely dignity
+when every time he looked up, he saw the eyes and curls of his
+countrywoman opposite to him. The evening passed slowly for him, and it
+was not till the party was breaking up that he had an opportunity of
+speaking to Ilse without restraint.
+
+"Just wait," thought Ilse; "you shall not escape the road."
+
+"Have you heard from your father?" inquired the Prince, a question by
+which he frequently began the conversation.
+
+"My news is not good," replied Ilse; "only think, your Highness, one of
+our horses has broken his leg. It was a grey which we raised ourselves,
+a good gentle creature, which I have often ridden, though my father did
+not much like my doing so. Then I must tell your Highness, the road
+that leads to the great market-town, to which my father every year
+sends his grain, is terribly bad, and the Government does nothing to
+improve it. For ten years the matter has been agitated, but nothing
+comes of it. If your Highness could help to obtain a good road for us,
+I beg of you to do so; it will be a benefit to the whole district."
+
+The Prince looked at her kindly, and said, with embarrassment:
+
+"It is an affair of the Government, I believe my father knows nothing
+of it."
+
+"I am convinced of that," replied Ilse; "the gentlemen of the
+Government have always reasons for doing nothing; they understand how
+to make difficulties, and pretend they have no money."
+
+The Chamberlain approached, and as the conversation had taken an
+uncomfortable political turn, the Prince quickly retreated, bowing and
+smiling, with these words:
+
+"Let us hope for the best."
+
+Ilse, on going home, said to her husband:
+
+"Felix, I spoke to him about the road; he is a good youth, but in
+society he uses only formal speeches."
+
+Fortune would have it that some weeks after, the State Councillor, who
+held the chief administrative office at Rossau, came to the University,
+visited the Chamberlain, and was introduced by him to the Prince. He
+was invited to dinner, and the Prince showed uncommon interest in the
+condition of the district in question; he inquired about the estates in
+the neighborhood and their proprietors; and, at last, when standing
+alone by the window with the Councillor, drinking his coffee, said:
+
+"How is it that there is no good road in the district? Could not you do
+something about it?"
+
+The official duly enumerated the difficulties. At last the Prince
+replied:
+
+"Yes, I know there are plenty of reasons; but I shall be obliged to you
+if you will give yourself the trouble of taking the matter in hand."
+
+Much impressed with these words, the Rossau official returned home. He
+revolved them in his troubled mind for three days, and the more he
+thought of them the more important they seemed; his own future might
+depend upon the result. At last he came to the conclusion that an
+extraordinary exertion was necessary; he therefore went at once to the
+seat of Government and laid the whole case, and a large bundle of dusty
+records concerning the road, before the minister. The minister thanked
+him for his communication, and was also of opinion that this was an
+incident which it would be prudent to make known to his Most Serene
+Highness. When he had concluded his report on state affairs, he
+mentioned that in the district of Rossau complaints had been made of
+the bad condition of the roads, and that a strong desire had been
+expressed for a new road, and the Hereditary Prince had shown a lively
+interest in the matter. The Prince rose hastily from his seat.
+
+"The Hereditary Prince? What does that mean? It is very satisfactory to
+me to find that my son takes an interest in the condition of the
+country," he added. "I will take the affair into consideration."
+
+The same day a letter was written by the Prince himself to the
+Chamberlain, saying:
+
+"How comes the Hereditary Prince to take an interest in the building of
+a new road at Rossau? I desire further information."
+
+The Chamberlain was in great perplexity, and felt his position
+endangered by the secret. At last, placed in a position between father
+and son, he chose the path of frank disclosure to the rising sun, and
+acquainted the Prince with his father's question.
+
+"You see what importance his Serene Highness attaches to the
+communication; the details must be imparted to him."
+
+The Prince was equally confounded.
+
+"It was only a word thrown out casually," he rejoined, with hesitation.
+
+"So much the better," said the Chamberlain; "all that remains to be
+said is, what gave rise to your Highness's wish. It may naturally seem
+strange to the Prince that his subjects or magistrates should apply to
+your Highness instead of to him. This, so far as I know, does not seem
+to have been the case."
+
+"No," replied the Prince, "I heard of it at the house of the Rector. I
+simply asked the Councillor about it when he was here. I wanted to be
+able to give an answer," he added, shrewdly.
+
+The Chamberlain was satisfied, and in his report extolled the Professor
+and Ilse, at whose house it was very pleasant to visit, and he did not
+fail to observe that the Hereditary Prince enjoyed calling there. He
+was rejoiced when, a few days after, a communication was made on
+business by the Cabinet Secretary, and followed by a letter from the
+Sovereign himself, in which he expressed his great satisfaction in the
+conduct of the Hereditary Prince and the Chamberlain.
+
+Ilse was equally rejoiced when her father wrote to her:
+
+"Ilse, are you a witch? An order has been given to begin building the
+road immediately; the surveyor is already here to mark it out."
+
+At dinner Ilse took the letter out of her pocket with great delight,
+saying:
+
+"Read, you incredulous man, and see what our little Prince has been
+able to accomplish; after all we did him injustice. My poor gray
+excited his pity, and he wrote everything to his dear father."
+
+The next time that Ilse met the Hereditary Prince, she began, after the
+first greeting, in a low voice:
+
+"My home owes warm thanks to your Highness, who has had the kindness to
+exert yourself for our road."
+
+"Is it to be built?" asked the Prince, surprised.
+
+"Does not your Highness know it? Your intercession has induced his
+Grace, your father, to have it made."
+
+"My intercession would have had little effect," continued the Prince.
+"No, no," he added, earnestly disowning it. "I did not write to my
+father. It was altogether his own decision."
+
+Ilse remained silent: she could not understand what should prevent the
+son of a Prince from openly laying before his father a request on a
+matter of business, the fulfillment of which would be beneficial to
+many; that he should disown all participation in what he had evidently
+done, appeared to her a quite inappropriate display of modesty.
+
+The last letter from Court had confirmed the Chamberlain in his opinion
+that the intimacy of the Hereditary Prince in the Rector's house was
+not distasteful to his father. He reflected sometimes on the reasons
+for this interest in persons, who were so far removed from the sphere
+of princely notice. He could not understand it. At all events it was
+his duty not to keep the Prince away from their home, and likewise to
+make himself agreeable to the Rector and his wife. This he did
+willingly and honestly, and oftentimes went to the Professor's without
+the Prince; he asked him to recommend books to him, showed great
+deference for his judgment about men, and was guided by the Professor's
+advice in the choice of the Prince's teachers. The energetic dignity
+and proud frank character of the learned man attracted the courtier,
+and Werner became a valuable acquaintance to him. He was also sincerely
+attached to Ilse, and there were times when she too could discover
+something of the worth and depth of heart of the Chamberlain.
+
+But although the Chamberlain possessed all the pliancy of a courtier,
+and knew that the visits to the Rector's house were acceptable both to
+his young master and the latter's father, he showed little complaisance
+for the young Prince's wishes. Indeed, he was inclined to make
+difficulties if the Hereditary Prince, which seldom happened, would
+propose to join Werner's at tea; he went there with him at proper
+intervals, but after the road affair he avoided any greater intimacy
+for the Prince. On the other hand, the Chamberlain endeavored to make
+the Prince at home with the students, and in a way that accorded with
+his rank. Of the different associations which were denoted by colors,
+customs, and statutes, the corps of the Markomanns was then the most
+distinguished. It was the aristocratic club, included many sons of old
+families and some of the best fencers; its members wore their colored
+caps in the haughtiest manner, were much talked of, and not very
+popular. The Chamberlain found a relative of his in this corps, and the
+leaders were found to possess the qualifications necessary to
+appreciate properly the social position of his young master.
+
+Thus the Prince became intimate with the association, he invited the
+students to his apartments, sometimes joined in their lesser drinking
+bouts, and was agreeably introduced by them into the customs of
+academic life. He took fencing lessons, and, in spite of his small
+delicate figure, showed some aptitude for it, and the swing of the
+rapier in his room daily endangered the mirror and chandelier.
+
+Ilse expressed her astonishment to her husband that the Prince, who had
+at first so quickly and easily opened his heart to them, had held back
+so cautiously since the road affair.
+
+"Has he thought me too forward?" she asked, with vexation; "it was said
+with the best intentions. But I find, Felix, it is not with these great
+people as with us. If we once put confidence in people we feel at home
+with them; but they are like the birds that sing a song close to your
+ear, and then at once fly off and seek another resting-place far away."
+
+"The following year they will perhaps come again," replied her husband;
+"any one who tries to domesticate them will be disappointed. If their
+airy path brings them near, you may take pleasure in them; but one
+should not trouble oneself about these triflers."
+
+Nevertheless, in secret Ilse was vexed with the unfaithfulness of her
+little songster.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+"My duty brings me to you to-day," began the Chamberlain, on entering
+the Professor's room. "Among the lectures which are desired for the
+Hereditary Prince is one upon Heraldry. I beg of you to recommend to me
+a teacher who could give him a short course upon the subject. In the
+capital, there was no suitable person, and I confess without blushing
+that my knowledge is much too scanty for me to be able to impart any to
+the Prince."
+
+The Professor reflected.
+
+"Among my colleagues I know no one whom I could recommend. It is
+possible that Magister Knips may have knowledge of that kind. He is
+well informed in all these by-paths of learning; but he has grown
+up in a low condition of life, and his manner is highly obsequious and
+old-fashioned."
+
+This old-fashioned obsequiousness did not appear any hindrance to the
+Chamberlain; and as he himself wished to make use of the opportunity to
+ascertain clearly the meaning of a mysterious figure in his own coat of
+arms, which looked very much like a pitchfork, but which was really a
+Celtic Druid's staff, he replied:
+
+"There need not be many lectures, and I can be present myself."
+
+Magister Knips was called, and was, as usual, at hand, and was
+presented to the Chamberlain. The grotesque figure appeared comical to
+the latter, but not at all objectionable. His modesty was undeniable;
+his obsequiousness could not be greater. If one could put him into a
+tolerable coat, he might, for a temporary object, be allowed to sit at
+the same table with the Hereditary Prince and the Chamberlain. So the
+Chamberlain asked whether Master Knips could undertake to give some
+lectures upon heraldry.
+
+"If the gracious and noble gentleman might be content perchance with
+German and French emblazonry, I believe I may venture to offer him my
+undoubtedly unsatisfactory knowledge. But of English coats of arms and
+figures my knowledge is not extensive, because of lack of opportunity.
+I would, however, endeavor to give some information upon the new
+investigations concerning the Honorable Ordinary."
+
+"That will not be necessary," replied the Chamberlain; and, turning to
+the Professor, he said: "Will you allow me to arrange details with
+Master Knips?"
+
+The Professor left them to transact the business, and the Chamberlain
+continued, more freely:
+
+"I will, trusting to the recommendation of the Rector, endeavor to
+ascertain whether the Hereditary Prince can avail himself of your
+instruction and derive the proper advantages therefrom."
+
+Knips bowed lower and lower, until he almost disappeared into the
+ground; but his head was reverently bent towards the eye of the
+Chamberlain. The latter mentioned a liberal sum as the price of the
+lessons. Knips smiled, and his eyes twinkled.
+
+"I must further request, Master Knips, that you will not object to
+assume a becoming appearance for the intended lectures. A black coat,
+and trousers to match."
+
+"I have them," replied Knips, raising his voice.
+
+"White waistcoat and white cravat," continued the Chamberlain.
+
+"I have those likewise," warbled Knips.
+
+The Chamberlain considered it preferable to ascertain, by his own
+inspection, the capabilities of the candidate in this respect.
+
+"Then I beg of you to make your appearance at the apartments of the
+Hereditary Prince in fitting guise. There we will confer upon details."
+
+Knips appeared the following morning in his state dress, and the
+Chamberlain thought that the man did not look so bad after all. He gave
+him to understand that a learned discussion was not required, but
+rather a rapid survey, and, on his departure, presented to him a bottle
+of perfume, for his white pocket-handkerchief, in order to consecrate
+Knips' atmosphere.
+
+Knips prepared himself for his first lesson. He began by drawing forth
+his paint-box, several complete letter-writers, and a book or two on
+etiquette. He painted several coats of arms, and from the books he
+abstracted some respectful forms of speech, such as the servile
+language of our Government officials have sanctioned in intercourse
+with the great, and learnt them all by heart. At the proper hour he
+presented himself to the Chamberlain, polished and fragrant, like a
+flower whose strength of stem had been extracted by the heat of the
+midday sun. Thus he was brought into the presence of the Prince, and
+almost withered into nothingness as he approached the chair in which he
+was to sit; he began his lecture by drawing out of a small portfolio a
+design of the Prince's ancestral coat of arms and a sketch of the
+Chamberlain's armorial bearings; he laid them before the Prince with
+the deepest reverence, and added his first explanations.
+
+His lecture, to use the Chamberlain's own words, was magnificent; his
+obsequious arabesques which wound themselves into his discourse were
+prolix, it is true, but not disagreeable; they were comical, yet
+well-suited to the scrolls he was lecturing on. He frequently brought
+drawings, and books on heraldry, and engravings from the library for
+inspection, and showed himself more thoroughly informed than was,
+perhaps, necessary. If he chanced to fall into historical discussions,
+which were more interesting to him than his hearers, the Chamberlain
+would simply have to raise his finger, and Knips respectfully resumed
+the proper topic. The gentlemen took more pleasure in his lectures than
+in many of those given by the Magister's patrons. The lessons were
+continued throughout the term, for it was discovered accidentally that
+Knips had a good deal of knowledge of tournaments, tilting, and other
+knightly amusements. He told the Prince about the old festivities of
+his noble house, described the ceremonial accurately, and even knew the
+names of those who had assisted at them. His knowledge appeared
+wonderful to his hearers, though it cost him little trouble to collect
+this information. At the conclusion of the course he was richly
+rewarded, and his hearers regretted that this strange figure, with his
+old-fashioned knowledge, was no longer to lecture before them.
+
+"Look here, mother," cried Knips, entering his room, and taking a small
+roll of money out of his pocket; "that is the largest sum I have ever
+earned."
+
+The mother rubbed her hands. "My blessing upon the gracious gentlemen
+who know how to value my son!"
+
+"To value?" replied Knips, contemptuously. "They know nothing about me
+or my learning, and the less one teaches them the better they are
+pleased. It is a labor for them even to look for what stands at
+everybody's disposal, and what has been put in hundreds of folios is
+new to them. I treated them like little boys, and they did not find it
+out. No, mother, they understand how to value me even less than the
+Professor world here. No one appreciates my knowledge. Yes, there is
+one that does," he murmured to himself, "but he has more pride than the
+Chamberlain. The Chamberlain seems to wish to inform himself about the
+old tilts and masquerades; I will send him my little edition of Rohr as
+a present. There is so little in it that it is good enough for him. I
+bought the book for four groschens; the parchment is still tolerably
+white. I will wash it with sal-ammoniac, and paste his coat of arms
+into it. Who knows what may come of it?"
+
+He cleaned it, and prepared his paints.
+
+"The world is full of tricks, mother. Who would have thought that I
+could have earned anything by this old absurd nonsense of heraldry?" He
+drew and painted at the coat of arms. "I have seldom brought gold into
+the house, and then it was always for underhand traffic that did me no
+honor." Here he broke off. "I will once more put on my livery when I
+take him the book, then put it out of sight."
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+In the district of Rossau the road surveyors put up their stakes, and
+at the University, Magister Knips placed the white pig's-skin binding
+in the hands of his illustrious patron.
+
+Ilse rejoiced that the road to her father's estate would be useful to
+every one, and the professor heard with interest that the man whom he
+had recommended had succeeded well, and he smiled kindly at the
+expressions of gratitude tendered by the Magister. But for the good
+formation of the new road, and the approved dexterity of the little
+man, the happy couple, who in both cases had hit upon the right person,
+were to receive thanks that they did not desire.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XXIII_.
+
+                               PHILOPENA.
+
+
+One evening Ilse had placed the last remaining dainties of the holiday
+season on the table; Laura was rattling an uncracked almond, and asked
+the Doctor whence arose the time-honored custom of Philopena. The
+Doctor doubted the antiquity of the custom and could not explain its
+origin at the moment, but he was evidently perplexed at his uncertainty
+in the matter. Thus, he neglected to request the mutual pledge of the
+double almond. Laura cracked the shell and carelessly laid two almonds
+between him and herself, saying: "There they are."
+
+"Shall we share them?" cried the Doctor, gaily.
+
+"If you like," replied Laura, "giving and taking, as is usually done.
+But it must be only in joke," she added, thinking of her father; "and
+no presents."
+
+Both ate the almonds with the laudable intention of losing the game.
+The consequence was that the affair did not advance. Laura, in the
+course of the following week, handed books, tea-cups, and plates of
+meat to the Doctor. He was dumb as a stick, and never said, "I am
+thinking of it." Had he forgotten the agreement, or was it his usual
+chivalry? But Laura could not remind him of his forgetfulness,
+otherwise she would win the philopena. She again became very angry with
+him.
+
+"The learned gentleman does not hand anything to me," she said, to
+Ilse; "he treats me as if I were a stick."
+
+"It must be unintentional," replied Ilse; "he has forgotten it long
+ago."
+
+"Of course," cried Laura; "he has no memory for a pretty joke with such
+an insignificant person as I am."
+
+"Make an end of it," advised Ilse; "just remind him of it."
+
+It so happened that the Doctor, on one occasion, could not avoid
+picking up a pair of scissors, and handing them to her.
+
+"I am thinking of it," said Laura; and added, pertly, "that's more than
+you do."
+
+After that she offered the Doctor the sugar-bowl; the Doctor took a
+piece of sugar out civilly, but was silent.
+
+"Good morning, philopena," she cried, contemptuously.
+
+The Doctor laughed, and declared himself vanquished.
+
+"It is not very nice of you," continued Laura, eagerly, "to have cared
+so little about your philopena. I will never eat one with you again;
+there is no honor in winning from gentlemen who are so absentminded."
+
+Shortly after, the Doctor handed her a small printed book in beautiful
+binding. On the first page there was written, "For Miss Laura," and on
+the second, "The Origin of Philopena; a Tale." It was the history of
+the beautiful daughter of a king, who liked to crack and eat nuts, but
+would not marry; she accordingly invented the following stratagem.
+She presented to every prince who sought her hand--and they were
+countless--the half of a double almond, and she ate the other half.
+Then she said; "If now your Highness can compel me to take something
+out of your hand without saying the words, 'I am thinking of it,' I
+shall consent to marry you; but if I can induce your Highness to take
+something from my hand without saying these words, your Highness shall
+have your princely head shaven and forthwith leave my country." But
+there was a trick in the fulfillment of this contract; for according to
+the customs of the court no one could put anything into the beautiful
+Princess's own hand on pain of death, but he must give it to the
+lady-in-waiting and she would hand it to the Princess. But if the
+Princess herself chose to take or hand something, who could prevent
+her? Thus it became a bitter pleasure for the wooers. For however much
+they might endeavor to induce the Princess to take something out of
+their hands without the intervention of the lady-in-waiting, the latter
+always interposed and spoilt their best-laid plans. But when the
+Princess wished to get rid of a suitor, she was so gracious to him for
+a whole day that he was quite enchanted; and when he sat next to her,
+and was already intoxicated with joy, she took, as if by accident,
+something that was near her,--a pomegranate, or an egg,--and said,
+softly, "Keep this in remembrance of me." As soon as the Prince took
+the thing in his hand, and perhaps was preparing to say the saving
+words, the thing burst asunder, and a frog, a hornet, or a bat, flew
+out towards his hair, so that he drew back frightened, and, in his
+fear, forgot the words; whereat he was shaven on the spot, and sent
+about his business.
+
+Thus years had passed, and in all the kingdoms roundabout, the princes
+wore wigs,--these have since become fashionable. Then it happened that
+the son of a foreign king, while traveling upon some business of his
+own, by accident saw the almond-queen. He thought her beautiful, and at
+the same he took note of the artifice that had ruined the hopes of her
+former suitors. Now a little grey dwarf in whose favor he stood, had
+given him an apple, at which he might smell once every year, and then a
+clever idea would occur to him. He had, therefore, become very famous
+amongst all kings on account of his clever ideas. Now the time of the
+apple had come; he smelt, and at once this bright thought came to him:
+"If you would win the game of giving and taking, you must under no
+conditions either give anything to her or take anything from her." And
+so he had his hands firmly bound in his girdle, went with his Marshal
+to court, and said he also would be glad to eat an almond. The Princess
+was much pleased with him, and had the almond handed to him. His
+Marshal took it and put it in his mouth. Then the Princess inquired
+what that meant, and why he always carried his hands in his girdle. He
+answered that his Court customs were even stricter than hers; and he
+must not take or give anything with his hands, but only with his feet
+or head. The Princess laughed, and said:
+
+"In this way we can never manage our game!"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders and answered:
+
+"Only in case you will condescend to take things from my boots."
+
+"That can never be," cried the Court in chorus.
+
+"Then why did you come here?" exclaimed the Princess, vexed, "if you
+have such stupid customs?"
+
+"Because you are so beautiful," returned the Prince; "and if I cannot
+win you I can yet look upon you."
+
+"I can say nothing against that," answered the Princess.
+
+So the Prince remained at Court, and came to please her more and more.
+But as she too was of a mischievous disposition, she endeavored in
+every way to mislead him and persuade him to draw his hand out of his
+girdle and take something from her. She conversed much with him, and
+made him presents of flowers, bonbons, and smelling-bottles, and at
+last even of her bracelet. Many times his hands twitched, but he felt
+the pressure of the belt and recollected himself, nodded to the Marshal
+who collected the things, and said:
+
+"We think of it."
+
+Now the Princess became impatient, and so one day she began after this
+fashion:
+
+"My handkerchief has fallen down; could your Highness pick it up for
+me?"
+
+The Prince took the handkerchief by the ends of his toes and waved it;
+the Princess bent down, took the handkerchief from his feet, and cried
+out, angrily:
+
+"I am thinking of it."
+
+A year had passed thus, and the Princess said to herself, "It cannot
+continue so; an end must be made of the affair, in one way or the
+other." So she began thus to the Prince:
+
+"I have the loveliest garden in the world, which I will show your
+Highness to-morrow."
+
+The Prince smelt at his apple again. When they came to the garden the
+Prince began:
+
+"It is wonderfully beautiful here; that we may be able to walk together
+in peace, and not be disturbed by our game, I beg, my dear Princess,
+that you will adopt my Court custom, if only for an hour, and allow
+your hands to be bound. Then we shall be sure of each other, and
+nothing vexatious can happen to us."
+
+This did not please the Princess, but he entreated and she could not
+refuse him this trifle. Thus they walked together, with their hands
+bound in their girdles. The birds sang, the sun shone warm, and from
+the branches the red cherries hung down almost touching their cheeks.
+The Princess looked up at the cherries, and exclaimed:
+
+"What a pity it is that your Highness cannot pluck some of them for
+me."
+
+The Prince answered, "Necessity is the mother of invention;" and
+seizing a cherry with his mouth he offered it to the Princess. Nothing
+remains for her but to put her mouth to his in order to take the
+cherry, and when she had the fruit between her lips, and a kiss from
+him in addition, she could not at the moment say, "I am thinking
+of it."
+
+Then he exclaimed, aloud, "Good morning, Philopena," drew his hands out
+of his girdle and embraced her; they were of course married and if they
+have not since died, they still live together in peace and happiness.
+
+This story the Doctor had written and caused to be printed especially
+for Laura, so that no one else could have the book.
+
+Laura carried the book to her private room, looked with pride on her
+name in print, and repeatedly read the foolish little story. She walked
+to and fro reflecting; and when she thus considered her relations with
+Fritz Hahn, she could not feel easy in her conscience. From her
+childhood she had been under obligations to him; he had always been
+good and kind to her; and she, and still more her father, had always
+caused him vexation. She thought penitently of all the past, up to the
+cat's paws; the indefinite feeling she had concerning the "_Philopena_"
+was now clear to her; she could not be as unembarrassed as she ought to
+be, nor as indifferent as she would wish, because she was always under
+the heavy burden of obligation. "I must come to an understanding with
+him. Ah! but there is a barrier between him and me,--my father's
+commands." She revolved in her mind how, without acting against his
+commands, she could give the Doctor some pleasure. She had ventured
+something of the kind with the orange-tree; if she could devise
+anything that would remain unknown to those over the way there would be
+no danger; no tender relations and no friendship would arise from it,
+which her father might wish to avoid. She hastened down to Ilse,
+saying, "My obligations to the Doctor oppress me more than I can
+express; it is insupportable to feel myself always in his debt. Now I
+have bethought me of something which will bring this state of things to
+a conclusion."
+
+"Take good care," replied Ilse, "that the affair is really brought to a
+conclusion that will stand in the future."
+
+Laura went at once to the Professor, whom she found in his study, and
+asked in a merry voice if he could not aid her in playing a joke upon
+her kindhearted, yet unmanageable, neighbor. "He collects all sorts of
+antiquities," she said, "and I should like to get him something rare
+that he would like. But nobody must know that I have anything to do
+with it, himself least of all."
+
+The Professor promised to think of something.
+
+Some time afterwards he placed in Laura's hands a small torn volume,
+that looked reduced to a pitiful state. "They are single copies of old
+popular songs," said he, "that at some time or other have been bound
+together. I hit upon them by a lucky accident. The little book is
+valuable; to the amateur its worth is beyond proportion greater than
+the price. Do not be disturbed at its bad appearance. Fritz Will take
+out the separate songs, and arrange them in order in his collection. I
+am convinced you could not make him a present that would please him
+better."
+
+"He shall have it," said Laura, contented, "but he shall suffer for it
+nevertheless."
+
+It was a fine collection: there were some very rare pieces among them,
+an entirely unknown edition of the ballad of the unfortunate Knight
+Tanh�user, the ballad of the Robber Toss Bowl, and a great many other
+charming selections. Laura carried the book upstairs, and carefully cut
+the thread of the bound sheets, which held them loosely together. She
+then sat down to her writing-table, and commenced an anonymous
+correspondence, which was made necessary by her father's tyranny,
+writing the following in a disguised hand: "Dear Doctor, an unknown
+person sends you this song for your collection; he has thirty more like
+these, which are intended for you, but only on certain conditions.
+First, you are to preserve towards every one, whoever it may be,
+inviolate secrecy in the matter. Secondly, you are to send for every
+poem another written by yourself, on any subject, addressed to O. W.,
+at the Post-office. Thirdly, if you are willing to agree to this
+compact, walk past No. 10 Park street, with a flower in your
+button-hole, about three o'clock in the afternoon on one of the next
+three days. The sender will be exceedingly gratified if you will enter
+into this pleasantry. Truly Yours N. N." The song of Robber Toss Bowl
+was enclosed with this letter.
+
+It was five minutes after nine by the Doctor's watch, which was
+confirmed by later investigations, when this letter was brought into
+his room; the barometer was rising; light, feathery clouds fleeted
+across the sky, and the moon's pale crescent shone forth from among
+them. The Doctor opened the letter, the green-tinted paper of which
+contrasted with the old printed sheet, yellow with age, that
+accompanied it. He unfolded the yellow sheet hastily, and read:
+
+                 "Stortebecker und Godecke Michael,
+                  De rowten alle beede."
+                 "Godecke Michael and Toks Bowl, Knight,
+                  They fought all day and they fought all night."
+
+There was no doubt it was the original low German text of the famous
+ballad, which had hitherto been lost to the world, that lay bodily
+before him. He was as pleased as a child with a Christmas-box. Then he
+read the letter, and when he came to the end, he read it again. He
+laughed. It was clearly all a roguish jest. But from whom? His thoughts
+turned first to Laura, but she had only the evening before treated him
+with cold contempt. Ilse was not to be thought of, and such playful
+mischief was very unlike the Professor. What did the house No. 10 mean?
+The young actress who lived there was said to be a very charming and
+enterprising young lady. Was it possible she could have any knowledge
+of folk-songs, and, the Doctor could not help thinking, a tender
+feeling for himself? The good Fritz chanced to step before the mirror
+for a moment, and he at once uttered an inward protest against the
+possibility of such an idea, and, laughing, he went back to his
+writing-table and to his popular song. He could not enter into the
+pleasantry, that was clear, but it was a pity. He laid the Robber Toss
+Bowl aside, and returned to his work. After a time, however, he took it
+up again. This valuable contribution had been sent to him, at all
+events, without any humiliating condition; perhaps he might be allowed
+to keep it. He opened a portfolio of old folk-songs, and placed it in
+its order as if it had been his own. Having laid the treasure in its
+proper place, he restored the portfolio to the bookshelf, and thought,
+it is a matter of indifference where the sheet lies.
+
+In this way the Doctor argued with himself till after dinner. Shortly
+before three o'clock he came to a decision. If it was only the joke of
+an intimate acquaintance, he would not spoil it; and if there had been
+some other motive, it must soon come to light. Meanwhile, he might keep
+the document, but he would not treat it as his own possession till the
+right of the sender and his object was clear. He must, in the first
+place, communicate this view of the case to his unknown friend. After
+he had made the necessary compromise between his conscience and his
+love of collecting, he fetched a flower out of his father's
+conservatory, placed it in his button-hole, and walked out into the
+street. He looked suspiciously at the windows of the hostile house, but
+Laura was not to be seen, for she had hid behind the curtains, and
+snapped her fingers at the success of her jest when she saw the flower
+in his buttonhole. The Doctor was embarrassed when he came in front of
+the house appointed. The situation was humiliating, and he repented of
+his covetousness. He looked at the window of the lower story, and
+behold! the young actress was standing close to it. He looked at her
+intelligent countenance and attractive features, took off his hat
+courteously, and was weak enough to blush; the young lady returned the
+civility tendered by the well-known son of the neighboring house. The
+Doctor continued his walk some distance beyond; there appeared to him
+something strange in this adventure. The presence and greeting of the
+actress at the window certainly did not appear to be accidental. He
+could not get rid of his perplexity; only one thing was quite clear to
+him, he was for the present in possession of the ballad of the Robber
+Toss Bowl.
+
+As his qualms of conscience did not cease, he debated with himself for
+two days whether he should enter upon any further interchange of
+letters; on the third he silenced his remaining scruples. Thirty
+ballads, very old editions--the temptation was overpowering! He
+looked up his own attempts in rhyme,--effusions of his own lyrical
+period,--examined and cast them aside. At last he found an innocent
+romance which in no manner exposed him; he copied it, and accompanied
+it by a few lines in which he made it a condition that he should
+consider himself only the guardian of the songs.
+
+Some days afterwards he received a second packet; it was a priceless
+monastery ditty, in which the virtues of roast Martinmas goose were
+celebrated. It was accompanied by a note which contained the
+encouraging words: "Not bad; keep on."
+
+Again Laura's figure rose before his eyes, and he laughed right
+heartily at the Martinmas goose. This also was an old edition of which
+there was no record. This time he selected an ode to Spring from his
+poems and addressed it, as directed, to O. W.
+
+The Professor was astonished that the Doctor kept silence about the
+book of ballads, and expressed this to Ilse, who was partly in the
+secret.
+
+"He is bound not to speak," she said; "she treats him badly. But as it
+is he, there is no danger in the joke for the bold girl."
+
+But Laura was happy in her game of chess with masked moves. She put the
+Doctor's poem carefully into her private album, and she thought that
+the Hahn poetry was not so bad after all; nay, it was admirable. But
+even more gratifying to her sportiveness than the correspondence, was
+the thought that the Doctor was to be forced into a little affair of
+sentiment with the actress. When she met him again at Ilse's, and one
+of those present was extolling the talent of the young lady, she spoke
+without embarrassment, and without turning to the Doctor, of the
+curious whims of the actress, that once, when an admirer, whom she did
+not like, had proposed to serenade her, she had placed her little dog
+at the window with a night-cap on, and that she had a decided
+preference for the company of strolling apprentices, and could converse
+with them in the most masterly way in the dialect of her province.
+
+The unsuspecting Doctor began to reflect. Was it then really the
+actress who, without his knowing it, was in correspondence with him?
+
+This gave Fritz a certain tacit respect for the lady.
+
+Once when Laura was sitting with her mother at the play watching the
+actress, she perceived Fritz Hahn in the box opposite. She observed
+that he was looking fixedly through his opera-glass at the stage, and
+sometimes broke out in loud applause. She had evidently succeeded in
+putting him upon the wrong track.
+
+Meanwhile he discovered that the unknown correspondent knew more than
+how to write addresses. Laura had looked through the songs and studied
+the text of the old poem of the Knight Tanh�user, who had lingered with
+Venus in the mountain, and she sent the ballad with the following
+lines:--
+
+"While reading through this song I was overcome with emotion and horror
+at the meaning of the old poetry. What, in the opinion of the poet,
+became of the soul of poor Tanh�user? He had broken away from Venus,
+and had returned penitent to the Christian faith; and when the stern
+Pope said to him, 'It is as little possible for you to be saved as for
+the staff that I hold in my hand to turn green,' he returned to Venus
+and her mountain in proud despair. But afterwards the staff in the
+hands of the Pope did turn green, and it was in vain that he sent his
+messengers to fetch the knight back. What was the singer's view of
+Tanh�user's return to evil? Would the 'Eternal love and mercy' still
+forgive the poor man, although he had for the second time surrendered
+himself up to the temptress? Was the old poet so liberal-minded that he
+considered the return to the heathen woman as pardonable? Or is
+Tanh�user now, in his eyes, eternally lost? and was the green staff
+only to show that the Pope was to bear the blame? I should be glad to
+hear your explanation of this. I think the poem very beautiful and
+touching, and, when one thoroughly enters into its spirit, there is
+powerful poetry in the simple words. But I feel much disturbed about
+the fate of Tanh�user. Your N. N."
+
+The Doctor answered immediately:
+
+"It is sometimes difficult, from the deep feeling and terse expressions
+of olden poetry, to understand the fundamental idea of the poet; and
+most difficult of all in a poem which has been handed down for
+centuries by popular tradition, and in which changes in the words and
+meaning must certainly have taken place. The first idea of the song,
+that mortals dwell in the mountains with the old heathen gods rests on
+a notion which originated in ancient times. The idea that the God of
+Christians is more merciful than his representative on earth has been
+rooted in Germany since the time of the Hohenstaufens. One may refer
+the origin of the poem to that period. It probably attained the form in
+which it is now handed down to us, about the middle of the fifteenth
+century, when the opposition to the hierarchy in Germany was general,
+both among high and low. The grand idea of this opposition was that the
+priests cannot forgive sins, and that only repentance, atonement, and
+elevation of the heart to God can avail. The copy which you have so
+kindly sent me, is of the early period of Luther, but we know that the
+song is older, and we possess various texts, in some of which it is
+more prominently set forth that Tanh�user after his second fall might
+still trust in the divine mercy. But undoubtedly in the text you have
+sent me the singer considers poor Tanh�user as lost if he did not
+liberate himself from the power of Venus, but that he might be saved if
+he did. According to popular tradition he remained with her. The great
+and elevating thought that man may shake off the trammels of past sin
+may be discovered in this poem, the poetical value of which I place as
+high as you do."
+
+When Laura received this answer,--Gabriel was again her confidential
+messenger,--she jumped up with joy from her writing-table. She had with
+Ilse grieved over poor Tanh�user, and given her friend a copy of the
+poem; now she ran down to her with the Doctor's letter, proud that, by
+means of a childish joke, at which Ilse had shaken her head, she had
+entered into a learned discussion. From this day the secret
+correspondence attained an importance for both Laura and Fritz which
+they had little thought of in the beginning; for Laura now ventured,
+when she could not satisfy herself on any subject, or took a secret
+interest in anything, to impart to her neighbor thoughts which hitherto
+had been confined to her writing-table, and the Doctor discovered with
+astonishment and pleasure a female mind of strong and original cast,
+which sought to obtain clear views from him, and unfolded itself to him
+with unusual confidence. These feelings might be discovered in his
+poems, which were no longer taken out of the portfolio, but assumed a
+more personal character. Laura's eyes moistened as she read the pages
+in which he expressed in verse his anxiety and impatience to become
+acquainted with his unknown correspondent. The feeling evinced in his
+lines was so pure, and one saw in them the good and refined character
+of the man so clearly that one could not fail to place full confidence
+in him. The old popular songs, in the first instance the main object,
+became gradually only the accompaniments of the secret correspondence,
+and the wings of Laura's enthusiastic soul soared over golden clouds,
+whilst Mr. Hummel growled below and Mr. Hahn suspiciously awaited fresh
+attacks from the enemy.
+
+But this poetical relation with the neighbor's son, which had been
+established by Laura's enterprising spirit, was exposed to the same
+danger that threatens all poetic moods--of being at any moment
+destroyed by rude reality. The Doctor was never to know that she was
+his correspondent,--the daughter of the enemy whom he daily met, the
+childish girl who quarreled with him in Ilse's room about bread and
+butter and almonds. When they met, he was always as before the Doctor
+with the spectacles, and she the little snappish Hummel, who had more
+of her father's ill manners than Gabriel would admit. The sulking and
+teasing between them went on every day as formerly. Nevertheless, it
+was inevitable that a warm feeling should sometimes beam in Laura's
+eyes, and that the friendly disposition with which she really regarded
+the Doctor should sometimes be betrayed in a passing word. Fritz,
+therefore, labored under an uncertainty over which he secretly
+laughed, but which, nevertheless, tormented him. When he received the
+well-disguised handwriting he always saw Laura before him; but when he
+met his neighbor at his friend's she succeeded, by mocking remarks and
+shy reserve, in perplexing him again. Necessity compelled her to this
+coquetry, but it acted upon him each time like a cold blast; and then
+it struck him, it can not be Laura,--is it the actress?
+
+There was general astonishment at the tea-table when the Doctor once
+hinted that he had been invited to a masked ball, and was not averse to
+attending the noisy gathering. The ball was given by a large circle of
+distinguished citizens, to which Mr. Hummel belonged. The peculiarity
+of this party was that the chief actors of the city were admitted as
+welcome guests. As the Doctor had hitherto never shown any inclination
+for this kind of social entertainment, the Professor was astonished.
+Laura alone guessed the cause, but all received the announcement of
+this unusual intended dissipation with silent pleasure.
+
+Mr. Hummel was not of the opinion that a masked ball was the place
+where the worth of a German citizen was shown to greatest advantage. He
+had unwillingly yielded to the coaxing of the ladies in his family, and
+was now seen standing among the masks in the ball-room. He had thrown
+the little black domino carelessly about his back like a priest's
+mantle; his hat was pressed down over his eyes; the silk fringe of the
+mask overshadowed his face on all sides, which was as unmistakable as a
+full moon behind thin clouds. He looked mockingly on the throng of
+masks that streamed past him, somewhat less comfortable and more silent
+than they would have been without masks and colored coats. Obnoxious to
+him more than all were the harlequins scattered about, who, at the
+beginning of the festival, affected an extravagance of conduct which
+was not natural to them. Mr. Hummel had good eyes, but it happened to
+him, as to others, that he was not able to recognize every one who was
+masked. All the world knew him, however. Some one tugged at his
+clothes.
+
+"How is your dog Spitehahn?" asked a gentleman in rococo dress, bowing
+to him.
+
+Hummel bowed in return. "Thanks for your kind inquiry. I would have
+brought him for a bite of the calves of your legs if you had been
+provided with that article."
+
+"Does this kind of a Hummel-bee sting?" asked a green domino, in a
+falsetto voice.
+
+"Spare your remarks," replied Hummel, angrily; "your voice is fast
+changing into a woman's. I quite pity your family."
+
+He moved on.
+
+"Will you buy a pack of hareskins, brother Hummel?" asked a wandering
+pedlar.
+
+"I thank you, brother," replied Hummel, fiercely; "you may let me have
+the ass's skin that your wife tore from your face in your last
+quarrel."
+
+"There's the rough felt of our city," cried, pertly, a little clown, as
+he gave Mr. Hummel a blow upon the stomach with his wand.
+
+This was too much for Mr. Hummel: he seized the diminutive clown by the
+collar, took his wand away from him, and held the refractory little
+fellow on his knee. "Wait, my son," he cried; "you'll wish you had a
+rough felt in another place than on your head."
+
+But a burly Turk caught him by the arm. "Sir, how can you dare to lay
+hold of my son in this manner?"
+
+"Is this chattel yours?" returned Hummel, furiously; "your
+blotting-paper physiognomy is unknown to me. If you, as Turk, devote
+yourself to the rearing of ill-mannered buffoons, you must expect to
+see Turkish bamboo on their backs, that is a principle of international
+law. If you do not understand this you may come to me to-morrow morning
+at my office; I will make the thing clear to you, and hand over to you
+a bill for the watch-crystal that this creature from your harem has
+broken for me."
+
+Thereupon he threw the clown into the arms of the Turk, and the wand on
+the ground, and clumsily made his way through the masks who surrounded
+him.
+
+"There is not a human soul among them," he growled; "one feels like
+Robinson Crusoe among the savages." He moved about the ball-room
+utterly regardless of the white shoulders and bright eyes that danced
+about him, and again disappeared. At last he caught sight of two grey
+bats whom he thought he knew, for it appeared to him that the masks
+were his wife and daughter. He went up to them, but they avoided him
+and mixed in the throng. They were undoubtedly of his party, but they
+intended to remain unknown, and they knew that would be impossible if
+Mr. Hummel was with them. The forsaken man turned and went into the
+next room, seated himself in solitude at an empty table, took his mask
+off, ordered a bottle of wine, asked for the daily paper, and lighted a
+cigar.
+
+"Pardon me, Mr. Hummel," said a little waiter; "no smoking here!"
+
+"You too," replied Mr. Hummel, gloomily. "You see there _is_ smoking
+here. This is my way of masquerading. Matters are becoming wearisome.
+Every vestige of humanity and all consideration for others is being
+trodden under foot to-day; and that is what they call a _bal masqu�_."
+
+Meanwhile Laura slipped about among the masks, looking for the Doctor.
+Fritz Hahn could easily be discovered by sharp eyes, for he wore his
+spectacles over his mask. He was standing in a blue domino, near an
+elegant lady in a red mantle. Laura pressed up to him. Fritz was
+writing something in the hand of the lady, most likely her name, for
+she nodded carelessly; then he wrote again in her hand, pointing to
+himself. Probably it was his own name, for the lady nodded, and Laura
+thought that she could see under her veil that she was laughing. Laura
+heard the Doctor speaking to the lady of a _r�le_ in which he had
+lately seen her on the stage, and he addressed her with the familiar
+"thou." That was, indeed, the privilege of a masquerade ball, but it
+was entirely unnecessary. The Doctor expressed his pleasure that in the
+balcony scene the lady had so well understood how to represent the
+glowing feeling of passion in such difficult metre. The red mantle
+became attentive, and, turning to the Doctor, began to speak of the
+_r�le_ she had taken. The lady spoke for some time, and then Doctor
+Romeo would continue still longer. The actress stepped back some steps
+into the shadow of a pillar; the Doctor followed her, and Laura saw
+that the red mantle curtly answered some other male masks, and again
+turned to the Doctor. At last the actress seated herself quite behind
+the pillar, where she was little seen by strangers, and the Doctor
+stood near her, leaning against it, and continuing the conversation.
+Laura, who had also placed herself near the pillar, heard how animated
+it was. The subject was passion. Now it was not the passion which one
+felt for the other, but that of the stage; but even that was more than
+a friend of the Doctor could approve of.
+
+Laura stepped hastily forward, placed herself near Fritz Hahn, and
+raised her finger warningly. The Doctor looked astonished at the bat,
+and shrugged his shoulders. Then she seized his hand, and wrote his
+name in it. The Doctor made a bow, upon which she held out her hand.
+How could he know her in that disfiguring disguise? He gave decided
+proof of his ignorance, and turned again to the lady in the red mantle.
+Laura stepped back, and colored up to her temples under the mask. It
+was in anger with herself, for she was the unfortunate one who had
+brought him into this danger: and moreover she had come in such a
+disguise that he could not recognize her.
+
+She returned to her mother, who had at last been fortunate enough to
+find a companion in Laura's godmother, and had got into the corner of
+the room in order to exchange observations on the bodily development of
+the baptized little Fritz. Laura placed herself next her mother, and
+looked at the dancing masks with indifference. Suddenly she sprang up,
+for Fritz Hahn was dancing with the lady in the red mantle. Was it
+possible? He had long abjured dancing. More than once he had ridiculed
+Laura for her pleasure in it; even she herself had at times, when
+sitting before her private journal, thought how childish this
+monotonous whirling movement was, and how incompatible with a nobler
+conception of life;--now he was turning himself round like a top.
+
+"What do I see?" cried her mother; "is not that ----? and the red one
+is ----"
+
+"It is immaterial with whom he dances," interrupted Laura, in order to
+avoid hearing the hated confirmation of it. But she knew Fritz Hahn,
+and she was aware there was some signification in this waltz. Juliet
+pleased him much, otherwise he would never have done it; he had never
+shown her this mark of distinction. The old comedian of the city
+theatre approached them as Pantaloon; he had at last found out the two
+influential ladies; he tripped up to them, made grotesque obeisances,
+and began to amuse her mamma with his gossip. One of his first remarks
+was, "It is said that young Hahn will go upon the stage; he is studying
+his _r�le_ as lover with our prima-donna."
+
+Laura turned with annoyance from the flat remark. Her last hope was the
+time of unmasking; she impatiently awaited the moment. At last there
+was a pause, and the masks were removed. She took her mother's arm to
+go through the room to greet their acquaintances. It seemed a long time
+before she got into the neighborhood of Fritz Hahn, and not once did he
+look at her. Laura made a movement with her hand to touch him gently;
+but she pressed her fingers firmly, and passed by fixing her eyes upon
+him. Now at last he recognized her, as he ought to have done long
+before. She saw the look of pleasure in his countenance, and her heart
+became lighter. She stopped while he exchanged some civil sentences
+with her mother, and she expected that he would acknowledge that she
+had already greeted him, but he did not mention a word of the
+occurrence. Had so many written in his hand that he could not bear in
+mind one poor little bat? When he turned to her he only praised the
+ball music. This was all the notice he thought her worthy of. His
+conversation with Juliet had been the free interchange of mind, but to
+her he only addressed a few indifferent sentences. Her countenance
+assumed the gloomy Hummel look, as she answered, "You used to have
+little sympathy for the jingling instrument to which the puppets
+dance."
+
+The Doctor looked embarrassed, but laughed, and asked her for the next
+dance. This was bad tact. Laura answered bitterly, "When the grey bat
+was so bold as to flutter about Romeo, he had no dance free for her;
+now her eyes are blinded by the bright light." She bowed her head like
+a queen, took her mother's arm, and left him behind.
+
+What followed was still more aggravating. The Doctor danced once more
+with the lady in the mantle. Laura observed how fascinatingly she
+smiled on him, and he danced with no one else. Of her he took no
+further notice, and she was glad when soon after Mr. Hummel came up to
+them and said: "It was difficult to find you. When I inquired of the
+people for the two ugliest disguises, you were pointed out to me. I
+shall be glad if to-morrow morning you awake without headache. We have
+had enough of pleasure today."
+
+Laura was glad when the carriage arrived at home; she rushed up to her
+room, hastily took her book out of the drawer, and wrote rapidly:
+
+           "Cursed be my deed and cursed all sinful art;
+              My own true happiness is now at stake
+            A troup of enemies surrounds my heart,
+              Which bleeding from so deadly wounds will break."
+
+she wiped away the tears which rolled upon her paper.
+
+The bright light of the following morning exercised its tranquilizing
+influence on her fluttering thoughts. Over there Fritz Hahn was still
+lying in his bed. The good youth had tired himself yesterday. Many
+drops of water might still flow into the sea before friend Fritz would
+determine to unite his fate with an actress of tragedy. She brought out
+her supply of old ballads and selected one; it was a very jolly one:
+the May-Bug's Marriage--in which the may-bug on the hedge asks in
+marriage the young maiden fly. Many little birds occupy themselves
+seriously about the wedding, but at last it is put an end to by some
+disreputable conduct on the part of the bridegroom.
+
+"Good," said Laura; "my May-Bug Fritz, before you marry the frivolous
+fly Juliet, other birds shall have their say about it."
+
+She folded up the song, and added to it a little note: "You guess
+wrongly. The person who sends this to you never was Juliet." As she
+closed the letter she said to herself, with more composure: "If he does
+not now perceive that he was mistaken, one cannot think much of his
+judgment."
+
+The Doctor was sitting a little stupefied over his books, when his eye
+fell upon the above letter. He cast a look upon the Marriage of the
+May-Bug; he had never yet come across an old copy of it, and in rapidly
+glancing over it he saw that many verses were quite different from our
+current text. Then he took the note, and endeavored to interpret the
+oracle. Now it was clear that the actress was the sender, for who else
+could know that he had accosted her as Juliet, and that they had
+conversed long about this _r�le_. But what could the words mean, "You
+guess wrongly?" But even on this point his eyes were blinded; he had
+maintained that the representation of passion could only be to a
+certain extent attained by an actor, if he had never in his life
+experienced a similar feeling. This the actress denied, and they had
+endeavored to come to an agreement about it; her words, therefore,
+clearly meant that she had impersonated Juliet without ever having
+previously felt a great passion. This was a confession that showed
+great confidence--nay, perhaps still more. The Doctor sat long looking
+at the note; but he now felt pretty sure who his correspondent was, and
+the discovery did not give him pleasure. For when he had reasoned the
+matter out upon rational grounds, it had always been Laura's eyes that
+beamed upon him from the paper, though undoubtedly quite another look
+from that which she had favored him with yesterday. He laid the May-Bug
+Marriage with the other songs, and again asked himself whether he ought
+to continue the correspondence. At last he sealed in answer one of the
+worthless trifles of his portfolio, and did not write anything in
+addition.
+
+Some days after, when the Professor and Ilse were walking through the
+streets, they passed by the dwelling of the actress; both saw their
+friend standing at the window of the heroine, and he nodded to them
+from within.
+
+"How has he made this acquaintance?" asked the Professor; "is not the
+young lady considered very fast?"
+
+"I fear so," answered Ilse, troubled.
+
+Now Mrs. Knips (who dwelt opposite to the actress) came running in to
+Madame Hummel one day with the linen still damp, and told her that on
+the previous evening a great basket of champagne had been taken to the
+actress's house, and that in the night the loud singing of a dissolute
+company had been heard over the whole street, and that young Doctor
+Hahn had been among them!
+
+On Sunday the comedian had been invited to dinner at Mr. Hummel's, and
+one of his first anecdotes was concerning a jovial party which had
+taken place at the actress's. With the malice which is often to be
+found in fellow-artists towards each other, he added, "She has found a
+new admirer, the son of your neighbor over the way. Well! the father's
+money will at least come to the support of art." Mr. Hummel opened his
+eyes and shook his head, but only said, "So Fritz Hahn too has gone
+among the actors and become dissipated: he is the last one that I
+should have suspected of this."
+
+Mrs. Hummel endeavored to bring to mind her recollections of the ball,
+and found in them a sorrowful confirmation of this, but Laura, who had
+been sitting very pale and silent, broke forth vehemently to the actor:
+
+"I will not suffer you to speak of the Doctor in such a tone at our
+table. We are well enough acquainted with him to know that he is in
+conduct and principles a noble man. He is master of his own actions,
+and if he likes the lady and visits her at times, a third person has no
+right to say anything in the matter whatever. It is a malicious calumny
+to say that he goes there with any dishonorable intentions, and spends
+money that does not belong to him."
+
+The comedian, through fright, got a crumb of bread in his wind-pipe,
+and burst out in the most violent fit of coughing that had ever seized
+him, but the mother, in excuse of their pleasant visitor, replied:
+
+"You have sometimes felt yourself, that the conduct of the Doctor was
+not quite the thing."
+
+"If I have said anything of the kind in foolish ill temper," cried
+Laura, "it was an injustice, and I am very sorry for it; I have only
+the excuse that I never meant it ill-naturedly. But from others I will
+hear no slanderous talk about our neighbor." She rose from table and
+left the room. The actor vindicated himself to the mother, but Mr.
+Hummel grasped his wine-glass and, peering after his daughter, said:
+
+"On a gloomy day she is scarcely to be distinguished from me."
+
+The Doctor was little troubled about his own misdeeds. He had paid a
+visit to his partner after the ball, the occasion on which he had been
+seen at the window. One of his school friends, now second tenor at the
+theatre, had come and arranged with the actress to have a little picnic
+on her approaching birthday, and Fritz had been invited to take part in
+it. It was a merry gathering, and the Doctor had found much
+entertainment among the light-winged birds of the stage, and had
+rejoiced with the benevolence of a wise man at the good tact which was
+visible amidst the easy style of their intercourse. There had also been
+much intelligent conversation in the course of the evening, and he went
+home with the impression that even for a person like himself it was
+good to be for once associated with these lively artists. He had
+endeavored that same evening, by a stratagem, to ascertain his unknown
+correspondent. When they were singing songs, and with lively grace
+reciting comic verses, he had produced the May-bug song and had begun
+to sing it:
+
+           "The May-bug sat on the hedge, brum, brum;
+            The fly sat beneath him, hum, hum hum."
+
+Some had joined in it; the lady in the mantle did not know the song,
+however, but only a similar one from an old _r�le_; and when the bass
+took up the melody from the Doctor, and in the following verses
+portrayed each of the birds as they entered by gestures and comic
+changes of the melody, the hostess laughed, and without any
+embarrassment undertook to learn the song, so that the Doctor again
+became very doubtful, and on returning home remained standing on the
+threshold and looked significantly at the house of Mr. Hummel. If any
+one had accurately investigated why, after this May-bug song, the
+Doctor became noisy and gay like the others, he would perhaps have
+discovered that the unembarrassed air of the actress had lifted a load
+from his heart.
+
+But this helped him little with respect to the "brum" and "hum" of the
+neighbors. All Park Street had latterly accorded to their Fritz Hahn
+the highest respect; his picture had been placed among the serious men
+of learning in their albums, whom they daily contemplated and spoke of.
+Now strange features had appeared in the well-known face, and the
+street could not bear that one of their children should appear
+otherwise than he had been wont to do. Therefore there was much
+whispering and shaking of heads, and this came to the knowledge of Mr.
+and Mrs. Hahn, and, finally, to the Doctor. He laughed, but he did not
+feel quite at ease about it.
+
+           "Tannh�user, noble knight and man,
+              In Venus' wiles thou liest ensnared,
+            While I, a wicked Pope Urban,
+              To cause you shame and sorrow dared."
+
+Thus did Laura lament in her room, but she concealed her heavy sorrow,
+and did not speak a word concerning the danger of the Doctor, even to
+Ilse; and when the latter once slightly alluded to the new intimacy of
+their friend, Laura broke the thread of her embroidery, and said, while
+the blood rushed to her heart:
+
+"Why should not the Doctor visit there? He is a young man for whom it
+is good to see different people; he stays too much in his room and with
+his parents. If I had been a man like him, I should long ago have tied
+up my bundle and gone out into the world, for our narrow field of
+active life weakens the energies and dwarfs the mind."
+
+At the tea-table one of the company present turned the conversation on
+the actress, and shrugged his shoulders over her free manners. Laura
+felt what must be the Doctor's embarrassment; there sat poor Fritz,
+obliged to listen to the derogatory criticisms--his intimate
+acquaintances were silent, and looked significantly at him; his
+position was terrible, for every fool made use of the lady's
+unprotected position to show himself a Cato.
+
+"I wonder," she said, "that gentlemen should so severely criticise the
+little freaks of an actress. A lady of that profession should be
+treated with great consideration, for she is deprived of all the
+protection and all the pleasure which we have in our families. I am
+convinced that she is a worthy and sensitive girl."
+
+The Doctor looked thankfully at her and confirmed her opinion. He did
+not observe it, but it had happened as in his fairy-tale; Laura had
+bent down to his feet and picked up the pocket-handkerchief.
+
+But she had still more to bear. The month of March began his theatrical
+pranks in the world; first from his grey clouds he had cast a veil of
+snow over the landscape; icicles hung from the roofs and white crystals
+from the trees, and the wild storm howled all around. Suddenly all was
+transformed. A mild south wind blew, the buds of the trees swelled, and
+the fresh green made its appearance in the meadow; the children ran
+about in the woods and carried home large bunches of spring flowers,
+and people, rejoicing in the change, passed in unceasing pilgrimage
+through the Park Street out into the sunshine.
+
+Even Mr. Hummel felt the presage of spring. He gave expression to this
+annually by mixing the colors for his boat, and taking a pleasure walk
+on a well-chosen afternoon with his wife and daughter to a distant
+coffee-garden. This festive journey was but an indifferent pleasure for
+Laura, for Mr. Hummel walked with sturdy step in front of the ladies;
+he secretly rejoiced in the renewal of old nature, and only
+occasionally favored his ladies with a remark over his shoulder when he
+was annoyed at a change in the vegetation. But Laura knew that her
+father thought much of this March pleasure, and this year, too, she
+went with her mother behind him to a solitary village, where Mr. Hummel
+smoked his pipe, fed the hens, scolded the waiter, and talked with the
+landlord about the crops and gave the sun an opportunity of rejoicing
+in the healthy appearance of his old friend, Mr. Hummel. Mr. Hummel,
+who was usually by no means averse to society, loved now to be alone
+with nature, and hated the place of resort of the citizens in the
+country, where the aroma of new cakes and fritters destroyed the
+perfume of nature.
+
+When he entered the coffee-garden with his ladies, he saw with
+dissatisfaction that other guests were already there. He threw an
+indignant glance on the gay society which had taken possession of his
+usual place, and noticed among them the young actress, as well as other
+members of the theatre, and with them the son of his adversary. Then he
+turned to his daughter and said, blinking his eyes:
+
+"To-day you will be well satisfied; here you have, besides the
+enjoyments of nature, those of art."
+
+It was a terribly hard trial to which Laura's courage was subjected;
+but she raised her head proudly, and passed with her parents to another
+corner of the garden. There she placed herself with her back to the
+strangers. Nevertheless, she learnt more of their proceedings than was
+good for her composure. She heard the sounds of laughter, and the merry
+hum of the May-bug party; the less she saw of them the more painful was
+the noise, and every sound was audible in the deep stillness, and her
+mother's ears and eyes also were intent on the other party. After a
+time the loud conversation of the artists ceased, and she heard her
+name spoken in low terms. Immediately afterwards the gravel crunched
+behind her, and she felt that the Doctor was behind her.
+
+He approached the table, greeted the father silently, made some
+friendly remarks to the mother about the weather, and was just on the
+point of turning to Laura with a forced composure that did not escape
+her, when Mr. Hummel, who had till then silently borne the intrusion of
+the enemy, took his pipe from his mouth, and began, with gentle voice:
+
+"Is what I hear of you possible, Doctor?--that you wish to change your
+mode of life?"
+
+Laura plunged her parasol vehemently into the gravel.
+
+"I know nothing of it," replied the Doctor, coolly.
+
+"It is reported," continued Mr. Hummel, "that you intend to say
+farewell to your books and become a professional actor. If this should
+be the case, I beg of you to think kindly of my little business. I have
+every kind of artistic head-gear: for lovers fine beaver, with galoon
+for lackeys, and if ever you act the punchinello, a white felt hat. But
+you would rather be called clown, perhaps. That is now the fashionable
+_r�le_; buffoons are out of style; one shall address you as Sir Clown."
+
+"I have no intention of going on the stage," replied the Doctor; "but
+if ever the idea should occur to me, I would not come to you for the
+artistic work of your manufactory, but for instruction in what you
+consider good manners. I should then at least know what, in my
+profession, was _not_ befitting men of breeding."
+
+He bowed to the ladies, and went away.
+
+"Always Humboldt," said Mr. Hummel, looking after him.
+
+Laura did not move, but her dark eyebrows were knit so threateningly
+that Mr. Hummel could not help perceiving it.
+
+"I am quite of your opinion," he said, pleasantly, to his daughter. "It
+is a great pity that he is spoilt by belonging to these straw-hat
+people, but now there is no hope for him."
+
+He then took a bit of cake and offered it to a little poodle that was
+sitting on its hind legs, begging and moving its paws.
+
+"Billy!" cried a lady's voice through the garden.
+
+The dog Billy, however, did not attend, but continued to show his
+devotion to Mr. Hummel, who, having a greater tenderness for dogs than
+for men, was feeding him.
+
+The actress came up hastily.
+
+"I beg of you not to give the naughty animal any cake,--there are
+almonds in it," said the actress, pushing the dog away.
+
+"A pretty dog," replied Mr. Hummel, sitting down.
+
+"If you only knew how clever he was," said the lady; "he knows all
+kinds of tricks. Show the gentleman what you have learnt, Billy."
+
+She held her parasol out: Billy sprang lightly over it, and bounded
+into the lap of Mr. Hummel, where he wagged his tail and attempted to
+lick the friendly gentleman's face.
+
+"He wants to kiss you," said the actress. "You should be proud of that,
+for he does not do it to everyone."
+
+"It is not every one who would like it," replied Mr. Hummel, stroking
+the little fellow.
+
+"Do not be troublesome to the gentleman, Billy," said the lady,
+reprovingly.
+
+Mr. Hummel arose and presented the dog to her, which would not desist
+from his attempts to kiss and lick the face of the worthy citizen.
+
+"He is a simple-hearted creature," said Mr. Hummel, "and is the same
+color as my dog Spitehahn."
+
+The actress fondled the dog in her arms.
+
+"The rogue is very much spoilt; he creeps into my muff when I go to the
+theatre, and I am obliged to take him with me. I was lately frightened
+to death on his account; for once, while I was lamenting as Clara among
+the citizens, Billy had run out of the green-room and, standing between
+the curtains, began to wag his tail and caper about on his hind legs."
+
+"That must have been very pathetic," said Mrs. Hummel.
+
+"I moved about more than usual," replied the actress, "and at every
+turn in the scene I had to call out, 'Lie down, Billy.'"
+
+"Excellent," nodded Mr. Hummel; "always presence of mind."
+
+"To-day I am thankful to the naughty little creature, though,"
+continued the actress, "for he has afforded me the opportunity of
+making the acquaintance of my neighbors. Mr. Hummel, I believe?"
+
+Mr. Hummel bowed awkwardly. The actress turned to the ladies with a
+bow, and the latter answered her greeting silently.
+
+There was much in the lady that pleased Mr. Hummel. She was pretty, had
+a gay and cheerful countenance, and wore something on her bonnet with
+which he was personally acquainted. He therefore moved a chair towards
+her and said, with another bow:
+
+"Will you not have the kindness to take a seat?"
+
+The actress bowed in accepting it, and, turning to Laura, said:
+
+"I rejoice to be able to approach you at last. You are no stranger to
+me, and you have often given me great pleasure, and I am glad to be
+able to-day to thank you for it."
+
+"Where was it?" asked Laura, embarrassed.
+
+"Where you would certainly never have thought of it," replied the
+other. "I have keen eyes, and over the footlights I observe the face of
+every spectator. You cannot imagine how painful that is to me
+sometimes. As you are always in the same seat, it has often been a
+great pleasure to me to rest my eyes on your features and observe their
+interested expression; and more than once, without your knowing it, I
+have acted for you alone."
+
+"Ha!" thought Laura, "it is Venus." But she felt a chord had been
+struck which gave out a pure tone. She told the actress how unwillingly
+she missed any of the plays in which she acted, and that in their house
+the first question, when they received the new bill of the play, was
+whether the lady was going to act.
+
+This gave the mother an opportunity of entering into the conversation.
+The actress spoke warmly of the kindness with which she had everywhere
+been received. "For the greatest charm of our art is the secret friends
+that we gain by our acting--people whom otherwise one perhaps never
+sees, whose names one does not know, yet who take an interest in our
+life. Then, if by accident one becomes acquainted with these kindly
+strangers, it is a rich compensation for all the sufferings of our
+vocation, among which the intrusive homage of common persons is perhaps
+the greatest."
+
+It was clear she could not reckon the homage of the Doctor among these
+sufferings.
+
+While the ladies were thus talking together, and Mr. Hummel listened
+with approbation, some gentlemen approached the table. Mrs. Hummel
+politely greeted the second tenor, who had once sung for her at the
+godmother's house, and the worthy father of the stage, who knew Mr.
+Hummel at the club, began a conversation with him concerning the
+building of a new theatre. On this subject Mr. Hummel had, as a
+citizen, a very decided opinion, in which the worthy father quite
+agreed.
+
+In this way the two parties mingled together, and the table of Mr.
+Hummel became a centre round which the children of Thalia thronged.
+While the actress was talking with Mrs. Hummel in a very creditable and
+domestic manner of the inconveniences of her dwelling, Laura glanced at
+the Doctor. He was standing some steps from the party, leaning against
+a tree, looking thoughtfully before him. Laura suddenly moved towards
+him, and began speaking rapidly: "My father has offended you. I beg
+your forgiveness."
+
+The Doctor looked up. "It does not pain me," said he, kindly; "I know
+his way."
+
+"I have talked to her," continued Laura, with trembling voice; "she is
+clever and amiable, and has an irresistible charm of manner."
+
+"Who?" asked the Doctor; "the actress?"
+
+"Do not attempt concealment with me," continued Laura; "that is
+unnecessary between us; there is no one on earth who wishes for your
+happiness more than I do. You need not trouble yourself about others
+shaking their heads; if you are sure of the love of the lady, all the
+rest is a secondary consideration."
+
+The Doctor became more and more astonished. "But I do not wish to marry
+the lady."
+
+"Do not deny it, Fritz Hahn; that ill becomes your truthful nature,"
+rejoined Laura passionately; "I see how well the lady suits you. Since
+I have seen her, I feel convinced that she is capable of appreciating
+all that is good and great. Do not hesitate, but venture courageously
+to seek her heart. Yet I am so troubled about you, Fritz. Your feelings
+are warm and your judgment sound, but you cling too firmly to that
+which surrounds you. I tremble, therefore, lest you should make
+yourself unhappy by not deciding at the right moment upon a course
+which will appear strange to your family. I know you from my early
+childhood, and I am sure that your danger always has been to forget
+yourself for others. You might pass a self-sacrificing existence, which
+I cannot bear to think of. For I desire that all happiness should be
+your portion, as your upright heart deserves." Tears coursed down her
+cheeks, as she looked lovingly upon him.
+
+Every word that she spoke sounded to the Doctor like the trilling of a
+lark and the chirrup of the cricket. He spoke softly to her: "I do not
+love the lady; I have never thought of uniting her future with mine."
+
+Laura drew back, and a bright color suffused her face.
+
+"It is a passing acquaintance, nothing more either for her or me; her
+life belongs to art, and can hardly adapt itself to quiet domestic
+habits. If I could venture to seek a heart for myself, it would not be
+hers, but that of another." He looked towards the table, from whence at
+that moment there came a loud laugh, evidently of Mr. Hummel, and spoke
+the last words so low that they scarcely reached Laura's ear, and he
+looked sorrowfully down on the buds of the elderbush in which the young
+blossoms still lay hidden.
+
+Laura stood motionless, as if touched by the wand of a magician, but
+the tears still continued to flow down her cheeks. She came very near
+touching to her lips the cherry of her philopena legend.
+
+Then the merry cockchafers hummed round her, the actress nodded
+smilingly to her, and her father called her:--the fairy tale was at an
+end. Laura heard the actress say triumphantly to the Doctor, "He
+offered me a chair, he is no growling bear after all. And he was so
+kind to Billy."
+
+When Fritz returned home, he threw off his hat and overcoat, rushed to
+his writing-table, and took up the little letters in the unknown hand.
+"It is she," he cried, aloud, "fool that I was to doubt it for one
+moment." He read all the letters again, and nodded at each. It was his
+own high-minded, noble maiden who had before disguised herself, now she
+had shown herself to him as she really was. He waited impatiently for
+the hour when he should meet her at their friend's. She entered late,
+greeted him quietly, and was more silent and gentle than usual. When
+she turned to him she spoke seriously, as to a trusted friend. Her
+quiet composure became her well. Now she showed herself to him as she
+was, a refined mind full of true enthusiasm. Prudery and sportive moods
+had only been the shell that, had concealed the sweet kernel. The
+unassumed caution, too, with which she concealed her feelings among her
+friends, delighted him. When the next ballad should come, then she
+would speak to him as she felt, or she would give him permission to
+write openly to her. The next morning the Doctor counted the minutes
+till the arrival of the postman. He tore open the door and hastened to
+meet the man. Fritz received a letter, he broke the cover impatiently,
+there was not a line from his correspondent; he unfolded the old
+printed sheet, and read the words of a coarse bacchanalian ditty:
+
+           "On the spit with ox and pig,
+            Clear the green for reel and jig,
+            Wine and rhyme and wassail-shout,
+            Pass the flowing bowl about!"
+
+So the honest, simple-minded Doctor asked again: Is it she? or is it
+possible that it is not?
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XXIV_.
+
+                          AMONG THE STUDENTS.
+
+
+Any one who would know the Professor at his best should see him sitting
+surrounded by his students, the mature man amidst blossoming youth, the
+teacher among his admiring scholars. For the greatest privilege of the
+academical teacher is, that he not only exercises a personal influence
+on the present, but ennobles the souls of men in later generations by
+his knowledge. Out of the many who listen to lectures a chosen circle
+attaches itself to the learned man, the tie of personal intercourse
+connects the teacher and the scholar, lightly formed but lasting; for
+what attracts one to the other, and often makes the stranger after a
+few hours an intimate friend, is the pleasant consciousness that both
+value and appreciate the same thing.
+
+This bond, so charming and profitable for both parties, is the noble
+poetry which learning grants to its votaries. Strangers and men of
+later generations judge the value of a man only by his books, but
+however valuable may be the products of a man's mind thus transmitted,
+it gives but an imperfect picture of it to later times; far different
+does the living source work in the souls of those who receive knowledge
+from the lips and eyes of the teacher. They are taught, not only by the
+substance of his instructions, but still more by his method of
+investigating and expounding, and, most of all, by his character and
+the original style of his discourse. For these warm the hearts of his
+hearers, charm their minds, and inspire them with respect. Such an
+impression of the human mind, which leaves its traces on many, is
+often more important in forming the character of young men than the
+subject-matter of the instruction they have received. The character of
+the teacher works in the scholars; new life is infused into them, and
+they imbibe not only his excellencies, but also, sometimes, his
+peculiarities and weaknesses. In each hearer the characteristics of the
+master assume a different aspect, yet in each the influence of his mind
+is apparent, even in minute particulars. The lessons which Felix gave
+to his wife were not the only ones given in his house. One evening of
+every week belonged to his students. There came, first, a few who
+wished to ask questions and obtain information about their work;
+afterwards, a greater number assembled. Ilse's room was also opened,
+and Gabriel brought tea and simple fare, and an hour passed in easy
+conversation, till, at last, the most intimate withdrew into the study
+of their teacher, and clustered around him in numbers almost too great
+for the narrow room. Here, also, the conversation was varied; sometimes
+a humorous account of what they had experienced, or discussions in
+which the Professor knew how to make his young friends take an active
+part, and, interspersed with these, rapid criticisms upon men and
+books, pointed remark and quick retort, such as are natural to those
+who can recognize long melodies by a few tones. At these receptions
+Felix disclosed his inmost soul with an openness that he never showed
+in the lecture-room. He spoke of himself and others without reserve,
+and entered pleasantly on what he had most at heart.
+
+Ilse was no stranger at these gatherings. Those who assisted in them,
+whether serious men, old students, or young doctors, found pleasure in
+the presence of the distinguished lady of the house, who, in her simple
+way, took part in their intercourse. The year before she had shown her
+intimacy with the Odyssey, when she summoned the gentlemen to the
+enjoyment of a leg of wild boar, and expressed the benevolent wish that
+they would not disdain to partake of the meal. After that she was
+called Penelope in the circle, and she knew that this nickname spread
+among the students beyond the walls of her house.
+
+Ilse had her favorites among the young men. Of this number was a worthy
+student, not the most distinguished, but one of the most industrious of
+the Professor's scholars. He was a countryman of hers and had been the
+first to show her that students had tender feelings in their breasts.
+This student had, during the last year, worked successfully in filling
+his intellectual vacuum with collegiate knowledge. His lyrics he had
+almost given up; for when the Professor sent him back his poems, he had
+felt remorse and humbly begged pardon. Since that, having obtained a
+good scholarship through Felix, he took a less misanthropic view of
+domestic affairs; he proved himself a faithful and attached companion,
+and now bore the honorable title of Doctorandus, which, according to
+our grammarians, signifies a man who is about to be a doctor; he had
+also attained a certain degree of recognition among the students; he
+filled a position of honor in the great Arminia corps, always wore
+their colors on his cap, and was ranked among the privileged seniors of
+the society who, on drinking evenings, were exempted from the heavier
+obligations of conviviality, and filled up by serious conversation the
+pauses in which the stormy youths took breath.
+
+On one of these evenings the conversation took a learned turn even
+before the party had retreated from Ilse's apartment to the study. An
+interesting manuscript had been found in a distant library in South
+Germany. There was much talk about the discovery and the editor, and
+Felix recounted with satisfaction to some of his select circle all the
+similar discoveries which had been made during the last twenty years.
+Then our student, who had just received a cup of tea from Ilse, and was
+stirring it with his spoon, said, in evident ignorance of the storm
+that was lowering: "May there not be many things still undiscovered in
+the neighborhood? In my town there is an old chest, which contains
+books and papers from the monastery at Rossau. It is not impossible
+that there may be something valuable there."
+
+Thus spoke the student, stirring his spoon, like a boy who applies a
+burning match to a bombshell.
+
+The Professor started from his chair, and cast such a flaming glance at
+the student that in fright he quickly set down his cup of tea in order
+not to spill it "Where is the chest?" said the Professor.
+
+"Where is it? I do not know," replied the student surprised. "I was
+told of it, some years ago, by a countryman of mine, who was born in
+the district of Rossau"--the student mentioned the name, and Ilse knew
+the family--"but it must be in our county, for he lived there as tutor
+in several places."
+
+"Was he a philologist?" asked an older scholar, as eager as the
+Professor.
+
+"He was a theologian," replied our student. A murmur of regret passed
+through the room.
+
+"Then the account is still very uncertain," concluded the critic.
+
+"Did the man see the chest himself?" asked the Professor.
+
+"I am not certain of that, either," replied the student. "I did not
+then know the importance that attached to the communication. But, I
+think, he must have seen it himself, for I remember he said it was
+thickly plated with iron."
+
+"Unfortunate man! You must do your utmost to procure us information
+about this chest," cried the Professor. He paced impatiently up and
+down the room, the students making way for him respectfully. "Your
+communication is of more importance than I can now tell you," began the
+Professor, stopping before the student. "Endeavor, in the first place,
+to recall what you have heard about it. Did your acquaintance ever see
+the chest open?"
+
+"When I come to think of it," replied the student, "I believe that he
+saw some old monastic relics lying in it."
+
+"Then it was no longer closed?" inquired the Professor. "And where is
+your friend, now?"
+
+"He went to America last year with a brewer's daughter. I do not know
+where he now resides, but it may be ascertained from his relations."
+
+Again a murmur of vexation passed through the room.
+
+"Endeavor to discover the residence of the man; write to him, and ask
+for accurate information," exclaimed the Professor; "you can do me no
+greater service."
+
+The student promised to do all in the power of man. When the party
+broke up Gabriel communicated to the student a secret invitation to
+dinner on the following day. Ilse knew that it would be agreeable to
+Felix to have the company of one who had even an acquaintance who had
+seen the chest that contained the books of Rossau, among which, it was
+possible, the manuscript of Tacitus might lie, provided it was not
+somewhere else.
+
+She, however, did not hear with any satisfaction of the secret chest,
+for Ilse was, alas! incredulous in the matter of the manuscript. She
+had sometimes vexed her husband by her indifference on the subject,
+and, after the unfortunate Struvelius episode, avoided every mention of
+the lost treasure. She had, besides, special reasons for it. She knew
+how much every thought and discussion concerning it excited Felix. He
+always became agitated, and his eyes shone as in fever. It is true he
+controlled himself after a few minutes, and laughed at his own fervor;
+but these outbreaks of latent ardor were not agreeable to his wife, for
+she saw by these sudden flashings that the thought of the manuscript
+still fretted the soul of her dear husband, and suspected that in
+secret he often dreamt of it, and entertained secret designs against
+the walls of her father's house.
+
+Our student had now aroused the storm. Later, the doctor was called in
+and there was a long discussion and dispute. Ilse was glad that the
+doctor did not attach much importance to the chest, and by sensible
+suggestions brought the Professor at last to make humorous remarks upon
+his own eagerness.
+
+When, on the following day at dinner, the student produced the letter
+he had written in proof of his zeal, the Professor treated the matter
+with more composure. "It is an uncertain account," he said, "even if
+the relator tells the truth; he may be in error concerning the
+particulars, or even the name of the monastery." When, afterwards,
+information came from the house of the student that the theologian had
+settled somewhere in Wisconsin as an apothecary, and that the student's
+letter had been sent to an uncertain address in a distant country, the
+whirlpool which the mention of the chest had provoked had subsided to
+peaceful ripples.
+
+The greatest advantage consequent upon this episode came to our
+student; for the Professor imparted the account to the Chamberlain, and
+pointed out to him that in this chest there might be things of very
+great value. The Chamberlain had several years before held the post of
+castellan, and was well acquainted with all the relics of his
+sovereign's castles, and was aware that there was nothing of that kind
+to be found in any of them; but as the student appeared to him to be a
+favorite of the family, he took kindly notice of the young man, and
+offered to present him as a fellow-countryman to the Hereditary Prince.
+This was done. The consequence of the introduction was that our student
+was invited one evening on which the Prince received other academical
+acquaintances.
+
+It was an anxious evening for the student, and the Arminian had various
+reasons to be mistrustful. For, this year, there had been violent
+storms among the students. It was the quarrel between the corps of
+Markomanns and the Society of Arminians that had raised the tempest.
+The recent cause of the storm was curious and instructive to those who
+watch the secret links of earthly events. The discord which had
+sundered the professors who were the representatives of ancient
+learning, the struggle between Werner and Struvelius, had not at the
+time much excited the academic youth. But, shortly afterwards, a song
+had come forth among the students, in which the adventure of Struvelius
+was treated disrespectfully. This song was a weak production; it was in
+the form of a ballad, and adorned with a refrain to this effect:
+
+           "Struvelius, Struvelius,
+            Come out here with your Fidibus,
+            Who burns himself will have a fuss."
+
+The author was never discovered. But when one considers that this song,
+so far as could be perceived from its ludicrous style, was averse to
+Struvelius and in honor of Werner, and further, that it first appeared
+among the Arminians, and that among these children of Arminius was one
+who had cherished lyrical tendencies in the past; that this one
+belonged to Werner's circle, and that in this circle the parchment had
+upon several occasions been contemptuously treated as a fidibus, one
+cannot suppress the cautious supposition that our student had degraded
+his departing muse by this miserable performance.
+
+This frivolous song had become popular with the Arminians; its refrain
+was heard in the streets sometimes in the quiet night; it was very
+vexatious to the Professor, and not less so to Werner's tea party, but
+it could not be put down by force. The song and its origin were matters
+of indifference to the Markomanns and their associates, but they did
+not sing it simply because it was modelled upon a drinking song of the
+Arminians. About the time that Werner entered upon his rectorate, some
+students of all parties were sitting together in a restaurant; a
+Markomann attempted to light his pipe by the gas-flame, and a spark
+burnt the ribbon of his corps-colors; whereupon some of the Arminians
+mockingly sang the refrain. The Markomanns sprang up and commanded
+silence. Numerous challenges were the consequence. But, unfortunately,
+the matter did not rest there. A number of Arminians had drawn up in
+front of the Markomann's club-house, and had openly sung the tune in an
+insolent manner on the main street; it led to disagreeable conflicts
+between the parties and the city police, and investigations and
+punishments were the result. Werner himself had, in private conferences
+with some of the leaders, done what he could to suppress the
+unfortunate song, and he had succeeded in banishing it at least from
+the streets. But the ill-will remained in their hearts. By various
+unfortunate occurrences it became clear that there was more disunion
+and discordant feeling among the students than usual.
+
+The Arminian, as he hung up his cap in the Prince's ante-room beside
+the smart ones of the great Markomann leaders, anxiously revolved all
+this in his mind. The evening passed off more pleasantly than he had
+expected. In the august chamber the Markomanns observed decorous
+civility. The meeting indeed was of some importance; for this was just
+the time when the students were talking about holding a great
+_Commers_[3] to celebrate the anniversary of some university event.
+But, as often happens in the greater affairs of our nation, the feast
+was in danger of being disturbed by the quarrel between the clans. Now,
+while the Arminian was drinking punch together with the Markomanns, the
+Hereditary Prince expressed the desire to participate in the
+commemorative _Commers_; and Beppo, the leader of the Markomanns,
+explained to the Arminian his views as to how the quarrel might be
+adjusted. The Arminian offered to convey this proposal to his corps.
+When the Chamberlain hesitated as to the participation of the
+Hereditary Prince in the _Commers_, the Arminian, exhilarated by punch
+and the flow of conversation, assured him that his comrades would
+appreciate the honor done to their festival by the presence of the
+Hereditary Prince.
+
+The efforts of our student were successful; the hatchet was buried, and
+the academic youths prepared for a festival in common. A large hall,
+richly ornamented with the colors of all the associations that took
+part in the Commers, was filled with long tables. At the end stood the
+presidents in festive attire, with their rapiers. On the chairs sat
+many hundred students, arranged according to their respective corps and
+clubs. Among the Markomanns were the Prince and his Chamberlain; and
+the Prince on this occasion wore their colors in honor of the corps.
+The full-toned melody of the songs, accompanied by stirring music,
+resounded through the room; it was a goodly sight to behold so many
+young men, the hope and strength of the rising generation, united in
+festive song, according to the old customs of the university. Hitherto
+the festival had passed without any disturbance. The Chamberlain,
+remarking that cheeks were beginning to glow, and the songs becoming
+wilder, so that the music was not rapid enough for the beating of the
+academic pulse, advised the Prince to retire. The Prince, himself
+excited by song and wine, immediately rose; before him walked all the
+nobility of the Markomanns to clear the way through the surging
+multitude. They were obliged to push through the crowd, who had risen
+from their chairs and were moving about in confusion. But it chanced
+that the Prince was cut off from his academical attendants and bumped
+against an insolent Arminian, who, emboldened by wine and embittered by
+the not very gentle touch of the advancing Prince, would not make way,
+but barred the passage intentionally with his elbows, and coolly
+proceeded to puff his pipe in the Prince's face. The Prince was
+inconsiderate enough to push the Arminian roughly aside and cry, "You
+are an impudent fellow;" whereupon the Arminian spoke the fatal word,
+of which the consequence, according to academical custom, is either a
+duel or loss of honor to the person insulted. In a moment he was
+surrounded by the Markomanns. The same insulting word poured like hail
+from all sides on the audacious offender; but he drew out his card-case
+mockingly, and called out, "One after another; let the whole retinue
+follow suit; like master like man." When the throng became greater, he
+cried out to those behind him, "This way, Arminians," and began in loud
+bass tones the battle-cry of his corps:
+
+                 "Struvelius, Struvelius,
+                  Come out here with your Fidibus."
+
+The tumult spread throughout the hall; over chairs and tables sprang
+the Arminians to the aid of their endangered champion; the words of
+insult and challenges flew in volleys in every direction. In vain did
+the presidents call them to their places; in vain did the music
+interpose; the angry cries of the contending parties could be heard
+above the shrill _fanfare_ of the trumpet. The presidents hastened
+together, and, passing along in close array, separated the contending
+parties. But the wild uproar was followed by violent discussions; the
+associations stood apart from each other; separate groups jeered at one
+another, and, according to the old custom of academic belligerents,
+endeavored gradually to drive their opponents to use the word of
+challenge. Some provoking expressions had already been used which were
+forbidden by the social rules of the University; blades were glittering
+in the air, and more than one hand clenched a wine bottle. The music
+struck up the national hymn, but it was untimely, and from all sides
+came the angry shout, "Stop it! stop it!" The frightened musicians were
+silenced, and a fresh outbreak of the tremendous tumult seemed
+inevitable, when an old leader of the Teutons, who knew his people
+well, sprang up into the orchestra, seized a fiddle, seated himself in
+a chair high up as director, and began the foolish tune, "_Ach, du
+lieber Augustin, alles ist hin._" The music began in plaintive tones.
+Every one looked up, and at once noticed the eminent gentleman scraping
+strenuously on the fiddle; the mood of all was suddenly changed, and a
+general laugh arose. The presidents struck their blades on the table so
+violently that more than one broke, and commanded peace; the leaders of
+all the associations joined together, and declared the Commers to be
+concluded, and called upon the clubs and corps to return peacefully
+home, as they intended to take the affair in hand. The students
+crowded angrily out of the hall, and dispersed to their respective
+head-quarters; but in every group the events of the evening were
+discussed with vehement bitterness, and embassies passed rapidly from
+one camp to another throughout the night. The Chamberlain had
+extricated the Prince from the throng after the first encounter. The
+latter was sitting in his room, pale and dismayed at the consequences
+likely to ensue from the unfortunate incident. The Chamberlain also was
+terrified, for the responsibility of this fracas would fall upon his
+head. Besides this he felt real sympathy for the young Prince, who so
+deeply felt the insult to his honor, and who, with a fixed and saddened
+gaze, received no comfort from the assurance that his princely honor
+could suffer no more injury from these plebeians than from the sparrows
+on the tree.
+
+After a sleepless night the Prince received the leaders of the
+Markomanns, who came to announce the decision of their corps. They
+stated that their senior officer, Beppo, had been chosen to represent
+the Prince in all further dealings with the Arminian, and he, Beppo,
+chivalrously begged him to concede to him this honor; he added that, in
+the opinion of his association, the Arminian had no claim to the
+privilege of receiving a challenge in consequence of that vile
+insulting word, and if the Prince should refuse any further
+participation in the matter, the Markomanns would take all the
+consequences on themselves. But they could not conceal from him that
+they alone held this view, nay, even some of their own corps had
+objected. All things, therefore, considered, they thought the best
+course would be for the Prince to make this concession--the greatness
+of which they undoubtedly deeply felt--to the academical custom.
+
+The Prince had not yet recovered his self-possession, so the
+Chamberlain begged the gentlemen to allow his Highness some hours for
+reflection.
+
+Meanwhile our student, who had been restrained by the consideration of
+his academical duties, and had kept aloof from any personal
+implication, in great perplexity went to the Doctor with this news, as
+in this affair he could not venture before the Rector. The Doctor
+hastened to his friend, who had already had an account from the beadles
+and the police.
+
+"As regards the personal conflict of the Prince, I have as yet received
+no notice, and it is perhaps desirable, both for him and the
+University, that it should not be entered into. I shall be watchful and
+endeavor to provide against further consequences; and I shall perform
+the duties of my office in every direction in the strictest way; but do
+your best to prevent my learning any details of this affair, except
+what may give me just ground for taking official steps."
+
+The Chamberlain was almost in a similar quandary as our student; he
+also went full of anxiety to the Doctor, related the quarrel, and asked
+what the Doctor considered was the duty of the Prince, and whether he
+ought to allow himself to be represented in a duel.
+
+The Doctor replied, with some reserve: "Duels are senseless and wrong!
+If the Hereditary Prince is imbued with this view, and is willing to
+take upon himself the consequences to his own life, and at some future
+day to his government, I will be the last to oppose this martyrdom. But
+if your young master is not free from the prejudices of his class, and
+has been impressed with the idea that there is a certain honor for
+cavaliers and officers, which is different from that of men of honor in
+general, and which, in certain cases, makes a duel necessary, if your
+Prince is going to decide the question upon these grounds, and in
+future govern according to such views, in that case I will unreservedly
+acknowledge that I cannot allow him the right to set himself in
+opposition to the ideas of honor of our academical youths."
+
+"Then you are of opinion," said the Chamberlain, "that the Prince must
+consent to the offer of a representative?"
+
+"I have neither the right nor the wish to offer an opinion," said the
+Doctor. "I can only say that the idea of a representative does not
+please me. It appears to me that the affair is simple,--either reason
+or personal courage."
+
+The Chamberlain rose quickly. "That is quite impossible; it would be an
+unheard of deviation from custom, and would produce new and painful
+complications for the Prince; it is also entirely contrary to my
+convictions of what is allowable to a royal prince, and under no
+considerations can the proposition be further entertained."
+
+The Chamberlain went away not much pleased with the radical views of
+the Doctor. On his return home he said to the Prince:
+
+"The affair must be settled quickly before your father can learn of it.
+Your father, considering the social standing of your opponent, would
+positively prohibit any concession on your part; and yet I see that the
+future intercourse of your Highness with the body of the students, and
+even perhaps other personal relations, will be greatly endangered if
+the public opinion here is not in some measure satisfied. If,
+therefore, I may counsel your Highness, it will be to make a great
+concession, and accept Herr von Halling as your representative."
+
+The Prince looked down, depressed, and finally said: "That will perhaps
+be best."
+
+The great leader Beppo, one of the best swordsmen of the University,
+was to fight for the Hereditary Prince. But now it appeared that the
+Arminians were by no means satisfied with this idea of a
+representative, and raised the impudent pretension that the Prince
+should himself appear before them in fencing attire and cambric shirt.
+The stout Ulf, for instance, the originator of the whole embroilment,
+declared that he found the Markomann leader also on his list, and he
+would not renounce the delightful prospect of having a pass with that
+gentleman in his private capacity.
+
+This could not be denied. Meanwhile a large council of seniors, which
+the Markomanns had quickly called together, decided that a substitute
+should be allowed to enter the lists for the Prince. On the other hand,
+their cunning proposition that the Arminian should first enter the
+lists against the other men of their corps, was declined. They wished
+by this to relieve the Prince of the whole affair, as it might be
+assumed that even the great strength of the Arminian would be exhausted
+before half the names on his list were cancelled. Nothing, therefore,
+remained but for the two combatants to fight together at two different
+times, the Markomann, in the name of the Prince, first.
+
+"We shall do our best to make the second meeting unnecessary," said the
+Markomann significantly to the representative of the Arminian, on the
+breaking-up of the conference.
+
+Every precaution was taken to keep the fatal duel secret; only those
+concerned in it knew the hour: even to their near associates another
+day was spoken of; for the beadles were watchful, and the University
+had been called upon by the highest authorities to avert further
+consequences by all means in their power.
+
+The day before the duel, the Prince invited the Markomanns to dinner,
+and there was so much talk upon relevant matters that the Chamberlain
+felt decidedly uncomfortable. Shortly before the breaking-up of the
+party, the Prince was standing with Beppo in a recess of the window;
+suddenly he seized the hand of the young man, held it fast, and his
+frame was violently convulsed with suppressed sobbing. The valiant
+youth looked at the Prince much moved.
+
+"All will go well, your Highness," said he, consolingly.
+
+"For you, but not for me," replied the Prince, and turned away.
+
+As towards evening the Hereditary Prince walked restlessly through the
+rooms, the Chamberlain, who also wished to be relieved from his
+troubled thoughts, proposed that they should that evening pay a visit
+to the Rector. This was the only place where he was sure to hear
+nothing of the disagreeable history, and he was sharp-sighted enough to
+guess that this visit would be particularly agreeable to the Prince.
+
+Ilse knew everything. Our student friend, who had involuntarily played
+the magpie, creating mischief between the parties, still haunted the
+neighborhood; he ventured, on one of the student evenings, to remain
+behind with Penelope when the others went into the Rector's room; he
+related the whole quarrel, described the dangerous position of the
+Prince, and begged her to say nothing of the occurrence to her husband.
+When, therefore, the Prince entered, a forced restraint and uneasiness
+was manifest in those present. The Chamberlain was more charming than
+ever, and related agreeable Court stories, but without effect. The
+Prince sat embarrassed in his place, next to Ilse; he felt the
+seriousness of even her friendly words; he saw how sorrowfully her eyes
+rested upon him, and when they met his he turned quickly away. At last
+he began, with unsteady voice:
+
+"You once showed me the portraits of famous men that you have; may I
+ask you to let me see the volume again?"
+
+Ilse glanced at him and rose. The Prince followed her, as before, into
+the next room. She laid the volume before him; he looked over it
+without interest, and at last began, in a low tone:
+
+"All I wished was to be alone with you. I am helpless and very unhappy.
+I have no person on earth who will give me disinterested advice as to
+what I shall do. I have given offense to a student, and have been
+bitterly insulted by him. And I am now compelled to allow another to
+fight out the quarrel for me."
+
+"My poor Prince!" cried Ilse.
+
+"Do not speak to me of it, gracious lady, with the feelings with which
+a woman would regard it, but speak, as if you were my friend in advice.
+That I should burden you with my troubles makes me feel at this moment
+contemptible to myself, and I fear I seem so also to you." He glanced
+gloomily down.
+
+Ilse spoke softly. "I can only say what is in my heart; if your
+Highness has done an injustice, apologize for it; if you have been
+insulted, forgive it."
+
+The Prince shook his head.
+
+"That would be of no use, it would only disgrace me afresh in my own
+eyes, and those of all others. It was not on that point that I ask you.
+Only one thing I wish to know; ought I to allow another to fight my
+battle because I am a prince? All say that I must do it; but I have no
+confidence in any, only in you."
+
+The blood mantled in Ilse's face. "Your Highness lays a responsibility
+upon me that frightens me."
+
+"You once told me the truth," said the Prince, gloomily, "as no one on
+earth has yet done, and every word you spoke was good and from your
+heart. I therefore now pray you to give me your honest opinion."
+
+"Then," said Ilse, looking at him eagerly, while the old Saxon blood
+boiled in her veins, "if your Highness began the quarrel, you must end
+it yourself like a man, and you must yourself take care that it is done
+in an honorable way. Your Highness ought not to allow another to brave
+your opponent and endanger himself on account of the wrong you have
+done. To lead a stranger to wrong, to compel another to risk his life,
+while you quietly look on, would be worst of all!"
+
+The Prince replied, dejectedly:
+
+"He is courageous, and superior to his adversary."
+
+"And does your Highness think it right to take advantage of your
+opponent by the powers of one who is stronger than yourself? Whether
+your representative wins or loses, you will be more indebted to him
+than you ought to be to a stranger; and through your whole life you
+will be burdened with the thought that he has shown courage, while you
+have not."
+
+The Prince became pale and silent.
+
+"I feel just as you do," he said, at last.
+
+"Everything of this kind is dreadful," continued Ilse, wringing her
+hands; "everywhere there seems to be ill-will and thoughts of bloody
+revenge. But, if it is impossible for you to prevent a wrong, it is
+your duty to take care that it does not become greater, and that its
+consequences do not fall on the head of another, only on your own. My
+heart tells me that you must yourself do, if not what is right, at all
+events what is least wrong."
+
+The Prince nodded his head, and again sat silent.
+
+"I cannot speak of it to those about me," he began, at last, "least of
+all to him," pointing to the Chamberlain. "If I am to prevent another
+from fighting in my stead, it must be done immediately. Do you know any
+one who can help me?"
+
+"My husband's office forbids his doing anything for your Highness in
+this affair. But the Doctor?"
+
+The Prince shook his head.
+
+"Our student," exclaimed Ilse; "he is truly devoted to your Highness:
+he is a countryman of ours, and feels greatly troubled about this
+matter."
+
+The Prince reflected.
+
+"Will you allow me to have the use of your servant for a few hours this
+evenings when you no longer need him yourself?"
+
+Ilse called Gabriel into the room, and said to him:
+
+"Do what his Highness desires of you."
+
+The Prince approached the window, and spoke in a low tone to the
+servant.
+
+"Leave everything to me, your Highness," said Gabriel, as he went back
+to his tea-cups.
+
+The Prince approached Ilse, who was standing motionless, staring at the
+book.
+
+"I have looked over the portraits," he said, with more composure than
+he had shown during the whole evening, "and I have found what I was
+looking for. I thank you."
+
+Ilse rose, and returned with him to the company.
+
+The guests had left, and Ilse was sitting alone in her room. What had
+she done? Become the confidant of a man implicated in a bloody deed,
+the secret adviser of a lawless action. She, a woman, was the
+confederate of a strange man; she, the helpmate of one who should be
+the guardian of the laws, had become the abettor of a crime. What dark
+spirit had infatuated her when she confidentially held counsel with the
+stranger in whispers on a subject which she could not venture to
+confess to her husband? No!--he who had drawn her into this was not a
+stranger. She had from her childhood heard of him with deep interest;
+he was the future ruler of her country, and would be there master of
+life and death. From the time she first knew him, so touching in his
+joyless youth and in the weak helplessness of his position, she had
+been tenderly solicitous about him; and from that day she had always
+found in him an amiable and pure mind. She was now trembling with
+anguish for him. She had driven him to his fate; she bore the guilt of
+an action that was considered unseemly for one in his position. If from
+her advice evil befell him--if the opponent of the poor, weak youth
+should kill him,--how could she bear it on her conscience?
+
+She sprang up, and wrung her hands. Her husband called her, and she
+shuddered, for she felt herself guilty in his sight. Again she asked
+herself: "What bad spirit has distracted me? Am I no longer what I was?
+Ah me! I have not acted as becomes a Christian woman, nor as a careful
+wife who opens the shrine of her soul to one alone. Yet," she
+exclaimed, raising her head, proudly, "if he were again to stand before
+me, and again ask whether he should act as a man or as a coward, I
+would again and again say the same thing. May God forgive me!"
+
+When Kr�ger entered the Prince's bedroom to undress him, the latter
+laconically charged him with a commission that greatly astonished the
+lackey. But as he saw himself thereby confirmed in his confidential
+position, he promised obedience and silence. He extinguished the lamp,
+and went to his post. An hour after, he introduced the student, who had
+been brought by Gabriel through a back-door, into the bedroom of the
+Prince. There a conversation took place in a low tone, the consequence
+of which was that the student hastened from the house in great
+excitement, and commissioned Gabriel, who was waiting, to order a cab
+to be ready at an early hour in the morning near the corner of the next
+street.
+
+A serious company, the flower of the different corps and associations,
+tried fellows of daring aspect, were assembled at early dawn in the
+hall of a tavern some distance from the town--an impressive sight for
+every student heart. On this day most of the sanguinary agreements of
+the memorable evening were to be settled in their proper order. The
+first matter in hand concerned the academic honor of the Hereditary
+Prince. The combatants were drawn up, dressed in their fencing attire;
+each one stood, with his seconds and umpires, in a corner of the room;
+the physician--it was the old Teuton of the fiddle--had prepared his
+apparatus in a corner, and looked with grim satisfaction on his
+impending work, which promised him new and instructive cases. But the
+Arminians were unappeasable: once more their seconds addressed
+themselves to the referees, and complained that the Prince was not
+there, at least, to acknowledge his representative by his presence.
+They therefore demanded that the impending combat should not be
+reckoned for him, but accounted as a personal struggle between the two
+students, who had frequently come athwart each other in various
+delicate relations. As the Markomanns had not clear consciences, having
+equivocally contrived to evade the question, they now proposed that the
+Prince should subsequently meet the seconds at some place to be agreed
+upon, where the customary reconciliation should take place.
+
+This was discussed with much bitterness, but briefly, as the hour
+demanded. Suddenly the freshman, a young Arminian, who kept watch
+outside, knocked twice at the door. All stood motionless. But the
+seconds gathered the swords together and threw them into a dark closet,
+while our student, who, as backer for his comrade, was binding silk
+about wrist and arm, sprang quickly to the door and opened it. A slight
+figure in a cloak and felt hat entered. It was the Hereditary Prince.
+He removed his hat: his face looked paler than usual, but he spoke in a
+composed manner:
+
+"I have come to you in secret; I beg that the gentlemen present will
+permit me to take upon myself the responsibility of giving satisfaction
+and will show me due consideration if I prove unpractised in any of the
+customary formalities; it is the first time that I try my skill."
+
+There was a silence so profound that one could hear the slightest stir.
+All present felt that this was a manly act. But Beppo, the Markomann,
+stood confounded, and began:
+
+"Your Highness's presence now removes the only obstacle to our
+proceeding with the duel. I insist that the course determined upon be
+not reversed," and in a lower voice he added, "I beseech your Highness,
+not to do what is so plainly unnecessary; it will cast upon us all a
+responsibility that we dare not assume."
+
+The Prince answered firmly: "You have fulfilled your promise; I am as
+grateful for the will as for the deed. But I am resolute." He took off
+his coat, and said: "Put the bandages on."
+
+The second of the Arminian turned towards the umpire, saying, "I beg to
+inform our opponent that not a moment is to be lost; we are not here to
+exchange civilities; if the Prince wishes to have satisfaction himself,
+we are ready."
+
+The Markomanns prepared the Prince, and one must acknowledge that the
+brave fellows did it with as anxious solicitude as if they had in fact
+been warriors of the race whose name they bore, and were preparing
+their young king's son for deadly single combat.
+
+The Prince stepped up to the mark; the weapon trembled in the hand of
+his second, a scarred veteran, as he took his position beside him.
+"Ready!"--"Go!" The blades whistled in the air. The Prince did not
+behave badly; a long habit of cautious self-command stood him in good
+stead; he avoided exposing himself dangerously; and his second drew
+upon himself a sharp warning from the umpire for inconsiderately
+exposing his own person within reach of the enemy's blade. The Arminian
+was far superior in strength and skill, but he afterwards acknowledged
+to his intimate friends that it had quite disconcerted him to see the
+princely scion within reach of his broadsword. After the fourth pass,
+blood streamed from Ulf's broad cheek on to his shirt. His second
+demanded the continuation of the fight, but the umpire declared the
+quarrel ended. As the Prince stood still in his place the sword fell
+from his hand, and there was a slight tremulous motion in his fingers;
+but he smiled, and there was a pleased expression on his face. In one
+short quarter of an hour a boy had attained the self-reliance of a man.
+Before the Prince turned to his antagonist he embraced the Markomann,
+and said: "Now I can thank you from my heart." The umpire led him to
+his opponent, who was standing ill-humoredly before the Doctor, but yet
+could not suppress a smile that gave him some pain, and both shook
+hands. Then the Arminians approached to greet the Prince, while the
+umpire called out "Second event."
+
+But the Prince, who had resumed his mantle, went to the director of the
+duels, and began: "I cannot go away without making a great request. I
+was, unfortunately, the cause of the painful occurrence that has
+occasioned this discord among the students. I well know that I have no
+right here to express any wish, but it would be a pleasant recollection
+forever for me if I could bring about peace and reconciliation."
+
+At this moment the Prince might have made any demand upon his
+Markomanns, and even the Arminians were impressed by the extraordinary
+event. A murmur of approbation passed through the room, and the umpire
+exclaimed in a loud voice: "The Prince has spoken well." The gloomy
+looks of some individuals were disregarded; the seconds and seniors
+held a consultation upon the spot, and the result was that the
+impending challenges were amicably settled, and a general
+reconciliation brought about.
+
+The Prince, surrounded by the Markomanns, left the house and jumped
+into the carriage awaiting him. Kr�ger opened the bed-room door to him.
+
+The Chamberlain had been much surprised this morning at the long repose
+of his young master; but when he came to breakfast he found his Prince
+sitting comfortably at the table.
+
+After Kr�ger had gone away, the Prince began: "The duel has been
+settled, Weidegg. I fought it out myself." The Chamberlain stood up,
+horrified. "I tell you it because it could not long be kept a secret. I
+hope that the quarrel among the students will be settled by it. Do not
+say anything against it, nor be annoyed at the matter. I have done what
+I considered to be right, or, at all events, what was least wrong, and
+am happier than I have been for a long time."
+
+The Markomanns had begged of all present to give their word that the
+events of the morning should not be spoken of, and one may assume that
+every one kept his promise. Nevertheless, the news flew quick as
+lightning through the University and city, that the Prince himself had
+composed the quarrel by his valiant and manly conduct. The Chamberlain
+perceived from the indications of pleasure from the Markomanns, and the
+friendly greetings which his young master received in the street, and
+still more from the altered demeanor of the Prince himself, that the
+secret duel had had a good result, and this reconciled him a little to
+the vexatious occurrence.
+
+When the Prince some time after visited the Rector's house, he was led
+into the latter's study, and Werner greeted him, smiling. "I was
+obliged to inform the government of what had lately taken place, and to
+add, according to the unanimous sentiments of the students summoned to
+appear before me, that your Highness had, by your interposition,
+contributed essentially to the restoration of peace. It has become my
+duty to express to you the warm acknowledgment of the academical
+authorities. I venture to give expression to my own wish, that all that
+your Highness has gone through on this occasion may ever leave an
+agreeable and also profitable recollection."
+
+As the Prince bowed to Ilse, he said, in a low voice: "All has gone off
+well. I thank you." Ilse looked proudly at her young Prince. Yet she
+had not recovered from the fearful anxiety of the previous day, and she
+was more reserved with him than usual.
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER XXV_.
+
+                                 CHAOS.
+
+
+Spring smiled cheerfully on the country; the flowering shrubs and the
+beds in the garden combined their colors brilliantly; this year,
+starlings actually sang in Mr. Hahn's cages, and rananculi and other
+wild flowers in the meadow in front of Mr. Hummel's garden rejoiced in
+the moist warmth. It was a pleasant time for our academical citizens;
+the quarrels of the winter were settled, the beadles put on their
+night-caps at ten o'clock, and the lectures of the Professors went on
+smoothly and pleasantly.
+
+The Rector also enjoyed the repose, and he needed it, for Ilse saw with
+anxiety that his cheeks were thinner, and that in the evening a
+lassitude came over him that formerly he had not known.
+
+"He ought to rest from his work a few months," advised the physician;
+"that will lend him new life and strength for years to come; every man
+of studious habits requires such relaxation two or three times during
+his life; traveling would be the best thing."
+
+Felix laughed, but his wife kept this counsel faithfully in mind, and
+endeavored, meanwhile, as often as possible, to draw her husband from
+his books into the air. She put her arm within his and took him into
+the wood and green meadows; she pointed out to him the butterflies that
+fluttered over the wild flowers, and the flights of birds that enjoyed
+themselves in the warm sun-light.
+
+"Now is the time for that restlessness of which you once told me. Have
+you not noticed it?"
+
+"Yes," said the Professor, "and if you will go with me, we will, at
+least in fancy, travel together into foreign parts."
+
+"Will you take me with you?" exclaimed Ilse, delighted. "I am like the
+woodchuck: I only know the hole from which my master brought me, and
+the cover of the cage in which I am fed. If I could have my wish, I
+should like to see snow-capped peaks rising high above the clouds, and
+abysses of immeasurable depths. But from the mountains I would descend
+to olive-trees and oranges. For years I have heard of the men who have
+lived there, and have seen how your heart leaps for joy whenever you
+speak of the blue ocean and of the grandeur of the old cities. I would
+gladly see all this, and hear you talk and feel the pleasure which you
+would have in revisiting the scenes so dear to you."
+
+"Very well," said the Professor; "to the Alps and then to Naples; but
+in passing I must work a few weeks at Florence upon Tacitus."
+
+"Ah!" thought Ilse, "there is the manuscript again."
+
+They were sitting under a large oak, one of the giants of the Middle
+Ages, that towered above the new generation of trees in the forest, as
+the cupola of St Peter's does above the towers and roofs of the Holy
+City.
+
+When they came out from the copse into the open space, they saw, amidst
+the flowers in the meadow, the livery of a lackey, and then perceived
+the Prince and his attendant, together with a proprietor from a
+neighboring village. The gentleman approached and greeted them.
+
+"We have a design upon some hours of your leisure," called out the
+Chamberlain to the Professor, and the Prince began:
+
+"I wish to invite some of the ladies and gentlemen of the University to
+an entertainment in the open air, as I cannot have the pleasure of
+receiving them at a house of my own. It will be a small party, and as
+rural as possible; we thought of this spot, as your wife had often
+extolled it. I would be grateful for your assistance and advice as to
+the arrangements."
+
+"If your Highness wishes to please the ladies, you should also invite
+the children. If it is at the same time a children's party, your
+Highness maybe assured that it will leave a pleasant impression."
+
+This was agreed to. Dainty invitations were sent to the Rector and
+Deans, and the Professors with whom the Prince was personally
+acquainted, and their families, to an entertainment in the open air.
+The idea was approved by great and small, and gave rise to pleasant
+anticipations among the acquaintances of the Rector's wife.
+
+Laura had received an invitation, and her pleasure was great. But when
+in the evening it appeared that the Doctor was not invited, she was
+quite put out.
+
+"I do not mean to be his advocate," said she, to Ilse, "but he is
+precisely in my position; and if I am asked on your account, he ought
+to be for the sake of your husband. Their having neglected to do this
+is want of tact, or something worse; and, as he is not asked, I am
+determined not to go; for, let Fritz Hahn be what he will, he has not
+deserved a slight from these people."
+
+In vain did Ilse try to explain to her that the Doctor had not visited
+the Prince, from whom the invitations came. Laura remained obstinate,
+and replied:
+
+"You are an eloquent defender of your Prince, and more acquainted
+with the customs of great people than I had supposed. But when the
+picnic-day comes I shall feign illness, you may rely on that. If my
+friend over the way is not invited I shall not go. But do not tell the
+Doctor, lest little Fritz should fancy I do it for love of him; it is
+not friendship for him, but displeasure at the Court people."
+
+One Sunday there drew up in the neighborhood of the great oak, first a
+large van with Kr�ger and a cook, then the Prince's equipages bringing
+the ladies and gentlemen, and an omnibus adorned with garlands and
+wreaths brought the children of the different families. A tent had been
+set up in the meadow, and a little apart, concealed in the copse, a
+wooden hut was erected as a temporary kitchen; a band of music was
+stationed in the wood and welcomed the parties as they arrived. The
+Prince and his Chamberlain received their guests near the wood, and
+conducted them to the centre of the picnic-grounds, where a prodigious
+work of the highest confectionery art formed the lighthouse, in the
+neighborhood of which they all dropped anchor. Soon there was a clatter
+of cups, the unavoidable preparation for thorough German festivity. In
+the beginning the company were solemn; there was something unusual in
+the arrangement of the f�te which occasioned reflection. But when
+Raschke, raising the flaps of his coat, seated himself on the grass,
+and the other gentlemen followed his example and lit the cigars which
+were presented to them, the meadow assumed a bucolic appearance. Even
+the Rector sat on the turf with his legs crossed in Turkish fashion;
+near him the Consistorial Councillor on a chair; and somewhat further
+off, on the trunk of a shattered tree, the still hostile Struvelius,
+with his bristling hair and silent manner, like the sorrowful spirit of
+an old willow. Apart from them, but enthroned on a high ant-hill, over
+which he had spread his pocket-handkerchief, sat Master Knips; he held
+his slouch hat respectfully under his arm, and rose whenever the Prince
+approached. Meanwhile the latter exerted himself to entertain the
+ladies, with whom he had been a favorite since the occurrence of last
+winter, and to-day he completely gained the hearts of both mothers and
+daughters. Ilse and he worked together with a mutual understanding:
+Ilse, elevated by the thought that people were pleased with her Prince,
+and he happy at heart that he had some work in common with the Rector's
+wife.
+
+Never yet had he felt on such an intimate footing with her as he did
+to-day. He looked only at her, he thought only of her. Amid the buzz of
+conversation, amid the sound of the music, he listened to every word
+that fell from her lips. Whenever he approached her he felt a glow of
+transport. In plucking a leaf from a tree, the lace of her sleeve
+passed over his face, and the touch of the delicate texture brought the
+color into his cheeks. Her hand rested a moment on his as she offered
+him a ladybird, and the slight pressure made his heart beat fast.
+
+"The ladybird knows your Highness's future," said Ilse. "You should ask
+it: Ladybird, ladybird, shall I be happy long?--one year, two years?
+and so forth, till it flies away."
+
+The Prince began the sentence, but had not arrived at the first year
+when it flew away.
+
+"That does not apply to you," said Ilse, laughing, to console him. "The
+little creature was angry at me yet."
+
+"I had rather bear the misfortune myself," said the Prince, in a low
+tone, "than that you should suffer it."
+
+While Ilse, startled at the deep meaning of his words, turned to the
+ladies, he stealthily picked up the kerchief that had fallen from her
+shoulders, and, behind a tree, pressed it to his lips.
+
+Still merrier did the young people become, when from the hut behind the
+bushes two men stepped forth with red-coats and drums, and invited them
+to try their skill at the popinjay. The Chamberlain took the
+superintendence of the boys, and Ilse of the girls; foresters and
+lackeys helped with the cross-bows; the arrows struck incessantly on
+the body of the bird, for the hitting was made easy, and those who did
+not win could admire the prizes, which were arranged on two tables.
+Everything went on smoothly, as is fitting at Court _f�tes_; the
+lackeys moved incessantly among the company, with every imaginable
+refreshment; the splints from the popinjays fell like hail, and the
+Prince distributed the prizes to the children who thronged round him.
+Bertha Raschke became queen of tournament, and a little son of the
+Consistorial Councillor her consort. The children, carrying their
+presents, followed the drummers with joyous shouts up to a long table,
+where a supper was prepared for them. They were to sit down with the
+king and queen in the middle. The foresters and lackeys served the
+different courses. The Chamberlain could not have devised anything
+better to please the parents; and the fathers walked behind the chairs
+and enjoyed seeing the little ones drinking harmless wine out of the
+crystal glasses, their rosy faces expressing delighted astonishment at
+the beautiful china and silver dishes. They soon became merry; finally
+the little Consistorial Councillor proposed the health of the Prince;
+all the children cried "Hurrah!" the drummers drummed, the music struck
+up, and the parents stood round thanking the giver of the feast. Ilse
+brought a garland of wild flowers which the ladies had woven, and
+begged permission of the Prince to put it upon him. He stood amidst the
+happy party elevated by the innocent joy of all around him, and by the
+respectful attachment which was visible on all countenances. He looked
+at Ilse with silent thanks, and without apparent cause his eyes filled
+with tears. Again the children screamed out "Hurrah!" and the drums
+beat.
+
+A horseman in strange livery galloped out of the wood; the Chamberlain,
+in consternation, approached the Prince, and handed him a letter with a
+black seal. The Prince hastened into the tent, and the Chamberlain
+followed him.
+
+The wild flowers had brought the young gentleman no good fortune. The
+pleasure of the _f�te_ was over; the company stood in groups about the
+tent, uncertain and sympathizing. At last the Prince and the
+Chamberlain came out. While the latter turned to the Rector and to
+those who surrounded him. Ilse saw the Prince at her side with deep
+sorrow depicted on his countenance.
+
+"I beg of you to excuse me to the ladies, as I am obliged to depart
+immediately: my sister's husband has died, after a short illness, and
+my poor sister is very unhappy." In great agitation, he continued: "I
+myself knew my brother-in-law only slightly, but he was very kind to my
+sister, and she felt happier with him than she had ever been in her
+life. She writes to me in despair, and the misfortune is for her quite
+inexpressible. Under existing circumstances she cannot remain in her
+present abode, and I foresee that she must return to us. It is our
+bitter fate always to be tossed about, never to remain quiet. I know
+that I shall meet with a similar misfortune. I feel myself happy
+here,--to you I can confess this,--and I regret to say that this death
+makes it very uncertain whether I shall ever return. I go to my sister
+tomorrow for a few days. Pray think of me kindly."
+
+He bowed and retired into the tent, and in a few minutes his carriage
+was on its way back to the city.
+
+Ilse hastened to her husband, who had been requested by the Chamberlain
+to act for the Prince. It was immediately determined to break up the
+party: the children were put into the carriages, and the rest returned
+to the city in earnest conversation.
+
+Meanwhile Laura feigned illness, and sat in her little sitting-room
+rummaging about among the old ballads. After the meeting in the village
+garden she had discovered with dismay that, in her anxiety about the
+Doctor, she had much diminished her treasure: full a dozen of the best
+were gone, and thus the tie by which she held the collector's heart
+fast threatened to come to an end. She had, therefore, not sent
+anything since the drinking-song. But to-day, when the Doctor had
+experienced treatment that gave her more concern than it did him, she
+sought for something to console him.
+
+A heavy step on the staircase disturbed her in the work of selection.
+She had hardly time to throw her treasures into the secret drawer
+before Mr. Hummel was at the door. It was a rare visit, and Laura
+received him with the foreboding that his coming portended serious
+results. Mr. Hummel approached his daughter and looked at her closely,
+as if she had been a new Paris invention.
+
+"So you have a headache, and could not accept the invitation? I am not
+accustomed to that in my daughter. I cannot prevent your mother from
+allowing her feelings to affect her brains, at times; but I have a
+right to demand that your head should, under all circumstances, remain
+sound. Why did you not accept the invitation to the picnic?"
+
+"It would have been an intolerable constraint upon me," said Laura.
+
+"I understand," replied Mr. Hummel. "I am not much in favor of princes,
+but not much against them either. I cannot discover that they have
+greater heads than other people. I am therefore obliged to consider
+them simply as ordinary customers who are not always number one,
+neither do they always wear number one goods. Nevertheless, when a
+prince invites you, with other distinguished persons, to a respectable
+summer entertainment, and you refuse to go, I, as your father, ask you
+for the reason; and, between you and me, it shall now be no question of
+headache."
+
+Laura perceived, from the expression of her father's countenance, that
+he had some other idea in his head.
+
+"If you wish to know the truth, I will make no secret of it. I am not
+invited on my own account; for what do these people care about me? It
+is only as the appendage of our lodgers."
+
+"You knew that when the invitation came, and yet you jumped for joy."
+
+"The idea only occurred to me afterwards when--"
+
+"When you learnt that the Doctor over there was not invited," completed
+Mr. Hummel. "Your mother is a very worthy woman, for whom I entertain
+the highest respect, but it sometimes happens that one can screw a
+secret out of her. When you thus ruminate over what neither your father
+nor the world should know, you should confide it to no one, either in
+our house or in any other."
+
+"Very well," said Laura, with decision; "if you have discovered it,
+hear it now from me. I am a plebeian just as much as Fritz Hahn is; he
+has been in the society of those Court people more frequently than I;
+their taking no notice of him made it clear to me that they considered
+one who is his equal as a superfluous addition."
+
+An expression of irony overspread the broad features of Mr. Hummel.
+
+"So that fellow over there is your equal?" he began; "that is exactly
+what I wished to disabuse your mind of. I should not approve of your
+regulating your feelings according to that weather-cock over the way. I
+do not choose that the idea should ever come into the head of Hahn
+Junior to build an arch across the street, and to wander about in
+slippers from one house to the other. The thought does not please
+me. I will bring forward only one reason, which has nothing to do with
+the old grudge. He is his father's son, and he has no real energy
+of character. One who can endure to sit year after year in that
+straw-nest, turning over the pages of books, would not, if I were a
+girl, be the man for me. It is possible that he may be very learned,
+and may know much about things that other men care little for; but I
+have not yet heard that he has accomplished anything by it. Therefore,
+if that should happen, which will not happen so long as the property
+over there is a poultry-yard,--if I, Henry Hummel, should consent that
+my only child should sit knitting stockings in front of the white Muse,
+it would be a misfortune for my child herself. For you are my daughter.
+You are just as self-willed as I am; and if you should get among those
+white-livered people, you would disturb them lamentably, and be very
+unhappy yourself. Therefore, I am of opinion that your headache was
+silliness, and I wish never to hear again of like ailments. Good day,
+Miss Hummel."
+
+He strode out of the door, and as he heavily descended the stairs, he
+hummed the tune:
+
+           "Bloom, sweet violet, that I myself have reared."
+
+Laura sat at her writing-table supporting her heavy head with both her
+hands. This had been a trying scene. The speech of her stern father had
+wounded her deeply. But in his depreciating observations on their
+neighbor's son there was a certain truth, which had already crept like
+a hateful spider over the bright leaves of her sympathy. He must go out
+into the world. Her friends below were thinking of going into foreign
+parts. Ah! she herself, a poor bird, fluttered her wings in vain, for
+the fetters on her feet held her back. But he could free himself. She
+would lose him from her neighborhood, perhaps lose him for ever; but
+this ought not to hinder her from telling him the truth. She hastily
+searched among the old sheets; she could find but one ballad, which
+undoubtedly did not fit the Doctor, inasmuch as it expressed the
+feelings of a dissolute wanderer. The song was inappropriate, but there
+was none better. Our ancestors, when not occupied in highway exploits,
+took little pleasure in travelling. The letter must do the work. She
+wrote as follows:--
+
+"The summer birds are flying, and man also yearns after the distant
+lands of his dreams. Do not be angry with the sender of this, for
+begging you to imbibe something of the spirit of this song. Your home
+is too narrow for you. Your merits are not appreciated here as they
+deserve. You are deprived in the quiet house of your parents of those
+experiences which a man gains when he forms his life by his own
+qualifications. I well know that your highest task will always be to
+promote learning by your writings. That you may do everywhere. But do
+not think it beneath you to influence younger minds by personal
+intercourse with them, and to participate in the struggles of their
+generation. Away, Doctor! the unknown bird sings to you the song of the
+wanderer. With sorrow will your loss be felt by those you leave
+behind."
+
+About the same hour, Gabriel was sitting in his room brushing the last
+specks of dust from his best livery which he had spread over a chair.
+At his feet lay the red dog, licking his paws and giving utterance to
+an occasional growl. Gabriel looked contemptuously at the dog.
+
+"You are not handsomer, nor better than last winter. Your knavish
+nature delights in nothing but eating, and flying at the legs of the
+passers-by. I have never known a dog so much hated, or who deserved it
+so well; for your only pleasure is to despise all that is respectable.
+What is your favorite amusement? When it has rained and a ray of sun
+attracts people to walk in the wood, you lurk on the steps; and when a
+young girl appears clad in her light summer dress, then you leap like a
+frog into the puddle that lies before her, and spatter her dress all
+over, and I have to fetch a cab to take her home. What did the
+strolling cigar-dealer do yesterday to provoke you. His chest was
+standing on the bench in Mr. Hummel's garden, and the prospect of a
+bargain was certain. The cigar-man went a few steps from his chest to
+speak to an acquaintance, and you, miscreant, made a spring at the
+bread and butter lying on the chest, and came with all fours on the
+glass. It broke, and the splinters mixed With the cigars; you trampled
+them altogether into a powder, and then returned to the house. You,
+monster, caused your master to deal roughly with the trader when he
+complained of you, and the man packed up his wares and went away from
+our house with a curse on his lips. On what nocturnal excursion have
+you been since then? No human eye has seen you."
+
+He bent down towards the dog.
+
+"So this time it has gone into your flesh. I am glad to see you can
+injure yourself as well as others."
+
+Gabriel examined the dog's paw and extracted a glass splinter. The dog
+looked at him and whined.
+
+"If I only knew," continued Gabriel, shaking his head, "what pleases
+the dog in me. Is it the bones, or perhaps some roguish trait of mine
+that amuses him? He hates the whole world, and even snarls at his
+master; but he comes to visit me and behaves himself like a worthy
+companion. And he is still more crazy about my master. I do not believe
+that the Rector knows much of Spitehahn. But whenever this fiend sees
+my Professor, he peeps at him slyly from under his shaggy eyebrows, and
+does his best to wag his tuft of a tail. And when my master goes to the
+University, he runs after him like a lamb behind its mother. How comes
+it that this black soul attaches itself to the Professor? What does he
+want with our learning? They do not believe in you anyhow, Spitehahn."
+
+He looked round suspiciously and hastily donned his coat. Arrayed in
+his Sunday attire he left the house. The Hahn family were not at home,
+for Dorchen was looking out of the dressing-room window. She laughed
+and nodded. Gabriel took courage, and stepped into the enemies' hall.
+The door of the room opened. Dorchen stood on the threshold curtsying,
+and Gabriel, holding the handle of the door, began, solemnly:
+
+"It would be much more pleasant for me if I could have the pleasure of
+accompanying you in your walk to-day."
+
+Dorchen replied, twitching at her apron:
+
+"I have got to stay here to mind the house, but that need not prevent
+you from going."
+
+"I should then take ho pleasure in it," replied Gabriel, bowing, "for I
+should be always thinking of you, and I had much rather be with you
+here than only think of you in the open air. If, therefore, you would
+allow me to stay here a little while--?"
+
+"Why, come in, of course, Gabriel."
+
+"Only to the threshold," said Gabriel, advancing, still holding the
+open door. "I only wanted to say that the number of which you lately
+dreamt is not to be found at any of the offices. I have, therefore,
+taken another, and have had it drawn by a little beggar lad, as that
+brings good luck. I shall be so pleased if you will play this number
+with me. It is quite a sum, for it is a whole eighth of a ticket."
+
+"But that will be no good sign," said Dorchen, with pretty
+embarrassment.
+
+"Why not, Fr�ulein? It was a real beggar-boy."
+
+"No, I mean when two play together who love one another."
+
+"Dear Dorchen!" cried Gabriel, approaching nearer and seizing her hand.
+
+A hollow gurgle interrupted the conversation. Dorchen drew back from
+him terrified.
+
+"It was a ghost," she cried.
+
+"That is impossible," said Gabriel, consolingly: "for, first, it is
+day-time; secondly, it is in a new house; and, thirdly, spirits
+generally do not make such a noise. It was something in the street."
+
+"Your being here is a real comfort to me," exclaimed the timid Dorchen.
+"It is fearful to be alone in a large house."
+
+"To be together in a small house is particularly jolly," cried Gabriel,
+boldly. "Ah, Dorchen! if we could venture to think of it."
+
+Again a slight rumble was heard.
+
+"There must be something here," cried Dorchen. "I am so alarmed!"
+
+She sprang away from him to the middle of the room. Gabriel took a yard
+measure, and looked under the furniture.
+
+"So you are there, are you?" he cried, angrily, poking with the yard
+measure under the sofa.
+
+Spitehahn leaped forth with a bark on to the nearest chair, from the
+chair on to the console, on which the clock stood; he knocked down the
+clock, and dashed through the half-opened door.
+
+It was the parlor clock and a wedding present. Mr. Hahn wound it up
+every evening before he went to bed; it had two alabaster pillars with
+gilded capitals; the rest was of American wood, and represented a
+triumphal arch. Now the treasure lay in ruins, the pillars shattered,
+the woad broken, and the dial split. In the opened works a single wheel
+whirled with fearful rapidity, all the rest was motionless. Dorchen
+stood dismayed before the fragments, and wrung her hands.
+
+"The monster," groaned Gabriel, occupying himself in vain with the
+shattered work of art, and endeavoring with no better result to comfort
+the poor maiden, who trembled before the terrors of the ensuing hour.
+
+"I had a foreboding," cried Mr. Hahn, on his return home, "that
+something would happen to-day. I forgot yesterday, for the first time,
+to wind up the clock. But now my patience is at an end; there will be
+war to the knife between him over the way and me." He approached the
+sobbing maid threateningly. "Bear witness to the truth," he cried out;
+"the court will demand your testimony. Do not seek safety in hypocrisy
+and lies. Was it the dog, or was it you?"
+
+Dorchen dramatically related the whole transgression of Spitehahn; she
+poked under the sofa, as if she could draw the dog out bodily; she
+confessed, weepingly, to the open door, and explained Gabriel's
+presence as owing to an inquiry he had made of her.
+
+"Unfortunate one," cried the master of the house, "I see your
+embarrassment: it was yourself; your conscience pricks you. How can you
+show that the dog was under the sofa? On your peril, I demand a
+tangible evidence."
+
+"Here it is," cried Dorchen, still sobbing, and pointing in tragic
+attitude with her hand to the ground.
+
+There certainly was an indubitable proof under the sofa, although not
+strictly tangible. The dog had left behind him as sure a confirmation
+as if he had impressed his seal on the ground.
+
+Now, Mrs. Hahn indignantly gave the orders which became a housewife
+under such circumstances.
+
+"Do not attempt it," cried Mr. Hahn; "away with towels and cloths; this
+shall remain."
+
+"But, Andreas," exclaimed his wife.
+
+"This shall remain, I say; it must be acknowledged and certified to.
+Bring Mr. Ruddy immediately, and his wife, and whatever witnesses you
+can find on the street."
+
+The witnesses came, and, standing round, examined the place of the evil
+deed; but Mr. Hahn hastened to his writing-table, and wrote a strong
+letter to Mr. Hummel, in which he related the misdeed, and
+threateningly demanded compensation. This letter Mr. Ruddy carried off
+to Mr. Hummel, with a board on which were laid the ruins of the clock.
+
+Hummel read the letter carefully, and threw it on the table.
+
+"I congratulate your master upon his new undertaking for the summer,"
+he said, coldly. "Carry the debris back again; I have no answer for
+such nonsense. Some people _will_ make fools of themselves."
+
+The following day a judicial complaint again raised its Medusa's head
+between the two houses. This time even Mrs. Hahn was deeply incensed;
+and when she, shortly after, met Laura on the street, she turned her
+good-humored face to the other side, to avoid greeting the daughter of
+the enemy.
+
+Laura received the Doctor's answer to her letter. In a pretty poem the
+happiness of the parental house was extolled, and he spoke of his great
+delight in his neighbor's charming daughter, whom the poet saw in the
+garden among her flowers, whenever he looked over the high hedge. He
+further added: "The advice which you express so sincerely in your lines
+has found an echo in me. I know what is lacking in my life. My learning
+makes it impossible for me to find recognition in wider circles, an
+honor, which the friends of a learned man desire for him more eagerly
+than he himself does; it also makes it difficult for me to adopt the
+academical course to which I have now a call in foreign parts. But the
+nature of my studies takes from me all hope that any outward results
+can ever overcome the hindrances which oppose themselves to the secret
+wishes of my soul."
+
+"Poor Fritz!" said Laura; "and yet poorer me! Why must he give up all
+hope because he studies Sanscrit? It is not courage that is wanting to
+these learned men, as father says, but passion. Like the old gods about
+whom you write, you have no human substance, and no blood in your
+veins. A few sparks are occasionally kindled up in your life and one
+hopes they may light up into a mighty flame; but immediately it is all
+smothered and extinguished by prudent consideration." She rose
+suddenly. "Ah! if one could but lay hold of Fritz by the hair and cast
+him into the wildest tumult, through which he would have to fight his
+way bloodily, defy my father, and hazard a great deal, in order to win
+what he in his gentle way says he desires for himself! Away with this
+quiet, learned atmosphere: it makes those who breathe it contemptible!
+Their strongest excitement is a sorrowful shrug of the shoulders over
+other mortals or themselves."
+
+Thus did the passionate Laura chafe in her attic-room, and again was
+her paper moistened by bitter tears, as she sought consolation in
+heroic verses, and called upon the foreign gods of the Doctor to take
+the field against the pranks of Spitehahn.
+
+      Glorious Indra and all ye divinities shining; in heaven,
+      That have so often conferred blessings on races of men,
+      Haste in rescue to us, for great misfortune doth threaten.
+      Ominous shadows of night darken our peaceable home,
+      Banish the child from the father; while flat on the door-step
+        outsprawling,
+      Growleth with vengeful intent fiercely th' insidious cur.
+
+The peace was disturbed not only for the neighbors of the Park street,
+but also for the young Prince, at whose f�te the trouble had begun.
+
+The Prince was detained some weeks from the city. After his return, he
+lived in the quiet retirement that the duties of mourning imposed upon
+him. Lectures in his room were again resumed, but his place at Ilse's
+tea-table remained empty.
+
+On the day when the University prizes were distributed, the students
+made a great torchlight procession to their Rector's house. The flaming
+lights waved in the old streets; the fanfares resounded, in the midst
+of which the lusty voices of the singing students might be heard;
+gables and balconies were lighted in colored splendor; the marshals
+swung their weapons gaily, and the torch-bearers scattered the sparks
+among the thronging crowds of spectators. The procession turned into
+the street towards the valley; it stopped before the house of Mr.
+Hummel. Again there was music and singing; a deputation solemnly
+crossed the threshold. Hummel looked proudly on the long stream of red
+lights which flickered about and lighted up his house. The whole honor
+was intended for his house alone, though he could not prevent the glare
+and smoke from illuminating the enemies' roof, also.
+
+Upstairs some of the rector's most intimate friends were assembled; he
+received the leaders of the students in his room, and there were
+speeches and replies. While those assembled were crowding nearer to
+listen to the speech-making, the door of Ilse's room gently opened, and
+the Prince entered. Ilse hastened to meet him, but he began, without
+greeting:
+
+"I have come to-day to bid you farewell. What I foresaw has happened. I
+have received orders to return to my father. To-morrow I and my
+attendant will take formal leave of the Rector and yourself, but I
+wished first to see you for a moment; and, now that I stand before you,
+I cannot express the feelings that prompted me to come. I thank you for
+all your kindness. I beg of you not to forget me. It is you who have
+made the city so dear to me. It is you who make it hard for me to go
+away."
+
+He spoke these words so softly that it seemed only as if a breath had
+passed into Ilse's ear; and he did not await her answer, but left the
+room as quickly as he came into it.
+
+Outside, in the open place by the common, the students threw their
+torches in a great heap; the red flame rose high in the air, and the
+gray smoke encircled the tops of the trees; it rolled over the houses
+and crept through the open windows, and stifled the breath. The flame
+became lower, and a thin smoke ascended from the dying embers. It had
+been a rapid, brilliant glow, a fleeting fire, now extinguished, and
+only smoke and ashes remained. But Ilse was still standing by her
+window, and looking sorrowfully out upon the empty place.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XXVI_.
+
+                               THE DRAMA.
+
+
+"He was a tyrant," exclaimed Laura, "and she was right not to obey
+him."
+
+"He did his duty harshly, and she also," replied Ilse.
+
+"He was a cross-grained, narrow-minded fellow, who was at last humbled;
+but she was a noble heroine, who cast from her all that was most dear
+on earth in order to fulfill her highest obligations," said Laura.
+
+"He acted under the impulse of his nature, as she did according to
+hers. Hers was the stronger character, and she went victoriously to
+death. The burden of his deed crushed him during life," rejoined Ilse.
+
+The characters which the ladies were discussing were Antigone and
+Creon.
+
+The Professor had one autumn evening laid the tragedies of Sophocles on
+his wife's table. "It is time that you should learn to appreciate the
+greatest poets of antiquity in their works." He read them aloud and
+explained them. The lofty forms of the Attic stage hovered in the
+peaceful atmosphere of the German home. Ilse heard around her curses
+and heart-breaking lamentations, she saw a dark fatality impending over
+men of the noblest feeling and iron will; she felt the storm of passion
+raging in powerful souls, and heard, amidst the cry of revenge and
+despair, the soft chords of soul-stirring pathos, sounding with
+irresistible magic.
+
+The time had indeed come when Ilse could comprehend and enter into the
+feelings and fate of others than herself.
+
+The bright rays of the midday sun do not always shine upon the paths of
+man. Not with the eye alone does he seek his way amid the shadows of
+night, but he hearkens, too, to the secret voices within his breast.
+From the battle of clashing duties, from the irresistible impulse of
+passion, it is not with most men a careful thought or a wise adage that
+saves or ruins; it is the quick resolve which breaks forth from within
+like an uncontrollable impulse of nature and which is yet produced by
+the compulsion of their whole past lives--by all that man knows and
+believes, by all that he has suffered and done. What forces us to the
+good or the bad in the sombre hours of trial, people call character,
+and the changing steps of the wayfarer through life as he seeks his way
+amid difficulty and danger, the spectator at the play calls dramatic
+movement.
+
+He only who has wandered amid the flitting shadows of night, and has
+seriously listened to the secret admonitions of his inmost soul, can
+fully understand the spirit of others who, in a similar position, have
+sought to extricate themselves from an intricate labyrinth, and have
+found safety or met destruction.
+
+Ilse, too, had experienced hours of fleeting terrors; she also had
+trembled as to whether she had pursued the right path.
+
+The seventh tragedy of the Greek poet had been read; the boldest
+representation of bitter passion and bloody revenge. Ilse sat mute and
+horrified at the outbreak of fearful hatred from the heart of Electra.
+Then her husband, in order to recall her to less anxious thoughts,
+began: "Now you have heard all that remains to us of the art and power
+of a wonderful poetical mind, and you must tell me which of his
+characters has most attracted you."
+
+"If you mean that in which the power of his poetry has most impressed
+me, it is always the newest form which has appeared to me the greatest,
+and today it is the monstrous conception of Electra. But if you ask
+which has pleased me most--"
+
+"The gentle Ismene?" interrupted the Professor, laughing.
+
+Ilse shook her head. "No, it is the valiant son of Achilles. At first
+he was tempted to yield to the cunning counsel of his confederate, and
+do violence to an unfortunate fellow-creature; but after a long
+struggle his noble nature conquers: he sees that it will be wrong, and
+he asserts his manhood by refusing."
+
+The Professor closed the book, and looked with astonishment at his
+wife.
+
+"There is," continued Ilse, "in the greatest characters of your Greek
+poet a stern rigidity that frightens me. Something is wanting in all to
+make them like us; they do not doubt as we do, nor struggle; even when
+they do right, their greatness consists in their immovable
+determination to do something fearful, or rigid persistence in stemming
+a terrible fate. But while we expect that the strong man shall act
+powerfully, according to his nature, either for good or evil, he does
+not gain our full human sympathy, unless we have the certainty that he
+experiences an inward struggle such as we may ourselves feel."
+
+"Such as we may ourselves feel?" asked the Professor, seriously, laying
+aside the book. "How do you come by this experience? Have you, Ilse,
+some secret from your husband?"
+
+Ilse rose and looked at him with dismay.
+
+But the Professor continued, cheerfully: "I will first tell you why I
+ask, and what I would like to know from you. When I brought you from
+your country-home you were, in spite of your deep German feeling, in
+many respects just such as we like to picture to ourselves Nausicaa and
+Penelope. You freely received impressions from the world around you;
+you stood sure and strong in a firmly-bound sphere of right and duty;
+with childlike trust you gathered from the moral habits of your circle,
+and from Holy Scripture, your standard of judgment and conduct. Your
+love for me, and contact with other souls, and the insight into a new
+sphere of knowledge, awakened in your heart passionate vibrations;
+uncertainty came, and then doubt; new thoughts struggled against old
+impressions, the demands of your new life against the tenor of your
+maiden years. You were for months more unhappy than I had any idea of.
+But now, when I have been rejoicing in your cheerful repose of mind, I
+find you have acquired a knowledge of human nature that astonishes me.
+I have often lately seen, with secret pleasure, how warmly you have
+sympathized with, and how mildly you have judged, the characters of the
+drama. I had expected that their hard and monstrous fate would have
+been repulsive to you, and that you would have felt rapid transitions
+from tenderness to aversion. But you have sympathy with the dark forms
+as well as with the bright, as if your soul had begun to anticipate
+that in one's own life, good and evil, blessing and curse, might be
+associated, and as if you had yourself experienced that man has not to
+follow an outward moral law alone, however exalted its origin, but that
+he may at some period be compelled to seek for some other law in the
+depths of his own soul. But such an insight men can only attain when
+they themselves experience danger and trouble. It is improbable that
+this should have been the case with you, unless you have gone through
+some experience to which I have been a stranger. I do not wish to urge
+your confidence; I know what trust I can repose in you; but if you
+think fit, I would gladly know what has given rise to this sensitive
+feeling for the secret struggles of men who are hurried along by a
+tragic fate."
+
+Ilse seized him by the hand and drew him into her room. "It was on this
+spot," she exclaimed, "a stranger asked me whether he should expose
+himself to the danger of death for the sake of his honor, or whether he
+should expose another in his place. I had given him a right to ask such
+a question, for I had before spoken to him of his life with greater
+frankness than was prudent for a careful woman. I stood and struggled
+against the question that he put to me, but I could not refuse to
+answer; and, Felix, to tell you the truth, I did not wish to do so. I
+gave him counsel which might have brought him to a bloody end. I gave
+him that advice secretly, and I became entangled in a fatal web from
+which I could not extricate myself. I thought of you, but I did not
+dare to tell you, as you must either have been unfaithful to the duties
+of your office, or you must for ever have wounded the honorable
+feelings of another. I questioned our holy teachings: they told me only
+that my advice was sinful. I was unhappy, Felix, that I had come into
+this position, but still more unhappy that neither you nor the
+teachings of my faith could help me out of it. It was no merit of mine
+that things turned out better than I feared they would. Since that I
+have known, Felix, what struggles of conscience are; now you know the
+only secret that I have ever had from you. If I did wrong, judge me
+mildly, for by all that is sacred I could not have done otherwise."
+
+"And the Prince?" asked her husband, softly.
+
+"He is a good and gentle soul, an immature man, while I was your wife.
+With him there was no doubt and no struggle."
+
+"I know enough, you earnest, high-minded woman," said the Professor, "I
+see that, as against your knowledge of life, I can now pack up my
+books. For of what value is the teaching of books, however good they
+may be, in comparison to that of life. A foolish student's duel, in
+which you were the invisible adviser, has done more, perhaps to form
+your mind, than my prudent words would have done in the course of
+years. Be of good courage. Lady Ilse of Bielstein; whatever fate may
+still await us, I know now that you are fitted for inward struggles,
+and we need not be solicitous about dangers from without. For, however
+much we human beings may be troubled and agitated here on earth, he who
+has once learnt to know himself so well that he is able to read the
+secret writing of other souls, is well protected against the
+temptations of the world."
+
+What the German scholar said as he now so warmly clasped his wife in
+his arms was not amiss, only it is a pity that we have no certainty of
+reading the secrets of other souls; and it is a pity that the greatest
+knowledge of the secret writing in the souls of others cannot serve us
+in warding off the storms of our own passions.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+The Chamberlain, who now acted as marshal to the Hereditary Prince, was
+holding a conference with his father upon the concerns of his office.
+Among other things there was also the question of promoting Kr�ger, of
+butter-machine fame, to higher honors and, what was of no less
+importance, to the full salary due the valet of an Hereditary Prince.
+Contrary to expectations the Sovereign was ready to agree to his
+proposals, and the Chamberlain, pleased at the gracious humor of his
+master, was about to take leave, when the Sovereign stopped him by the
+kind remark, "Your sister Malwine, looks ill; does she dance too much?
+You should take care of her delicate health; nothing would be more
+injurious to such a constitution than an early marriage. I hope to see
+her pleasant countenance at Court for a long time yet."
+
+Now Fr�ulein Malwine was secretly betrothed to one of the Sovereign's
+officers; it was known at Court and in the city, but the betrothed were
+poor, and the consent of the Sovereign was necessary for their union.
+In order to obtain this it was advisable to await a favorable
+opportunity. Therefore the Chamberlain was alarmed at his master's
+words; he perceived a secret threat in them, and while he thanked him
+for his gracious sympathy, his face betrayed his dismay.
+
+After the Sovereign, by this short turn of the peg, had tuned the
+strings of his instrument, he continued, with indifference: "If you
+have a quarter of an hour to spare, I wish you to accompany me into the
+cabinet of antiquities."
+
+They passed through corridors and halls into a distant part of the
+castle, where, on an upper floor, a large collection of old coins,
+carved stones, and other minor relics of Greek and Roman times, were
+arranged. Many generations of rulers had contributed to it, but the
+greatest part had been brought by the Sovereign himself when returning
+from his travels. He had, in former years, taken great interest in the
+arrangement of these things, and spent large sums in purchasing others;
+but gradually this fancy had passed off, and for years the feather
+brush of the curator had only removed the dust for occasional strangers
+who had happened accidentally to hear of this almost unknown
+collection, and had honored it with a visit.
+
+The Chamberlain, therefore accompanied his master with the feeling that
+this unusual idea signified something; and he felt a gloomy
+anticipation that what was impending boded no good. The Sovereign
+returned with a nod the low obeisance of the dilapidated curator; he
+passed in review the long rows of rooms, had some cases opened for him,
+took in his hand the written catalogue, and examined carefully the gold
+coins of Alexander the Great and his successors, and inspected a
+collection of old glass vessels and vases, in which the artistic work
+of the ancient glass-cutters was particularly striking. Then he asked
+for the strangers' book, in which the names of the visitors were
+recorded. After he had sent the man away with a commission, he began,
+to his attendant: "The collection is less seen that it deserves; I have
+long thought of having it made better known and more useful to men of
+learning, by a better arrangement and a good catalogue. It has been one
+of the little pleasures of my life; I have learnt much by it, and it
+has at times banished annoyances from my mind. Do you know of any one
+who would be fitted to undertake the management of a work so important
+and exacting?"
+
+The Chamberlain bethought himself, but no one occurred to him.
+
+"I should prefer a stranger," continued the Sovereign. "That will give
+rise to a passing and unembarrassed connection. He must of course be
+learned and have good guarantees of character."
+
+The Chamberlain named several connoiseurs from other capitals. The
+Sovereign looked at him keenly, and shook his head. "Think it over," he
+repeated; "perhaps some one will occur to you."
+
+The examination continued. An antique vase interested the Sovereign by
+reminding him of how he had obtained it. A Roman woman, of great beauty
+and commanding figure, had suddenly confronted him and offered it to
+him with such a distinguished manner, that he, as he laughingly
+expressed it, was so surprised by the unusual demeanor of the woman,
+and her sonorous voice, that he paid her more than she asked.
+
+No one yet occurred to the Chamberlain.
+
+On his way back to his apartments the Sovereign remained standing in
+one of the spacious but lonely halls and asked the Chamberlain, "Has it
+not occurred to you that Scarletti dresses badly?"
+
+The Chamberlain dissented, for the actress mentioned was supposed to be
+in favor.
+
+"Yesterday evening she carried an immense bouquet. To which of our
+young men is this ungraceful attention to be ascribed?"
+
+Again the Chamberlain was astounded.
+
+"As you are disposed to know nothing to-day," continued the Sovereign,
+in a sharp tone, "I must tell you that I should be sorry to see the
+Hereditary Prince having any intercourse whatever with the ladies of
+the theatre. He is not old enough to carry on such connections with the
+necessary reserve; and the vanity of these ladies will bring every
+favor to public notice."
+
+The Chamberlain affirmed, upon his honor, that he knew nothing of these
+civilities of the Hereditary Prince, and that, even if the assumption
+of his gracious master was well founded, it could only have been a
+passing idea of the Prince that had occasioned this gift. "Your
+Highness will be convinced that I would not lend a hand to anything of
+this kind."
+
+"But I do not choose that you should close your eyes to it," continued
+the Sovereign, bitterly; "you stood in the box behind the Hereditary
+Prince, and you must have seen the coquettish look of admiration which
+she cast upon him. The present was probably sent by the new valet; let
+him know that in my service one does not carry two faces under one
+hood. But I require of you," he continued, more calmly, "that you
+should redouble your vigilance. What occupies him now?"
+
+"He attends regularly the small evening parties of the Princess."
+
+"And in the day?" added the Sovereign, continuing the examination.
+
+"As your Highness knows, he is fond of music; he plays duets with the
+music-master."
+
+"What does he read?"
+
+The Chamberlain named some French books. "May I be allowed humbly
+to make a proposal? It would, in every point of view, be useful
+to his Highness if he had the pleasure of devising or arranging
+something--perhaps the laying out of a park, or the management of a
+farm. I venture to suggest that a similar occupation has been found
+advantageous to young princes at other courts. Perhaps one of your
+Highness's castles could be adapted for such a purpose."
+
+"And the Hereditary Prince and Mr. von Weidegg would keep their own
+court, and remain many months in the year far from ours, at their
+villa," replied the Sovereign.
+
+"I assure your Highness that I never thought of such a thing," answered
+the Chamberlain, offended.
+
+"I do not blame you," replied the Sovereign, with cutting courtesy.
+"Consideration for my coffers forbids my assenting to your proposal;
+but I shall think of it. It is a disappointment to me that the Prince
+has not learned to take an interest in anything during his stay at the
+University. Has he had no personal relations during that time that may
+have given some zest to his life?"
+
+"He took great pleasure in the circle of Professor Werner," replied the
+good Chamberlain, hesitatingly.
+
+"I hope he preserves a grateful recollection of his teacher."
+
+"He speaks with great interest of him and his family," rejoined the
+Chamberlain.
+
+"It is well," concluded the Sovereign. "I will take into consideration
+the question of agricultural occupation; and do not forget to think a
+little concerning my collection."
+
+This new demand could no longer be withstood by the Chamberlain; he was
+silent for some minutes, inwardly struggling, while the Sovereign moved
+on with his head turned towards him, like one who waits for something
+decisive.
+
+"I do not know that I can propose any one better for the purpose than
+Professor Werner himself," said the Chamberlain, at last.
+
+The Sovereign again stopped. "You consider him fitted for the work?"
+
+"With respect to his scientific capabilities I naturally can form no
+judgment," replied the Chamberlain, cautiously.
+
+Irritated by this cowardly attempt to draw back, the Sovereign asked
+with emphasis, "Would he undertake such a charge?"
+
+"He has a very distinguished position at the University, and is happily
+married; and he would, undoubtedly, not like to leave his present
+position for any length of time."
+
+"Perhaps that may be arranged," rejoined the Sovereign. "Werner, then,
+is the man. At a short interview I accidentally had with him he made a
+good impression on me. Do not forget to remind me this evening that the
+archives at Bielstein are to be searched."
+
+Thus did a father exert himself for the benefit of his son.
+
+The Chamberlain reminded his lord that evening that there had been a
+question of an investigation in the archives of Bielstein, and the
+sovereign thanked him for it. The following morning orders were given
+through the Council to the keepers of the records and members of other
+branches of the Court and State administration, to seek out and send
+all records of a certain age that had reference to the castle of
+Bielstein and monastery of Rossau. This order occasioned a great
+raising of dust, and five large leather sacks were filled with records
+and old papers. The collection was sent to the Professor; and in a
+letter the Sovereign expressed his thanks for the attentions which the
+Professor had shown the Hereditary Prince. He added that, remembering a
+former conversation, he sent for his inspection all that, in a cursory
+search, could be found concerning a place in which he took an interest.
+
+This letter gave cause for serious consideration to two inquiring
+minds. When the dubious report of the student concerning an existing
+chest had disturbed the peace of the house, the friends had again
+turned their attention to the inventory of the deceased Bachhuber, and
+had once more pondered over every word of it: "In a hollow and dry
+place, LOCO CAVO ET SICCO." The word place, _locus_, occasioned much
+thought; but they could come to no certainty about it. "Of the house of
+Bielstein, domus Bielsteyn!"--here the expression house, _domus_, was
+very remarkable. Did it mean that the manuscript lay concealed
+in the dwelling house itself, or was the word house used in the
+obsolete meaning of estate or property? The Doctor contended for the
+dwelling-house, the Professor for the estate. Much depended upon this;
+for if _domus_ signified estate, the manuscript might be concealed in
+any part of the property. "I have deposited it all, _h�c omnia
+deposui_!" The word all, _omnia_, was very comforting; for it gave the
+certainty that the deceased Bachh�ber had not left the manuscript
+behind. But the depositing was a matter of some doubt. Did the word
+betoken that the manuscript was deposited only in Bielstein, and thus
+given over and entrusted, so to speak, to the inhabitants?--or had the
+writer chosen the expression because he wished to signify the interring
+and blocking it up in some deep place? To us laymen in the Latin
+tongue, it appears clear indeed that Bachhuber was very glad to have a
+Latin vocabulary in which to signify the concealment of his treasure;
+however, the feeling of the learned men was otherwise. Finally, the
+friends agreed in taking the view, that, in spite of this account, the
+walls of the house were worthy of future attention. The hollow places
+which the Doctor had registered might be examined; the cupboard in the
+wall in Ilse's bedroom appeared a place not to be despised. The
+Professor, therefore, determined to obtain some certainty on that point
+during the next vacation. The business of the Rector had only allowed a
+short visit to the castle this time; but the Professor would be aided
+by his position in the family, which opened Ilse's room and cupboard to
+him.
+
+It was a fine August day; the father was riding about in his fields,
+and Ilse sitting with Clara in household consultation, when an uproar
+was raised in the kitchen, and the housekeeper, quite beside herself,
+rushed into the sitting-room, exclaiming: "There are ghosts around
+again!" There was, in fact, a loud knocking in the house, and the maids
+congregated in the hall. The noise came from the upper story; so Ilse
+hastened upstairs, and, on opening the door to her room, found the
+Professor, in his shirt sleeves, working in the cupboard with various
+tools he had obtained from the carpenter. He received her, laughing,
+and called out, to tranquilize her, that he was nailing the cupboard
+boards tighter. This was right, but he had first broken through them.
+The manuscript was not there, and nothing was to be seen but an empty
+space and a few bits of mortar. There was, however, one inexplicable
+thing, which might be a trace of the manuscript--a small bit of blue
+cloth rag; how that had come into the wall was a riddle. On further
+examination, it appeared that it was not colored with indigo;
+therefore, probably, it had existed previous to the introduction of
+that color into civilization. Whether a mouse, in her motherly care,
+had deposited it there as an ornament to her bed, and at the same time
+for food in a desperate case of necessity, could not be ascertained, as
+at present these folk seem to have no traditions of the past, and the
+individual had probably been eaten some centuries ago by an ancestor of
+one of our cats.
+
+This discovery might have given confidence to the friends, for there
+were now two places where the treasure was not. But there is much that
+is illogical in the nature of men. Even the Doctor inclined now to the
+Professor's opinion, that the manuscript was perhaps not concealed in
+the house; nay, that it might even be at a distance from the place.
+
+Such was the state of the matter when the Sovereign's packet arrived.
+The friends were occupied many hours with the trunks, and examined the
+records carefully. They found much that would be valuable for the
+history of the district, but nothing that led to the manuscript. At
+last, the Professor raised from the bottom of one of the trunks a thick
+bundle of reports, on sheets sewed together, which had been sent by the
+officials of Bielstein to the Government. Among them was the writing of
+a deputy-bailiff of the last century, in which he notified that he was
+hastening, in those times of suspense and danger, commanded by high
+authority, to convey to the royal country residence, Solitude, the
+chestful of hunting implements and old books which had up to that time
+been in his custody.
+
+The writer of the letter had undoubtedly not foreseen what an
+excitement his faded scroll would produce in a later generation.
+
+"This is the student's chest," cried the Professor, the color rising to
+his cheeks, while he held out the document to his friend.
+
+"Remarkable!" said the Doctor. "It is impossible that this coincidence
+can be accidental."
+
+"The student's chest was no will o' the wisp," cried the Professor to
+his wife, in her room; "here is the confirmation."
+
+"Where is the chest?" inquired Ilse, skeptically.
+
+"That is just what we do not know," replied the Professor, laughing.
+"Here is a new scent, indistinct, and in a new direction; but it may
+lead shortly to the vanished parchment." The friends hastened back
+eagerly to the bundle of records. "Old books!" exclaimed the Doctor;
+"the house was a hunting castle; a generation before this letter was
+written, the estate came first into the possession of this princely
+family; it is not probable that they themselves, in their short hunting
+visits, should have collected books there."
+
+"Old books!" exclaimed also the Professor; "it is possible that hunting
+journals and accounts may be meant; but it is not impossible that the
+chest may also contain some few things of the property of the
+monastery. Ilse, where is the old castle belonging to your Sovereign
+called Solitude?"
+
+Ilse knew nothing of such a castle.
+
+"It is a fortunate coincidence that the Sovereign himself may give us
+an opportunity of obtaining more accurate information."
+
+"Ah, you poor men!" said Ilse, through the door, pityingly. "Now you
+are far worse than before; as long as the treasure was still supposed
+to be in our house, my father at least could keep a good look out; but
+now, it is in a chest far away in the wide world, and no one knows
+anything even of the house to which it may have been carried."
+
+The friends laughed again. "Your father's house is not on that account
+less under suspicion," said her husband, consolingly.
+
+The Professor sent back the contents of the chest to the Royal Council,
+expressed in his letter his warm thanks to the Sovereign, and mentioned
+that an uncertain trace made him very desirous of obtaining permission
+to make personal investigations.
+
+The letter had the desired result for both parties. The Sovereign had
+the satisfaction, which is pleasing to earthly masters, of appearing to
+confer a favor while he was seeking one.
+
+The Professor was joyfully surprised when he received from the Council
+in the name of the Sovereign a letter promising to promote his
+investigations in every way, and making the following proposal: The
+Sovereign wished his cabinet of antiquities to be examined by a
+scientific authority, and there was no one to whom he would more
+willingly trust this task than to the Professor. He knew well how
+valuable to others was the work of so learned a man, but he hoped that
+his collection might appear of sufficient importance to him to spend a
+few weeks upon it.
+
+At the same time the Chamberlain wrote, by desire of his gracious
+master, that the Sovereign would be delighted if the Professor would
+accept the hospitality of the Palace during the time of his stay. A
+garden pavilion, which was a pleasant spring-residence, would be at his
+disposition. The dwelling was large enough to receive his family also,
+and he was commanded to suggest that there would be plenty of room if
+the Professor would bring his wife and servants, as the Sovereign did
+not wish that the learned man should be deprived of his domestic
+comforts during his stay. The beginning of the spring would be the best
+time for both parties; and the Chamberlain would be delighted to do the
+honors of the capital to his countrywoman.
+
+The Professor hastened with flying steps to his wife, and laid the
+letter in her lap. "Here, read what endangers our journey into foreign
+lands. It will engross the greatest part of our traveling time. But I
+must accept the invitation; for any prospect, even the most distant, of
+obtaining the manuscript compels me to stake much that a man will only
+sacrifice for a great hope. Will you accompany me on this chase? You
+see, the kind people have thought of everything."
+
+"I a guest of our Sovereign!" exclaimed Ilse, reading the letter.
+"Never should I have dreamt of such an honor. What will my father say
+of it! It is a very honorable invitation for you," she continued,
+seriously; "and you must at all events accept it. As for me, I think it
+may be best for me to remain here."
+
+"Why should we be separated for weeks?--it would be the first time."
+
+"Send me to my father meanwhile."
+
+"Does not that come to the same thing?" asked the Professor.
+
+"What shall I do among these strangers?" continued Ilse, anxiously.
+
+"Nonsense," replied the Professor. "Have you any reason to give?" and
+he looked at her, discomposed.
+
+"I cannot say that I have," replied Ilse.
+
+"Then decide at once, and come. We should probably feel more free if we
+could live as we liked; but I should not wish to reside for weeks at a
+hotel in a foreign city; and, from another point of view, this
+reception will save both parties the difficulty of offering and
+refusing compensation. We shall remain there as long as is
+indispensably necessary; then we shall go south, as far as we can. It
+is, after all, only putting off the journey a few weeks."
+
+When the Professor's letter of acceptance arrived, the Chamberlain
+informed the Sovereign of it in presence of the Marshal: "See to it
+that the pavilion is arranged as comfortably as possible. Dinner will
+be served at the pavilion at whatever hour the Professor wishes."
+
+"And what position does your Highness intend the strangers shall occupy
+at Court?" inquired the Marshal.
+
+"That is understood," said the Sovereign; "he has the privilege of a
+stranger, and will occasionally be invited to small dinners."
+
+"But the Professor's wife?" asked the Marshal.
+
+"Ah!" said the Sovereign, "the wife. It is true, she comes with him."
+
+"Then," continued the Marshal, "there is to be dinner for two at the
+pavilion; apartments for two, and a room for a lackey without livery."
+
+"That is enough," said the Sovereign; "for the rest, we shall see. If
+the Professor's wife visits our ladies, I assume they will return the
+civility. We will leave the rest to the Princess."
+
+"What is the history of these strangers?" asked the Marshal of the
+Chamberlain. "You know the people."
+
+"As one knows people in a strange city," replied the Chamberlain.
+
+"But you arranged their coming?"
+
+"I only wrote according to the Sovereign's orders. The Professor is a
+learned man of reputation, and a thorough gentleman."
+
+"But what has his wife to do here."
+
+The Chamberlain shrugged his shoulders. "He could not be got without
+his wife," he replied, cautiously.
+
+"Yet the Sovereign made a point of her coming."
+
+"Did that strike you?" asked the Chamberlain. "I, for my part, did not
+remark it. He made it appear as if it were a matter of indifference to
+him; and, furthermore, she is a country-woman of his."
+
+"You know that the Sovereign would be the last to infringe the rules of
+the Court. There is no reason for anxiety."
+
+"At all events, the Princess must maintain her position. I hear this
+Professor's wife is considered a beauty?"
+
+"I believe she is also a woman of high character," replied the
+Chamberlain.
+
+The Professor received the desired permission. Ilse made her
+preparations for the journey with a solemn seriousness which struck all
+around her. She was now to approach the presence of her Sovereign, whom
+she had regarded from a distance with shy respect. It made her heart
+heavy to think that the son had never spoken of his father, and that
+she knew nothing of her illustrious master but his countenance and
+manner. She asked herself, anxiously: "How will he treat Felix and me?"
+
+Whilst Felix was collecting all the books and documents which were
+indispensable for the journey, the Doctor was standing sorrowfully in
+his friend's room. He was satisfied that the Professor could not
+withdraw from the duty of seeking for the manuscript; and yet his
+invitation to Court did not please him. The sudden breaking of their
+tranquil life disturbed him, and he sometimes looked anxiously at Ilse.
+
+Laura sat, the last evening, near Ilse, leaning on her shoulder,
+weeping. "It appears to me," said the latter, "that something
+portentous lies in my path, and I go in fear. But I leave you without
+anxiety for your future, although you have sometimes made me uneasy,
+you stubborn little puss; for I know there is one who will always be
+your best adviser, even though you should seldom see each other."
+
+"I lose him when I lose you," cried Laura, in tears. "All vanishes that
+has been the happiness of my life. In the little garden which I have
+secretly laid out for myself, the blossoms are torn up by the roots,
+the bitter trial of deprivation has come to me also; and poor Fritz,
+who already was practicing resignation, will now be quite lost in his
+hermitage."
+
+Even Gabriel, who was to accompany the travelers to the capital and
+await their return home from abroad at the house of Ilse's father, was
+excited during this period, and often disappeared into the house of Mr.
+Hahn when it became dark. The last day he brought home from the market
+a beautiful bird of uncommon appearance, with colored feathers, pasted
+on a sheet, with the inscription: "Peacock from Madagascar." Gabriel
+wrote, in addition, in clear, stiff characters: "Faithful unto death."
+This he took in the evening to the enemy's house. A whispering might be
+heard there, and a pocket-handkerchief be seen, which wiped the tears
+from sorrowful eyes.
+
+"No allusion is meant to the name of this family," said Gabriel,
+holding the bird once more in the moonlight, the beams of which fell
+through the staircase window upon two sorrowful faces; "but it occurred
+to me as a remembrance. When you look at it think of me, and the words
+I have written on it. We must part, but it is hard to do so." The
+honest fellow pulled out his pocket-handkerchief.
+
+Dorchen took it from him; she had forgotten her own, and wiped her eyes
+with it.
+
+"It is not for long," said Gabriel, consolingly, in spite of his own
+sorrow. "Paste the bird on the cover of your trunk, and when you open
+it and take out a good dress, think of me."
+
+"Always," cried Dorchen, weeping. "I do not need that."
+
+"When I return, Dorchen, we will talk further of what is to become of
+us, and I hope all will go well. The handkerchief which has received
+your tears shall be a remembrance for me."
+
+"Leave it to me," said Dorchen, sobbing. "I must tell you I have bought
+wool, and will embroider you a wallet. This you shall carry about you,
+and when I write, put my letters in it."
+
+Gabriel looked happy, in spite of his sorrow; and the moon glanced
+jeeringly down on the kisses and vows which were exchanged.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XXVII_.
+
+                             THE SOVEREIGN.
+
+
+The Hereditary Prince was walking with the Chamberlain in the gardens
+which surrounded the royal castle on three sides. He looked
+indifferently on the splendid coloring of the early flowers and the
+fresh green of the trees; to-day he was more silent than usual; whilst
+the birds piped to him from the branches, and the spring breeze wafted
+fragrance from the tops of the trees, he played with his eye-glass.
+"What bird is that singing?" he asked, at last, awakening from his
+apathy.
+
+The Chamberlain replied, "It is a thrush."
+
+The Prince examined the bird with his glasses, and then asked,
+carelessly, "What are those people ahead of us carrying?"
+
+"Chairs for the pavilion," answered the Chamberlain; "it is being
+arranged for Professor Werner. The house is seldom open now; formerly
+his Highness, the Sovereign, used to live there occasionally."
+
+"I do not remember ever having been in it for a very long time."
+
+"Would your Highness like to see the rooms?"
+
+"We can pass that way."
+
+The Chamberlain turned towards the pavilion; the Marshal was standing
+at the door; he had come to see that everything was in order. The
+Hereditary Prince greeted him, cast a cursory glance at the house, and
+was inclined to pass on. It was a small grey-stone structure, in old
+fashioned style; there were shell-shaped arabesques round the doors and
+windows, and little dropsical angels supported heavy garlands of stone
+flowers with lines which appeared to have been cut out of elephant's
+hide; the angels themselves looked as if they had just crept out of a
+dirty swamp and been dried in the sun. The dark building stood amid the
+fresh verdure like a large chest, in which all the withered flowers
+that the garden had ever borne, and all the moss which the gardener had
+ever scraped from the trees, seemed, to have been kept for later
+generations.
+
+"It is an uninviting looking place," said the Prince.
+
+"It is the gloomy appearance that has always pleased his Sovereign
+Highness so much," replied the Marshal. "Will not your Highness examine
+the interior?"
+
+The Prince passed slowly up the steps and through the apartments. The
+musty smell of the long-closed rooms had not been removed by the
+pastiles that had been burnt in them; logs were blazing in all the
+fireplaces, but the warmth which they spread still struggled with the
+damp air. The arrangement of the rooms was throughout orderly and
+complete. There were heavy _porti�res_, curtains with large tassels,
+and fantastic furniture with much gilding, and white covers for the
+preservation of the silk, mirrors with broad fantastic frames, round
+the chimney-piece garlands carved in grey marble, and upon it wreathed
+vases and little figures of painted porcelain. In the boudoir, on a
+marble console, there was a large clock under a glass bell; a nude
+gilded nymph poured water over the dial from her urn which was turned
+to gilded ice. Everything was richly adorned; but the whole
+arrangement, furniture, porcelain, and walls, looked as if no eye had
+ever rested on them with pleasure, nor careful housewife rejoiced in
+their possession. There were remarkable things from every part of the
+world; first they had been placed in the large assembly-rooms which
+were opened at Court f�tes; then they had ceased to be in fashion, and
+were moved into side-rooms. It was now their destiny to be handed down
+from one generation to another, and counted once a year to see if they
+were still there. Thus they passed a never-ending existence--preserved,
+but not used; kept, but disregarded.
+
+"It is damp and cold here," said the Prince, looking round upon the
+walls, and again hastening into the open air.
+
+"How do the arrangements please your Highness?" asked the Marshal.
+
+"They will do very well," answered the Prince, "except the pictures."
+
+"Some of them certainly are rather improper," acknowledged the Marshal.
+
+"My father would be pleased if you could remove these. When is
+Professor Werner expected?"
+
+"This evening," replied the Chamberlain. "Perhaps your Highness would
+wish to receive the guest after his arrival, or to pay him a visit
+yourself."
+
+"You may ask my father," replied the Prince.
+
+When the Prince went with his companion up the staircase to his own
+rooms in the castle, the Chamberlain began:
+
+"The Professor's wife was very much pleased once with the flowers which
+your Highness sent her. May I commission the Court gardener to put some
+in her room?"
+
+"Do what you think fitting," replied the Prince, coldly.
+
+He entered his apartment, looked behind him to see if he were alone,
+and went with rapid steps to the window; from thence he looked over the
+level lawn and the blooming rows of trees to the pavilion. He gazed
+long through the window, then took a book from the table and seated
+himself in the corner of the sofa to read; but he laid the book on the
+table again, paced hastily up and down, and looked at his watch.
+
+The Court dinner was over. The ladies cast a half glance behind them to
+see if the back-ground was clear for their retiring curtsies. The
+gentlemen took their hats under their arms. The Marshal approached the
+door, and held his gold-headed stick with graceful deportment--a sure
+sign that the royal party was about to break up. The Princess, who was
+still in mourning, stopped her brother.
+
+"When do they come? I am so curious," she said, in a low tone.
+
+"They are perhaps already there," answered he, looking down.
+
+"I am going to the theatre to-day for the first time again," continued
+the Princess. "Come into my box if you can."
+
+The Prince nodded. Information came to the Marshal, which he conveyed
+to the Prince's father. "Your teacher, Professor Werner, is come," said
+he, aloud, to his son. "You will undoubtedly wish to pay your
+compliments to him." He then bowed to the Court, and the young Princess
+followed him out of the room.
+
+The Chamberlain hastened to the pavilion. The Marshal followed
+more quietly. A royal equipage had brought the travelers from the
+nearest station. They passed rapidly by the trees in the park, the
+pleasure-grounds, and the lighted windows of the royal castle. The
+pavilion was no longer a shapeless building, as it appeared in the day,
+under the glaring sun, to the indifferent eyes of the courtiers. The
+moon lighted up the front, and shone with a glimmering halo on the
+walls; it threw a silver glitter on the cheeks of the angels, and on
+the solid broad leaves of their garlands, and brought out strongly on
+the bright surface of the wall the shadows of the projecting cornices.
+Wax-lights shone through the open door. Lackeys, in rich liveries, held
+heavy candelabra. The steward of the house, a friendly looking
+personage, in dress coat and knee-breeches, stood in the hall and
+greeted the comers with polite words. Following the lackeys, Ilse
+ascended the carpeted steps, on her husband's arm, and when the servant
+threw back the _porti�re_, and the row of rooms appeared shining with
+wax-lights, she could hardly suppress an exclamation of astonishment.
+The steward led them through the rooms, explained the disposal of them,
+and Ilse perceived, with rapid glance, how stately and comfortable they
+all were. She looked with admiration at the abundance of flowers which
+were placed in the vases and bowls. She wondered whether her little
+Prince had shown this tender attention, but was undeceived when the
+official announced that the Chamberlain had sent them. A pretty maid
+was introduced, who was to wait upon her exclusively. Gabriel stood in
+the ante-room considering where he and his traps would be taken, in
+order that the Professor's boots might, in the morning, be no dishonor
+to the splendor of the house. At last one of the lackeys showed him his
+room, and, like a good comrade, pointed out to him the lamps of a
+tavern, which for his leisure hours would be particularly agreeable.
+
+Ilse went through the rooms as if stupefied by their splendor, and
+endeavored to open the window to let in some fresh air, for the strong
+fragrance of the hyacinths threatened her with headache. Then came the
+Chamberlain, behind him the Marshal, who was also an urbane gentleman
+of very refined appearance; and both expressed their pleasure at seeing
+the Professor and his wife. They offered their services on all
+occasions, and pointed out from the windows the position of the
+pavilion. Suddenly the lackey threw open the folding-doors, announcing
+"His Highness, the Hereditary Prince."
+
+The young gentleman walked slowly into the room. He bowed silently to
+Ilse, and gave his hand to the Professor. "My father has commissioned
+me to express to you his pleasure that you have fulfilled his wishes;"
+and, turning to Ilse, he continued: "I trust that you will find the
+dwelling comfortable enough not to regret having left your residence at
+home."
+
+Ilse looked with great pleasure at her Prince. He had, it appeared to
+her, grown a little. His demeanor was still rather depressed; but he
+had color in his cheeks, and it was clear that things were not amiss
+with him. The little moustache was stronger and became him well.
+
+She replied, "I scarcely venture to turn round. It is like a fairy
+castle. One expects every moment that a spirit will spring from the
+wall and inquire whether one wishes to go through the air, or that four
+swans will stop at the window with a golden carriage. No chair is
+necessary to ascend to it, for the windows come down to the ground. The
+Park Street sends its greeting, and I give your Highness heartfelt
+thanks for the present which the Chamberlain sent me for the last
+Christmas-tree."
+
+The Professor approached the Prince, mentioned to him the names of some
+of his colleagues, who had sent to him their kindest remembrances, and
+then begged him to express to his royal father his thanks for this
+hospitable reception.
+
+Everything seemed to curl in ornamental scrolls. The lamps shone from
+the silver chandeliers, the hyacinths sent out sweet fragrance from
+every vase, the closed curtains gave the room a comfortable appearance,
+and on the frescoed ceiling a flying Cupid was represented holding a
+bunch of red poppies over the heads of the guests.
+
+"To-day we will leave you to rest, as you must be tired," said the
+Prince, concluding the visit; and the Chamberlain promised to inform
+the Professor at an early hour the next morning when the Sovereign
+would receive him. Scarcely had the gentleman gone when a servant
+announced that dinner was served in the next room.
+
+"Why, it is evening," said Ilse, shyly.
+
+"Never mind," replied the Professor, "you have taken the first step.
+Show good courage." He gallantly offered her his arm. The man in smart
+livery conducted them into the next room, and drew back the chairs of
+the richly-adorned table. There was no end of courses. In spite of
+Ilse's protest a superabundant dinner made its appearance, and she
+said, at last, "I must resign myself to everything. There is no use in
+struggling against these spirits. Whoever lives in a Prince's household
+must be bold enough to go through all."
+
+When the dinner at last was carried away, and Ilse had been freed from
+her anxieties about Gabriel, she busily began arranging her things.
+While she was unpacking she said to her husband, "This is a very
+charming welcome, Felix, and I now have real confidence that all will
+go well."
+
+"Have you ever doubted it?" asked the Professor.
+
+Ilse answered, "Up to this hour I have had a secret anxiety, I know not
+why, but it has now vanished; for the people here all seem so friendly
+and kindhearted."
+
+As the Prince passed through the gardens back to the castle the two
+cavaliers behind him conversed together.
+
+"A charming woman," said the Marshal--"a beauty of the first order.
+There is good blood there."
+
+"She is in every respect a distinguished lady," replied the
+Chamberlain, aloud.
+
+"You have already told me that once," replied the Marshal. "I
+congratulate you on this acquaintance from the University."
+
+"How do you like the Professor?" asked the Chamberlain, turning the
+conversation.
+
+"He appears to be a clever man," replied the Marshal, with
+indifference. "It is long since the pavilion has had such a beauty in
+it."
+
+The Prince turned round, and he saw by the light of the large
+chandelier that the gentlemen exchanged looks with one another.
+
+The Prince's carriage drove up. He entered it without saying a word to
+his companions, and drove to the opera. There he entered the ante-room
+of the royal box.
+
+"How do the strangers like their abode at the pavilion?" asked the
+Sovereign, kindly.
+
+"They are content with everything," replied his son; "but the rooms are
+damp, and would not be healthy for a prolonged stay."
+
+"They were never considered so, as far as I recollect," replied the
+father, coldly, "and I hope you will be convinced of it." Then, turning
+to the Chamberlain, he said, "To-morrow, after breakfast, I wish to
+speak to Mr. Werner."
+
+The Hereditary Prince went into the box to his sister, and seated
+himself silently at her side.
+
+"Where are the places for the strangers?" asked the Princess.
+
+"I do not know," replied her brother.
+
+The Princess looked behind her inquiringly.
+
+"The strangers' box is opposite," explained the Chamberlain; "but they
+have enough to do to-day settling themselves."
+
+"What is the matter with you, Benno?" asked the sister, after the first
+act. "You cough."
+
+"I have caught a little cold. It will pass."
+
+After the theatre the Prince retired to his bedroom, and complained to
+Kr�ger of a headache and sore throat. When he was alone, he opened the
+window and looked across the pleasure-ground to the pavilion, the
+lights of which glimmered like stars in the night. He listened. Perhaps
+he might hear some sound from there. He found it warm, for he took off
+his necktie, and long stood motionless at the window, till the cool
+night air came into his room and the last light was extinguished. Then
+he closed his window gently and went to bed.
+
+This was not prudent, for the Prince, whose health was easily affected,
+awoke the following morning with a severe cold. The doctor was hastily
+called, and the Prince was obliged to keep his bed.
+
+When the indisposition of the Hereditary Prince was announced to his
+father, it put him in a bad humor. "Just now!" he exclaimed. "He has
+every misfortune unhealthy people are heir to." When, afterwards, the
+Professor was announced, the way in which he received the announcement
+was so cold and constrained that the Chamberlain felt very anxious
+about the reception of the Professor. The long habit, however, of
+receiving graciously, and the dignified bearing of the Professor, had a
+softening influence. After a few introductory words, the Sovereign
+began a conversation about Italy; and it appeared that the Professor
+was in correspondence with a distinguished literary Roman, who was one
+of the Sovereign's most intimate acquaintances when he was last in
+Italy. This gradually placed the Professor in quite a different light
+to the Sovereign. He had sent for him as a mere useful tool, but he now
+found he was a man who had claims to personal consideration, because he
+was known to others whose position was respected by the Sovereign. The
+Sovereign then asked how the matter of the lost manuscript stood, and
+smiled at the eager zeal of the Professor, when he told him of the new
+clue which he had found in the records.
+
+"It would be well for you to prepare a memorial of the whole state of
+the affair, which will assist my memory, and add to it what help you
+wish from me or my officials."
+
+The Professor was very grateful.
+
+"I will not deny myself the pleasure of taking you to the museum,"
+continued the Sovereign. "I shall thus see what a learned man, who is a
+thorough connoisseur, thinks of the quiet amusement of an amateur
+collector."
+
+The doors flew open, the learned man entered the spacious rooms with
+the Sovereign. "We will first go rapidly through the rooms that you may
+obtain a general view of their contents and arrangements," said the
+Sovereign. While the Professor looked at the abundance of beautiful and
+instructive remains of antiquity, many of which were quite new to him,
+the Sovereign gave some account of them; but soon left it to the
+learned man to search out for himself objects of interest, and it was
+now his turn to give explanations. Here there was an inscription, which
+no one probably had copied; there a specimen of pottery, with very
+interesting figures on it; then a statuette, a remarkable variation of
+a celebrated antique piece of sculpture; here the unknown coin of a
+famous Roman family, with their coat of arms; and there a long row of
+amulets, with hieroglyphics.
+
+It was a great pleasure to the Sovereign to find out the importance of
+apparently insignificant objects, and every moment to receive new
+information concerning their value and names, but the Professor had the
+tact to avoid long explanations. He looked with quite a youthful
+interest on the collection. It happened just at a time when he was not
+occupied with great works, he brought with him a lively susceptibility
+for impressions, and at every step he felt how charming were the new
+views which he obtained; for there was much here that invited a closer
+examination. He inspired the Sovereign with something of the enjoyment
+he felt himself. There was no end of his questions, and the answers of
+the Professor. The Sovereign was delighted to tell how he had obtained
+many of the objects, and the Professor, by relating similar stories of
+discoveries, led him on to give further accounts. Thus some hours
+passed without the Sovereign experiencing any weariness, and he was
+much astonished when he was told that it was dinnertime. "Is that
+possible?" he exclaimed. "You understand the most difficult of all
+arts, that of making the time pass quickly, I expect you at dinner;
+tomorrow you shall see the collection again, undisturbed by my remarks;
+then you must favor me with a written report of what is desirable with
+respect to the arrangement, so as to make the valuable objects
+serviceable to science."
+
+At dinner--there was no one present but some gentlemen whom the
+Professor, by the advice of the Chamberlain, had visited in the
+morning--the conversation was continued. The Sovereign related much
+about Italy, and contrived in a cursory way to draw attention to the
+personal relations of the Professor with his own acquaintances, in
+order that his Court might know something about the man with whom he
+was so much pleased. The conversation was easy and pleasant, and before
+the Sovereign left the company, he turned again to the Professor, and
+said, "I desire much that you should feel at home with us, and I hope
+to pass more than one day as agreeably as I have done this."
+
+To the Professor also it had been a refreshing day, and in going away,
+he said, in great spirits, to the High Steward: "His Sovereign Highness
+understands very well how to say kind things."
+
+The High Steward bowed his white head civilly, and replied, "That is
+the vocation of princes."
+
+"Certainly," continued the Professor; "but so warm an interest in the
+details of a remote province of scientific inquiry is more than I had
+anticipated."
+
+The High Steward made a courteous movement, which was to signify that
+he could not contradict the assertion; he enveloped himself in an
+old-fashioned little mantle, bowed silently to the gentlemen who were
+similarly occupied, and entered his carriage.
+
+In intelligence and education the Sovereign was superior to most of his
+fellow princes. He had preserved much of the elasticity of his youth in
+advanced age; his bodily condition was excellent, and he took great
+care of his health; he was still capable, in case of necessity, of
+exertions which would have been severe to a younger man. In his youth
+he had devoted himself enthusiastically to the ebullitions of the then
+fashionable poetry, and had indulged in higher and freer aspirations
+than other men. He had at that time corresponded with learned men and
+artists of repute, and he liked to tell of his intimacy with some man
+of prominent mind. But his youth and manhood had fallen in a weak and
+decrepit period of our development. In the years when a foreign
+conqueror had treated the German princes as the greater part of them
+well deserved, he also as a youth had bowed to the foreigner, and
+abandoned the sinking vessel at the right time to save his title to his
+country. Since then he had ruled over a pitiful race of men, for he had
+entered upon his government at a time of great national exhaustion; he
+had found little that he was compelled to respect or fear, seldom any
+men firm enough to maintain their rights against him, and no public
+opinion that was strong enough to oppose his encroachment by a
+unanimous determination. His country was governed by officials, the
+official places were continually increased, and concerning every lost
+key of a village church there was accumulated a bundle of legal
+documents; he allowed these prolix forms of proceedings which benumbed
+the life of the people to remain unaltered, and only took care that the
+officials, whenever his personal interest came into play, should be
+pliant servants, who would procure him money, and withdraw from
+publicity any past wrong dealings of their Sovereign.
+
+When he came into contact with his people, he was affable and
+good-humored, made it easy for petitioners to approach him, listened
+kindly and sympathetically to all complaints, and threw the blame on
+the officials. He was not unpopular; sometimes the discontented
+grumbled at the high taxes, and over the costly expenditure of their
+master; and, here and there, an anecdote of his private life reached
+the public; but the new spirit of the times, which was beginning to
+stir also in his country, struggled only weakly in helpless assaults
+against his system of government. And although as a ruler he showed no
+inclination to remedy existing evils, yet, to those at a distance, he
+appeared personally to be a humane, good-hearted man. He had a kindly
+acknowledgment and a gracious word for every one; he knew much of the
+private relations of his subjects, and occasionally showed his personal
+sympathy for individuals; he loved children, for he would sometimes
+stop in the streets to notice pretty boys and girls, and inquire after
+their parents; he gave a f�te to the school children of his capital
+every year, appeared at it himself, and took pleasure in their games.
+
+His Court was in many respects a model of order and pleasing display.
+By all who surrounded him he was considered a distinguished man; and
+contrived--which is most difficult for a prince--that those who daily
+associated with him should always have a feeling of his superiority. He
+had never been a military man, and he did not refrain from sarcastic
+remarks on the warlike propensities of other princes. His Court long
+remained free from the military influence that prevailed in neighboring
+capitals. Gradually, indeed, he made some concessions to the fashion,
+and his aides-de-camp became important members of the royal household;
+but he was not on a comfortable footing with the officers of his
+household, and, in spite of his quiet manner, was always feared by
+these gentlemen. There were hours when it appeared that his reserved
+character was not only accompanied by severity, but by something quite
+anomalous, in addition: at such moments, cynical jests or brusque and
+irritative remarks fell from his lips, and he lost all consideration
+for the claims of those about him. But the young noblemen and
+aides-de-camp bore the secret thorn of their position without being
+subjected to the loud criticism which is often expressed by the
+courtiers of ruling princes, for the Sovereign understood how to treat
+them with respect before strangers. He held strictly to etiquette, even
+on their behalf, and cleverly took care of their interests in the
+presentation of favors--orders and decorations--which foreign princes
+visiting his Court were bound to bestow; he never called upon them for
+anything contrary to the dignity of their office, and knew how to
+maintain his own and that of his Court in intercourse with strangers.
+
+His wife had died early, and the inhabitants of the capital always
+preserved a grateful recollection of that pale and delicate lady. It
+was said that the marriage had not been a happy one; yet the sorrow of
+the Sovereign was strong and lasting. He always spoke with great
+tenderness of the departed, and every year, on the anniversary of her
+death, fastened a garland in her mausoleum.
+
+He had two children. The eldest, the Princess, had returned to Court
+after the death of her husband; and the Sovereign, in the eyes of the
+Court and the people, treated her with especial regard. He had opened
+his whole heart to the Court chaplain about her. "I should like to see
+her married again; she has a right to look forward to a brilliant
+life,--her heart is warm, her nature energetic; and from my experience,
+I consider a long state of widowhood a bad thing for the Princess. But
+I fear she will resist. I have perhaps, always been a weak father to
+this child. You know, venerable sir, how dear she has been to me."
+
+Thereupon the pious gentleman, with folded hands, exclaimed: "I know
+it, and I know how warmly the heart of her Serene Highness is attached
+to her father." The people also remarked that the Sovereign was a good
+father. On every birthday a great Court f�te was arranged for the
+daughter; and when the Sovereign once happened to be travelling at this
+time, he appeared suddenly, contrary to all expectation, on the evening
+of the birthday, in his travelling dress, at the Princess's opera-box,
+kissed her on the forehead before all the people, and said that he had
+hastened his return in order to wish her joy upon her _f�te_ day.
+Besides this, he neglected no opportunity of showing her the little
+attentions which in every father gave an impression of amiable
+gallantry, and which in every ruling Sovereign are doubly appreciated.
+Before every ball he sent his daughter a nosegay, and every time had it
+brought by the head gardener into the castle to inspect it himself. He
+was glad when distinguished travellers caused their arrival to be
+announced to the Princess, and always observed accurately whether she
+was well entertained during their reception. But, in spite of the great
+trouble the father took to give a good appearance to his relations with
+the Princess, it was thought that he had a secret dislike for her. It
+may be possible for a prince to be incomprehensible to those who are in
+daily intercourse with him in certain important concerns, but it is
+almost impossible to deceive them constantly.
+
+The relations of the father to his son were very different. The latter,
+a sickly, shy boy, had been deprived of self-confidence by the way in
+which his father had watched over his education. The boy had not the
+capacity to assert himself; it was still a difficult task for him to
+overcome his shyness in his intercourse with strangers. When the list
+of persons invited was handed to him, and he considered what he was to
+say to individuals, apt questions seldom occurred to him, and what he
+did bring out was so awkwardly done that it was very evident that he
+had been coached. Even to the persons of the Court the young Prince was
+silent and indifferent; the ladies and gentlemen were therefore
+inclined to assume that he was a little weak-minded. His father treated
+him with contempt, and his tone towards his son sometimes sounded short
+and harsh, as if it were not worth his while to conceal his disdain for
+him.
+
+In this respect, however, injustice was done to the father. A reigning
+sovereign is easily led to consider his son as a young rival. The son
+will be his successor, and will, in the next generation, expose his
+father before all the world, upset all his arrangements, and be
+reconciled to all who have been discontented and his opponents. When he
+has become sovereign, it is impossible that he should not discover
+something under the former Government that has been wrong, and
+everything will be brought before him in which his father has failed
+and done evil. This would have been reason enough for the Sovereign to
+treat his son with coldness and reserve. Now he was nobody, a powerless
+slave who was indebted to his father for every penny he had; but some
+day he would be everything. But his son was in his eyes insignificant;
+he moved in the prescribed track as if possessed of no will of his own;
+he had never defied him, was content with everything, and had yielded
+silently and respectfully to every command; it was not to be supposed
+that he could really govern himself, still less would he put his father
+in the shade. Thus by degrees was added to the father's quiet feeling
+of contempt, one of almost compassionate kindness. The timid
+submissiveness of the Prince was very satisfactory to his father; it
+was very agreeable to him to provide, as he was well able, a support
+for the weak reed which was to carry on the future of his family. To
+him he showed himself as he was: what he did for him was done with the
+feeling that he was benefiting another, not himself.
+
+But just now, when he had been taking pains to procure a pleasure for
+the Hereditary Prince, the latter fell ill!
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+Ilse went with Gabriel through the rooms, trying to arrange them to
+please herself; she moved the tables about, examined the curtains, and
+looked doubtfully at the porcelain vases.
+
+"I am surprised," said Gabriel, "that amongst this beautiful furniture
+one thing should be wanting, a cuckoo-clock. That would be very
+suitable: it gives life, when it opens its door, and makes profound
+obeisances as they do at Court. For they are very polite here, however
+deceitful they may be at heart. I have no confidence in the lackey; he
+asks me too many questions. How would it be taken if we got rid of him?
+I could manage to do the housekeeping alone, with the maid. No cooking
+can be done here, for there is no kitchen; every drop of warm water
+must be brought from the cellar over there where the white jackets work
+like so many ghosts."
+
+"There is no use worrying about it," said Ilse, decisively; "we must
+accustom ourselves to the regulations, pride must put up with much; we
+have no secrets, and I know you will be cautious."
+
+"The gardener has placed a table and chairs, with flowers about it, in
+front of the house," said Gabriel. "Shall I take your work down; the
+sun appears warm?"
+
+Ilse went in front of the house; near the door was a space bordered
+with plants in pots, a cosy spot in the warm midday sun: one looked
+from under the green arbor over the paths and smooth turf, up to the
+walls of the castle. Ilse sat down in a rustic chair, holding her
+embroidery in her hands, but looking up at the large stone palace, that
+rose with its towers and newly built extensions, some hundred steps
+from her. There dwelt the great ones of the earth, near to whom she had
+been so suddenly brought. She counted the rows of windows, and thought
+that there must be more than a hundred rooms and halls, all grandly and
+splendidly furnished, and she wondered how many people it must require
+to fill such a building that it might not look empty and desolate.
+Approaching steps disturbed her thoughts. A middle-aged gentleman was
+advancing up the gravel walk: he drew near: it was the Sovereign. Ilse
+rose, alarmed. He came up to her slowly. "Madame Werner?" he asked,
+touching his hat. Ilse curtsied low; her heart beat; she was unprepared
+for this meeting with him whom she had been accustomed from her
+earliest youth to consider the greatest man on earth. Though she had
+once seen him, it was but for a moment. Her thoughts, ever since the
+years when she had adorned him with the crown and sceptre of a mock
+king at cards, had attached themselves to him with shy respect. Often
+when she had looked at the Hereditary Prince, she had endeavored to
+form some conception of what his father must be like; what she had
+heard of him had not helped to diminish her fears.
+
+The Sovereign looked with delight on the beautiful woman before him,
+who received his flattering greeting with silent embarrassment. "You
+are no stranger to me," he began, "and you have reason to be satisfied
+with the years that have passed since my walk over your father's farm.
+You may now try our mode of life. We also take pleasure in the spring,
+and I see the sun casts friendly rays on the spot which you have
+selected."
+
+He seated himself on one of the rustic chairs, pointing at the same
+time to another. "Do not let me interrupt your work. I am taking a
+walk, and beg to be allowed to rest myself for a moment here."
+
+"The work is in idle hands," answered Ilse, "I was looking at the
+castle, and thinking how large the household must be that requires so
+much room."
+
+"It is an old building," remarked the Sovereign. "Many centuries have
+contributed to increase it, and yet, in the opinion of the officers of
+my household, it is not large enough. One easily increases one's
+requirements. But then, again, one rejoices in withdrawing into a
+smaller abode. I myself once lived in this pavilion, alone, with only a
+few necessary servants. Such solitude does one good."
+
+"That I can imagine," replied Ilse, sympathizingly. "But to such as we
+are it is something new to see so grand a style of life. The castle and
+its grounds with the blooming trees, are like large precious stones set
+in gold. It gives me heartfelt pleasure to have so near a view of your
+Highness's home; it helps to give one an idea of the mode of life of
+our gracious Sovereign."
+
+"Then you still consider yourself a child of our country," said the
+Sovereign, smiling.
+
+"That is natural," answered Ilse. "From my childhood I have heard of
+your Highness as our ruler; whenever I looked in the newspaper I saw
+your Highness's name; everywhere I have seen your Highness's pictures;
+and, since I have been old enough to go to church, I have prayed for
+your Highness's happiness and health. This is a bond of union; it is,
+indeed, only on one side, for your Highness cannot care about us all,
+but we think and care much about our ruler."
+
+"And speak of him sometimes with dissatisfaction," replied the
+Sovereign, good-humoredly.
+
+"Just as it happens, gracious Prince," replied Ilse, honestly. "One
+does not always speak well of one's neighbors; but, in serious matters
+and in trouble, a good heart shows itself. So it is with the Sovereign,
+each one forms his own idea of him according to circumstances, trusts
+in him, or is angry with him, and ends by thinking that he and his
+prince belong to one another."
+
+"It were to be wished that so good a feeling might be shown by every
+subject," rejoined the Sovereign; "but fidelity is wavering, and
+personal attachment disappears."
+
+"Many know too little of their Sovereign," said Ilse, apologizing. "How
+can they care for him when they see so little of him? For seeing does
+much: we at Rossau have seldom the honor of setting eyes on our
+prince."
+
+"The feeling of that country has been described to me as
+unsatisfactory."
+
+"We are situated in a distant corner, but we have a heart. Your
+Highness will scarcely remember the maidens at Rossau, who received you
+seventeen years ago at the triumphal arch. There were twenty; the
+little town could not produce any more. They all wore the national
+colors on their bodices and petticoats; they, of course, had to buy the
+dresses themselves. One of the maidens was miserably poor, but she was
+pretty, and did not like to be left behind, so she worked the whole
+week during the greater part of the night, in order to procure money
+for her dress. In her last illness, for she died young, she asked to be
+buried in this dress, as that day had been one of greatest honor and
+pleasure to her. But your Highness was hardly able to stop there; you
+drove quickly through the triumphal arch, and, perhaps, did not even
+see the maidens."
+
+Whilst Ilse was speaking, she was secretly strewing bread crumbs beside
+her. The Prince observed her hand, and she excused herself.
+
+"The finches call to their gracious Sovereign, 'Give, give!' The little
+ones are very tame here."
+
+"They are probably fed by the servants," said the Prince.
+
+"To love animals is the custom of our country!" exclaimed Ilse; "and
+tame birds suit well with a royal castle, for all here should feel
+joyful confidence."
+
+The Sovereign's glove fell to the ground, and as the loyal Ilse quickly
+bent down to pick it up, the Sovereign's eye rested for a moment upon
+her head and form. He rose slowly. "I hope, Madame, that you will be of
+the number of those joyful ones who place confidence in the possessor
+of this spot. As master of the house, I have made inquiry after the
+health of my new lodger. I wish that you may feel here some portion of
+the pleasure that you know how to impart to others."
+
+He civilly acknowledged Ilse's respectful curtsy, and returned to the
+castle.
+
+There the Chamberlain waited to report to him concerning the health of
+the Hereditary Prince.
+
+"His Highness is unfortunately still obliged to keep to his bed."
+
+"He must take care of himself," replied the Sovereign, graciously, "and
+not leave his room too soon."
+
+
+
+
+                           _CHAPTER XXVIII_.
+
+                            IN THE PAVILION.
+
+
+The splendid iris colors wherewith Ilse had at first adorned her new
+abode gradually faded. As, instead of the steward and lackeys by whom
+she was received, there was now only a single servant, in a dark coat,
+to assist Gabriel, so everything else that surrounded Ilse appeared now
+in the modest colors of common earthly life. This was natural, and Ilse
+herself said so to her husband. But there was one thing she did not
+like: she was separated from her husband more than in the city. The
+morning and a portion of the afternoon he worked in the museum, and
+devoted many hours also to his own object among the archives and
+records of the Marshal's office, whose private offices were willingly
+opened to him. When he returned home he had sometimes to dress in haste
+for the Court dinner, and Ilse dined alone. However attentive the
+servant might be in bringing up the numerous dishes, the lonely meal
+was uninviting and sad to her. But a great many evenings were spent in
+a new entertainment: a Court carriage used to stop at the pavilion, and
+convey her and her husband to the theatre. When for the first time she
+entered the private boxes near the stage, she rejoiced in the
+comfortable position, which allowed her to give her attention to the
+performance undisturbed by the public. When she leant back in her box
+she saw nothing of the spectators, except the Sovereign's seat
+opposite. The theatre was very grand, much richer in decorations and
+costumes than she had seen in the city, and there were some good
+singers at the opera. Absorbed in the performance, she did not remark
+with what curiosity she was regarded by the public, and that the
+Sovereign's opera glass was often directed towards her. She soon found
+that the theatre was the best amusement of the capital, and her husband
+took care that she should not miss this recreation, although he,
+perhaps, would have preferred remaining with his books, or examining a
+bundle of records from the archives. Between the acts, Ilse looked with
+curiosity down upon the people, who were all strangers to her, and said
+to Felix: "This is the only occasion upon which I have ladies near me."
+
+During the day she felt her solitude. Her father had a mercantile
+friend in the city to whom she made a point of going the first day, but
+in the family of the little merchant she found no one to suit her.
+According to the advice of the Chamberlain, she went round with Felix
+to pay visits to the Court ladies. In most of the houses no one was at
+home, and she had to leave cards. Rarely were these visits returned;
+and it always happened that on her return home from the city, or from a
+walk in the gardens of the castle, she found the cards of some lady.
+This was annoying to her, for she wished to try how she could get on
+with the ladies. Some of the gentlemen of the Court, indeed, used to
+present themselves to her in the morning,--the Chamberlain and the
+Grand Marshal,--but the visits even of the Chamberlain became shorter;
+he looked depressed, and spoke of little but the continued
+indisposition of the Hereditary Prince.
+
+Ilse was very anxious to know the Princess. The second day after her
+arrival the Chamberlain announced that her Highness would see the
+Professor and Madame Werner at a certain hour. Ilse stood with her
+husband amidst the silk and gilding of the royal room; the door flew
+open, and a young lady in half mourning swept in. Ilse recognized at
+once that she was the sister of the Hereditary Prince: a delicate
+refined face, the same eyes, only more lively and brilliant, and an
+enchanting smile played round the delicate mouth. The Princess bowed
+her small head gravely, said a few civil words to her, and then turned
+to Felix, with whom she immediately entered into lively conversation.
+Ilse observed with admiration the ease of her manner, and the tact with
+which she could say kind things; she soon discovered what an active
+mind lay concealed within that lovely form, and that her husband's
+answers were instantly followed by intelligent remarks on the part of
+the prude lady. At the close of the visit the Princess turned again to
+Ilse, and said how much her brother lamented that his illness deprived
+him of the pleasure of seeing her. The words and tone were very kind,
+but there was a pride and princely dignity in the manner which hurt
+Ilse. When the Professor on their return spoke with warmth of the
+charming lady, and exclaimed, "That is an uncommonly bright mind! Like
+her outward appearance, her inward spirit has a fairy grace about it!"
+she was silent; she felt that her husband was right, but she also felt
+that the Princess had excluded her from the footing of intimacy which
+she had accorded to her Felix.
+
+Being in this state of mind, she was surprised and pleased at one mark
+of attention which was shown her. Since her interview with the
+Sovereign the head gardener brought her every morning, at the same
+hour, a vase of the most beautiful flowers, with the compliments of his
+Highness. This was not all: a few days after the Sovereign came again,
+when Ilse was sitting, as before, in front of the door. He asked
+whether it was not advisable, on account of the slight breeze that had
+sprung up, to enter the house; she took him into the room; he sat down
+there, and asked, as if accidentally, whether she was well entertained,
+and had found any acquaintances in the city. He took so much interest
+in her that Ilse said to her husband, when he returned home, "How
+mistaken are the opinions that one forms about strangers! When I came
+here I thought the Sovereign was a thoroughly reserved man, but I find
+him very friendly, and he seems quite a good family man too; but with
+such a large household it may frequently be necessary to be strict."
+
+The Sovereign's short visit was repeated. The next time he found the
+Professor with his wife. On this occasion he was more serious than
+before.
+
+"How were you satisfied with the Hereditary Prince?" he asked the
+Professor.
+
+"Those who instructed him praised his industry; among the students he
+gained popularity, and there was general regret at parting from him."
+
+The Sovereign remarked the word popularity.
+
+"How did the Prince contrive to gain this?"
+
+"He showed an upright character and decided will, and one felt
+confidence in him."
+
+The Sovereign gave a searching look at the Professor, and perceived
+from his calm manner that this was not empty civility.
+
+"The attachment of the students showed itself on the departure of the
+young Prince by a festive serenade," interposed Ilse.
+
+"I know," replied the Sovereign. "I assumed that Weidegg by his
+endeavors contrived to have this done."
+
+"It was of their own free will, and showed their warm feeling," added
+the Professor.
+
+The Sovereign remained silent.
+
+"He won the hearts of the ladies also," continued Ilse, "and we
+lamented his Highness's absence from our tea-parties."
+
+The Sovereign still continued silent; at last he began, in a bitter
+tone:
+
+"What you tell me surprises me. Considering you as the Prince's
+instructor, I may speak more openly to you than to my household. The
+Prince has a weak character, and I have no confidence in his future."
+
+"He gave us the impression of having, under all this shy reserve, the
+qualities for the formation of a firm and noble character," replied the
+Professor, respectfully.
+
+Ilse thought that this was the moment to introduce something
+advantageous to the Prince.
+
+"May I venture to tell your Highness, which my husband entirely
+approves of, that the Prince wishes far more knowledge concerning
+agricultural industry? As I am myself from the country, your Highness
+will forgive me if I should say that this is the best school for our
+dear young Prince."
+
+"On the estate of your father?" asked the Sovereign shortly.
+
+"Anywhere," replied Ilse, innocently.
+
+"I have never heard him express any such wish," concluded the
+Sovereign, rising. "In any case I am grateful to you for the interest
+you take in his future."
+
+He took leave with an air of reserve, and returned to his daily
+business.
+
+The day was a difficult one for all who had to do with him. He rode out
+with his aide-de-camp into a rough, woody country, where his soldiers
+after a night-march were practising field service. Generally he cared
+little about the details of man[oe]uvres, but on this occasion he
+harassed his aides-de-camp and soldiers by sudden changes of
+disposition. When the soldiers at last returned home exhausted, he went
+to inspect a distant stud and a plantation, and wandered about four
+hours on rough hill roads. No one could do anything to suit him--blame
+and bitter remarks alone fell from his lips. In the evening there was a
+Court concert; the aide-de-camp, tired to death, stood in the hall,
+counting the minutes till his retirement. Then the Sovereign on
+withdrawing, called him to his study; there he seated himself in an
+arm-chair near the fire-place and gazed at the fire, occasionally put
+on a log, and held the silver handle of the fire-tongs in his hand,
+striking it at intervals on the iron bars of the grate. Meanwhile the
+aide-de-camp stood some steps behind him, one hour, two hours, till he
+was ready to faint. It was not till the middle of the night that the
+Sovereign rose and said, "You must be tired; I will not detain you
+longer." He spoke this mildly, but his eyes glittered with an
+unpleasant gleam, and the aide-de-camp acknowledged later to his
+intimate friends that he should not forget that look as long as he
+lived.
+
+"The Sovereign has visited the pavilion for the third time!" said the
+Chamberlain, to the Hereditary Prince, who was sitting in his room with
+his throat tied up. The Prince looked down on the book which was lying
+before him.
+
+"Do the guests seem to like their residence here?"
+
+"I cannot say that of the Professor's wife: I fear she is placed in a
+difficult position here. The marked distinction which his Highness
+shows her, and certain old recollections which attach to the
+pavilion----"
+
+The Prince rose, and looked so indignantly at the Chamberlain that he
+became mute.
+
+"The Sovereign was very ungracious to-day," he continued, in a
+depressed tone. "When I reported to him concerning your Highness's
+health, I met with a reception which was not encouraging."
+
+The Hereditary Prince approached the window.
+
+"The air is mild, Weidegg; I shall endeavor to go out to-morrow."
+
+The Chamberlain was very uncertain how this decision of the Hereditary
+Prince would be received: he departed in silence.
+
+When the Prince was alone, he tore the shawl from his shoulders and
+threw it on one side.
+
+"Fool that I was! I wished to preserve her from gossip, and have
+exposed her to worse. I myself sit here in seclusion, and my father
+visits her in my stead. It was a cowardly device. If I cannot avert
+what is impending for this poor creature, I will play my part in the
+game that is beginning."
+
+When the Prince on the following morning went to his father, the latter
+began, with calm coldness:
+
+"I hear from strangers that you have the desire to obtain some
+knowledge of agriculture. The wish is sensible. I shall consider how
+you can find an opportunity to obtain this knowledge somewhere in the
+country. It will also be advantageous to your health, and will agree
+with your inclination for a quite poetic life."
+
+"I shall do what my honored father bids me," replied the Hereditary
+Prince, and left the room.
+
+The Sovereign looked after him, and murmured:
+
+"Not a word to be got out of him but cowardly submission; always the
+same submissive compliance. Not an eyelash moved when I ordered him to
+do what was unwelcome. Is it possible that this pliant boy is a master
+of dissimulation, and is deceiving me and all of us?"
+
+If Ilse in spite of the distinction with which the Prince treated her,
+had a foreboding of the dark shadow which hung over the pavilion, far
+different was the tone of mind of her husband; he lived in the midst of
+the interesting investigations to which the museum gave rise, and the
+poetry of his earnest mind worked busily, and cast a brilliant lustre
+over his sojourn in the capital. He was a hunter who trod with light
+step over his hunting ground, breathing the pure mountain air, whilst
+around him the rays of the sun gilded the mossy ground and heather. The
+time had now come when that of which he had dreamt for years was within
+reach of his hand. It is true the new track of the manuscript remained
+indistinct. The fate of that chest which had been mentioned in the old
+letter could not be ascertained. In the Prince's library, and in a
+collection of books in the city, there were found neither manuscripts
+nor other books which could be ranked among the possessions of the
+monastery of Rossau. He had renewed his acquaintance with the
+head-forester, but the latter could think of no place where old hunting
+implements were kept. He went through old catalogues of the Marshal's
+office, and nowhere could the chest be discovered. But it was more
+strange still that the name of a royal castle Solitude was quite
+unknown in the capital. The castle, like one in an old legend, had
+vanished. But, strange as this circumstance was, yet the account of the
+student had won for this old letter of the official an importance which
+gave the searcher hopes of a good result. For only a few years ago some
+one, who knew little of the value of such a narrative, had seen the
+Rossau chest. It was no longer a deceptive image from a distant past;
+on any day a lucky accident might lead him to it. But when the
+Professor gazed on the slate roof of the royal castle, and ascended the
+grand steps, he had always a joyful presentiment that he was now near
+his treasure. With the help of the Castellan he had already examined
+the whole ground-floor of the castle; he had climbed up under the beams
+of the old roof like a marten, and had opened the old garrets, the keys
+of which had not turned for a generation. He had found nothing. But
+there were other houses belonging to the Sovereign in the town and
+neighborhood, and he was quite decided to examine one after the other
+secretly.
+
+In this time of restless agitation, when his fancy was always opening
+new prospects, intercourse with agreeable persons was very refreshing.
+He himself, in this state of excitement, proved a good companion, and
+observed with cheerful interest the proceedings of those about him. The
+Sovereign showed him great distinction, and the young noblemen were
+very attentive; he took his place among them with dignity and without
+pretension.
+
+The Chamberlain informed the Professor how much the Princess had been
+pleased with him, and Felix rejoiced when one forenoon she and her
+lady-in-waiting visited the museum, and begged for his guidance. When
+the Princess was going away, thanking him, she begged he would mention
+to her some books from which she could herself learn a little about
+that portion of the life of antiquity, the ruins connected with which
+he had shown her; she told him also of an ancient vase which she
+possessed, and asked him to come and see it.
+
+The learned man was now standing with the Princess before the vase. He
+explained to her the subject of the pictures, and told her something
+about the old Greek pottery. The Princess led him into another room,
+and showed him some valuable sketches. "I wish you to see all I possess
+of objects of art." While he was examining these, she began, suddenly:
+"You have now learnt to know us a little, and how do you like us?"
+
+"I have met with great kindness," replied the Professor, "which is
+agreeable to one's self-esteem; it gives me pleasure to observe a life
+so different from that of my circle and people, who are differently
+bred."
+
+"In what do you find us differently bred?" asked the Princess,
+pressingly.
+
+"The habit of acting your part fittingly at every moment, and
+maintaining your position among others, give persons an easy
+confidence, which always has a pleasant effect."
+
+"That would be an advantage which we share with every tolerable actor,"
+replied the Princess.
+
+"At all events, it is an advantage always to play the same r�le."
+
+"You think, therefore, it is no longer art if we become adepts in it,
+and act our part well," rejoined the Princess, smiling; "but in that
+also there is danger; we are from childhood so much accustomed to
+behave suitably, that it endangers our sincerity; we observe the
+effects of our words, and we soon think more of the good effect than of
+the purport of what is said. I myself, while talking with you, remark
+with pleasure how much I please you, yet I am nothing more than a poor
+princess. But if our aptness in presentation pleases you, in like
+manner we are attracted by a character that is calm and confident
+without attending to outward appearances; and perhaps a deficiency in
+the forms of society and the plain speaking of a powerful mind are
+interesting to us, if they do not wound our feelings, for on this
+point, we are sensitive. Whoever would wish to leave a pleasant
+impression, would do well to treat our pretensions with consideration.
+I do not wish you to treat me so," she said, interrupting herself, "but
+I am solicitous on your account. Yesterday I heard you flatly
+contradicting my father. I beg of you to have regard for our weakness,
+for I hope that you are still to remain long with us."
+
+The Professor bowed. "If I opposed his views more warmly than was
+necessary, it is because I lie under a temptation which is dangerous to
+men of my calling. Disputation is the weakness of men of learning."
+
+"Good, we will reckon up our qualities one against the other. But you
+are in the happy position of always attacking things boldly; we, on the
+contrary, must be cautiously on the defensive. The great importance of
+external appearances is instilled into us from youth, and cannot be
+dispensed with. With you there is probably seldom any strife about
+precedence, and I fear it is quite immaterial to you what place you
+take in our degrees of rank; but these things are great events to us,
+not only to our Court, but still more to ourselves. Many of us are for
+days unhappy, because we have not taken our proper place, at dinner.
+Many visits are discontinued on that account, old alliances are broken
+off, and there is frequent quarrelling behind the scenes. When we
+occasionally meet with clever people of your stamp, we ourselves laugh
+over these weaknesses, but few are free from them. I have already
+fought for my place at dinner, and made a great fuss about it," she
+added, with good-humored frankness.
+
+"No one can entirely free himself from the ideas of his circle,"
+replied the Professor, courteously. "A century ago there was the same
+tormenting eagerness about rank and social precedence among the
+citizens. With us it has become different since our life has been
+pervaded with a strong intellectual element. In the future, even at
+Court, people will laugh at these things as antiquated frippery."
+
+The Princess raised her little finger threateningly. "Mr. Werner, that
+was spoken again as the learned man: it was not polite. For, though we
+move entirely in the track of fashion and of Court manners, we do not
+remain behind those from whom we are socially separated."
+
+"Perhaps it is because you separate yourselves," said the Professor.
+"The warmest pulse of our nation has always been in the middle class;
+from them education and new ideas have gradually spread to the princes
+and the people. Even the peculiarities and weaknesses of the
+civilization of a period rise to the throne generally half a century
+after the educated middle class of the nation have suffered from them,
+and are only just appreciated there when they are already giving way
+among the people to some new tendency of the time. Therefore, it is
+often difficult for the Sovereign and his people to understand each
+other."
+
+"Oh, how right you are!" exclaimed the Princess, drawing nearer to him.
+"It is the fate of princes, the misfortune of us all, that the most
+valuable culture of our time seldom exercises a good influence upon us.
+There is a want of fresh air in the atmosphere in which we live, we are
+all weak and sickly. All who approach near us must accommodate
+themselves to our prejudices, and we accustom ourselves to regard men
+according to the rules which we have devised for them ourselves. Have
+you ever before been brought into contact with any of our great
+rulers?"
+
+"No," replied the Professor.
+
+"Have you never sent what you have written to any of them?"
+
+"I have had no occasion to do so," replied the Professor.
+
+"Then you are unacquainted with the scale of favors that are shown to
+you learned gentlemen. Now, I must repay you for the delightful
+instruction you have given me about ancient vases, by giving you some
+instruction in return. Sit down opposite to me. You are now my pupil."
+The Princess leaned back in her chair, and assumed a serious
+expression. "We assume that you are pious and good, and look up
+respectfully to the handle of the Imperial globe that we hold in our
+hand. Your first presentation comes,--a handsome book; the title-page
+is opened: 'Upon antique vases.' Hm--who is the man? One informs
+oneself a little about the fellow, and it is well if your name is
+already to be found in print. Thereupon follows an answer of
+acknowledgment from the Council, short variations according to formula
+No. 1. Your second presentation makes its appearance: a beautiful
+binding, an agreeable impression, therefore a warmer acknowledgment in
+courteous expressions, according to formula No. 2. A third
+presentation: again a large volume, the gilt edges are unimpeachable;
+the Council take the book up and weigh it. If the author is a lesser
+light, he enters the class of gold breastpins; if he is worthy of a
+higher consideration, from a well-known name, and what is more
+effective with us, from a title, he reaches the sphere of orders. There
+are different classes of orders which are distributed among strangers,
+accurately according to their titles. But he who is persistent, and
+does not tire of showing fresh marks of respect, hops gradually, like
+the green frog, at intervals of years, to the highest rank."
+
+"My kindest thanks for the instruction," replied the Professor. "I must
+be allowed in this case to take the Council under my protection. For
+what could the illustrious gentlemen do when they are overrun with such
+a multitude of indifferent presents?"
+
+"It was a fair example," said the Princess, "of how beautifully we have
+arranged, in all directions, the steps to our favor. For the rest, we
+are, with respect to what we accord to people, not only civil, but
+economical. He who has no colored ribbons to give, finds himself
+greatly inconvenienced. But," continued she, in a changed tone, "in the
+same way our principal efforts in every undertaking are made with an
+eye to vain show and empty forms; and as hundreds are so weak and
+abject that they are attracted in this way, we think we can thus attach
+millions to us."
+
+"Many small advantages may be obtained in this manner," replied the
+Professor; "but there is an error in your reasoning; he who tries to
+attach men to him by their weakness, vanity, and pride, does not gain
+the best part of their life. In quiet times this attraction is
+unnecessary, and in times of danger it has only the strength of a rope
+of sand."
+
+The Princess nodded her head.
+
+"We know that right well," she said, confidingly; "and we do not feel
+comfortable and secure, in spite of the profuse distribution of honors.
+What I tell you would sound like high treason to my illustrious
+relatives, only because I express it, not because I think it. Do not
+consider me the black sheep of the flock, there are wiser people than I
+who in secret form the same judgment; but we cannot find our way out of
+the barrier, and we cling to it, although we know that the support is
+weak. For as the humming-bird gazes on the serpent, so do we view the
+prospect that the present age opens before us, with a shudder and
+helpless expectation." She rose. "But I am a woman, and have no right
+to speak with you upon these important subjects. When I feel uneasy I
+use the right of women--to complain--which I have done abundantly to
+you. For I have it at heart to please you, Mr. Werner. I wish you to
+consider me as a woman who deserves something better than complaisant
+words and polite nothings. Allow me often the pleasure of rectifying my
+judgment by yours."
+
+She put out her hand to the learned man with hearty confidence. Werner
+bowed low, and left the room. The Princess looked after him with a
+pleased expression.
+
+The Professor went fresh from the conversation to the pavilion, and
+told his wife all that had passed.
+
+"I did net consider it possible," he exclaimed, "to find a woman of
+this rank with so liberal and high-minded an understanding of her
+position. What was most charming was her animated, and unaffected
+manner--a charm that made itself felt at every moment, both in voice
+and movement. I am enchanted with the little lady. I will immediately
+prepare the book that she wished for."
+
+He seated himself at the table, marked out passages, and wrote remarks
+on small strips of paper, which he laid within.
+
+Ilse was sitting by the window, looking at her husband in astonishment.
+It was no wonder that the Princess pleased him. Ilse herself had with
+the quick intuition of a woman perceived her power of attraction. Here
+was a soul that, amidst the constraint of her Court, longed for
+intercourse with a man of liberal culture; here was a powerful mind
+that rose above the prejudices of rank,--clever, light of fancy, and
+quick of comprehension. Now this woman had found a man to whom she
+could look up, and with her little hands she cast her fetters about
+him.
+
+The room was becoming dark. Felix was still sitting writing and making
+notes. The rays of the evening sun shone upon his head, but the dark
+shadow of the unfamiliar room hovered over Ilse. She rose from her
+chair behind her husband.
+
+"He is good to me," she said to herself; "he loves me, as one always
+does the person whom one has taken into confidence. He is not like
+other men; he will not allow a stranger to take away my rights; he is
+innocent as a child, and does not perceive the danger that threatens
+him and me. Take care, Ilse, not to awake the night-wanderer. I, fool!
+What right have I to complain if another should benefit by his rich
+mind? Have I not enough for myself in the treasure of his life? No,"
+she exclaimed, and threw her arms round her husband's neck; "you belong
+to me, and I will have you entirely."
+
+The Professor raised his head, and his look of astonishment brought
+Ilse to her senses.
+
+"Forgive me," she said, feebly; "I was thinking."
+
+"What is the matter. Ilse?" he asked, kindly; "your cheeks are hot. Are
+you ill?"
+
+"It will pass over; have patience with me."
+
+The Professor left his book, and occupied himself anxiously about his
+wife.
+
+"Open the window," she said softly. "The air of the close room feels
+heavy to me."
+
+He was so tenderly concerned about her that she again looked cheerfully
+at him.
+
+"It was a foolish weakness, Felix; it has passed away."
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XXIX_.
+
+                            TWO NEW GUESTS.
+
+
+The Professor was standing with the Chamberlain and the Sovereign in
+the study. The latter held in his hand the memorial that Werner had
+prepared respecting the new catalogue of the museum.
+
+"Only now can I form an estimate concerning the extent of the catalogue
+which you consider necessary. I am ready to agree to your proposals, if
+you will bind yourself to undertake the superintendence of the new
+arrangement and of the catalogue. If you cannot do us this service,
+everything must remain as before, for only the great confidence which I
+have in you, and the wish to keep you here, will induce me to make the
+necessary sacrifice. You see I make the undertaking dependent upon the
+degree of inclination which you yourself have for this work."
+
+The Professor replied that his presence might be desirable for the
+introductory arrangements, and that he was ready to spend some weeks
+upon it. Afterwards, it would be sufficient if from time to time he
+examined the progress of the work.
+
+"With this I shall be content for the present," said the Sovereign,
+after a pause; "our contract is, then, concluded. But I see that it
+will be necessary to get some one who will carry out the details under
+your guidance. Will the Curator be able to it?"
+
+The Professor thought not.
+
+"And could you propose any one?"
+
+The Professor thought over the old members of his circle.
+
+But the proper man at once occurred to the Chamberlain.
+
+"Would not Magister Knips do for this work?"
+
+"Just the man," said the Professor; "industry, knowledge, everything
+about him, makes him peculiarly adapted for it. I believe that he may
+be had at once. I can answer for his trustworthiness with respect to
+the care of objects of value. But I cannot take this responsibility
+upon me without disclosing to your Highness that once in his life, from
+want of caution, he was implicated in a disagreeable affair, that
+lessened the confidence, not only of myself, but of many of his
+acquaintances."
+
+The Professor then related, with forbearance towards all concerned, the
+history of the forged parchment sheet of Tacitus.
+
+The Sovereign listened with interest, and pondered.
+
+"With respect to the safety of the collection, the old catalogue will
+allow of constant control. You consider the Magister innocent of this
+deception?"
+
+"I do consider him so," replied the learned man.
+
+"Then I request you to write him."
+
+Some days afterwards Magister Knips entered the capital. He carried his
+travelling-bag and hat-box to an unpretending inn, at once clad himself
+in the dress which he had always spoken of to his mother as his livery,
+and sought the Professor at the Pavilion. Gabriel saw the figure in the
+distance passing through the blooming shrubs, his head on his shoulder
+and his hat in his hand; for Knips considered it proper to uncover his
+head in the sacred precincts of the castle, and entered like a walking
+bow into the distinguished horizon. The Professor could not conceal a
+smile when he saw the Magister in courtly attire, polished and
+fragrant, standing before him, with two low obeisances.
+
+"It was the Chamberlain who proposed you for this occupation, and I did
+not object to it. For on the supposition that you will be suitably
+remunerated, an opportunity for work is afforded which may perhaps
+raise you for good above your insignificant occupation, and which, if
+dutifully carried out, will entitle you not only to our warmest thanks,
+but to those of the whole learned world. Your conduct here may
+therefore be decisive for the rest of your life. Remember, also, every
+hour, Mr. Magister, that you have to show conscientiousness and
+fidelity, not only to learning, but also with respect to the property
+of the prince who has called you to this post of confidence."
+
+"When I read the letter of the right honorable and most highly
+respected Professor," answered Knips, "I did not doubt that his kind
+intentions were to give me the opportunity of assuming a new character
+in life. Therefore, upon entering the portals of an unknown career, I
+entreat with deep emotion, above all, for the continuation of your good
+opinion, which I trust to be able to deserve by faithful obedience."
+
+"Very well then," concluded the Professor; "announce yourself to the
+Chamberlain."
+
+The day following Knips was sitting before a row of antique lamps, with
+brown Holland sleeves to preserve his dress coat, his pen behind his
+ear, surrounded by the books of the castle library; he opened them,
+compared, wrote, and was as active in his work as if he had all his
+life been a clerk in a bric-a-brac establishment of ancient Rome.
+
+The Chamberlain announced before dinner, with satisfaction, to the
+Hereditary Prince, "Magister Knips has come;" and the Prince repeated
+to his sister, "The wise Knips is here."
+
+"Ah, the Magister!" said the father, with equal good humor.
+
+The same week the Sovereign was taken by the Chamberlain into the
+museum, in order that Knips might fall under his notice. The Sovereign
+looked with curiosity upon the lowly bent man, who perspired with
+fright, and who now quite resembled a mouse which is prevented by a
+powerful fascination from disappearing into its hole. The Sovereign
+discovered immediately what he called a subaltern nature; and the pale
+flat face, retreating chin, and dolorous aspect, appeared to amuse him.
+In passing, he remarked the rampart of books from which Knips had
+emerged.
+
+"You have made yourself quickly at home; I hope that you will find all
+the books that are indispensable to your work."
+
+"I have ventured," said Knips in a high and rasping voice, "to borrow
+from your Highness's library much that I needed. My wants are moderate,
+and what I lacked, I have managed, through the assistance of honored
+patrons, to obtain from the university library of my native city."
+
+The Sovereign answered with a short nod, and proceeded. Magister Knips
+remained standing in an attitude of deferent respect till the Sovereign
+had left the room, when he returned to his chair, and, without turning
+to the right or left, resumed his writing. Whenever the Sovereign
+entered or left the room he started up and sank down again, as if
+turned into an automaton by his great respect.
+
+"Are you satisfied with him?" asked the Sovereign, of the Professor.
+
+"Beyond expectation," answered the latter.
+
+The Chamberlain, pleased by his recommendation, reminded his master
+that Knips was also an excellent painter of coats of arms, and
+possessed remarkable knowledge of the customs and regulations of the
+old Court festivals.
+
+When the Sovereign left the gallery he cast a dignified glance over the
+bent head of the little man; but Knips might well be pleased with the
+results of this presentation, for he was pronounced very respectful,
+and regarded useful for further projects.
+
+He had soon an opportunity of showing his usefulness in an
+extraordinary case. The arrangements of the Court were in every respect
+exemplary, and not least when the Sovereign wished to show some mark of
+attention. A confidential councillor kept a list of the birthdays on
+which the Sovereign was bound to make a present, and also of the
+popular festivals where it was necessary for him to present a silver
+cup or some other testimony of his royal sympathy. On this list was
+noted down the fixed value of the present; and as the time approached
+the councillor sent the necessary information to the Chamberlain, whose
+business it was to choose a suitable present. On the birthday of any
+member of the princely family the Chamberlain only made suggestions;
+the Sovereign himself decided what was to be given.
+
+Now the birthday of the Princess was approaching. The
+gentleman-in-waiting, therefore, made a visit to her lady-in-waiting,
+in order to discover secretly what the Princess would like. In this not
+uncommon way many things were proposed; the Chamberlain of his own idea
+added modern trifles, among them copies of colored initial letters,
+which just then were painted in albums and letter-sheets, for he knew
+that the Princess had wished for things of the kind. The Sovereign
+glanced over the list, and at last stopped at the initial letters.
+
+"These Parisian manufactures will hardly please the Princess. Could she
+not have painted letters copied from old parchments by a draughtsman?
+Did you not extol Magister Knips to me? He could prepare very pretty
+little designs."
+
+The Chamberlain expressed deferent surprise at his Highness's idea, and
+sought the Magister. Knips promised to paint all the letters of the
+alphabet in the old characters, and the Chamberlain meanwhile looked
+after the cover. When the work of the Magister was laid before the
+Sovereign he was indeed surprised.
+
+"These are like the beautiful old rubrics," he exclaimed; "how do they
+come here?"
+
+Every letter was so painted on the old parchment that at cursory glance
+it could not be discovered whether the work was old or new.
+
+"This shows wonderful talent; take care that the man is compensated
+according to the value of his service."
+
+Knips lapsed into a state of respectful transport when the Chamberlain
+demonstrated to him the satisfaction of the Sovereign in shining coins.
+But it did not end there. For shortly afterwards the Sovereign visited
+the museum at the time when Knips was working. The Sovereign stopped
+again in front of the Magister, and said:
+
+"I was delighted with your pictures. You possess a rare aptitude: both
+eyes and judgment might be deceived by the counterfeit of antiquity."
+
+"Your most gracious Highness must pardon me if, on account of shortness
+of time, the imitation was imperfect," replied the bowing Knips.
+
+"I am quite satisfied with it," rejoined the Sovereign, examining
+sharply the countenance and bearing of the little man. He began to
+vouchsafe a feeling of interest for the Magister. "You must have
+formerly had opportunities of exercising this art in a remunerative
+way."
+
+"It has been reserved for your Highness to render my little dexterity
+valuable to me," replied Knips; "hitherto I have only practised such
+imitations for my own pleasure, or here and there to please others."
+
+The Sovereign laughed, and went away with a gracious nod. Magister
+Knips was judged to be very useful.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+The Princess was sitting at her writing-table; the pen in her little
+hand flew over the paper; sometimes she looked into a book, which had a
+learned appearance, and copied passages which were designated by marks.
+Steps in the ante-room disturbed her work; the Hereditary Prince
+entered, with an officer in foreign uniform.
+
+"Sit down, children!" exclaimed the Princess. "Put aside your sabre,
+Victor, and come to me. You have become a handsome fellow: one can see
+that you have taken your place among strangers."
+
+"I am breaking my way through," replied Victor, shrugging his
+shoulders, and laying his sabre cautiously near, that he might reach it
+with his hand.
+
+"Be tranquil," said the Princess, consolingly; "we are now safe; he is
+busy."
+
+"If he said so, we must not depend upon it," replied Victor. "You have
+become serious, Siddy. Even the room is changed--books, nothing but
+books." He opened one at the title-page. "'Archaeology of Art.' Tell
+me, what are you doing with this trash?"
+
+"I am breaking my way through," repeated Siddy, shrugging her
+shoulders.
+
+"Siddy patronizes learning," explained the Hereditary Prince. "We now
+have literary tea-parties, she has pieces read and r�les assigned. Take
+care, you will have to join it."
+
+"I only read villains' parts," replied Victor; "or, at the most valets'
+r�les."
+
+"The inferior parts are always my share," said the Hereditary Prince.
+"The best that falls to my lot is a good-natured father, who ends by
+giving his blessing."
+
+"He has talent for nothing but open-hearted goodness; he protests if he
+has more than four verses to recite, and even with that there are
+pauses during which he fidgets with his lorgnette."
+
+"His proper vocation would be that of pastor," said Victor, mockingly.
+"He would favor his congregation with short sermons, and set them a
+virtuous example."
+
+"If he were only better than you, there would be no merit in it,
+Victor. You have the reputation of playing such naughty tricks that we
+are not allowed even to know them?"
+
+"All calumny!" cried Victor, "I am harshly judged in my regiment
+because of my strict principles."
+
+"Then Heaven preserve us from an invasion of your comrades. I am glad
+that you mean to pass your leave of absence in our parts; but I am
+surprised at it. You are free: the whole world is open to you."
+
+"Yes, free as a jackdaw that is thrown out of its nest," replied
+Victor; "but there are times when it occurs to one that a garrison has
+not all the charms of home."
+
+"And that you seek with us?" asked the Princess. "Poor cousin! But
+meanwhile you have been campaigning. I congratulate you. We hear that
+you behaved gallantly."
+
+"I had a good horse," said Victor, laughing.
+
+"You have also visited all our relations?"
+
+"I have penetrated the mysteries of three Courts," replied Victor.
+"First, at my cousin's, the innocent shepherd's Court,--a charming
+rural life! The Grand Marshal carries embroidery in his pocket, at
+which he works among the ladies. The lady-in-waiting comes with her
+spaniel to dinner, and has him fed in the kitchen. Twice every week
+people are invited from the city to tea and pastry. When the family are
+alone at their tea they play for hazel-nuts. I believe that they are
+gathered in the autumn by the whole Court. Then I went to the Court of
+my great-uncle, with the six-foot grenadiers. I was the smallest of the
+society. One day all were in the costume of generals, the day after all
+were Nimrods, in hunting-coats and gaiters. One day it was drilling,
+and the next hunting. Powder is the greatest article of consumption at
+Court there. Even the ballet-dancers, they say, wear uniforms under
+their gauze. Lastly, there was the great Court of Aunt Louisa. All with
+white heads and powder. Any one with the hair of youth endeavoured to
+rid of it as quickly as possible. In the evening virtuous family
+conversation, and if any talked scandal, they would on the following
+morning receive an order from the Princess to contribute to some
+benevolent institution. The Princess Minna asked me whether I attended
+church regularly, and when I told her that at all events I played
+regularly at whist with our chaplain, I was held in great contempt. She
+danced the first country dance with her brother and only the second
+with me. The evening society was accurately arranged according to the
+respective dignities of the guests. There was the hall of the Privy
+Councillors, of the Chamberlains, and of the small folk of the Court;
+and, besides that, a lower place for an unavoidable class of citizens,
+in which bankers and artists wait to be noticed by their Highnesses."
+
+"These formalities make us ridiculous to the whole world," exclaimed
+the Hereditary Prince.
+
+The Princess and Victor laughed at this sudden ebullition.
+
+"Since when has Benno become a Red?" asked Victor.
+
+"It is the first time I have heard him speak in this way," said the
+Princess.
+
+"A prince should only invite gentlemen into his society; but whoever is
+there should be considered as the equal of the rest," continued the
+Hereditary Prince.
+
+Again the others laughed.
+
+"We thank you for the wise remark, Professor Bonbon," cried Siddy.
+
+"It was in this room that we dressed you up as an owl, Bonbon; and you
+sat here groaning under Siddy's mantle when the Sovereign surprised
+us."
+
+"And where you received punishment," replied Benno, "because you had so
+disfigured a poor fellow like me."
+
+"Fix him up again!" cried Siddy.
+
+"Victor took a colored silk handkerchief, formed two points by knots
+for ear-tufts, and covered the head of the Hereditary Prince, who
+quietly submitted. His serious face, with his dark eyebrows, looked
+strangely from under the covering.
+
+"The feather-coat is wanting," exclaimed Siddy; "we must imagine it. I
+am the quail, and Victor the cock. I know the melody that we used to
+improvise as children."
+
+She flew to the pianoforte and ran over the notes. The Hereditary
+Prince twisted the theatre-bill, which he pulled out of his pocket,
+into a cornet, and cried into it, "Tu-whit, tu-whoo, Mrs. Quail, I eat
+you."
+
+The quail sang: "Pik werwit old tu-wooh, that you will not do." And the
+cock crows, "Cock-a-doodle-doo, dearest quail, I love you."
+
+"That has never been true, Victor," said the Princess, in the midst of
+the game.
+
+"Who knows?" rejoined he; "cock-a-doodle-doo."
+
+The concert was in full flow. Victor sprang about, clapped his hands
+and crowed; the Hereditary Prince on his chair screeched unweariedly
+like an owl; Siddy moved her head in time, sang her pik-wer-wit,
+calling out occasionally, "You are very funny little boys." A slight
+knocking was heard; they quickly left off their play; the sabre was
+restored to its belt; and the quail became in a moment the
+distinguished lady.
+
+"His Grace your father begs to inform your Highness that he will wait
+upon you," announced the page.
+
+"I knew that he would disturb us," cried Victor, in a rage.
+
+"Away with you, children," cried Princess Sidonie. "I must repeat once
+more, cousin, that I rejoice to have you with us again. We three will
+hold together. Benno is brave, and my only comfort. Avoid conversing
+with me whenever the Sovereign is present. I will not take it amiss if
+you do not notice me at all. The spy who is placed about me is now my
+maid of honor, Lossau. Every word that you speak in her presence is
+reported; you know the gentlemen, they have not become more pleasant."
+
+"There is Benno's Chamberlain," asked Victor; "the Sovereign was
+talking to him a long time to-day."
+
+"He is good-humored, but weak," remarked the Hereditary Prince; "and
+devoted to his place. There is no dependence on him."
+
+"Try to behave well, Victor," continued the Princess; "be a good
+Chinese, and wear your pigtail according to rule, and deport yourself
+exactly according to the privileges of the tuft that you wear on your
+cap. Now, away with you down the private staircase."
+
+Princess Sidonie hastened to the door of the reception-room to meet the
+Sovereign. The Sovereign passed through the rooms to her study. He cast
+a glance at the open book:
+
+"Who has made these marks?"
+
+"Mr. Werner noted the most important passages for me," replied the
+Princess.
+
+"I am glad that you make use of this opportunity to obtain instruction
+from so distinguished a man. Apart from the pedantic manner which
+attaches to his profession, he is a remarkable man. I wish, on account
+of his disinterested activity, to make his position as agreeable as
+possible, and I beg that you will do your best towards accomplishing
+it."
+
+The Princess bowed silently, closing her hand convulsively.
+
+"As it is impossible to bring him and his wife into closer relations
+with the Court, I wish you would invite them to one of your little
+tea-parties."
+
+"You must pardon me, my most worthy father, if I do not see how this
+can be. My evening parties have hitherto consisted only of my ladies
+and the principal members of the Court."
+
+"Then you must alter that," said the Sovereign, coldly; "you are not
+prevented from introducing into it one or other of our officials, with
+their wives."
+
+"Pardon me, my father; as this has never yet happened, every one would
+remark that the change has only been occasioned through the strangers.
+It would occasion much ill-natured remark if an accidental visit were
+to upset what has been the acknowledged rule up to the present day."
+
+"The consideration of foolish gossip shall not prevent you," replied
+the Sovereign, angrily.
+
+"My gracious father must take a favorable view of the considerations
+which hinder my doing anything of the kind. It would not become me, a
+woman, to dispense with the habits and customs which my lord and father
+has considered binding upon himself. You have deigned to permit the
+attendance of Mr. Werner at your small dinners, and I could, without
+giving any uncommon offence, receive him at my tea-table. His wife, on
+the other hand, has never been brought into relations with the Court
+through your own sanction. It would ill become the daughter to venture
+what the father himself has not done."
+
+"This reason is a poor disguise for ill-nature," replied the Sovereign.
+"Nothing hinders you from leaving out the whole Court."
+
+"I can have no evening society, however small, without inviting the
+ladies of the Court," replied the Princess, pertinaciously; "and I
+cannot ask them to take part in a mixed society."
+
+"I will take care that Miss von Lossau shall appear," replied the
+Sovereign, in a bitter tone. "I insist upon your conforming to my
+wishes."
+
+"Forgive me, gracious father," replied the Princess, in great
+excitement, "if I do not obey you in this case."
+
+"Do you dare to defy me?" cried the Sovereign, with a sudden outbreak
+of anger, approaching the Princess.
+
+The Princess turned pale, and stepped behind a chair as if for
+protection.
+
+"I am the only lady of our house," she exclaimed; "and I have in this
+high position to pay regard to considerations from which, neither as
+the lord of this Court, nor as my own father, you can release me. If
+your Highness chooses to make new Court regulations, I will willingly
+conform to them; but what your Highness requires of me now is not a new
+regulation, but an irregularity which is humiliating for me and for us
+all."
+
+"Impertinent, insolent fool!" cried the Sovereign, no longer master of
+himself. "Do you think you have outgrown my control because I once let
+you out of my hands? I have brought you here in order to hold you fast.
+You are in my power; no slave is more so. Within these walls no power
+prevails but mine, and if you do not bend to it, I will break your
+stubborn spirit."
+
+He approached her threateningly. The Princess drew back to the wall of
+her room.
+
+"I know I am your prisoner," she cried out, with flashing eyes. "I knew
+when I returned here that I was entering my prison. I knew that no cry
+of anguish could penetrate these walls, and that a slave would find
+more protection among men than the child of a prince from her father.
+But in this room I have a supporter, to whom I often look imploringly;
+and if your Highness deprives me of the help of all the living, I call
+upon the dead for protection against you."
+
+She pulled the cord of a curtain, and the life-sized picture of a lady
+became visible, in whose soft countenance there was a touching
+expression of sorrow. The Princess pointed to the picture and looked
+fixedly at the Sovereign.
+
+"Will your Highness venture to insult your daughter before the eyes of
+her mother?"
+
+The Sovereign drew back, and gave vent to a hoarse murmur, turned away,
+and motioned with his hand.
+
+"Cover the picture," he said, in a feeble voice. "Do not excite
+yourself and me unnecessarily," he began, in a changed tone. "If you do
+not choose to fulfill my wishes, I will not insist upon it." He took
+his hat from the table, and continued, in a softer tone: "You are
+beloved by the citizens; the weather is as warm as summer, and promises
+to last. I will, on your birthday, arrange to have a morning concert
+for the officials and the citizens in the park. I will send you a list
+of invitations through the Lord High Steward. In the evening we shall
+have a gala-supper and visit the opera."
+
+The Sovereign left the room without looking at his daughter. The
+Princess followed him to the anteroom, where the attendants were
+standing. At the door she made a low curtsy. The Sovereign gave a
+friendly sign with his hand. The Princess then flew back into her room,
+threw herself down before the picture, and wrung her hands.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+The Princes were walking in the park, and the promenaders bowed and
+looked after them. The Hereditary Prince took off his hat with the
+dignity of a man; Victor touched his hussar cap lightly, and nodded
+sometimes familiarly to a pretty face.
+
+"All old acquaintances," he began; "it is a pleasure, indeed, to be
+home again."
+
+"You always were a favorite of the people," said the Hereditary Prince.
+
+"I have amused and provoked them," replied Victor laughing. "I feel
+like Hercules with his mother earth, and am ready for any mischief.
+Benno, do not look so dejected; I cannot stand it."
+
+"If you had, like me, to walk always at the same hour you would look so
+too," replied Benno, stopping before an empty water-tank, in which four
+little bears were sitting, looking at the public, who were throwing
+bread to them. The Hereditary Prince took a piece of bread from the
+keeper, who approached him hat in hand, and threw it mechanically to
+the bears. "And if you had by high command to show yourself every day
+as the friend of the people, and feed these stupid bears, you would
+also weary of them."
+
+"Pooh!" exclaimed Victor, "it only depends upon yourself to make these
+louts amusing."
+
+He sprang with one jump into the walled place among the animals, laid
+hold of the first bear as a sheep is carried to be shorn, threw it upon
+the second, and the third upon the fourth; a horrible growling and
+clawing began among the bears; they fought violently together, and the
+bystanders shouted with pleasure.
+
+"Your hand, comrade," called out the Prince, to one of the spectators,
+who were watching him and giving vent to loud expressions of
+approbation. "Help me out."
+
+The person called upon was our friend Gabriel, who held out both hands.
+
+"Here, your Excellence, quick, that they don't catch your uniform."
+
+Victor sprang lightly up, giving his supporter a slap on the shoulder.
+
+"Thanks, comrade; if you ever get into a fix, I will lend you a hand
+too."
+
+The people cried "Bravo!" with much laughter.
+
+"You must force life into the place," said Victor. "If your father does
+not drive me away, I shall in a week make it as lively at your Court as
+I have done here in the bear-pit."
+
+"I, meanwhile, have suffered for it," replied Benno, with vexation;
+"one man said to another, 'What a pity that that fellow has not as much
+courage!' of course meaning me."
+
+"Never mind: you are the wise one. In the eyes of thoughtful people,
+your virtues shine bright when placed in contrast with mine. Now let me
+into your confidence. What lady of the theatre do you favor with your
+attentions, that I may not be in the way? I do not wish to interfere
+with you."
+
+"Nothing of this kind is permitted me," replied Benno.
+
+"Not permitted?" asked Victor, astonished; "what kind of tyranny is
+this? Has it become the fashion here to be virtuous? Then impart to me,
+at least, what other lady, from political reasons, may only be admired
+by me in the distance?"
+
+"I believe that you have free choice," replied Prince Benno, depressed.
+
+"What a blessing for me that I am not Hereditary Prince! But what has
+occasioned the Sovereign to invite me here so graciously?"
+
+"We do not know; Siddy also was surprised."
+
+"And I, fool, thought she had a hand in the game."
+
+"If she had attempted anything of the kind, you would assuredly have
+had no invitation."
+
+"That he does not like me is evident. I had a cool reception."
+
+"Perhaps he wishes to have you married."
+
+"To whom?" asked Victor, quickly.
+
+"He has caused you to visit amongst our relations," replied the
+Hereditary Prince, cautiously.
+
+"He? By no means. I was passed on from one to another, and everywhere
+treated like a nice boy. The whole was clearly concerted."
+
+"Perhaps one of our great matchmakers was at the bottom of it," said
+the Hereditary Prince.
+
+"Not in my case, depend upon it. I am ill looked upon by the conclave
+of mothers of our country, who have in charge the feelings of our
+princely families. They would not stir a finger for me."
+
+"If my father has not done it, or none of our relations, the Lord High
+Steward must have done it."
+
+"Bless you for this supposition," exclaimed Victor. "If he wishes to
+have me here then all is right."
+
+"Have you spoken to him?"
+
+"I have been with him; he talked to me about the campaign, and spoke in
+his usual friendly way, but nothing more."
+
+"Then it was he, you may depend upon it."
+
+"But why?" asked Victor. "What can I do here?"
+
+"That you must not ask me; he favors me with little of his confidence."
+
+"Why do you turn away from the pavilion at every bend in the path?"
+asked Victor. "Have you placed steel traps there? By Jove, what a
+glorious face! Look, you dissembler! So, you are become virtuous?"
+
+The Hereditary Prince colored with indignation.
+
+"The lady up there deserves the most considerate treatment," he said,
+moodily.
+
+"Then that is the beautiful stranger," cried Victor; "she is reading.
+If she would only turn a look this way, that one might see more than
+her profile. We will go there: you shall introduce me."
+
+"Under no circumstances," replied the Hereditary Prince; "least of all
+now."
+
+Victor looked at him in astonishment.
+
+"You refuse to present me to this lady? I do not need it," and he let
+go his arm.
+
+"You are mad!" cried the Hereditary Prince, holding him back.
+
+"I was never more in my senses," rejoined Victor.
+
+He hastened up to a tree, the low branches of which nearly reached to
+the window, and with the agility of a cat he climbed up to the top.
+Ilse looked up and perceived the Hereditary Prince, and an officer
+climbing up a tree. She withdrew from the window. Victor broke off a
+switch, and touched one of the panes. A bell rang, a window was opened,
+and Gabriel looked out.
+
+"Always in the air, your Excellence?" he cried out; "what are your
+Excellence's commands?"
+
+"Tender my respectful compliments to your mistress, and request her to
+favor me with a moment's interview upon urgent business."
+
+Ilse appeared, with her usual serious countenance, at the window, the
+servant behind her. The young gentleman held on fast by one hand, and
+raised the other to his cap.
+
+"I beg your pardon. Madam, for choosing this unnatural way of
+presenting myself to you, but my cousin down there has sent me up here
+against my will."
+
+"If you fall, Sir, you may take with you the full conviction that it
+was unnecessary to climb the tree: the door of the house is always
+open."
+
+Ilse retreated, and Victor bowed again.
+
+"The lady is quite of my opinion," he cried out, reprovingly, to the
+Hereditary Prince, "that you have done very wrong in keeping me from
+the door."
+
+"There is no way of getting out of this scrape but by going in at once,
+and apologizing," replied the Hereditary Prince.
+
+"That is exactly what I wish," cried Victor. "One must always let
+people know what they want."
+
+The Princes entered the house together, and Ilse received them with a
+silent curtsy.
+
+"This is the gentleman," began the Hereditary Prince, "of whom, Mrs.
+Werner, I have often spoken to you. As a boy he was always called, by
+those who knew his character, Master Madcap."
+
+"Your Highness should not have acted so," returned Ilse, sorrowfully;
+"I am a stranger here, and more exposed to misrepresentation than
+others." She then turned to the Hereditary Prince. "It is the first
+time that I have seen your Highness since your recovery."
+
+"I am in danger of being again banished from your presence," replied
+the Hereditary Prince, "and it has been your wish."
+
+Ilse looked at him surprised.
+
+"You have imparted to my father the purport of a conversation that I
+once had with you," continued the Hereditary Prince, in a tone of
+vexation. "You have thus caused my father to determine that I shall be
+removed from here into the country."
+
+"I would not on any account that your Highness should believe me
+capable of betraying a confidence. If the harmless words I spoke to
+your father were contrary to your wishes, I can only say, in excuse,
+that they proceeded from the warmest interest in your Highness."
+
+The Hereditary Prince bowed silently.
+
+"This terzetto is composed of only dissonances," exclaimed Victor. "We
+are all three vexed at each other,--I most of all, for my disobliging
+cousin has exposed me to the danger of entirely losing your favor,
+without having first had the opportunity of winning it. Yet I beg
+permission at some future time to introduce myself in a better light
+than amongst the foliage of the tree."
+
+The Princes took leave. When they were clear of the house, Victor said:
+
+"I would like to get a little straight in this matter of the
+Professor's wife. I perceive now that it is in no case advisable for me
+to lay my homage openly at her feet. Do not be angry with me, Benno,--I
+will spoil no man's game; if you can make use of me, I am at your
+service."
+
+The Hereditary Prince remained standing, and looked so sorrowfully at
+his cousin that even he became serious.
+
+"If you would do me a service for which I should thank you as long as I
+live, help me to procure the departure of those that dwell in that
+house, from this country as quickly as possible. It will bring them no
+good fortune to remain near us."
+
+"Say it right out: they will believe you sooner than me."
+
+"What reason shall I give?" asked the Hereditary Prince. "There is only
+one, and I am the last who should venture to express it."
+
+"The lady looks as if she could take care of herself," said Victor,
+consolingly. "I am more anxious about you. I see you are in danger of
+being for once of the same mind as your father. Will you not at least
+venture to raise objections to his sending you away?"
+
+"By what right?" asked the Hereditary Prince; "he is my father, Victor,
+and my sovereign. I am the first of his subjects, and it becomes me to
+be the most obedient. So long as he does not command me to do anything
+which is against my conscience, I am in duty bound to obey him at once.
+That is the rule of conduct that I have laid down for myself from my
+own convictions."
+
+"But let us suppose," rejoined Victor, "that a father wishes to remove
+his son in order to devise mischief against another, in whom his son
+takes an interest?"
+
+"I still think that the son must go," replied the Hereditary Prince,
+"however hard it may be for him; for it does not become him to foster
+suspicions of his father in his soul."
+
+"More son than Prince!" cried Victor; "and there is an end of it,
+virtuous Benno. Ah, Bergau, where are you going?"
+
+The Marshall, whom he accosted, replied, hastily, "To the Pavilion, my
+Prince."
+
+"Have you heard any details," asked Victor, mysteriously, "concerning
+the scare they have had at the castle of my great-uncle? It was about a
+woman, or rather an apparition, which, in reality, was a spirit that
+entered as a spectre, with a great row; it began as a thundering noise
+and ended like a funeral march; it made the doors shake, and the
+chandeliers jingle like a peal of bells. Have you heard nothing of it?"
+
+"Nothing. What apparition? When--and how?"
+
+"I do not quite know," replied Victor; "but if you hear anything of it,
+I beg you to let me know."
+
+This the Marshal promised to do, and hastened away.
+
+The Marshal was blameless in his service; he inspected all the accounts
+conscientiously, took care to have good wine in the cellar, and
+discharged the ceremonial details of his office well. Besides this, he
+was a worthy nobleman, but without any great abilities. He was,
+therefore, a valuable champion of Court; for he contended, with all the
+energy of a fanatic, for the venerated customs of his household against
+the irregular pretensions of foreign guests, and was sometimes made use
+of by the Sovereign as a battering-ram to assault a wall which another
+would have gone cautiously round. He now came to Ilse, ill-pleased at
+heart with the commission which he had been commanded to carry out
+dexterously. He found the Professor's wife in an unfavorable mood. The
+boldness of Victor, and the secret reproach conveyed in the words of
+the Hereditary Prince, had made her discontented with herself, and
+suspicious of the uncertain position in which she was placed. The
+Marshal long stirred the bowl from which he had to pour; he turned the
+conversation to Ilse's home and her father, whom he had once met at a
+cattle-show.
+
+"It is a fine estate, I hear, and has a very high reputation."
+
+Ilse, taking pleasure in this praise of what was dear to her, entered
+unsuspiciously into the conversation, and told him of the neighboring
+farms and their owners.
+
+At last the Marshal began:
+
+"Your father is worthy of every distinction; pardon me, therefore, if I
+put one question: Has your father ever had the wish to be ennobled?"
+
+"No," replied Ilse, staring at the Marshal with astonishment; "why
+should he have such a wish?"
+
+"I refrain from all observations upon the favorable effect which such
+an elevation would have upon the career of your brothers and sisters;
+that is obvious. One can easily conceive that modesty and pride may
+hinder a man from seeking these advantages. But I am convinced that his
+Highness the Sovereign, even for his own interest, would be glad to
+confer such a favor; for the position of your father, with respect to
+my gracious master, would thereby become much more satisfactory."
+
+"It is very satisfactory as it is," said Ilse.
+
+"Considering the personal relations into which you have entered with
+our Court, I may venture to speak openly to you," continued the
+Marshal, with more confidence. "It would be very desirable for his
+princely Highness, and for us all, if, on the occasions of his
+Highness's accidental presence in your country, he could find a house
+in which he might receive hospitality."
+
+Ilse interrupted him in great astonishment. "I beg of you, Mr. Von
+Bergau, to explain yourself more clearly, for I do not understand this
+matter at all. The Sovereign has already honored our house several
+times with his presence."
+
+The Marshal shrugged his shoulders. "In cases of necessity, the
+friendly offer of your father has been accepted, but it has always been
+for a short time, and that incidentally; for even if your father, in
+his official position, was not at all unfitted for this honor, yet
+there was no lady who could do the honors of the house."
+
+"I performed the duties of that position as well as I could."
+
+The Marshal bowed. "There was much discussion as to how the breakfast
+should be arranged without affronting the ladies of the house, and it
+was very welcome when your father entirely refrained from requiring the
+participation of his ladies. Allow me also to add, that a rise in your
+father's position would be desirable for yourself. For your husband, as
+a learned man of distinguished merit, is in the position of obtaining,
+on expressing a wish, a rank and position which would establish him as
+a member of the Court. And if this proposal should be carried into
+effect, it would give you, under certain limitations, an entrance there
+also. It would give the Sovereign and Princess an opportunity of
+receiving you at the castle, and invitations to great Court balls and
+concerts would be possible."
+
+Ilse rose. "Enough, my lord, I understand you. I know what my father
+will do when you offer him that of which you speak; he will laugh and
+reject the offer, and will say, if our citizen's home is not good
+enough for our Sovereign to enter, we must resign the honor. But I
+cannot reject it with the composure which I expect of my father; and I
+must tell you, my lord, that if I had had any idea that I, as a lady,
+was not entitled to enter this society, I would never have set foot
+here."
+
+Ilse, with difficulty, controlled the indignation which worked within
+her. The Marshal was confounded, and endeavoured to pass it off
+equivocally; but Ilse could not be dealt with; she continued standing,
+and so compelled him to depart.
+
+The Professor found his wife in a dark room brooding over what had
+passed. "Will you have a patent of nobility?" she exclaimed, springing
+up; "it will be prepared for you at once, and for my father also, in
+order that we may all have the advantages of becoming fit society for
+the castle without their feeling it a humiliation. It is unsatisfactory
+to them only to see us occasionally. I know now why I dine alone, and
+why the Sovereign would not enter our sitting-room at Bielstein. We
+must have a new name, that we may obtain the education and the manners
+which will make us worthy of going to Court. And not only us, but
+perhaps our children. Can you hear this without coloring with shame at
+our being here? They feed us like strange beasts, which they have
+procured out of curiosity and will again cast us out of the pen."
+
+"Why, Ilse!" cried Felix, in astonishment, "you are expending more
+pathos than is necessary. What do the prejudices of these men signify
+to us? Has not the Sovereign done everything to make our residence here
+agreeable, according to what we are accustomed? If the people here are
+obliged by the customs in which they have been brought up, and by the
+regulations of their circle, to limit their intercourse with us to
+certain definite forms, what does that signify? Do we wish to become
+their confidants, and to live with them as we do with our friends at
+home? They have not deserved such an unfolding of our souls. When we
+came here we entered into a simple business relation, and we undertook
+also the obligation of adapting ourselves to their rules of life."
+
+"And we are free to leave here as soon as these rules no longer please
+us?"
+
+"Just so," answered the Professor; "as soon as we have sufficient
+grounds for considering them unbearable. I think that is not the case.
+They require nothing of us that is degrading: they show us the most
+assiduous attention: what does it signify if we do not take part in
+their daily intercourse, which we have no right or reason to desire?"
+
+"Do not let us deceive ourselves," exclaimed Ilse. "If in our city any
+one was to say to you, you may only look at my shoes, but not raise
+your eyes to my face; you may only go out with me into the open air,
+but not come into my house; I can eat with you standing, but not sit
+down at your table, as my dignity forbids me to do so,--what would you,
+who live so proudly in your circle, reply to such a fool?"
+
+"I would endeavour to learn the reason of his
+narrow-mindedness,--perhaps pity him--perhaps turn away from him."
+
+"Then do so here," cried Ilse. "For we are invited guests to whom the
+people of the house close their doors."
+
+"I repeat to you that we are not guests who are invited to associate
+with the people here. I have been called upon for work, and I have
+accepted this call, because I look for such great advantage in it to my
+branch of learning that I would bear far worse things than the
+disagreeable customs of the Court. I dare not set at stake these
+important interests by an opposition to social pretensions which do not
+please me. It is just because I have no particular respect for these
+rules that they do not disturb me."
+
+"But it grieves and makes one angry that people, in whose life one
+takes an interest, cling to such miserable antiquated triflings," said
+Ilse still bitterly.
+
+"So that is it?" asked Felix. "We are anxious about the souls of the
+grandees? There is something to be said on that point. There is an old
+curse on every privilege which falls to the lot of most who share in
+it. This may be the case with court privileges. The life of our princes
+lies confined within the boundaries of a small circle; the views and
+prejudices of those around them, whom they are not free to choose,
+hedge them in from the first day of their life until the last. That
+they are not stronger and freer arises for the most part from the
+confined atmosphere in which they are kept by etiquette. It is a
+misfortune, not only for themselves, but for us, that our princes look
+upon the society that is not noble with the eyes of a deputy
+chamberlain or a courtier. This evil one feels painfully when one comes
+into contact with them. I think, undoubtedly, that the struggle which
+is going on in different parts of our fatherland will not come to a
+good conclusion, until the dangers are removed which arise from the
+effect of the old Court regulations on the training of our princes.
+But it appears to me they are already broken through in many places,
+and the time may come when all this nonsense will be the subject of
+good-humored satire. For this etiquette of Court is, after all, only
+the remains of a past age, like the constitutions of our guilds, and
+other ancient customs. So far you are right. But those who indulge in
+personal irritation, as you do now, expose themselves to the suspicion
+that they are only angry because they themselves desire entrance into
+the prohibited circles."
+
+Ilse looked silently down.
+
+"When you and I," continued the Professor, "come accidentally into
+personal contact with such modes of thinking, there is only one thing
+that befits us--cool contempt and indifference. We wish, for the sake
+of our princes, to remove the impediments which limit their intercourse
+with their people; but we have no wish or impulse to put ourselves in
+the place of those who apparently direct the rulers of our country.
+For, between ourselves, we, who pass our lives in strenuous mental
+labor, would in general be bad companions for princes. We are deficient
+in the graceful forms and tact, and the easy complaisance of society.
+The stronger minds would hurt, by their independence, and the weaker
+would become contemptible by abject subservience. Freedom of choice is
+all that we wish for our rulers. One feeling we may preserve without
+arrogance--all who separate themselves from our circle lose more than
+we do."
+
+Ilse approached him, and laid her hand in his.
+
+"Therefore, Lady Ilse," continued her husband, cheerfully, "be
+contented for these few weeks. If it should happen to you in reality to
+be an invited guest of the Court, then you may enter into negotiations
+concerning your pretensions; and if in such a case you have to take
+exceptions, do it with a smile."
+
+"Do you speak so from the calm confidence of your soul," asked Ilse,
+looking searchingly at her husband, "or because you have it much at
+heart to remain here?"
+
+"I have my manuscript much at heart," replied the Professor; "for the
+rest, the loss of peace is a greater deprivation to me than to you. You
+have from your youth, and especially this last year, taken a warm
+interest in the inmates of this princely castle. You have at times felt
+yourself much interested in them, and it is on that account that you
+are more wounded than needful."
+
+Ilse nodded her head assentingly.
+
+"Bear with it. Ilse," continued her husband, encouragingly; "remember
+that you are free, and may any day leave it. But it would be more
+agreeable to me if you did not leave me alone."
+
+"Would that be more agreeable to you?" asked Ilse, softly.
+
+"You little fool!" exclaimed the Professor. "Today we will give up the
+theatre, and have our evening reading. I have brought with me what will
+drive away all vexations."
+
+He brought the lamp to the table, opened a little book, and began:
+
+"It happened, one Whitsuntide, that Nobel, the King of all the Beasts,
+held a Court," and so on.
+
+Ilse sat with her work in her hand by her husband; the light of the
+lamp fell on his countenance, which she examined searchingly, in order
+to read therein whether he still felt towards her as before; till at
+last the iniquities of the fox brought a smile to her lips, and she
+took the book from him, and read on quietly and comfortably, as at
+home.
+
+"How is the Lady Bergau?" asked the Princess, of her attendant, the
+little Gotlinde Thurn.
+
+"Very ill, your Highness. She has been much disturbed by the sudden
+departure of her husband, and her confinement is expected every hour."
+
+"Bergau gone away?" asked the Princess, in astonishment.
+
+"The Sovereign has commissioned him to purchase some porcelain
+curiosities in a distant city."
+
+The Princess looked significantly at her confidant.
+
+"Forgive me, your Highness, if I venture to say," continued the
+lady-in-waiting, "that we are all indignant. Bergau, it is said, had a
+scene yesterday with the strange lady at the Pavilion; and this morning
+early the Sovereign expressed himself, in giving his orders, in a way
+that made any objection out of the question."
+
+"What has happened at the Pavilion?" asked the Princess.
+
+"That is not known," replied the angry lady; "but, from some
+expressions of Bergau, one may conclude that the stranger has raised
+pretensions, demanded an introduction at Court, and threatened to leave
+in the event of a refusal. The arrogance of the woman is unbearable. We
+all beg that your Highness will be gracious enough to maintain our
+rights."
+
+"Good Linda, I am a dangerous ally for you," replied the Princess,
+sorrowfully.
+
+The birthday of the Princess was kept both by the Court and city. Many
+people wore gala dresses; numbers pressed with their congratulations
+into the ante-chamber of the princely daughter. The Princess received
+in full dress on this day. She appeared for the first time out of
+mourning, and looked lovelier than ever. In a side room, the door of
+which was open, stood the tables, which were covered with presents.
+Much were the splendid dresses which the Sovereign had ordered for his
+daughter admired by the ladies; and scarcely less so the beautiful
+miniature work of the Magister by the connoisseurs.
+
+About three o'clock the concert began in the gardens of the castle.
+Gentlemen and ladies of the nobility, the officials, and citizens,
+entered the space marked out for them. The numerous attendants of the
+Princess greeted the ladies of the company and arranged them in a large
+circle, behind which were the gentlemen, forming a dark setting; on one
+side the families of the Court, on the other those of the city. The
+guests accommodated themselves easily to the compulsory mathematical
+line; it was only on the city side that there was any irregularity. The
+new city councillor Gottlieb, a distinguished butcher, pushed in from
+behind his wife and daughter, and placed himself squarely in the front
+row; and it required the positive directions of the lady-in-waiting to
+make him retreat to his place.
+
+"I pay the taxes," said Gottlieb, stubbornly, to those about him; but
+even from his neighbors he was the object of a disapproving smile.
+
+When Ilse entered this society of strangers with her husband, she felt
+alarm at the cold, inquisitive looks directed at her from all sides.
+The Chamberlain conducted her to the first lady-in-waiting. The
+Baroness bowed in cool acknowledgment, and pointed to the place where
+she was to be stationed--at the end of the Court side, opposite the
+entrance. The royal party, preceded by the Marshals, made their
+appearance punctually; the Princess, radiant and smiling, on the arm of
+the Sovereign; the young Princes behind. The ladies' dresses rustled
+like a forest of trees, as they bent in deferential salutation; behind
+them the heads of the assembled gentlemen dropped with solemn movement.
+The Princess executed a circular bow--a consummate piece of Court
+_technique_--and proceeded to walk about the line. The sun shone with
+summer warmth, and all rejoiced in the beautiful day and in the
+happiness of the child whose birthday was now celebrated. The Princess
+looked enchantingly lovely, and showed, by her noble appearance and
+gracious manners, how well fitted she was to do the honors of a Court.
+The ladies-in-waiting preceded her, beckoning to individuals to come
+forward, and mentioning the names of those who were strangers to the
+Princess. She had a kind word for every one, or a nod and sweet smile,
+which made all feel that they were the object of her attention. The
+Sovereign, to-day, appeared among his citizens with the self-possession
+of a family father.
+
+"A large number of old friends and acquaintances," he remarked, to the
+head Burgomaster. "I knew that this would be quite after my daughter's
+own heart. It is the first time since her severe trial that she has had
+the opportunity to meet again so many that have taken a friendly
+interest in her life."
+
+But none of the ladies there looked with such eager attention on the
+circle of the Princess as Ilse. She forgot her anger at the prejudices
+of class, and the annoyances attendant on her solitary position among
+these strangers, and looked unceasingly at the young Princess. Like all
+present, she felt the charm of her gracious manner. This facility of
+giving pleasure to others in a few minutes by merely a look or word,
+was quite new to her. She looked back anxiously at Felix, who was
+watching the graceful movements of the Princess with pleasure. She came
+near, and Ilse heard her questions and answers to the fortunate ones
+with whom she was more familiar. Ilse saw that the Princess cast a
+fleeting glance at her, and that her expression became more serious.
+The Princess had lingered with a lady who stood in front of Ilse,
+inquiring with interest after the health of her sick mother; she now
+passed slowly by Ilse, bowing her head almost imperceptibly, and said,
+in a low voice, "I hear you intend to leave us."
+
+The unexpected question, and coldness of the tone and look, aroused the
+pride of the Professor's wife, and, under the flash of her large eyes,
+the Princess also became more erect, and they exchanged a mutual glance
+of hostility, as Ilse answered:
+
+"Your Highness will pardon me! I shall remain with my husband."
+
+The Princess looked at the Professor: again a pleasant smile passed
+over her face, and she continued her progress. Ilse also turned quickly
+toward her husband, but he was looking about innocently, and, pleased
+with the world, he had not observed the little scene.
+
+The Sovereign, however, had; for he stepped right across the space to
+Ilse, and began:
+
+"Among old acquaintances we also greet our new ones. Not that this
+expression is applicable in your case to me and the Hereditary Prince;
+for we owe thanks to you for the hospitality of your home; and we
+rejoice to show you to-day the circle in which we live. I lament that
+your father is not among us. I cherish the greatest respect for the
+useful activity of his life; and I know how to value all his services
+to agriculture. He has obtained a prize at the Agricultural Exhibition;
+pray convey my congratulations to him. I hope his example will be
+followed throughout the country."
+
+The Sovereign well understood how to make up for the neglect of his
+Court to Ilse. A Professor's wife has many objections to Court usages
+and high rank; but when well-deserved praise is accorded by princely
+lips, before a distinguished assembly, to those she loves, it affords
+her the greatest pleasure. After the annoying question of the daughter,
+the striking attention of the father was a great satisfaction. Ilse
+gave the Sovereign a look of deep thankfulness, and he now turned
+kindly to her Felix, and remained long talking with him. When at last
+he went on to others, the uncommon consideration he had shown the
+strangers before the assembled company had the usual result; the
+gentlemen of the Court now thronged round Ilse and the Professor, to
+show attention also on their part. Ilse now looked about her with more
+composure, and observed how slowly the Hereditary Prince passed along
+the circle, singling out gentlemen and ladies according to a secret
+systematic rule, and at the same time stopping occasionally and moving
+his eye-glass, as if he were taking something into consideration.
+Prince Victor, on the other hand, pursued a thoroughly irregular
+course, like a comet, whose points could only be determined by looking
+out for the fairest faces. He had talked long with the daughter of the
+city councillor, Gottlieb, and had made the young lady laugh so much
+that she was alarmed at herself, colored, and held her handkerchief
+before her mouth. He then suddenly approached Ilse.
+
+"A horticuitural exhibition like this is exceedingly entertaining," he
+began, carelessly, as if speaking to an old acquaintance. "Yet, after
+all, there are many thorny cactuses to be handled."
+
+"It must be very wearisome for the princely party, who have to speak to
+so many," said Ilse.
+
+"Do not imagine that," replied Victor. "It is pleasant to see so many
+people before one, who dare not open their mouths unless told to;
+princely blood will bear still greater fatigues for that enjoyment."
+
+The company were set in motion. The Sovereign offering his arm to the
+Princess, led her into a great, richly decorated tent. The guests
+followed, and a host of lackeys offered refreshments. After that the
+ladies seated themselves behind the royal family; the gentlemen
+standing round. The concert began with a majestic flourish of the
+kettledrums; and, after a short time, ended with a furious onslaught of
+fiddles. The Princess now noticed some of the gentlemen, but with less
+regularity than the ladies. Ilse was engaged in conversation with Miss
+von Lossau, but the Princess walked to where Felix Werner was standing
+and asked eager questions. The Professor became animated, and
+explained; the Princess asked more, laughed, and answered. The
+officious Lord High Steward glanced at the clock. It was high time for
+the ladies of the Court to dress for dinner, but the Sovereign nodded
+to him, looked contentedly at the Princess, and, in the best of humor
+said to his son: "To-day she reigns; we will willingly wait."
+
+"My dear Highness forgets us all, she is so engrossed with the
+stranger," whispered Miss von Thurn, to Prince Victor.
+
+"Calm your faithful heart, Dame Gotlinde," said Victor. "Our Lady
+Bradamante has not used her conquering weapons for a whole year. She
+would try her powers to-day even upon a cabbage-head."
+
+The following morning the Princess sat among her ladies, and they
+talked, as usual, of the previous day, admired the Princess, condemned
+a little those who were absent, and expressed astonishment at the
+toilet and manner of several city ladies.
+
+"But your Highness did not speak to the wife of the City Treasurer."
+exclaimed Gotlinde Thurn; "the poor woman took it as a slight, and
+cried after the concert."
+
+"Where was she standing?" asked the Princess.
+
+"Near the stranger," answered Gotlinde.
+
+"Ah, it was on that account," said the Princess. "What is she like?"
+
+"A round little woman, with brown eyes and red cheeks. My brother
+lodges in her house; that is how I know her. She makes admirable
+tarts."
+
+"Make up for it to her, Linda," said the Princess; "say something kind
+to her for me."
+
+"May I tell her that your Highness has heard of her excellent
+cherry-brandy, and would be glad to have a few bottles of it? That
+would make her more than happy."
+
+The Princess nodded.
+
+"The daughter of the City Councillor Gottlieb," said the Baroness
+Hallstein, "has become quite a belle."
+
+"Prince Victor forgot everybody in his attentions to her," exclaimed
+Miss Lossau, with vexation.
+
+"You may congratulate yourself, dear Betty," replied the Princess,
+sharply, "if you are forgotten by my cousin. The attentions of the
+Prince are generally a source of alarm for the ladies who are favored
+with them."
+
+"But we are all grateful to you," exclaimed Baroness Hallstein, a lady
+of spirit and character, "for having supported the Court in opposition
+to the lady from the Pavilion. Your cool remark gave general pleasure."
+
+"Do you think so, Wally?" said the Princess, thoughtfully. "The woman
+is proud, and was defiant. But I had wounded her first, and on a day
+when I had the advantage."
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER XXX_.
+
+                               VEXATIONS.
+
+
+The year began well in every respect. Woodcock and snipe had betaken
+themselves to their homes before the sportsmen had donned their boots,
+and the March-daffodils had really bloomed in March. The moon, between
+its first and last quarter, smiled every evening with wry, distorted
+mouth. At Court the Princess had turned her mind to search after lost
+manuscripts with the Professor, and in the city an uncommon inclination
+to quaff the punch of the fragrant woodruff-plant was perceptible among
+the citizens and tempted them to daring undertakings. Even quiet heads
+were infected by the intoxication of the season; straw and paper ruled
+supreme. All the world wore not only hats but also caps of straw; all
+the world occupied themselves with speculations and new investments.
+The house of Hahn was in the ascendant. The orders were so numerous
+that they could not be executed. In all the corners of the house sat
+girls, sewing straw plaits together; the smell of the brimstone in the
+street and neighboring gardens was insupportable. In the evenings Mr.
+Hummel sat on his upturned boat, like Napoleon at St. Helena, a
+vanquished man. With angry contempt he regarded the tumult of humanity.
+Repeatedly did his acquaintances call upon him to launch into the great
+activity of the time, to become a member of some stock-company, to
+found a bank, dig for coal, or smelt iron. He rejected all these
+proposals. When he went into his idle workshops, where he was only
+occupied in a struggle with moths, his book-keeper ventured to make a
+remark as to the possible future fashions in Parisian hats; he laughed
+demoniacally and replied:
+
+"I cannot indulge in any speculation as to the covering that people
+will require when these wild projects cease; but if you wish to know
+what will be the next fashion, I will inform you. People will wear
+pitch-caps. I wonder that you are still at your desk. Why do you not do
+like others of your colleagues, who spend their time in wine-shops?"
+
+"Mr. Hummel, my means do not allow of that," replied the depressed man.
+
+"Your means!" cried Hummel; "who asks after that now? Lucifer-matches
+are as good as ready money. The street-porters discount bills and give
+one another their likenesses. Why do you not live like the book-keeper
+Knips over there? When I bought an orange for my wife of the Italian, I
+saw him sitting in the back room with a bottle of iced champagne. Why
+should you not put yourself on ice in this hot weather? These are
+nothing but ruinous, hare-brained projects; it is a Sodom and Gomorrah;
+the straw fire burns, but it will come to a frightful end."
+
+Mr. Hummel closed his office and walked in the twilight into the park,
+where he wandered up and down on the frontiers of his territory like a
+spirit. He was awakened from his meditations by the wild barking of his
+brindle favorite, who rushed up to a bench in a shady part of the park,
+and savagely seized the boots and trousers of a man sitting there.
+Hummel approached nearer; a small man and a young woman hastily
+separated. Hummel was sufficiently man of the world not to let himself
+be seen, and he hastened back to his garden and continued his walk in
+wild strides.
+
+"I knew it; I always said so; I have given a warning all along. Poor
+devil!"
+
+Then he walked angrily towards the great beech-tree on his own premises
+and forgot the supper hour, so that his wife had to call him twice from
+the garden. When he was sitting at table also he looked as dark as a
+thunder-cloud, and expressed such a deep contempt for human nature that
+the ladies soon became silent. Laura made another effort to lead the
+conversation to the wife of the Burgomaster, who had shown great
+respect for Hummel whenever she passed by, but he broke out with the
+terrible words:
+
+"She is no better than the rest of womankind."
+
+"That is enough, Hummel," exclaimed his wife; "this conduct is very
+unpleasant, and I must beg of you not to indulge so far in your
+ill-temper as to let it deprive you of a proper judgment of the worth
+of women. I can forgive much, but never an insult to the nobleness of
+human nature."
+
+"Away with you and your noble human nature," replied Hummel, rising
+from the table, and pushing back his chair; he then rushed vehemently
+into the next room, where, in the dusk, he continued pacing angrily to
+and fro, for he was much disturbed about Gabriel. Certainly the social
+position of this man was not exalted; he was not a relation, not a
+householder, not even a citizen. Accordingly, Mr. Hummel revolved in
+his mind whether an interference in the secret feelings of this man
+became him. He did not come to a decision without a struggle, but he
+could not silence the voice which sounded in the corner of his heart in
+favor of Gabriel.
+
+Meanwhile, the ladies were sitting at their disturbed repast. Laura
+looked down gloomily; such scenes were not new to her, and they became
+more painful. The mother was in great consternation at this anger
+against the world of femininity, and sank beneath the waves of stormy
+thoughts. At last she came to the conviction that Hummel was jealous.
+That was very ludicrous, and there certainly was no cause for such a
+feeling, but the vagaries of men were incalculable. The comic actor had
+come the day before at her invitation, and he had been very
+entertaining; he had enjoyed the wine and dinner, and on taking leave
+had kissed her hand with a true theatrical expression. Was it possible
+that this expression had produced the mischief? Mrs. Hummel began to
+pace up and down, looking in the mirror in passing by, and determined,
+like a valiant housewife, to hold forth to her husband this very
+evening on his folly.
+
+"Go up stairs Laura," she said, softly, to her daughter, "I wish to
+speak to your father alone."
+
+Laura silently took the candle and carried it to her private table. She
+placed herself at the window and looked toward the neighbor's house,
+where the Doctor's lamp still glimmered through the curtains. She wrung
+her hands, and exclaimed:
+
+"Away, away from here; that is the only way to save myself and him."
+
+Meanwhile, Mrs. Hummel had the supper removed, and, mustering courage
+for the impending encounter, at last entered the room in which Mr.
+Hummel was still blustering about.
+
+"Henry," she began solemnly, "are you yet in a state of mind to
+consider calmly the circumstances which have robbed you of all
+composure?"
+
+"No," cried Hummel, throwing a boot at the door.
+
+"I know the cause of your anger," continued Mrs. Hummel, looking
+modestly down. "No explanation is necessary for that. It is possible
+that he may sometimes have ventured more than was necessary in looks
+and small remarks; but he is amiable and full of talent, and we must
+make allowances for his vocation."
+
+"He is a miserable fop," cried Mr. Hummel, hurling his second boot from
+him.
+
+"That is not true," cried Mrs. Hummel, warmly. "But if it were,
+Henry--even if you could judge him utterly unworthy,--do not forget
+that pride and a feeling of duty dwell in the heart of your wife, and
+that your suspicion is an insult to these protecting genii."
+
+"She is a coquettish, silly flirt," replied Hummel, dragging his
+slippers from under his bed.
+
+Mrs. Hummel started back horrified.
+
+"Your wife has not deserved this treatment. You tread under foot what
+should be holy to you. Come to your senses, I conjure you; your
+jealousy approaches to madness."
+
+"I jealous of such a person!" cried Hummel, contemptuously, vehemently
+knocking the ashes from his pipe. "Then I must indeed be out of my
+mind. Leave me in peace with all this nonsense."
+
+Mrs. Hummel seized her pocket-handkerchief and began to sob:
+
+"He has so often amused me; he tells anecdotes as I never heard any one
+in my life; but if he excites you, so that you lose your reason and
+insult your wife by calling her names, I have made many sacrifices
+during our wedded life, and he also must fall on the altar of domestic
+peace. Accept it, he shall never again be invited."
+
+"Who is he?" asked Hummel.
+
+"Who but the comedian?"
+
+"Who is she?"
+
+"Mrs. Hummel gave him a look which showed indubitably that she herself
+was the lady.
+
+"Is it possible," exclaimed Hummel in astonishment, "that is how the
+land lies? Why do you want to slaughter your theatrical buffoon on the
+altar of domestic peace? Rather put something slaughtered before him;
+that would be more agreeable to his cultivated palate. Be composed,
+Philippine. You are often unintelligible in your speeches, and you make
+too much ado; you spin your theatrical webs in your head, and you have
+your humors and confused ideas in general; but for the rest, you are my
+worthy wife, of whom no evil shall be thought either by myself or
+others. Now do not thwart me, for I have determined to write him a
+letter."
+
+While Mrs. Hummel, stupefied, seated herself on the sofa, and
+considered whether she should be mortified or tranquilized by her
+husband's praise, and whether she had been under a foolish delusion, or
+that her Henry's madness had taken the new form of _bonhomie_, Mr.
+Hummel wrote as follows:--
+
+"My Dear Gabriel,--Yesterday, on the 17th of this month, at 7.45 in the
+evening, I saw, on bench No. 4, on the common, Dorothy from over the
+way sitting with Knips junior. This is for warning and further
+consideration. I am ready to act according to your orders. Straw,
+Gabriel!--Your affectionate
+                                                H. Hummel."
+
+By the same post a letter flew from Laura to Ilse in the Pavilion. The
+faithful soul wrote sorrowfully. The little quarrels of the house and
+the neighborhood vexed her more than was necessary. Of the Doctor she
+saw little, and what was the bitterest grief for her, she had given
+away the last song; she had nothing more to send to the Doctor, and
+wished to continue the correspondence without inclosures. Ilse was
+greatly surprised by one sentence, the sense of which was not very
+clear to her: "I have obtained permission from Miss Jeannette to give
+lessons in her institution. I will no longer be a useless bread-eater.
+Since I have lost your society all is cold and desolate about me. My
+only comfort is, that I at least am prepared to fly into foreign parts,
+and there collect the grains which I need for the prolongation of my
+life."
+
+"Where is my husband?" asked Ilse, of her maid.
+
+"The Professor has gone to her Highness, the Princess."
+
+"Call Gabriel."
+
+"He has received bad news, and is sitting in his room."
+
+Immediately afterwards Gabriel entered, with a distressed countenance.
+
+"What has happened?" asked Ilse, alarmed.
+
+"It is my own affair only," replied Gabriel, with quivering voice; "it
+is no good news that this letter has brought to me."
+
+He took out of his pocket Hummel's crumpled letter, and turning away,
+leaned his head against the window-sill.
+
+"Poor Gabriel!" exclaimed Ilse. "But there may still be some
+explanation to justify the girl."
+
+"I thank you for your confidence in her, Mrs. Werner," replied Gabriel,
+solemnly, "but this letter informs me of my misfortune. He who has
+written to me is true as gold. But I knew all, before I had received
+it. She did not answer my last letter; she has not sent me the
+pocket-book; and yesterday evening, when I went out and was thinking of
+her, a lark flew towards me and sang a song that made me certain of
+it."
+
+"That is folly, Gabriel, You ought not to let your judgment be
+influenced because a bird accidentally occasioned you sorrowful
+thoughts."
+
+"It was evident, Mrs. Werner," replied Gabriel, sorrowfully. "Just as
+the lark flew up and I was thinking of Dorothy, the words which I heard
+as a child and which I have not heard since, occurred to me. It is no
+superstition, and I can repeat the sentence to you:
+
+           'Lark, dear lark, high o'er the smoke,
+            What new thing have you to tell me?'
+
+This thought came to me, and then I heard, as distinctly as if some one
+was whispering the answer in my ear:
+
+           'Two lovers sat near a hazel-bush,
+            The third was crying and moaning;
+            The two pass the threshold of Hymen's house,
+            The third sits alone and mourns a spouse.'"
+
+Gabriel took out his pocket-handkerchief.
+
+"That was a certain foreboding that Dorothy had been false to me."
+
+"Gabriel, I fear she was always fickle-minded," exclaimed Ilse.
+
+"She has a heart like a bird," said Gabriel, apologetically. "She is
+not a serious person, and it is her nature to be friendly with all.
+That I knew; but her gaiety, light-heartedness, and pleasant jesting
+made her dear to me. It was a misfortune for me and her that I was
+obliged to leave her just when she began to favor me and discourage
+others who were showing her attention. For I know that the book-keeper
+had long had his eyes upon her, and had prospects which would enable
+him to marry her, and that was a better provision than I could give
+her."
+
+"Something must be done about this," said Ilse. "Do you want to go back
+to the city to ascertain how matters stand? My husband will immediately
+give you permission. Perhaps it is not so bad after all."
+
+"For me it is as bad as it can be, Mrs. Werner. If you will have the
+kindness to look after Dorothy, to see that she is not made unhappy, I
+will thank you from my heart. I shall never see her again. If one loves
+any one, one should not leave them alone when they are in temptation."
+
+Ilse endeavored to comfort him, but Gabriel's words went to her heart.
+
+"The third sits alone," she repeated, in a tone of sorrow.
+
+Ilse was again alone in the hall, looking sadly at the strange walls.
+All the sorrow that had ever moved a human soul in this room, jealousy
+and wounded pride, feverish expectation and hopeless longing, mourning
+over the destruction of happiness, and terror for the future, the cries
+of anguish and the plaints of tormented conscience, all these now awoke
+an indistinct and trembling echo in the heart of the woman.
+
+"It is strange and gloomy here, and if I try to express in words what
+distresses me, all power of expression fails me. I am no prisoner, and
+yet the air that surrounds me is that of a dungeon. The Chamberlain has
+not been near me for days, and the young Prince, who used to speak to
+me as to a friend, comes seldom, and then but for a few minutes, and it
+is worse than if he were not here. He is as depressed as I am, and
+looks at me as if he felt the same nameless anguish. And his father?
+when he comes to me he is so kind that one cannot but like him; but as
+soon as he turns his back his features appear before my mind distorted.
+It is not good to be near the great people of the world; they seem to
+take a fancy to one and open their heart as to friends, and one
+scarcely feels the elevation of mind occasioned by this, when
+tormenting spirits seem suddenly to draw them back into their invisible
+realm, and one is troubled and excited about them. Such a life is
+destructive of peace.
+
+"Felix says, one ought not to care about these frivolous people. How
+can one avoid interest and anxiety about them when the welfare of their
+souls is a blessing to all?
+
+"Is it only this that gives you such restless thoughts. Ilse?" she
+asked herself; "is it this, or is it pride, now wounded, and now again
+flattered; or is it anguish about the loved one whom she wishes
+secretly to tear from you?
+
+"Why am I so fearful about you, my Felix? Why do I despair because he
+has found a woman here of the same stamp of mind as his own? Am I not
+so also? Have I too not unfolded in the light of his mind? I am no
+longer the ignorant country-girl that he once brought from among the
+herds. If I am deficient in the attractive charm of the distinguished
+lady, what can she give him more than I? He is no boy, and he knows
+that every hour I live for him. I despise you, miserable thoughts; how
+have you found entrance into my soul? I am no prisoner within these
+walls, and if I linger here where you have power over me, I remain on
+his account. One should not forsake him whom one loves,--that word was
+spoken for me also. My father's child shall not cry and mourn even
+though her loved one should be sitting with the Princess by the
+hazel-bush."
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+Gabriel was stealing along in a distant part of the pleasure-ground. He
+suddenly felt a touch on his shoulder; Prince Victor was standing
+behind him.
+
+"Friend Gabriel?"
+
+"At your Highness's commands."
+
+"Where have you served?"
+
+"With the Blue Hussars."
+
+"Good," nodded the Prince; "we are in the same branch of the service. I
+hear you are a trustworthy fellow. But what is the matter with you?" He
+took out his purse. "We will share; take what you want."
+
+Gabriel shook his head.
+
+"Then the women are at fault," cried the Prince; "that is worse. Is she
+proud?"
+
+Gabriel dissented.
+
+"Is she faithless?"
+
+The poor fellow turned away.
+
+"I am, alas! a bad intercessor with parents," said the Prince,
+sympathizingly; "the race of fathers have little confidence in me. But
+if it is only a question of appealing to a girl's conscience, then
+depend upon me."
+
+"I thank you for your good-will. Highness, but nothing can help me. I
+will have to fight it out alone."
+
+He turned away again.
+
+"Bah! comrade, have you forgotten the soldiers' saying: 'Like all, love
+one, grieve for none?' If your heart is heavy, you should not rove
+about as you do. In lack of another companion put up for the time with
+me."
+
+"That is too much honor," said Gabriel, taking off his cap.
+
+The Prince had during this conversation gradually led him into a
+thicket; he seated himself on the root of an old tree, and motioned
+Gabriel to the next trunk.
+
+"We are in concealment here; you look out that way, I will watch this
+road, that no one can surprise us. How do your lodgings please you?
+Have you found pleasant acquaintances?"
+
+"I think it prudent to trust no one here," answered Gabriel,
+cautiously.
+
+"But I do not belong here; there is no reason why you should not make
+me an exception. You may assume that we belong to the same company,
+that we are sitting by the same fire, and drinking from the same flask.
+You are right: all is not so safe here as it looks. I do not like these
+nocturnal disturbances in the castle. Have you heard of them?"
+
+Gabriel assented.
+
+"In such an old castle," continued the Prince, "there are many doors
+that few know--perhaps also passages in the wall. Whether it is spirits
+or something else, who knows? It glides about and sometimes comes
+out when one least expects it; and just when one has put on one's
+night-shirt a secret door is opened, or a plank in the floor rises, and
+a cursed apparition floats up, removes what is on the table, and before
+one can bethink oneself, disappears again."
+
+"Who can allow such a thing, your Highness?" replied Gabriel,
+valiantly.
+
+"Who can be on his guard?" said the Prince, laughing; "it stretches out
+its hand, and one becomes immovable; it holds a sponge before the nose
+of the sleeper and he does not awake."
+
+Gabriel listened attentively.
+
+"People say that in the Pavilion all is not secure," continued the
+Prince. "It would be as well for a trusty man to make an examination in
+secret; and if an entrance should be found that is not regular it
+should be fastened with a screw or a bolt. It is indeed uncertain
+whether or not one may find such a thing, for such devil's work is
+slyly managed."
+
+He nodded significantly to Gabriel, who stared at him in great
+astonishment.
+
+"That is only a thought of mine," said the Prince; "but when a soldier
+is in foreign quarters he looks after every security during the time
+that his people sleep."
+
+"I understand all," replied Gabriel, in a low voice.
+
+"One must not cause others unnecessary alarm," continued the Prince;
+"but in secret one may do one's duty like a brave man. I see you are
+that." The Prince rose from his seat. "If you should at any time need
+my help, or have anything to tell me which no one else should know, I
+have a fellow with a great moustache, a good, quiet man; make his
+acquaintance. For the rest, take care of yourselves here. There is a
+lackey who idles about near you; if there are any errands to do he can
+attend to them. It is a good thing for a family to have a trustworthy
+man at hand in a strange house. Good day, comrade, I hope I have
+changed the current of your thoughts."
+
+He went away; Gabriel remained in deep thought. The bantering of the
+Prince had roused the honest man from his sorrow; he busied himself now
+about the house in the day-time, but in the evening, when his master
+and mistress were at the theatre, he was to be seen sometimes with the
+Prince's servant in confidential conversation on a garden bench.
+
+The spirit of sad foreboding spread its grey veil over the walls of the
+Pavilion, but in the Sovereign's castle meanwhile an invisible
+hobgoblin of another kind was at work, disturbing great and small. The
+stable was in consternation. The Prince's favorite saddle-horse was a
+white Ivenacker. When in the morning the groom went to the horse, he
+found it with a large black heart painted on its chest. He could not
+wash out the scandalous mark, probably the evil spirit had in this
+prank employed a dye intended for the hair of man. Connoisseurs
+declared that only time could heal the injury. They could not help
+making it known to the Sovereign who was violently angry, and set the
+strictest investigations on foot. The night-watchers of the stable had
+seen no one, no stranger's foot had entered the place; only the groom
+of Prince Victor, a moustached foreigner, had, at the same time with
+the other stable servants, cleaned the horse that he had lately
+received as a present from a relative. The man was examined, he spoke
+little German, was said by the other servants to be harmless and
+simple, and nothing could be learnt from him. Finally, the stable-boy
+who had kept watch was dismissed from service. He disappeared from the
+capital, and would have been reduced to great misery if Prince Victor
+had not provided for the poor wretch in his garrison.
+
+There was a great uproar among the ballet-girls. In the new tragic
+ballet, "The Water Sprite," the first dancer, Guiseppa Scarletti, had a
+brilliant _r�le_, in which she was to wear green-silk trunks, with rich
+silver trimmings. When she was to put on this part of the costume,
+which was very important for the _r�le_, for the first representation,
+her assistant was so awkward as to hand it to her wrong side foremost.
+The lady expressed her displeasure strongly, the tire-woman turned it
+round, and it was still wrong. Upon nearer inspection of this piece of
+art, it was discovered, with dismay, that it presented two convex
+surfaces like the shell of a bivalve. Mademoiselle Scarletti broke out
+into a fury, and then into tears and finally hysterics; the manager and
+the intendant were called; the _artiste_ declared that after this
+disgrace and disturbance she could not dance. It was not until Prince
+Victor, whom she highly esteemed, came into the dressing-room to
+express his deep indignation, and the Sovereign desired her to be told
+that the insult should be punished in the severest manner, that she
+recovered sufficient courage to play the difficult _r�le_. Meanwhile
+the fairylike rapidity of the theatrical tailor had remedied the injury
+to her dress. She danced superbly, but with a sad expression that
+became her well. The intendant was already rejoicing that the
+misfortune had thus passed off, when suddenly, in the midst of the last
+scene, when the whole depth of the stage was disclosed, the exchanged
+trunks appeared under Bengal lights in the water nymph's grotto,
+hanging peacefully upon two projecting points of a silver rock, as if a
+water sprite had hung them up to dry. Upon this there was a
+disturbance, and loud laughter among the audience, and the curtain had
+to fall before the Bengal lights were extinguished. It all looked like
+revenge, but again the culprit could not be discovered.
+
+The hair of all the servants stood on end. They knew that in the bad
+times of the princely house a black lady walked through the corridors
+and rooms, which portended misfortune to it. The belief in this was
+general; even the High Marshal shared in it; the black lady had
+appeared to his grandfather, when, on a lonely night, he was awaiting
+the return of his gracious master. One evening, after the Court had
+withdrawn, the Marshal was walking, with the lackey carrying a light
+before him, through the empty rooms to the wing in which Prince Victor
+lodged, in order to smoke a cigar with him. Suddenly the lackey started
+back and pointed, trembling, to a corner. There stood the black figure,
+the head covered with a veil; she raised her hand threateningly, and
+disappeared through a door in the tapestry. The light fell out of the
+hand of the lackey, the Marshal groped in the dark to the anteroom of
+the Prince, and sank down on the sofa there. When the Prince entered
+from his dressing-room he found him in a state of the highest
+consternation: even a glass of punch, which he himself poured out,
+could not arouse him from his depression. The news that the black lady
+had appeared flew throughout the castle; an uneasy foreboding of evil
+occupied the Court. In the evening the lackeys ran hurriedly through
+the corridor, and were frightened at the echo of their own steps, and
+the Court ladies would not leave their rooms without escort. The
+Sovereign also heard of it; his brow contracted gloomily, and at dinner
+he looked contemptuously at the Marshal.
+
+Even the Court ladies were not spared. Miss von Lossau, who lodged in a
+wing of the palace over the rooms of the Princess, returned to her
+apartment one night in the happiest frame of mind. Prince Victor had
+paid her marked attentions. He had been very amusing, and had shown a
+degree of feeling which he had never before evinced. Her maid undressed
+her, and she laid herself to rest with sweet and pleasant thoughts. All
+was quiet: she fell into her first sleep. The image of the Prince
+danced before her; then she heard a slight noise; there was a
+crackling; something moved slowly under her bed. She started; the
+mysterious noise ceased. She was on the point of deluding herself into
+the belief that it was a dream, when the noise was repeated under the
+bed, and something came clattering out. She heard an alarming sound,
+and saw by the faint light of the night-lamp that a ball was slowly
+pushing itself behind the chair, and stopping in front of the bed. Half
+unconscious from terror, she jumped out of bed, touched a strange
+object with her naked foot, at once felt a sharp pain, and sank back
+with a scream. She now raised a loud cry for help, till her maid rushed
+in, and tremblingly lit the candle. The lady was still shrieking in a
+corner, where the prickly spectre-ball still lingered in quiet
+timidity, and gradually showed itself to be a great hedgehog, which was
+sitting there, still dreamy from its winter sleep, with tears on its
+nose. Miss Lossau became ill from fright. When the physician hastened
+to her the next morning, he found the lackeys and maidservants
+collected in close conclave before her door. On the door was pasted a
+white placard, on which was to be read, in large characters, "Bettina
+von Lossau, Princely Court Spy." Again there was the strictest
+investigation, and again the culprit was not discovered.
+
+But the spirit of torment that had quartered itself under the roof of
+the castle did not confine its tricks to the Court and its household:
+it ventured to disturb the Professor also in his learned work.
+
+Ilse was sitting alone, looking absent-mindedly at the pictures of
+Reynard the Fox, when the lackey threw open the door, announcing:
+
+"His Highness, the Sovereign!"
+
+The Sovereign glanced at the picture in the open book.
+
+"So that is the view you take of our position. The satire of those
+pages is bitter, but they contain imperishable truth."
+
+Ilse closed the book, coloring.
+
+"The ill-behaved beasts are rude egotists; it is otherwise among men."
+
+"Do you think so?" asked the Sovereign. "Those who have had experience
+with them will not judge so leniently. The two-legged animals that
+pursue their aims at the courts of princes are, for the most part, as
+reckless in their egotism, and as much inclined to profess their
+attachment. It is not easy to restrain their pretensions."
+
+"Amongst the bad there are surely some better, in whom good
+preponderates?" rejoined Ilse.
+
+The Sovereign inclined his head civilly.
+
+"He who has to watch all keenly feels the narrow-mindedness of every
+individual, for he must know where and how far he can place confidence.
+Such an observation of various natures, which is always seeking to
+separate the reality from the glitter, to sound the worth of different
+characters, and to retain for the observer superior judgment, sharpens
+the perception of the deficiencies of others. It is possible that we
+may sometimes judge too severely, while you, with your warm feeling,
+fall into the amiable weakness of viewing men in too favorable a
+light."
+
+"My lot, then, is happier," exclaimed Ilse, looking at the Sovereign,
+with honest commiseration.
+
+"It is sweeter and happier," said the latter with feeling, "to give
+one's self up without restraint to one's feelings, to associate
+innocently with a few whom one chooses freely, to avoid by slight
+effort the ill-disposed, and to open one's heart gladly, and without
+restraint, to those one loves. But he who is condemned to live in the
+cold atmosphere of business, struggling against countless interests
+which clash together, can only carry on this existence by surrounding
+his daily life with regulations which will at least preserve him from
+overwhelming burdens and annoyances, and compel the foxes and wolves to
+bend their stubborn heads. Such rules of Court and government are no
+perfect work; there will often be complaints against them. You,
+perhaps, may have had occasion to remark that the customs and etiquette
+of a Court are not without harshness; yet they are necessary, for it
+makes it easy to us to withdraw and keep within ourselves, and maintain
+a certain isolation, which helps us to preserve our inward freedom."
+
+Ilse looked conscious.
+
+"But believe me," continued the Sovereign, "we still are human beings;
+we would gladly give ourselves up to the impulse of the moment, and
+live without restraint with those whom we esteem. We must often
+sacrifice ourselves, and we experience moments when such sacrifices are
+very severe."
+
+"But within the princely family itself these considerations do not
+apply," exclaimed Ilse. "The mutual intercourse of father and children,
+brothers and sisters,--these holy relations can never be disturbed."
+
+A cloud came over the countenance of the Sovereign.
+
+"Even they suffer in their exposed position. We do not live together;
+we see each other less alone, generally under the observation of
+others. Each has his special circle of interest, is influenced by those
+about him, who perhaps diminish his confidence in his nearest
+relations. You know my son; he has all the qualifications of a good,
+open-hearted man, but you will have observed how suspicious and
+reserved he has become."
+
+Ilse forgot all caution, and again felt a little proud of being a
+confidante.
+
+"Forgive me," she explained; "I have never found that. He is only
+bashful, and sometimes a little awkward."
+
+The Sovereign smiled.
+
+"You lately expressed an opinion with reference to what would be
+advantageous for his future. That he should for a time become
+acquainted with the management of a large family estate; it would
+undoubtedly be good for him to learn the work of a country gentleman by
+experience. Besides this, he is not happy at Court."
+
+Ilse nodded.
+
+"Have you also remarked that?" asked the Sovereign.
+
+"I will give good advice for my Prince," thought Ilse, "even if it is
+not quite agreeable to him. May I venture to say," she said aloud,
+"that this is the best time of all. For he must learn, your Highness,
+the spring tilling, which is in full operation, so there must be no
+delay."
+
+The Sovereign was much pleased with this zeal.
+
+"It will not be easy to find a place," he said.
+
+"Perhaps your Highness has an estate in the neighborhood where there is
+a small manor-house."
+
+"Then he could come often to the city," replied the Sovereign sharply.
+
+"That would not do," continued Ilse, eagerly. "He must first thoroughly
+know the work of the people, and for that be constantly in the fields."
+
+"I could not find a better adviser," said the Sovereign, in excellent
+humor. "There is nothing in the vicinity that will answer; I have
+thought, however, of your father's estate."
+
+Ilse started with surprise.
+
+"But our mode of life is not adapted for the accommodation of a
+prince," she replied with reserve. "No, gracious Sovereign, the
+domestic arrangements of our family would not be suitable to the
+pretensions of the young man. I say nothing of other considerations
+which formerly never occurred to me, and which have first come home to
+me here. Therefore, if I may speak what I feel, I am of opinion that
+this, for many reasons, will not answer."
+
+"It was only a thought," replied the Sovereign, good-humoredly. "The
+object may perhaps be attained without encroaching upon your father. It
+has been my wish," he continued, with chivalrous politeness, "to give
+you and your father a public proof of my esteem. I have special reasons
+for it." He looked significantly at Ilse, and she thought of the
+birthday of the Princess.
+
+"I know the reason," she said softly.
+
+The Sovereign drew his chair near.
+
+"Your father has a large family?" he asked. "I have a vague
+recollection of having seen several rosy-cheeked boys about."
+
+"They were my brothers," said Ilse, laughing; "they are handsome little
+fellows, gracious Sovereign, if I, as a sister, may praise them; they
+are at present somewhat uncouth, but good and clever. My Franz wrote to
+me only yesterday to beg me to greet your Highness for him. The little
+urchin thinks it is the right thing. Now, as I have the opportunity, I
+will show you the letter as he has written it; it is a stupid, childish
+message, but it comes from a good heart."
+
+She felt in her pocket and brought forth a letter written in fair
+characters.
+
+"See, your Highness, how well the child writes. But I must not show you
+the letter, for your Highness would find in it a confirmation of your
+opinion, that men have always selfish wishes in the background when
+they think of their princes. The poor boy also has his wish."
+
+"Then let us have it," said the Sovereign.
+
+Ilse showed him the letter; the Sovereign graciously took hold of the
+letter, and in doing so, his hand rested on hers.
+
+"He is so barefaced as to ask your highness for an india-rubber ball.
+The ball is already bought."
+
+She jumped up and brought a gigantic colored ball.
+
+"This I shall send to him to-day, and I shall write to him that it is
+not seemly to beg of so great a personage. He is nine years old, but
+still very childish--your highness must forgive him."
+
+Enchanted by this frank open-heartedness, the Sovereign said:
+
+"Write to him, at the same time, that I wish to tell him he must
+endeavor to preserve through the dangerous paths of life the pure
+feeling and loyal spirit of his eldest sister. I also feel how great is
+the blessing of your character to all who have the happiness of
+breathing your atmosphere. In a course of life which is filled with
+harrowing impressions, in which hatred and suspicion take more from the
+peace of the soul than hours of repose can restore to it, I have still
+retained my susceptibility for the innocent freshness of a mind like
+yours. You give me genuine pleasure."
+
+Again he laid his hand gently on hers; Ilse looked down confused at the
+praise of her dear Sovereign.
+
+A hasty step approached; the Sovereign rose, and the Professor entered.
+He bowed to the Sovereign, and looked surprised at his wife.
+
+"You are not ill?" he exclaimed. "Pardon, gracious Sir, I came in great
+anxiety about my wife. A strange boy rang the bell at the Museum, and
+brought a message that I must go immediately to see my wife, as she was
+ill; fortunately it was a mistake."
+
+"I am thankful for the error," replied the Sovereign, "as it gives me
+the opportunity of saying to you what I was intending to mention to
+Madame Werner; orders have been given at the stable that a carriage
+shall be ready for you at any hour that you wish to take a journey in
+the neighborhood to pursue your mysterious investigations."
+
+He took leave graciously.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+The Sovereign opened the window of his study; the air was sultry, the
+sun had been shining long upon the earth; now it had vanished, heavy
+clouds rolled themselves, like great shapeless porpoises, over the city
+and castle. The Sovereign fetched a deep breath, but the heavy, sultry
+air forced the smoke from the chimneys of the castle down to his
+window, enveloping his head like a great mist. He hastily opened the
+door of the gallery which led to the reception-rooms, and walked out.
+Against the walls hung a row of oil pictures, the portraits of
+beautiful ladies whom he had once favored with his attentions. His look
+strayed from one to the other; at the end of the row was an empty
+place; he stopped before it, and his fancy painted a picture with
+blonde hair, and a true-hearted, frank light in the eyes, more touching
+than any of the other faces.
+
+"So late," he said, to himself. "It is the last place and the strongest
+feeling. They are fools who tell us that years make us indifferent. If
+I had come across her at the other end," he glanced back along the
+gallery, "at the beginning of my life, when I yet looked longingly at
+the roses on the cheeks of maidens and was touched by the song of
+hedge-sparrows, would such a woman then have preserved in me what I
+have lost forever? Useless thoughts of the past! I must in the present
+keep firm hold of what has come within the reach of my hand. She is
+indifferent about the weak youth; but she feels herself uneasy here,
+and if she tries to escape me I have no power to keep her back. I
+remain alone; daily the same wearisome faces, whose thoughts one knows
+before they are spoken, whose wishes one knows before they open their
+mouths, and whom one sees to be prepared with feigned feelings.
+Whatever wit or will they have works secretly against me; what I
+receive from them is only the artificial glitter of life. It is sad to
+be a master before whom living souls turn into machines, and year after
+year to open the lid and examine the works. I myself have made them,"
+he said, jeeringly, "but I am weary of my work."
+
+"I know that the doubt arises often in my mind," the Sovereign
+murmured, "whether my unhappy skill has made them lies of human nature,
+or whether I myself am an automaton, which when wound up nods and
+repeats the same gracious words without thought. I know there are hours
+when I am ashamed of myself, when I strut about the stage as a clown or
+a bully; I see the wires that move my joints; I feel a desire to place
+my own head in the vice in order to improve what is faulty in it, and I
+see a large chest open into which I am thrown when my _r�le_ is played
+out."
+
+"Oh," he groaned, from the depths of his heart. "I know that I am a
+reality, if not by day, yet at night. None of those about me are
+tormented in lonely hours as I am; their temples do not beat with fever
+heat when they lie down after their day's work.
+
+"What pleasure have I amidst these dull tapestry-rooms, or among the
+old pictures of Mother Nature? Laughing without amusement, angry about
+trifles,--everything cold, indifferent, and soulless!
+
+"It is only in rare moments, when I have been with her, that I feel
+like another man; then the warm blood courses through my veins. When in
+her honest simplicity she talks of all that she loves and takes
+pleasure in, a woman with a child's heart, then I become young again
+like her. She talked to me of her brother 'curly-head.' I see the boy
+before me, a lively lad, with his sister's eyes. I see the little
+simpleton eating his bread and butter, and it moves me as if I were
+reading a touching story. I long to catch up the boy in my arms as if
+he belonged to me.
+
+"She herself is true and upright; it is a pure mind, and beneath her
+calm gentleness strong passion lies concealed. What a passion she fell
+into when my messenger offered her the patent of nobility! She is a
+woman to live with whom is worth some trouble, and to gain whom a man
+would do much.
+
+"But what can I do? What I can give her will be of little value to her;
+what I take from her--how will she make up her mind to that?" He looked
+timidly at the empty place on the wall. "Another picture was to have
+hung there," he exclaimed; "why is it not there? Why does the
+remembrance of one long gone lie on my brain like a stone, the pressure
+of which I feel every day when mingling among men, and every night when
+I rest my weary head upon my hands? That woman slept many years ago in
+the same room where now the stranger reposes; she did not awake, as it
+would have been right for her to have done; when she did awake and came
+to consciousness, a spring broke in her weak mind, and she remained a
+soulless body."
+
+A feverish shudder passed through him; he shook himself and rushed out
+of the gallery, looked shyly behind him, and closed the door.
+
+"The violence of passion is extinguished," he continued, after a time;
+"with years one becomes more cautious. I will hold her fast, whatever
+may be the result; it is no longer the burning glow of youth, it is the
+heart of a ripened man that I offer to her. With firm patience will I
+await what time prepares for me; slowly will this fruit ripen in the
+warm sun. I shall persevere, but I will hold her fast. Her husband is
+becoming suspicious about her; it was an awkward excuse that he
+invented; he also is struggling out of my hand. I must keep her, and
+only childish means can be used for these childlike hearts."
+
+The bell rang, the servant entered, and received an order.
+
+Magister Knips appeared before the Sovereign; his cheeks were flushed,
+and vehement excitement worked in his features.
+
+"Have you read the memorial which Professor Werner has written
+concerning the manuscript?" asked the Sovereign, carelessly. "What is
+your opinion of it?"
+
+"It is a prodigious, astounding account, Most Gracious Prince and
+Sovereign. I may well say that I feel this discovery in all my limbs.
+If the manuscript should be found, the fame attending the discovery
+will be imperishable; it would be discussed in the preface of every
+edition in which the question of the manuscript occurred, to the end of
+the world; it would raise the learned man to whose lot this greatest
+earthly good fortune should fall, high above his fellow mortals. Your
+exalted Highness also, according to Act 22, � 127, of the law of the
+country, would undoubtedly have the first right to the discovered
+treasure, and his Highness would be hailed among all people as the
+protector of a new era of knowledge concerning the Romans."
+
+The Sovereign listened with satisfaction to the enthusiasm of the
+Magister, who in his excitement forgot his humble bearing, and
+pathetically stretched out his arm in the direction in which he saw the
+radiant crown hovering above the head of the Sovereign.
+
+"All this would occur if one found the treasure," said the Sovereign;
+"but it is not yet found."
+
+Knips collapsed.
+
+"Undoubtedly it is presumptuous to think that such a happiness could
+fall to the lot of any human being, yet it would be a sin to doubt its
+possibility."
+
+"Professor Werner seems to attach much value to the discovery,"
+rejoined the Sovereign, indifferently.
+
+"He could not be a man of sterling judgment who did not feel the
+importance of this gain as much as does your Highness's most humble
+servant and slave."
+
+The Sovereign interrupted the speaker.
+
+"Mr. Von Weidegg has proposed to you to remain in my service. Have you
+agreed to do so?"
+
+"With the feelings of a rescued man," exclaimed Knips, "who ventures to
+lay at your Highness's feet thanks and blessing with unbounded
+veneration."
+
+"Have you already engaged yourself?"
+
+"In the most binding way."
+
+"Good," said the Sovereign, stopping the stream of the Magister's
+respectful assurances by a motion of his hand. "It has been reported to
+me, Magister that you have a special good fortune in finding such
+rarities--good fortune," repeated the Sovereign, "or what comes to the
+same thing, skill. Do you seriously believe that these indistinct
+traces will lead to the lost treasure?"
+
+"Who can now maintain that such a discovery is impossible?" cried the
+Magister. "If I might be allowed, with the deepest respect, to express
+my views, which burst forth from my heart like a cry of joy, it is, I
+dare not say probable, but yet not improbable, that an accident might
+lead to it. Yet if I may venture respectfully to express my experience,
+which perhaps is only a superstition, if the manuscript be found, it
+will not be found where one expects, but somewhere else. Hitherto
+whenever in my humble existence I have had the good fortune of making a
+discovery--I mention only the Italian Homer of 1848--it has always been
+contrary to all anticipations; and what your most exalted Grace calls
+my skill is--if I must explain the secret of my good fortune--really
+nothing but the circumstance that I have generally sought where,
+according to human probability, no treasure could be supposed to lie."
+
+"The views which you entertain are certainly not solacing for an
+impatient person," said the Sovereign, "for that may last a long time."
+
+"Generations may pass away," replied Knips, "but the present and the
+future will search until the manuscript be found."
+
+"That is but poor comfort," said the Sovereign, laughing; "and I
+confess, Magister, you disappoint by these words the lively expectation
+which I cherished, that your dexterity and skill would soon obtain for
+me the pleasure of seeing the book in the hands of the Professor--the
+book itself, or at least some palpable proof of its existence. I am a
+layman in all these things, and can form no judgment of the importance
+which you attach to the discovery. To me at present it is only to play
+off a joke, or--to repeat the words which you lately used with respect
+to your miniatures--only for the sake of raillery."
+
+The expression and manner of the Magister altered gradually, as if
+under the spell of an enchanter; he shrank into himself, laid his head
+on his shoulder, and looked with a terrified eagerness at the
+Sovereign.
+
+"In short, I wish that Mr. Werner should soon be put upon a certain
+trace of the manuscript, if it is not possible to obtain the manuscript
+itself."
+
+Knips remained silent, staring at the speaker.
+
+"I desire you," continued the Sovereign, emphatically, "to employ the
+talent you have already shown for this object. Your help must, of
+course, remain my secret, for I should like Mr. Werner to have the
+pleasure of making the discovery himself."
+
+"It must be a large manuscript," stammered out Knips.
+
+"I fear," replied the Sovereign, carelessly, "it must long have been
+torn to pieces. It is not impossible that some scattered leaves may
+have been preserved somewhere."
+
+The Magister stood thunderstruck.
+
+"It is difficult to satisfy the Professor."
+
+"So much the greater will be your merit and reward."
+
+Knips remained silent, in a state of terror.
+
+"Has your confidence vanished, Magister?" said the Sovereign,
+ironically. "It is not the first time that you have succeeded in such a
+discovery." He approached closer to the little man. "I know something
+of former trials of your dexterity, and I have no doubt of the
+comprehensiveness of your talent."
+
+Knips started, but still he remained speechless.
+
+"For the rest, I am contented with your activity," continued the
+Sovereign, in a changed voice. "I do not doubt that you will in many
+ways know how to make yourself useful to the officials of my Court, and
+thereby consult your own future interest."
+
+"What high honor!" said Knips, pitifully, drawing out his
+pocket-handkerchief.
+
+"As regards the lost manuscript," continued the Sovereign, "the stay of
+Mr. Werner will, I fear, be only temporary. The task of pursuing the
+investigations in our country would, in that event, fall upon you."
+
+Knips raised his head, and a ray of pleasure passed over his troubled
+face.
+
+"If the manuscript is, in fact, as valuable as the learned gentlemen
+seem to think, then in case, after the departure of the Professor,
+there is still something to discover, you will have found with us an
+occupation which is especially suited to you."
+
+"This prospect is the highest and most honorable which my life can
+attain to," replied Knips, more courageously.
+
+"Good," said the Sovereign; "endeavor to deserve this claim, and try
+first what your dexterity can do."
+
+"I will take pains to serve your Highness," replied the Magister, his
+eyes cast on the ground.
+
+Knips left the private apartment. The little man, who now descended the
+staircase, looked very different from the happy Magister who a few
+minutes before had ascended it. His pale face was bent forward, and his
+eyes wandered furtively over the faces of the servants, who watched him
+inquisitively. He seized his hat mechanically, and he, the Magister,
+put it on his head while still in the royal castle. He went out into
+the court; the storm swept through the streets, whirled the dust round
+him, and blew his coat-tails forward.
+
+"He drives me on; how can I withstand him?" murmured Knips. "Shall I
+return to my proof-sheets in that cold room? Shall I all my life depend
+on the favor of professors, always in anxiety lest an accident should
+betray to these learned men that I once overreached them and derided
+them?
+
+"But here I pass a pleasant life, and have opportunities of being the
+cleverest among the ignorant and making myself indispensable to them! I
+am so already; the Sovereign has shown himself to me as one comrade
+does to another, and he can, if I do as he wishes, as little part from
+me as the parchment from the writing on it."
+
+He wiped the cold sweat from his brow.
+
+"I myself will find the manuscript," he continued, more confidently.
+"_Jacobi Knipsii sollertia inventum_. I know the great secret, and I
+will search day by day where only a wood-louse can creep or a spider
+hang its web. Then it will be for me to decide whether I shall take the
+Professor as an assistant to edit it, or another. Perhaps I will take
+him and he will be thankful to me. He will hardly find the treasure, he
+is too dignified to listen and to spy out where the chests are
+concealed."
+
+The Magister hastened his steps; the wind whistled in sharp tones
+behind him,--it tore from the trees the dry leaves of the last year,
+and scattered them on the hat of the little man. The dust whirled more
+rapidly round him; it covered the dark Court dress with a pale grey
+coating, it pursued and enveloped him, so that the foliage of the trees
+and the figures of men disappeared from his sight, and he hastened
+onward wrapped in a cloud of dust and dead leaves. Again he raised his
+pocket-handkerchief, sighed, and wiped the perspiration from his
+temples.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XXXI_.
+
+                           HUMMEL'S TRIUMPH.
+
+
+There was a lowering sultriness in nature, and also in the busy world
+of men. The barometer fell suddenly; thunder and hail coursed over the
+country; confidence was gone, stocks became worthless paper;
+lamentation followed arrogance; water stood in the streets; and the
+straw hats disappeared as if wafted away by the storm.
+
+Whoever in these changing times might wish to observe Mr. Hummel in a
+good-humored frame of mind must do so in the afternoon before three
+o'clock, when he opened his garden door and seated himself near the
+hedge. During this hour he gave audience to benevolent thoughts; he
+listened to the striking of the city clock, and regulated his watch; he
+read the daily paper, counted the regular promenaders, who daily walked
+at the same hour to the wood and back again to the city, and he
+accosted his acquaintances and received their greetings. These
+acquaintances were for the most part householders, hard-headed men,
+members of the city commissions, and councillors.
+
+To-day he was sitting at the open door, looking proudly at the opposite
+house, in which some secret commotion was perceptible; he examined the
+passersby, and returned with dignity the bows and greetings of the
+citizens. The first acquaintance was Mr. Wenzel, a gentleman of means,
+and his sponsor, who for many years had taken a constitutional every
+day, summer and winter, through the meadows to get into perspiration.
+It was the one steady business of his life, and he talked of little
+else.
+
+"Good day, Hummel."
+
+"Good day, Wenzel. Any success to-day?" asked Mr. Hummel.
+
+"Pretty fair, only it took a long time," said Mr. Wenzel, "but I must
+not stop. I only wanted to ask you how things are going with him over
+the way?"
+
+"Why that?" asked Hummel, annoyed.
+
+"Do you not know that his book-keeper has disappeared?"
+
+"What!" exclaimed Mr. Hummel.
+
+"They say he has speculated on the stock exchange, and escaped to
+America. But I must be off; good day."
+
+Mr. Wenzel hastily departed.
+
+Mr. Hummel remained in a state of great astonishment. He heard the
+voice of the city-councillor calling out:
+
+"Good day, Mr. Hummel--a warm day--90 degrees in the shade. Have you
+heard?" he said, pointing with his stick to the neighboring house.
+
+"Nothing," cried Hummel; "one lives in this place like in a prison.
+Whether it is fire, pestilence, or the arrival of high personages, it
+is only by pure accident one hears of it. What is all this about the
+absconding book-keeper?"
+
+"It appears that your neighbor placed too much confidence in the man,
+and he has secretly used the name of his employer in some mad
+speculations, and fled last night. They say it is to the amount of
+forty thousand."
+
+"Then Hahn is ruined," said Hummel, "irredeemably. I am not surprised
+at it; the fellow has always been impractical."
+
+"Perhaps things are not so bad," said the councillor, as he left him.
+
+Mr. Hummel remained alone with his thoughts. "Naturally." He said to
+himself, "It was inevitable. In everything, high-flown--houses,
+windows, and garden fancies--never any rest; the man is gone out like a
+candle."
+
+He forgot the passers-by, and moved backwards and forwards on his main
+walk, looking sometimes with curiosity at the hostile house. "Out like
+a candle," he repeated, with the satisfaction of a tragic actor who
+endeavors to give the most terrific expression to the telling words of
+his _r�le_. He had vexed himself half a century about that man; before
+his disposition to corpulency had begun, he had despised this man's
+ways and business. This feeling had been his daily entertainment; it
+was one of his daily necessities, like his boot-jack and his green
+boat. Now the hour was come when fate paid off the man over the way for
+having injured Mr. Hummel by his presence in life. Hummel looked at the
+house and shrugged his shoulders; the man who had placed that deformed
+structure before his eyes was now in danger of being driven out of it.
+He looked at the temple and the muse; this toy of the poor devil would
+soon be torn down by some stranger. Hummel went to the sitting-room;
+there also he walked up and down, and told his wife of Mr. Hahn's
+misfortune in short sentences. He observed, out of the corners of his
+eyes, that Mrs. Philippine hastened, nervously, to the sofa, and
+frequently clasped her hands; and that Laura rushed into the next room,
+and could not refrain from bursting into tears; and he repeated, with
+dreadful satisfaction, the terrible words: "He has gone out like a
+candle."
+
+He behaved in the same way at the factory; he paced slowly up and down
+the warehouse, looked majestically on a heap of hareskins, took one of
+the finest hats out of a bandbox, held it towards the window, gave it a
+stroke with the brush, and muttered again: "It's all up with him."
+To-day his book-keeper, for the first time in his life, was late at his
+desk: he had heard of the misfortune on his way; he related it in an
+excited manner to his principal, and finally maliciously repeated the
+unfortunate words: "It's all up with him." Hummel gave him a piercing
+look, and snorted so that the timid heart of the clerk sank within him.
+
+"Do you wish also to become manager of my business like that runaway? I
+thank you for this proof of your confidence. I have no use for such
+bandit-like proceedings; I am my own manager, sir, and I object to
+every kind of secret dealing behind my back."
+
+"But, Mr. Hummel, I have carried on no secret dealings."
+
+"The devil thank you for that," roared out Hummel, in his fiercest
+bass. "There is no more confidence on earth: nothing is firm; the
+holiest relations are unscrupulously violated; one can no longer trust
+one's friends; now even one's enemies make off. At night you lie down
+to sleep quietly as a German, and in the morning you wake up as a
+Frenchman; and if you sigh for your German coffee, your hostess brings
+a dish of Parisian spinach to your bed. I should be glad to learn of
+you on what spot of this earth we are now settled."
+
+"In Valley Row, Mr. Hummel."
+
+"There the last remains of our good genius spoke out. Look through the
+window. What stands there?" pointing to the neighboring house.
+
+"Park Street, Mr. Hummel."
+
+"Indeed?" asked Hummel, ironically. "Since primeval times, since your
+ancestors sat on the trees here nibbling beechmast, this place has been
+called Valley Row. In this valley I laid the foundations of my house,
+and enclosed in the wall an inscription for later excavators: 'Henry
+Hummel, No. 1.' Now the machinations of yonder extinguished straw-man
+have upset this truth. In spite of my protest in court, we have become
+transformed into park denizens by a police ordinance. Scarcely has this
+happened, when that man's book-keeper transforms himself into an
+American. Do you believe that Knips, junior, this salamander, would
+have ventured on this misdeed if his own principal had not set him the
+example? There you have the consequences of everlasting changes and
+improvements. For twenty years we have gone on together, but I believe
+now you are capable of throwing up your place and entering into another
+business. Bah, sir! you ought to be ashamed of your century."
+
+It was a sorrowful day for the Hahn family. The master of the house had
+gone to his office in the city at the usual hour in the morning, and
+had awaited his book-keeper in vain. When at last he sent to the young
+man's dwelling, the porter brought back word that the former had
+departed, and left a letter on his table for Mr. Hahn. Hahn read the
+letter, and sank down upon his desk with sudden terror. He had always
+carried on his business like an honest tradesman. He had begun with
+small means, and had become a well to do man by his own energy; but he
+had confided his money matters more to his clever clerk than was
+prudent. The young man had grown up under his eyes, and had gradually,
+by his pliant, zealous service, won full confidence, and had shortly
+before been granted the right of signing the name of the firm to
+financial obligations. The new manager had succumbed to the temptations
+of these turbulent times and had, unknown to his principal, ventured on
+rash speculations. In the letter he made open confession. He had stolen
+a small sum for his flight: but Mr. Hahn would on the following day
+have to meet his losses to the amount of about twenty thousand thalers.
+The thunder-bolt fell from a clear heaven into the peaceful life of
+the merchant. Mr. Hahn sent for his son. The doctor hastened to the
+police-office, to his solicitor, and to his business friends, and
+returned again to the office to comfort his father, who sat as if
+paralyzed before his desk, hopelessly looking into the future.
+
+Dinner-time came, when Mr. Hahn must impart his misfortune to his wife,
+and there was lamentation within the house. Mrs. Hahn went distractedly
+through the rooms, and Dorothy wrung her hands and cried. In the
+afternoon the Doctor again hastened to his acquaintances and to
+money-lenders; but during this week there was a panic, every one
+mistrusted the other. Money was scarce, and the Doctor found nothing
+but sympathy, and complaints of the fearful times. The flight of the
+book-keeper made even confidential friends suspicious as to the extent
+of the obligations of the firm. Even by a mortgage on the house, with
+the greatest sacrifice, no sufficient sum could be obtained. The danger
+was more threatening every hour, the anguish greater. Towards evening
+the Doctor returned home to his parents after his last fruitless
+expedition. To his father he had shown a cheerful countenance, and
+comforted him bravely; but the thought was incessantly present to his
+mind, that this misfortune would divide him utterly from his loved one.
+Now he sat weary and alone in the dark sitting-room, and looked towards
+the lighted windows of the neighboring houses.
+
+He well knew that one friend would not fail his father in distress. But
+the Professor was at a distance, and any help he could give would be
+insufficient; at the best it would come too late. There were only a few
+hours before the decisive moment. The intervening time, one of rest for
+all others, was one of endless torture to his father, in which he
+contemplated, with staring eyes and feverish pulse, a hundred-fold the
+bitterness of the ensuing day, and the son was terrified at the effect
+which the dreadful strain would have on the sensitive nature of his
+father.
+
+There was a slight rustle in the dark room--a light figure stood beside
+the Doctor. Laura seized his hand and held it fast within hers. She
+bent down to him, and looked in his sorrowful countenance. "I have felt
+the anxiety of these hours. I can no longer bear solitude," she said,
+gently. "Is there, no help?"
+
+"I fear, none."
+
+She stroked his curly hair with her hand.
+
+"You have chosen it as your lot to despise what others so anxiously
+desire. The light of the sun, which illumines your brow, should never
+be darkened by earthly cares. Be proud, Fritz; you have never had cause
+to be more so than at this hour, for such a misfortune cannot rob you
+of anything that is worth a pang."
+
+"My poor father!" cried Fritz.
+
+"Yet your father is happy," continued Laura, "for he has brought up a
+son to whom it is scarcely a sacrifice to be deprived of what appears
+to other men the highest happiness. For whom had your dear parents
+amassed money but for you? Now you may show them how free and great you
+rise above these anxieties for perishable metal."
+
+"If I feel the misfortune of this day to my own life," said the Doctor,
+"it is only for the sake of another."
+
+"If it could comfort you, my friend," exclaimed Laura, with an outburst
+of feeling, "I will tell you today that I hold true to you, whatever
+may happen."
+
+"Dear Laura!" cried the Doctor.
+
+Her voice sang softly in his ear like a bird:
+
+"I am glad, Fritz, that you care for me."
+
+Fritz laid his cheek tenderly on her hand.
+
+"I will endeavor not to be unworthy of you," continued Laura. "I have
+long tried in secret all that I, a poor maiden, can do, to free myself
+from the trivial follies that trouble our life. I have considered fully
+how one can keep house with very little, and I no longer spend money on
+useless dress and such rubbish. I am anxious also to earn something. I
+give lessons, Fritz, and people are satisfied with me. One requires
+little to live upon, I have found that out. I have no greater pleasure
+in my room than the thought of making myself independent. That is what
+I have wished to express briefly to you to-day. One thing more, Fritz;
+if I do not see you, I always think of and care about you."
+
+Fritz stretched out his arms towards her, but she withdrew herself from
+him, nodded to him once more at the door, then flew swiftly across the
+street back to her attic room.
+
+There she stood in the dark with beating heart; a pale ray of light
+gleamed through the window and lighted up the shepherd pair on the
+inkstand, so that they seemed to hover illuminated in the air. This day
+Laura did not think of her secret diary, she looked towards the window
+where her loved one sat, and again tears gushed from her eyes; but she
+composed herself with quick decision, fetched a light and a jug of
+water from the kitchen, collected her lace collars and cuffs and soaked
+them in a basin--she could do all this herself too. It was another
+little saving, it might sometime be of use to Fritz.
+
+Mr. Hummel closed his office and continued to rove about. The door of
+Laura's room opened, the daughter shrank within herself when she saw
+her father cross the threshold solemnly, like a messenger of Fate.
+Hummel moved towards his daughter and looked sharply at her weeping
+eyes.
+
+"On account of him over the way, I suppose." Laura hid her face in her
+hands, again her sorrow overpowered her.
+
+"There you have your little bells," he grumbled in a low tone. "There
+you have your pocket-handkerchiefs and your Indians. It is all over
+with the people there." He slapped her on the shoulder with his
+large hand. "Be quiet. We are not responsible for his ruin; your
+pocket-handkerchiefs prove nothing."
+
+It became dark; Hummel walked up and down the street between the two
+houses, looking at the hostile dwelling from the park side, where it
+was less accessible to him, and his broad face assumed a triumphant
+smile. At last he discovered an acquaintance who was hastening out of
+it, and followed him.
+
+"What is the state of the case?" he asked, seizing the arm of the
+other. "Can he save himself?"
+
+His business friend shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"It cannot remain a secret," he said, and explained the situation and
+danger of the adversary.
+
+"Will he be able to procure money to meet it?"
+
+The other again shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Hardly to-morrow. Money is not to be had at any price. The man is of
+course worth more; the business is good, and the house unencumbered."
+
+"The house is not worth twenty thousand," interposed Hummel.
+
+"No matter; in a sound state of the money market he would bear the blow
+without danger, now I fear the worst."
+
+"I have said it, he has gone out like a candle," muttered Hummel, and
+abruptly turned his steps towards his house.
+
+In the Doctor's room father and son were sitting over letters and
+accounts, the light of the lamp shone on the gilded titles of the books
+against the wall, and the portfolios containing the treasures
+industriously collected by the Doctor from all corners of the world,
+and bound up and placed here in grand array--now they were again to be
+dispersed. The son was endeavoring to inspire his despairing father
+with courage.
+
+"If the misfortune cannot be prevented which has come upon us like a
+hurricane, we must bear it like men: you can save your honor. The
+greatest sorrow that I feel is that I can now be of so little use to
+you, and that the advice of every man of business is of more value than
+the help of your own son."
+
+The father laid his head on the table, powerless and stupefied.
+
+The door opened, and from the dark hall a strange form entered the room
+with heavy steps. The Doctor sprang up and stared at the hard features
+of a well-known face. Mr. Hahn uttered a shriek and rose hastily from
+the sofa to leave the room.
+
+"Mr. Hummel!" exclaimed the Doctor, alarmed.
+
+"Of course," replied Hummel; "it is I, who else should it be?" He laid
+a packet on the table. "Here are twenty thousand thalers in certified
+City Bonds, and here is a receipt for you both to sign. To-morrow you
+shall give a mortgage for it upon your house: the papers must be repaid
+in kind, for I do not mean to lose by it, exchange is too bad now. The
+mortgage shall run for ten years, in order that you may not think I
+wish to take your house; you can pay me back when you please, the whole
+at once, or by degrees. I know your business, no money can now be
+obtained upon your straw; but in ten years the loss may be recovered. I
+make only one condition, that no human being shall know of this loan,
+least of all your wife, and my wife and daughter. For this I have good
+reasons. Do not look at me as the cat looks at the king," he continued,
+turning to the Doctor. "Set to work, count the bonds and note their
+numbers. Make no speeches, I am not a man of sentiment, and figures of
+rhetoric are no use to me. I think of my security also. The house is
+scarcely worth twenty thousand thalers, but it satisfies me. If you
+should wish to carry it off I should see it. You have taken care that
+it should be near enough to my eyes. Now count, please, and sign the
+receipt, Doctor," he said, authoritatively, pushing him down on his
+chair.
+
+"Mr. Hummel," began Hahn, somewhat indistinctly, for it was difficult
+for him to speak in his emotion, "I shall never forget this hour to the
+end of my life." He wished to go up to him and give him his hand, but
+the tears streamed from his eyes and he was obliged to cover his face
+with his pocket-handkerchief.
+
+"Be seated," said Hummel, pushing him down on the sofa; "steadiness and
+stoicism are always the main thing; they are better than Chinese toys.
+I shall say nothing further to-day, and you must say nothing to me of
+this occurrence. To-morrow everything will be made smooth before the
+notary and the registrar, and interest must be punctually paid,
+quarterly; for the rest, our relation to each other remains the same.
+For, you see, we are not merely men, we are also business people. As a
+man, I well know what are your good points, even when you complain of
+me. But our houses and our business do not agree. We have been
+opponents twenty years, felt against straw, with our hobbies and our
+trellis-work fences. That may remain so; what is not harmonious need
+not harmonise. When you call me bristles and felt, I will be coarse to
+you, and I will consider you as a straw blockhead as often as I am
+angry with you. But with all that, we may have, as now, private
+business together; and if ever, which I hope will never happen, robbers
+should plunder me, you will do for me as much as you can. This I know
+and have always known, and therefore I am come to you to-day."
+
+Hahn gave him a look of warm gratitude, and again raised his
+pocket-handkerchief.
+
+Hummel laid his hand heavily upon his head, as with a little child and
+said, gently, "You are a visionary, Hahn. The doctor is ready now;
+sign, and do not either of you take this misfortune too much to
+heart. There," he continued, strewing sand over the paper carefully,
+"to-morrow, about nine o'clock, I will send my solicitor to your
+office. Stay where you are; the staircase is badly lighted, but I shall
+find my way. Good night."
+
+He entered the street, and looked contemptuously at the hostile walls.
+"No mortgage?" he muttered. "H. Hummel, first and last, twenty
+thousand;" At home he vouchsafed some comforting words to his ladies.
+"I have heard that the people there will be able to pull through, so I
+forbid further lamenting. If ever, in conformity with miserable
+fashion, you should need a straw hat, you may take your money rather to
+the Hahns than to others; I give my permission."
+
+Some days after Fritz Hahn entered the small office of Mr. Hummel. The
+latter motioned to his bookkeeper to withdraw, and began, coolly, from
+his arm chair, "What do you bring me, Doctor?"
+
+"My father feels it a duty to meet the great confidence that you have
+shown him, by giving you an insight into the state of his business, and
+begs you to assist him in his arrangements. He is of opinion, that
+until this disastrous affair has passed over, he should do nothing
+important without your assent."
+
+Hummel laughed. "What! I am to give advice, and that too, in the
+management of your business? You would put me in a position that is
+preposterous, and one against which I protest."
+
+The Doctor silently placed before him a statement of assets and
+liabilities.
+
+"You are a sharp customer," cried Hummel, "but for an old fox this trap
+is not cunningly enough laid." With that he looked at the credit and
+debit, and took a pencil in his hand. "Here I find among the assets
+five hundred thalers for books that are to be sold. I did not know that
+your father had this hobby also."
+
+"They are my books, Mr. Hummel. I have of late years spent more money
+upon these than was absolutely necessary for my work. I am determined
+to sell what I can do without; a book-dealer has already offered to pay
+this sum in two instalments."
+
+"The sheriff is never allowed to levy on instruments of trade," said
+Hummel, making a stroke through that entry in the ledger. "I believe,
+indeed, that they are unreadable stuff, but the world has many dark
+corners; and as you have a fancy to be an anomalous dick among your
+fellows, you shall remain in your hole." He regarded the Doctor with an
+ironical twinkle in his eye. "Have you nothing further to say? I do not
+mean with reference to your father's business, I have nothing further
+to do with that, but upon another subject, which you yourself seem to
+carry on; from your movements of late you evidently wish to associate
+yourself with my daughter Laura?"
+
+The Doctor colored. "I should have chosen another day for the
+declaration which you now demand of me. But it is my anxious wish to
+come to an understanding with you concerning it. I have long
+entertained a secret hope that time would lessen your aversion to me."
+
+"Time?" interrupted Hummel; "that's absurd."
+
+"Now by the noble assistance which you have extended to my father, I am
+placed in a position towards you which is so painful to me that I must
+beg of you not to refuse me your sympathy. With strenuous exertion and
+fortunate circumstances it would now be years before I could acquire a
+position to maintain a wife."
+
+"Starving trade," interposed Mr. Hummel, in a grumbling tone.
+
+"I love your daughter and I cannot sacrifice this feeling. But I have
+lost the prospect of offering her a future which could in some measure
+answer to what she is entitled to expect; and the helping hand which
+you have extended to my father makes me so dependent on you that I must
+avoid what would excite your displeasure. Therefore I see a desolate
+future before me."
+
+"Exactly as I prophesied," replied Mr. Hummel, "wretched and weak."
+
+The Doctor drew back, but at the same time he laid his hand on his
+neighbor's arm. "This manner of language will serve you no longer, Mr.
+Hummel," said he smiling.
+
+"Noble, but abject," repeated Hummel with satisfaction. "You should be
+ashamed, sir; do you pretend to be a lover? You wish to know how to
+please my daughter Laura, such an evasive, forlorn specimen as you?
+Will you regulate your feelings according to my mortgage? If you are in
+love, I expect that you should conduct yourself like a rampant lion,
+jealous and fierce. Bah, sir! you are a beautiful Adonis to me, or
+whatever else that fellow Nicodemus was called."
+
+"Mr. Hummel, I ask for your daughter's hand," cried the Doctor.
+
+"I refuse it you," cried Hummel. "You mistake my words. I do not think
+of throwing my daughter into this bargain also. But you must not
+misunderstand my refusal to give you my daughter; your duty is to
+pursue her more fiercely than ever. You must attack me, and force
+yourself into my house; in return for which I reserve to myself the
+right to show you the way out. But I have always said it, you are
+wanting in courage."
+
+"Mr. Hummel," replied the Doctor, with dignity, "allow me to remark
+that you should no longer be on the offensive with me."
+
+"Why not?" asked Hummel.
+
+The Doctor pointed to the papers.
+
+"What has happened in this matter makes it difficult for me to use
+strong language to you. It can be no pleasure to you to attack one who
+cannot defend himself."
+
+"These pretentions are really ridiculous," replied Hummel. "Because I
+have given you my money must I cease to treat you as you deserve?
+Because you, perhaps, are not disinclined to marry my daughter, am I to
+stroke you with a velvet brush? Did one ever hear such nonsense?"
+
+"You mistake," continued the Doctor, civilly, "if you think that I am
+not in a position to answer what you say. I therefore do myself the
+honor of remarking to you that your mockery is so wounding that even
+the kindness you have shown loses its value."
+
+"Have done with your kindness--it was only kindness from revenge."
+
+"Then I will as honestly tell you," continued the Doctor, "that it was
+a very bitter hour to me when you entered our house. I knew how
+oppressive the obligation which you then conferred upon us would be for
+the rest of my life. But I looked at my poor father, and the thought of
+his misery closed my mouth. For my own part, I would rather have begged
+my bread than taken your money."
+
+"Go on," cried Hummel.
+
+"What you have done for my father does not give you a right to
+ill-treat me. This conversation strengthens me in the conviction that I
+have had from the outset, that we must exert ourselves to the utmost to
+repay you the money we have received, as soon as possible. You have
+crossed out the item in which I credited my books, but I shall sell
+them."
+
+"Nonsense!" exclaimed Hummel.
+
+"I shall do it, however insignificant the sum may be in comparison with
+our debt, because the tyranny which you wish to exercise over me
+threatens to become insupportable. I at least will not be indebted to
+you in this way."
+
+"Yet you wish it in another way that suits you better."
+
+"Yes," replied the Doctor. "As you have so contemptuously rejected the
+greatest sacrifice I could make, I shall continue to woo your daughter,
+even against your will. I shall endeavor to speak to her whenever I
+can, and to make myself as acceptable to her as is possible in my
+position. You yourself have shown me this way. You will therefore be
+satisfied if I enter upon it, and if you are not, I shall pay no regard
+to your displeasure."
+
+"At last," cried Hummel, "it all comes to light I see now that you have
+some fire in you; therefore we will talk quietly over this business.
+You are not the husband whom I could have wished for my daughter. I
+have kept you away from my house, but it has been of no use, for a
+cursed sentiment has arisen between you; I therefore intend now to
+carry on the affair differently. I shall not object to you coming to my
+house sometimes. I depend upon your doing it with discretion. I will
+ignore your presence, and my daughter shall have an opportunity of
+seeing how you compare with the four walls. We will both await the
+result."
+
+"I do not agree to this proposal," replied the Doctor. "I do not expect
+that you should give me your daughter's hand now, and I only accept the
+entrance into your family on condition that you yourself will treat me
+as becomes a guest in your house, and that you will perform the duties
+of a friendly host. I cannot suffer that you should speak to me in the
+way you have done in our conversation to-day. Any insult, either by
+words or by neglect, I will not bear from you. I am not only desirous
+to please your daughter, but also to be agreeable to yourself. For that
+I demand opportunity. If you do not agree to this condition, I prefer
+not to come at all."
+
+"Humboldt, do not undertake too much at once," replied Mr. Hummel,
+shaking his head, "for you see I esteem you, but I really do not like
+you. Therefore I will consider how far I can make myself pleasant to
+you; I assure you it will be hard work. Meanwhile, take these papers
+with you. Your father has bought the lesson, that he should himself
+look after his own money affairs. For the rest, matters are not in a
+bad state, and he will be able to help himself out of it; you do not
+need either me or another. Good morning, Doctor."
+
+The doctor took the papers under his arm.
+
+"I beg you to shake hands, Mr. Hummel."
+
+"Not so hastily," replied Hummel.
+
+"I am sorry for it," said the Doctor, smiling, "but I cannot be denied
+to-day."
+
+"Only from innate politeness," rejoined Hummel, "not from good will."
+
+He held out his large hand to him.
+
+"Keep your books," he cried out, to the departing visitor. "I can see
+through that scheme, you will buy them again, and then I shall have to
+pay for them anyhow."
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XXXII_.
+
+                        A CHAPTER FROM TACITUS.
+
+
+Tobias Bachhuber! when your sponsors concluded that you should be
+called Tobias they did bad service to you and your descendants. For he
+who bears that name is by fate subjected to experiences that do not
+fall to the lot of more favorably named men. Who ever passed so
+miserable a honey-moon as Tobias the younger, the poor son of the blind
+man? For was he not obliged to fast, and to struggle with a murderous
+spirit just at a time when a spiritual struggle would be highly
+disagreeable to any mortal? Even you, blessed Bachhuber, have bitterly
+experienced the misfortune of your name. Whether the fatal war with
+Sweden may have arisen because the Swedes hankered after your
+manuscript, will not be discussed here; it is to be hoped that new
+historical investigations may yet bring this secret motive of action to
+light. But it cannot be denied that you yourself suffered lamentably in
+the war, and the curse of your name still clings to the treasure which
+you concealed. All who have anything to do with it have their eyes
+blinded, and an evil spirit destroys their hopes.
+
+The Professor also was tormented with this blindness, and troubled by
+the demon. He had found nothing. Many would have been weary and given
+it up, but his eagerness only increased, for he did not, by any means,
+search heedlessly; he knew very well that the discovery depended on a
+long chain of accidents which were beyond all calculation. But he
+wished to do all in his power; his task was to give assurance to the
+learned of the world that the archives, collections, and inventories of
+the Sovereign had been thoroughly examined. This certainty at least he
+could obtain better than any one else, and he would thus do his duty
+both to the Sovereign and to Learning. But his impatience became more
+eager, and the cheerful excitement he felt at first increased to
+uncomfortable agitation; constant disappointment disturbed his daily
+frame of mind. He often sat lost in thought, nay, he was always
+speaking of the treasure, and Ilse could not please him; her objections
+and even her consolation wounded him, for he was very much vexed that
+she did not partake of his zeal. He knew accurately what would be the
+appearance of the manuscript--a large, thick quarto, very old
+characters, perhaps of the sixth century, much faded, and many leaves
+half destroyed, for he could not conceal from himself that the
+mischievous spirit of the times, water and the rats, might have made
+havoc with it.
+
+One day the Professor entered the Princess's study with heightened
+color.
+
+"At last I can bring you a good report. In a small bundle of deeds in
+the Marshal's office, which had hitherto unaccountably escaped me, I
+have found a lost entry on a single sheet. The chests which the
+official at Bielstein sent in the beginning of the last century to the
+vanished castle are briefly designated as numbers one and two, with a
+remark that they contained besides old cross-bows, arrows, &c.,
+manuscripts of the monastery of Rossau. Thus, there were two chests
+with manuscripts of the monastery in them."
+
+The Princess looked with curiosity at the sheet which he laid before
+her.
+
+"It was high time that this account should come to light," continued
+the Professor, gaily; "for I confess to your Highness that the phantom
+pursued me day and night. This is a valuable confirmation that I am on
+the right path."
+
+"Yes," cried the Princess, "I am convinced we shall find the treasure.
+If I could but help you a little. If it could be obtained by magic, I
+would gladly put on my magic girdle and call upon Lady Hecate.
+Unfortunately this mode of calling spirits to one's aid is out of date,
+and it is difficult to learn the secret art by which learned gentlemen
+unearth their treasures."
+
+"I also am now little better than a wretched exorcist," answered the
+Professor. "It would be a bad recommendation for me if your Highness
+were to judge of my work by what I have achieved here in stirring up
+the old dust. One is delighted and disappointed, like a child. It is
+fortunate that fate does not often tease us book-writers with such
+tricks; what we do for the benefit of others does not depend upon
+accidental discoveries."
+
+"I can form an idea of the seriousness of the work which I do not see,"
+exclaimed the Princess. "Your kindness has opened at least an aperture
+through which I can look into the workshop of creative minds. I can
+understand that the labor of learned men must have an irresistible
+attraction for those who belong to that silent community. I envy the
+women whose happiness it is to live their whole lives within the sphere
+of such occupations."
+
+"We are bold conquerors at the writing-table," answered the Professor;
+"but the incongruity between our inward freedom and outward
+helplessness is often felt by the conqueror and those about him. They
+who really pass their lives with us may easily fathom us, and can with
+difficulty bear our one-sidedness. For, your Highness, learned men
+themselves are like the books they write. In general we are badly
+prepared for the whirl of business, and sometimes helpless in the
+manifold activity of our time. We are true friends to men in those
+hours in which they seek new strength for the struggle of life, but in
+the struggle itself we are generally unskilful assistants."
+
+"Are you thinking of yourself in speaking thus?" asked the Princess,
+quickly.
+
+"I had in my mind a picture of the combined traits of many of my
+fellow-workers, but if your Highness inquires, about myself, I also am
+in this respect a regular man of learning. For I have often had
+opportunity of remarking how imperfect is my judgment on all questions
+in which my learning or my moral feeling do not give me assurance."
+
+"I do not like that, Mr. Werner," cried the Princess, leaning gravely
+back in her arm-chair. "My fancy took its highest flight; I sat as
+sovereign of the world, prepared to make my people happy, and I made
+you my minister of state."
+
+"Your confidence gives me pleasure," replied the Professor; "but if
+your Highness should ever be in the position to seek for an assistant
+in government, I could not accept this dignity with a good conscience
+unless your Highness's subjects had all been passed through the
+bookbinder's press, and wore little coats of pasteboard, and had on
+their backs labels that told the contents of each."
+
+The Princess laughed, but her eyes rested with deep feeling on the
+honest countenance of the man. She rose and approached him.
+
+"You are always true, open, and high-minded."
+
+"Thanks for your judgment," replied the Professor, much pleased. "Even
+your Highness treats me like a spirit that dwells in a book; you praise
+me as openly as if I did not understand the words that you speak. I beg
+permission to convey to your Highness my feelings also in a review."
+
+"What I am like, I do not wish to hear from you," exclaimed the
+Princess; "for you would, in spite of the harmlessness which you boast
+of, end by reading me as plainly as if I had a morocco-covered back and
+gilt edges. But I am serious when I praise you. Yes, Mr. Werner, since
+you have been with us I have attained to a better understanding of the
+value of life. You do not know what an advantage it is for me to have
+intercourse with a mind which, undisturbed by the little trifles around
+it, only serves its high goddess of Truth. The turmoil of daily life
+bears hard upon us, and perplexes us; those by whom I am surrounded,
+even the best of them, all think and care about themselves, and make
+convenient compacts between their feeling of duty and their egotism.
+But in you I perceive unselfishness and the incessant devotion of
+yourself to the highest labor of man. There is something great and
+lofty in this that overpowers me with admiration. I feel the worth of
+such an existence, like a new light that penetrates my soul. Never have
+I known any one about me so inspired with heaven in his breast. That is
+my review of you, Professor Werner; it is, perhaps, not well written,
+but it comes from my heart."
+
+The eyes of the learned man shone as he looked at the enthusiastic
+countenance of the princely child, but he was silent. There was a long
+pause. The Princess turned away, and bent over her books. At last she
+began, with gentle voice:
+
+"You are going to your daily work, I will do so also. Before you leave
+me, I beg of you to be my instructor: I have marked a place in the work
+no art that you had the kindness to bring from the library, which I
+could not quite understand."
+
+The Professor took the open book from her hand, and laughed.
+
+"This is the theory of quite a different art; it is not the right
+book."
+
+The Princess read, "How to make blanc-mange." She opened the title
+page: "Common-sense cook-book of an old Nuremberg cook." She turned the
+book round with astonishment; it was the same simple binding.
+
+"How does this come here?" she exclaimed, with vexation, and rang for
+her maid.
+
+"No one has been here," said the latter, "except the Princes, a short
+time ago."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the Princess, depressed. "Then there is no hope. We are
+now under the dominion of a mischievous spirit, and must wait till our
+book returns. Farewell, Mr. Werner; if the mischievous spirit restores
+me the book I shall call you back."
+
+When the Professor had taken leave, the maid came back alarmed and
+brought the lost Arch�ology in a sad condition. The book was in the
+cage of the monkey. Giocco had studied it industriously, and was
+furious when the volume was taken away from him.
+
+At the same hour the Chamberlain was standing before the Sovereign.
+
+"Your friends from the University have domesticated themselves with us;
+I take for granted that you have done your best to make our city
+agreeable to them."
+
+"Professor Werner appears well contented," replied the Chamberlain,
+with reserve.
+
+"Has your sister Malwine made the acquaintance of the Professor's
+wife?"
+
+"Unfortunately my sister has been obliged to nurse a sick aunt in the
+country."
+
+"That is a pity," replied the Sovereign; "she may have reason to regret
+this accident. Some time ago you expressed your opinion that some
+practical occupation would be beneficial to the Hereditary Prince; I
+have considered the matter. It will be necessary to find the means of a
+temporary residence in the district of Rossau. The old forester's lodge
+will not be ill adapted to it. I have determined by additional building
+to change the house into a habitable residence. The Hereditary Prince
+must be on the spot to plan the building according to his wishes, and
+you will accompany him. The architect has orders to draw the plans
+according to the Prince's directions. I only wish to speak to him about
+the proposed estimate. Meanwhile the Hereditary Prince will occupy the
+rooms that are reserved for me in the forester's lodge. But as the
+building will not take up his whole time, he may employ his leisure in
+obtaining an insight into our agricultural methods, at the farm
+of the adjoining proprietor. He should learn about field-work and
+book-keeping. The year is already far advanced, which makes a speedy
+departure advisable. I hope this arrangement will meet a wish that you
+have long entertained. The beautiful country and the quiet wood will be
+a refreshment to you after your winterwork."
+
+The Chamberlain bowed dismayed before his master, who so graciously
+pronounced his banishment from Court. He hastened to the Hereditary
+Prince and related the bad tidings.
+
+"It is exile!" he exclaimed, beside himself.
+
+"Make your preparations speedily," replied the Hereditary Prince
+quietly. "I am prepared to go at once."
+
+The Hereditary Prince went to his father.
+
+"I will do what you command, and make every effort to please you. If
+you, as a father, consider this residence in a distant place useful, I
+feel that you understand better than I what will be beneficial for my
+future. But," he continued, with hesitation, "I cannot go from here
+without making a request which I have much at heart."
+
+"Speak, Benno," said the Sovereign, graciously.
+
+"I beg of you to permit the Professor and his wife to depart as quickly
+as possible from the neighborhood of the Court."
+
+"Why so?" asked the Sovereign sharply.
+
+"Their residence here is hurtful to Mrs. Werner. Her reputation is
+endangered by the unusual position in which she is placed. I owe him
+and her great gratitude; their happiness is a matter of concern to me,
+and I am tormented by the thought that their stay in our parts
+threatens to disturb the peace of their life."
+
+"And why does your gratitude fear a disturbance of the happiness that
+is so dear to you?" asked the Sovereign.
+
+"It is said that the Pavillion is a fateful residence for an honorable
+woman," replied the Hereditary Prince, decidedly.
+
+"If what you call honor is endangered by her dwelling there, then that
+virtue is easily lost," said the Sovereign, bitterly.
+
+"It is not the dwelling alone," continued the Hereditary Prince; "the
+ladies of the Court have been quite reserved in their conduct toward
+her; she is ill spoken of: gossip and calumny are busy in fabricating a
+false representation of her innocent life."
+
+"I hear with astonishment," said the Sovereign, "the lively interest
+you take in the stranger; yet, if I am rightly informed, you yourself
+during this time have shown her little chivalrous attention."
+
+"I have not done so," exclaimed the Hereditary Prince, "because I have
+felt myself bound to avoid, at least so far as I was concerned, any
+conduct that might injure her. I saw the jeering looks of our gentlemen
+when she arrived; I heard their derogatory words about the new beauty
+who was shut up in that house, and my heart beat with shame and anger.
+Therefore I have painfully controlled myself; I have feigned
+indifference before those about me, and I have been cold in my demeanor
+towards her; but, my father, it has been a hard task to me, and I have
+felt deep and bitter anxiety in the past few weeks; for the happiest
+hours of my life at college were passed in her society."
+
+The Sovereign had turned away; he now showed his son a smiling
+countenance.
+
+"So that was the reason of your reserve. I had forgotten that you had
+reached the age of tender susceptibility and were inclined to expend
+more emotion and sentiment on your relations to women than is good for
+you. Yet I could envy you this. Unfortunately, life does not long
+retain its sensitive feelings." He approached the Prince, and
+continued, good-humoredly: "I do not deny, Benno, that in your interest
+I regarded the arrival of our visitors differently. For a prince of
+your nature there is perhaps nothing so fraught with culture as the
+tender feeling for a woman who makes no demands on the external life of
+her friend, and yet gives him all the charm of an intimate union of
+soul. Love affairs with ladies of the Court or with assuming intrigants
+would be dangerous for you; you must be on your guard that the woman to
+whom you devote yourself will not trifle with you and selfishly make
+use of you for her own ends. From all that I knew, your connection with
+the lady in the Pavilion was just what would be advantageous for your
+future life. From reasons of which I have full appreciation, you have
+avoided accepting this idyllic relation. You yourself have not chosen
+what I, with the best intentions, prepared for you; it seems to me,
+therefore, that you have lost the right in this affair to express any
+wishes whatever."
+
+"Father," exclaimed the Hereditary Prince, horrified, and wringing his
+hands, "your saying this to me is indeed unkind. I had a dark
+foreboding that the invitation to them had some secret object in view.
+I have struggled with this suspicion, and blamed myself for it; now I
+am dismayed with the thought that I myself am the innocent cause of
+this misfortune to these good people. Your words give me the right to
+repeat my request: let them go as soon as possible, or you will make
+your son miserable."
+
+"I perceive an entirely new phase of your character," replied the
+Sovereign; "and I am thankful to you for the insight that you have at
+last accorded me into your silent nature. You are either a fantastical
+dreamer, or you have a talent for diplomacy that I have never
+attributed to you."
+
+"I have never been other than candid to you," exclaimed the Hereditary
+Prince.
+
+"Shall the lady return to her home at Bielstein to be saved?" asked the
+Sovereign mockingly.
+
+"No," replied the Hereditary Prince, in a low tone.
+
+"Your demand scarcely deserves an answer," continued the father. "The
+strangers have been called here for a certain time. The husband is not
+in my service. I am neither in a position to send them away, as they
+have given me no reason for dissatisfaction, nor to keep them here
+against their will."
+
+"Forgive me, my father," exclaimed the Hereditary Prince. "You have
+yourself, by the gracious attention which you daily show to the wife,
+by your civil gifts and frequent visits, occasioned the Court to think
+that you take a special personal interest in her."
+
+"Is the Court so busy in reporting to you what I, through the
+unbecoming conduct of others, have thought fit to do?" asked the
+Sovereign.
+
+"Little is reported to me of what those about us say, and be assured
+that I do not lend a ready ear to their conjectures; but it is
+inevitable that I sometimes must hear what occupies them all and makes
+them all indignant. They venture to maintain even, that every one who
+does not show her attention is in disgrace with you; and they think
+that they show special firmness of character and respectability in
+refusing to be civil to her. You, as well as she, are threatened with
+calumny. Forgive me, my father, for being thus frank. You yourself have
+by your favor brought the lady into this dangerous position, and
+therefore it lies with you to deliver her from it."
+
+"The Court always becomes virtuous when its master selects for
+distinction a lady who does not belong to their circle; and you will
+soon learn the value of such strict morals," replied the Sovereign. "It
+must be a strong sentiment, Benno, which drives your timid nature to
+the utmost limits of the freedom of speech that is allowable from a son
+to a father."
+
+The pale face of the Hereditary Prince colored.
+
+"Yes, my father," he cried, "hear what to every other ear will remain a
+secret; I love that lady with fervent and devoted heart. I would with
+pleasure make the greatest sacrifice in my power for her. I have felt
+the power that the beauty and innocence of a woman can exercise on a
+man. More than once have I strengthened myself by contact with her pure
+spirit. I was happy when near her, and unhappy when I could not look
+into her eyes. For a whole year I have thought in secret of her, and in
+this sorrowful feeling I have grown to be a man. That I have now
+courage to speak thus to you, I owe to the influence which she has
+exercised upon me. I know, my father, how unhappy such a passion makes
+one; I know the misery of being for ever deprived of the woman one
+loves. The thought of the peace of her pure soul alone has sustained me
+in hours of bitterness. Now you know all. I have confided my secret to
+you and I beg of you, my Sovereign and father, to receive this
+confidence with indulgence. If you have hitherto cared for my welfare,
+now is the time when you can show me the highest proof of our
+sincerity. Honor the woman who is loved by your unhappy son."
+
+The countenance of the Sovereign had changed while his son was
+speaking, and the latter was terrified at its menacing expression.
+
+"Seek, for your tale, the ear of some knight-errant who eagerly drinks
+the water into which a tear of his lady-love has dropped."
+
+"Yes, I seek your knightly help, my liege and Sovereign," cried the
+Hereditary Prince, beside himself. "I conjure you, do not let me
+implore you in vain. I call upon you, as the head of our illustrious
+house, and as a member of the order whose device we both wear, to do a
+service to me and for her. Do not refuse her your support in her
+danger."
+
+"We are not attending a medi�val ceremony," replied the Sovereign,
+coldly, "and your speech does not accord with the tone of practical
+life. I have not desired your confidence--you have thrust it upon me in
+too bold a manner. Do not wonder that your father is angry with your
+presumptuous speech, and that your Sovereign dismisses you with
+displeasure."
+
+The Hereditary Prince turned pale and stepped back.
+
+"The anger of my father and the displeasure of my Sovereign are
+misfortunes which I feel deeply; but still more fearful to me is the
+thought, that here at Court an injury is done to an innocent person--an
+injury in which I must have a share. However heavily your anger may
+fall upon me, yet I must tell you that you have exposed the lady to
+misrepresentation, and as long as I stand before you I will repeat it,
+and not desist from my request to remove her from here, for the sake of
+her honor and ours."
+
+"As your words flutter ceaselessly about the same empty phantom,"
+replied the Sovereign, "it is time to put an end to this conversation.
+You will depart at once, and leave it to time to enable me to forget,
+if I ever can do so, what I have heard from you to-day. Till then you
+may reflect in solitude on your folly, in wishing to play the part of
+guardian to strangers who are quite in a position to take care of
+themselves."
+
+The Hereditary Prince bowed.
+
+"Has my most Sovereign liege any commands for me?" he asked, with
+trembling lips.
+
+The Sovereign replied sullenly:
+
+"It only remains to you how to excite the ill-will of the strangers
+against your father."
+
+"Your Highness knows that such conduct would not become me."
+
+The Sovereign waved his hand, and his son departed with a silent bow.
+
+Immediately upon quitting the apartment of the father, the Prince
+ordered his carriage, and then hastened to his sister. The Princess
+looked anxiously into his disturbed countenance.
+
+"You are going away?" she exclaimed.
+
+"Farewell!" he said, holding out his hand to her. "I am going into the
+country to build a new castle for us in case we should wish to change
+the scene of action."
+
+"When do you return, Benno?"
+
+The Hereditary Prince shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"When the Sovereign commands. My task is now to become something of an
+architect and farmer; this is a useful occupation. Farewell, Sidonie.
+If chance should bring you together with Mrs. Werner, I would be
+greatly indebted to you if you would not attend to the gossip of the
+Court, but remember that she is a worthy lady, and that I owe her a
+great debt of gratitude."
+
+"Are you dissatisfied with me, my brother?" asked the Princess,
+anxiously.
+
+"Make reparation for it, Siddy, as best you can. Farewell!"
+
+Prince Victor accompanied him to the carriage. The Hereditary Prince
+clasped his hand, and looked significantly towards the Pavilion. Victor
+nodded. "That's my opinion too," he said. "Before I go back to my
+garrison I will visit you in the land of cat-tails. I expect to find
+you as a brother hermit, with a long beard and a cap made of tree-bark.
+Farewell, Knight Toggenburg, and learn there that the best philosophy
+on earth is to consider every day as lost on which one cannot do some
+foolish trick. If one does not do this business one's self, others will
+take the trouble off one's hands. It is always more pleasant to be the
+hammer than the anvil."
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+The Sovereign was gloomy and silent at dinner; only short remarks fell
+from his lips, and sometimes a bitter jest, from which one remarked
+that he was striving for composure; the Court understood that this
+unpleasant mood was connected with the departure of the Hereditary
+Prince, and every one took care not to irritate him. The Professor
+alone was able to draw a smile from him, when he good-humoredly told
+about the enchanted castle, Solitude. After dinner the Sovereign
+conversed with one of his aides-de-camp as well as the Professor. The
+latter turned to the High Steward; and although he usually avoided the
+reserved politeness of the man, he on this occasion asked him some
+indifferent questions. The High Steward answered civilly that the
+Marshal, who was close by, could give him the best information, and he
+changed his place. Immediately afterwards the Sovereign walked straight
+through the company to the High Steward, and drew him into the recess
+of the window, and began:
+
+"You accompanied me on my first journey to Italy, and, if I am not
+mistaken, partook a little of my fondness for antiquities. Our
+collection is being newly arranged and a catalogue fully prepared."
+
+The High Steward expressed his acknowledgment of this princely
+liberality.
+
+"Professor Werner is very active," continued the Sovereign; "it is
+delightful to see how well he understands to arrange the specimens."
+
+The High Steward remained silent.
+
+"Your Excellency will remember how when in Italy we were much amused at
+the enthusiasm of collectors who, luring strangers into their cabinets,
+wildly gesticulated and rhapsodized over some illegible inscription.
+Like most other men, our guest is also afflicted with a hobby. He
+suspected that an old manuscript lay concealed in a house in our
+principality; therefore he married the daughter of the proprietor; and
+as, in spite of that, he did not find the treasure, he is now secretly
+seeking this phantasm in the old garrets of the palace. Has he never
+spoken to you of it?"
+
+"I have as yet had no occasion to seek his confidence," replied the
+High Steward.
+
+"Then you have missed something," continued the Sovereign; "in his way
+he speaks well and readily about it; it will amuse you to examine more
+closely this species of folly. Come presently with him into my study."
+
+The High Steward bowed; and on the breaking up of the party, informed
+the Professor that the Sovereign wished to speak to him.
+
+The gentlemen entered the Sovereign's apartment, in order to afford him
+an hour of entertainment.
+
+"I have told his Excellency," the Sovereign began, "that you have a
+special object of interest which you pursue like a sportsman. How about
+the manuscript?"
+
+The Professor related his new discovery of the two chests.
+
+"The next hunting-ground which I hope to try will be the garrets and
+rooms in the summer castle of the Princess; if these yield me no booty,
+I would hardly know of any place that has not been searched."
+
+"I shall be delighted if you soon attain your object," said the
+Sovereign, looking at the High Steward. "I assume that the discovery of
+this manuscript will be of great importance for your own professional
+career. Of course you will consent to publish the same."
+
+"It would be the noblest task that could fall to my lot," replied the
+Professor, "always supposing that your Highness would graciously
+entrust the work to me."
+
+"You shall undertake the work, and no other," replied the Sovereign,
+laughing, "so far as I have the right to decide it. So the invisible
+book will be really of great importance to learning?"
+
+"The greatest importance. The contents of it will be of the highest
+value to every scholar. I think it would also interest your Highness,"
+said the Professor, innocently, "for the Roman Tacitus is in a certain
+sense a Court historian; the main point of his narrative is the
+characters of the Emperors who, in the first century of our era,
+decided the fate of the old world. It is indeed, on the whole, a
+sorrowful picture."
+
+"Did he belong to the hostile party?" inquired the Sovereign.
+
+"He is the great narrator of the peculiar deformity of character found
+in the sovereigns of the ancient world; we have to thank him for a
+series of psychological studies of a malady that then developed itself
+on the throne."
+
+"That is new to me," replied the Sovereign, fidgeting on his chair.
+
+"Your Highness will, I am convinced, view the various forms of this
+mental malady with the greatest sympathy, and will find in other
+periods of the past--nay, even in the earlier civilization of our own
+people--many remarkable parallel cases."
+
+"Do you speak of a special malady that only befalls rulers?" asked the
+Sovereign; "physicians will be grateful to you for this discovery."
+
+"In fact," answered the Professor, eagerly, "the fearful importance of
+this phenomenon is far too little estimated; no other has exercised
+such an immeasurable influence on the fate of nations. The destruction
+by pestilence and war is small in comparison with the fatal devastation
+of nations which has been occasioned by this special misfortune of the
+rulers. For this malady, which raged long after Tacitus among the Roman
+emperors, is not an ailing that is confined to ancient Rome--it is
+undoubtedly as old as the despotisms of the human race; even later it
+has been the lot of numerous rulers in Christian states; it has
+produced deformed and grotesque characters in every period; it has been
+for thousands of years the worm enclosed in the brain, consuming the
+marrow of the head, destroying the judgment and corroding the moral
+feelings, until at last nothing remained but the hollow glitter of
+life. Sometimes it became madness which could be proved by medical men,
+but in numerous other cases the capacity for practical life did not
+cease and the secret mischief was carefully concealed. There were
+periods when only occasional firmly-established minds preserved their
+full healthy vigor; and again other centuries when the heads that wore
+a diadem inhaled a fresh atmosphere from the people. I am convinced
+that he whose vocation it is to investigate accurately the conditions
+of later times will, in the course of his studies, discover the same
+malady under a milder form. My life lies far from these observations,
+but the Roman state undoubtedly shows the strangest forms of the
+malady; for there were the widest relations, and such a powerful
+development of human nature both in virtue and vice as has seldom since
+been found in history."
+
+"It seems to be a particular pleasure to the learned gentlemen to bring
+to light these sufferings of former rulers," said the Sovereign.
+
+"They are certainly instructive for all times," continued the
+Professor, confidently, "for by fearful example they impress upon one
+the truth that the higher a man's position is, the greater is the
+necessity of barriers to restrain the arbitrariness of his nature. Your
+Highness's independent judgment and rich experience will enable you to
+discern, more distinctly than any one in my sphere of life, that the
+phenomena of this malady always show themselves where the ruling powers
+have less to fear and to honor than other mortals. What preserves a man
+in ordinary situations is that he feels himself at every moment of his
+life under strict and incessant control; his friends, the law, and the
+interest of others surround him on all sides, they demand imperiously
+that he should conform his thoughts and will by rules which secure the
+welfare of others. At all times the power of these fetters is less
+effective on the ruler; he can easily cast off what confines him, an
+ungracious movement of the hand frightens the monitor forever from his
+side. From morning to evening he is surrounded by persons who
+accommodate themselves to him; no friend reminds him of his duty, no
+law punishes him. Hundreds of examples teach us that former rulers,
+even amidst great outward success, suffered from inward ravages, where
+they were not guarded by a strong public opinion, or incessantly
+constrained by the powerful participation of the people in the state.
+We cannot but think of the gigantic power of a general and conqueror
+whose successes and victories brought devastation and excessive sin
+into his own life; he became a fearful sham, a liar to himself and a
+liar to the world before he was overthrown, and long before he died. To
+investigate similar cases is, as I said, not my vocation."
+
+"No," said the Sovereign, in a faint voice.
+
+"The distant time," began the High Steward, "of which you speak, was a
+sad epoch for the people as well as the rulers. If I am not mistaken a
+feeling of decay was general, and the admired writers were of little
+value; at least it appears to me that Apuleius and Lucan were frivolous
+and deplorably vulgar men."
+
+The Professor looked surprised at the courtier.
+
+"In my youth such authors were much read," he continued. "I do not
+blame the better ones of that period, when they turned away with
+disgust at such doings, and withdrew into the most retired private
+life, or into the Theban wilderness. Therefore when you speak of a
+malady of the Roman emperors, I might retort that it was only the
+result of the monstrous malady of the people; although I see quite well
+that during this corruption individuals accomplished a great advance in
+the human race, the freeing the people from the exclusiveness of
+nationality to the unity of culture, and the new ideal which was
+brought upon earth by Christianity."
+
+"Undoubtedly the form of the state, and the style of culture which each
+individual emperor found, were decisive for his life. Every one is, in
+this sense, the child of his own time, and when it is a question of
+judging the measure of his guilt, it is fitting to weigh cautiously
+such considerations. But what I had the honor of pointing out to his
+Highness as the special merit of Tacitus, is only the masterly way with
+which he describes the peculiar symptoms and course of the C�sarean
+insanity."
+
+"They were all mad," interrupted the Sovereign, with a hoarse voice.
+
+"Pardon, gracious Sir," rejoined the Professor, innocently. "Augustus
+became a better man on the throne, and almost a century after the time
+of Tacitus there were good and moderate rulers. But something of the
+curse which unlimited power exercises on the soul may be discovered in
+most of the Roman emperors. In the better ones it was like a malady
+which seldom showed itself, but was restrained by good sense or a good
+disposition. Many of them indeed were utterly corrupted, and in them
+the malady developed in definite gradation, the law of which one can
+easily understand."
+
+"Then you also know how these people were at heart!" said the
+Sovereign, looking shyly at the Professor.
+
+The High Steward retreated towards a window.
+
+"It is not difficult in general to follow the course of the malady,"
+replied the Professor, engrossed with his subject. "The first accession
+to power has an elevating tendency. The highest earthly vocation raises
+even narrow-minded men like Claudius; depraved villians like Caligula,
+Nero, and Domitian, showed a certain nobleness at first. There is an
+eager desire to please, and strenuous exertion to establish themselves
+by graciousness; a fear of influential persons or of the opposition of
+the masses compels a certain moderation. But arbitrary power has made
+men slaves, and the slavish feeling shows itself in an abject
+veneration which puts the emperor on a pinnacle above other men; he is
+treated as if specially favored by the gods, nay, as if his soul was an
+emanation of godly power. Amid this adoration by all, and the security
+of power, egotism soon increases. The accidental demands of an
+unrestrained will become reckless, the soul gradually loses the power
+of distinguishing between good and evil; his personal wishes appear to
+the ruler henceforth as the necessity of the state, and every whim of
+the moment must be satisfied. Distrust of all who are independent leads
+to senseless suspicion; he who will not be pliant is set aside as an
+enemy, and he who adapts himself with suppleness is sure to exercise a
+mastery over his master. Family bonds are severed, the nearest
+relations are watched as secret enemies, the deceptive show of hearty
+confidence is maintained, but suddenly some evil deed breaks through
+the veil that hypocrisy has drawn over a hollow existence."
+
+The Sovereign slowly drew back his chair from the fire into the dark.
+
+"The idea of the Roman state at last entirely vanishes from the soul,
+only personal dependence is required; true devotion to the state
+becomes a crime. This helplessness, and the cessation of the power of
+judging of the worth--nay, even of the attachment of men--betoken an
+advance of the malady by which all sense of accountability is impaired.
+Now the elements of which the character is formed become more
+contracted and onesided, the will more frivolous and paltry. A childish
+weakness becomes perceptible; pleasure in miserable trifles and empty
+jokes, together with knavish tricks which destroy without aim; it
+becomes enjoyment not only to torment and see the torments of others,
+but also an irresistible pleasure to drag all that is venerated down to
+a common level. It is very remarkable how, in consequence of this decay
+of thought, an unquiet and destructive sensuality takes the place of
+all. Its dark power becomes overmastering, and instead of the honorable
+old age which gives dignity even to the weak, we are disgusted by the
+repugnant picture of decrepit debauchees, like Tiberius and Claudius.
+The last powers of life are destroyed by shameless and refined
+profligacy."
+
+"That is very remarkable," repeated the Sovereign, mechanically.
+
+The Professor concluded: "Thus are accomplished the four gradations of
+ruin; first, gigantic egotism; then suspicion and hypocrisy; then
+childish senselessness; and, lastly, repugnant excesses."
+
+The Sovereign rose slowly from his chair; he tottered, and the High
+Steward drew near to him terrified, but he supported himself with his
+hand on the arm of the chair, and, turning languidly to the Professor
+without looking at him, said, slowly:
+
+"I thank the gentleman for a pleasant hour."
+
+One could perceive the effort which it cost him to bring out the words.
+
+In going out the Professor asked in a low tone of the High Steward:
+
+"I fear I have wearied the Sovereign by this long discussion?"
+
+The High Steward looked with astonishment at the frank countenance of
+the scholar:
+
+"I do not doubt that the Sovereign will very soon show you that he has
+listened with attention."
+
+When they were on the stairs they heard a hoarse, discordant sound in
+the distance; the old gentleman shuddered, and leaned against the wall.
+
+The Professor listened; all was still.
+
+"It was like the cry of a wild beast."
+
+"The sound came from the street," replied the High Steward.
+
+
+
+
+                           _CHAPTER XXXIII_.
+
+                C�SAREAN INSANITY IN THE HUMMEL FAMILY.
+
+
+Mr. Hahn was walking by the side of his garden fence, his soul filled
+with gratitude; but as this was prevented from escaping through the
+usual outlet of friendly speech, it compelled him to take refuge in
+those chambers of his mind in which he kept the plans for the
+beautifying of his garden. His noble-hearted opponent was about to
+celebrate his birthday; this Mr. Hahn discovered in a roundabout way.
+On this day he might perhaps be able to show him some secret token of
+esteem. The greatest treasures in Mr. Hahn's garden were his standards
+and bush roses of every size and color,--splendid flowers which bloomed
+almost the whole year, and were much admired by the passers-by. They
+were all in pots, his delight was to move them about in the garden
+himself, and arrange them ornamentally in different groups. These roses
+he determined to dedicate as a quiet mark of homage to Mr. Hummel. He
+had long lamented a desolate space in the middle of his enemy's garden;
+it had lain bare the whole summer as a place of repose for the brindle
+dog or a roving cat. When Mr. Hummel should enter his garden on his
+birthday he should find the round bed changed into a blooming circle of
+roses.
+
+This thought occasioned Mr. Hahn happy hours, and raised him a little
+from the depth of his sorrows. He carried the roses into a concealed
+corner, arranged them in rank and file according to their size and
+color, and wrote their numbers with chalk on the pots. The park-keeper,
+whose house stood at the extreme limit of the city by the river, had a
+little boat; this Mr. Hahn borrowed secretly for a few hours in the
+night. Before the early dawn of morning, on the birthday of his enemy,
+he slipped out of the house, rowed the pots in the boat to the small
+steps which led from the water-side into the garden of Mr. Hummel; he
+glided with his loved roses to the circular bed, arranged them
+noiselessly according to their numbers, planted each separately, and
+changed the desert spot into a blooming parterre of roses. When the
+sparrows in the gutters twittered out their first querulous abuse, he
+had smoothed down the earth in the bed with a small rake. He cast a
+look of pleasure on his work, and another on the still dusky outline of
+the house, within which Mr. Hummel still slept, unprepared for the
+surprise of the morning, and then glided with his spade and empty pots
+into his boat, rowed himself up to the house of the park-keeper, and
+concealed himself and his garden utensils on his own ground before the
+first rays of the rising sun painted his chimney with roseate colors.
+
+Mr. Hummel entered his sitting-room at the usual hour, received with
+good-humor the congratulations of his ladies, looked graciously at the
+birthday cake which wife Philippine had placed with his coffee, and at
+the travelling-bag which Laura had embroidered for him, took his
+newspaper in his hand, and prepared himself by participation in the
+political concerns of men in general, for the business of his own life.
+All this passed off well; in his factory and in his office he received
+congratulations like a lamb; he stroked the snarling dog, and wrote
+business letters full of respect to his customers. When towards the
+middle of the day he returned to his ladies, and the Doctor entered his
+room to offer his congratulations, a dark cloud gathered on the sunny
+countenance of the master of the house, and lightning flashed from
+under his ambrosial eyebrows.
+
+"What, Saul among the prophets! Are you come to fetch a lost ass back
+to your father's house? We cannot accommodate you. Or are you going to
+deliver a lecture upon the language of the orang-outang in the land of
+the cocoas?
+
+"My lectures have not caused you any trouble so far," replied the
+Doctor. "I have not come in order that your hospitable politeness
+should take the trouble to entertain those present by the outpouring of
+your good humor. I have already expressed to you my wish never to be
+the object of it."
+
+"Then defend yourself if you can," cried Hummel.
+
+"I am only prevented," replied the Doctor, "by consideration for those
+present from giving you in your own house the answer which you seem to
+wish."
+
+"I should be sorry if you were placed at any disadvantage in my house,"
+replied Hummel. "I propose to you, therefore, to put yourself on an
+equal footing with me, by remaining in your own house and putting your
+head out of the window. I will do the same; we can then sing out to one
+another across the street, like two canary birds."
+
+"But as I am here now," said the Doctor, with a bow, "I claim to be
+allowed to eat this piece of birthday cake in peace among friendly
+faces."
+
+"Then I beg of you to resign the sight of my face without overpowering
+sorrow," replied Hummel.
+
+He opened the door into the garden, and went down the steps
+discontentedly. While still at a distance he saw the young group of
+roses smiling innocently in the light of the sun. He walked round the
+spot, shook his head, and invited his ladies into the garden.
+
+"Which of you got this idea?" he asked.
+
+The ladies showed such lively surprise that he was convinced of their
+innocence. He called to the old storekeeper and the book-keeper. All
+showed entire ignorance. The countenance of Mr. Hummel became gloomy.
+
+"What does this mean? Some one has slipped in here while we were
+asleep. Night garden-work is not to my taste. Who has ventured to enter
+my property without permission? Who has brought in these products of
+nature?"
+
+He went restlessly along the side of the water: behind him followed
+Spitehahn. The dog crept down the steps to the water, smelt at a bit of
+brown wood which lay on the last step, came up again, turned towards
+the house of Mr. Hahn, and set up his back like a cat, mockingly, and
+made a snarling noise. It meant as clearly as if he had spoken the
+friendly words, "I wish you a pleasant meal."
+
+"Right," cried Hummel; "the intruder has left the handle of the rudder
+behind. The brown handle belongs to the boat of the park-keeper. Take
+it over to him, Klaus. I demand an answer; who has ventured to bring
+his boat alongside here?"
+
+The storekeeper hastened away with the piece of wood, and brought back
+the answer with an embarrassed air:
+
+"Mr. Hahn had borrowed the boat in the night."
+
+"If there are forebodings," cried Hummel, angrily, "this was one. This
+nocturnal prowling of your father I forbid under all circumstances," he
+continued, to the Doctor.
+
+"I know nothing of it," rejoined the Doctor. "If my father has done
+this, I beg of you, even if you do not value the roses, to be pleased
+with the good intention."
+
+"I protest against every rose that may be strewed on my path," cried
+Hummel. "First we had poisoned dumplings, with evil intentions; and now
+rose leaves, with good ones. Your father should think of something else
+than such jokes. The ground and soil are mine, and I intend to prevent
+roosters from scratching here."
+
+He charged wildly into the roses, seized hold of stems and branches,
+tore them out of the ground, and threw them into a confused heap.
+
+The Doctor turned gloomily away, but Laura hastened to her father and
+looked angrily into his hard face.
+
+"What you have rooted up," she exclaimed, "I will replace with my own
+hands."
+
+She ran to a corner of the garden, brought some pots, knelt down on the
+ground, and pressed the stems with the little balls of earth into them
+as eagerly as her father had rooted them up.
+
+"I will take care of them," she called out, to the Doctor; "tell your
+dear father that not all in our house undervalue his friendship."
+
+"Do what you cannot help," replied Mr. Hummel, more quietly. "Klaus,
+why do you stand there on your hind legs staring like a tortoise? Why
+do you not help Miss Hummel in her garden-work. Then carry the whole
+birthday-present back again to the youthful flower-grower. My
+compliments, and he must in the darkness have mistaken the gardens."
+
+He turned his back upon the company, and went with heavy steps to his
+office. Laura knelt on the ground and worked at the ill-used roses with
+heightened color and gloomy determination. The Doctor helped silently.
+He had seen his father behind the hedge, and knew how deeply the poor
+man would feel this latest outburst on the part of his adversary. Laura
+did not desist till she had put all the flowers as well as possible
+into the pots; then she plunged her hands into the stream, and her
+tears mixed with the water. She led the Doctor back to the room; there
+she wrung her hands, quite beside herself.
+
+"Life is horrible; our happiness is destroyed in this miserable
+quarrel. Only one thing can save you and me. You are a man, and must
+find out what can deliver us from this misery."
+
+She rushed out of the room; the mother beckoned eagerly to the Doctor
+to remain behind, when he was on the point of following.
+
+"She is beside herself," cried Fritz. "What do her words mean? What
+does she desire of me?"
+
+The mother seated herself on the sofa, embarrassed and full of anxiety,
+cleared her throat, and twisted at her sleeves.
+
+"I must confide something to you, Doctor," she began, hesitatingly,
+"which will be very painful to us both; but I know not what to do, and
+all the representations that I make to my unhappy child are in vain.
+Not to conceal anything from you,--it is a strange freak,--and I should
+have thought such a thing impossible."
+
+She stopped and concealed her face in her pocket-handkerchief. Fritz
+looked anxiously at the disturbed face of Mrs. Hummel. A secret of
+Laura's that he had for weeks foreboded was now to fall destructively
+on his hopes.
+
+"I will confess all to you, dear Doctor," continued the mother, with
+many sighs. "Laura esteems you beyond measure, and the thought of
+becoming your wife--I must say it in confidence--is not strange or
+disagreeable to her. But she has a fearful idea in her head, and I am
+ashamed to express it."
+
+"Speak out," said the Doctor, in despair.
+
+"Laura wishes you to elope with her."
+
+Fritz was dazed.
+
+"It is scarcely for a mother to express this wish to you, but I do not
+know how to do otherwise."
+
+"But where to?" cried the Doctor, quite aghast.
+
+"That is the most painful part of all, as you yourself must
+acknowledge. What put the idea into her head, whether poetry, or
+reading about the great world in the newspapers, I know not. But to her
+frame of mind, which is always excited and tragic, I can oppose no
+resistance. I am afraid to impart it to my husband. I conjure you to do
+what you can to calm my child. Her feelings are wounded, and I can no
+longer resist the inward struggle for this young heart."
+
+"I beg permission," replied the Doctor, "to speak immediately with
+Laura on the subject."
+
+Without waiting for the mother's answer, he hastened up the stairs to
+Laura's room. He knocked, but receiving no answer, opened the door.
+Laura was sitting by her writing-table, sobbing violently.
+
+"Dear, sweet Laura," exclaimed the Doctor, "I have been speaking with
+your mother; let me know all."
+
+Laura started.
+
+"Every warm feeling is rejected with scorn, every hour that I see you
+is embittered by the hostility of my father. The heart of the poorest
+maiden palpitates when she hears the voice of the man she loves: but I
+must ask, is that the happiness of love? When I do not see you I am in
+anxiety about you, and when you come to us I feel tormented, and listen
+with terror to every word of my father. I see you joyless and cast
+down. Fritz, your love for me, makes you unhappy."
+
+"Patience, Laura," said the Doctor; "let us persevere. My confidence in
+your father's heart is greater than yours. He will gradually reconcile
+himself to me."
+
+"Yes, after he has broken both our hearts; even great love is crushed
+by constant opposition. I cannot, amidst the wrangling of our hostile
+families, become your wife; the narrow street and the old hatred are
+destructive to me. I have often sat here lamenting that I was not a man
+who could boldly battle for his own happiness. Listen to a secret,
+Fritz," she said, approaching him, again wringing her hands; "here I am
+becoming haughty, malicious, and wicked."
+
+"I have observed nothing of that kind," replied Fritz, astonished.
+
+"I conceal it from you," exclaimed Laura; "but I struggle daily with
+bad thoughts, and I am indifferent to the love of my parents. When my
+father pats my head, the devil cries within me he had better let it
+alone. When my mother admonishes me to have patience, her talk secretly
+irritates me, because she uses finer words than are necessary. I hate
+the dog, so that I often beat him without cause. The conversation at
+the Sunday dinner, the stories of the old actor, and the eternal little
+tittle-tattle of the street appear insupportable to me. I feel that I
+am an odious creature, and I have frequently in this place wept over
+and hated myself. These bad fits are ever recurring and become more
+overpowering. I shall never be better here: where we live under a
+curse, like two spoiled children. We sink, Fritz, in these
+surroundings! Even the loving care of parents ceases to make one
+happy--the anxiety that one should not wet one's feet, that one should
+wear woolen stockings, and have cakes and sugar plums on a Sunday--is
+one to go through all this every year of one's life?"
+
+She hastily opened her journal, and held out to him a bundle of poems
+and letters.
+
+"Here are your letters; through these I have learnt to love you, for
+here is what I revere in you. Thus would I always have you be. When,
+therefore, I think of what you have to go through between our houses
+and to bear from my father, and when I observe that you wear a double
+shawl under every rough blast, I become anxious and worried about you;
+and I see you before me as a pampered book-worm, and myself as a little
+stout woman with a large cap and an insignificant face, sitting before
+the coffee cups, talking over the daily passers by, and this thought
+oppresses my heart."
+
+Fritz recognized his letters. He had long felt certain that Laura was
+his secret confidant, but when he now looked at the loved one who held
+up to him the secret correspondence, he no longer thought of the
+caprice which had occasioned him so much grief; he thought only of the
+true-heartedness and of the poetry of this tender connexion.
+
+"Dear, dear Laura," he exclaimed, embracing her; "it seems as if two
+souls with which my heart had intercourse had become one, but you now
+divide me and yourself into human beings of daily life, and into higher
+natures. What has destroyed your cheerful confidence?"
+
+"Our difficulties, Fritz, and the sorrow of seeing you without
+pleasure, and hearing your voice without being elevated by it; you are
+with me, and yet further off from me than in those days when I did not
+see you at all, or only in the society of friends."
+
+She released herself from his embrace.
+
+"Do you love me? and are you the man who has written these? If so,
+venture to withdraw me from this captivity. Begin a new life with me. I
+will work with you and be self-denying; you shall see of what I am
+capable; I will think day and night of how I can earn our maintenance,
+that you may be undisturbed by petty cares in your learned work. Be
+brisk and bold, cast off your eternal caution, venture for once to do
+what others may look at askance."
+
+"If I were to do it," answered Fritz, seriously, "the risk would be
+small for me. For you the consequences may be such as you do not think
+of. How can you imagine that a rash determination can be good for you
+if it throws fresh discord into your soul, and burdens your whole life
+with a feeling of guilt towards others?"
+
+"If I take upon myself to do what is wrong," exclaimed Laura, gloomily,
+"I do it not for myself alone. I feel but too well that it is wrong,
+but I venture it for our love. Never will my father voluntarily lay my
+hand in yours. He knows that I am devoted to you, and is not so hard as
+to wish my unhappiness, but he cannot overcome his disinclination. One
+day he is compelled to acknowledge that you are the man to whom I ought
+to belong, the next the bitter feeling of how hateful it is to him
+again returns. If you venture to defy him you will do what is really
+agreeable to him; show a strong will, and, though he may be angry, he
+will easily be appeased by your courage. He loves me," she said in a
+low tone, "but he is fearfully hard to others."
+
+"Is he always so?" asked the Doctor. "It is clear the daughter does not
+know the full worth of her father. I should at this moment be doing
+both him and you an injustice if I were to conceal from you what he
+wishes to keep secret. Listen, then: when my poor father was sitting by
+me in despair, your father entered our house and gave us in the most
+magnanimous way the means of averting the threatened blow. Do you not
+know that his sulkiness and quarrelsomeness are frequently only the
+expression of a rough humor?"
+
+Laura watched his mouth as if she wished to devour every word that fell
+from his lips.
+
+"Did my father do this?" she exclaimed, startled to the utmost,
+raising her arms towards heaven, and throwing herself down upon her
+writing-table.
+
+Fritz wished to raise her.
+
+"Leave me," she entreated, passionately, "it will pass off. I am happy.
+Leave me alone now, beloved one."
+
+The Doctor closed the door gently, and went down to the mother, who
+still sat on the sofa overwhelmed with anxiety, revolving in her mind,
+with motherly alarm, all the exciting scenes of an elopement.
+
+"I beg of you," he said, "not to worry Laura now by remonstrances. She
+will regain her calmness. Trust to her noble heart."
+
+With these wise words the Doctor endeavored to comfort himself.
+Meanwhile Laura lay supported against the chair, and thought over her
+injustice to her father. For years she had borne the sorrow which is
+bitterest to the heart of a child, and now the pressure was taken from
+her soul. At last she arose, drew out her diary, tore out one page
+after another, crumpled up the leaves and threw them into the fire--a
+small sacrifice. She watched it till the last sparks flickered in the
+dark ashes, then she closed the stove and hastened out of the room.
+
+Mr. Hummel was sitting in his warehouse before a battalion of new hats
+with broad brims and round crowns, which were placed for review before
+his field-marshal's eye, and he spoke reprovingly to his bookkeeper:
+
+"They are like mere barbers' basins; man is losing his dignity. At all
+events, we shall make profit by these coverings: no one notices the
+cats'-hairs of which they are made; but they rob the head of the German
+citizen of the last breath of fresh air that he has hitherto secretly
+carried about with him in his high hat. In my youth one recognized a
+citizen by three points: on his body he wore a coat of blue cloth, on
+his head a black hat, and in his pocket a great house-key, with the
+ring of which, in case of assault by night, he could twist the noses of
+assassins. Now he goes off in a gray jacket to drink his beer, opens
+the door of the house with a small corkscrew, and the last high hat
+will probably be bought up as a rarity for art collections. You may
+immediately put aside part of our manufacture for antiquarians."
+
+This pleasant grumbling was interrupted by Laura, who entered eagerly,
+seized her father's hand with an imploring look, and drew him from his
+warehouse into his small office. Mr. Hummel submitted to be thus led,
+as patiently as Lot when the angel led him from the burning cities of
+the valley. When she was alone with her father she threw her arms about
+his neck, kissed and stroked his cheek, and for a long time could bring
+out nothing but "My good, noble father." Mr. Hummel was well pleased
+with this stormy fashion of endearment for a time.
+
+"Now I have had enough of this caressing. What do you want? This
+introduction is too grand for a new parasol or a concert ticket."
+
+"Father," cried Laura, "I know all that you have done for our neighbor.
+I beg your forgiveness; I, unfortunate one, have misunderstood your
+heart, and have many times inwardly resented your harshness."
+
+She kissed his hands, tears falling from her eyes.
+
+"Has that dough-face over the way been blabbing?" asked Mr. Hummel.
+
+"He was obliged to tell me, and it was a happy moment for me. Now I
+will acknowledge all to you with shame and repentance. Forgive me."
+
+She sank down before him.
+
+"Father, I have long been sick at heart. I have thought you pitiless.
+Your eternal grumbling and enmity to our neighbor have made me very
+unhappy, and my life here has often been miserable."
+
+Mr. Hummel sat erect and serious, but a little dismayed at the
+confession of his child, and he had an indistinct impression that he
+had carried his rough opposition too far.
+
+"That is enough," he said; "this is all excitement and imagination. If
+I have been vexed through all these years, it has not done me any harm,
+nor the people over the way either. It is an unreasonable sorrow that
+now excites your lamentations."
+
+"Have consideration for me," entreated Laura. "An irresistible longing
+to go forth from this narrow street, has entered my soul. Father, I
+would like to take a leap into the world."
+
+"Indeed!" said Mr. Hummel. "I also should like to take a leap into it,
+if I only knew where this jolly world could be found."
+
+"Father, you have often told me how light was your heart when you
+wandered forth as a boy from your native town, and that from these
+wanderings you became a man."
+
+"That is true," replied Hummel. "It was a fine morning, and I had eight
+pence in my pocket. I was as lively as a dog with wings."
+
+"Father, I also should like to rove about."
+
+"You?" asked Hummel. "I have laid aside my knapsack; there are only a
+few hairs remaining on it, but you may tie your boots over it; then one
+cannot see it."
+
+"Good father, I also want to go out and seek my way among strangers,
+and look out for what will please me. I will try my powers, and fight
+my may with my own hands."
+
+"You must put on breeches," said Hummel; "you cannot otherwise go alone
+in your wanderings.'
+
+"I will take some one with me," answered Laura, softly.
+
+"Our maid Susan? She can carry a lantern for you. The paths in this
+world are sometimes muddy."
+
+"No, father; I mean the Doctor."
+
+She whispered to him:
+
+"I want the Doctor to elope with me."
+
+"Ah, you little spider!" cried Hummel, amazed. "The Doctor elope with
+you! If you were to elope with him, there would be more sense in it."
+
+"That's just what I want to do," replied Laura.
+
+"Mutually, then!" said Hummel. "Listen: the matter becomes serious.
+Leave off embracing me, keep your hands away, and make a face beseeming
+a citizen's daughter and not an actress."
+
+He pushed her down on the window-seat.
+
+"Now speak to the point. So you intend to carry off the Doctor? I ask
+you, with what means? For your pocket-money will not reach far, and he
+over the way has not much to spare for such Sunday pleasures? I ask
+you, will you first marry him? If so, the elopement would be very
+suspicious, for I have never yet heard of a woman carrying off her
+husband by force. If you do not marry him, there is something which you
+must learn from your mother, and which is called modesty. Out with it!"
+
+"I wish to have him for a husband," said Laura, softly.
+
+"Ah, that is it, is it? and was your Doctor ready to take charge of you
+before marriage, and to run away with you?"
+
+"No; he spoke as you do, and reminded me that I ought not to give you
+pain."
+
+"He is occasionally humane," replied Hummel; "I am indeed indebted to
+him for his good intentions. Finally, I ask you, where will you carry
+him off to?"
+
+"To Bielstein, father. There is the church in which Ilse was married."
+
+"I understand," said Hummel, "ours are too large; and what afterwards?
+Do you mean to work as a day-laborer on the estate?"
+
+"Father, if we could but travel," said Laura, imploringly.
+
+"Why not," replied Mr. Hummel, ironically; "to America, perhaps, as
+colleagues of Knips junior? You are as mad as a March hare. The
+legitimate and only daughter of Mr. Hummel will run away from her
+father and mother, from a comfortable house and flourishing business,
+with her neighbor's only son, who is in his way also legitimate, to a
+fools' paradise. I never could have thought that this hour would
+arrive."
+
+He paced up and down.
+
+"Now hear your father. If you had been a boy I would have had you well
+thrashed; but you are a girl, and your mother has formed you according
+to her principles. Now I perceive with regret that we have allowed you
+to have your own way too much, and that you may be unhappy for your
+whole life. You have got the Doctor into your head, and you might as
+well have fixed upon a tragic hero or a prince, and it shocks me to
+think of it."
+
+"But I have not thought of such," replied Laura, dejectedly; "for I am
+my father's daughter."
+
+Hummel laid hold of the plaits of her hair and examined them
+critically:
+
+"Obstinacy; but the mixture is not throughout the same; there is
+something of higher womanliness with it; fancifulness, and whimsical
+ideas. That is the misfortune; here a powerful stroke of the brush is
+necessary."
+
+These words he repeated several times, and sat down thoughtfully on his
+chair.
+
+"So you wish for my consent to this little elopement. I give it you
+upon one condition. The affair shall remain between us two; you shall
+do nothing without my consent, and even your mother must not know that
+you have spoken to me of it. You shall take a drive into the world, but
+in my way. For the rest, I thank you for this present that you have
+made me on my birthday. You are a pretty violet for me to have brought
+up! Has one ever heard of such a plant taking itself by the head and
+tearing itself out of the ground?"
+
+Laura embraced him again, and wept.
+
+"Do not set your pump again in motion," cried Mr. Hummel, untouched,
+"that cannot help either of us. A happy journey, Miss Hummel."
+
+Laura, however, did not go, but remained clinging to his neck. The
+father kissed her on the forehead.
+
+"Away with you; I must consider with what brush I shall stroke you
+smooth."
+
+Laura left the room. Mr. Hummel sat alone for a long time by his desk,
+holding his head with both hands. At last he began to whistle in a low
+tone the old Dessauer--a sign to the book-keeper, who was entering,
+that soft feelings had the upper hand with him.
+
+"Go across to the Doctor, and beg him to take the trouble of coming
+over to me immediately."
+
+The Doctor entered the office. Mr. Hummel rummaged in his desk and
+brought out a little paper.
+
+"Here, I return you the present that you once made me."
+
+The Doctor opened it, and two little gloves lay within.
+
+"You may give these gloves to my daughter on the day on which you are
+married to her, and you can tell her they come from her father, from
+whom she has run away."
+
+He turned away, approached the window, and thrummed on the pane.
+
+"I have already told you before, Mr. Hummel, that I will not take back
+these gloves. Least of all will I do it for this purpose. If the happy
+day is ever to come to me when I can take Laura to my home, it will
+only be when you put your daughter's hand in mine. I beg you, dear Mr.
+Hummel, to keep these gloves until that day."
+
+"Much obliged," replied Hummel; "you are a miserable Don Juan. I am in
+duty bound," he continued, in his usual tone, "to communicate to you
+what is of fitting importance to you. My daughter Laura wishes to elope
+with you."
+
+"What now disturbs Laura," answered the Doctor, "and has given her
+these wild thoughts, is no secret to you. She feels herself oppressed
+by the unpleasant relations which subsist between us. I hope this
+excitement will pass away."
+
+"May I be allowed to ask the modest question, whether it is your
+intention to agree to her plan?"
+
+"I will not do it," rejoined the Doctor.
+
+"Why not?" asked Hummel, coldly. "I for my part, have no objection to
+it."
+
+"That is one reason the more for me not to act inconsiderately by you,
+nor to be treated in a like manner."
+
+"I can bequeath my money to the hospital."
+
+"To this remark I have only one answer," replied the Doctor. "You
+yourself do not believe that this consideration influences my actions."
+
+"Unfortunately not," replied Hummel; "you are both unpractical people.
+So you hope that I will at last give you my blessing without an
+elopement?"
+
+"Yes, I do hope it," exclaimed the Doctor. "However you may wish to
+appear to me, I trust that the goodness of your heart will be greater
+than your aversion."
+
+"Do not count upon my indulgence. Doctor. I do not believe that I shall
+ever prepare a marriage-feast for you. My child gives herself with
+confidence into your hands; take her."
+
+"No, Mr. Hummel," replied the Doctor, "I shall not do it."
+
+"Has my daughter sunk so much in value because she is ready to become
+your wife?" asked Mr. Hummel, bitterly, and with a rough voice. "The
+poor girl has acquired some notions among her learned acquaintances,
+which do not suit the simple life of her father."
+
+"That is unjust towards us all, and also towards our absent friends,"
+said the Doctor, indignantly. "What now distracts Laura is only a petty
+enthusiasm; there is still in her some of the childish poetry of her
+early girlhood. He who loves her may have perfect confidence in her
+pure soul. Only in one respect must he maintain a firm judgment in
+dealing with her; he must here and there exercise a mild criticism. But
+I should be unworthy of the love of her pure heart if I should agree to
+a hasty proceeding, which would at a later period occasion her pain.
+Laura shall not do what is unbecoming to her."
+
+"So that is Hindoo," replied Mr. Hummel; "there is a spark of sound
+common sense in your Botocudens and Brahmins. Do your learned books
+also find an excuse for a daughter not feeling happy in the house of
+her parents?"
+
+"That is your fault alone, Mr. Hummel," replied the Doctor.
+
+"Oho!" said Mr. Hummel; "so that's it."
+
+"Forgive me my plain speaking," continued the Doctor. "It is the
+fashion of Laura's father to play the tyrant a little in his family, in
+spite of all his love for them. Laura has from her childhood been
+accustomed to view your strange nature with fear; therefore she does
+not form the impartial conception of your character, nor feel the
+pleasure in your mischievous humors that those not so intimately
+acquainted enjoy. If you had seen Laura's transport when I made known
+to her what you had done for my father, you would never doubt her
+heart. Now she is overcome with anguish about our future. But you may
+be assured, if Laura were to give in to her fancy and separate herself
+from her parents' house, she would soon feel gnawing repentance and
+longing for her parents. Therefore, the man for whom she would now make
+this sacrifice acts not only honorably, but also prudently, in
+resisting it."
+
+Mr. Hummel looked fiercely at the Doctor.
+
+"There is the old bear tied to a stake, the young puppies pull at his
+fur, and the cocks crow over his head. Take warning by my fate; under
+all circumstances avoid having female offspring." He put his hand upon
+the gloves, packed them up again, smoothed the paper, and shut them in
+his writing-desk. "Thus shall I lock up again my unnatural child; for
+the rest I remain your devoted servant. So your old Hindoos tell you
+that I am a droll screech-owl, and a jolly _bonvivant_ to strangers. Is
+that your opinion of my natural propensities?"
+
+"You are not quite so innocent," replied the Doctor, with a bow. "To me
+you have been always particularly rude."
+
+"There is no one I would rather wrangle with than with you,"
+acknowledged Mr. Hummel.
+
+The Doctor bowed, and said:
+
+"When you play with other men as with cats, they only bear such
+treatment because they perceive good intentions under your
+cross-grained exterior. I can say this to you, because I am one of the
+few men to whom you have shown real dislike; and, as you are also
+obstinate, I know very well that I shall still have to have many a tilt
+with you, and I am not at all sure how it will end between us. That,
+however, does not prevent my acknowledging the bitter amiability of
+your nature."
+
+"I object to any further enlightenment as to my real character,"
+exclaimed Mr. Hummel. "You have a disagreeable way of viewing your
+fellow-men microscopically. I protest against your painting me like a
+flea in the shadow on the wall. As concerns your proceedings as my
+daughter's lover, I am content with them. You do not choose to take my
+child in the way in which she is to be had; I thank you for your
+scruples. In this matter we are entirely of the same opinion, and you
+therefore shall not have her at all."
+
+The Doctor wished to interrupt him, but Hummel waved his hand.
+
+"All further talk is useless; you renounce my daughter, but you
+preserve the esteem of her father, and you have moreover the feeling of
+acting for the best for Laura. As you feel such great uprightness, you
+may console yourself with it. You will devote yourself to celibacy, and
+I should envy you, if it were not for the consideration of Madame
+Hummel."
+
+"This will not avail, Mr. Hummel," replied the Doctor; "I have not the
+least intention of renouncing Laura's hand."
+
+"I understand," replied Mr. Hummel; "you wish to besiege my daughter
+still, from across the street. This quiet pleasure I can, unfortunately
+no longer allow, for I am certainly of opinion that Laura must at some
+time leave my house; and as you have chosen the good opinion of the
+father rather than the daughter, we will confer on this point in mutual
+understanding. You are mistaken if you think that my daughter Laura
+will give up her fancies upon wise admonition. Have you not sometimes
+appealed to my conscience? It was all that could be expected,
+considering your age; but it has been of no avail with me. It will be
+the same with this obstinate child. Therefore I am, as a father, of
+opinion that we must give in to a certain degree to the folly of my
+child. Consider how far you can go to please us. She wishes to join the
+Professor's wife. She shall not go to this capital where my lodger has
+no home, but she has frequently been invited to Bielstein."
+
+The Doctor answered:
+
+"I have urgent reasons for going to my friend during the next few
+days. I will gladly make a detour by Bielstein, if you will allow
+me to accompany Laura on this journey, I shall make no secret of its
+purpose,--and least of all to my parents."
+
+"This elopement is so shabby that, were I a girl, I should be ashamed
+of taking part in it. But one must not expect too much of you. I will
+not be at home when this departure takes place: you see, that is
+natural. I have already made my plans concerning my child's future. I
+give her over to you for the journey with confidence."
+
+"Mr. Hummel," exclaimed the Doctor, disquieted, "I ask for still
+greater confidence. How have you decided concerning Laura's future?"
+
+"As you have determined to show me such respect, I beg you will be
+content with the confidential intimation, that I have no intention of
+making you any such communication. You preserve my esteem, and I my
+daughter. My compact is concluded."
+
+"But the compact is not quite satisfactory to me, Mr. Hummel," answered
+the Doctor.
+
+"Hold your tongue. If in consequence of this agreement you resume your
+theatrical career, I should advise you never to act the _r�le_ of
+lover. The audiences will run out of all the doors. Do I treat people
+like cats?--So I treated your father and his flowers this morning. You
+can give him an intimation of that. My wife has plucked to-day a few
+roosters for my birthday; if roasting these namesakes of yours does not
+excite painful feelings in you, it will give me pleasure to see you at
+dinner. You will not be under the embarrassment of having to talk only
+to my daughter, for the family clown is invited: he will keep up the
+conversation--you may be silent. Good morning, Doctor."
+
+The Doctor again stretched out his hand to him. Mr. Hummel shook it,
+grumbling all the while. When he was again alone in his office the
+melody of the old Dessauer again sounded in the narrow room, now brisk
+and hearty. Then, soon after, Mr. Hummel broke forth with the second of
+the two airs--"the Dear Violet"--to which he had recourse when in an
+unconstrained humor. At last he mixed up the drumming of the Dessauer
+with "the Dear Violet" in an artistic medley. The book-keeper, who knew
+that this _pot pourri_ betokened a state of the highest spring warmth,
+popped his face, smiling respectfully, into the office.
+
+"You may come to dinner to-day," said Mr. Hummel, graciously.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XXXIV_.
+
+                           OLD ACQUAINTANCES.
+
+
+Since the conversation upon the Roman emperors, the Sovereign had
+withdrawn for a few days from his Court. He was ill. His nervous
+prostration, as the physicians declared, was the usual consequence of a
+cold. Only a few privileged persons--among them Master Knips--had
+access to him during this time, and they had no cause to rejoice in
+their confidential position, for it was difficult to deal with the
+princely invalid.
+
+To-day the Sovereign was sitting in his study; before him stood an old
+official, with a weazen face, reporting the daily occurrences of the
+capital, opinions which were expressed in public places concerning the
+Sovereign and his illustrious house, small scandalous family anecdotes,
+also observations that had been made in the palace to which the
+Princess had gone within the last few days, and the persons she had
+seen there. Prince Victor paid daily visits to the Baroness Hallstein,
+and passed the evening with the officers of his former regiment; he had
+returned unexpectedly that morning.
+
+"How do things go on in the Pavilion?" asked the Sovereign.
+
+"According to the account of the lackey, there have been no visitors
+from the city, nor any letters; everything as usual in the afternoon.
+When the strangers were sitting in front of the door, the lady had
+spoken of a journey to Switzerland, but her husband replied that there
+could be no thought of it until he had finished his business. Then
+there had been an uncomfortable silence. In the evening both attended
+the theatre."
+
+The Sovereign nodded, and dismissed the official. As he sat alone, he
+pushed his chair against the wall, and listened to the sound of a small
+bell which, from the further end of the room, was scarcely audible; he
+hastily opened the door of a niche in the wall, and took out the
+letters which a confidential secretary had sent up through a tube from
+the lower story. There were various handwritings: he passed quickly
+through the contents. At last he held a bundle of children's letters in
+his hand. Again he laughed. "So the great ball has burst already." His
+countenance became serious. "A genuine peasant, he has no sense for the
+honor of having the top-boots of a prince among his fields." He took
+another letter. "The Hereditary Prince to his sister. It is the first
+letter of the pious John Patmos, saying nothing, as if it had been
+written for me. That may possibly be so. The contents are scanty and
+cold. He expresses the wish that his sister also may pass a pleasant
+time in the country. We wish the same," he continued, with good humor;
+"she may pluck flowers and talk with scholars about the virtues of
+Roman ladies. This wish shall be fulfilled by all parties." He laid the
+letters back in the niche, and pressed a spring in the floor with his
+foot; there was a slight rustling in the wall, and the packet glided
+down.
+
+The Sovereign raised himself from his chair and walked about the room.
+
+"My thoughts hover restlessly about this man. I have received him with
+complaisance; I have even treated his insane hopes with the greatest
+consideration, and yet this unpractical dreamer mocks at me. Why did he
+make this insidious attack on me? He did it with the malicious
+penetration of a diseased person, who knows better than a sound one
+what is deficient in another. His prating was half vague reflection and
+half the silly cunning of a fool who also carries about him a worm in
+his brain. It does not matter: we know one another, as the Augur knew
+his colleagues. Between us a family hatred burns, such as can only
+exist between relations--an enduring, thorough hatred, which conceals
+itself beneath smiles and polite bows. Trick for trick, my Roman
+cousin. You seek a manuscript which lies concealed with me, but I
+something else, which you would withhold from me."
+
+He sank back in his chair, and looked timidly towards the door; then
+put his hand into a pile of books, and drew out a translation of
+Tacitus. He tapped the book with his finger.
+
+"He who wrote this was also diseased. He spied incessantly into the
+souls of his masters; their pictures so filled his fancy, that the
+Roman people and the millions of other men appeared unimportant to him:
+he suspected every step of his rulers, yet neither he nor his
+generation could do without them. He gazed at them as on suns, the
+eclipse of which he investigated, and which reflected their light on
+him, the little planet. He began to doubt the wisdom of the order of
+things; and that to every human mind is the beginning of the end. But
+he had wit enough to see that his masters became diseased through the
+miserable meanness of those like himself, and his best policy was that
+of the old High Steward, to bear all with a silent obeisance."
+
+He opened the leaves.
+
+"Only one, whom he has included in his book," he began again, "was a
+man, whom it moves one to read about. This was the gloomy majesty of
+Tiberius: he knew the rabble, and despised them, till the miserable
+slaves at last placed him among the madmen. Do you know, Professor
+Tacitus, why the great Emperor became a weak fool? No one knows it--no
+one on earth but me, and those like me. He went mad because he could
+not cease to be a man of feeling. He despised many and hated many, and
+yet he could not do without the childish feeling of loving and
+trusting. A common youth, who had once shown him personal devotion,
+caught hold of this fancy of his earthly life, and dragged the
+powerful mind down with him into the dirt. A miserable weakness of
+heart converted the stern politician of Imperial Rome into a fool.
+The weak feelings that rise up in lonely hours are the undoing of
+us all; indestructible is this longing for a pure heart and a true
+spirit--undying the seeking after the ideal condition of man, which is
+described by the poet and believed in by the pedant." He sighed deeply;
+his head sank on the table between his hands.
+
+There was a slight sound at the door. The Sovereign started. The
+servant announced--"The Grand Marshal von Bergau." The Grand Marshal
+entered.
+
+"The Princess inquired at what hour your Highness will take leave of
+her."
+
+"Take leave?" asked the Sovereign, reflecting. "Why?"
+
+"Your Highness has been pleased to order that the Princess shall this
+morning go to her summer castle for a few days."
+
+"It is true," replied the Sovereign. "I am well today, dear Bergau, and
+will breakfast with the Princess. Will it be agreeable to you to
+accompany her?" he asked, kindly.
+
+"I am very grateful to my gracious master for this favor," replied the
+Grand Marshal, honestly.
+
+"What lady has the Princess chosen as her attendant?"
+
+"As your Highness has given her the choice, she has decided upon Lady
+Gottlinde."
+
+"I agree to that," said the Sovereign graciously. "The good Lady
+Gottlinde may be invited to breakfast, and you yourself may come also,
+that I may see you all once more about me before the journey. I have
+one more thing to say. Mr. Werner will follow you; he wishes to examine
+the rooms and chests of the castle for his scientific purposes. Render
+him assistance in every way, and show him the greatest attention. I
+have also a confidential commission for you."
+
+The Grand Marshal made a piteous face, which plainly indicated a
+protest.
+
+"I wish to win for us this distinguished man," continued the Sovereign.
+"Sound him as to what place or distinction would be acceptable to him.
+I wish you to observe that I am most anxious to keep him."
+
+The Grand Marshal, much discomposed, answered:
+
+"I assure your Highness, with the greatest respect, that I know how to
+value your confidence, yet this commission fills me with consternation;
+for it exposes me to the danger of exciting the displeasure of my
+gracious master. I have had opportunities of remarking that one cannot
+count upon gratitude from these people."
+
+"You must not offer him anything; only endeavor to make him express
+some wish," replied the Sovereign dryly.
+
+"But if this wish should exceed the bounds of moderation?" asked the
+Marshal hesitatingly.
+
+"Take care not to object to it; leave it to me to decide whether I
+consider it immoderate. Send me a report immediately."
+
+The Sovereign gave the signal of dismissal; watched sharply his bow and
+departure, and looked after the departing gentleman and gravely shook
+his head.
+
+"He is not old, and yet the curse has overtaken him; he becomes
+grotesque. Here is another riddle of human nature for you learned
+gentlemen: the person who has every hour to control his countenance and
+manner, to whom the most rigid tact and correct forms are necessary in
+his daily intercourse, should, just when he becomes older, lose this
+best acquisition of his life, and become troublesome by his weak
+chattering and unrestrained egotism. You know how to answer. Emperor
+Tiberius, why your service, clever man, gradually made your servants
+caricatures of your own character? Now they have revenged themselves on
+you; it is all right. There is a desperate rationality in the links of
+the world. O misery, misery, that we should both have so little cause
+to rejoice at it!"
+
+He groaned, and again buried his head in his hands.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+Shortly after Ilse received the latest letters from home.
+
+"How can the four-leaved clover be lost out of a well closed letter?"
+she asked her husband. "Luise, on her birthday, found some clover
+leaves and sent them in her former letter, to bring you good luck. The
+child is just at the age in which such nonsense gives pleasure. The
+dried clover was not in her letter, and as she is careless, I scolded
+her for it in my answer. To-day she assures me that she put them into
+the envelope the last thing."
+
+"It may have fallen out when you opened the letter," said the Professor
+consolingly.
+
+"My father is not contented with us," continued Ilse, discomposed; "he
+does not like it that the Prince has come into the vicinity; he fears
+distraction in the farm and gossip. Yet why should people gossip? Clara
+is still half a child, and the prince does not live upon our estate.
+There is a dark cloud over everything," she said; "the light of the
+dear sun has ceased to shine. Nothing but disturbances, the Sovereign
+ill, and our Hereditary Prince vanishes as if swept away by a storm.
+How could he go away without bidding us good-bye? I cannot set my mind
+to rest as to that; for we have not deserved it of him, nor of his
+courtly Chamberlain. I fear he does not go into the country willingly;
+and he is angry with me, Felix, because I said something about it. No
+good will come of it, and it makes me heavy at heart."
+
+"If this trouble leaves you any thought for the affairs of other
+people," began the Professor, gaily, "you must allow me a small share.
+I think I have found the hidden castle which I have so long sought. I
+see from this chronicle that in the last century the country seat to
+which the Princess is going was surrounded by a forest. I hear that in
+this remote place much old household rubbish is preserved. I feel like
+a child on the eve of its birthday. I have made known my wishes to
+fate, and when I think of the hour when the present shall come to me, I
+feel the same heart-beating expectation which scares away sleep from
+the boy. It is childish, Ilse," he continued, holding out his hand to
+his wife, "I know it is; but have patience with me; I have long wearied
+you with my dreams, but now it will come to an end. The hope indeed
+will not come to an end, but this is the last place I have any reason
+to search for it."
+
+"But if it should again happen that you do not find the book?" asked
+Ilse, sorrowfully, holding his hand.
+
+A gloomy expression came over the Professor's face; he turned around
+abruptly, and said, harshly:
+
+"Then I shall seek further. If Fritz had but come!"
+
+"Was he to come?" asked Ilse, with surprise.
+
+"I have requested him to do so," replied her husband. "He answered that
+his father's business and his relations with Laura prevented him. To
+him also it appears that a crisis is impending; he has suspicions with
+respect to the specification that I found here, which I consider
+unfounded."
+
+"Oh, that he were with us!" said Ilse; "I long for a friendly face,
+like one who has for many days been traveling through a desert
+wilderness."
+
+The Professor pointed towards the window.
+
+"This wilderness looks tolerably humanized, and a visitor, such as you
+desire, seems already coming up to the house."
+
+Ilse heard the rumble of wheels coming along the gravel of the castle
+road. A carriage stopped before the Pavilion, and the country coachman
+cracked his whip. The servants hastened to the door; Gabriel opened the
+carriage door; a little lady descended, gave a parcel to the lackey and
+a bandbox to Gabriel, and called out to the coachman to inquire about
+putting up the horses. She hastily ascended the steps, and, as she did
+so, gazed on the paintings and carved scrolls.
+
+"This is a great pleasure, Mrs. Rollmaus," exclaimed Ilse, delighted,
+meeting her at the door.
+
+The Professor hastened to the stranger and offered her his arm.
+
+"My dear Ilse," cried the little lady; "revered and highly honored
+Professor, here I am. As Rollmaus has been charged with the
+superintendence of an estate in the neighborhood, in trust for a
+nephew, and as he has had to travel into this country to put things in
+order, and will stop only a short time, I thought I would take the
+pleasure of paying you a visit. Your father, brothers, and sisters wish
+to be remembered to you. Clara is growing up the very image of you."
+
+"Come in, come in," said Ilse; "you yourself are the best greeting from
+home."
+
+Mrs. Rollmaus stopped at the door.
+
+"Only a moment," she said, pointing to the bandbox.
+
+"You come to old friends."
+
+"You must allow me however, that I may not disgrace this princely
+house."
+
+Mrs. Rollmaus was taken into an adjoining room, the bandbox opened,
+and, after the best cap was put on, as well as white collar and cuffs,
+the learned lady floated into the sitting-room with Ilse.
+
+"Magnificent," she exclaimed, looking with admiration at the ceiling,
+where the god of love held out to her his bunches of poppies. "One can
+see at once by the cross-bow that it is a Cupid; one frequently sees
+them on gingerbread figures, where they stand between two burning
+hearts. Dear Professor, the pleasure of meeting again, and in such
+surroundings, is truly very great. I have long looked forward with
+pleasure to this hour, when I could express to you my thanks for the
+last book you sent me, in which I have gotten as far as the
+Reformation. Rollmaus would gladly have come with me, but he has
+business to attend to in the distillery on account of the old boiler,
+which must be removed."
+
+During this speech the eye of Mrs. Rollmaus wandered inquisitively into
+every corner of the room.
+
+"Who would have thought, dear Ilse, that you and the Professor would
+have come into friendly relations with our princely personages? I must
+confess to you that I have already looked about me in driving here for
+the princely court-yard, which, however, probably lies on the other
+side, as I see only gardens here."
+
+"There are no offices at the castle," explained Ilse, "only the stable
+and the large kitchen have remained."
+
+"They say there are six cooks," rejoined Mrs. Rollmaus, "who are all
+great head-cooks; although I do not know for what other part of the
+human body they could be cooking. But the originalities of a Court are
+very great,--amongst which are the silver-cleaners, who, I verily
+believe, do not do their duty; at least, the small coin in our country
+is very dirty, and a great scouring day would be necessary for them.
+They say that the young Prince has now gone to the Chief Forester's
+lodge. Our Chief Forester is fully occupied; he grumbles over this royal
+quartering, and has ordered himself a new uniform."
+
+She became serious and thoughtful, and there ensued an awkward pause,
+during which she rubbed her nose, looked at Ilse good-humoredly, and
+pressed her hand.
+
+"There appears to be a storm coming," she continued, in a low tone,
+"and the country gentlemen complain that the spring grub has eaten the
+rapeseed. Here, indeed, it seems like a paradise, although I hope that
+no wild beasts rove about here, and it is not the season to pluck the
+apples from the trees with pleasure. Something seems to have turned up
+in the capital which is very remarkable; for as I came to the estate
+with Rollmaus, the Inspector told me of a fortune-teller who prophesied
+wonderful things of the people of this city. Do you know anything
+certain about her?"
+
+"We have few acquaintances," answered Ilse; "we only get news from the
+papers."
+
+"I should be glad to hear something about that person, for I have
+latterly begun the study of phrenology; and I hear, dear Professor,
+that these investigations are much combated. I do not myself feel sure
+about them. I have examined the head of Rollmaus, and am surprised to
+see how much the bump of destruction is developed behind his ear,
+though he is annoyed at every cup-handle the maid servants break.
+Nevertheless, dear Professor, I find the powers of thought shown upon
+your brow. The bumps are very large, by which I do not mean to say that
+they are unbecoming to you. But to return to the fortune-teller. She
+told the Inspector that he was married, and had two children, and that
+his wife was dead, and that he wished to take another, who would add
+two more. This is all correct, for he is again courting. Now, I ask
+you, how could this person know it?"
+
+"Perhaps she knows the Inspector?" replied the Professor, rummaging
+among his papers. "I advise you not to confide in her art, and I do not
+recommend to you the study of phrenology. But now let us know how long
+you can remain with us. I am obliged to go to the Museum, and hope to
+find you on my return."
+
+"I can remain a few hours," said Mrs. Rollmaus. "I have three miles to
+go, but the roads here are better than with us. Although now our
+highway is being built, and the road commissioners already go along it
+to the town of Rossau. Only think, dear Ilse, the stone bridge between
+your estate and the town is already pulled down, but they have put up a
+temporary one in its stead. For a few hours, then, I beg of you to be
+satisfied with my company."
+
+The Professor went away; the ladies talked confidentially over the
+family at home, during which Mrs. Rollmaus could not entirely give up
+her scientific investigations; for, in the middle of the conversation,
+she put her fingers on Ilse's temples, and begged permission to feel
+the crown of her head; whereupon she said, with much delight, "There is
+much sincerity there, as I should have supposed." She then looked
+significantly at Ilse. She was loquacious and flippant, but she showed
+a degree of restraint which Ilse attributed to the strangeness of the
+place.
+
+After Mrs. Rollmaus had admired the dwelling, criticized the pictures,
+and felt the texture of the furniture coverings, Ilse pointed to the
+sun, which was breaking through the clouds, and proposed that they
+should walk out into the park. Mrs. Rollmaus assented with pleasure,
+and Ilse had much to do to answer the questions of the excitable lady.
+Then they came to a part of the grounds which served as a promenade at
+this hour for the ladies and people of the city. "What a surprise,"
+exclaimed Mrs. Rollmaus, suddenly seizing Ilse's arm, "the princely
+livery." At a turn in the path, the hat of a lackey became visible; the
+Princess, accompanied by Lady Gottlinde and Prince Victor, came
+directly towards them. Amidst the respectful greetings of the
+promenaders, the princely party approached. Ilse stepped aside, and
+curtsied. The Princess stopped. "We were on the point of calling on
+you," she began, kindly; "my brother was obliged to leave suddenly; he
+will have told your father how sorry he was that he could not take any
+messages from you to your family." She gave a passing look at Mrs.
+Rollmaus, who was supporting herself with both her hands on her
+umbrella, bending her head forward, not to lose a syllable that fell
+from the lips of the princely lady. Ilse mentioned her name.
+
+"A kind friend from the neighborhood of Rossau, who is spending a few
+days near here."
+
+Mrs. Rollmaus ducked down very low, and, almost unconscious from
+terror, said: "It is only three miles from here, in Toadville;
+although, if I may, by your Highness's permission, be graciously
+allowed to say so, there are no more toads there than in any other
+respectable place."
+
+"You are taking a walk," said the Princess, to Ilse, "will you
+accompany me a little way?" She beckoned Ilse to her side, placing
+herself between her and the lady in waiting. Prince Victor remained
+behind with Mrs. Rollmaus.
+
+"So toads are not pastured on your estate?" began the Prince.
+
+"No, my gracious ----," replied Mrs. Rollmaus, embarrassed, supporting
+herself on her umbrella. "I do not really know what is the right title
+to address you with."
+
+"Prince Victor," replied the young gentleman, carelessly.
+
+"I beg your pardon; but this honorable name does not satisfy me. May I
+beg to know the other title, similar to what, in the case of pastors,
+would be expressed by Very Reverend? For to offend princely persons
+would not be pleasant, and I am not conversant with these forms of
+address."
+
+"High and honorable lady, you may call me Highness; thus we shall both
+have our rights."
+
+"It shall be as you command," exclaimed Mrs. Rollmaus, delighted.
+
+"You have long known the Professor's wife?"
+
+"From her childhood," explained Mrs. Rollmaus; "I was a friend of her
+deceased mother, and I can truly say that I have shared both happiness
+and sorrow with our dear Ilse. Prince Victor, it is impossible for your
+Highness to know her true heart as well as we do. Latterly, through her
+learned acquaintances, she has come into another atmosphere; but long
+before her betrothal it was clear to me that it would be a match."
+
+"Good," said the Prince. "How long do you remain in the neighborhood?"
+
+"Only until the end of the week; for Rollmaus prefers the country to
+the city, which is not to be wondered at; he has not the inclination
+for intellectual pursuits by which I am inspired. For this there is
+more opportunity in the city, although one, even in the country, can
+make one's observations on heads and other natural objects."
+
+"The weather is changeable; is your carriage closed?" interrupted the
+Prince.
+
+"It is a britscka, with a leather top to it," replied Mrs. Rollmaus. "I
+must honestly avow to you that it has been quite an unexpected pleasure
+to me that this visit has afforded the opportunity of seeing your
+Highness, for I have heard very much of you."
+
+"I should be very grateful to you," replied the Prince, "if you would
+kindly tell me what you have heard. I have hitherto believed that my
+reputation was not by any means so bad as it might be."
+
+"No one, however noble he may be, can escape calumny," exclaimed Mrs.
+Rollmaus, eagerly; "they talk of tricks. I fear your Highness will take
+it amiss if I mention this gossip."
+
+"Tell me something of it," replied the Prince, "whatever it may be."
+
+"They maintain that your Highness is convivial and lives quite
+boisterously, and other things which it would be unpleasant for me to
+repeat."
+
+"Go on," said the Prince, cheerfully.
+
+"That your Highness makes fools of other people."
+
+"That is grievous," replied the Prince. "Is your coachman a courageous
+man?"
+
+"He is somewhat surly even with Rollmaus, who indulges him much."
+
+"Believe me Mrs. Rollmaus," continued the Prince, "it is a sorrowful
+business to be a prince. Disquiet from morning to evening. Every one
+will have something, and no one brings anything except bills. Thus all
+gaiety is sacrificed, one becomes sad, and slinks about through the
+bushes. My favorite recreation is a little quiet conversation in the
+evening with my old nurse and instructress, the widowed Cliquot, and to
+play a little 'patience.' Then one counts the good works that one has
+done during the day, sighs that they are so few, and looks for one's
+boot-jack. We are the victims of our position. If there is anything I
+envy the Professor's wife, it is her servant Gabriel, a trustworthy
+man, whom I recommend to your favorable attention."
+
+"I know him," replied Mrs. Rollmaus; "I must acknowledge that the
+autobiography which you have given me agrees with all that I have
+discovered from the structure of your Highness's head, so far as your
+hat does not deprive one of the sight of it, which indeed is very much
+the case."
+
+"I would be thankful to my cranium," muttered the Prince, "if it would
+lead everyone to believe my words as easily as you do."
+
+"As long as I live, it will be a pleasure as well as a souvenir to me,"
+continued. Mrs. Rollmaus, with an ambulatory curtsy, "to have been
+brought by accident to this intimate intercourse with your Highness,
+the remembrance of which I will, if I may be allowed to say so, recall
+to myself by your Highness's picture, which I hope may be had in the
+shops. I shall place myself before it when I am in the singular number,
+as now my son Karl does with his grammar, and think of past hours."
+
+Prince Victor gave Mrs. Rollmaus a look of friendly benevolence.
+
+"I will never allow you to buy my portrait. I beg permission to send
+you a copy as a remembrance. It is, unfortunately, not so true as I
+could wish. The painter has made me too large, and I am not quite
+content with the costume: it looks like a clergyman's gown. Meanwhile I
+beg you kindly to imagine it without this superfluity. Has the Chief
+Inspector Rollmaus good horses? Does he raise them himself?
+
+"Always, your Highness, he is famed for it among the neighbors."
+
+The Prince turned with fresh interest towards the little lady.
+
+"Perhaps one could transact some business with him. I am looking out
+for some strong saddle-horses. What kind of a man is he to deal with?"
+he asked, frankly.
+
+"He is a very sharp tradesman," replied Mrs. Rollmaus, hesitatingly,
+and looking at the Prince with secret pity. "He is considered by his
+acquaintances as an expert in horses, and--and, if I may say so--is
+rather knowing."
+
+The Prince pursed up his lips, bringing out a sound almost like a
+suppressed whistle.
+
+"Then he is very unlike the highly honored lady, and I shall hardly be
+able to do business with him. Would it not give the Professor's wife
+pleasure to visit you for a few days in the village of toads?"
+
+"It would be the greatest pleasure to us," exclaimed Mrs. Rollmaus,
+"but the house is empty, and is not furnished, and we must manage as
+best we can, and the victuals, too, as a rule, are cold."
+
+"Only in case of extreme necessity, I mean."
+
+Meanwhile Ilse was walking by the side of the Princess through the
+groups of citizens making their obeisances, but her heart was not so
+light as that of Mrs. Rollmaus. The Princess spoke kindly to her, but
+upon indifferent subjects, and she turned frequently to the other side
+to her lady. It was clearly not her wish to enter into more
+conversation with Ilse than was absolutely necessary. Ilse saw clearly
+that it was a show of favor before the world; she felt the intention of
+it, and asked herself secretly why it was necessary, and her pride
+revolted at this graciousness, which did not come from the heart. The
+Princess kept Ilse for some time in the most crowded part of the
+promenade.
+
+"I leave the palace to-day," said the Princess, "and go for a few days
+or weeks into the country. Perhaps I shall have the pleasure of seeing
+you there."
+
+At parting Prince Victor took off his hat politely, but only said: "The
+air is becoming sultry."
+
+Ilse brooded over this little incident as she returned with her
+companion to the Pavilion. She answered the animated questions of Mrs.
+Rollmaus absent-mindedly, and only gave a half-look at the promenaders,
+many of whom now took off their hats to her.
+
+Gabriel had prepared some coffee in honor of Mrs. Rollmaus, and had set
+the table in front of the door. There the ladies sat down. Mrs.
+Rollmaus looked enchanted at the blooming azaleas, praised the cake of
+the palace, and still more the princely personages, and chatted away in
+her best humor, whilst Ilse looked seriously down.
+
+"I have seen some of the princely personages, and I should now like to
+see the fortune-teller. It is remarkable, dear Ilse, that my valuable
+connection with the Professor always brings in question the power of
+soothsaying. It is really not from inconsiderate curiosity that I wish
+to question this person. It is no object to me to learn about my
+future. I know sufficiently how this will all be. For to a certain
+extent we live under natural conditions; first the children come, then
+they grow up, one becomes older, and if one does not die too young, one
+lives a little longer. That has never been inscrutable to me, and I do
+not know what a person could now discover for me. It would, therefore,
+be some misfortune that would come to pass, and I do not wish to have
+that prophesied. I wish it only for the sake of instruction, to find
+out whether such a person knows more than we others. For in our days
+there are doubts about the powers of soothsaying, and I myself have
+never had a presentiment, except once, when I had the toothache, and
+dreamt that I smoked a pipe, which took place and had a nauseous
+effect; but this cannot be called wonderful."
+
+"Perhaps the fortune-teller knows more than others," replied Ilse,
+absently, "because she has somehow made herself acquainted with their
+history."
+
+"I have thought of something," cried Mrs. Rollmaus; "I would ask her
+about the silver soup-ladle, which, in an inexplicable way, disappeared
+from our kitchen."
+
+"What will the lady give me if I tell her?" asked a hollow voice.
+
+Mrs. Rollmaus started. At the corner of the house stood a large woman
+behind the flower-pots; from her shoulders hung a ragged cloak, her
+head was covered with a dark handkerchief, from under which two
+flashing eyes were fixed upon the ladies. Mrs. Rollmaus seized Ilse's
+arm, and cried out, terrified: "There is the fortune-teller herself,
+dear Ilse. I beg your advice; shall I ask her?"
+
+The woman stepped cautiously from behind the plants, placed herself in
+front of Ilse, and raised her handkerchief. Ilse rose and looked
+annoyed on the sharp features of the withered face.
+
+"The gipsy!" she exclaimed, stepping back.
+
+"A tinkering woman!" exclaimed Mrs. Rollmaus, displeased; "the secret
+knowledge of such as she is, is connected with poultry-stealing, and
+worse things. First they steal and conceal, and then tell where the
+stolen property is."
+
+The stranger paid no attention to the attack of Mrs. Rollmaus.
+
+"You have hunted my people like the foxes in the wood; the frost has
+killed them; your watchmen have imprisoned them, and those that still
+live lie within walls, clinking their chains; I rove alone through the
+country. Do not think of what was done by the men that night, think
+only of what I predicted. Has it not come to pass? You look on the
+stone house opposite, and you see how slowly he comes along the
+gravel-path, to the room in which the naked boy hangs on the ceiling."
+
+Ilse's countenance changed.
+
+"I do not understand what you mean. Only one thing I see, that you are
+no stranger here."
+
+"Many years have my feet glided through the snow," continued the gipsy,
+"since I passed through the doors of these black creatures."
+
+She pointed to the angels holding tulip wreaths.
+
+"Now disease has come upon me."
+
+She stretched out her hand:
+
+"Give to the sick woman of the high road, who once went on the same
+path that you are now treading."
+
+The color rose in Ilse's cheeks, she gazed fixedly on the beggar woman,
+and shook her head.
+
+"It is not money that I want from you," continued the gipsy. "Entreat
+the spirit of this house for me, if he should appear to you. I am
+weary, and seek rest for my head. Tell him that the strange woman on
+whom he hung this token," she pointed to her neck, "begs for his help."
+
+Ilse stood motionless; her cheeks glowed and her eyes flashed angrily
+on the woman.
+
+"What will you give to find your silver again?" asked the beggar, in an
+altered tone, turning to Mrs. Rollmaus.
+
+"So you are the fortune-teller?" said Mrs. Rollmaus, angrily, "and not
+a penny will I give you. Any one who examined your head would find a
+fine organism there. I have often heard such gibberish. Away with you
+before the police come. One of your people prophesied to my head-maid
+that she would marry a landed proprietor, and I was obliged to dismiss
+her, though she had been very useful. She began to attack even Rollmaus
+himself, although he only laughed at her. Go, we will have nothing to
+do with you."
+
+"Think of my request," cried the stranger to Ilse. "I shall return."
+
+The gipsy turned away and disappeared behind the house.
+
+"They are scamps," said Mrs. Rollmaus, deeply irritated. "Believe
+nothing of what they say to you. This one talks worse nonsense than the
+others. I really believe, dear Ilse, you take to heart what this beggar
+woman has said."
+
+"She knows this house, she knew well what she says," said Ilse,
+faintly.
+
+"Naturally," exclaimed Mrs. Rollmaus; "they rove about and peep through
+all the crevices, they have a good memory for other people's business,
+but do not remember their own thievish tricks. I have a great suspicion
+of her as regards my soup-ladle. If this is the famous fortune-teller I
+am so disgusted as not to care to make any further inquiries. Ah! and
+you also, I see."
+
+"I know the woman," replied Ilse; "she belongs to the band who stole
+our children, and wounded the arm of my Felix. Now her uncanny figure
+comes before me like a spirit, and her dark words excite horror in me.
+She threatens to return, and terror seizes me lest this woman should
+once more come upon me unawares. I must away from here."
+
+Ilse hastened into the house, Mrs. Rollmaus followed her, and said,
+kindly:
+
+"If she comes again, she shall be sent away. The best way of dealing
+with these prognosticators is to imprison them with bread and water."
+
+Ilse stood in the sitting-room looking timidly about her.
+
+"He who hung the cross upon her was the master of this castle; and when
+she spoke those wild words to me at the gate of the farm yard, she did
+not mean my Felix."
+
+"She meant eight shillings, and nothing more," said Mrs. Rollmaus,
+consolingly.
+
+"How dare she compare my life with hers? How does she know whether the
+lord of this house attends to my words?"
+
+Mrs. Rollmaus endeavored in vain to tranquilize her, by sensible
+observations upon the worthlessness of these female vagabonds. Ilse
+looked down, with her hands folded, and the consolatory speeches of her
+worthy friend were spoken in vain.
+
+Strange voices were heard in the house; Gabriel opened the door, and
+announced the Intendant. The old man entered the room officiously and
+begged to be excused for the interruption.
+
+"My most gracious master has commanded me to inquire whether a
+strolling woman has been begging here. She has slipped into the castle,
+obtained access to the Princess, and frightened her, just when her
+Highness was departing for the country. His Highness wishes to warn you
+against the stranger--she is a dangerous person."
+
+"She was here," replied Ilse, "and talked wildly; she showed that she
+knew the house."
+
+The Intendant looked disturbed, as he continued:
+
+"A long time ago, her Highness, the deceased Princess, took compassion
+on a gipsy girl whose mother had died on the high road. She had the
+creature instructed, and, as she was amusing, and seemed to promise
+well, she was at last taken into the castle and employed in small
+services; but she has badly repaid this generous treatment. At a time
+of heavy affliction in the castle, this person fell back into the
+habits of her childhood; she took to stealing, and disappeared. To-day,
+one of the servants recognized the maiden in this strange woman. His
+Highness, the gracious Prince, who is ailing, was informed of this by
+his valet and was much excited by it. Search is being made through all
+the streets and roads for the stranger."
+
+The old man took leave. Ilse looked gloomily after him; but she said
+with more composure to Mrs. Rollmaus:
+
+"This accounts for the language of the stroller, which sounded
+different to that of begging people in general, and it accounts for her
+wish to receive the pardon of the Prince."
+
+But now Mrs. Rollmaus in her turn became depressed and sad.
+
+"Ah, dear Ilse! if the witch has really lived here among these
+distinguished people, she may know many things that have happened in
+this house; for people do not speak well of it, and they say that in
+former times princely mistresses lived here. The house is not to blame,
+nor are we; it is only because the Hereditary Prince has gone to your
+father, and you knew him at the University, that people shake their
+heads at it; it is idle gossip."
+
+"What gossip?" exclaimed Ilse, in a hoarse voice, seizing the hand of
+Mrs. Rollmaus.
+
+"They say that you are the cause of the Hereditary Prince coming into
+our country. We should all rejoice if you were to visit your father
+before you journey, as was intended; but I really believe, as long as
+the Prince is there, it would be better for you to remain here, or
+anywhere else. It is only for the sake of prudence," she continued,
+soothingly, "and you must not take it to heart."
+
+Ilse stood silent and motionless; Mrs. Rollmaus continuing her
+comforting words, but Ilse scarcely seemed conscious of them.
+
+It is not safe, Ilse, to teach young princes to use agricultural
+machines, and to fight duels; the tuition fee will be paid you doubly,
+and in new coin, as is the custom of the courts.
+
+There was a long and uneasy silence in the room. Ilse looked wildly
+about; then she took a cane chair, and placed herself opposite to Mrs.
+Rollmaus, and her fingers flew over her work. "Do not let us talk any
+more of such calumnies," she said. "What is your son Karl doing? are
+you satisfied with his progress? and how does he get on with the
+pianoforte? It would be a good thing for him to understand something
+about music."
+
+Mrs. Rollmaus recovered her spirits talking over the dances that her
+son Karl played; she chattered on, and Ilse listened silently, counting
+over the stitches in her colored wool-work.
+
+The Professor returned, and shortly after the carriage drove up. Mrs.
+Rollmaus disappeared into the next room to pack up her cap in the
+band-box, and then took an eloquent leave of her dear friend, the
+Professor. Her last words to Ilse were:
+
+"It may be long before we meet again; preserve your friendship for me
+even though I am far from you."
+
+"What is the meaning of these solemn words of parting our neighbor has
+spoken?" asked the Professor, astonished.
+
+"They mean that we are in a house, to be within the walls of which
+fills an honest woman with horror and dread," answered Ilse, with
+flashing eyes; "and they mean that I wish to go away from here, and
+that it is time for you to take away your wife from unwholesome
+surroundings."
+
+She told him breathlessly what Mrs. Rollmaus had related, and what the
+beggar-woman had suggested.
+
+"I am ensnared, Felix," she exclaimed, "by my own fault, I am sorry to
+say. God knows that in my conduct towards the young Prince I had no
+thought of bringing your wife into disrepute, but I have been
+imprudent, and I am suffering for it horribly, horribly! Now I
+understand the forebodings which have tormented me for weeks past. If
+you love me take me away quickly from here, the ground burns beneath my
+feet."
+
+A sharp pang seized the Professor as he saw his wife struggling with
+agony, bitter enough to stun the strongest soul of woman, and to crush
+the noblest powers for years.
+
+"It is as repugnant and humiliating to me as to you to look openly upon
+wickedness. I am ready to do all that I can to deliver you from this
+trouble. Let us calmly consider how this can be done. You cannot, in
+such a state of passionate feeling, decide what would be good for you,
+for your judgment is not unbiased enough to choose your own course. To
+what old house that a tenant rents or a landlord opens, do not painful
+recollections attach? Even he who lives a simple life in a strange
+neighborhood, cannot escape the attacks of idle gossip. Turn away your
+thoughts from that common woman. It would not become either you or me
+to depart like fugitives on her account. What have we done, Ilse, to
+lose our self-respect? There is only one wise method of dealing with
+the evil work of foolish and perverse accidents, to go forward firmly
+and to care little for it. Then the dissonance will pass away and
+perish of itself in the noise of daily life. Those who allow themselves
+to be disturbed by it, increase it by their own sorrow. Suppose that we
+were suddenly to leave this house, you would carry away with you the
+feeling of having left like one who had been conquered, and you would
+be incessantly pursued by the consciousness of a discordant murmur
+behind us which would not be silenced."
+
+"You speak coldly and wisely," exclaimed Ilse, deeply incensed; "in
+spite of what you say, though, you little feel the injury your wife
+suffers."
+
+"If you now had the self-possession for which I always admired you, you
+would not allow such unjust complaints to pass your lips," replied her
+husband, gloomily. "You must know that if I saw you in danger, I would
+this very hour take you away. Must I now waste words with you to tell
+you that. But even against the gossip of the weak, this residence is
+the best defense, for the Prince is away and you remain behind with
+your husband."
+
+"I know the cause of this indifference," murmured Ilse.
+
+"You know what binds me here," exclaimed the Professor, "and if you
+were to me what you ought to be, the sharer of my hopes, and if you had
+the same feeling for the value of the treasure which I seek, you would,
+like me, feel that I should not needlessly turn away. Bear with this
+residence, dear Ilse, however irksome it may appear to you," he
+continued encouragingly, "the longest period is past. I am invited to
+pursue my quest in the country-chateau of the Princess; there I
+anticipate that I shall find what will set us free."
+
+"Do not go," exclaimed Ilse, approaching him; "do not leave me in this
+dreadful insecurity, in a terror that makes me shudder at myself and
+every strange sound that I hear in these rooms."
+
+"Terror," exclaimed the Professor, displeased, "terror of spirits.
+Rarely is life among strangers so easy and comfortable as this
+residence is to us; there may be discord everywhere, and it is our own
+fault if we allow it to master us."
+
+"Do not go," cried Ilse again. "Yes, there are spirits that pursue me,
+they hang day and night above my head. Do not go, Felix," she
+exclaimed, raising her hand; "it is not the manuscript alone that
+allures you, but the woman who awaits you there. This I have known ever
+since the first day we came to this town. I see how the magic of her
+superficial soul ensnares you. I have until to-day struggled against
+this fear, from the confidence I had in my loved husband. If you go
+now, Felix, when I would like to cling to you, when I seek every moment
+for comfort from your voice, I shall begin to doubt you and to have the
+fearful thought that my trouble is indifferent to you, because you have
+become cold to me."
+
+"What are you thinking of, Ilse?" cried the scholar, horrified; "is it
+my wife that speaks thus? when have I ever concealed my feelings from
+you? and can you not read in my soul as in an open book? Then, was it
+this that lay so heavy on your mind? Just what I should not have
+considered possible," he said, frankly and sorrowfully.
+
+"No, no," cried Ilse, beside herself; "I am unjust, I know it; do not
+attend to my words. I trust you; I cling to you. Oh! Felix, I should be
+driven to despair if this support breaks under me."
+
+She threw her arms around his neck, and sobbed. Her husband embraced
+her, and tears came into his eyes at the grief of his wife.
+
+"Remain with me, my Felix," continued Ilse, weeping. "Do not leave me
+alone just now. I have still a childish, simple heart. Have patience
+with me. I have been ill at ease here; I do not know why. I cling to
+you, and I tremble lest you should be alienated from me. I know that
+you are mine, and I struggle with the fearful foreboding that I shall
+lose you here. When you go out of the house, it seems to me as if I
+must take an eternal farewell, and when you return, I look doubtfully
+at you, as if you had changed towards me in a few hours. I am unhappy,
+Felix, and unhappiness makes one distrustful. I have become weak and
+faint-hearted, and I am afraid of telling you, because I fear that you
+will on that account have less respect for me. Remain here, my beloved;
+do not go to the Princess--at least, not to-morrow."
+
+"If not to-morrow," he said, cheerfully, "then the next day, or some
+other day. I cannot forego this short journey. To give it up would be a
+wrong that we must not take upon ourselves. The longer I delay. Ilse,
+the longer you will be kept within these walls. Even from your point of
+view, is it not prudent to do quickly what would make us free?"
+
+Ilse released herself from his embrace.
+
+"You speak sensibly at a moment when I had hoped for a far different
+tone from your heart," she said quietly. "I know, Felix, that you do
+not wish to give me pain, and I hope that you are true in what you now
+say, and conceal nothing from me. But I feel in the depths of my heart
+a long-accustomed pang that has often come over me in sorrowful days
+since I have known you. You think differently from what I do, and you
+feel differently in many things. The individual and his sufferings
+signify little to you in comparison to the great thoughts that you
+carry about with you. You stand on a height, in a clear atmosphere, and
+have no sympathy with the anguish and trouble in the valley at your
+feet. Clear is the air, but cold, and a chill seizes me, when I see
+it."
+
+"It is the nature of a man," said the Professor, more deeply moved by
+the restrained grief of his wife than by her loud complaints.
+
+"No," answered Ilse, gazing fixedly before her, "it is only the nature
+of a scholar."
+
+In the night, when the scholar had been long sleeping, his wife rose by
+his side and gazed, in the subdued light, on the countenance of her
+loved husband. She got up, and held the night-lamp so that the yellow
+light fell on his peaceful countenance, and large tears dropped from
+her eyes on his head. Then she placed herself before him, wringing her
+hands, and striving to restrain the weeping and convulsions which shook
+her body.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XXXV_.
+
+                        IN THE PRINCESS'S TOWER.
+
+
+When the Princess, at the urgent desire of her father, had returned to
+her home, the illustrious family whose name she now bore made it a
+condition, not only that she should pass some months of the year at the
+residence of her deceased husband, but that she should have a special
+establishment arranged for her in her father's capital. A compact to
+this effect was concluded, the object of which was undoubtedly to
+secure to the young Princess a certain degree of independence. In order
+to fulfil the agreement in appearance, a princely castle in the country
+was assigned to the Princess for a dwelling, as there was no suitable
+building in the capital. The castle was half a day's journey from the
+city, at the foot of a woody hill, surrounded by fields and villages--a
+pleasant summer residence. The Princess had already spent some of the
+months of her mourning there.
+
+It was a warm day on which the Professor set off to go to the castle.
+The air had not yet become cool after the storm of the night. There
+were fleeting shadows and bright sunshine on the sky and earth; the
+thick clouds sometimes cast a grey covering over the straight road
+along which the learned man passed; but then again it lay before him
+like a golden path, leading to the longed-for goal.
+
+Thus did dazzling light and dark shadows flit through the soul of our
+scholar. "The manuscript will be found; it is concealed from us," he
+said to himself, and his brow became clouded. "If it should not be
+found, many will read with astonishment how deceptive appearances were,
+how near the possibility. Many will with regret resign the hope which
+the words of the monk had inspired, yet none will feel this regret so
+much as I shall. A thought which has for years occupied my fancy, and
+directed my eyes to one object, has gained the mastery over me. The
+free mind of man plays with the thousand impressions of ancient and
+modern times: he restrains their power by the balance of his reason and
+strength of his will. But with me a small image of the faded characters
+of an old book has penetrated so deeply into my soul that the hope of
+obtaining it makes the blood course through my veins, and the fear of
+losing it paralyzes my energies. I know that my eagerness is too great;
+it has hardened me against the childish anguish of my wife, and I
+myself have not become stronger since I have trodden the uncertain path
+of the poacher. Every one should be on his guard lest his dreams should
+diminish the sovereignty of his mind. Even the dreams of the best
+hours, when a soul innocently devotes itself to a great feeling, may
+turn a man away from the straight path of duty, that lies nearest to
+him."
+
+A golden light broke over his countenance. "But if it is found! It is
+only a small portion of our knowledge of ancient times that lies
+concealed in it. And yet it is just this discovery that would pour a
+flood of light upon a landscape hovering in twilight, and several
+decades of ancient life would become visible to our eyes with as
+distinct an outline as if they lay in a nearer past. The discovery
+would solve a hundred doubts, and excite a thousand new ones. Every
+later generation would rejoice in the great gain, and would seek, with
+revived energy, for new disclosures. Even for her, who at the castle
+shares so warm-heartedly in my anxieties, I wish the pleasure of this
+discovery. To her also it would be forever a great remembrance, that
+she had taken a kindly interest in the first labors of the searcher."
+
+Higher rose the mountains and more brilliant became the coloring of
+their masses. The line of hills in the foreground stood forth from the
+misty distance; blue glimpses of the valley were visible through the
+openings of the dark wood. The carriage rolled through a well-preserved
+forest; a thick growth of firs and pines shut out the prospect for a
+time; when the road led again into the open country, through grassy
+meadows and groups of trees, the castle lay straight before the eyes of
+the scholar. A massive, old-fashioned tower crowned with pinnacles rose
+out of a low wood; the afternoon sun shone above, its rays forming long
+streaks in the vaporous atmosphere. The brown walls stood out in the
+lonely landscape, like the last pillar of a gigantic ruined castle;
+only by the fresh-looking stone mullions of the well-fitted windows did
+one perceive that it was a habitable abode. Adjoining the tower rose
+the small chateau, with steeply-sloped roof and pointed windows; in its
+moderate dimensions it formed a strange contrast to its massive
+companion; but in spite of the disproportion of the parts the whole
+formed a stately relic of the middle ages. One could well see that its
+walls had afforded shelter and defense to many generations.
+
+The tendrils of the wild vine twined up to the roof of the house and
+round the windows of the tower, which rose in seven stories, supported
+by strong buttresses. Thyme and grass grew above in the crevices of the
+crumbling stone, but the grass which a few days ago had covered the
+ground had been pulled up and the court and doors festively adorned for
+the new occupants. Banks of flowers and plants in pots were placed
+around in profusion. There was only one corner in which the hasty work
+had not been finished, and the remains of mossy green on the ground,
+and a swarm of blackbirds that fluttered round the tower, showed that
+the building had stood uninhabited in a lonely country.
+
+The Professor sprang from the carriage, the Marshal greeted him from
+the balustrade, and led him into the unpretentious guest-chamber.
+Shortly after he conducted him through a vaulted passage of the castle
+to the tower. The Princess, who had just returned from a walk, was
+standing, with her summer hat in her hand, at the entrance of the
+tower.
+
+"Welcome to my Solitude," she said; "happy be the hour in which this
+old mansion opens its doors to you. Here you stand at the entrance of
+my realm. I have made myself at home in almost every part of the tower;
+it is our female fortress. When these solid oak doors are closed we
+ladies can found an Amazonian kingdom, and without danger fire
+fir-cones upon the whole male world, for this is the fruit that
+flourishes best here. Come, Mr. Werner, I will take you to the place
+where your thoughts linger more willingly than with children of the
+present."
+
+A winding stone staircase connected the stories of the tower, each of
+which contained rooms and closets; the highest was a loft. The Princess
+pointed mysteriously to the staircase.
+
+"Yonder at the top, below the rafters," said the Princess to the
+Professor, "the whole space is crammed with old household furniture. I
+could not restrain my curiosity, so yesterday I just peeped into the
+room; the things lie heaped up in wild confusion; we shall have much
+work."
+
+The Professor examined with pleasure the well-preserved stone-work of
+the arched doors and the artistic work of the old-time lock-smith.
+Little had been done in modern times to make the walls look respectable
+or to repair damage; but any one who took interest in the chisel and
+carving tools of the old builders, might perceive everywhere with
+pleasure that the tower could easily be changed into a masterpiece of
+ancient style.
+
+The servant opened the door into the Princess's rooms. These also were
+simply arranged. The broken painted glass of the small window had been
+repaired with panes coarsely painted; only fragments of the old
+pictures still adhered to the lead.
+
+"There is still much to be done here," explained the Princess; "and we
+shall gradually have everything arranged within the next few years."
+
+The clatter of the Castellan's keys were heard in the anteroom, and the
+Professor turned towards the door.
+
+"One moment's patience," cried the Princess, and she flew into an
+adjoining room. She returned in a grey cloak with a hood, which
+enveloped her in its folds, only the delicate face, the large beaming
+eyes, and smiling mouth being visible.
+
+"It is only in this gnome costume that I venture to approach the dusty
+spirits of the lumber-room."
+
+They ascended to the highest story. While the Castellan was picking out
+the key from the bunch, the Professor eagerly examined the door, and
+remarked, "More beautiful mouldings by your old lock-smith."
+
+"I have hopes," said the Princess.
+
+"Everything looks that way," replied the learned man.
+
+The heavy door creaked on its hinges, and a large room presented itself
+to the eyes of the searchers. A bright light shone through the narrow
+openings in the wall upon the mysterious apartment; atoms of dust were
+seen whirling about in the straight, shafts of air, while before and
+beyond all was confusion wrapt in semidarkness. Old furniture was piled
+up in hopeless confusion; gigantic wardrobes with broken doors, heavy
+tables with balls for feet, chairs with straight backs and leather
+cushions, from which the horsehair bristled out; together with
+fragments of old weapons, halberds, corroded greaves, and rusty
+helmets. Indistinct and vague, the forms appeared among each other:
+legs of chairs, flat pieces of wood with inlaid work, and heaps of old
+iron lying all around. It was a chaos of frippery, the artistic
+products of many centuries. Their hand touched the table at which a
+contemporary of Luther had sat; their foot pushed against a chest which
+had been broken open by Croats and Swede; or against the white
+lacquered chair, with moth-eaten velvet cushions, on which a court lady
+had once sat, in a hoop dress, with powdered hair. Now all lay together
+in desolate heaps, the cast-off husks of former generations, half
+destroyed and quite forgotten; empty chrysales, from which the
+butterflies had flown. All were covered with a grey shroud of dust--the
+last ashes of vanished life. What once had form and body, now, crushed
+into powder, whirled about in the air; clouds of dust opposed the
+entrance of those who came to disturb its possession; it hung to the
+hair and clothes of the living intruders, and glided slowly through the
+open door to the rooms, where varied colors and brilliant ornament
+surrounded the inmates, in order there to carry on the endless struggle
+of the past with the present--the quiet struggle that is daily renewed
+in great and small things which makes new things old, and finally
+dissolves the old in order that it may help to nourish the germ of
+youthful life.
+
+The Professor glanced like a hawk amidst the legs of tables and chairs
+in the dusky background.
+
+"Some things have lately been removed from here," he said; "there has
+been some sweeping among the furniture in the front."
+
+"I yesterday endeavored to clean a little," said the Castellan,
+"because your Highness expressed a wish to enter here; but we have not
+gone far."
+
+"Have you ever formerly examined the furniture in this room?" asked the
+Professor.
+
+"No," replied the man. "I was only placed here last year by his
+Highness the Sovereign."
+
+"Is there any catalogue of the things?" said the Professor.
+
+The man said there was not.
+
+"Do you know if there are chests or trunks here?"
+
+"I think I have observed something of the kind," replied the Castellan.
+
+"Fetch the workmen to move the things," ordered the Princess. "To-day
+every part of this attic shall be examined."
+
+The Castellan hastened down. The Professor endeavored again to peep
+among the piled-up masses, but the glaring light from above dazzled his
+eyes. He looked at the princely child; she was standing in a costume of
+bright color at the door, like the fairy of the castle, who has
+ascended into the dwelling of the grey-bearded spirits of the house in
+order to accept their homage.
+
+"It will be a long work, and your Highness will not like the dragging
+about of the dusty furniture."
+
+"I will remain with you," exclaimed the Princess; "however contemptibly
+small may be my share in the discovery, I will not give it up."
+
+Both were silent. The scholar moved about impatiently among the chairs.
+Moths fluttered in the clouds of dusty and a brown martin flew out from
+the nest which it had built in a corner of the window. All was still;
+there was no sound but a slight regular tapping, like a pendulum
+striking the hour, in the desolate room.
+
+"That is the death-watch," whispered the Princess.
+
+"The wood-worm is doing its work in the service of nature, it dissolves
+what is decayed, into its elements."
+
+The sound ceased, but after a time began to tick again, then a second;
+they tapped and gnawed incessantly, down, down, and further down! Over
+the heads of the searchers the jackdaws were croaking, and further off
+the song of the nightingale sounded softly upon the labor of those who
+were unearthing the past.
+
+The workmen came; they brought one article after another to the front
+of the room. Thicker rose the discoloring dust; the Princess took
+refuge in the anteroom, but the Professor did not leave his post. He
+worked hard himself, raising and arranging things in the front row. He
+went back for a moment to the door to take breath, the Princess
+received him laughing.
+
+"You have undergone a complete transformation. You look as if you had
+been awaiting resurrection in this room, and I do not think I look much
+better."
+
+"I see a chest," said the Professor, and hastened back. Another
+confused medley of chairs' legs and backs were lifted away, and the
+workmen laid hold of a little chest which stood in the dark. "Set it
+down," ordered the Castellan, who quickly passed a large brush over it.
+It was carried to the light and appeared to be a trunk of pine wood
+with an arched top; the oil color of the paint had disappeared in many
+places. There were iron clamps at the corners, and a rusty key that
+held fast the staple of the lock, but hung loosely in the wood. On the
+cover of the chest, which was dusty and worn, a black '2' was visible.
+The Professor had the chest put at the feet of the Princess. He pointed
+to the cipher.
+
+"This is probably one of the chests that the official of Rossau sent to
+the castle Solitude," he said, with assumed composure, but his voice
+trembled.
+
+The Princess knelt down and endeavored to raise the cover, the lock
+broke away from the wood, and the chest opened.
+
+Above lay a thick book, bound in parchment. Quickly the Professor
+pounced upon it, like a lion on his prey, but he laid it down again
+immediately. It was an old missal, written on parchment, the cover
+damaged and torn, the layers of parchment hung loosely in the book. He
+put his hand again in the chest, a torn hunting net filled the
+remaining space; beside that some damaged cross-bows, a bundle of
+arrows, and small iron-work. He raised himself, his cheeks were pale,
+his eyes glowed.
+
+"This is No. 2, where is No. 1," he exclaimed. He hurried back into the
+room, the Princess followed. "Forward, men," he cried out, "fetch the
+other trunk."
+
+The men continued their work.
+
+"There is something here," said one of the workmen; the Professor
+hastened to the spot, raised and drew it out, it was only an empty
+chest.
+
+The work went on. The Marshal also had been brought here by curiosity;
+he eagerly viewed the old furniture, and caused those pieces to be
+placed together, which, according to his idea, might be mended and used
+in the castle. The staircase was filled with household goods, and one
+of the servants' rooms was opened that the old things might be
+deposited in it. An hour had passed, the room became more empty, the
+sun was sinking, its rays reflected the image of the opening in the
+wall on the opposite side; the other chest was not to be found.
+
+"Remove everything," said the Professor, "even to the last piece of
+wood."
+
+A heap of old lances, broken glasses and pottery were fetched out of
+the corner, also broken legs of tables, split pieces of veneered wood,
+and in the corner a great pewter tankard:--the space was clear. On the
+floor lay gnawed pieces on which the death-watch had already done its
+work.
+
+The Professor entered the door again.
+
+"This room is cleared," he said, with forced composure, to the
+Castellan. "Open the next room."
+
+"I do not believe that you will find anything in it," replied the weary
+man. "You will only find old shelves and stoves there that formerly
+stood in the castle."
+
+"Let us go in," said the Professor.
+
+The Castellan opened the door hesitatingly; a second room, still larger
+and less inviting, came to view; sooty earthen pans, bricks, and slabs
+of slate, lay mountain-high at the entrance, and over these were wooden
+tools that probably had been used in the last repairs of the castle.
+
+"I am glad to see this," said the Marshal; "such a load on the upper
+story is wrong. This lumber must be taken out of the tower."
+
+The Professor had ascended a hill of slate slabs, and was seeking in
+the darkness for another trunk, but the chaos was too great.
+
+"I will have it cleared out immediately," said the Marshal,
+consolingly, "but it may take a long time; we shall hardly get through
+to-day."
+
+The Professor looked imploringly at the Princess.
+
+"Get more people," she commanded.
+
+"Even with that it will soon be dark," replied the Marshal, prudently.
+"We shall see how far we can get. At all events the Professor may
+betimes to-morrow find the entrance prepared."
+
+"Meanwhile let us shake the dust from our clothes," said the Princess,
+"and come into my library; it lies just under us, you can there
+overlook the work of the people who are clearing away. The chest shall
+be conveyed into my library. I will take it with me, and shall expect
+you."
+
+Two men carried No. 2 into the library, and the Professor went
+unwilling to his room to dress.
+
+The Princess walked about the room where the old chest had been placed,
+awaiting the return of the scholar. With a heavy heart she looked
+forward to meeting him; she concealed in her soul a wish and a
+commission. The Sovereign had taken leave of her this time with more
+kindness than he had done for years; before her departure, he had led
+her into a side room and spoken to her about Werner.
+
+"You know that one cannot leave too much to honest Bergau; I should be
+glad if you will also do your best to keep the learned man with us. I
+have got accustomed to him in this short time and would unwillingly
+miss his enlivening society. But I do not think of myself alone. I am
+becoming old, and such a man would be of the greatest value to your
+brother for his whole life--a man in full vigor, who is always
+collected and calm in the midst of our distracting doings: I therefore
+wish this intimacy to be preserved and increased for you both: for you
+also, Sidonie. I have seen with especial satisfaction how
+enthusiastically you enter into the studies of our learned men. Your
+mind will not be sufficiently interested with the twittering of the
+well-mannered birds who surround us; some assistance from a talented
+person will open to you a nobler conception of the world. Endeavor to
+gain this man: every kind of burdensome duty shall be spared to him;
+what now makes his position uncertain shall be removed as soon as he is
+installed with us. I do not insist upon your speaking to him, I only
+wish it; and I wish you to believe that in this also I am thinking of
+your future."
+
+Without doubt this was the case.
+
+The Princess had listened to the words of her father with the quiet
+criticism that was customary between such near relations. But the words
+of the Sovereign on this occasion met with such an echo in her soul,
+that she expressed her willingness to speak to Mr. Werner.
+
+"If you undertake this," the Sovereign said, in conclusion, "you must
+not do it by halves. Employ all the mild influence that you can
+exercise over him, obtain his square word and promise for whatever he
+is inclined to accede to."
+
+The Princess now thought over these words with disquietude. Ah! she
+would gladly have conveyed to the heart of this much valued man the
+wishes of her own, but she felt annoyed and perplexed that her secret
+feelings should be made subservient to the will of another.
+
+The Professor entered the library of the Princess; he gave a glance at
+the casts and books which were lying about, just unpacked and
+unarranged, and began:
+
+"When one's hopes have been so much raised, it is difficult to bear
+suspense. One cannot help laughing over the mocking accident which
+brings us in contact with a monk whose work is of no value, and
+withholds from us that of the other which is of immeasurable
+importance."
+
+The Princess pointed with her hand to the door: outside were heard the
+steps of people carrying something.
+
+"Only have a little patience; if there is nothing more to-day there may
+be to-morrow."
+
+"To-morrow!" exclaimed the Professor; "a whole night lies between.
+Meanwhile the worm gnaws incessantly, and all the powers of destruction
+are at work. Numberless are the possibilities that separate us from our
+hope: that acquisition alone is certain which we have in our hands."
+
+He examined the chest.
+
+"It is much smaller than I imagined. By what accident did the missal
+lie in it? It is not even certain whence it came, and it is still very
+doubtful what may lie concealed in the other chest."
+
+The Princess raised the top.
+
+"Let us meanwhile pay attention to the little we have found."
+
+She took up the parchment volume, and put it in the hands of the
+learned man. Some leaves slipped out; the Professor caught hold of
+them; his eyes contracted, he jumped up and hastened to the window.
+
+"These leaves do not belong to it," he said, reading them. At last he
+exclaimed: "A piece of the manuscript is found."
+
+He held out the leaves to the Princess; his hand trembled, and the
+agitation of his countenance was such that he was obliged to turn away.
+He hastened to the table and searched the missal, opening it leaf by
+leaf, from beginning to end. The Princess held the leaves in her hand
+in eager expectation, and approached him. As he looked up he saw two
+large eyes fixed on him with tender sympathy. Again he seized the two
+leaves, "What I have here, he cried, is both valuable and discouraging;
+one could almost weep that it is not more; it is a fragment out of the
+sixth book of the annals of Tacitus, that we already possess in another
+manuscript. These are two leaves of a parchment volume, but between
+them many are lost. The writing is well preserved--better than I should
+have expected. It is written by a German, in the characters of the
+twelfth century."
+
+"He looked quickly over the contents in the light of the setting sun.
+The Princess glanced over his shoulder curiously at the thick letters
+of the monk's hand.
+
+"It is correct," he proceeded, more calmly, "the discovery is of the
+greatest interest. It will be instructive to compare this manuscript
+with the only one extant." He looked at it again. "If it is a copy," he
+murmured, "perhaps both indicate a common source. Thus the manuscript
+that we are seeking must be torn; these leaves have fallen out, and
+perhaps during the packing up have been shoved into a wrong book. There
+is much still that is mysterious; but the main fact appears to me
+certain, that we have here a remnant of the manuscript of Rossau, and
+this discovery ought to be a guarantee that the remainder is at hand.
+But how much of it?" he continued, gloomily, "and in what condition
+will it be?"
+
+He again listened anxiously to the steps of the men who were clearing
+away in the loft. He rushed out of the room up the stairs, but returned
+in a few minutes.
+
+"The work goes on slowly," he said; "as yet there is nothing to be
+seen."
+
+"I do not know whether to wish that it should go on quickly," exclaimed
+the Princess, cheerfully; but her eyes gave the lie to her smiling
+mouth. "You must know that I am very selfish in helping you to find the
+manuscript. As long as you are searching you belong to us. When you
+have obtained the treasure, you will withdraw yourself into your
+invisible world, and the retrospect alone will remain to us. I have a
+mind to close the remaining rooms of the house, and only to open one to
+you each year, until you have become quite at home with us."
+
+"That would be cruel not to me alone," replied the Professor.
+
+The Princess stepped up to him. "I do not speak mere empty words," she
+said, in a changed tone. "My father wishes you to make your home with
+us. Bergau is commissioned to enter into business arrangements, but
+they are not of the nature to determine your decision. Yet when I
+express the same wish, that you should remain with us, I do it from my
+own heart."
+
+"This demand upon me is very unexpected," answered the learned man,
+with astonishment. "My custom is to weigh such proposals calmly, and
+from different points of view. I therefore beg your Highness not to
+require an answer."
+
+"I cannot let you off," exclaimed the Princess. "I should like to gain
+you in my own way. You shall choose your office and occupation here as
+freely as is compatible with our different relations: you shall have
+every kind of distinction, and every wish that it is in the power of
+the Sovereign to satisfy shall be fulfilled."
+
+"I am a teacher in the University," replied the Professor. "I teach
+with pleasure, and not without success. My whole nature and the course
+of my education fit me for this vocation. The rights and duties which
+enclose my life have a firm hold on me. I have pupils, and I am
+engrossed with the work in which I wish them to partake."
+
+"You will never find pupils that will be more truly devoted, or cling
+more warmly to you, than my brother and myself."
+
+"I am not a tutor who can for any length of time oversee the duties of
+a prince; I am accustomed to the rigid method of the professor, and to
+quiet labor among my books."
+
+"This last part of your occupation, at least, will not be lost to the
+world by your remaining here. This is just the place where you would
+find leisure, perhaps more than among your students."
+
+"This new life would bring me new duties," replied the Professor,
+"which I should feel called upon to fulfill. It would occasion me also
+distractions to which I am not accustomed. You invite a man whom you
+regard as firm. True, in his own circle of life, that character he
+possesses; but you have no surety that in another sphere of life he
+will continue to be so. Do not believe that under changed circumstances
+I shall retain the repose and calmness of effort that the mind of a
+worker needs; and my dissatisfaction at inner disturbances would
+certainly make itself felt upon those about me. But even if I could
+hope for all regarding my home and my private relations that would make
+life satisfactory to me, I must still take into consideration where I
+can personally be most useful; and I am not at present convinced that
+this would be the case here."
+
+The Princess looked down sadly. The steps of the men who were to free
+the manuscript from the piles of rubbish still continued to sound
+above.
+
+"Yet," continued the Professor, "if we were to be fortunate enough to
+find the manuscript, many days, perhaps many years of my life would be
+taken up by a new task, which would be so great that I might find my
+University occupations a burden. Then I should have a right to ask
+myself, in what surroundings I should best be able to advance this
+work. In this case, I should also have a right to leave the University
+for a long time. But if I do not find it, it will be painful to me to
+part from here, for my soul will long hover restlessly about this
+place."
+
+"I will not let you off so easily," cried the Princess. "I hear only
+the words, duty and manuscript. Is the liking that we show to you,
+then, of no value to you? Forget, now, that I am a woman, and consider
+me as a warm-hearted boy, who looks up to you devotedly, and is not
+quite unworthy of your interest."
+
+The Professor looked at the student who stood before him and did not
+wish to be considered a woman. The Princess had never looked so
+attractive. He gazed on the blushing cheeks, on the eyes which were
+fastened so expressively on his countenance, and on the rosy lips which
+trembled with inward emotion. "My pupils generally look different from
+that," he said, softly, "and they are accustomed to criticize their
+teacher more stringently."
+
+"Be content for once," said the Princess, "with finding pure admiration
+in a susceptible soul. I have before said how much I value your
+acquaintance. I am no empress who governs a kingdom, and do not wish to
+employ your powers in my interest. But I should consider it the highest
+happiness to be in intimate relations with your mind, to listen to the
+noble words you utter. I feel a longing to look upon life with the
+clear eyes of a man. You have easily, as if in play, solved riddles
+that have tormented me, and answered questions with which I have
+struggled for years. Mr. Werner, you have taken a kind interest in me;
+if you go from here, I shall find myself alone in those pursuits with
+which I should most prefer being occupied. If I were a man I should
+seek you as my teacher; but I am fettered here, and, I beckon you to
+me."
+
+The learned man listened, entranced, to the soft voice that spoke so
+persuasively.
+
+"I do not beg for myself alone," continued the Princess, "my brother
+also needs a friend. It will be his task to take charge of the welfare
+of many. What you could do for his mind would be for the benefit of
+others. When I look away from the present, and dream of the future of
+our princely house and of this country, I feel proud that we, brother
+and sister, have a presage of what will be demanded in our time from
+princes, and I feel an ambition that we should both, before all others,
+show ourselves worthy of this high calling. I hope to see a new life
+developed in my home, and my brother and myself surrounded by the best
+minds of our nation. Thus we should live sensibly and earnestly
+together, as our times require; it should be no pleasure-loving Court
+after the old style, but a hearty intercourse between the Sovereign and
+the mind of the nation. That will make us freer and better in
+ourselves, and will be an advantage to the whole people; it will also
+be a bright remembrance for future times. When I think of such a
+future, then, Mr. Werner, I see you as the dear companion of our life,
+and the thought makes me proud and happy."
+
+The sun was setting, and its last rays fell glowing upon the Princess
+and the head of the scholar. Sweetly sounded the song of the
+nightingale among the elder-bushes; the Professor stood silent opposite
+the beautiful woman who painted life to him in such rosy colors; his
+heart beat and his strength failed him. He saw before him two eloquent
+eyes, and the sound of the entreating words, "Remain with us," rang
+with entrancing magic once more in his ear.
+
+Something rustled near the Princess; the leaves of the manuscript which
+she had taken fell to the ground. The Professor bent down to pick them
+up, and as he raised himself again began, in a feeble tone:
+
+"Your Highness takes a bright look into the future; my eye is
+accustomed only to read single lines in the history of past ages. Here
+lies my first task; my dreams hover about these leaves. I am only a man
+of the study, and I should become less were I to endeavor to become
+more. I know that I deprive myself of much, and in this hour, when a
+vision of a brilliant life shines before me so invitingly, I feel this
+more deeply than ever. But my greatest happiness must be, from within
+quiet walls, to impress upon the souls of others what will there
+blossom and bear fruit. My greatest reward must also be that in hours
+of triumph, when filled with the consciousness of power, some pupil of
+mine will give a fleeting thought to the far-distant teacher, who has
+been but one among the thousands that have formed him, but one among
+the many sowers in the limitless fields of science."
+
+Thus spoke the scholar. But while speaking, with a severe struggle for
+composure, what was true and honorable, he did not think only of the
+truth, nor only of the treasure which he was seeking, but of the
+greater one which he had left in order to pursue his quest with the
+beautiful fairy of the tower. He heard the beseeching words, "Do not
+go, Felix," and they were a timely warning. "When I return to her, will
+she be contented with me?" thought the innocent man. He was spared the
+necessity of asking the question.
+
+The rolling of a carriage was heard below, and the steps of the servant
+who was coming to announce an arrival.
+
+"Is your will so inflexible, your intention so firm!" exclaimed the
+Princess, passionately. "But I am also obstinate; I shall continue my
+entreaties. War between us two, Mr. Werner! Farewell, till evening."
+
+She hastened down the steps. The evening light disappeared behind dark
+clouds; the mist hovered over the meadows and hung on the tops of the
+trees; and the daws flew croaking round the walls of the tower. The
+door of the room above creaked on its hinges, and the Castellan rattled
+his keys, while the scholar looked lovingly at the leaves which he held
+in his hand.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XXXVI_.
+
+                             ILSE'S FLIGHT.
+
+
+Ilse was awakened by her husband's parting kiss; she sat at her
+bed-side and listened to the sound of the rolling wheels.
+
+"This has been a fearful night," she said; "after tears and anguish
+there came bad dreams. I was hanging over a precipice; from the depth
+below, concealed by fogy arose the noise of a waterfall. Felix standing
+above, held me by a handkerchief; his strength was giving way; I felt
+that, but I had no anxiety about it in my dream. I wished that Felix
+would let me go, and not sink with me. Pass away in peace, my dream, to
+thy portals of ivory; thou wast a good dream, and I have no cause to be
+ashamed of thee.
+
+"He is on his journey, and I am alone. No, my Felix, you are with me,
+even when I do not hear your voice. Yesterday I was angry with you; I
+am sorry for it. I bear you within me, just as you have taught me, that
+the soul of man passes into and rests in others. That part of Felix
+which I preserve within me I will keep honorably, and quietly cherish
+in this hateful house."
+
+She opened the curtains.
+
+"It will be a gloomy day again; the finches are already sitting at the
+window, crying for the dilatory woman who has slept beyond the
+breakfast hour of her little ones. Outside all is in bloom, and the
+large leaves of the Schubart-plant blow about joyously in the moist
+air. But this rain will be more than my father likes; the seed will
+suffer. The good God cannot please us all at the same time; we are
+indeed covetous.
+
+"At home they gossip about me; my neighbor did not say the worst that
+she knew. I have not been used to this. When I became the wife of my
+Felix I thought myself raised above all the meanness of the world, but
+I now feel its sting in my soul."
+
+She passed her hand over her eyes.
+
+"No tears to-day?" she cried springing up. "When my thoughts course
+wildly through my brain I will prove to myself that I have something of
+the scholar's character in me, and will calmly look into my own heart
+and quiet its beatings by prudent reflection. When he first came to our
+house, and the noble spirit of his conversation aroused me, his image
+pursued me into my room. I took a book, but I did not know what I read;
+I took up my accounts, but I could not put two and two together; I
+observed that all was confusion within me. Yet it was wrong to think
+thus about a man who was still a stranger to me. Then in my anguish I
+went into the nursery, tidied all my brother's and sister's things, and
+saw whether the boy's clothes needed mending. I was then a regular home
+body. Ah, I am so still; I hope it will help me now. I will put all my
+things together for I feel as if I should take a journey to-day, and
+that it will be well to have all prepared."
+
+She opened the closet, drew out her trunk, and packed it.
+
+"But where to?" she asked herself. "Far away? How long it is since I
+had wings like a swallow, and could gaily fly with my thoughts into
+foreign parts! And now the wings of the poor little swallow are broken.
+I sit alone on my branch; I would gladly conceal myself in the leaves,
+and I dread the fluttering and the chattering of my neighbors."
+
+She supported her weary head with her hands.
+
+"Where should I go to?" she sighed; "not to my father; nor could I now
+look with pleasure on mountains and old monuments. How can one have a
+heart for the forms of nature and the achievements of past nations when
+one's own life is racked and disturbed?
+
+"My Felix said that one should always consider oneself the child of the
+whole human race, and be elevated by the high thought that millions of
+the dead and living are united to us in an indissoluble unity. But who
+of those who were and are about me will relieve my tormented soul of
+the pangs that constantly trouble me? Who will deliver me from
+dissatisfaction with myself and from fear about the future? Ah me! It
+may be a teaching to inspire man in hours of exaltation, when calmly
+contemplating all about him, but for him who is writhing in torment and
+affliction, the teaching is too high, too high!"
+
+She took from the shelf her little Bible, which had been given her by
+the good Pastor on her departure from her father's house, and drew it
+out of its cover. "I have long neglected to read you, dear book, for
+when I open your pages I feel as if I had two lives; the old Ilse
+revives who once trusted in your words; and then again I see myself,
+like my husband, criticizing many passages, and asking myself whether
+what I find in you is according to my reason. I have lost my childish
+faith, and what I have gained instead gives me no certainty. When I
+fold my hands in prayer, as I did when I was a child, I know that I
+dare pray for nothing but strength to overcome, by my own exertion,
+what now casts down my spirit."
+
+The gardener entered the room, as he did every morning, with a basket
+of flowers which the lord of the castle sent her. Ilse rose and pointed
+to the table.
+
+"Set it down," she said, coldly, without touching the basket.
+
+She had, at other times, frequently expressed to the man her pleasure
+in the beautiful flowers he had cultivated. It had always given him
+pain that the illustrious personages of the castle never noticed his
+rare plants, and he had been so pleased with the warm interest taken by
+the strange lady that he brought the flowers every morning himself, and
+pointed out to her the new favorites of the conservatory; he had cut
+for her the best he had.
+
+"The others do not notice them," he would say; "and she remembers the
+Latin names too."
+
+He now placed the basket of flowers down with a feeling of
+mortification.
+
+"There are some new specimens of the calceolaria," he began,
+reproachfully; "they are of my own raising: you will not see others of
+this kind."
+
+Ilse felt the disappointment of the gardener. She approached the table,
+and said:
+
+"They are indeed very beautiful; but flowers, dear sir, require a light
+heart, and that I have not now. I have ill repaid your kindness to-day;
+but you must not be angry with me."
+
+"If you would only look at the grey-spotted ones," exclaimed the
+gardener, with the enthusiasm of an artist; "these are my pride, and
+are not to be had anywhere else in the world."
+
+Ilse admired them.
+
+"I had taken great pains for many years," continued the gardener. "I
+had done all I could to obtain good seed, but only common ones came;
+after I had almost lost courage, the new kinds blossomed all in one
+year. It was not my art," he added, honestly: "it is a secret of
+nature; she has given me good fortune, and relieved me from my cares
+all at once."
+
+"But you took pains and did your best," answered Ilse; "when one does
+thus, one may trust to the good spirit of life."
+
+The gardener went away appeased; Ilse looked at the flowers.
+
+"Even he who sent you has become to me an object of dread. Yet he was
+the only one here who showed me uniform kindness and treated me with
+respect. Felix is right: there is no reason for us to be disturbed on
+his account. Who knows whether he is much to blame for the disagreeable
+reports about this house. I must not be unjust towards him; but when I
+look at his flowers, it seems as if an adder lay within them, for I do
+not know whether his soul is pure or impure. I do not understand his
+ways, and that makes me uncertain and fearful."
+
+She pushed the basket away, and turned from it.
+
+The maid who waited upon her came into the room, with a troubled
+countenance, and begged permission to go away for the day, as her
+mother was very ill in a neighboring village. Ilse asked kindly about
+the woman, and gave the girl the desired permission, with good wishes
+and advice. The maid went slowly out of the room; Ilse looked
+sorrowfully after her.
+
+"Her heart, too, is heavy. It is well that Felix is not at home, for I
+can now be alone with my sorrow. It will be a quiet day, and this will
+be welcome after yesterday's storm."
+
+Again there was a knocking at the door; the Castellan brought the
+letters that the postman had given him for the Pavilion. There were
+letters from her brothers and sisters who kept up a regular
+correspondence with their distant Ilse. A ray of joy passed over her
+serious face.
+
+"This is a pleasant morning greeting," she said. "I will to-day answer
+my little band in detail. Who knows whether I may have time for it next
+week."
+
+She hastened to the writing-table, read, laughed, and wrote. Her
+uneasiness had passed away; she chatted like a lively child in the
+language and thoughts of the nursery. Hours flew in this occupation.
+Gabriel brought up and carried away the dinner. When in the afternoon
+he found her still bending over the letters, he lingered by her and
+hesitated whether he should speak to her; but as Ilse was so deeply
+engrossed in her work, he nodded and closed the door.
+
+Finally, Ilse wrote to her father. Again her thoughts became sad,
+anguish rose from the depth of her heart, and lay like a burning weight
+on her bosom. She left her writing-table, and paced hastily about the
+room. When she came to the window, she saw the lord of the castle
+coming slowly along the gravel path towards the Pavilion.
+
+Ilse stepped back quickly. She was not unaccustomed to the short visits
+of the Sovereign; but to-day she felt fearful, the blood rushed to her
+heart, she pressed her hands over her bosom, and struggled for
+composure.
+
+The door flew open.
+
+"I come to inquire," began his Highness, "how you bear your solitude.
+My house also has become empty, my children are gone from me, and it is
+lonely in the great building."
+
+"I have employed my leisure in intercourse with distant friends,"
+answered Ilse.
+
+She would not on this occasion mention the children to the Sovereign.
+
+"Are the little ones who play about in your home amongst these
+friends?" he asked laughing. "Have the children again expressed their
+wishes to you?"
+
+He took a chair and invited Ilse to be seated. His demeanor made her
+more composed; his manner was that of a discreet and well-intentioned
+person.
+
+"Yes, your Highness," replied Ilse; "but this time my younger sister,
+Luise, was the most active correspondent."
+
+"Does she promise to become like you?" asked the Sovereign, kindly.
+
+"She is now twelve years old," replied Ilse, with reserve; "she is
+sentimental upon every subject and every blade of grass excites her
+fancy. It appears as if she were to be the poetess of the play-room. I
+do not know how these fantastical ideas have come into our family. In
+her letter she tells me a long story, as if it had happened to herself,
+and yet it is only a tale which she has read somewhere. For since I
+have left my home, more story-books have reached it than were there in
+my youth."
+
+"Probably it is only childish vanity," said the Sovereign, kindly,
+"that leads her to substitute an invention for truth."
+
+"That is it exactly," answered Ilse, more cheerfully. "She pretends
+that she lost her way in the wood, and that when she was sitting
+sorrowfully among the toad-stools, the little animals whom she was in
+the habit of feeding in our court-yard,--the white mouse in the cage,
+the cats, and the shepherd's dog,--placed themselves about her and ran
+before her till she found her way out of the wood. The cat together
+with the mouse, your Highness; that was silly! This story she related
+boldly as if it were the truth, and expected me to think it touching.
+That was too much--but I have given her my opinion of it."
+
+The Sovereign laughed, laughed from his heart. It was a rare sound that
+echoed through the walls of the dark room, and the god of love above
+looked down with surprise on the joyous man.
+
+"May I ask how you criticized this poetic state of mind?" asked the
+Sovereign. "There is a poetical idea in the tale, that the kindness
+shown to others will always be repaid when required. But it is
+unfortunately only an poetic idea; gratitude is seldom met with in real
+life."
+
+"One ought not, in life, to trust solely to the help of others,"
+replied Ilse, firmly; "and one ought not to show kindness to others in
+order that it may be repaid. There is indeed a strange pleasure felt
+when some chord which one has struck brings back its echo to one's
+heart; but one should not trust to it. A child that has lost its way
+should make good use of its five senses in order to find its way home
+by itself. But, certainly, one ought not to put forth poetical ideas as
+if they were real incidents. I was obliged to scold her; for, your
+Highness, girls in these days must have right ideas taught them, or
+they will soon lose themselves in dreams."
+
+The Sovereign laughed again.
+
+Where are the wise and good animals, Lady Ilse, that will give _you_
+friendly counsel in your time of need?
+
+"You are too strict," continued the Sovereign. "The witch fancy
+deceives the judgment of even us grown-up people; one is fearful
+without reason, and one hopes and trusts without justification. The
+person who could ever command a true, impartial judgment of his own
+position, would have a freedom that would make life hardly endurable."
+
+"Fancy confuses us," answered Ilse, looking round, "but it warns us
+also."
+
+"What is warmth of feeling, and devotion to others?" continued the
+Sovereign, sorrowfully. "Nothing but subtle self-deceit. If I now am
+flattered by the joyful feeling that I have succeeded in sharing the
+wealth of your heart, that too is only a deception; but it is a dream
+which I carefully cherish, for it does me good. With a happiness which
+I have long been deprived of, I listen to the honest tones of your
+voice, and the thought is painful to me that I shall ever be without
+the sweet enjoyment they afford. It is of greater value to me than you
+imagine."
+
+"Your Highness speaks to me as to a true friend," replied Ilse, drawing
+herself up; "and when I take to heart the kindly tone in which you now
+express your sympathy, I have to believe your honesty and sincere
+intentions. But this same fancy, which you blame and praise, disturbs
+also the confidence which I would gladly have in your Highness. I will
+no longer be silent about it, for it pains me after such kind words, to
+foster any unfounded feeling against you." She rose hastily. "It
+disturbs my peace of mind to feel that I dwell in a house which the
+feet of other women avoid."
+
+The Sovereign looked astonished at the woman who, with such firmness,
+controlled her inward excitement.
+
+"The fortune-teller," he murmured.
+
+"Your Highness knows well what fancy does," continued Ilse,
+sorrowfully. "It has tormented my soul, and made it difficult for me in
+this place to believe in the esteem of which your Highness assures me."
+
+"What have they been telling you?" asked the Sovereign, in a sharp
+tone.
+
+"What your Highness ought not to desire to hear from my lips," replied
+Ilse, proudly. "It is possible that the master of a Court considers
+such things with indifference. I say that to myself. But it is a
+misfortune to me to have been here: it is a stain on a spotless robe,
+and I fix my eyes wildly upon it; I wash it away with my hand, and yet
+it always lies before me, for it is a shadow that falls from without."
+
+The Sovereign looked gloomily before him.
+
+"I shall not use the subterfuges that you put into the mouth of a
+master of a Court, for I feel at this moment, deeply and passionately
+like you, that an injury has been done your honor. I have only one
+excuse," he continued, with passion: "you came here as stranger to us,
+and I little thought what a treasure lay concealed near me. Since that,
+in our slight intercourse, you have awakened in me a feeling to which I
+yield irresistibly. It is seldom permitted me by fate to say
+undisguisedly what I feel. I disdain to use the impassioned language of
+a youth, for I do not wish to disquiet you. But do not think that I
+feel less strongly towards you because I know how to conceal my
+emotion."
+
+Ilse stood in the middle of the room, and a burning color rose to her
+cheeks.
+
+"I beg your Highness not to say another word, for it is not right that
+I should listen to you."
+
+The Sovereign laughed bitterly.
+
+"I have already wounded you, and you quickly make it plain that I
+labored under an illusion when I hoped for your affection. And yet I am
+so completely your slave, that I beg of you not to refuse your sympathy
+to a passion which glows so warmly within me, that it has at this
+moment entirely deprived me of my self-control."
+
+Ilse gasped:
+
+"I must away from here."
+
+"Renounce that idea," cried the Sovereign, beside himself. "I cannot be
+deprived of your presence or of the sound of your voice. However
+slightly it may gladden me, it is the happiness of my days--the one
+great feeling in a life without pleasure or love. The knowledge that
+you are near me maintains me in my struggle against thoughts that
+stupefy me in gloomy hours. Like the devout pilgrim who listens to the
+bell of the hermitage, I listen to the slightest chord that vibrates
+from your life into mine. Consent to accept the devotion of a lonely
+man," he continued, more tranquilly. "I vow never more to wound your
+delicate feelings. I vow to be contented with that share of your life
+which you will freely give me."
+
+"I repent of every word that I have spoken to your Highness, and I
+repent of every hour in which I have thought with reverence of you,"
+exclaimed Ilse, with kindling anger. "I was a poor trusting child," she
+continued, excitedly. "I bowed submissively to my Sovereign before I
+saw him as he is; now that I know him, he excites abhorrence in me, and
+I gather up my garment and say. Monster, begone from me!"
+
+The Sovereign fell back in his chair.
+
+"It is an old curse that echoes in my ears from these walls; it is not
+your own heart that drives me from you. From your lips should only come
+words of love and compassion. I am not a tempter, I am myself a
+wanderer in the wilderness, with nothing about me but desert sand and
+towering rocks. I hear the laughter of children; I see the fair-haired
+group passing by me; I see two eyes fixed on me with kindly greeting,
+and a hand, with the filled cup, which beckons to the weary one; and,
+like a vision of mist, it has all disappeared. I remain alone, and I
+sink to my destruction."
+
+He closed his hands over his eyes. Ilse did not reply. She stood,
+turned from him, looking through the window at the clouds which flitted
+across the heaven.
+
+All was quiet in the room. Nothing moved, and no one spoke. At last the
+Sovereign rose slowly: he approached Ilse. There was a glassy look in
+his eye, and he moved with effort.
+
+"If I have wounded you by what I have said in a moment of overwhelming
+passion, forget it. I have proved to you that I am not yet free from
+the weakness that hopes to gain a heart which would beat in unison with
+mine. Remember only that I am an erring one who sought comfort from
+you. It was an humiliating request: if you cannot respond to it, do not
+be angry with the wretched one who asks."
+
+He gazed on her with a long, protracted look of burning passion,
+deadly, wounded pride, and something more, that inspired her with
+terror, but she looked him firmly and rigidly in the face. He raised a
+warning finger, and left the room.
+
+She listened to his tread as he went away, marked every step as he
+descended, and when he closed the house-door, pulled the bell.
+
+Gabriel, who was standing in the anteroom, entered quickly.
+
+"I wish to go away from here," exclaimed Ilse.
+
+"Whereto, Mrs. Werner?" asked the frightened servant.
+
+"Where to?" echoed in Ilse's ears.
+
+"To my husband," she said; but, as if listening to her own words, she
+shuddered. He also was in a house of the Sovereign. He was with the
+daughter of the wicked man. He himself was not safe there--his wife
+would not be safe with him. Where to? The question whirled in her head.
+The son of the cruel man was with her father, so she must not go home;
+her neighbour had said so. She sank her head as if stunned. A feeling
+of helplessness lay like a dead weight upon her; but she raised herself
+again, and approached Gabriel. "I will leave this city to-day--at
+once."
+
+The servant wrung his hands.
+
+"I knew it would come to this," he exclaimed.
+
+"You knew it," asked Ilse, gloomily; "and neither I nor my husband did?
+Was it seen to every passerby, and yet a secret to him and me?"
+
+"I noticed that there was something about this place that seemed
+uncanny," answered Gabriel, "and that no one trusted the distinguished
+gentleman who just now left. How could I tell you what seemed only my
+foolish fancy?"
+
+"It is not well to pay too little attention to people's talk," replied
+Ilse; "I wish to go to some place where I can find a woman, Gabriel.
+Get a carriage for me immediately, and accompany me to Mrs. Rollmaus.
+We will leave everything here, and you must return to the house, that
+you may be on the spot when my husband comes back."
+
+"Where shall I get a carriage?" asked Gabriel, hesitatingly.
+
+"From the city, and not from the castle stable."
+
+Gabriel stood and reflected. At last he said, abruptly:
+
+"I shall go; be careful to prevent the lackey from learning that you
+are preparing for a journey."
+
+"No one shall know it," said Ilse.
+
+Gabriel hastened away, and Ilse locked the door and flew into the next
+room. There she collected all that was indispensable for the journey.
+She closed all the cupboards and wardrobes, and put the keys in a
+bunch. "When Felix comes, he shall not say I ran away unthinkingly."
+She went to his writing-table, and sealed up the letters in a packet.
+"So that no curious eye can look upon you," she said. When she packed
+up the letters of the children and her own answers, a shudder came over
+her, and she concealed the bundle rapidly beneath other papers. She was
+ready, and Gabriel had not yet returned. He seemed to linger long. With
+firm steps she went through the rooms. "You have grown more strange to
+me the longer I have dwelt here. What has become of the brilliant
+impression of the first evening? It was a cold splendor, hostile to my
+life. I would gladly root up every recollection of it from my soul."
+She placed herself on the spot where, in the night, she had looked on
+her sleeping husband. "That was my last sorrowful look at his dear
+face; when shall I see it again? I go from you, Felix; who would have
+thought it when we stood together before the altar? I leave you behind
+among wicked men; you also in danger, and I go away alone, to seek
+safety for myself far from you. Who would have said some days ago that
+I should have marked him a liar to his face? I go, Felix, in order to
+save myself for you. Think of that, and do not be angry with me. I
+would not have gone for less cause." She sank down on a cushion, and
+wrung her hands with tearless sorrow. She lay for a long time in this
+condition. At last there was a knocking at the outer door. She jumped
+up and opened it, but she drew back terrified when she beheld the pale
+countenance of her faithful servant.
+
+"I have not ordered a carriage," said Gabriel, "for it would be of no
+use."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Ilse, angrily.
+
+"Any carriage that went from here would not take Mrs. Werner where she
+wishes, but only where another wishes."
+
+"Then we will go ourselves, and take a vehicle in the city."
+
+"Wherever we go," replied Gabriel, "we shall be observed, and if I
+attempt to call a carriage it will be taken from us."
+
+"You are frightened yourself, Gabriel, and see danger where none
+exists," replied Ilse, annoyed.
+
+"If we could only get an honest man to take you to Mrs. Rollmaus,"
+continued Gabriel; "but it is doubtful whether you could get there. Do
+you see that man below by the castle? He goes slowly as if he were
+taking a walk, but he never turns his eyes from this house. That is one
+of our spies, and he is not the only one."
+
+"Who has told you that?" asked Ilse.
+
+"I have a good friend here who belongs to the castle," replied Gabriel,
+hesitating. "Do not be angry, Mrs. Werner, that I asked him, for he
+knows all their tricks. It is possible, he said, that we may succeed;
+for one cannot assume that all the people of the city are robbers or
+deceivers, but it is uncertain and dangerous."
+
+Ilse seized her hat and cloak.
+
+"I am going, Gabriel," she said, quietly. "Will you accompany me?"
+
+"Dear Mrs. Werner, wherever you wish," answered Gabriel. "But first
+listen to my proposal. My acquaintance thinks that the safest way would
+be, if the Crown Inspector should fetch you himself in the evening. The
+evenings are dark, and you may then perhaps be able to leave the house
+without the lackey or any one else remarking it."
+
+"A prisoner!" exclaimed Ilse. "Who is your acquaintance?" she asked,
+looking sharply at Gabriel.
+
+"He is true as gold," Gabriel assured her, "and I will willingly tell
+you later, but I beg you not to ask me to-day, for he has desired, for
+his own safety, that no one should be told."
+
+"I trust in your faithfulness," replied Ilse, coldly; "but you yourself
+may be deceived; I will not follow the advice of a stranger."
+
+"He has offered me a horse," said Gabriel, "it is outside the city. If
+you will give me a line to the Crown Inspector, I will ride there and
+bring the carriage in good time."
+
+Ilse looked gloomily at the servant.
+
+"Many hours must pass away, and I will not remain here alone. I will go
+on foot along the high road to my friends."
+
+"Look, Mrs. Werner, at the sky; a storm is coming."
+
+"I do not care for it," exclaimed Ilse; "it is not the first time I
+shall have gone through the rain. If you do not choose to accompany me,
+you may wait here for my husband, and tell him that I have gone away to
+my home, and when I am with good people I will write to him."
+
+Gabriel wrung his hands; Ilse put on her cloak.
+
+Suddenly loud altercation was heard on the floor below. Gabriel hastily
+opened the door; the bass voice of a stranger was scolding the lackey
+vehemently:
+
+"But I tell you I am not the man who will allow the door to be shut in
+his face; she is at home, I say."
+
+Ilse threw off her hat and cloak, sprang down the stairs, and called
+out.
+
+"Mr. Hummel!"
+
+"Your most obedient servant, Mrs. Werner," cried out Hummel. "I come
+immediately, only I will first express to this major-domo my high
+opinion of him. You are a scoundrel, sir, and an object to whom I wish
+such treatment as he deserves--a well-seasoned switch and a tight
+halter. I am coming, Mrs. Werner." He ascended the stairs heavily. Ilse
+flew to meet him, led him into her room, and was so overcome that she
+laid her head on his shoulder and wept.
+
+Mr. Hummel was silent, and looked sympathizingly at Ilse.
+
+"So these are Court ways?" he asked, softly; "and this is the fashion
+in which people act here?"
+
+"My husband is away. I wish to leave this place; Mr. Hummel, do help me
+to escape!"
+
+"That is exactly my situation," said Mr. Hummel: "I am implicated,
+myself, in an elopement affair. I have come to this city in order to
+convey to you a request from my daughter Laura, and to bring matters to
+some settlement with the clergymen here. But where do you wish to go
+to?"
+
+"To kind friends who will take me to my father's house."
+
+"That will certainly be the right course," replied Mr. Hummel.
+
+"In times of despair, when everything totters in the world, the child
+should go back to the father. His faithfulness remains; she is twenty
+years old before that of the husband begins. As your father is not
+here, allow one who knows what it is to feel anxious about a child to
+take the place of a father to you."
+
+Ilse clung to him: Mr. Hummel pressed her hand, after his fashion,
+tenderly; but it was a hard pressure.
+
+"Now for composure and cool blood. It can be no small matter which
+moves you so strongly. I will not leave you until I see you well
+protected." He looked at Gabriel, who made him a sign. "Do not trouble
+yourself further in the matter. Be quietly seated, and allow me to
+confer with Gabriel. I will take care of everything for you, and I
+shall answer for everything."
+
+Ilse looked at him thankfully and seated herself obediently. Mr. Hummel
+beckoned Gabriel into the next room.
+
+"What has happened here?" he asked.
+
+"The master has gone away for a few days; meanwhile Mrs. Werner has
+been treated in an unseemly way; great wickedness is carried on here,
+and they will not let her go."
+
+"Not let my lodger go?" cried Mr. Hummel; "ridiculous! I have a
+passport to Paris in my pocket, we will skip over this country like
+grasshoppers. I will fetch a conveyance immediately."
+
+Gabriel shook his head. The confidants again conferred together. Mr.
+Hummel came back and said, with greater seriousness, to Ilse:
+
+"Now I must beg of you to write a few lines to the Crown Inspector--to
+the husband, not to his wife, otherwise there would be confusion. You
+must request him, immediately after the receipt of this letter, if he
+is willing to do a great kindness, to come here in a closed carriage,
+to stop in the suburb, at the Black Bear; and he must not leave his
+carriage. Nothing further. This letter Gabriel will convey to him. How
+he does so is his affair, not ours; if he chooses to fly, like this
+ambiguous genius on the ceiling, who has forgotten its overcoat, it
+will be so much the better. Now the letter is written, forgive me if I
+read it. All right and accurate--away, Gabriel, quickly. When you have
+passed the castle, then make speed: till then, act like a composed
+philanthropist. I will allow you to whistle my Dessauer, if you can. If
+they ask you any questions, say you are attending to some business for
+me."
+
+Gabriel hastened away. Mr. Hummel placed his chair in front of Ilse,
+and looked at his watch.
+
+"You will have to wait five hours for the carriage if all goes right.
+Meanwhile you must bear my company, I will not leave the house without
+you. Do not be troubled at the delay. I am glad of it; for I wish to
+speak with you as with an honorable woman, to whom I can take off my
+hat with true respect, concerning my own affairs, which I have much at
+heart. We have time enough for it. I have also brought some papers to
+the Professor; they are of little importance, but I will lay them on
+the table, and we shall sit opposite each other like people of
+business. Then I should be glad if you would give that Judas in the
+servants' chamber a few instructions for me. Have the goodness also to
+take everything away that might lead him to suppose that you and I were
+going to elope."
+
+Ilse looked round her, undecided.
+
+"What shall I say to the man, Mr. Hummel?"
+
+"You are so good a housewife," replied Hummel, politely, "that I can
+leave entirely to you to decide what you will provide for me. I have
+been travelling the whole day," and he made a significant gesture
+towards his waistcoat.
+
+"Ilse jumped up; in spite of all her anxieties, she could not help
+laughing, and said:
+
+"Forgive me, Mr. Hummel."
+
+"That is the right frame of mind," replied Hummel; "there is no better
+remedy for tragic spirits than a well spread table. I beg, therefore
+that you will send not only for one plate, but for two. I could not eat
+if you were looking on. Believe me, Mrs. Werner, the noblest feelings
+are not to be depended on if an honest piece of bread and butter is not
+impressed on them as a stamp. It makes people calm and firm--and you
+will have occasion for these virtues to-day."
+
+Ilse rang the bell.
+
+"If the knave appears," proceeded Mr. Hummel, "mention to him my name
+and my firm. I do not generally travel incognito, and I wish not to be
+looked upon as a mystery here."
+
+The lackey appeared. Ilse gave him orders to fetch the necessary
+refreshment, and asked him how it was he had denied her dear landlord
+admittance.
+
+The man stammered an excuse, and went away hastily.
+
+"When I came to the house I was aware that all was not right here. I
+asked after you at the castle and received no satisfactory answer. I
+asked a man at the back of the castle who was wandering about, which
+was your house. He looked at me like a crossbill. You were travelling,
+he declared, and he tried to discover my secret. Thereupon there was a
+short conversation, in which cross-bill showed his spite because I in
+ignorance called him by his proper title of spy. The sentinel came up
+at this, and I saw that these jovial comrades had a great mind to
+arrest me. Then a young gentleman appeared, who asked the other the
+cause of the disturbance, and said he knew that you were at home. He
+accompanied me up to this house, asked my name politely, told me also
+his own, Lieutenant Treeclimber, and advised me not to be frightened
+away, that the servants were insolent, but that you would be rejoiced
+to see an old friend. He must be known to you."
+
+The lackey laid the table. Whenever he offered Mr. Hummel a dish, the
+latter gave him a withering look, and did not endeavor to make his
+office easy to him. While the servant was removing the things, Mr.
+Hummel began:
+
+"Now permit me to talk of our affairs, it will be a long account; have
+you patience for it?"
+
+The evening had set in, darkness lay over the dismal house, the storm
+came on, the windows rattled, and the rain poured down. Ilse sat as in
+a dream. In the midst of the stormy scenes of the past day and the
+uneasy expectation of a wild night, the comfortable prose of the Park
+Street rose before her, where, fearless and secure, she was at peace
+with herself and the world,--so far as the world was not vexatious. But
+she felt how beneficial this contrast was; she even forgot her own
+position, and listened with deep sympathy to the account of the father.
+
+"I am speaking to a daughter," said Mr. Hummel, "who is going back to
+her father, and I tell her what I have said to no one else: how hard it
+is to bear my child's wish to leave me."
+
+He spoke about the child whom they both loved, and it was pleasant
+intercourse between them. Thus several hours passed.
+
+The lackey came again, and asked respectfully whether Mrs. Werner had
+sent Gabriel away.
+
+"He has gone upon a commission for me," grumbled Mr. Hummel, to the
+inquirer; "he is looking after some money matters with which I did not
+choose to burden your honesty. If any one inquires from the city for
+me, I must beg, Mrs. Werner, to request this man to say that I am at
+home."
+
+He again looked at his watch.
+
+"Four hours," he said. "If the horse was good, and Gabriel did not lose
+his way in the dark, we may expect him every moment. If he has not
+succeeded, you may still be without anxiety; I will still take you from
+this house."
+
+The bell below rang, and the house door opened--Gabriel entered. There
+was a gleam of pleasure in his countenance.
+
+"Promptly, at ten, the carriage will stop before the inn," he said,
+cautiously; "I have ridden hastily in advance."
+
+Ilse jumped up. Again the terrors of the day and anxiety for the future
+passed through her mind.
+
+"Sit still," admonished Mr. Hummel again; "violent moving about is
+suspicious. I will meanwhile hold council once more with Gabriel."
+
+This council lasted a long time. At last Mr. Hummel came back, and
+said, very seriously:
+
+"Now, Mrs. Werner, prepare yourself; we have a quarter of an hour's
+walk. Yield yourself quietly to our guidance; all has been carefully
+considered."
+
+Mr. Hummel rang. Gabriel, who had returned to the spy on the ground
+floor, entered as usual, and took several keys and a screw-driver out
+of his pocket, and said, cautiously:
+
+"The first week we were here I closed the small back staircase and
+secured the door with a large screw; the people do not know that I have
+the keys."
+
+He went to one of the back rooms and opened the entrance to a secret
+staircase. Mr. Hummel glided after him.
+
+"I wished to know how I was to let myself in again," he said, returning
+to Ilse. "When I have taken you away some one must be heard moving
+about here as your spirit, otherwise all the trouble would be lost.
+Gabriel will take you down the back staircase, while I go out at the
+front door and keep the lackey in conversation. I will meet you a short
+distance from the house among the bushes; Gabriel will bring you to me,
+and I will be sure to be there."
+
+Ilse pressed his hand anxiously.
+
+"I hope all will go well," said Mr. Hummel, cautiously. "Take care to
+have a cloak that will disguise you as much as possible."
+
+Ilse flew to her writing-table and in haste wrote these words:
+
+"Farewell, beloved; I am gone to my father."
+
+Again sorrow overpowered her; she wrung her hands and wept. Mr. Hummel
+stood respectfully aside. At last he laid his hand on her shoulder:
+"The time is passing away."
+
+Ilse jumped up, enclosed the note in an envelope, gave it to Gabriel,
+and quickly veiled herself.
+
+"Now forward," admonished Mr. Hummel, "out of both doors. I go first.
+Good bye, Mrs. Werner," he called out, through the open door; "I hope
+you will rest well."
+
+He stepped heavily down the stairs, the lackey was standing on the last
+step.
+
+"Come here, young man," shouted Mr. Hummel, "I wish to have you stuffed
+after your death, and placed before the council house as a model for
+later generations of the love of truth. When I return you may depend
+upon it I shall again give myself the pleasure of expressing my high
+opinion of you; then I will reveal to the Professor the consummate
+meanness of your character. I have a great mind to make your
+worthlessness known in the daily paper in order that you may become a
+scare-crow to the world."
+
+The servant listened with downcast eyes, and bowed mockingly.
+
+"Good-night, courtling," said Mr. Hummel, going out and closing the
+door behind him.
+
+Mr. Hummel walked with measured tread from the house, turning to the
+left side where a path entered a thicket; there he concealed himself.
+The rain poured, and the wind roared in the tops of the trees. Mr.
+Hummel looked cautiously about him when he entered the darkness of the
+spot where Gabriel and Prince Victor had once spoken to one another of
+the ghosts of the castle. There was a slight stir in the thicket, a
+tall figure approached him and seized his arm.
+
+"Good," said Mr. Hummel, in a low tone; "go back quickly, Gabriel, and
+expect me in time. But we must seek out dark paths and avoid the
+lights; you must conceal your face under your veil when we come into
+the open."
+
+Ilse took the arm of her landlord and walked along, covered by the
+great umbrella which Mr. Hummel held over her.
+
+Behind the fugitives the tower clock struck ten, when the outline of
+the inn outside the gate was seen against the darkened heaven.
+
+"We must not be too early nor too late," said Mr. Hummel, restraining
+the steps of his eager companion. At the same moment a carriage came
+slowly towards them out of the darkness. Ilse's arm trembled. "Be
+calm," begged Mr. Hummel; "see whether that is your friend."
+
+"I recognize the horses," whispered Ilse, breathless. Mr. Hummel
+approached the coachman's covered seat, and asked, as a password, "From
+Toad?"
+
+"Ville," answered a firm voice. The Crown Inspector sprang down to
+Ilse; there was a little movement in the carriage, the corner of the
+leather curtain was lifted, and a small hand was put out. Hummel seized
+and shook it. "An agreeable addition," he said. Without speaking a
+word, the Crown Inspector unbuttoned the leather curtain. "My dear
+friend," cried a trembling female voice from within. Ilse turned to Mr.
+Hummel; "not a word," he said; "a pleasant journey to you." Ilse was
+pushed in; Mrs. Rollmaus seized hold of her arm, and held it firmly;
+and while the Crown Inspector was again buttoning the curtain, Mr.
+Hummel greeted him. "It gives me great pleasure," he said, "but for an
+exchange of cards this is not a favorable opportunity. Besides which,
+our classes, according to natural history, are not the same. But
+punctuality at the right time and goodwill were mutual." The Crown
+Inspector jumped upon the coachman's box and seized the reins. He
+turned the carriage, Mr. Hummel gave a farewell tap upon the wet
+leather curtain, the horses trotted off quietly, and the carriage
+passed into the darkness.
+
+Hummel looked after it till the heavy rain concealed it from his view,
+cast one more searching glance down the now empty road, and hastened
+back to the city. He went to the Pavilion through the most remote part
+of the grounds; at the spot where Gabriel had put the lady under his
+charge, he dived into the deep shade of the trees, and made his way
+cautiously through the wet bushes to the back of the house. He felt
+along the wall. "Stop on the threshold," whispered Gabriel; "I will
+take off your boots."
+
+"Cannot I be spared this court toilet?" grumbled Hummel. "Stocking-feet
+are contrary to my nature."
+
+"All will have been in vain if you are heard on the staircase."
+
+Hummel slipped up the stairs behind Gabriel into the dark room. "Here
+are Mrs. Werner's rooms. You must move backwards and forwards in the
+dark, and sometimes move the chairs, till I call you. There is now
+another spy, they are talking together below. I fear they suspect that
+we have something on hand. They look at me askance. The lackey every
+day carries the lamps from the sitting-room, and nothing must be
+altered; it would create suspicion if he did not hear some one moving
+about in the next room. When all is quiet, then the lackey leaves the
+house, and we can speak to one another."
+
+"It is against my conscience, Gabriel," murmured Hummel, "to remain in
+a strange house without the permission of the owner or lodger."
+
+"Quiet," warned Gabriel, anxiously; "I hear the man on the stairs; close
+the door behind me."
+
+Mr. Hummel stood alone in the dark. He placed his boots near the
+arm-chair, walked around them, and sometimes gave them a push. "Very
+gently always," he thought, "for they are the movements of a
+Professor's wife. The demands which now-a-days are made on a
+householder exceed all imagination. An elopement from the house of a
+stranger, and acting the part of a lady in the darkness of night." The
+steps of men were heard outside, and he again pushed his boots.
+"Darkness in a strange house is by no means desirable," he continued,
+to himself. "I have always had a hatred of a dark room since I once
+fell down into a cellar; this gloom is only good for cats and rogues.
+But the most lamentable thing for a citizen is, that his boots should
+be withheld from him." He heard a light tread in the next room, and
+again moved the chair.
+
+At last all became quiet in the house. Mr. Hummel threw himself back in
+the chair, and looked wearily around the strange room. A pale ray of
+light fell from without through a crevice of the curtains, and the
+tassel of the curtain and the gilded top of a chair glimmered in the
+darkness. Now at last Mr. Hummel might put on his boots, and then for a
+time he occupied himself with severe comments upon the world. His usual
+hour for rest had meanwhile come, and he was tired from his journey; he
+sank gradually into a dreamy state, and his last distinct thought was,
+"there must be no snoring in this princely darkness." With this
+intention he closed his eyes, and said farewell to the cares of the
+world.
+
+In his sleep it appeared to him as if he heard a slight noise; he
+opened his eyes and looked about the room. He saw indistinctly that the
+wall looked different from what it had done. The large mirror that
+before stood there, seemed to have vanished, and it appeared to him as
+if a veiled figure stood in its place and moved. He was a courageous
+man, but his limbs now trembled with terror. He barricaded himself
+behind a chair. "Is this a magic lantern?" he began, with stammering
+voice; "if so, I beg you not to disturb yourself; I admire your skill,
+but have not my purse with me. But if you are a man, I should like a
+more distinct knowledge of the fact. I call upon you to show yourself
+in substance. I have the honor of introducing myself to you in this
+scanty light. Hat-manufacturer, Henry Hummel; my papers are correct--a
+passport to Paris." He put his hand into his breast pocket. "As a
+respectable citizen is bound to defend himself in these dangerous
+times, it has been inserted in my passport, _avec un pistolet_. I beg
+you kindly to bear this in mind." He took out a pocket pistol and held
+it before him. He again looked at the spot; nothing was to be seen; the
+mirror stood as before. He rubbed his eyes. "Stupid stuff," he said;
+"it was, after all, only a sleepy fancy."
+
+The door of the house was closed outside. For a while Mr. Hummel stood
+looking round suspiciously, and perspiration rose on his brow. At last
+he heard Gabriel's knock at the door; he opened it, took the light
+quickly from his hand, and approached the mirror so as to throw the
+light upon the frame and wall.
+
+"It seems to stand firm as iron," he said to himself; "it was only a
+deception."
+
+But he hastily seized his hat, and took the servant out of the room.
+
+"I have had enough for to-day," he muttered; "I wish to get out of this
+house as quickly as possible. I do not like to have you remain here
+alone, Gabriel. Early to-morrow I will call for you; I have business
+for the whole day in the city. Endeavor to sleep; in our beds we shall
+both think of this intrigue and of her who is still seeking a secure
+roof for protection from night-storms and spirits."
+
+Ilse traveled through the night; the rain poured in torrents around
+her, the storm howled through the trees, and the water splashed high
+from the ruts about the horses and carriage. It was only between the
+figures of the men on the front seat that she caught glimpses of the
+midnight sky, which hung heavy and dark above the fugitives. Sometimes
+a glimmer of light twinkled from the window of a house, and then again
+there was nothing but rain, storm, and black night. She maintained a
+terrified silence during the ghostly journey, Mrs. Rollmaus still
+clasping her hand. Ilse was driving into the world, a storm-lashed
+world, poor in light and rich in tears. There was uncertainty and
+fearful anxiety everywhere, whether she thought of the loved one whom
+she left behind her in the hands of the persecutor, or saw before her
+the troubled countenance of her father, and the fields of the estate
+where the young man dwelt whose neighborhood now threatened her with
+new trouble; but she sat erect.
+
+"When he returns to the door over which the dark angel hovers, he will
+ask in vain for his wife. But I have done what I had to do: may the
+sovereign Lord of life watch over me."
+
+There was the sound of a horse's hoofs behind the carriage; it
+approached nearer. Where the private road to the estate branched off
+from the highway, a cavalier galloped up on a foaming horse; he spoke
+to some one on the coachman's seat, the carriage and rider rushed
+forward side by side for a few moments, then the rider reined in his
+horse. The Crown Inspector threw a branch of a tree into the carriage.
+
+"The rider has brought this for Lady Ilse; it is from the tree under
+her window, and the reckoning is paid."
+
+
+
+
+                           _CHAPTER XXXVII_.
+
+                         THE LORD HIGH STEWARD.
+
+
+At the same hour in which Ilse was listening to the comforting words of
+her landlord, the carriage of the Lord High Steward was driving to the
+tower castle of the Princess. The Princess received the announcement
+with astonishment, and flew down to her reception-room. The Professor
+caused the chest with its contents to be taken to his room, and was in
+the act of bending over the manuscript, when the High Marshal entered
+below to deliver himself of his commission. Meanwhile the Princess
+awaited the old gentleman.
+
+The Lord High Steward had been appointed to the honorable office of
+attendance upon the Princess: it was a considerate way of removing him
+from the person of the Sovereign. At the same hour every morning his
+carriage was to be seen standing before the wing of the castle which
+was occupied by the Princess. His personal relations to the young
+Princess appeared cool; in Court society he was treated by her with
+just as much distinction as was needful, and petitioners learnt
+sometimes that their requests were imparted to him. He was esteemed by
+the citizens on account of his benevolence, and was the only one of the
+lords of the Court concerning whom one never heard an unfavorable
+opinion. He dwelt in an old-fashioned house surrounded by gardens, was
+unmarried, rich, without relations, and lived quietly by himself. He
+was, it was supposed, without influence; he was not in favor, and was
+therefore treated by the young cavaliers with chivalrous condescension.
+He was, notwithstanding all this, indispensable to the Sovereign and
+the Court. He was the great dignitary who was necessary for all
+ceremonious affairs; he was counsellor in all family matters; he was
+ambassador and escort in all transactions with foreign powers. He was
+well known at most of the courts of Europe, had acquaintances in the
+great diplomatic bodies, and enjoyed the special favor of various
+rulers whose good will was of importance to the Sovereign; and as in
+our courts the reputation that one enjoys at foreign capitals is the
+standard of the judgment of the palace, the correspondence which he
+carried on with political leaders in foreign countries, and the
+abundance of broad ribbons of which he had the choice, gave him with
+the Sovereign himself an authority which was at the same time
+burdensome and valuable; he was the secret counsellor for the Court and
+the last resource in difficult questions.
+
+The servant opened the door of the Princess's room with a profound bow
+to the old gentleman. Indifferent questions and answers were exchanged,
+the Princess entered the adjoining room and intimated to her faithful
+lady-in-waiting by a sign that she was to keep watch in front. When the
+conversation was secure from the ear of any listener, the demeanor of
+the Princess altered, she hastened up to the old gentleman, seized him
+by the hand, and looked inquiringly at his earnest countenance:
+
+"Has anything happened? No trifle could have caused you to take the
+trouble of coming into this wilderness. What have you to say to your
+little daughter,--is it praise or blame?"
+
+"I am but fulfilling my duty," replied the old lord, "if I make my
+appearance in order to take your Highness's commands, and to ascertain
+whether the residence of my gracious Princess is suitably arranged."
+
+"Your Excellency has come to complain," exclaimed the Princess, drawing
+back, "for you have not one kind word for your little woman."
+
+The High Steward bowed his white head in apology:
+
+"If I appear more serious than usual to your Highness, it is perhaps
+only the fancies of an old man which have intruded themselves at an
+unseasonable time. I beg permission to relieve myself of them by
+discussing them with your Highness. The health of the Sovereign is a
+cause of anxiety to us all: it reminds us of the transitory nature of
+life. Even the good humor of Prince Victor does not succeed in
+dissipating my troubled thoughts."
+
+"How does my cousin?" asked the Princess.
+
+"He overcomes the difficulties of being a Prince in a wonderful way,"
+replied the High Steward; "but he is sound to the core; he knows very
+well how to manage serious things cleverly. I rejoice," added the
+courtier, "that my gracious Princess feels warmly towards a cousin who
+is faithfully devoted to her Highness."
+
+"He has always been true and kind to me," said the Princess,
+indifferently. "But now you have punished me severely enough. What you
+have to say to me confidentially must not be carried on in this way."
+
+She took a chair, and pushed it into the middle of the room.
+
+"Here, sit down, my worthy lord, and allow me to hold the hand of my
+friend when he tells me what makes him anxious on my account."
+
+She fetched herself a low tabouret, held the right hand of the old lord
+between hers, looking earnestly into his eyes.
+
+"Your Highness knows the way of giving me courage to make bold
+requests," said the courtier, laughing.
+
+"That is more to the purpose," said the Princess, relieved; "I now hear
+the voice and hold the hand of him in whom I most love to trust."
+
+"But I wish for your Highness a nearer and stronger support than
+myself," began the old lord, earnestly.
+
+The Princess started.
+
+"So it was that which occasioned your Excellency's journey?" she
+exclaimed, with agitation.
+
+"That was the anxiety which occupied me. It is nothing--nothing more
+than an idea," said the High Steward, inclining his head.
+
+"And is that to tranquilize me more?" asked the Princess. "What has
+hitherto given me the power to live but your Excellency's ideas?"
+
+"When your Highness, while still in widow's weeds, was called home, the
+wish of the Sovereign, making it a duty to attend upon you, was welcome
+to me; because I thereby obtained the right of carrying on this
+conversation with your Highness."
+
+He motioned with his hand to the seat, and the Princess again hastened
+to place herself by his side.
+
+"Now when I see your Highness before me in the bright bloom of youth,
+richly gifted and fitted to confer the greatest happiness on others and
+to partake of it yourself, I cannot forbear thinking that it is wrong
+for you to be debarred from the pleasures of home."
+
+"I have enjoyed this happiness and have lost it," exclaimed the
+Princess. "Now I have accustomed myself to the thought of renouncing
+much. I seek for myself a compensation which even you will not consider
+unworthy."
+
+"There is a difference between us of more than fifty years. A mode of
+life, proper for me, an unimportant man, may not be permitted the
+daughter of a princely house. I beg the permission of my beloved
+Princess," he continued, with a gentle voice, "to draw aside to-day the
+curtain which has covered a dark image of your early youth. You were
+witness of the scene which separated the Sovereign from your
+illustrious mother."
+
+"It is a dark recollection," whispered the Princess, looking up
+anxiously at the old lord; "my mother was reproaching the
+Sovereign,--it was something concerning the fateful Pavilion. The
+Sovereign got into a state of excitement that was fearful. I, then but
+a little girl, ran up and embraced the knees of my mother; he dragged
+me off, and--" the Princess covered her eyes. The old lord made a
+motion to stop her, and continued:
+
+"The after-effect of the scene was ruinous to the life of a noble
+woman, and also to that of yourself. Then for the first time the
+diseased irritability which has since darkened the Sovereign's spirit
+displayed itself; from that day the Sovereign sees in you the living
+witness of his guilt and his disease. He has for years endeavored to
+wipe away from you that impression by kindness and attentions, but he
+has never believed himself to be successful. Shame, suspicion, and fear
+have continually ruined his relations with you. He will not let you go
+away from him, because he fears that in your confidence to another man
+you might betray what he would fain conceal from himself. He
+unwillingly gave in to the first marriage, and he will oppose a second,
+for he does not wish to see your Highness married again. But in the
+hours when dark clouds lie over his extraordinary spirit, he rejoices
+in the thought that your Highness might lose the right of secretly
+reproaching him. The thought that he did an injury to the princely
+dignity of his wife gnaws within him, and he is now occupied with the
+idea that your Highness might under certain circumstances forget your
+position as princess."
+
+"He hopes in vain," exclaimed the Princess, excitedly. "Never will I
+allow myself to be degraded by an unworthy passion; it has not been
+without effect that I have been the child of your cares."
+
+"What is unworthy of a princess?" asked the High Steward, reflectively.
+"That your Highness would keep yourself free from the little passions
+which are excited in the quadrille of a masked ball there can be no
+doubt. But intellectual pastime with subjects of great interest might
+also disturb the life of a woman. Easily does the most refined
+intellectual enjoyment pass into extravagance. More than once has the
+greatest danger of a woman been when under powerful external
+excitement, she has felt herself to be higher, freer, nobler than her
+wont. It is difficult to listen to entrancing music and to preserve
+oneself from a warm interest in the artist who has produced it for us."
+
+The Princess looked down.
+
+"Supposing the case," continued the High Steward, "in which a diseased
+man, in bitter humor, should meditate and work for such an object, the
+sound person should guard himself from doing his will."
+
+"But they should also not allow themselves to be disturbed in what they
+consider for the honor and advantage of their life?" cried the
+Princess, looking up at the old man.
+
+"Certainly not," replied the latter, "if such benefits are in fact to
+be gained by the playful devotion of a woman to art or learning. It
+would be difficult for a princess to find satisfaction in this way. No
+one blames a woman of the people when she makes a great talent the
+vocation of her life; she may satisfy herself as singer or painter and
+please others, and the whole world will smile upon her. But if my
+gracious Princess should employ her rich musical talent in giving a
+public concert, why would men shrug their shoulders at it? Not because
+your Highness's talent is less than that of another artist, but because
+one expects other objects in your life; the nation forms very distinct
+ideal demands of its princes. If, unfortunately, the ruling princes of
+our time do not find it easy to answer to this ideal, yet to the ladies
+of these illustrious families the serious tendency of the present day
+makes this more possible than in my youth. A princess of our people
+ought to be the noble model of a good housewife,--nothing more and
+nothing else: true and right-minded, firmly attached to her husband,
+careful in her daily duties, warm hearted to the needy, kind and
+sympathizing to all who have the privilege of approaching her. If she
+has intellect, she must beware of wishing to shine; if she has a talent
+for business, she must guard herself from becoming an _intrigante_.
+Even the great social talent of virtuosoship she must exercise with the
+greatest discretion. A well-weighed balance of female excellence is the
+best ornament of a princess; her highest honor, that she is better and
+more lovable than others, without parading it, with goodness and
+capacity in everything, and with no pretensions of any kind. For she
+stands too high to seek conquest and acquisition for herself."
+
+The Princess sat near the speaker, her head supported on her arm,
+looking sorrowfully before her.
+
+"My beloved Princess does not hear me speak in this way for the first
+time," continued the Lord High Steward. "I have often felt anxious
+about the dangers which a high-flown spirit and active fancy prepare
+for you, the cradle gift of an envious fairy, who has made your
+Highness too brilliant and attractive. It is owing to these brilliant
+gifts that you have not the same aristocratic nature as your
+illustrious brother, the Hereditary Prince. There is too lively a
+desire in you to make yourself appreciated, and to influence others.
+One can leave your brother with full confidence to his own good nature.
+Every attempt to persuade the soul of the much-tormented child has come
+to naught. But you, that delicate artistic work of nature which now
+gazes at me with those open eyes, I have endeavored constantly to guard
+from an over-refined coquetry of sentiment. I am now the severe
+admonisher to high duties, because I anticipate the dangers which this
+love of conquest in your soul will bring upon yourself and others."
+
+"I hear a severe reproof in loving words," replied the Princess, with
+composure. "I should marry again in order to become distinguished."
+
+"My dear Highness, I wish that you may obtain this great aim as the
+wife of a husband who is not unworthy of your devotion. Only in this
+way can a princess expect true happiness. Even this happiness cannot be
+gained without self-denial, I know it; it is difficult to every one to
+control themselves. To those who are born in the purple this virtue is
+ten times more difficult than to others. Forgive me," he continued, "I
+have become talkative, as often happens to us old people at Court."
+
+"You have not said too much, my friend, nor too little," said the
+Princess, much moved. "I have always cherished the hope to live on
+quietly for myself, surrounded by men who would teach me the highest
+things that it is possible for a woman to acquire. On this path also I
+find tender duties, noble bonds which unite me with the best, and such
+a life also would not be unworthy of a princess; more than one have, in
+former times, chosen this lot, and posterity respects them."
+
+"Your Highness does not mean Queen Christina of Sweden," replied the
+High Steward. "But to others also this lot has seldom been a blessing.
+Your Highness must remember that when a princess surrounds herself with
+wise men, she means always one man who is to her the wisest."
+
+The Princess was silent, and looked down.
+
+"We have now long discussed the possible position of a princess," began
+the old gentleman; "let us now consider the fate of the men who would
+be united by tender bonds to the life of an illustrious lady. Granted
+that she should succeed in finding a friend, who, without unseemly
+pretensions, would attach himself with self-denial and real devotion to
+the active and varied life of a princess. He must sacrifice much and
+forego much; the right of the husband is that the wife should devote
+herself to him, but in this case a man must fetter the powers,--nay,
+even the passions of his nature,--for a woman who would not belong to
+him, whom he could only cautiously approach at certain hours as a
+friend unto friend; who would consider him at first, to a certain
+extent, as a valuable possession and a beautiful ornament, but finally,
+under the best circumstances, as a useful bit of furniture. The
+greatest sufferer in such a position would be the artist or scholar. I
+have always felt compassion for the walking dictionaries of a princely
+household. Even men of great talent then resemble the philosophers of
+ancient Rome, who, with the long beard and the mantle of their schools,
+pass through the streets in the train of some distinguished lady."
+
+The Princess rose, and turned away.
+
+"Better, undoubtedly, is the situation of the man," concluded the High
+Steward, "whose personality allows him to guide, by silent work, the
+life-current of his high-born friend. Yet even he must not only himself
+lose much of what is most delightful in life, but, even with the purest
+intentions, he will not always be able to give pleasure to his
+princess. He who would be more than a faithful servant diminishes the
+security of his princely mistress. Should such chivalrous devotion be
+offered, a noble woman should hesitate to accept it, but to endeavor to
+attract it does not become a princess."
+
+Tears rushed to the eyes of the Princess, and she turned quickly to the
+old man.
+
+"I know such a life," she exclaimed; "one that has been passed in
+unceasing self-denial--a blessing to three ladies of our family. O my
+father, I know well what you have been to us; have patience with your
+poor ward. I struggle against your words; it is a hard task for me to
+listen to you, and yet I know that you are the only secure support that
+I have ever had in this life. Your admonitions alone have preserved me
+from destruction."
+
+Again she seized his hand, and her head sank on his shoulder.
+
+"I loved your grandmother," replied the old man, with trembling voice;
+"it was at a time when such things were lightly thought of. It was a
+pure connection; I lived for her; I made daily self-sacrifice for her.
+She was unhappy, for she was the wife of another, and her holiest
+duties were made difficult to her by my life. I guarded your mother
+like an anxious servant, but I could not prevent her from being unhappy
+and dying with the feeling of her misery. And now I hold the third
+generation to my heart, and before I am called away I would like to
+impress my life and the sufferings of your mother as a lesson on you. I
+have never been so anxious about you as I am now. If my dear child has
+ever felt the heart of a fatherly friend in my words, she should not
+lightly esteem my counsel now, whatever brilliant dreams it may
+dispel."
+
+"I will think of your words," exclaimed the Princess. "I will endeavor
+to resign my wishes; but, father, my kind father, it will be very hard
+for me."
+
+The old gentleman collected himself, and interrupted her.
+
+"It is enough," he said, with the composure that befitted his office;
+"your Highness has shown me great consideration to-day. There are
+others who also desire their share of your Highness's favor."
+
+There was a knock at the door. The waiting-woman entered.
+
+"The servant announces that Lady Gotlinde and the gentlemen are waiting
+in the tea-room."
+
+"I have still some business with his Excellency," answered the
+Princess, gently. "I must beg Gotlinde to take my place in entertaining
+our guest."
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+Evening had descended upon the castle-tower, the bats flew from their
+hiding-places in the vacant room; they whirled about in circles,
+astonished that they had awoke in an empty habitation. The owls flew
+into the crevices of the tower, and searched with their round eyes
+after the old arm-chairs, on which they had formerly waited for the
+stupid mice; and the death-watch, which the scholar had carried down
+from the lonely room, gnawed and ticked on the staircase and in the
+rooms of the castle among living men. The rain beat against the walls,
+and the stormy wind howled round the tower. The wife of the scholar was
+driving through the night, flying like a hunted hare; but he was pacing
+up and down his room, dreamily forming from the discovered leaves the
+whole lost manuscript. And again he wondered within himself that it
+looked quite different from what he had imagined it for years.
+
+The wind also howled about the princely castle at the capital, and
+large drops of rain beat against the window; there, also, the powers of
+nature raged and demanded entrance into the firm fortress of man. The
+darkness of the night seemed to pervade the halls and the decorated
+rooms like gloomy smoke; only the lamps in the pleasure-grounds threw
+their pale light through the window, and made the desolate look of the
+room still more dreary. The melancholy tones of the castle clock
+sounded through the house, announcing that the first hour of the new
+day was come. Then again silence, desolate silence, everywhere; only a
+pale glimmer from the distance on the covers of the chandeliers and the
+golden ornaments of the walls. Sometimes there was a crackling in the
+parquet of the floor, and a draught of wind blew through an open pane
+upon the curtains, which hung black round the window like funeral
+drapery. Here and there fell a scanty ray of light on the wall, where
+hung the portraits of the ancestors of the princely house in the dress
+of their time. Many generations had dwelt in these rooms; stately men
+and beautiful women had danced here. Wine had been poured out in golden
+goblets; gracious words, festive speeches, and the soft murmur of love,
+had been heard here; the splendor of every former age had been outdone
+by the richer adornment of later ones. Now everything had vanished and
+withered; the darkness of night and of death hung over the bright
+colors. All those who had once moved about and rejoiced in the
+brilliant throng, had passed away into the depths. Nothing now remained
+of these hours but a dreary void and dismal stillness, and one single
+figure which glided about on the smooth floor, noiseless like a ghost.
+It was the lord of this castle. His head bent forward as in a dream, he
+passed along by the pictures of his ancestors.
+
+"The timid doe has escaped," he whispered; "the panther made too short
+a spring: in rage and shame he now creeps back to his den. The powerful
+beast could not conceal his claws. The chase is over; it is time to set
+at rest the beatings of this breast. It was only a woman--a small,
+unknown human life. But the jade Fancy had bound my senses to her body;
+to her alone belonged whatever remained in me of warmth and devotion to
+human kind."
+
+He stopped before a picture, on which fell the gloomy light of an
+expiring lamp.
+
+"You, my steel-clad ancestor, know what the feeling is of him who flies
+from home and court, and has to give up to his enemy what is dear to
+him. When you fled from the castle of your fathers, a homeless
+fugitive, pursued by a pack of foreign mercenaries, there was misery in
+your heart, and you cast back a wild curse behind you. Still poorer
+does your descendant feel, who now glides fleeting through the
+inheritance that you have left him. To you remained hope in your hard
+heart; but I to-day have lost all that is worth the effort of life. She
+has escaped my guards. Where to? To her father's house on the rock!
+Cursed be the hour when I, deceived by her words, sent the boy among
+those mountains."
+
+He dragged himself onward.
+
+"The third station on the road to the end," he meditated, "is idle and
+empty play, and puerile tricks. So said the learned pedant. It
+coincides; I am transformed into a childish caricature of my nature.
+Miserable was the texture of the net which I drew around her; a firm
+will could have broken it in a moment. He was right; the game was
+childish: by a stroke of a quill I wished to hold him fast, and, before
+the art of the Magister had accomplished its purpose, I disturbed the
+success of the scheme by the trembling haste of my passion. When the
+news comes to him that his wife has fled, he also will pack up his
+books, and mock me at a safe distance. Bad player, who approached the
+gaming-table with a good method, to put piece after piece on the green
+cloth, and who in his madness flung down his purse and lost all in one
+throw. Curses upon him and me! He must not escape from me; he must not
+see her. Yet, what use is there in keeping him, unless I encase his
+limbs in iron, or conceal his body below, where we shall all be
+concealed when others obtain the power of doing what they will with us?
+You lie. Professor, when you compare me to your old Emperors. I am
+alarmed at the thought of things which they did laughing, and my brain
+refuses to think of what was once commanded by a short gesture of the
+hand. A ball and dice for two," he continued; "that is a merry game,
+invented by men of my sort; as it turns up, one falls and the other
+escapes. We will throw the dice. Professor, to see which of us shall do
+his opponent the last service; and I will greet you, dreamer, if I am
+the fortunate one that is carried to rest. Does thy wit, philosopher,
+extend far enough to see thy fate, as happened to that old astrologer,
+of whom thy Tiberius inquired about his own future? Let us try how wise
+you are."
+
+He again stood still, and looked restlessly on the dark pictures.
+
+"You shake your heads, you silent figures; many of you have done injury
+to others; but you are all honorably interred, with mourning marshals
+and funeral horses. Songs have been sung in your honor, and learned men
+have framed Latin elegies, and sighed that the golden shower has ceased
+that fell upon them from your hands. There stands one of you," he
+exclaimed, gazing with fixed eyes on a corner; "there hovers the spirit
+of woe, the dark shadow that passes through this house when misfortune
+approaches it--guilt and atonement It passes along bodiless to frighten
+fools, an apparition of my diseased mind. I see it raise its hand--it
+scares me. I am terrified at the images of my own brain. Away!" he
+called out, aloud, "away! I am the lord of this house."
+
+He ran through the room and stumbled; the black shadow hastened behind
+him. The Sovereign fell upon the floor. He cried aloud for help through
+the desolate space. A valet hastened from the anteroom. He found his
+master lying on the ground.
+
+"I heard a shrill cry," said the Sovereign, raising himself up; "who
+was it that screamed above my head?"
+
+The servant replied, trembling:
+
+"I know not who it was. I heard the cry, and hastened hither."
+
+"It was myself, I suppose," the master returned, in a faltering tone;
+"my weakness overcame me."
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+In the early morning the Professor called to the Castellan, and rushed
+up the staircase of the tower. He went about the room, pushing boards
+and planks in all directions; he found many forgotten chests, but not
+that which he sought. He made the Castellan open each of the adjoining
+rooms; went through garrets and cellars; he examined the forester, who
+lived in a house near by, but the latter could give him no information.
+When the Scholar again entered his room, he laid his head on his hands;
+prolonged disappointment and the consciousness of his impotence
+overmastered him. But he chid and restrained himself.
+
+"I have lost too much of the cool circumspection which Fritz said was
+the highest virtue of a collector. I must accustom myself to the
+thought of self-resignation, and calmly examine the hopes which still
+remain. I must not be ungrateful also for the little I have gained."
+
+He could not sit quietly by the discovered leaves, but paced
+thoughtfully up and down. He heard voices in the court-yard; hasty
+running in the passages; and at last a lackey announced the arrival of
+the Sovereign, and that he wished to see the Professor at breakfast.
+
+The table was spread among blooming bushes on the side of the tower
+that faced the rising sun. When the Professor entered under the roof
+which protected the place from rain and the rays of the sun, he found
+there, besides the household and Marshal, the forest officials and the
+Lord High Steward, who thought, with more anxiety than the Professor,
+of the sudden arrival of the Sovereign. The old lord approached the
+Scholar, and spoke on indifferent subjects.
+
+"How long do you think of remaining here?" he asked, politely.
+
+"I shall request permission to return to the city in an hour; I have
+accomplished what I had to do."
+
+It was a long time before the princely party appeared. When the
+Sovereign approached them, all present were struck by his ill
+appearance: his movements were hurried, his features disturbed, and his
+looks passed unsteadily over the company. He turned first to the
+forester, who was in attendance, and asked him, harshly:
+
+"How can you tolerate the disagreeable screaming of the daws on the
+tower? It was your business to remove them."
+
+"Her Highness the Princess last summer requested that the birds be
+left."
+
+"The noise is insupportable to me," said the Sovereign; "bring out the
+weapons, and prepare yourself to shoot among them."
+
+As the practice of shooting was one of the regular country pleasures of
+the Court, and the Sovereign had, even in the neighborhood of the
+castle, frequently used his gun on birds of prey or other unusual
+objects, the Court thought less seriously of this commission than did
+the Scholar.
+
+The Sovereign turned to the Lord High Steward.
+
+"I am surprised to find your Excellency here," he said; "I did not know
+that you too had taken leave of absence for this quiet life."
+
+"My gracious master would have been surprised if I had not done my
+duty. It was my intention to have reported to your Highness to-day at
+the palace concerning the health of the Princess."
+
+"So it was for that," said the Sovereign. "I had forgotten that my Lord
+High Steward is never weary of his office of guardian."
+
+"An office that one has exercised almost half a century in the service
+of the illustrious family becomes in fact a habit," replied the High
+Steward. "Your Highness has heretofore judged with kind consideration
+the zeal of a servant who is anxious to make himself useful."
+
+The Sovereign turned to the Marshal, and asked, in a suppressed voice:
+
+"Will he remain?"
+
+The Marshal replied, distressed:
+
+"I could obtain no promise, nor even a wish from him."
+
+"I knew it already," replied the Sovereign, hoarsely. He turned to the
+Professor, and violently forced himself to assume a friendly demeanor,
+as he said: "I have heard from my daughter of your campaign against
+broken chairs. I wish to have some talk with you alone about it."
+
+They sat down to table. The Sovereign gazed vacantly before him, and
+drank several glasses of wine; the Princess also sat silent, the
+conversation flagged, the High Steward alone became talkative. He asked
+about a bust of Winkelmann, and spoke of the lively interest which the
+nation took in the fate of their intellectual leaders.
+
+"It must be an agreeable feeling," he said, politely, to the Professor,
+"to be in a certain measure under the protection of the whole civilized
+world. In the majority of cases the private life of our great men of
+learning passes away uneventfully, but our people delight in occupying
+themselves with the course of life of those who have departed. If happy
+accident brings a person into contact with gentlemen of your standing,
+he must take care that he does not suffer for all eternity under the
+hands of later biographers. I confess," he continued, laughing, "that a
+fear on this point has robbed me of many interesting acquaintances."
+
+The Professor answered, quietly:
+
+"The people are conscious that they have by the labor of scholars first
+been raised from misery; but with greater experience in political life,
+their interest in the promoters of our present culture will assume more
+moderate proportions."
+
+"I have told the Sovereign that you have found something here,"
+remarked the Princess, across the table.
+
+"There has been a remarkable discovery made in an ancient sepulchre,"
+interrupted the High Steward; and he gave a diffuse account of a
+funeral urn.
+
+But now the Sovereign himself turned to the Scholar.
+
+"Surely you may hope to find the rest?"
+
+"Unfortunately, I do not know where to search further," replied the
+Professor.
+
+"What you have found, then," continued the Sovereign, with
+self-control, "is unimportant."
+
+It did not please the Professor that the conversation should again turn
+upon the manuscript; he felt annoyed at having to talk about his
+Romans.
+
+"It is a few chapters from the sixth book of the Annals," he replied,
+with reserve.
+
+"When your Highness was at Pompeii," interposed the High Steward, "the
+inscriptions on the walls attracted your attention. In those days a
+beautiful treatise upon the subject came into my hands; it is
+fascinating to observe the lively people of lower Italy in the
+unrestrained expression of their love and their hatred. One feels
+oneself transplanted as vividly into the old time by the na�ve
+utterances of the common people, as if one took a newspaper in one's
+hand that had been written centuries ago. If any one had told the
+citizens of Pompeii that at the end of eighteen centuries it would be
+known who they, in accidental ill-humor, had treated with hostility,
+they would hardly have believed it. We indeed are more cautious."
+
+"That was the hatred of insignificant people," replied the Sovereign,
+absently. "Tacitus knew nothing of that, he only concerned himself
+about the scandal of the court. Probably he also held office."
+
+The Princess looked uneasily at the Sovereign.
+
+"Is there anything in the contents of the parchment leaves which would
+be interesting to us ladies?" she said, endeavoring to turn the
+conversation.
+
+"Nothing new," replied the Scholar. "As I had the honor of telling your
+Highness, the same passage was already known to us from an Italian
+manuscript: it is about small events in the Roman senate."
+
+"Quarrels of the assembled fathers," interposed the Sovereign,
+carelessly. "They were miserable slaves. Is that all?"
+
+"At the end, there is another anecdote of the last years of Tiberius.
+The disturbed mind of the prince clung to astrology: he called
+astrologers to him to Capri, and caused those to be cast into the sea
+whom he suspected of deceit. Even the prudent Trasyllus was taken to
+him over the fatal rock path, and he announced the concealed secret of
+the Imperial life. Then the Emperor furtively asked of him whether he
+knew what would happen to himself that day? The philosopher inquired of
+the stars, and called out, trembling: 'My situation is critical; I see
+myself in danger of death.' At this passage our fragment breaks off.
+The incident may have been repeated--the same anecdote attaches to more
+than one princely life."
+
+A couple of daws flew round the battlements of the tower, they cawed
+and screamed, and told one another that underneath there stood a
+sportsman who was seeking his game. The Sovereign suddenly arose.
+
+"There must be an end to the screaming of these birds."
+
+He beckoned to the forester. The man approached, and placed a weapon in
+his hands. The Sovereign placed the but-end on the ground and turned to
+the Professor, while the Princess, disquieted by the last words of the
+Scholar, stood aside with her suite, struggling for composure.
+
+"The Princess has told me," began the Sovereign, "that you have some
+hesitation as to fulfilling a wish that we have all much at heart. I
+hope that the hindrances may not be insurmountable."
+
+"It becomes me," replied the Professor, delighted by the kind words of
+the Sovereign, "to weigh calmly so honorable a proposal. But I have
+other things to take into account besides the cause of learning."
+
+"What others?" asked the Sovereign.
+
+"The wish of a loved wife," said the Professor. A sudden convulsion
+shook the limbs of the Sovereign.
+
+"And how do you consider your relations to me?" asked the Sovereign, in
+a hoarse voice.
+
+The Scholar looked at the man, from whose eyes darted a look of deadly
+hatred and malignity. He saw the muzzle of the weapon directed toward
+his breast, and the raised foot of the Sovereign feeling for the
+trigger. The flash of lightning impended, there was no room for flight,
+no time for movement; the thought of the last moment passed through his
+mind. He saw before him the distorted countenance of the Emperor
+Tiberius, and he said, in a low voice:
+
+"I stand on the verge of death."
+
+"The Sovereign is sinking," called out the High Steward.
+
+He threw himself with outstretched arms towards his master, and seized
+his hands. The Sovereign tottered, the weapon fell to the ground, he
+himself was received in the arms of those who hastened toward him. The
+Princess flew up to them, and looked inquiringly into the pale face of
+the Scholar.
+
+"The Sovereign has been attacked by a sudden dizziness," answered the
+latter calmly.
+
+"My master is losing consciousness," cried the High Steward. "How are
+you, Mr. Werner?"
+
+The hands of the old man trembled. The Sovereign lay senseless in the
+arms of his attendants, and was carried to the castle.
+
+The by-standers expressed with much concern their terror at the event
+and the Princess hastened after the stricken Sovereign. Before the High
+Steward followed, he said to the Professor, whilst giving him a
+searching look:
+
+"It is not the first time that the Sovereign has been taken ill in such
+a manner. Was that a surprise to you? You did not know that the
+Sovereign was suffering in this way?"
+
+"I know it to-day," replied the Scholar, coldly.
+
+A few minutes afterwards the High Steward entered the room of the
+Professor, who was preparing for his journey.
+
+"I come to beg your indulgence," began the High Steward; "for I must
+trouble you with an acknowledgment which is painful to me. You have
+talked much lately in my presence to the Sovereign of the C�sarian
+madness of the Roman emperors. What you then said was very instructive
+to me."
+
+"I now find," replied the Professor, gloomily, "that the place was ill
+chosen."
+
+"More than you assume," replied the courtier, drily. "To me it was
+peculiarly instructive, but not so much what you said as that you said
+it. I should not have thought it possible that any one would so acutely
+reason upon the past, and so completely give up all judgment of that
+which was around him. You then told a sick man the story of his own
+disease."
+
+"I have just discovered that," replied the Scholar.
+
+"The Sovereign is diseased in mind. It is now necessary that you should
+know it. I have a second confession to make to you. I discover that I
+have misjudged you."
+
+"I shall be glad if your present opinion is more favorable to me than
+the former one," replied the Professor, with dignity.
+
+"In your point of view, yes," continued the High Steward. "I have for a
+long time regarded you in your relations here as a cautious man, who
+was cleverly following out his objects. I have learnt that you are not
+that, but something different."
+
+"An honorable man, your Excellency," replied the Professor.
+
+"We have nothing to reproach one another with," rejoined the courtier,
+bowing; "as you misjudged the Sovereign, so did I misunderstand you;
+but my mistake is the greater, for I am an older man, and I have not
+the excuse of a specially intellectual mind, which sometimes makes it
+difficult for a man to judge correctly of other natures. But we have
+both one excuse. It is seldom easy to form a just estimate of those who
+have grown up in other circles, and show a different combination of
+virtues and weaknesses. We are all liable to be confused in our
+judgment, according as our self-respect is satisfied or wounded. Where
+genial tendencies find no response, displeasure erects a barrier; and
+where powerful tones echo sympathetically to one's breast, there is the
+danger of too rapid intimacy. Thus I have put too low a value on your
+honorable openness and candor. I now pay the penalty, for I have to
+confide to you a secret that I have no doubt you will accept with
+proper regard."
+
+"I assume that your Excellency does not make this communication to me
+without a specific cause."
+
+"There is a plan for keeping you in our city," interposed the High
+Steward.
+
+"Proposals of this nature have been made to me since yesterday."
+
+The High Steward continued: "It is not necessary for me to be anxious
+about your answer. You have learnt the meaning which is concealed under
+a veil of civility. Do you know why the Sovereign made you the
+proposal?"
+
+"No; up to this morning I have not doubted that a certain personal
+feeling of kindness, and the view that I might be useful here, were the
+motives."
+
+"You are mistaken," replied the High Steward. "It is not a wish to keep
+you here merely for passing private interests. The real motive is, as
+appears to me, the freak of a diseased mind, which sees in you an
+opponent, and fears a sharp-sightedness that will remorselessly
+disclose to the world a diseased spirit. You were to be fettered here;
+you were to be cajoled, watched, and persecuted. You are an object of
+interest, of fear, and of aversion."
+
+The Professor rose.
+
+"What I have experienced and what you tell me compel me to leave this
+place instantly."
+
+"I do not wish," said the High Steward, "that you shall depart from
+here with displeasure, if this can be avoided; both on your own account
+and for the sake of many of us."
+
+The Professor went to the table, on which lay the parchment leaves.
+
+"I beg your indulgence if I do not regain my composure immediately. The
+situation in which we are placed is like that of a distant century; it
+stands in fearful contrast to the cheerful security with which we are
+wont to consider our own lives and the souls of our contemporaries."
+
+"Cheerful security?" asked the High Steward, sorrowfully. "In courts,
+at least, you must not seek this, nor under any circumstances in which
+the individual passes out of private life. Cheerful security! I must
+ask whether we have it in this century? It would be difficult to find a
+time in which there is so much that is insecure; in which the old is so
+decayed, and the new so weak."
+
+The Professor raised his head, astonished at the bitter complaints of
+the old man. The High Steward continued, indignantly:
+
+"I hear everywhere of the hopes that one has in the nation, and I see
+an abundance of young student-like confidence. There is not much mature
+power, and I do not blame a sanguine man if he places his hopes on it;
+nay, I even admit that this youthful spirit is in fact the best hope
+that we have. But I am an old man; I cannot among these novelties find
+anything that commands my respect, where they affect the interests of
+private life. I feel the decay of vital power in the air which
+surrounds me. My youth belonged to a time when the best culture of the
+nation was to be found at Court. My own ancestors have for six
+centuries taken an eager part in the follies and crimes, and also in
+the pride, of their times; and I have grown to be a man in the
+conception that princes and nobles were the born leaders of the nation.
+I see with sorrow that they have for long, perhaps for ever, lost this
+lead. Much of what you lately said exactly coincides with the last
+decades that I have passed through. It has been a sorrowful time; the
+hollow weakness in the life of the people has in a great measure
+deteriorated the higher classes. But there has not been altogether a
+deficiency of honorable and powerful men. What time has been entirely
+without them? But what should be the noblest blossom of the national
+strength is just what in this empty shallow time is most deeply
+diseased."
+
+The Professor interposed:
+
+"It is a cause for sorrow; but where, perhaps, the individual loses,
+the whole gains?"
+
+"Undoubtedly not," replied the courtier; "if only the gain to the whole
+was certain. But I see with astonishment that the greatest concerns of
+the nation are carried on, on all sides, with school-boyish pettiness.
+Much that is valuable is lost; nothing better is gained. The delicacy
+of feeling which formerly expressed itself beneficially in all forms of
+intercourse, and the discreet management of important affairs, become
+rare. If these advantages did not suffice to form the character, as is
+perhaps needed in the present, they made life pleasing and beautiful. A
+secure feeling of superiority, and a gracious rule over others, was
+general at courts and in business; of this we are deprived. Diplomacy
+has ceased to be distinguished. One sets bluntly to work; not only
+nobleness of feeling, but even the pleasing show of it is wanting; an
+uncertain pettiness, a grumbling, irritable, reserved character has
+gained the upper hand at courts, and in diplomacy ill-bred frivolity,
+without knowledge and without manly will. Our princes rattle about like
+accoutred idlers; the old court discipline is lost, and one feels
+oneself incessantly on the defensive, and seeks for safety in senseless
+attacks. It is impossible not to feel that by these acts one is
+irretrievably going downward."
+
+The Professor smiled at the sorrow of the old lord.
+
+"I do not blame you," continued the High Steward, "if you do not feel
+the misfortune of this change as deeply as I do. It is only a pity that
+it should always be the highest earthly interests which are thus
+trifled with."
+
+"But is this misfortune so general?" replied the Professor.
+
+"Some splendid exceptions have not been wanting," said the High
+Steward; "some were granted us at a time when we played the greatest
+tragedy before the world, as if here and there to preserve a bright
+romance. They have scarcely been wanting in a country which possesses
+the five qualities which are necessary to form a good court: an upright
+sovereign, an amiable princess, a high-minded statesman, some
+intellectual court ladies, and a superior spirit among the cavaliers.
+But these requisites are seldom found."
+
+"Were they ever frequent?"
+
+"They were the pride of our nation at the time from which my earliest
+recollections date," replied the High Steward.
+
+"Just at this time we gained something else of which we may still be
+proud," rejoined the Scholar. "There was a short period during which
+the Court became the home of the most liberal culture of the time, and
+it was only through the rare political circumstances of our nation that
+this leadership was possible. Now it has passed into other circles, and
+we have exchanged the increased capacity of many for the distinguished
+culture of individuals."
+
+"In this also there is a loss," returned the High Steward;
+"distinguished men have become rare. I am ready to acknowledge the
+advance which the citizen classes have made in the last fifty years.
+But the capacity which a people develop in trade and commerce is
+seldom united with secure self-respect, nay, seldom also with that
+firmly-established position which is necessary to political strength.
+Too frequently we find a wavering between discontented insolence and
+over-great subserviency; covetousness abounds, and self-sacrifice is
+small. Wealth increases everywhere; who can deny that? But not in the
+same degree a comprehension of the highest interests of the nation."
+
+"Time will improve," rejoined the Scholar, "and our sons will become
+firmer and freer; here too our future belongs to those who work
+laboriously."
+
+"Much may be lost," said the High Steward, "before the improvement
+which you expect becomes great enough to secure to those who are
+struggling onward a salutary and active participation in the affairs of
+government. I am too old to nourish myself with hopes, and therefore
+cannot adopt your sanguine conception of our situation. I wish for the
+good of our nation, in whatever way it may come. I know it has passed
+through crises more critical than its present swaying between a
+decaying and a rising culture. But I feel that the air in which I live
+is growing more sultry; the tense excitement of contrast more
+dangerous. When I look back on a long life, I sometimes feel horror at
+the moral pestilence that I have contemplated. It was not a time of
+gigantic vices like your Imperial era, but it was a time in which,
+after short poetic dreams, the weakness of petty souls ruled and
+brought distraction. The figures which in this lamentable time have
+passed away will appear to posterity, not fearful, but grotesque and
+contemptible. You, Professor, live in a new epoch in which a younger
+generation awkwardly endeavors to rise. I have no sympathy for the new
+style. I have not the courage to hope, for I have no power to promote
+the culture of the younger generation."
+
+He had risen. The old man and the young, vigorous man, the diplomat and
+the scholar, stood opposite to each other; the one an advocate for the
+world which was tending downwards; the other a proclaimer of a teaching
+which was unceasingly to renew the old world; secret sorrow lay on the
+calm countenance of the old man, and feeling, vigorous feeling, worked
+in the animated features of the younger: a high mind and a refined
+spirit were visible in the open countenance of both.
+
+"What we had to say to one another," continued the High Steward, "is
+said. I have endeavored to make amends for my mistake in regard to you.
+May the gossiping openness with which I have exposed myself to your
+judgment be some small compensation for my having been so long silent.
+It is the best satisfaction that I can give to a man of your sort. As
+respects the diseased state of mind of others, which was the subject of
+our conversation, there need be no further words between us; both of us
+will endeavor to do what is our duty concerning the men that are
+entrusted to our care, to preserve them from danger and to guard
+ourselves. Mr. Werner, farewell. May the occupation which you have
+chosen preserve your joyful confidence in your time and your generation
+for as many years as I bear on my head. This highest happiness of man,
+I, an insignificant individual, have painfully felt the want of, as did
+your great Roman."
+
+"Allow me, your Excellency, to express one request to you," replied the
+Scholar, with warm feeling. "Often may the unpractical activity of the
+new apostles evoke a bitter smile from you, and the unfinished work
+which we pioneers of learning throw off will not always satisfy the
+demands which you make upon us; but when you are compelled to blame us,
+remember, with forbearance, that our nation can only bear within it the
+guaranty of renewing youth so long as it does not lose respect for
+intellectual aspiration, and retains its simple honesty, in love and
+hate. So long as the nation renews itself, it may inspire its princes
+and leaders with new life; for we are not Romans, but staunch and
+warm-hearted Germans."
+
+"Nero no longer ventures to burn the apostles of a new doctrine,"
+replied the High Steward, with a sad smile. "May I say something kindly
+from you to the Sovereign, as far as is compatible with your dignity?"
+
+"I beg you to do so," replied the Professor.
+
+The Professor hastened to take leave of the Princess. She received him
+in the presence of her ladies and the Marshal. Few words were
+exchanged. Upon expressing the hope of seeing him soon again at the
+capital, speech almost forsook her. When he had left the room, she flew
+up to her library and looked down on the carriage into which the chest
+was being put. She plucked some flowers which the gardener had placed
+in her room, and fastened them together with a ribbon.
+
+"His eye looked upon you, and his voice sounded in the narrow halls in
+which you are passing your life. It was a short dream! No, not a dream,
+a beautiful picture from a new world."
+
+"As the womanly heart submits, in loving devotion, to the stronger mind
+of a life-companion, her eye fixed upon his, such is the happiness of
+which I have had a presage. Only once has my hand touched his, but I
+feel as if I had lain on his heart, invisible, bodiless. No one knows
+it, not even himself, I alone felt the happiness. Light, airy bond,
+woven of the tenderest threads that ever were drawn from one human soul
+to another, thou must be torn and blown away! Only the consciousness
+remains that the inclination which drew two strangers together has been
+forever a blessing to one of them.
+
+"You, earnest man, go on your path, and I on mine; and if accident
+should bring us together, then we shall bow civilly to each other, and
+greet one another with courtly speeches. Farewell, my scholar. When I
+meet with one of your associates, I shall henceforth know that he
+belongs to the silent community, in whose porch I have humbly bowed my
+head."
+
+From the tops of the trees on which the princely child was looking down
+the birds were singing. The carriage rolled away; she bent down, and
+held the nosegay with outstretched hand; then with a powerful swing she
+threw the flowers on to the top of a tree; they hung among the leaves;
+a little bird flew out, but the next moment he again perched by the
+nosegay, and continued his song. But the Princess leaned her head
+against the wall of the tower.
+
+The Scholar drove to the city with the chest he had found beside him.
+More rapid and stormy than on his coming were the thoughts that flitted
+through his soul; he hastened the coachman, and an indefinite anxiety
+fixed his looks on the rising towers of the capital. But amidst all, he
+ever saw the figure of the High Steward before him, and heard the
+sorrowful words of his soft voice.
+
+"Immeasurably great is the difference between the narrow relations of
+this Court and the mighty greatness of Imperial Rome; immeasurably
+great also the difference between the troubled Court lord and the
+gloomy power of a Roman senator. And yet there is something in the
+structure of the soul that has this day displayed itself to me which
+reminds me of a figure from a time long past; and what he said sounds
+in my soul like a feeble tone from the heart of the man whose work I
+seek in vain. For just as we endeavor to explain the present from the
+past, so do we interpret circumstances and figures of a past time in
+the light of the men that live around us. The past unceasingly sends
+its spirit into our souls, and we unceasingly adapt the past to conform
+to the needs of our hearts."
+
+
+
+
+                           _CHAPTER XXXVIII_.
+
+                          THE MAGISTER'S EXIT.
+
+
+Professor Raschke was sitting on the floor of his room. The bright
+colors of his Turkish dressing-gown were faded; constant perseverance
+in scientific service had given it a tinge of pale grey, but it still
+continued worthily to cover the limbs of its master. The Professor had
+seated himself by the side of his eldest son Marcus, in order to
+facilitate the latter's study of the first book of A, B, C. While the
+little one, tired of the pictures, was resting, his father made use of
+the pause to draw a small copy of Aristotle out of his pocket. He read,
+and made remarks with a pencil, not observing that his son Marcus had
+long thrown away the picture book, and with the other children danced
+round their father.
+
+"Papa, take your legs away; we can't get round them," exclaimed Bertha,
+the eldest, from whom, indeed, one might have expected greater
+discretion.
+
+Raschke drew in his legs, and as after that he found his seat
+uncomfortable, he desired the children to bring him a chair. They
+brought the chair, and he supported his back against it.
+
+"We can't get around yet," cried the dancing children.
+
+Raschke looked up. "Then I will sit upon the chair."
+
+That was satisfactory to the children, and the noisy hubbub continued.
+
+"Come here, Bertha," said Raschke; "you may act as my desk." He laid
+the book on her head whilst he read and wrote; and the little one stood
+as still as a mouse under the book, and scolded the others because they
+made a noise.
+
+There was a knock; the Doctor entered.
+
+"Ha, Fritz!" called out the Professor; "I hardly recognized you; I must
+try to recall your face. Is it right to set your friends aside in this
+way, when a friendly greeting might do you good? Laura has told me what
+has happened to your dear father. A heavy loss," he continued,
+sorrowfully: "if I am not mistaken, two hundred thousand."
+
+"Just one cipher too much."
+
+"It matters little," replied Raschke, "what the loss is, compared with
+the sorrow it occasions. I should have been with you, Fritz, at that
+time. I started immediately, but a circumstance interfered with my
+intention," he added, embarrassed. "I have long been accustomed to go
+to your street in the evening, and--well--I got to the wrong house, and
+with difficulty found my way back to the lecture."
+
+"Do not pity me," replied the Doctor; "rejoice with me--I am a happy
+man. I have just now found, what I despaired of obtaining, Laura's
+heart and the consent of her father."
+
+Raschke clapped the Doctor on the shoulder, and pressed first one hand,
+then the other. "The father's!" he exclaimed; "he was the hindrance. I
+know something of him, and I know his dog. If I may judge of the man by
+his dog," he continued, doubtingly, "he must be a character. Is it not
+so, my friend?"
+
+The Doctor laughed. "There has been an old enmity brooding over our
+street. My poor soul has been unkindly treated by him, like the Psyche
+in the tale of Venus. He vents his anger upon me, and gives me
+insoluble tasks. But beneath all his insolence, I perceive that he is
+reconciled to my attachment. I anticipate happiness, for I am to-day to
+accompany Laura to Bielstein. On my friend's account alone have I
+wished to start earlier on this journey. I cannot rid myself of one
+anxiety. I am disturbed that the Magister is in the neighborhood of
+Werner."
+
+Raschke passed his hand through his hair. "Indeed," he exclaimed.
+
+"I have distinct reasons for this," continued the Doctor. "The dealer
+who was said, to have brought the forged parchment strip of Struvelius
+to the city was sent to me by the mother of the Magister. I dealt
+severely with him, as was natural; but he assured me that he knew
+nothing of such a parchment, and never had sold such a sheet to the
+Magister. The anger of the man at the false assertion of the Magister
+has made me very anxious. It confirms a suspicion that I have expressed
+in a letter with respect to the genuineness of another piece of writing
+which has been mentioned to me by Werner from the capital. I cannot
+help fearing that the Magister himself was the forger, and a terror
+comes over me at the thought that he is now exercising his art upon our
+friend."
+
+"That is a very serious affair," exclaimed Raschke, pacing up and down,
+disquieted. "Werner trusted the Magister implicitly."
+
+The Doctor also paced up and down. "Only think, if his noble confidence
+should make him the victim of a deceit. Fancy what a bitter sorrow that
+would be to him. He would long struggle sternly and self-tormentingly
+with a painful impression, which we should not be able to obliterate
+without great effort."
+
+"You are quite right," said Raschke, again passing his hand through his
+hair. "It is not in him to be able to overcome moral delinquency
+without great excitement. You must warn him at once, and that face to
+face."
+
+"Unfortunately I cannot do that for several days; meanwhile, I beg of
+you to make Professor Struvelius acquainted with the statement of the
+dealer."
+
+The Doctor went away. Raschke forgot Aristotle, and meditated anxiously
+on the treachery of the Magister. Whilst so doing, there was a knock,
+and Struvelius, with Flaminia, stood at the open door.
+
+Raschke greeted them, called his wife, begged them to sit down, and
+quite forgot that he was in his Turkish dressing-gown.
+
+"We come with one wish," began Flaminia, solemnly. "It is with respect
+to our colleague Werner. My husband will impart to you what has moved
+us both deeply."
+
+Raschke started up from his chair. Struvelius, whose emotion was only
+visible in his bristly hair, began: "We were called yesterday to the
+police-station. When the brother of Magister Knips fled to America, his
+things were taken possession of on the application of petty creditors,
+and as the greater portion of his effects were at his mother's house,
+they were taken away from there. Amongst them were utensils and
+portfolios which evidently did not belong to the fugitive, but to his
+brother; one of those portfolios contained tracings after the style of
+manuscripts, unfinished attempts to imitate old writings, and written
+parchment sheets. The officials had been surprised at these, and
+requested me to inspect them. It appeared upon closer observation that
+the Magister had long been occupied in acquiring the skill of imitating
+the characters of the Middle Ages. And from the fragments I have found
+in the portfolio, there can be no doubt that he has other forgeries in
+his collection, some of which answer exactly to that parchment strip."
+
+"That is enough, Struvelius," began his wife. "Now let me speak. You
+may imagine, dear colleague, that Werner at once occurred to us, and
+that we were greatly alarmed lest the husband of our friend should get
+into trouble through the deceiver. I asked Struvelius to write
+Professor Werner, but he preferred to inform him through you. This
+method also appeared most satisfactory to me."
+
+Raschke, without saying a word, took off his dressing-gown, and ran in
+his shirt-sleeves about the room, searching in all the corners. At last
+he found his hat, which he put on.
+
+"What are you about, Raschke!" exclaimed his wife.
+
+"Why do you ask?" he said, hastily; "there is no time for delay. I beg
+your pardon, Mrs. Struvelius," he said observing his sleeves, and again
+put on his dressing-gown, but in his excitement he still kept on his
+hat, and thus attired, seated himself opposite his friends. Bertha, at
+a sign from her mother, gently took his hat off.
+
+"A quick decision is necessary in this case," he repeated.
+
+"There is no reason," continued Struvelius, "for withholding the
+property of the Magister from his mother; but, meanwhile, they would
+willingly allow you an inspection of the writings."
+
+"That I do not wish," exclaimed Raschke; "it would spoil the day for
+me. Your judgment, Struvelius, satisfies me."
+
+There was some further excited interchange of views, and the visitors
+left. Again Raschke rushed stormily about, so that the skirts of his
+dressing-gown flew over the chairs.
+
+"Dear Aurelia, do not be frightened; I have made up my mind. I shall
+set out to-morrow."
+
+Mrs. Raschke clasped her hands together.
+
+"What are you thinking of, Raschke?"
+
+"It is necessary," he said. "I despair of shaking the firm views of
+Werner by letter. My duty is to try whether persuasive words and
+detailed representations will have greater effect. I must know in what
+relation my friend stands to the Magister. From certain intimations of
+the Doctor, I fear the worst from the activity of the forger. I have a
+short vacation before me, and I cannot employ it better."
+
+"But, Raschke, you wish to travel!" asked his wife, reproachfully. "How
+can you engage in such an undertaking?"
+
+"You mistake me, Aurelia; in our city I sometimes do lose my bearings,
+but in foreign parts I always find my way."
+
+"Because you have never yet been alone in foreign parts," replied the
+prudent wife.
+
+Raschke approached her, and raised his hand warningly.
+
+"Aurelia, it is for our friend, and one must pay no regard to trifles."
+
+"You will never get there," rejoined his wife, with sad foreboding.
+
+"It is much easier to speed through half the world in a secure vessel
+than to go on two legs through our streets; half acquaintances are the
+most unreliable."
+
+"Then the money for the journey, Raschke?" whispered Mrs. Aurelia, in a
+low voice, that the children might not hear.
+
+"You have in your linen cupboard an old black savings-box," replied
+Raschke, slily. "Do you think I know nothing of it?"
+
+"What I have collected in that is for a new dress-coat."
+
+"You wish to take away from me my old one?" asked Raschke, indignantly;
+"it is well that I have made the discovery. I would now travel to the
+capital even if I had no occasion for it. Out with the box!"
+
+Mrs. Aurelia went slowly, brought the savings-box, and with silent
+reproach, put it into his hands. The Professor tossed the money,
+together with the box, into his breeches' pocket, threw his arm round
+his wife, and kissed her on the forehead.
+
+"You are my own dear wife," he exclaimed; "and now there must be no
+delay. Bring me Plato and Spinoza."
+
+Plato was the silk cap, and Spinoza the thick cloak of the Professor.
+These treasures of the house were so called because they had been
+bought with the money earned by two books on those philosophers. The
+impression which the works had made on the learned world had been very
+great, but the remuneration very small. A commotion arose among the
+children, for in winter these beautiful articles were sometimes brought
+out for a Sunday walk. The little troop ran with their mother to fetch
+them.
+
+"Be sure and bring them back, Raschke. I am so afraid you will lose one
+of them."
+
+"As I have told you, Aurelia, in traveling you may depend upon me."
+
+"I will write a few lines to Werner; he must take care that you keep
+them both. I will put the letter in your coat pocket, if you will only
+give it to him."
+
+"Why not?" exclaimed Raschke, courageously.
+
+The following morning Mrs. Aurelia accompanied her husband to the point
+from which the coach started and took care that he came to the right
+place.
+
+"If you were only safely home again!" she said, piteously.
+
+Raschke kissed her gallantly, and seated himself on his traveling-bag.
+
+"The seats are remarkably high," he cried out, with his legs dangling.
+His traveling companions laughed, and he said, civilly, "I beg the
+gentlemen to excuse me."
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+The lamps burned, and the moon shone through the white mist on the
+walls of the Pavilion when the Professor returned there. No ray of
+light fell from the windows. The house stood gloomy and abandoned, and
+a blue phosphorescence seemed to glimmer above it. The door was closed;
+the lackey had disappeared. The Scholar pulled the bell. At last some
+one came down the stairs. Gabriel appeared, and gave vent to a cry of
+joy when he saw his master before him.
+
+"How is my wife?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Mrs. Werner is not at home," replied Gabriel, shyly. He beckoned his
+master into the room: there he gave him Ilse's letter. The Professor
+read the lines, and held them in his hands as if stunned. This also was
+a manuscript which he had found. It informed him that his wife had gone
+from him: every word went like a dagger to his heart. When he looked at
+Gabriel he perceived that he did not yet know all. The servant told him
+what had happened. The Scholar pushed the chair from him; his limbs
+trembled as in a fever.
+
+"We will leave this house immediately," he said, faintly; "collect all
+the things."
+
+Like a Romish priest who prays in secret devotion to his God, he had
+veiled his head from the sounds which sought to penetrate his soul from
+the outward world. He had closed his ears and eyes to the figures that
+moved about him. Now fate had torn the veil from his head.
+
+"Mr. Hummel would not depart before your arrival," continued Gabriel;
+"he is in great haste."
+
+"I shall go to his inn; follow me," said the Professor; "but first
+mention at the castle that I have departed."
+
+He turned away and left the house. As he passed by the castle, he cast
+a wild look on the windows of the room which the Sovereign inhabited.
+"He is not returned yet; patience," he murmured. He then went, as if in
+a state of stupor, to the inn. He ordered a room, and inquired after
+his landlord. Immediately afterwards Mr. Hummel entered.
+
+"Good news," began the latter, in his softest tone; "a messenger from
+the Crown Inspector brings me the report that they have all made a safe
+journey. It must have been a matter of caution that there is no letter
+for you."
+
+"It was indeed a matter of caution," repeated the Scholar, and his head
+sank heavily on his breast.
+
+Mr. Hummel seated himself close to him, and whispered in his ear. At
+the last words the Professor sprang up in terror, and a groan sounded
+through the room.
+
+"A man is not a screech owl," declared Mr. Hummel, pacifyingly; "and it
+would be unjust to expect of him that he should be able to distinguish
+in the darkness the head from the tail of a rat; but every householder
+knows that there are also worthless contrivances of architecture. These
+intimations I make to you only, to no one else. I sent my card a few
+days ago to your father-in-law. Little Fritz Hahn has, in your absence,
+become a Doctor Faustus, who will carry off my poor child under his
+fiend's cloak to Bielstein. May I announce your arrival there?"
+
+"Say," replied the Scholar, gloomily, "that I will come as soon as I
+have settled matters here."
+
+He held Mr. Hummel firmly by the hand, as if he did not like to part
+from the confidant of his wife, and led him down to the hall. New
+travelers had arrived there, and a little gentleman in a cloak and a
+beautiful silk traveling-cap, turned, without looking from under a
+large umbrella, to the Professor, and said:
+
+"I should be much obliged if you would show me to a room, waiter. Am I
+in the right place here?"
+
+He mentioned the name of the city; the Professor took the gentleman's
+traveling-bag from him, seized him by the arm without saying a word,
+and took him rapidly up the stairs.
+
+"Very polite," exclaimed Raschke, "I thank you sincerely, but I am not
+at all tired; my only wish is to speak to Professor Werner. Can you
+arrange for an audience with him?"
+
+Werner opened his room, took off his hat, and embraced him.
+
+"My dear colleague," cried Raschke, "I am the most fortunate traveler
+in the world: usually a pilgrim on the highroad is contented if no
+misfortune happens to him, but I have met in the carriage with modest
+and thoughtful men. The conductor on changing carriages carried my cap
+after me, and some one kindly accompanied me to this house; and now
+when, for the first time, I stand on my own feet, I find myself in the
+arms of him whom I came to see. It is a pleasure to travel, colleague:
+at every mile-stone one observes how good and warm-hearted the people
+are among whom we live. We are fools that we do not deliver our
+lectures in carriages; the anxieties of our wives are unjustifiable; a
+man can manage by himself."
+
+Thus did Raschke exult.
+
+"Who lives in this room--I or you?"
+
+"You may remain with me or have the adjacent room, as you please,"
+replied Werner.
+
+"Then with you; for I wish to be without you, my friend, as little as
+possible."
+
+"You come to a man who is in need of consolation," said the Scholar.
+"My wife is with her father; I am alone," he added, with faltering
+voice.
+
+"You look to me like a traveler who draws his cloak around him in bad
+weather," exclaimed Raschke; "therefore what I bring you will at any
+rate not disturb you in cheerful repose. My business as messenger is to
+lower a human soul in your eyes; that is hard for us both."
+
+"I have to-day experienced what would shatter the foundations of the
+strongest structure. There can be but little that would shock me now: I
+am composed enough to listen."
+
+Raschke seated himself by him and told his story. He fidgeted about on
+the sofa, slapped his friend on the knee, stroked his arm, and begged
+for composure.
+
+Again was a veil drawn from the head of the seeker, who had believed
+himself to be speaking alone with his God. The Scholar was silent, and
+did not flinch.
+
+"This is fearful, friend?" he said, at last.
+
+With that he broke off, and the whole evening he did not say a word
+about the Magister.
+
+The following morning the Professors sat together in Werner's room.
+Werner at last threw the two parchment sheets on the table.
+
+"With these at least the Magister has had nothing to do. I myself
+fetched them out of the old rubbish: there lies the missal on
+the chest. It demands great self-control for me to look at that
+dearly-bought acquisition."
+
+Raschke examined the parchment.
+
+"Highly valuable," he exclaimed, "if it is genuine, as it appears." He
+hastened to the chest and examined the missal. "Probably the initial
+letters of the book will afford some evidence as to whether the missal
+was used in the cloister of Rossau," he said. "I regret that my
+knowledge of monastic customs does not extend to this test."
+
+He opened the chest and took up the contents. Of the absence of mind
+which usually disturbed him nothing was to be observed: he looked round
+with sharp eyes, as if he were searching the dark words of a
+philosopher.
+
+"Very remarkable," he exclaimed. "Only one thing surprises me. Has the
+chest been cleaned out?"
+
+"No," replied Werner, irritably.
+
+"The three companions of a century's repose are wanting--dust, cobwebs,
+and grubs; yet there ought to have been something on the inside of the
+lid or on the bottom, for the chest has crevices which allow of the
+entrance of insects."
+
+He rummaged again, and examined the bottom.
+
+"Under a splinter of wood there hangs a bit of paper."
+
+He drew out a tiny piece of paper, and a deep shadow passed over his
+noble features.
+
+"Dear friend, compose yourself, and be prepared for an unwelcome
+discovery. On this fragment there are only six printed words, but they
+are the characters of our time: it is a piece of one of our newspapers,
+and one of the six words is a name well known in the politics of our
+day."
+
+He laid the bit of paper on the table. Werner stared at it without
+saying a word; his countenance was changed; it seemed as if one hour
+had done the work of twenty years of care.
+
+"The things were unpacked by me and again put back; it is possible that
+the paper may have fallen in."
+
+"It is possible," replied Raschke.
+
+The Professor jumped up, and sought in great haste for his pocket copy
+of Tacitus.
+
+"Here is the reading of the Florentine manuscript, comparison with the
+parchment sheets will throw light on it." He compared some sentences.
+"It appears an accurate copy," he said, "too accurate--awkwardly
+accurate."
+
+He held the manuscript searchingly towards the light; he poured a drop
+of water on the corner of the parchment and wiped it with a towel; the
+next moment he flung towel and parchment to the ground, and clasped his
+hands over his face. Raschke seized the leaves, and looked at the
+damaged corner.
+
+"It is true," he exclaimed, sorrowfully; "a writing that had been on
+the parchment six hundred years would leave other traces on the
+material."
+
+He paced hastily up and down, his hands in his coat pocket, rubbed his
+face with the towel, and, perceiving his mistake, threw it away from
+him.
+
+"I only know of one word for this," he exclaimed--"a word that men
+unwillingly allow to pass their lips--and that word is villainy!"
+
+"It was a piece of vile and rascally knavery," exclaimed Werner, in a
+strong voice.
+
+"Here let us stop, friend," begged Raschke; "we know that a deception
+has been intended; we know that the attempt has been made lately; and
+when we compare the place of the discovery and your presence here, we
+may assume as a fact, without doing injustice to any one, that the
+trick was intended to deceive you. Of the person who has practiced it
+we have only suspicion, well-grounded suspicion, but no certainty."
+
+"We will make it certainty," explained Werner, "before the day becomes
+many hours older."
+
+"Undoubtedly," replied Raschke, "this certainty must be obtained, for
+suspicion ought not to continue in the hearts of men; it destroys all
+ideas and thoughts. But the ultimate question remains: For what object
+was the deceit practiced? Was it the willfulness of a knave? If so, the
+wickedness of it is not, to an honorable mind, thereby lessened; yet it
+is not the worst kind of turpitude. But if it was deliberate malice
+with intent to injure you, then it deserves the severest condemnation.
+On what terms are you with the Magister?"
+
+"It was deliberate malice to injure a man, body and soul," replied
+the Professor, with solemn earnestness; "but the doer was only the
+tool--the idea was that of another."
+
+"Hold," cried Raschke, again, "no further; this also is only
+suspicion."
+
+"It is only suspicion," repeated the Professor; "therefore I seek for
+certainty. When I wished to go to the country castle I was detained
+from day to day under trivial pretexts; the Magister was absent not
+long ago for a day from the work which was entrusted to him; he excused
+himself on the score of illness, and as he was profuse in his excuses I
+was struck by a shyness in his manner. There was a wish to keep me here
+for reasons which you, in your sphere of feelings, can scarcely
+understand. It was hoped to attain this object by exciting the
+fanatical zeal with which I was afflicted, without entirely contenting
+it. Such is my suspicion, friend; and I feel myself miserable, more
+miserable than I have ever been in my life."
+
+He threw himself on the sofa, and again concealed his face.
+
+Raschke approached him, and said, softly:
+
+"Does it distress you so much, Werner, that you have been deceived?"
+
+"I have confided, and deceived confidence gives pain; but in my sorrow
+I feel not only for myself, but for the destruction of another who
+belongs to us."
+
+Raschke nodded his head. He again paced vehemently about the room, and
+looked angrily at the chest. Werner rose and rang the bell.
+
+"I wish to speak to Magister Knips," he said, to Gabriel, who entered.
+"I must beg him to take the trouble of coming here as soon as
+possible."
+
+"How will you speak to him?" asked Raschke, stepping anxiously before
+his friend.
+
+"I need so much consideration myself," replied Werner, "that you need
+not fear my violence. I also have been laboring under a disease, and I
+know that I have to speak to one who is more diseased than I."
+
+"You are not diseased," exclaimed Raschke, "only shocked, as I am. You
+will say what is necessary to him, for the rest you will leave him to
+his own conscience."
+
+"I will only say what is necessary," repeated the Professor,
+mechanically.
+
+Gabriel returned, and reported that the Magister would call when he
+left the Museum in the evening.
+
+"How did the Magister take the message?" asked Raschke.
+
+"He appeared alarmed when I told him that the Professor was stopping at
+the inn."
+
+The Professor had ensconced himself in a corner, but the philosopher
+left him no rest; he kept talking to him about the occurrences at the
+University, and compelled him to take part by frequent questions. At
+last he expressed a wish to take a walk, to which the Professor
+unwillingly consented.
+
+Werner led him through the gate of the city; as they walked along he
+briefly answered the lively talk of his friend. When they came to the
+inn from which Ilse had got into the carriage of the Crown Inspector,
+the Scholar began, with hoarse voice:
+
+"This is the road along which my wife escaped from the city. I came
+early this morning along this same road, and at every step I felt what
+is the deepest humiliation to man."
+
+"Before her was light, and behind her darkness," exclaimed Raschke.
+
+He talked of Ilse, and now thought of the commission which his children
+had given to their aunt.
+
+Thus the afternoon passed. Werner again sat brooding in his room, when
+Gabriel announced the arrival of the Magister. Before Raschke hastened
+into the next room, he once more pressed the hand of the other, and,
+looking imploringly at him, said:
+
+"Be calm, friend."
+
+"I am calm," replied he.
+
+Magister Knips had profited by the refining influence of the Court. His
+black suit had been made by a tailor who had the princely coat of arms
+above his workshop; his hair was free from feathers, and his vocabulary
+had been replenished with new expressions of respect. He now looked
+furtively and defiantly around him.
+
+Werner measured the man as he entered with a steady look; if, before,
+he had had a doubt of the guilt of the Magister, he now recognized it.
+He turned away for a moment in order to struggle with his aversion.
+
+"Examine this," he said, pointing with his finger to the parchment
+leaves.
+
+Knips took a leaf in his hand, and the parchment trembled as he cast a
+shy glance upon it.
+
+"It is another forgery," said the Professor; "the reading of the first
+Florentine manuscript, and even the peculiarities of its orthography,
+are copied with a careful accuracy which would have been impossible to
+any old transcriber. The writing, too, betrays itself to be recent."
+
+The Magister laid the sheet down, and answered, with hesitation:
+
+"It appears undoubtedly to be an imitation of an old script, as the
+Professor has already discovered."
+
+"I found this work," continued the Scholar, "in the tower of the castle
+in the country, inserted in that torn missal, laid in that chest, and
+concealed among old furniture. And you, Magister, have prepared this
+leaf, and you have concealed it in this place. That is not all. Long
+before, in order to put me on a false track, you placed the register of
+a chest in the old records; you invented the figures 1 and 2 for the
+chests, and further, you yourself wrote the register in order to
+deceive me."
+
+The Magister stood with lowered head, seeking for an answer. He did not
+know on what confession of others these deliberate assertions were
+grounded. Had the Castellan betrayed him? Had the Sovereign himself
+exposed him? Terror came over him, but he replied, doggedly:
+
+"I did not do it."
+
+"In vain do you seek to deceive me anew," continued the Scholar. "If I
+had not already sufficient ground to say to your face that you did
+this, your demeanor in the presence of this sheet would be ample
+evidence. No sound of astonishment, no word of horror at such an
+attempt at forgery escaped you. What true scholar would look upon such
+a thing and remain silent, if his own conscience did not close his
+mouth? What have I done to you, Magister, that you should inflict upon
+me this bitter anguish? Give me some excuse for your action. Have I
+ever injured you? Have I ever aroused in you secret ill-will against
+me? Any reason that will make this abomination comprehensible will be
+welcome to me; for I look with dismay on this depravation of a human
+soul."
+
+"The Professor has never given me any ground for complaint," replied
+Knips, submissively.
+
+"Nevertheless," said the Professor, "in cold blood, with indifference,
+with malicious levity, you have done your worst to me: it was wrong,
+very wrong, Magister."
+
+"Perhaps it was only a jest," sighed the Magister; "perhaps it was only
+put in that way to him who prepared the writing. He only perhaps acted
+by the command of another, not by free choice, and not of his own
+will."
+
+"What power on earth could command you to practice towards another so
+deliberate a piece of knavery?" asked the Professor, sorrowfully. "You
+yourself know right well what consequences this deception may have for
+myself and others."
+
+Magister Knips was silent.
+
+"I have done with you," continued the Scholar. "I shall say nothing of
+the plan which this falsehood was to serve nor make any further
+reproaches concerning the injury that you have practiced towards a man
+who trusted in your honor."
+
+He threw the parchment under the table. Knips seized his hat silently
+to leave the room.
+
+"Stop!" exclaimed the Professor; "do not move from the spot. I must be
+silent as to what you have endeavored to do personally against me. It
+is not so much on account of this manuscript that I have sent for you.
+But the man whom I see before me, on whom I look with an abhorrence
+that I have never yet felt, is something more than an unscrupulous tool
+in the service of a stranger; he is an unfaithful philologist, a
+traitor to learning, a forger, and deceiver in that in which only
+honorable men have a right to live, a cursed man, for whom there is no
+repentance and no mercy."
+
+The Magister's hat fell to the ground.
+
+"You wrote the parchment strip of Struvelius; the trader has informed
+against you in your native city. Your writings are confiscated and are
+in the hands of the police."
+
+The Magister still remained silent. He fumbled for his
+pocket-handkerchief and wiped the cold sweat from his brow.
+
+"Now, at least, speak out," cried Werner. "Give me an explanation of
+the fearful riddle, how any one who belonged to us could willfully
+destroy all that made his life noble. How could a man of your
+attainments become untrue to science in so despicable a way?"
+
+"I was poor and my life full of trouble," replied Knips, in a low
+voice.
+
+"Yes, you were poor. From your earliest youth you have worked from
+morning to night; even as a child you have denied yourself much that
+others thoughtlessly enjoy. You have in this way the secret
+consciousness of having obtained for yourself inward freedom, and a
+humble friendship with the great spirit of our life. Yes, you have
+grown up to be a man amidst countless sacrifices and self-denials which
+others fear. You have thus learnt and taught what is the highest
+possession of man. In every proof-sheet that you have read for the
+assistance of others, in every index of words that you have drawn up
+for a classical work, in every word that you have corrected, in every
+number that you have written, you have been obliged to be truthful.
+Your daily work was an unceasing, assiduous struggle against what was
+false and wrong. Yet more, and worse than that, you have been no
+thoughtless day-laborer; you have fully and entirely belonged to us;
+you were, in fact, a scholar, from whose learning many with higher
+pretensions have frequently taken counsel. You not only treasured in
+your mind a mass of rare knowledge, but you well comprehend the
+thoughts to which such knowledge gives rise. You were all this--and yet
+a forger. With true devotion and self-denial, you united malicious
+willfulness; you were a confidential and assiduous assistant, and at
+the same time a deceiver, bold and mocking like a devil."
+
+"I was a tortured man," began Knips. "He who has lived otherwise does
+not know how difficult it is, in the service of science, to be ever
+following in the foot-steps of others. You have never worked for others
+who knew less than yourself. You do not understand the feeling that
+possesses one when others use haughtily, without acknowledgement and
+without thanks, what one has given them from one's own knowledge. I am
+not insensible to friendship. The Professor was the first who, in the
+last lines of the introduction of his maiden work, mentioned my name
+because I had been of use to him. And yet I have done less for you than
+any other of my old patrons. The copy which you then gave me I have put
+in the place of honor among my books. Whenever I have felt tired from
+my night's work I have read those lines; I have seldom experienced the
+like kindliness. But I have felt the torment of having more knowledge
+than I had credit for, and I have had no opportunity to work my way out
+of my narrow sphere. That has been the cause of all."
+
+The Magister suddenly stopped.
+
+"It was pride," said the Professor, sorrowfully, "it was envy, that
+burst forth from an oppressed life against more fortunate ones, who,
+perhaps, did not know more; it was the craving for superiority over
+others."
+
+"It was that," continued Knips, plaintively. "First came the idea of
+mocking those who employed and despised me. I thought, if I chose, I
+had you in my power, my learned colleagues. Then it became a purpose
+and took fast hold on me. I have sat many nights working at it before I
+went so far, and frequently have I thrown away what I have done,
+Professor, and hid it under my books. But I was allured to go on, it
+became my pride to master the art. When at last I had done so, it was a
+pleasure to me to make use of it. It was less for the gain than for the
+superiority it gave me."
+
+"It is easy," replied the Professor, "to deceive men of our sort where
+they are accustomed to place firm confidence. Where the acuteness that
+we acquire in our work is not brought into play, many of us are like
+children, and he who is colder and wishes to deceive may easily for a
+time play with us. It is a weak glory to exercise the art of Satan
+against the innocent."
+
+"I knew that it was a devil with whom I was dealing; I knew it from the
+first day, Professor, but I could not guard myself from him. Thus it
+was," concluded Knips, seating himself exhausted on the chest.
+
+"Thus it was, Magister," exclaimed Werner, raising himself up; "but
+thus it cannot remain. You were one of us, you can no longer be so. You
+have done an injury to the highest good which is granted to the race of
+man--the honor of learning. You yourself knew that he who endangers
+this honor is a mortal enemy to our souls. In our realm, where error
+daily threatens the limited powers of individuals, the determination to
+be true is a preliminary which none can be wanting in, without
+involving others in his own destruction."
+
+"I was only an assistant," sighed Knips, "and few cared about me. If
+others had esteemed me as a scholar it would not have happened."
+
+"You considered yourself so, and you had a right to do so," rejoined
+the Professor. "You felt the pride of your learning, and you well knew
+your high vocation. You well knew that you also, the humble Magister,
+had your share in the priestly office and in the princely office of our
+realm. No purple is nobler, no rule is more sovereign than ours. We
+lead the souls of our nation from one century to another; and ours is
+the duty of watching over its learning and over its thoughts. We are
+its champions against the lies and spirits of a past time which wander
+amongst us clothed with the semblance of life. What we consecrate,
+lives; and what we condemn, passes away. The old virtues of the
+Apostles are required of us--to esteem little what is earthly, and to
+proclaim the truth. You were in this sense consecrated, like every one
+of us; your life was pledged to God. On you, as on all of us, lay the
+responsibility for the souls of our nation. You have proved yourself
+unworthy of this office, and I grieve, I grieve, wretched man, that I
+must separate you from it."
+
+The Magister jumped up, and looked imploringly at the Scholar.
+
+The Professor spoke impressively:
+
+"It is my duty both towards you and others to speak out. What you have
+done to my fellow professors, and what you have prepared for similar
+attempts, cannot remain secret. Honorable men must be warned against
+the art which you have been led by a demon to exercise. But in this
+last hour in which you stand before me, I feel that I have done too
+little to help you against temptation. Without intending to be unkind,
+I have perhaps sometimes undervalued you, in comparison with others,
+and have forgotten how hard was your daily life. If you have ever felt
+depressed and embittered by my severity, I now atone for it. For when
+I, short-sighted, erring man, advised you to accept a position which
+was to raise you out of external need, I participated in your guilt, by
+exposing you to new temptation here. That gives me bitter pain,
+Magister, and I feel the anguish of this hour."
+
+Magister Knips sat exhausted and cowering on the chest: the Scholar
+stood over him, and his words sank like blows on the Magister's head.
+
+"I cannot conceal the fact, Magister, that you are a forger; you can
+never again move in our circle; your career is closed by your
+transgression, you are lost to learning, lost to all who took an
+interest in your work. You have vanished from the place which you held
+amongst us; nothing remains but a black shadow. Human powers
+laboriously trained, a spirit of uncommon acuteness and fullness, are
+lost and dead to us; and I mourn over you as over a dead man."
+
+The Scholar wept, and Knips covered his face with his hands. Werner
+hastened to his writing-table.
+
+"If you require means to maintain your ruined life in some other
+neighborhood, here it is. Take what you require."
+
+He threw some money on the table.
+
+"Try to conceal yourself where no member of our community will meet
+you. May all the good become your portion, which is still possible for
+you to have on earth. But fly, Magister; avoid those places where one
+shall think of you with the sorrow and repugnance that the faithful
+workman feels towards one who is untrue."
+
+Knips rose; his face was paler than usual, and he looked distractedly
+about him.
+
+"I need no money," he said, with faint voice; "I have enough for my
+journey. I beg of the Professor to care for my mother."
+
+The Scholar turned away, the strong man sobbed. Magister Knips went to
+the door; there he stopped.
+
+"I have the Homer of 1488; tell my mother to give you the book. Though
+the thought of me be painful, yet keep the book. It was a treasure to
+me."
+
+The Magister closed the door and went slowly out of the house. The wind
+drove through the streets; it blew against the back of the Magister,
+and hastened his steps.
+
+"It drives," murmured Knips again; "it drives me onward."
+
+At the open square he remained standing in the wind; looking towards
+the clouds, which were passing in hasty flight beneath the moon.
+Distorted figures hovered in the grey vapor and glided over his head.
+He thought of the last proof-sheets which he had read in his native
+town, and spoke some Greek words; they were verses from the Eumenides
+of �schylus:--
+
+        "Rush on! rush on! rush on! ye messengers of vengeance!"
+
+He went up to the castle, and remained standing before the lighted
+windows; the four black steeds which brought the Sovereign back from
+the tower castle to the city dashed past him, and he clenched his bony
+fist at the carriage. He then ran round the castle to the park side.
+There, against a tree, beneath the windows of the Sovereign's
+apartment, he cowered; looked up to the castle, and again raised his
+fist against the lord of it, and sighed. He looked up at the dark
+boughs that towered over him, gazed at the sky and the grey flitting
+shadows which coursed along under the moon, and desperate thoughts
+passed through his mind:
+
+"When the moon vanishes that will be a token to me also."
+
+He looked long at the moon. Amidst his wild thoughts a Latin sentence
+entered his confused brain: "'The moon and the earth are but as little
+points in the universe;' that is beautifully said by Ammianus
+Marcellinus. I have compared the manuscripts of this Roman; I have made
+conjectures on all sides with respect to his mutilated text; I have
+pored for years over him. If I do here, in order to vex this ignorant
+lord, what was done to Haman, all this preparation for my Roman would
+be lost."
+
+He rushed from under the trees and ran to his dwelling. There he
+collected all his possessions, put his small copy of Ammianus into his
+pocket, and hastened with his bundle to the gate.
+
+They say he went to the same country to which his brother had gone
+before him--far off in the West.
+
+He passed away, he hid his head--an unfaithful servant, and at the same
+time a victim of science. All his life long he had pondered over
+written words; now the living words, which penetrated from another soul
+into his, drove him from his home. Day and night he had been surrounded
+with the letters of books and learned writings which had flowed from
+the pen on to the white sheets; but the blessing of living words which
+pass from the mouth to the ear, and echo from heart to heart, had
+failed him at the right time; for what is in common use with us is also
+our highest boon. Its power is as mysterious to us to-day as it was to
+our ancestors; the generation of our literary period, accustomed to
+contemplate tones in their imaginations, and to estimate the powers of
+nature by measure and weight, seldom think how powerfully the echoing
+word from the human heart rules within us; it is mistress and servant,
+it elevates and annihilates us, it produces disease and health. Happy
+the living being in whose ear it sounds full and pure, who incessantly
+receives the soft sound of love and the hearty call of friendship. He
+who is deprived of the blessing of the conversation which flows from
+warm hearts, wanders among others as a living being in whom the spirit
+is separated from the body, or like a book that one opens, makes use
+of, and puts away at pleasure. The Magister had sinned by the written
+word; a cry of agony uttered by a human voice had frightened him into
+the misty and silent distance.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XXXIX_.
+
+                           BEFORE THE CRISIS.
+
+
+The cattle lowed and the sheep-bells tinkled, and the springing blades
+of wheat waved in the wind. The eldest daughter of the family was again
+walking in the garden, surrounded by her brothers and sisters. What has
+become of the glad brightness of your eye and the hearty child's laugh,
+Lady Ilse? Your countenance has become serious and your demeanor
+subdued; your looks scan critically the men about you and the paths
+that you tread, and calm commands sound from your lips. Your home has
+not made your heart light, nor given you back again what you lost among
+strangers.
+
+But it zealously exercises its right to be loved by you and to show you
+love; it recalls familiar images to your soul, and old recollections
+awake at every step; the people whom you fostered faithfully in your
+heart, the animals that you cared for, and the trees that you planted,
+greet you, and labor busily to cover with bright colors what lies
+gloomily within you.
+
+The first evening was painful. When Ilse, accompanied by her neighbor,
+entered her home a fugitive, striving to conceal what tormented her,
+amidst the terror of her father and the inquisitive questions of her
+brothers and sisters, anger and dismay once more threw their black
+shadows over her. But on the breast of her father, under the roof of a
+secure house, together with the feeling of safety, her old energy
+revived, and she was able to conceal from the eyes of her loved ones
+that which was not her secret alone.
+
+Another painful hour came. Ilse was sitting late in the evening, as
+years before, on her chair opposite her father. After her story was
+told, the strong man looked down anxiously, used hard words concerning
+her husband, and cursed the other. When he told her that even in her
+father's house danger threatened her, when he desired her to be
+cautious at every step, and when he told her that in her childhood
+there had been a dark rumor that a maiden from the house on the rock, a
+child of a former possessor, had been the victim of a distinguished
+prince, she raised her hands to heaven. Her father seized them and drew
+her towards him.
+
+"We are wrong to forget in an uncertain future how mercifully
+Providence has guarded you. I hold you by the hand and you stand on the
+soil of your home. We must do what the day requires, and trust
+everything else to a higher Being. As for the talk of strangers we care
+not; they are weather-cocks. Be calm and have confidence."
+
+The younger children chattered innocently; they asked about the
+charming life at the capital, they wished to know accurately what their
+sister had gone through, and above all how the Sovereign of the country
+had treated Ilse, he whom they thought of as a holy Christ, as the
+unwearied dispenser of joy and happiness. But the elder ones were more
+cautious in their language without exactly knowing why, with that kind
+of natural tact which children show towards those whom they love. Ilse
+accompanied her sister Clara through the upper floor, they arranged the
+room for the guests who were expected, and placed an immense bunch of
+flowers in the room which Mr. Hummel was to occupy. Her brothers took
+her through the kitchen-garden into the narrow valley, and showed her
+the new wooden bridge over the water to the grotto, which their father
+had built as a surprise for Ilse. Ilse passed by the swollen brook, the
+water rushed yellow and muddy over the rocks, it had overflowed the
+small strip of meadow by its banks and flowed in a strong stream down
+the valley to the town. Ilse sought the place where she once, under the
+foliage and wild plants, lay concealed, when she read in the eyes of
+her Felix the acknowledgement of his love. This cosy nook was also
+flooded; the stream ran muddily over it, the flowers were broken down
+and washed away, the alder bushes covered to their upper branches, and
+reeds and discolored foam hung round them: only the white stem of a
+birch rose out of the devastation, and the flood whirled round its
+lowest branches.
+
+"The flood is passing away," said Ilse, sadly; "in a few days the
+ground will again be visible, and where the verdure has been injured
+the mild rays of the sun will soon restore it. But how will it be with
+me? There is no light so long as he is not with me, and when I see him
+again how he will be changed? How will he, so serious and zealous, bear
+the cold wind of adversity that has passed through his life and mine?"
+
+Her father watched her carefully; he talked to her more frequently than
+formerly. Whenever he returned from the field he told her of the work
+that was doing on the farm; he was always taking care not to touch on
+thoughts that might give her pain, and the daughter felt how tender and
+loving was the attention of the busy man. Now he beckoned to her from a
+distance, and near him was walking a thick-set figure, with a large
+head and comfortable aspect.
+
+"Mr. Hummel!" exclaimed Ilse, joyfully, and hastened with winged
+footsteps towards him. "When will he come?" she called out, with eager
+expectation.
+
+"As soon as he is free," replied Hummel.
+
+"Who detains him there?" said the wife, looking sorrowful.
+
+Mr. Hummel explained. At his report the wrinkles on Ilse's forehead
+disappeared, and she led her guest into the old house. Mr. Hummel
+looked astonished at the tall race that had grown up on the rock: he
+looked with admiration on the girls and respectfully at the heads of
+the boys. Ilse did not to-day forget what becomes a good housewife in
+welcoming a guest. Mr. Hummel was happy among the country people, and
+delighted with the flowers in his room; he took the sprightly lad Franz
+upon his knee, and made him drink almost too much out of his glass.
+Then he went through the farm with the proprietor and Ilse; he was
+clever in his judgment, and he and his host recognized in each other
+sound common sense. At last Ilse asked him frankly how he was pleased
+with her home.
+
+"Everything is magnificent," said Hummel; "the development of the
+family, their curly heads, the flowers, the cattle, and the domestic
+arrangements. Compared to the business of H. Hummel, it is like a gourd
+to a cucumber. Everything capacious and abundant, only to my taste
+there is too much straw."
+
+Ilse was called aside by her father. "The Prince is preparing to
+depart. He has expressed a wish to speak to you first. Will you see
+him?"
+
+"Not to-day. To-day belongs to you and our guest, but to-morrow," said
+Ilse.
+
+On the morning of the day following, Professor Raschke entered his
+friend's room prepared for the journey.
+
+"Has the Magister disappeared?" he asked, anxiously.
+
+"He has done what he was obliged to do," replied Werner, gloomily.
+"Whatever his future life and fortune may be, we have done with him."
+
+Raschke looked anxiously on the furrowed countenance of his colleague.
+
+"I should like to see you on the road to your wife, and better still,
+with her on the road back to us."
+
+"Have no doubt, friend, that I shall seek both roads as soon as I have
+a right to do so."
+
+"Ilse counts the hours till your return," said Raschke, in still
+greater anxiety; "she will not be at rest till she has fast hold of her
+loved one."
+
+"My wife has long been deprived of rest while she was with me," said
+the Scholar, "I have not understood how to defend her. I have exposed
+her to the claws of wild beasts. She has found from strangers the
+protection that her own husband refused her. The indifference of her
+husband has wounded her in that point which it is most difficult for a
+woman to forgive. I have become a mere, impotent dreamer," he
+exclaimed, "unworthy of the devotion of this pure soul, and I feel what
+a man never should feel--ashamed to meet my excellent wife again." He
+turned his face away.
+
+"This feeling is too high-strained, and the reproaches that you angrily
+make yourself are too severe. You have been deceived by the cunning
+prevarication of a worldly wise man. You yourself have expressed that
+it is ingloriously easy to deceive us in things in which we are not
+cleverer than children. Werner, once more I entreat of you to depart
+with me immediately, even though by another road."
+
+"No," replied the Scholar, decidedly; "I have all my life long been
+clear in my relations with other men. I cannot do things by halves. If
+I feel a liking, the pressure of my hand and the confidence that I give
+does not leave a moment's doubt of the state of my heart. If I must
+give up my relation to any one, I must have the reckoning fully closed.
+I cannot leave this place as a fugitive."
+
+"Who demands that?" asked Raschke. "You only go like a man who turns
+his eyes away from a hateful worm that crawls before him on the
+ground."
+
+"If the worm has injured the man, it is his duty to guard others from
+the danger of like injury, and if he cannot guard others, he ought to
+clear his own path.
+
+"But if he incurs new danger in the attempt?
+
+"Yet he must do what he can to satisfy himself," exclaimed Werner. "I
+will not allow myself to be robbed of the rights that I have against
+another. I am called upon by the insult to my wife; I am called upon by
+the ruined life of a scholar, whom we both lament. Say no more to me.
+Friend, my self-respect has been severely wounded, and with reason. I
+feel my weakness with a bitterness that is the just punishment for the
+pride with which I have looked upon the life of others. I have written
+to Struvelius, and begged his pardon for having so arrogantly treated
+him in the uncertainty that once disturbed his life. Here is my letter
+to our colleague. I beg you to give it to him, and to tell him that
+when we meet again I wish to have no words upon the past, only he must
+know how bitterly I have atoned for having been severe with him. But,
+however much patience and consideration I may require from others, I
+should lose the last thing that gives me courage to live, if I went
+from here without coming to a reckoning with the lord of that castle. I
+am no man of the world who has learnt to conceal his anger beneath
+courtly words."
+
+"He who seeks to call a man to account," exclaimed Raschke, "should
+have the means of getting firm hold of his opponent, otherwise what
+should be satisfaction may become a new humiliation."
+
+"To have sought this satisfaction to the utmost," replied Werner, "is
+in itself a satisfaction."
+
+"Werner," said his colleague, "I hope that your anger and indignation
+will not draw you into the thoughtless vindictiveness of the weak fools
+who call a brutal playing with one's own life and that of others
+satisfaction."
+
+"He is a prince," said the Professor, with a gloomy smile; "I wear no
+spurs, and the last use I made of my bullet mould was to crack nuts
+with it. How can you so mistake me? But there are things which must be
+expressed. There is a healing power in words; if not for him who
+listens to them, yet for him who speaks. I must tell him what I demand
+of him. He shall feel how my words are forced down into his joyless
+heart. My speaking out will make me free."
+
+"He will refuse to hear you," exclaimed Raschke.
+
+"I will do my best to speak to him."
+
+"He has many means of preventing you."
+
+"Let him use them at his peril, for he will thereby deprive himself of
+the advantage of hearing me without witnesses."
+
+"He will set all the machinery that his high position affords him in
+motion against you; he will use his power recklessly to restrain you."
+
+"I am no bawling soothsayer who will attack C�sar in the open street,
+to warn him of the Ides of March. My knowledge of what will humble him
+before himself and his contemporaries, is my weapon. I assure you he
+will give me opportunity to use it as I will."
+
+"He is going away," said Raschke, anxiously.
+
+"Where can he go to that I cannot follow him?"
+
+"The apprehension that you will excite in him will drive him to some
+dark deed."
+
+"Let him do his worst; I must do what will give me peace."
+
+"Werner!" cried Raschke, raising his hands, "I ought not to leave you
+in this position, and yet you make your friend feel how powerless his
+honest counsel is against your stubborn will."
+
+The Professor went up to him and embraced him. "Farewell, Raschke. As
+high as any man can stand in the esteem of another, you stand in mine.
+Do not be angry if, in this case, I follow more the impulse of my own
+nature than the mild wisdom of yours. Give my greeting to your wife and
+children."
+
+Raschke passed his hands over his eyes, drew on his coat, and put the
+letter to Struvelius in his pocket. In doing so he found another
+letter, took it out, and read the address. "A letter from my wife to
+you," he said; "How did it come into my pocket!"
+
+Werner opened it; again a slight smile passed over his face. "Mrs.
+Aurelia begs me to take care of you. The charge comes at the right
+moment. I will accompany you to your place of departure; we will not
+forget the cap or cloak."
+
+The Professor conducted his friend to the conveyance; they spoke
+together, up to the last moment, of the lectures which both wished to
+give in the approaching term. "Remember my letter to Struvelius," were
+Werner's last words, when his friend was seated in the carriage.
+
+"I shall think of it whenever I think of you," said Raschke, stretching
+out his hand from the carriage.
+
+The Professor went to the castle for a last conversation with the man
+who had called him to his capital. The household received him with
+embarrassed looks. "The Sovereign is just starting on a journey, and
+will not return for some days; we do not know where he is going," said
+the Intendant, with concern. The Professor, nevertheless, desired him
+to announce him to the Sovereign, his request was urgent; the servant
+brought as an answer that his master could not be spoken to before
+his return; the Professor might impart his wishes to one of the
+aides-de-camp.
+
+Werner hastened to the adjacent house of the Lord High Steward. He was
+taken into the library, and gave a fleeting glance at the faded carpet,
+the old hangings, which were covered with engravings in dark frames,
+and on the large bookshelves, with glass doors, lined within, as if the
+possessor wished to conceal what he read from the eyes of strangers.
+The High Steward entered hastily.
+
+"I seek for an interview with the Sovereign before his departure,"
+began the Professor, "I beg of your Excellence to procure me this
+audience."
+
+"Pardon my asking you your object," said the High Steward. "Do you wish
+again to speak to a sufferer concerning his disease?"
+
+"The diseased man administers a high office, and has the power and
+rights of a healthy one; he is answerable to his fellow-men for his
+deeds. I consider it a duty not to go from here without informing him
+that he is no longer in a condition to perform the duties of his
+position."
+
+The Lord High Steward looked with astonishment at the Scholar.
+
+"Do you insist on this interview?"
+
+"What I have learned since my return here from the country compels me
+to do so; I must seek this interview by every possible means in my
+power, whatever may be the consequences."
+
+"Even the consequences to yourself?"
+
+"Even these. After all that has passed, the Sovereign cannot refuse to
+hear me speak before I go."
+
+"What he ought not to do he will yet try to do."
+
+"He will do it at his peril," replied the Professor.
+
+The High Steward placed himself in front of the Professor, and said,
+impressively:
+
+"The Sovereign is going to Rossau to-day. The plan is secret. I
+accidentally learnt the orders, which were given at the princely
+stables."
+
+The Scholar started.
+
+"I thank your Excellence from my heart for this communication," he
+exclaimed, with forced composure. "I will endeavor to send a speedy
+warning beforehand. I shall not start, myself, till your Excellence has
+seconded my efforts to speak to the Sovereign before his journey."
+
+"If you seek an audience through me," said the High Steward, after some
+consideration, "I will, as an officer of the Court, and from personal
+esteem for you, immediately convey your wish to the Sovereign. But I
+will not conceal from you, Professor, that I consider a criticism from
+you upon past events as very risky in every point of view."
+
+"But I am thoroughly impressed with the conviction that the criticism
+must be made," exclaimed the Professor.
+
+"To the Sovereign alone, or before others?" asked the High Steward.
+
+"If the ears and mind of the Sovereign remain closed, then before the
+world. I shall thus fulfil an imperative duty to all who might suffer
+from the dark fancies of this disordered mind; a duty from which I, as
+an honest man, cannot escape. If calm remonstrance will not move him, I
+shall publicly arraign him before the rulers and people of our nation.
+For it is not to be borne that the conditions of ancient Rome should
+again rise to life among our people."
+
+"That is decisive," replied the High Steward.
+
+He went to his bureau, took out a document, and presented it to the
+Scholar.
+
+"Read this. Will you renounce a personal interview with the Sovereign
+if this paper is signed by his hand?"
+
+The Professor read, and bowed to the High Steward.
+
+"As soon as he ceases to be what he has been, I shall consider him
+merely as an afflicted man; in this case my interview with him would be
+useless. Meanwhile I repeat my request to procure an audience before
+the Sovereign's departure."
+
+The High Steward took back the document.
+
+"I will endeavor to act as your representative. But do not forget that
+the Sovereign travels to Rossau in another hour. If we ever see each
+other again, Mr. Werner," concluded the old lord, solemnly, "may both
+our hearts be free from anxiety about that which sometimes one esteems
+lightly, as you do at this moment, but which one does not willingly
+allow one's self to be robbed of by the intervention of another."
+
+The Professor hastened to the inn and called for his servant.
+
+"Show me your fidelity to-day, Gabriel: none but a messenger on
+horseback can arrive at Bielstein in time. Do your best, take courier's
+horses, and put a letter into the hands of my wife before the Court
+carriages arrive there."
+
+"At your command, Professor," said Gabriel, with a military salute, "it
+is a hard ride even for a hussar; if I am not detained in changing
+horses, I trust to be able to deliver the letter in due time."
+
+The Professor wrote in haste, and despatched Gabriel; then he returned
+to the dwelling of the High Steward.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+The Sovereign was lying wearily on his sofa, his cheeks pale and his
+eyes dim--a thoroughly sick man.
+
+"I had formerly other thoughts, and could, when I had touched the keys,
+play more than one melody; now everything changes itself into a
+discordant measure: she has gone, she is in the neighborhood of the
+boy, she laughs at her foolish wooer. I see nothing before me but the
+track on the high road that leads to her. A strange power eternally
+strikes the same notes within me, a dark shadow stands near me and
+points with its finger incessantly to the same path; I cannot control
+myself, I hear the words, I see the road, I feel the dark hand over my
+head."
+
+The servant announced the High Steward.
+
+"I will not see him," said the Sovereign, imperiously. "Tell his
+Excellence that I am on the point of departing for the country."
+
+"His Excellence begs admittance, it is a question of an urgent
+signature."
+
+"The old fool," murmured the Sovereign, "usher him in."
+
+"I am unfortunately much pressed for time, your Excellence," he called
+out to him, as he entered.
+
+"I do not wish to make a long demand upon the time of my most Serene
+Lord," began the courtier. "Prof. Werner begs that your Highness will
+consent to receive him before his departure."
+
+"What is the cause of this importunity?" exclaimed the Sovereign; "he
+has already been here, and I have refused him."
+
+"I must be permitted to make the respectful remark that after all that
+has passed, the honor of a personal interview cannot well be refused
+him. Your Highness would be the last to approve of so marked a
+violation of seemly considerations."
+
+The Sovereign looked vindictively at the High Steward.
+
+"All the same, I will not see him."
+
+"Besides these considerations, it is not advisable to refuse this
+interview," continued the old lord, with emphasis.
+
+"Of that I am the best judge," replied the Sovereign, carelessly.
+
+"This person has become privy to certain things, the exposure of which,
+for the sake of the princely dignity, must be avoided, even at a heavy
+sacrifice, for he is not bound to keep the secret."
+
+"No one will listen to an individual, and a dreamer at that."
+
+"What he will divulge will not only be believed, but will excite a
+storm against your Highness."
+
+"Gossip from bookworms will not hurt me."
+
+"This person is a highly-respected man of character, and will use his
+observations to demand of the whole civilized world that the
+possibility of similar occurrences at this Court should be made
+impossible."
+
+"Let him do what he dare," cried the Sovereign, with an outbreak of
+fury, "we shall know how to protect ourselves."
+
+"The exposure may yet be guarded against; but there is only one last
+and radical remedy."
+
+"Speak out, your Excellence; I have always respected your judgment."
+
+"What inflames the Professor," continued the courtier, cautiously,
+"will become generally known; at all events it will produce a great
+sensation and dangerous scandal; nothing further. It was a personal
+observation only that he was compelled to make at the foot of the
+tower; it was a conjecture only which he gave vent to beneath the same
+tower. According to his assertion, two attempts have been made, and yet
+neither has been followed by evil consequences. To be able to provoke
+the public judgment of the civilized world on such grounds is doubtful.
+However upright the narrator may be, he may himself have been deceived.
+Your Highness remarks rightly that the irritation of a single scholar
+would occasion disagreeable gossip, nothing further."
+
+"Most admirable, your Excellence," interrupted the Sovereign.
+
+"Unfortunately there is one important circumstance that I have not yet
+added. With respect to that personal observation at the foot of the
+tower, the Scholar has a witness, and _I_ am that witness. When he
+calls upon me for my testimony and speaks of my personal observation, I
+must declare that he is right, for I am not accustomed to consider
+half-truth as truth."
+
+The Sovereign started.
+
+"It was I who restrained the hand," remarked the courtier; "and because
+that simple scholar is in the right, and because I must confirm his
+views concerning the state of my gracious master's health, I tell you
+there is only one last and radical remedy." The High Steward took the
+document out of the portfolio. "My remedy is, that your Highness
+should, by a great resolve, anticipate the storm, and high-mindedly
+consent to make this declaration the expression of your will."
+
+The Sovereign cast a look on the paper, and flung it away from him:
+
+"Are you mad, old man?"
+
+"Insanity has not yet been discovered in me," replied the High Steward,
+sorrowfully. "If my gracious master would but weigh the circumstances
+with his usual acuteness! It has unfortunately become impossible for
+your Highness to carry on the duties of your high calling in the way
+you have hitherto done. Even if your Highness considered it possible,
+your faithful servants are in the painful position of not partaking of
+this opinion."
+
+"These faithful servants are my High Steward?"
+
+"I am one of them. If your Highness will not consent to give your
+princely approbation to this project, consideration for that which is
+dearer to me than your Highness's favor will forbid my remaining in
+your service."
+
+"I repeat the question, have you become insane. Lord High Steward?"
+
+"Only deeply moved; I did not think that I would ever have to choose
+between my honor and my service to your Highness."
+
+He took out another document from the portfolio.
+
+"Your resignation," exclaimed the Sovereign, reading. "You should have
+added to it, 'with permission.'" The Sovereign seized the pen. "Here,
+Baron von Ottenburg, you are released from your office."
+
+"It is no joyful thanks that I express to your Highness for it. But now
+it is done, I, Hans von Ottenburg, express to you my respectful request
+that your Highness would still, at this hour, be pleased to sign the
+other document. For in case your Highness should hesitate to fulfil the
+earnest entreaties of a former servant, this same request, from now on,
+will be forced upon your Highness's ear in many ways, and by persons
+who would not use so much consideration for your Highness as I have
+hitherto done. Till now there has been one who has begged of you, a
+professor,--now there are two, he and I,--in another hour the number
+will become burdensome to your Highness."
+
+"A former High Steward, a rebel!"
+
+"Only a petitioner. It is your Highness's right, of your own free will,
+to make the high decision to which I endeavor to influence you. But I
+beg you once more to consider that it can no longer be avoided. Your
+Highness's Court will, in the next hour, be brought front to front with
+the same alternative as myself; for my regard for the honor of these
+gentlemen and ladies will compel me, on the same grounds which have led
+to my decision, not to be silent with respect to them. Without doubt,
+the gentlemen of the Court will, like me, approach your Highness with
+earnest entreaties, and, like me, will resign in case their entreaties
+are unsuccessful, and without doubt your Highness will have to find new
+attendants. Respect for the honor and the office of those who rule
+under you will oblige me to make the same communication to your
+Highness's ministers. True, these also might be replaced by less
+important servants of the State. But further, from loyalty and devotion
+to your Highness's house, from anxiety about the life and welfare of
+the Hereditary Prince and his illustrious sister, as well as from
+attachment to this country in which I have grown gray, I see myself
+obliged to appeal to every Government connected with ours for an
+energetic enforcement of this my request. As long as I was a servant of
+the Court, my oath and allegiance compelled me to silence and careful
+regard for your Highness's personal interests. I am now relieved from
+this obligation, and I shall from henceforth advocate the interests of
+our people in opposition to those of your Highness. Your Highness may
+yourself judge what that would lead to; this signature may be put off,
+but can no longer be avoided. Every delay makes the situation worse;
+the signing will no longer appear as the voluntary act of a high-minded
+decision, but as a necessity forced upon you. Finally, let your
+Highness bear in mind that the Professor has made in the Tower Castle
+another important observation,--another with respect to the conduct of
+a certain Magister; it is my destiny to know much which does not belong
+to the secrets of my department."
+
+The Sovereign lay on his sofa, with his head turned away. He folded his
+hands before his face. A long oppressive silence intervened.
+
+"You have been my personal enemy from the first day of my reign,"
+suddenly put in the Sovereign.
+
+"I have been the faithful servant of my gracious master; personal
+friendship has never been my portion, and I have never simulated it."
+
+"You have always intrigued against me."
+
+"Your Highness well knows that I have served you as a man of honor,"
+replied the Baron, proudly. "Now, also, when once more I beg of you to
+sign this document, I do not stand upon the right which many years of
+confidence give me with your Highness; I do not advance as an excuse
+for this repeated importunity the interest that I have been entitled to
+take in the dignity and welfare of this princely house; I have another
+ground for relieving your Highness from the humiliation of a public
+discussion of your Highness's state of mind. I am a loyal and
+monarchically-minded man. He who has respect for the high office of a
+prince is under the urgent necessity of guarding this office from being
+lowered in the eyes of the nation. This he must do, not by concealing
+what is insupportable, but by extirpating it. Therefore, since that
+scene in the tower, there has been this struggle between me and your
+Highness, that I, in order to maintain your Highness's exalted office,
+must sacrifice your Highness's person. I am determined to do so, and
+there consequently only remains to your Highness the choice of doing
+that which is inevitable, of your own free will, and honorably in the
+eyes of the world, or dishonorably and at the instance of importunate
+strangers. The words are spoken; I beg for a speedy decision."
+
+The old lord stood close before the ruler. He looked firmly and coldly
+into the restless eyes of his former master, and pointed with his
+finger fixedly to the parchment. It was the keeper conquering the
+patient.
+
+"Not now--not here," exclaimed the Sovereign, beside himself. "In the
+presence of the Hereditary Prince I will take counsel and come to a
+decision."
+
+"The presence and signature of your ministers are necessary for the
+document, not the presence of the Hereditary Prince. But as your
+Highness prefers signing in the presence of the Prince, I will do my
+self the honor of following your Highness to Rossau, and beg one of the
+ministers to accompany me for this object."
+
+The Sovereign looked reflectively down.
+
+"I am still a ruler," he exclaimed, springing up; and seizing the
+signed resignation of the High Steward, he tore it up. "High Steward
+von Ottenburg, you will accompany me in my carriage to Rossau."
+
+"Then the minister will follow your Highness in my carriage," said the
+old lord, calmly. "I hasten to inform him."
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER XL_.
+
+                        ON THE ROAD TO THE ROCK.
+
+
+Towards the quiet country town which pious colonists had once built
+about the monastery walls of praying monks, and towards the rock on
+which the heathen maiden had once whispered oracles to her race, were
+now hastening along different roads horses and wheels, together with
+living men who were seeking the decision of their fate; here joyful,
+rising hopes--there downward, declining powers; here the pure dream of
+enthusiastic youth--there the destructive dream of a gloomy spirit. In
+the valley and over the rock hovered the spirits of the country; they
+prepared themselves to receive the flying strangers with the
+hospitality of home.
+
+The early dawn sent its pale glimmer into Laura's study; she stood by
+her writing-table, and cast a lingering look on the familiar book in
+which, with rapid hand, she had written the concluding words. She
+fastened the book and the Doctor's poems together, and concealed them
+under the cover of her trunk. She cast another look on the sanctuary of
+her maiden life, and then flew down the stairs into the arms of her
+anxious mother. It was a wonderful elopement--a quiet Sunday morning, a
+mysterious light, gloomy rainclouds, contrasting strongly with the deep
+red glow of morning. Laura lay long in the arms of her weeping mother,
+till Susan urged her departure; then she passed into the street, where
+the Doctor awaited her, and hastened with him into the carriage; for
+the carriage was ordered to wait in a deserted place around the corner,
+and not before the house; upon this Laura had insisted. It was a
+wonderful elopement--a modest, sedate traveling-companion, the object
+of the journey the house of a loved friend, and, lastly, a large
+leather bag containing cold meat and other victuals, which Mrs. Hahn
+herself carried to the carriage, in order that she might once more kiss
+her son and Laura, and bless them amid tears.
+
+Spitehahn had for several days found it difficult to bear his lonely
+existence; since the departure of the learned lodgers he had been much
+disturbed, but when the master of the house also disappeared, there was
+no one to recognize him. This morning he cast cold glances on Laura as
+she hovered round her sorrowing mother, and looked askance at Susan
+when she carried the great traveling-trunk to the carriage; then he
+sneaked out into the street in order to give expression to his hatred
+of the neighboring house. But when Mrs. Hahn hastened to the carriage
+with the leather bag, he saw that something was wrong and he crept
+after his neighbor from across the way; and whilst she mounted on the
+step of the carriage to warn her Fritz of the sharp morning air, and to
+kiss Laura once more, he sprang upon the footboard and ensconced
+himself under the leather apron of the coachbox, determined to abide
+his time. The coachman seated himself, and supposing the dog belonged
+to the travelers, cracked his whip and started off. Another look and
+call to the mother, and the adventurous journey began.
+
+Laura's soul trembled under the pressure of passionate feelings, which
+were called forth by this long-desired but dreaded hour. The houses of
+the city disappeared, and the poplars on the high road seemed to dance
+past. She looked anxiously at her Fritz, and placed the tips of her
+fingers in his hand. He smiled, and pressed the little hand warmly.
+
+His cheerfulness was a support to her. She looked tenderly into his
+true face.
+
+"The morning is cool," he began, "allow me to fasten your cloak."
+
+"I am very comfortable," replied Laura, again putting her trembling
+hand within his.
+
+Thus they sat silently together, the sun peeped modestly from behind
+his red curtains and smiled on Laura, so that she was obliged to close
+her eyes. Her whole childhood passed before her in fleeting pictures;
+and finally, she heard the significant words of her friends at her last
+visit. Her godmother had said to her. Return soon again, child; and
+Laura now felt with emotion that this return was at an immeasurable
+distance. Her other godmother had kindly asked, When shall we see each
+other again? and a touching echo sounded in Laura's heart, Who knows
+when? All Nature was stirring in the fresh morning: a flock of pigeons
+flew across the field, a hare ran along the road as if racing, a
+splendid cluster of blue flowers grew on the border of the ditch, and
+red roofs shone from among the fruit trees. Everything on earth looked
+green and hopeful, blooming and waving in the morning breeze. The
+country people who were going to the city met them, a peasant sitting
+on his waggon smoking his pipe nodded a good morning to Laura, who held
+out her hand as if she wished to send a greeting to the whole world.
+The milkwoman in her little cart, who was going to sell her milk, also
+greeted her, saying, "Good morning. Miss Laura." Laura drew back, and,
+looking alarmed at Fritz, said:
+
+"She has recognized us."
+
+"Without doubt," replied the Doctor, gaily.
+
+"She is a gossip, Fritz; she cannot hold her tongue, and will tell all
+the servant-girls in our street that we are driving together along this
+road. This distresses me, Fritz."
+
+"We are taking a drive," replied the Doctor, triumphantly; "going to
+pay a visit to some one; we are going to act as sponsors together in
+the country. Do not mind these trifles."
+
+"It began by our being sponsors together, Fritz," answered Laura,
+tranquilized. "It has all been owing to the cat's paws."
+
+"I do not know," replied Fritz, slyly, "whether this misfortune did not
+originate earlier. When you were quite a little girl I kissed you
+once."
+
+"I do not remember that," said Laura.
+
+"It was for a basket of colored beans that I brought you from our
+garden. I demanded the kiss, and you consented to give the price, but
+immediately after wiped your mouth with your hand. From that time I
+have liked you better than all others."
+
+"Do not let us talk of these things," said Laura, troubled; "my
+recollections of old times are not all so harmless."
+
+"I have always been kept at a distance," exclaimed Fritz, "even to-day.
+It is a shame. It must not go on so; I must have some serious talk
+about it. Travelling together as we are, it is not fitting that we
+should use the stiff _you_ in talking to one another."
+
+Laura looked reproachfully at him. "Not to-day," she said, softly.
+
+"It is of no use now," replied Fritz, boldly. "I will no longer be
+treated as a stranger. I once heard the honest _thou_ from you, but
+never since. It pains me."
+
+Laura regretted that. "But only when we are quite alone," she
+entreated.
+
+"I propose it for all time," continued Fritz, undisturbed, "otherwise
+there will be continually mistakes and confusion."
+
+He offered her his hand, which she shook gently, and before she could
+stop him she felt a kiss on her lips.
+
+Laura looked at him tenderly, but then immediately drew back and
+ensconced herself in a corner of the carriage. Fritz was quite
+different to-day from usual; he looked confident and bold. In the house
+he had always been modest, while Laura had more than once thought of
+this relation, and had written in her book: "When two human beings are
+united in soul they ought to let each other know it." Now he used
+little ceremony. He looked boldly out of the carriage, and when they
+met travelers did not retreat as she had done after meeting the
+milkwoman, but looked as if challenging notice, and greeting people
+first.
+
+"I must begin about the Hindus," she said to herself, "in order to turn
+his thoughts to other subjects."
+
+She asked him about the contents of the Veda.
+
+"I cannot think of it to-day," exclaimed Fritz, gaily. "I am too happy
+to think of the old books. I have only one thought in my heart: 'Laura,
+the dear girl, will become mine.' I could dance in the carriage for
+joy."
+
+He jumped up from his seat like a little boy.
+
+Fritz was fearfully changed; she did not know him again; she withheld
+her hand from him, and looked at him, suspiciously, askance.
+
+"The heavens are covered with clouds," she said, sadly.
+
+"But the sun shines above them," replied Fritz; "it will come out again
+in a few minutes. I propose that we examine the great leather bag which
+my mother gave us; I hope there will be something good in it."
+
+Thus did the prose of the Hahn family betray itself, and Laura observed
+with secret regret how eagerly the Doctor rummaged the bag. She had,
+however, in her excitement thought little of her breakfast, so when
+Fritz offered her some of its contents she extended her little hand for
+it, and both ate heartily.
+
+Something darkened the seat next the coachman; a misshapen head showed
+itself at the window, and a discordant snarl was heard in the carriage.
+Laura pointed terrified at the apparition.
+
+"Merciful heavens, there is the dog again!"
+
+The Doctor also looked angrily at the hostile figure. "Drive him away,"
+cried Laura; "make him run home."
+
+"He will hardly find his way back," replied the Doctor, thoughtfully;
+"what would your father say if he were lost?"
+
+"He has been the enemy of my life," exclaimed Laura; "and must we now
+take him with us into the world? The idea is insupportable, and a bad
+omen, Fritz."
+
+"Perhaps we shall meet a wagon that will take him back again," said the
+Doctor, consolingly; "meanwhile we must not let him starve."
+
+In spite of his aversion he handed him some breakfast, and the dog
+disappeared again under the apron.
+
+But Laura continued disturbed.
+
+"Fritz, dear Fritz," she exclaimed, suddenly, "you must leave me
+alone."
+
+The Doctor looked at her with astonishment. The _you_ was an
+orthographical error which must be atoned for. He was again about to
+give her a kiss, but she drew back.
+
+"If you love me, Fritz, you must now leave me alone," she cried out,
+wringing her hands.
+
+"How can I do that?" asked Fritz; "we are traveling for good into the
+great world."
+
+"Get upon the box by the coachman," begged Laura, imploringly.
+
+She looked so serious and depressed that Fritz obediently stopped the
+carriage, descended from it, and climbed upon the coach-box. Laura drew
+a deep breath, and became more tranquil. Her words had influenced him.
+Intractable as he was, he would do much to please her. She sat alone,
+and her thoughts became more cheering. The Doctor turned round
+frequently, knocked at the window, and asked how she was. He was very
+tender-hearted, and full of loving attentions.
+
+"The whole responsibility for his health rests on me," she thought,
+"what hitherto his dear mother has done for him now becomes my duty. A
+delightful duty, dear Fritz. I will keep him from working at nights,
+for his health is delicate, and every day I will go walking with him,
+in the coldest weather, to accustom him to it."
+
+She looked out of the carriage, the wind was stirring the leaves; she
+knocked at the window:
+
+"Fritz, it is windy, you have no shawl on."
+
+"I shall no longer use one," called out the Doctor, "this effeminacy
+must be shaken off."
+
+"I beg of you, Fritz, not to be so childish. Put one round you, or you
+will certainly catch cold."
+
+"With a _you_, I will certainly not put it on."
+
+"Take it, my darling Fritz, I beg of _thee_," entreated Laura.
+
+"That sounds quite different," said Fritz.
+
+The window was opened, and the shawl put out.
+
+"He is firm as a rock," said Laura, seating herself again. "Complaisant
+as he appears, he knows well what he chooses to do, and, contrary to
+his own convictions, will not give in, even to me. That is all for the
+best, for I am still a childish creature, and my father was in the
+right; I need a husband who will look more calmly on the world than I
+do."
+
+It began to rain. The coachman put on his cloak, and Fritz spread his
+plaid and enveloped himself in it. She became very anxious about Fritz,
+and again knocked at the window.
+
+"It is raining, Fritz."
+
+This the Doctor could not deny.
+
+"Come in, you will get wet and catch cold."
+
+The carriage stopped, and Fritz obediently got down and entered it,
+while Laura wiped away the raindrops on his hair and shawl with her
+pocket-handkerchief.
+
+"You said _you_ four times," began Fritz, reprovingly. "If it continues
+thus, you will have a large reckoning to pay."
+
+"Be serious," began Laura, "I am in a very solemn mood. I am thinking
+of our future. I will think of it day and night, dearest one, that you
+may not feel the loss of your mother. Your dear mother has always taken
+your coffee up to you, but that is unsociable, you shall come over
+to me and take your breakfast with me; your Hindus must grant this
+half-hour to me. About ten o'clock I shall send you over an egg, and at
+dinner-time you will come over again to me. I shall take care that the
+cooking is good; we will live simply, as we are accustomed, and well.
+Then you shall tell me something about your books that I may know what
+my husband is occupied with, for this is a wife's right. In the
+afternoon we will take a walk together in the streets."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Fritz, "'over there,' 'here,' 'in the
+streets'? Surely we shall live together."
+
+Laura looked at him with open eyes, and a blush slowly mantled over her
+face up to her temples.
+
+"We cannot, as man and wife, live in different houses?"
+
+Laura held her hand before her eyes and remained silent. As she did not
+answer, Fritz drew her hand quietly from her face, and large tears
+rolled down her cheeks.
+
+"My mother," she said, softly, as she wept.
+
+So touching was the expression of her grief, that Fritz said,
+sympathizingly:
+
+"Do not grieve, Laura, about her, we will live where you like, and
+exactly as you think fit."
+
+But even these kind words could not comfort the poor soul, whose
+maidenly anxieties cast a shadow over her future. The colored haze with
+which her childish fancy had invested her free life in the neighborhood
+of her loved one, had been dissolved.
+
+She sat silent and sad.
+
+The coachman stopped before a village inn to refresh himself and his
+horses. The young landlady stood at the door with her child in her
+arms; she approached the carriage and civilly invited them to alight.
+Laura looked anxiously at the Doctor; he nodded, the carriage door was
+opened. Laura seated herself on a bench in front of the door, and asked
+the young woman questions about her family, in order to show the
+self-possession of a traveller. The woman answered, confidently:
+
+"This is our first child, we have been married scarcely two years.
+Excuse me, but I suppose you are a young married couple."
+
+Laura rose hastily, her cheeks glowed a deeper red than the rising sun,
+as she answered with a low "No."
+
+"Then you are engaged without doubt," said the woman, "that can be seen
+at once."
+
+"How could you discover that?" asked Laura, without raising her eyes.
+
+"One sees evidence of it," replied the woman, "the way in which you
+looked at the gentleman was significant enough."
+
+"A good guess," exclaimed the Doctor, gaily; but he also colored
+slightly.
+
+Laura turned away and struggled for composure. The secret of her
+journey was apparent to every one. It was known in the city and was
+spoken of in the villages. Her betrothal had been settled by the talk
+of strangers. Yet her parents had not laid her hand in that of her
+lover, nor had any of her friends wished her happiness, but now the
+stranger on the high road came and told her to her face what she was.
+
+"If the woman had known all,--how that I was eloping secretly with
+Fritz Hahn, without betrothal or marriage,--how would she have looked
+upon me?" thought Laura.
+
+She entered the carriage before the coachman had finished feeding the
+horses, and again tears flowed from her eyes. The Doctor, who did not
+anticipate this change of mood, was about to enter, when Laura, quite
+beside herself, exclaimed:
+
+"I beg of you to sit by the coachman, I feel very sad."
+
+"Why?" asked Fritz, softly.
+
+"I have done wrong," said Laura. "Fritz, I should like to return. What
+will that woman think of me? She saw right well that we were not
+engaged."
+
+"But are we not?" asked the Doctor, astonished. "I consider myself as
+decidedly engaged, and the friends to whom we go will clearly look upon
+the affair in that point of view."
+
+"I conjure you, Fritz, to leave me alone now; what I feel I cannot
+confess to any human being; if I become calmer I will knock at the
+window."
+
+Fritz again climbed on the coach-box, and Laura passed a sorrowful hour
+in the solitude of her carriage.
+
+She felt something strange on her cloak, looked with alarm at the empty
+seat, and started when she saw the demon sitting next her, the enemy of
+her life, the red dog. He stretched out his forefeet, and raised his
+moustache high in the air, as if he would say: "_I_ am carrying you
+off. The Doctor is sitting on the box, and I, the mischief-maker, the
+misanthropist, who have caused so much sorrow to this poetic soul, who
+have been cursed in her journal in both prose and verse, I, the common
+and unworthy being who used to lie at her feet, sit by her side the
+gloomy figure of her fate, the spectre of her youth, and the bad omen
+of her future life. I lie in the place where, in her childish poetry,
+she has long dreamt of another, and I mock at her tears and anxiety."
+He licked his beard and looked from under his long hair contemptuously
+at her. Laura knocked at the window, resolved to leave the carriage
+herself and sit upon the box.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+Meanwhile the mothers sat anxiously in the hostile houses. Since her
+daughter had left, Mrs. Hummel trembled for fear of the anger of her
+husband. She knew from Laura that he had not objected to the journey to
+Bielstein, and only wished to appear unconscious of it in order to
+maintain his defiant character towards his neighbors. But of what was
+to follow, he would give no information; when it came to a decision as
+to what was to become of Laura and the Doctor, she felt there was
+everything to fear from him. Mrs. Hummel had encouraged the journey in
+order to compel the consent of the family tyrant; but now she felt
+distrustful of her own cleverness. In her sad perplexity she put her
+mantle on, over her morning dress, and hastened out of the house to
+seek consolation from her neighbor.
+
+The heart of Mrs. Hahn was burdened with similar cares; she also was
+prepared, in her morning dress and mantle, to go over to Mrs. Hummel.
+The women met outside the two houses, and began an exchange of motherly
+anxieties. They made use of the neutral ground that lay between the
+hostile domains for quiet intercourse, and forgot that they were
+standing in the street. The bells sounded and the church-goers
+returned, yet they were still standing together talking over the past
+and future. The comedian approached them elegantly dressed; as he drew
+near he made a dramatic salutation with his hand. Mrs. Hummel looked
+with anxiety at her favorite guest, she feared his conjectures and
+still more his sharp tongue. His face was radiant with pleasure and his
+gestures were sympathetic.
+
+"What a surprise," he exclaimed, in the tone of a warm-hearted uncle;
+"what an agreeable surprise? The old quarrel made up; wreaths of
+flowers from one house to the other; the discord of the fathers is
+atoned for by the love of the children. I offer my hearty
+congratulations."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Hummel, perplexed.
+
+"An elopement," exclaimed the comedian, raising his hands.
+
+Both mothers looked terrified.
+
+"I must beg of you, in your remarks, to have more regard for the real
+state of things," replied Mrs. Hummel with offended dignity.
+
+"An elopement," again exclaimed the gentleman triumphantly. "Quite in
+conformity with the humor of this house; it is a master-stroke."
+
+"I feel confident from our old friendship," said Mrs. Hummel, "that you
+do not mean to insult us; but I must earnestly request you to have
+regard, at least, for propriety."
+
+The comedian was astonished at the reproaches of his patroness.
+
+"I only repeat what I have just been informed of by post." He drew out
+of his pocket a neat letter. "I hope that the ladies will convince
+themselves." He read aloud: "'I beg to announce to you the betrothal of
+Dr. Fritz Hahn with my daughter Laura, and their elopement this morning
+from her parents' house. Yours humbly, Hummel.' This quite answers to
+the character of our humorous friend."
+
+The ladies stood aghast. Then the rustling of a silk dress was heard,
+the godmother came up hastily, her hymn-book in her hand, and called
+out while yet in the distance:
+
+"What does one not live to see? You naughty people! Is it right that
+the friends of the family should first learn from the preacher in the
+church what is happening here?"
+
+"What do you mean?" asked both ladies, quite confounded.
+
+"That the bans of your children have been proclaimed in church to-day
+for the first, second, and third time. There was general astonishment,
+and though you have acted in so unfriendly a way as to keep it a
+secret, all your acquaintances were delighted. Now the whole city is
+full of it."
+
+Without speaking a word the two mothers flew into each others' arms in
+the open street, midway between the houses. The comedian stood on one
+side with his hand in his breast pocket, the godmother on the other
+with folded hands.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+It was also a troublous Sunday on the estate of Ilse's father. During
+the previous night a waterspout had burst on the hills, and a wild
+flood poured down where formerly the brook ran between the meadows. The
+oldest people did not remember such a rush of water. Before this the
+brook had been much swollen by the rains of the previous week, now it
+roared and thundered through the narrow valley between the manor-house
+and the sloping hills, and overflowed the fields where it was not
+defied by the steepness of the country and rocks. Furiously did the
+water rush and foam over the rocks and about the heads of the willows,
+carrying away the hay from the meadows in its course, uprooting reeds
+and tearing off branches of trees, and also the ruins of habitations,
+which, though far above, had been reached by the flood. The people of
+the estate stood by the edge of the orchard, looking silently upon the
+stream and the ruins it bore along with it. The children ran eagerly
+along the side of the water, endeavoring to draw toward them with poles
+whatever they could reach. They raised loud cries when they saw a
+living animal floating along. It was a kid standing on one of the
+boards of the roof of its stall. When the little creature saw the
+people standing near, it cried piteously, as if begging to be rescued.
+Hans put out a well-hook, caught hold of the plank, the kid sprang
+ashore and was taken in grand procession by the children to the
+farmyard and there fed.
+
+Ilse was standing at the new bridge leading to the grotto. It had only
+been built a few weeks, and was now threatened with destruction.
+Already the supports were bending on one side. The force of the water
+worked against the lower end, and loosened the pegs. The foam of the
+water whirled round the projecting foot of the rock, which formed the
+vault of the grotto, and the power of the rising water made deep
+furrows in the flood.
+
+"There comes some one running from the mountain," exclaimed the people.
+
+A girl came hastily round the rock, with a large kerchief full of
+fresh-mowed mountain grass on her back. She stopped terrified on the
+platform of the rock, and hesitated about crossing the unsafe bridge.
+
+"It is poor Benz's Anna!" exclaimed Ilse; "she must not remain there in
+the wilderness. Throw your burden away--be brisk, Anna, and come over
+quickly."
+
+The girl passed rapidly across the bridge.
+
+"She shall be the last one," commanded Ilse. "None of you shall attempt
+to go upon it, for it will not bear the pressure long."
+
+Her father came up.
+
+"The flood will subside to-night if fresh rain does not fall; but the
+injury it has done will long be remembered. Below, at Rossau, it
+appears still worse; it has overflowed the fields. Mr. Hummel has
+hastened down, as he is anxious about the bridges on the road on which
+his daughter is coming. In the village the water has entered some of
+the houses; the people are preparing to move to our farm-yard. Go down
+and help them," he said, turning to some laborers, and continued, in a
+low tone, to his daughter: "The Prince has gone to the village to
+examine the damage there. He wishes to speak to you; would you like to
+see him now?"
+
+"I am ready," said Ilse.
+
+She went towards the village with her father; there she ascended to the
+churchyard.
+
+"I shall remain in the neighborhood," said he. "When the Prince leaves
+you, call me."
+
+She stood by the side of the wall, looking at the grave of her dear
+mother and at the spot where the old Pastor reposed with his wife. The
+branches of the trees which she had planted here hung over her head.
+She remembered how fond her old friend had been of dilating on the fact
+that everything was just the same in the great world as in his village,
+the nature and passions of men were everywhere alike, and that one
+might make the same experience in their little valley as amidst the
+tumult of the Court.
+
+"Here my father is master," she thought, "and the people are accustomed
+to obey us, his children, and to regard us as we do our rulers. And
+their children, too, might experience what others have had to
+experience, were their master an evil-minded man. Yet they may ask for
+justice at any moment and find protection.
+
+"How will he, the proud man, bear that his wife should not find justice
+or protection from the injury which has been done to both her and him?
+We ought to do good to those who injure us. If the wicked Sovereign
+should now come to me sick and helpless, ought I to receive him in my
+house? and ought I to place myself by his couch, when such a mark of
+kindness might expose me to fresh insult? I have worn a white mantle;
+the stain which he has cast upon it, I see every hour, and no tears
+wash it away. He has taken from me my pure robe; shall I also at his
+bidding give him my gown? O high and honorable precept, taught me by my
+departed friend, I tremble to obey. It is a struggle between duties,
+and the thought of my Felix says to me, 'No.'
+
+"I have done with the young Prince too, however innocent he may be. I
+know that he once sought encouragement from the simple woman with all
+the warmth of his heart, and my vanity has often told me that I have
+been a good friend to him in his high yet lonely life. Fearfully have I
+atoned for this vain pride. He also from henceforth must be a stranger
+to me. What can he still wish from me? I imagine that he thinks exactly
+as I do, and only wishes to take leave of me for ever. Well, I am
+prepared for it."
+
+The Hereditary Prince came along the footpath from the village. Ilse
+remained standing by the wall of the churchyard, and bowed calmly to
+his greeting.
+
+"I have made known at the capital my wish to travel," began the Prince;
+"I hope my request will be granted. And I have therefore come to say
+farewell to you."
+
+"What you now say," answered Ilse, "shows that I have rightly judged
+your Highness."
+
+"I had little opportunity of speaking to you in the city," said the
+Prince, shyly; "it would grieve me if you should deem me capable of
+ingratitude or of coldheartedness."
+
+"I know the reasons that kept your Highness away," replied Ilse,
+looking down; "and I am thankful for your good intentions."
+
+"To-day I wish to tell you, and at the same time your husband,"
+continued the Prince, "that I shall endeavor to make what I have learnt
+with you useful for my future life. I know that this is the only way in
+which I can thank you. If you should ever hear that my people are
+contented with me, you may feel, gracious lady, that I have to thank,
+above all, you and yours for the strengthening of my sense of duty, for
+an impartial judgment of the worth of men, and for a higher standard of
+the duties of one who has to guard the welfare of many. I shall
+endeavor to show myself not quite unworthy of the sympathy you have
+accorded me. If you learn from others that it has benefited me, think
+kindly of me."
+
+Ilse looked at his excited countenance; there was the gentle, honest
+expression which she had so often watched with anxious sympathy; she
+saw how deeply he felt that something had interposed between him and
+her, and how thoughtfully he endeavored to spare her. But she did not
+fathom the deep and powerful grief of the young man, the poetry of
+whose youthful life a father had destroyed. She did not guess that the
+punishment which could not reach the father had fallen upon the
+innocent soul of the son. The injury that the father had inflicted had
+clouded the happiest feeling of his young life--his warm friendship
+for the woman to whom he clung with enthusiastic admiration. But the
+kind-hearted Ilse understood the full worth of him who now stood before
+her, and her cautious reserve disappeared; with her old frankness, she
+said to him: "One must not be unjust to the innocent, nor be untrue to
+those whose confidence one has had, as I have yours. What I now wish
+for your Highness is a friend. I have seen that this is what your life
+needs, and I have observed, too, how difficult it is to avoid forming a
+low estimate of men when one's sole companions are servants."
+
+These kind words of Ilse broke down the composure which the Prince had
+been struggling to maintain. "A friend for me?" he asked, bitterly.
+"Fate early disciplined me; I am not permitted to seek for or enjoy
+friendship; poison has been poured over the love that I felt. Forgive
+me," he suddenly said; "I am so accustomed to complain to, and seek
+comfort from you, that I cannot help speaking of myself, although I
+know that I have lost the right to do so."
+
+"Poor Prince," exclaimed Ilse, "how can you look after the welfare of
+others, if your own life is void of light? The happiness which I desire
+for your Highness's future life is domestic love, a wife that
+understands you, and would become the friend of your soul."
+
+The Prince turned aside to conceal the pain that this speech occasioned
+him. Ilse looked at him sorrowfully; she was once more his good
+counsellor as before.
+
+A beggar-woman crept round the wall of the churchyard.
+
+"May I beg of you to day?" began a hoarse voice, at Ilse's back. "When
+it is not the father, it is the son."
+
+Ilse turned round; again she saw the hollow eyes of the gipsy, and
+cried out, dismayed, "Away from here."
+
+"The lady can no longer drive me away," said the gipsy, cowering down,
+"for I am very weary, and my strength is at an end."
+
+One could see that she spoke the truth.
+
+"The troopers have hunted me from one boundary to another. If others
+have no compassion on me, the lady from the rock should not be so
+hard-hearted, for there is old fellowship between the beggar and her. I
+also once had intercourse with noble people, I have abandoned them, and
+yet my dreams ever hover over their golden palaces. Whoever has drunk
+of the magic cup will not lose the remembrance of it. It has again and
+again driven me into this country, I have led my people here--and they
+now lie in prison, the victims of the old memories that pursued me."
+
+"Who is this woman?" asked the Prince.
+
+The beggar raised her hands on high.
+
+"In these arms I have held the Hereditary Prince when he was a child
+and knew nothing; I have sat with him on velvet in his mother's room.
+Now I lie in the churchyard on the high road, and the hands that I
+stretch out to him remain empty."
+
+"It is the gipsy woman," said the Prince in a low tone, and turned
+away.
+
+The beggar-woman looked at him scornfully, and said to Ilse:
+
+"They trifle with us, and ruin us, but they hate the remembrance of old
+times and of their guilt. Be warned young woman, I know the secrets of
+this noble family, and I can tell you what they have tried to do to
+you, and what they have done to another who flourished before you on
+yonder height, and whom they placed, as they did you, in the gilded
+prison, over whose portal the black angel hovers."
+
+Ilse stood bending over the beggar woman, the Prince approached her.
+
+"Do not listen to the woman," he exclaimed.
+
+"Speak on," said Ilse, with a faint voice.
+
+"She was young and finely formed like you, and like you she was brought
+to that prison, and when the mother of this man removed me from her
+service because I pleased the Sovereign, I was appointed to serve the
+stranger. One morning I was made to ask for leave of absence from the
+imprisoned lady, because she was to be alone."
+
+"I entreat of you not to listen to her," implored, the Prince.
+
+"I listen," said Ilse, again bending down over the old woman, "speak
+low."
+
+"When I came back the next morning I found a maniac in the house
+instead of the fair-haired lady, and I escaped from the place in
+terror. Do you wish to know through which door madness made its way to
+that woman?" she continued in a low murmur. Ilse put her ear to her
+mouth, but sprang suddenly back and uttered a piercing shriek, hiding
+her face with her hands. The Prince leaned against the wall and wrung
+his hands.
+
+A loud call sounded from the carriage-road, and a man hastily
+approached; he held out a letter while still at a distance.
+
+"Gabriel!" exclaimed Ilse, hastening towards him. She tore the letter
+from him, read it, and supported herself convulsively against one of
+the stones of the churchyard. The Prince sprang forward, but she held
+out the letter as if to stop him and exclaimed:
+
+"The Sovereign is coming."
+
+The Prince looked terrified at Gabriel.
+
+"He is hardly a mile from here," announced the exhausted servant. "I
+overtook the princely carriage, and succeeded in getting ahead of it.
+The horses are struggling along the unfinished road, but the bridge
+between this and Rossau is now scarcely fit for horsemen or carriages;
+I was obliged to leave my horse behind; I do not believe they will be
+able to cross it, except on foot."
+
+Without saying a word the Prince hastened down the road to Rossau. Ilse
+flew with her letter in her hand up the rock to her father, who came
+with Mr. von Weidegg to meet her.
+
+"Go and pay your respects to your master," she called out wildly, to
+the Chamberlain. "My Felix comes!" she called to her father, and sank
+upon his breast.
+
+People were collected near the temporary bridge between Rossau and
+Bielstein. Gabriel also hastened back to the water; he had met Mr.
+Hummel there, who was passing up and down along the bank looking across
+the stream.
+
+"The world is wretchedly small," exclaimed Mr. Hummel, to his
+confidant, "people always meet again. One who has been galloping, like
+you, should take care of himself; you are exhausted, and look greatly
+changed. Sit down on this log and rest yourself like a sensible man."
+
+He pushed Gabriel down, buttoned his coat, and patted him on the cheek
+with his large hand.
+
+"You must be in great need of refreshment, but the best we have here is
+a water-perch, and I do not like to treat you like a despicable New
+Zealander, who in the booths at a fair consumes five cents-worth of raw
+whitings. Take the last restorative of a Parisian traveler."
+
+He forced him to take a piece of chocolate.
+
+A few steps from them, at the bridge, stood the Prince with folded
+arms, looking at the water, which on the side of Rossau had spread
+itself over the meadows and low fields about the town. Rapidly did the
+expanse of water increase; on the nearest part of the new road, which
+had not yet been paved, puddles of water gleamed between the heaps of
+sand and the wheelbarrows of the workmen; the road projected like a
+dark strip out of the muddy flood. A few individuals were coming from
+Rossau; they waded through the thick mud of the road and supported
+themselves timidly by the smooth poles which supplied the place of the
+bridge-rails. For the water rushed violently against the beams instead
+of flowing deep under the arches, and the spectators on the Bielstein
+side called aloud to them to make haste. The Chamberlain hastened down
+to his silent master and looked anxiously in his face. He was followed
+by the Proprietor.
+
+"If I could do as I wished, I would break these tottering planks with
+my own hands," he said, indignantly, to Mr. Hummel.
+
+"The carriages are coming," called the people. The Sovereign's carriage
+with four horses drove at a rapid trot through the gate of Rossau.
+Beside the Sovereign sat the Lord High Steward. The former had during
+the wearisome journey been in a state of gloomy stupor; an occasional
+wild word, and a look of intense hatred, was all his intercourse with
+his companion.
+
+The courtier had in vain endeavored to draw the Sovereign into quiet
+conversation. Even the consideration of the two servants sitting at the
+back of the open carriage could not restrain the Sovereign's mood.
+Exhausted by the secret strain of this journey the old gentleman sat,
+the attendant by his invalid, and his sharp eye watched every movement
+of his companion. When they drove out of the town into the open
+country, the Sovereign began, musingly:
+
+"Did you recognize the horseman that overtook us in such haste?"
+
+"He was a stranger to me," said the High Steward.
+
+"He conveyed information of our arrival; they are prepared to receive
+us."
+
+"Then he has done your Highness a service, for they would hardly have
+had any anticipation at the hunting-lodge of your Highness's important
+resolution."
+
+"We are not yet at the end of our drama. Lord High Steward," said the
+Sovereign, tauntingly; "the art of foreseeing the future is lost. Even
+your Excellency does not understand that."
+
+"I have always been satisfied with observing cautiously what surrounds
+me in the present, and I have thereby sometimes guarded myself from
+being disagreeably surprised by the future. If by any accident I should
+myself be prevented from carrying out my _r�le_ in the drama of which
+your Highness speaks, I have taken care that others shall act my part."
+
+The Sovereign threw himself back in his seat. The carriage went on
+through the mire, the horses floundered, and the coachman looked back
+doubtfully.
+
+"Forward!" called out the Sovereign, in a sharp voice.
+
+"The Hereditary Prince awaits your Highness at the bridge on foot," said
+the High Steward.
+
+They went on at a good pace, the coachman with difficulty restraining
+his horses, who were frightened at the glittering expanse of water and
+the roar of the flood.
+
+"Forward!" again commanded the Sovereign.
+
+"Permit the coachman to stop, your Highness; the carriage cannot go
+further without danger."
+
+"Do you fear danger, old man?" exclaimed the Sovereign, his face
+distorted with hatred. "Here we are both in the water--the same fate
+for us both, Lord High Steward. He is a bad servant who abandons his
+master."
+
+"But I wish to restrain your Highness also," replied the High Steward.
+
+"Forward!" cried the Sovereign again.
+
+The coachman stopped.
+
+"It is impossible, most gracious master," he said; "we can no longer go
+over the bridge."
+
+The Sovereign jumped up in the carriage, and raised his stick against
+the coachman. The man, frightened, whipped his horses; they reared and
+sprang off to one side.
+
+"Stop!" cried the High Steward.
+
+The frightened lackeys readily jumped down, and held the horses. The
+High Steward opened the carriage door, and scrambled out.
+
+"I beseech your Highness to alight."
+
+The Sovereign sprang out, and, casting a look of vindictive hatred at
+him, hastened forward on foot. He stepped on the bridge, and the flood
+roared around him.
+
+"Stay back, father," entreated the Hereditary Prince.
+
+The father laughed, and advanced over the tottering planks; he had
+passed over the middle of the bridge and the deepest part of the
+stream; only a few steps more and his foot would touch the shore of
+Bielstein. At that moment there rose up near the bridge a bent figure,
+that cried out wildly to him:
+
+"Welcome to our country, Gracious Lord; mercy for the poor
+beggar-woman. I bring you greeting from the fair-haired lady of the
+rock."
+
+"Away with the crazy creature," exclaimed the Chamberlain.
+
+The Sovereign gazed-fixedly at the wild figure; he tottered, and
+supported himself by the rails. The Hereditary Prince flew towards him;
+the father drew back with a shudder, lost his footing, and rolled down
+the side of the slippery planks into the flood.
+
+There was a loud scream from the bystanders; the son sprang after him.
+The next moment half-a-dozen men were in the water--among the first,
+Gabriel, cautiously followed by Mr. Hummel. The gigantic form of the
+Proprietor towered above the stream; he had grasped the Sovereign,
+while Gabriel and Hummel seized the Prince. "The Sovereign lives,"
+called out the Proprietor to the son, laying the unconscious man on the
+shore. The Hereditary Prince threw himself down by his father on the
+ground. The latter lay on the gravel road, the beggar-woman holding his
+head; he looked with glazed eyes before him, and did not recognize his
+kneeling son, nor the furrowed countenance of the stranger who bent
+over him. "He lives," repeated the Proprietor, in a low tone; "but his
+limbs cannot perform their office." On the other side of the water
+stood the High Steward. He called out to the Chamberlain in French,
+then hastened back with the carriage to Rossau, in order to reach a
+safer crossing. It was with difficulty that the carriage was brought
+back. Meanwhile, on the Bielstein side, a plank was torn off the
+half-destroyed bridge and the Sovereign laid upon it and carried to the
+Manor. The children of the Proprietor ran ahead and opened the door of
+the old house. In the hall stood Ilse, white as marble. She had been
+told by her brother that the Sovereign was saved from the water; he was
+approaching the house, to two generations of which he had been a curse
+and a terror. She stood in the entrance-hall no longer the Ilse of
+former days, but a wild Saxon woman who would hurl the curses of her
+gods on the head of the enemy of her race; her eyes glowed, and her
+hands closed convulsively. They carried the exhausted man up the steps.
+Then Ilse came to the threshold, and cried:
+
+"Not in here."
+
+So shrill was the command, that the bearers halted.
+
+"Not into our house," she cried the second time, raising her hand
+threateningly.
+
+The Sovereign heard the voice; he smiled, and nodded his head
+graciously.
+
+"It is a Christian duty. Ilse," exclaimed the Proprietor.
+
+"I am the Professor's wife," cried Ilse, passionately. "Our roof will
+fall upon that man's head."
+
+"Remove your daughter," said the Hereditary Prince, in a low tone. "I
+demand admittance for the Sovereign of this country."
+
+The Proprietor approached the steps and seized Ilse's arm. She tore
+herself away from him.
+
+"You drive your daughter from your house, father," she exclaimed,
+beside herself. "If you are the servant of this man, I am not. There is
+no room for him and my husband at the same time. He comes to ruin us,
+and his presence brings a curse!"
+
+She tore open the gate into the garden and fled under the trees, burst
+through the hedge, and hastened down into the valley; there she sprang
+upon the wooden bridge, from which she had shortly before driven the
+village people; the flood roared wildly beneath her, and the woodwork
+bent and groaned. A rent, a crack, and with a powerful spring she
+alighted on the rock on the other side; behind her the ruins of the
+bridge whirled down to the valley. She stood on the rocky prominence in
+front of the grotto, and raised her hands with a wild look to heaven.
+Her eldest brother came running behind her from the garden, and
+screamed when he saw the ruins of the bridge.
+
+"I am separated from you," exclaimed Ilse. "Tell father, he need not
+care for me; the air is pure here; I am under the protection of the
+Lord, whom I serve; and my heart is light."
+
+
+
+
+                             _CHAPTER XLI_.
+
+                              IN THE CAVE.
+
+
+The dark water gurgled and streamed through the valley; the reflection
+of the setting sun shone on the bay-windows of the old house; the wife
+of the Scholar stood alone beneath the rock overhanging the entrance to
+the cave. Where once the wives of the ancient Saxons listened to the
+rustling of the forest-trees, and where the wife of the hunted robber
+hurled stones on his pursuers, now stood the fugitive daughter of the
+Manor on the Rock, looking down on the wild surging of the water, and
+up to the house where her husband's foe was resting in the arm-chair of
+her father. Her breast still heaved convulsively, but she looked kindly
+on the brown rock which spread its protecting vault above her. Below
+her roared the wild, destructive flood, while around her the diminutive
+life of nature carelessly played. The dragon-flies chased one another
+over the water, the bees hummed about the herbs of the sloping hill,
+and the wood-birds chanted their evening-carols. She seated herself on
+the stone bench, and struggled for peaceful thoughts; she folded her
+hands and bent her head; and the storm within her bosom spent itself in
+the tears that flowed from her eyes.
+
+"I will not think of myself, but only of those I love. The little ones
+will inquire after me when they go to bed; to-night they will not hear
+the stories of the city that I used to tell them, to put them to sleep.
+They were all wet after their fishing, and in the confusion no one will
+think of putting dry stockings on them. In thinking of other things I
+have forgotten to care for them. The youngest persists in wishing to
+become a professor. My child, you do not know what it is you wish. How
+much must you learn, and what a change will come over you! For the work
+which life accomplishes in us is immeasurable. When I formerly sat here
+near my father, I believed, in my simplicity, that the higher the
+office, the more noble were the men, and the most exalted of all the
+best, and that all that was important on earth was done by great and
+refined minds. And when the two scholars came, and I talked about books
+with Felix for the first time, I still imagined that everything in
+print must be indubitable truth, and every one who wrote, a thoroughly
+learned man. Many think thus childishly. But I have been an obstinate
+thing, and have vehemently opposed myself to others, even to my
+husband, who stood highest in my opinion."
+
+She looked with a sad smile before her, but immediately afterwards bent
+her head, and again the tears poured from her eyes.
+
+She heard the call of her brother from the garden.
+
+"Holloa, Ilse! are you there? The strangers are still in the house;
+they are making a sedan chair for the invalid; he is to be taken to the
+ranger's lodge. Father is busy sending out messengers. The bridge at
+Rossau has also been carried away by the water; we cannot get to the
+town, and no one can come from the town to us. We feel very anxious
+about your getting back to us."
+
+"Do not mind about me, Hans," said Ilse; "tell the girls they must not
+be so engrossed with the strangers as to forget our dear guest. Greet
+the children for me; they must not come to the edge of the water to bid
+me good night, for the bank is slippery."
+
+Ilse placed herself at the entrance of the cave and looked all about.
+Early that morning she had seated herself here, and when the water
+began to rise high, she had hastened over the wooden bridge to warn her
+brothers and sisters. Her work still lay on the bench, together with a
+book that had been given her by the Pastor when she was a girl. It was
+the life of the holy Elizabeth, written by one of the most zealous
+ecclesiastics of her church.
+
+"When I first read about you," she thought, "Saint Ilse of the
+Wartburg, my distinguished namesake, your life touched me, and all that
+you did and that was told of you appeared to me as an example for
+myself. You were a pious, sensible, and amiable woman, and united to a
+worthy husband. Then the longing for higher honor in his knightly
+order, and martial fame, made him blind to the nearest duty of his
+life, and he left you and the people of his home, and went to the wars
+in the far-off land of Italy. Two long years he wandered and fought,
+and finally returned, weary and worn. But he found not his beloved wife
+as he had left her. In the solitude that surrounded you, you had
+yearned for your husband, and your overpowering sorrow had brought you
+to ponder upon the great mysteries of life; your own life had been full
+of longing, and for this you had become a pious penitent. You wore a
+garment of hair, and scourged your back; you bowed your head and
+thoughts before an intolerant priest. You did what was not right nor
+seemly; to please your God, you laid the leper in the bed of your dear
+husband. In your over-strained piety you lost your warm heart and the
+modesty of womanhood; you were canonized by the clergy; but you, poor
+woman, in your striving for what they called the grace of God, had
+sacrificed human feelings and duties. It is not good, Ilse, that man
+and wife separate without great necessity."
+
+"When people act harshly towards those they love, they do so because
+some wrong has been done them or because they fancy themselves
+offended. But why should you care for invalid strangers on the couch
+that your husband had forsaken? I fear me, blessed Elizabeth, that it
+was the spite of offended love, that it was secret revenge for having
+so hopelessly longed for your husband. Your history is no good teaching
+for us, but rather a warning. My sweet old friend Penelope, the poor
+heathen woman, was far more human than you and a far better wife than
+you. She wept night after night for her loved husband, and when he
+finally returned, she threw her arms about him for his having
+recognized the secret signs of the nuptial couch."
+
+Again a voice sounded from the other side of the water.
+
+"Do you hear me, Ilse?" cried her father, from the other bank.
+
+"I hear you," answered Ilse, raising herself.
+
+"The strangers are going away," said the father; "the invalid is so
+weak that he cannot injure others; you are, in truth, separated from
+us. It is becoming dark, and there is no prospect of being able to
+repair the bridge over the water before night. Go along the valley on
+your side over the hill to Rossau, and there remain with some one of
+our acquaintances until morning. It is a long way round, but you may
+reach it before night."
+
+"I will remain here, father," Ilse called back; "the evening is mild,
+and it is only a few hours till morning."
+
+"I cannot bear, Ilse, that my wilful child should sleep beneath the
+rocks in the very sight of her home."
+
+"Do not mind about me. I have the moon and the stars over me; you know
+that I do not fear the dwarfs of the cave, nor on my mountain the power
+of man."
+
+The twilight of evening fell on the deep valley, and the mist rose from
+the water; it floated slowly from tree to tree, it undulated and rolled
+its long, dusky veil between Ilse and her father's house. The trunks of
+the trees and the roof of the house disappeared, and the grotto seemed
+to hover in clouds of air separated from the earth amidst indistinct
+shadows, which hung round the entrance of the rock and fluttered at
+Ilse's feet, then collected together and dissolved.
+
+Ilse sat on the bench at the entrance, her hands folded over her knees,
+appearing in her light dress, like a fairy woman of olden times, a
+ruler of the floating shadows. She gazed along her side of the shore on
+the mountain-path that led from Rossau.
+
+The distant steps of a wanderer sounded through the damp fog. Ilse took
+hold of the moist stone. Something moved on the ground near her, and
+glided indistinctly forward--perhaps it was a night-swallow or owl.
+
+"It is he," said Ilse, softly. She rose slowly, she trembled, and
+supported herself against the rock.
+
+The figure of a man stepped out of the white mist; he stopped
+astonished when he saw a woman standing there.
+
+"Ilse!" called out a clear voice.
+
+"I await you here," she answered, in a low tone. "Stop there, Felix.
+You find not your wife as you left her. Another has coveted that which
+is yours; a poisonous breath has passed over me; words have been said
+to me which no honest woman ought to hear, and I have been looked upon
+as a bought slave."
+
+"You have escaped from the enemy."
+
+"I have, and therefore am here; but I am no longer in the eyes of
+others what I once was. You had a wife free from all taint; she who now
+stands before you is evilly talked of, both on account of father and
+son."
+
+"The noise of tongues dies away like the surging of the water beneath
+your feet. It signifies little what others think when we have done what
+is satisfactory to our own consciences."
+
+"I am glad that you do not care for the talk of others. But I am not
+quite so proud and independent as I was. I conceal my sorrow, but I
+feel it always. I am lowered in my own eyes, and, I fear, Felix, in
+yours also; for I have brought on my own misfortune--I have been too
+frank with strangers, and given them a right over me."
+
+"You have been brought up to trust in those who hold high positions.
+Who can give up loyal trust without pain?"
+
+"I have been awakened, Felix. Now answer me," she continued, with
+agitation, "how do you return to me?"
+
+"As a weary, erring man, who seeks the heart of his wife and her
+forgiveness."
+
+"What has your wife to forgive, Felix?" she again asked.
+
+"That my eyes were blinded, and that I forgot my first duties to follow
+a vain chase."
+
+"Is that all, Felix? Have you brought me back your heart, unchanged to
+me as it was before?"
+
+"Dear Ilse," exclaimed her husband, embracing her.
+
+"I hear your tones of love," she exclaimed, passionately, throwing her
+arms round his neck. She led him into the grotto, stroked the drops of
+water out of his damp hair, and kissed him. "I have you, my beloved
+one; I cling firmly to you, and no power shall ever again separate me
+from you. Sit here, you long-suffering man; I hold you fast. Let me
+hear all the trouble you have gone through."
+
+The Scholar held his wife in his arms, and related all. He felt her
+tremble when he told her his adventures.
+
+"Indignant anger and terror impelled me along the road to Rossau after
+the Sovereign," he said, concluding his account, "and the delay for
+change of horses seemed insupportable to me. In the town I found a
+crush of vehicles worse than on a market-day; before the inn a confused
+noise of wheels, and the cries of men, drovers, and court-lackeys, who
+could not cross the water. In the city I learned from strangers that
+the foe of our happiness had been overtaken by a fate which pursued him
+to the water. We have done with him, and are free. They called out to
+me that the bridge on the way to you was broken. I sprang out of the
+carriage in order to seek the footpath over the hills and the road
+behind the garden. Then the dog of our landlord ran past me, and a
+coachman from our city came up to me and stated that he had brought
+Fritz and Laura to the town, but that they had gone further down the
+stream in order to find a crossing. You may believe that I would not
+wait."
+
+"I knew that you would seek this path," said Ilse. "To-day you are come
+to me--to me alone; you belong only to me; you are given to me anew,
+betrothed to me for the second time. The habitations of men around us
+have disappeared; we stand alone in the wild cave of the dwarfs. You,
+my Felix, to whom the whole world belongs, who understand all the
+secrets of life, who know the past and divine the future--you have
+nothing now for a shelter but this cleft of the rock, and no covering
+but the kerchief of poor Anna for your weary limbs. The rock is still
+warm, and I will strew the grass of our hills as a couch for you. You
+have nothing, my hero in the wilderness, but the rocks and herbs, and
+your Ilse by your side."
+
+The stillness of night reigns about; the stream rushes gently around
+the roots of the brambles; and the white mists hang like a thick
+curtain over the cave. Dusky phantoms glide along the valley; they
+hover, in long white dresses, past the rocky entrance, down into the
+open country, where a fresh breath of air dissolves them. High above,
+the moon spreads its white, glimmering tent, woven of rays of light and
+watery vapors; and the old juggler laughs merrily over the valley and
+down upon the rocky grotto. As the delusive moonlight harasses mortals
+by its unreal halo, so do they harass themselves by the pictures of
+their own fancy, in love and hate, in good and bad humor; their life
+passes away whilst they are thinking of their duty and err in doing it,
+whilst they seek truth and dream in seeking it. The spirit flies high,
+and the heart beats warm, but the hobgoblin of fancy works incessantly
+amidst the reality of life; the cleverest deceive themself, and the
+best are disappointed by their own zeal. Sleep in peace, Ilse. Thou
+sittest upon thy low stone bench and boldest in thy lap the head of thy
+husband. Even in this hour of bliss, thou feelest the sorrow that came
+to him and thee, and a gentle sigh sounds through the cavern like the
+movement of a moth's wings against the walls of rock. Sleep in peace.
+For thou hast lived, in the weeks gone by, through that which for all
+future time will be a gain to thee. Thou hast learned to seek in the
+depths of thy own life judgment and firm resolve. It would not be
+fitting. Ilse, that the lightly-woven tale of that which thou hast
+suffered, should separately bring up the lofty questions of eternal
+moment that thou hast raised--thy doubts and thy fierce battles of
+conscience. That were a too heavy burden for our frail bark. Yet as the
+mariner at sea, his eye fixed upon things below, recognizes in the
+waters beneath the reflection of the clouds of heaven, so will thy
+attainment of freedom, Ilse, be seen in the reflection of thy thoughts,
+in thy countenance, thy manner, and thy conduct.
+
+Slumber in peace, you children of light! Many of your hopes have been
+deceived, and much innocent trust has been destroyed by rough reality.
+The forms of a past time--forms that you have borne reverentially in
+your hearts--have laid a real hold on your life; for what a man thinks,
+and what a man dreams, becomes a power over him. What once has entered
+in the soul continues to work actively in it, exalting and impelling it
+onward, debasing and destroying it. About you, too, a game of fantastic
+dreams has played. If at times it has given you pain, it has still not
+impaired the power of your life, for the roots of your happiness lie as
+deep as it is granted man, that transitory flower, to rest in the soil
+of earth. Slumber in peace under the roof of the wild rock; the warm
+air of the grotto breathes round your couch, and the ancient vaulting
+of the roof spreads protectingly over your weary eyes! Around you the
+forest sleeps and dreams; the old inhabitants of the rock sit at the
+entrance of the cave. I know not whether they are the elves in whom
+Ilse does not believe, or the old friends of the scholar, the little
+goat-footed Pans, who blow their sylvan songs on their reed pipes. They
+hold their fingers to their mouth, and blow so gently in their pipe
+that it sounds sometimes like the rushing of the water or the soft sigh
+of a sleeping bird.
+
+
+
+
+                            _CHAPTER XLII_.
+
+                           TOBIAS BACHHUBER.
+
+
+Ilse gently touched the head of her husband. Felix opened his eyes,
+threw his arms round his wife, and for a moment looked in confusion at
+the wild scene about him. The mist hovered like a white curtain before
+the opening of the cave; the first dawn of morning cast a glow on the
+jagged projections of the dark vault; the redbreast sang, and the
+blackbird piped; the pure light of day was approaching.
+
+"Do you not hear something?" whispered Ilse.
+
+"The birds singing, and the water rushing."
+
+"But under us, within the rock, some strange power is at work. It stirs
+and groans."
+
+"It is some animal from the wood," said the Professor; "a fox or a
+rabbit."
+
+The noise about their seat became louder; something was pushing against
+the stone bench; it was working and sighing like a man who carries a
+heavy burden.
+
+"Look," whispered Ilse, "it is coming out; it is slipping round our
+feet. There sits the strange thing; it has shining eyes and a
+glittering cloak."
+
+The Professor supported himself on his hand and looked at the dark
+spot, where a small figure sat with hairy face, its body covered with a
+stiff, glittering garment.
+
+They both looked motionless at the figure.
+
+"Now do you believe in the spirits of this place?" asked her husband,
+in a low tone.
+
+"I am afraid, Felix; I distinctly see the gold of the dress, and I see
+a small beard and a horrible face."
+
+She raised herself.
+
+"Are you the Dwarf-King, Alberich," asked the Professor, "and is the
+Nibelungen treasure concealed here?"
+
+"It is the red dog," cried Ilse, "he has a coat on."
+
+The Professor jumped up; the dog crouched whining before his feet. The
+Scholar bent down, felt a strange material round the body of the dog,
+and took off the covering; he stepped to the entrance and held it up in
+the dawning light. It was old rotten stuff, woven with golden thread.
+The dog, freed from his burden, rushed out of the cave with a growl.
+The Professor gazed long on the torn tissue, let the rag fall, and said
+gravely:
+
+"Ilse, I am at the goal of my long search. These are the remains of a
+priestly vestment. The dog has drawn this out of some hole into which
+he has crept; the treasure of the monk lies in this grotto. But I have
+done with my hopes. A few days ago this discovery would have
+intoxicated me, now so dark a remembrance is attached to it that the
+pleasure that I might have had in what is concealed in these depths has
+almost all vanished."
+
+There were loud voices on the opposite bank. Hans hallooed again
+through the mist; he greeted his sister and Felix who now came out from
+the cave on the broad rock, with the joyful news--"The water has
+fallen." The other brothers and sisters rushed after him and came close
+to the water shouting and screaming. Franz brought a sandwich in a
+paper, and declared his intention of throwing this breakfast over to
+them, that they might not starve. The children contended against this
+decision, and eagerly devised a plan of throwing over a piece of twine
+on a ball and attaching the sandwich to it. Life on the estate had
+again resumed its ordinary routine.
+
+"Has Fritz come?" asked the Professor, across the stream.
+
+"They are still at Rossau," called out Hans. "The bridge has been
+repaired; Mr. Hummel is up, and has gone down there."
+
+The father also came, followed by a troop of laborers, who brought
+beams and planks. The men went into the water and drove a support into
+the soft ground, upon which they laid several slender tree-trunks
+across the water; the Professor caught the rope which was thrown to
+him. After a few hours' work a small bridge was erected. The Proprietor
+was the first who passed over to his children, and the men exchanged a
+grave greeting.
+
+"If the men have an hour's time to spare during the day," said the
+Professor, "they may do one last work for me here. The hiding-place of
+the monks was in this cave."
+
+In the meantime Mr. Hummel was descending with rapid steps towards
+Rossau. The carpenters were still working at the bridge. He cast a
+searching look on the spot where he had caught hold of the young Prince
+in the water and murmured:
+
+"He went down like a cannon-ball. This nation has no capacity for the
+sea either in its upper or lower classes,--in this whole neighborhood
+they have not so much as a boat. Twenty years ago there was one here,
+it is said, but it has been cut up to boil coffee. The best thanks that
+one can give to this Bielstein man for the disturbance that we have
+occasioned him, will be to send him a boat to keep among his bundles of
+straw."
+
+With these thoughts he entered the door of the Dragon; there he went up
+to the sleepy landlord and asked:
+
+"Where is the young couple that arrived yesterday evening?"
+
+"They are up stairs, I suppose," returned the latter, indifferently;
+"their bill is to be paid yet, if you will know."
+
+As he was about to ascend to the upper floor, he heard a cry of joy.
+
+"Father, my father!" exclaimed Laura, rushing down the stairs; she
+threw her arms round his neck, and gave vent to such warm expressions
+of tenderness and sorrow that Mr. Hummel at once became gracious.
+
+"Vagrants!" he exclaimed; "have I caught you? Wait! you shall pay
+dearly for this escapade."
+
+The Doctor also rushed headlong down stairs, and greeted Mr. Hummel
+with outbursts of joy.
+
+"Your carriage will bring the things after us; we will go on ahead,"
+ordered Mr. Hummel. "How did your Don Juan behave?" he asked, in a low
+tone, of his daughter.
+
+"Father, he took care of me like an angel, and sat on a chair the whole
+night before my door. It was terrible, father."
+
+"And how does the affair please you? So romantic! It calls forth superb
+feelings, and one thereby escapes the almond-cake and the unseasoned
+jokes of the comic actor."
+
+But Laura pressed up to her father, and looked imploringly at him, till
+Mr. Hummel said:
+
+"So it has been a cure? Then I will joyfully pay the bill of the
+Dragon."
+
+They walked out of the door together.
+
+"How did she behave on the way?" he asked the Doctor, confidentially.
+
+"She was charming," he exclaimed, pressing the arm of the father, "but
+in an anxious state of mind; I was sent up on the coach-box four times
+that repentance overcame her."
+
+"What, and did you climb up?" asked Mr. Hummel, indignantly.
+
+"It gave me pleasure to see that she was so deeply affected by the
+unusual nature of the journey."
+
+"'It gives me pleasure that my poodle should go into the water,' said
+the flea, and was drowned," returned Mr. Hummel, mockingly. "Why did
+you not look calmly on the anxiety of my child? It would have saved you
+many a bond if you had been firm with her the first day."
+
+"But she was not yet my wife," said the Doctor.
+
+"O, it was tolerant mischievousness, was it?" replied the father, "may
+you bide your time."
+
+When they approached the courtyard, the daughter hanging on the arm of
+her father--which she would not let go--he began:
+
+"Not a word to-day, now, about this abominable elopement. I have hushed
+up your thoughtless folly before the people here, and thrown a mantle
+over it, that you may be able to open your eyes; you are announced and
+expected as quiet travelers. We shall remain here together to-day;
+to-morrow I shall speak to you, in my office of father, a last word
+concerning your romance."
+
+At the door the wanderers were joyfully welcomed by their friends. The
+Professor and the Doctor embraced each other.
+
+"You come just in time, Fritz; the adventure which we began here years
+ago will conclude to-day. The treasure of Brother Tobias is
+discovered."
+
+After some hours the whole party started for the cave; the laborers
+followed with iron crows and levers.
+
+The Proprietor examined the block of stone at the back of the cave. At
+the bottom on one side he saw a hole, the same through which the dog
+had crawled.
+
+"This opening is new," he exclaimed; "it was closed by a stone which
+has fallen in."
+
+The large stone bench was with some exertion rolled away, and an
+opening wide enough for a man to creep in without difficulty became
+perceptible. The lights were lowered into it, and showed a continuation
+of the cave sloping downwards, which went many yards further into the
+mountain. It was a desolate space. In the time of the monks it had
+undoubtedly been dry, but was no longer so. Roots of trees had driven
+the crevices of the rock asunder, or the strata had sunk, owing to the
+penetration of the damp. Thus an entrance had been given to water and
+animals, and there was a confused mass of litter from the wood and
+bones. The workmen cleared it with their tools, and the spectators sat
+and stood by, full of curiosity. The Professor, in spite of his
+composure, kept as close to the spot as he could. But the Doctor could
+not long bear to look on. He took off his coat and descended into the
+opening. Mouldy pieces of thick cloth were brought up; probably the
+treasure had been conveyed in a large bag to its place of concealment.
+Then came altar covers and ecclesiastical robes.
+
+There was a cry of joy, and the Doctor handed out a book. The face of
+the Professor was suffused with color as he took it. It was a missal on
+parchment. He gave it to the Proprietor, who now looked on with great
+interest. The Doctor handed out a second book; all pressed near. The
+Professor sat on the ground and read. It was a manuscript of St.
+Augustine in a deplorable condition.
+
+"Two!" he said, and his voice sounded hoarse from inward emotion.
+
+"The Doctor handed a third book, again spiritual Latin hymns with
+notes. The fourth, a Latin Psalter. The Professor held out his hand,
+and it trembled.
+
+"Is there more?" he exclaimed.
+
+The Doctor's voice sounded hollow from the cave.
+
+"There is nothing more."
+
+"Look carefully," said the Professor, with faltering voice.
+
+"Here is the last," cried the Doctor, handing out small square board,
+"and here another."
+
+They were two book-covers of solid wood, the outside ornamented with
+carved ivory. The Professor perceived at once from the style of the
+figures that it was Byzantine work of the latest Roman period--the
+figure of an Emperor on a throne, and over him an angel with a halo.
+
+"A large quarto of the fifth or sixth century. It is the cover of the
+manuscript, Fritz; where is the text?"
+
+"There is no text to be found," again replied the sepulchral voice of
+the Doctor.
+
+"Take the lantern and throw the light everywhere."
+
+The Doctor took the second lantern in. He felt with his hand and
+pickaxe all round in every corner of the rock. He threw the last blade
+of straw out, and the last remnant of the bag. There was nothing of the
+manuscript to be seen--not a page, not a letter.
+
+The Professor looked at the cover.
+
+"They have torn it out," he said, in a faint voice; "probably the monks
+took the Roman Emperor in ivory for a saint."
+
+He held the cover to the light. On the inner side of one of the pieces,
+amidst dust and decay, might be read, in old monkish writing, the words:
+
+                    "THE TRAVELS OF THE SILENT MAN."
+
+The silent man was now drawn from his hiding-place. But he spoke not:
+his mouth remained mute for ever.
+
+"Our dream is at an end," said the Professor, composedly. "The monks
+have torn out the text from the cover, and left it behind; there was no
+more room for the manuscript in the crowded bag. The treasure is lost
+to science. Our hand touches what was once the cover of the manuscript,
+and we cannot help having the bitter feeling of sorrow for what is
+irreparable, the same as if it had passed away in our sight. But we
+return to the light in possession of our faculties, and must do our
+duty in making available to our generation, and those who come after
+us, what remains."
+
+"Was this genius called Bachhuber?" exclaimed Mr. Hummel; "judging from
+appearances, he was an ass."
+
+The Proprietor laid his hand on the shoulder of his son-in-law.
+
+"After all, you learned men have been in the right," he said, "Close
+the opening by the stone bench again," he said, addressing the
+laborers; "the cave shall remain as it was."
+
+The party returned silently to the old house. The boys carried the
+books, the girls the bundles of torn monks' dresses, and made plans for
+drawing out the gold threads for themselves. The Professor kept the
+cover of the lost manuscript.
+
+As they entered the house there was a sound of horse's feet on the
+other side. The Proprietor went to the door. The old Chief Forester
+drew in his black horse.
+
+"I have ridden in haste through the farm to bring you news. Everything
+with us is topsy-turvy. We have Court Officials and Ministers, and
+doctors are fetched from every quarter. My people have all been sent
+out, and I myself have come to Rossau to order a courier. I fear his
+Serene Highness is very low; he knows no one. The Hereditary Prince is
+now awaiting the arrival of the Court physician; as soon as he gives
+permission the party will start for the capital. All these terrible
+things are owing to the unfortunate additions to my quiet dwelling. One
+thing more, while it occurs to me--your son-in-law is searching for old
+papers and books. There are some chests at our place containing such
+lumber of ancient times, when the ranger's lodge was still a royal
+shooting-box. Over the door, from under the plaster, one can discover a
+foreign word, _solitudini_, which means, they say, 'in solitude.' The
+chests are rotten: in the course of the building they have been moved
+from their place. When things become quieter with us the Professor
+will, perhaps, look over them."
+
+"Then here is the Castle Solitude, with the genuine chests of the
+official," exclaimed the Professor. "I shall never go to that house."
+
+The Doctor seized his hat, and spoke in a low tone to Laura and the
+Proprietor.
+
+"I beg leave of absence for to-day," he said, going out.
+
+He did not return till evening.
+
+"In the chest there are accounts for repairs to the monastic buildings
+and for the estate at the end of the seventeenth century; there are,
+besides, some volumes of Corneille. The vicar who went to America is
+related to the Chief Forester."
+
+"We have been led astray," said the Professor, calmly. "It is well that
+every doubt has disappeared."
+
+"But," replied the Doctor, "there is still no proof that the old
+manuscript is destroyed. It is yet possible that it may come to light
+somewhere in fragments. Who knows but there may be strips on the back
+of some books?"
+
+"On the books which the Swede has written in characters of fire at
+Rossau," replied the Professor, with a sad smile. "It is well, Fritz,
+that the tormenting spirits are forever banished."
+
+Early on the morning of the following day a line of carriages left the
+ranger's lodge; the first was closely curtained--it was the prostrate
+Sovereign, guarded by his physicians. Before starting, the Hereditary
+Prince beckoned the Chief Forester to his carriage:
+
+"Is there any other way to Rossau than that by the manor-house through
+the Bielstein estate?"
+
+"Over the ridge through the wood," replied the Chief Forester; "but it
+is a roundabout way."
+
+"We will take the road through the wood," commanded the Hereditary
+Prince. On the way he said to his attendant: "I expect from you,
+Weidegg, that, should occasion present itself, you will show
+considerate attention to the people who dwell in that house. I am the
+son of the sick Sovereign to whom a voice refused reception there. I
+shall, therefore, never again cross the threshold of that house; and I
+wish that you never again mention the name of that woman in my
+presence."
+
+The sad procession passed close by the spot where once the lightning
+had struck the pine-tree. The carriages moved at a slow pace along the
+ridge of hills upon the forest-road.
+
+"Drive on ahead," said the Prince; "I will walk a short distance
+alone."
+
+He stepped to the edge of the hill; the early dawn tinged the dark
+bushes of heather with a golden green. From that same height, where
+once a merry party had rested, the Prince looked down on Bielstein,
+which stood out in the white morning mist, on the roof and balconies of
+the old house. Long he stood motionless; the bell sounded from the
+village church through the mountain air; he bent his head till the last
+echoes of the melancholy tones passed away; then he stretched his hand
+greetingly towards the manor, turned quickly back, and went along the
+forest-road.
+
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+The cocks crowed in the farmyard at Bielstein, the sparrows twittered
+in the vine arbor, and the people were preparing for the day's work.
+Then Mr. Hummel knocked three times with his ponderous fist at the door
+of the room in which his daughter slept.
+
+"Get up, eloper," he shouted, "if you still wish to take leave of your
+forsaken father."
+
+There was a noise in the room and a prattering of slippers, and Laura's
+head peeped through the opening in the door.
+
+"Father, you are not going to leave us!" she said pleadingly.
+
+"You have left me," replied Mr. Hummel; "we must have a few final words
+together. Dress yourself properly, and you shall accompany me down the
+hill. I will wait for you in the hall."
+
+He had to wait some time for his daughter, and paced impatiently up and
+down, looking at his watch.
+
+"Gabriel," he said to the servant, who came up to him in his best
+attire, "much misfortune arises from women's long hair. It is on that
+account that they never can be ready at the right time; this is their
+privilege by which they vex us, and it is on that account that they
+maintain they are the weaker sex. Order and punctuality will never be
+obtained unless all womankind have their pig-tails cut off on one day."
+
+Laura glided down the stairs, clung to her father's arm, and stroked
+his cheeks with her little hand.
+
+"Come into the garden, my little actress," he said; "I must speak to
+you alone for a few minutes. You have succeeded in eloping, you have
+gone through the scandal,--in what state of mind are you now?"
+
+"Uneasy, dear father," said Laura, dejectedly. "I know that it was a
+folly, and Ilse says so too."
+
+"Then it must be so," replied Mr. Hummel, dryly. "What is now to become
+of you?"
+
+"Whatever you wish, father," said Laura. "Fritz and I are of opinion
+that we must follow your wishes unconditionally. I have by my folly
+lost all right of expressing a wish; if I could still venture to make a
+request," she said, timidly, "I should like to remain here for a short
+time."
+
+"Then you wish to get rid of your seducer?"
+
+"He is going back to his parents, and we will wait, my father, until he
+has an appointment at the University: he has prospects."
+
+"Indeed," said Mr. Hummel, shaking his head. "All that would have been
+very sensible before the elopement; now it is too late. Your banns have
+been published in church, now, three times."
+
+"The people would not have it otherwise," continued Mr. Hummel. "When
+it was known that you had eloped, the clergy could not avoid publishing
+the banns; you had not been long out of the gate when this calamity
+took place."
+
+Laura stood terrified, and a burning red suffused her cheeks. The bells
+of the little church by the wood below sounded. Mr. Hummel took a paper
+out of his pocket.
+
+"Here are those cursed old godmother's gloves; I wish at last to get
+rid of the trash. Here you have your dowry, I can give you nothing
+more; put them on quickly, that people may at least observe by your
+hands that this is a festive day for you. When it comes to the business
+of the wedding-ring you can easily take them off."
+
+"Father," cried Laura, wringing her hands.
+
+"You could not bear the idea of a wedding-cake," said Mr. Hummel, "so
+you must do without a wedding-dress, and many other things. These
+dramatic attitudes would have been very suitable before the elopement,
+now you must be married without question either immediately, or not at
+all. Do you think that one goes out into the world for a joke?"
+
+"My mother!" exclaimed Laura, and the tears rolled from her eyes.
+
+"You chose to run away from your mother, and if your father, out of
+consideration for these strangers, had not come, you would have had to
+do the business alone. You wished to escape from our homely, simple
+feelings."
+
+Laura laid hold of a tree with trembling hands, and looked imploringly
+at her father.
+
+"You are not so bold as I thought. Now the timid hare in you comes to
+light."
+
+Laura threw herself on her father's breast and sobbed; he stroked her
+curls.
+
+"Little Hummel," he said, kindly, "there must be punishment, and it is
+not severe; I am satisfied that you should marry him. He is a worthy
+man; I have observed that; and if it is for your happiness, I shall
+easily get on with him, but you must not immediately begin to hum and
+buzz if I sometimes bristle up in my way. I wish, too, that you should
+marry him to-day, that is now the best course for all parties. You may
+exercise your bridal feelings later and go through your emotions as you
+like. Be brave, now, my child, the others are waiting, and we must not
+delay them. Are you ready?"
+
+Laura wept, but a soft "Yes" was heard.
+
+"Then we will awake the bridegroom," said Mr. Hummel. "I believe the
+sacrificial lamb sleeps without any foreboding of his fate."
+
+He left his daughter, hastened to the Doctor's door, and looked into
+the room. Fritz lay fast asleep. Mr. Hummel seized the boots which were
+standing before the door and bumped them down beside the bed.
+
+"Good morning, Don Juan," he shouted; "have the kindness to get
+immediately into this leather. These are your bridal boots. My daughter
+Laura begs you to make haste, and the clergyman is impatient."
+
+The Doctor sprang out of his bed.
+
+"Are you in earnest?" he asked.
+
+"Terribly in earnest," said Hummel.
+
+He did not have to wait long for the Doctor. He entered the garden
+where Laura was still sitting alone in the bower, uneasy, like an
+imprisoned bird that does not venture to leave its cage. Mr. Hummel led
+the Doctor up to her.
+
+"There, you have her," he said solemnly. "It is a fine morning, just
+like that when I set out as a boy. To-day I send my child into the
+world, and that is another kind of feeling. I do not object to it if
+you live happily together, till first your children run away from you
+into the world, and then the grandchildren: for man is like a bird, he
+takes pains and collects the bits of straw together for his home, but
+the young brood do not care for the nest of the parents. Thus the old
+raven must now sit alone and find few who will be vexed with his
+croaking. Take my stubborn girl, dear Fritz, and do not let her have
+too much of her own will. I have watched you for some time, and I
+will tell you something in confidence: ever since the affair of the
+cat's-paws it occurred to me, that in the end you would be no bad
+husband for this Hummel. That you are called Hahn is, after all, only a
+misfortune." He kissed them both right heartily. "Now come, runaways,
+for the others are expecting you."
+
+Mr. Hummel walked before his children to the house; he opened the door
+of the sitting-room where the whole family were assembled. Laura flew
+to Ilse, and concealed her hot face on the breast of her friend. The
+latter took the bridal wreath, which her sisters had brought, and
+placed it on Laura's head. Gabriel opened the door. Years before the
+Doctor had drawn his friend from the bramble bush against the wall into
+the church; now he walked into the little village church hand in hand
+with his love, and again the children strewed flowers. When the
+clergymen joined the hands of the bridal pair. Ilse also clasped the
+hand of her husband.
+
+"Your mother is wanting," said Hummel, to the bride, when she embraced
+him after the wedding; "and the Doctor's family also. But you are
+citizen's children, and however exalted your feelings may be you must
+accommodate yourself to our customs. You will go from here back to your
+native town. There your mothers will keep the after-nuptials, and you,
+runaway, shall not escape the bad poetry. You must excuse me if I am
+not at home on that day; I have to make a business journey, and it is
+not suitable to marry one's child twice in a week." He then said, in a
+low tone to his daughter: "between ourselves, I do not wish to peck of
+the same wedding-cake with the Hahn family. You are not to live with
+me, nor in the house over the way:--that has been advised by our
+friends, and I think it quite right. After the marriage feast you may
+travel for some weeks, and then return to your own home."
+
+"The bridal journey you will make alone," said the Professor; "not with
+us. Ilse and I have determined, after a short rest, to return to the
+city. I have some months of the vacation still before me which I shall
+endeavour to make of use to a select circle of students. Among books we
+shall again find what we lost among strangers,--peace with ourselves,
+and peace with those about us."
+
+
+
+It was about Easter the following year. Mr. Hummel and Gabriel stood
+dressed in festive black before the door of No. 1. Park Street.
+
+"I was to see her, Gabriel," began Mr. Hummel, confidentially. "I took
+the money to her this time myself, because you wished it. I inquired
+concerning her of the people at the Inn and of the neighbors. She
+behaves with modesty, and her character is greatly changed. Much water,
+Gabriel," and he pointed to his eyes.
+
+"You were kind to her?" asked Gabriel, faintly.
+
+"As a lamb," replied Mr. Hummel, "and she the same. The room was poor,
+one picture only hung there without a frame, Gabriel, as a remembrance
+of her happy position in that house. It was a cock with golden
+feathers."
+
+Gabriel turned away.
+
+"At last the place became too moist for my dry constitution, but care
+has been taken of her. She is to be placed in a respectable business as
+a saleswoman, and as for the illegitimate Knips, the ladies will take
+care of him. I have spoken with Madame Hummel, and she with the Hahn
+woman over the way; they will arrange for the charitable collections.
+But as far as you are concerned, Gabriel, with all respect,--what is
+too much is too much."
+
+Mr. Hummel respectfully seized Gabriel's waistcoat button, and twisted
+the averted face as by a screw round to himself. Then he looked into
+the sad eyes for some time without saying a word, but they both
+understood each other.
+
+"It was a hard time, it was a mad time, Gabriel, in every point of
+view," began Mr. Hummel, at last, shaking his head; "what we went
+through with princes was no trifle."
+
+"He was very light," said Gabriel, "and I carried him like a feather."
+
+"That is nothing to the purpose," said Mr. Hummel; "the affair was
+creditable. Just think what it is to have saved a young Sovereign.
+That few of us can do. For a moment, ambitious thoughts came into my
+head--that is to say, the Chamberlain, no ill-disposed man and an old
+acquaintance of ours, sounded me on a delicate point when he last
+called."
+
+"He also sent for me," interposed Gabriel, with dignity. "Prince Victor
+had commissioned him to send his respects, and to say that the Prince
+was to marry the Princess."
+
+"Even this kind of householder becomes domestic," said Mr. Hummel,
+"that is at least a beginning. Well, the Chamberlain assured me of his
+Serene Highness's gratitude, made eloquent speeches, and probed me at
+last with a 'predicate.' Do you know what that is?"
+
+"Hum," said Gabriel, "if it is something that is given away at that
+Court it would be like a colored tobacco pouch without any tobacco in
+it; it must be a title."
+
+"You have hit it," said Mr. Hummel. "What do you think of Sir Court Hat
+Maker and Householder, Henry Hummel?"
+
+"A swindle," replied Gabriel.
+
+"Right, it was a weakness; but I overcame it at the right time. Then I
+asked this Chamberlain, 'what would you expect of me'? 'Nothing at
+all,' he said, 'except that you should carry on a distinguished
+business!' 'That is the case now,' I said. 'But what hats will they
+expect me to keep?' For he, who has had experience like mine, becomes
+suspicious, and look you, Gabriel, then the fraud came out, for what
+was his idea and expectation? I was in his eyes a man who dealt in
+straw hats. Then I thanked him for the honor, and turned my back to
+him."
+
+"But," said Gabriel, "there should be some concession with regard to
+this matter; we are on good terms now with the people over there; and
+if you have given your daughter to the family, why not also an article
+of business?"
+
+"Do not interfere in my affairs," said Mr. Hummel, irritably. "It is
+bad enough that I, as father, and in a certain degree as neighbor, have
+been obliged to give up my old grudge. How can one irritate oneself
+now, when one is obliged to have one's hand pressed here, and to drink
+family punch under the cursed Muse there? No, I was a weak father, and
+as a neighbor, an inexcusably fickle man. But, Gabriel, even the worm
+which is trod upon keeps its sting. And my sting is my business. There
+the enmity still remains. Every spring, vindictiveness; and every
+winter, triumph. I have lost my child and made over my money to a
+coxcomb, but I am still man enough to hold my own against the fellow
+across the way."
+
+He looked at the empty place on the door-steps, where his dog Spitehahn
+formerly used to sit.
+
+"I miss him," continued Mr. Hummel, pointing significantly to the
+ground.
+
+"He is gone," said Gabriel.
+
+"He was a dog after my own heart," continued Mr. Hummel, slowly; "and I
+have an idea. What do you think, Gabriel, if we were to erect a
+monument to him in the garden. Here near the street; there would only
+be a low stone and upon it a single word--'Spitehahn.' When the doors
+stand open one could read it across the street. It would be a memorial
+of the poor beast, and especially of the good time when one could pluck
+the feathers of a Hahn without being indicted for infanticide."
+
+"That will not do," replied Gabriel. "What would the son-in-law's
+people over the way say to it?"
+
+"The devil!" exclaimed Mr. Hummel, and turned away.
+
+Yes, Spitehahn had disappeared from the world. Since that hour, when in
+the dim grey of the morning he had wound round him the golden dress of
+the deceased Bachhuber like a ruff, he had disappeared. No inquiries
+and no offers of reward had enabled Mr. Hummel to obtain a trace of
+him. In vain were the shepherds and laborers of the neighborhood, and
+even the magistrates of Rossau, set in movement--he had vanished like a
+spirit. The place on the steps remained empty; the blank which he had
+left behind in society was filled by a younger race of dogs in Park
+Street; the neighborhood in every walk along the street felt a
+satisfaction which they had long been deprived of; the cigar dealer
+again placed his stand near Mr. Hummel's garden; and the young ladies
+in white dresses, who went to the Park, gradually gave up the custom of
+turning away from Mr. Hummel's house, and going over to the straw side.
+The memory of Spitehahn passed away without regret from any; only with
+the old inmates of the street the remembrance of him remained as a dark
+tradition. Gabriel alone thought of the lost one evenings when he saved
+the bones for miscellaneous dogs of the neighborhood. But he did not
+wonder at the disappearance of the animal: he had long known that
+something mysterious must sometime or other happen to him.
+
+There came a confirmation of this view, which furnished food for
+thought for the rest of Gabriel's life; for when, in the following
+autumn, he again went in company with his master and mistress to visit
+the Manorhouse of Bielstein, directly upon his arrival he begged
+permission to have an afternoon's holiday, and, as he often did now,
+walked alone with his thoughts. He went in the wood, far past the
+ranger's lodge, amongst large mossy beech-trees, ferns, and bilberries.
+It was evening, and a grey twilight overtook the wanderer; he was
+uncertain of his direction, and, somewhat uneasy, sought the road to
+the house. Thunder rolled in the distance, and sometimes a bright
+flash of lightning passed over the heavens, and for a moment lighted up
+the trunks of the trees and the mossy ground. Amid a bright flash he
+saw himself suddenly on a cross-road; he started back, for a few
+steps from him a great dark figure was moving across the path, with a
+broad-brimmed felt hat on his head and a weapon on his shoulder; it
+glided by noiselessly and without greeting. Gabriel stood astonished;
+again a flash, and along the same road ran two dogs, a black and a red
+cur, with huge heads and bristly hair: suddenly the red one stopped and
+turned towards Gabriel, who saw at the back of the dog a tuft which it
+wagged. The next moment there was profound darkness, and Gabriel heard
+at his feet a slight whimpering, and it appeared to him as if something
+licked his boot. Another slight noise, and then all was still.
+
+The people on the estate maintain that it was a poacher, or the great
+deer-stealer from the other side of the frontier; but Gabriel knew who
+the night-hunter was, and what the dog was. He who had before sent the
+dog to Hummel's house, without money and without name, had also called
+him away. The hound now barked again in the night, when the storm blew
+like a hunting-horn, when the clouds flew under the moon, and the trees
+bent their heads, groaning, to the earth. Then he ran over the hills
+from Rossau, through the grounds of Bielstein; he howled, and the moon
+laughed mockingly down on the place in which Tobias Bachhuber had
+deposited his treasures, and among them the cover of the lost
+manuscript.
+
+But if no observer could be in doubt as to the fate of the dog, far
+more uncertain is the judgment of the present day concerning another
+figure which hovers about the grotto.
+
+What can thy fate be, unfortunate Brother Tobias Bachhuber? Thy conduct
+towards the manuscript we have been seeking transcends everything one
+could have expected of a Tobias. It is much to be feared that thy
+disregard of the highest interests of mankind may have injured thy
+social position in the other world. Grievous doubts arise, Bachhuber,
+as to thy heavenly happiness: for the wrong that thou hast done to us
+would have drawn tears from an angel. To us mortals it is impossible to
+think of thee with the confidence which thy true-hearted words would
+impress upon us: _h�c omnia deposui_,--I have deposited all this. That
+was an untruth, Bachhuber, and the wounds of deceived confidence will
+always bleed afresh.
+
+Answer my question, Tobias--what views didst thou hold of the unity of
+the human race? of the bonds of union binding the souls of men of
+past ages with the souls of men of the present? or of that stupendous
+net-work, humanity, in which thou wert a mesh? Thy views were pitiable,
+indeed. Thou didst stuff the great manuscript, the hope of our century,
+into a bag and thou didst rip out the text when thou foundest the bag
+too full, and didst carefully preserve the covers for later
+generations! For shame, thrice for shame!
+
+And yet, withal, thou didst ever hover restlessly about the cave of the
+forest, and since Swedish times didst bustle about unceasingly in the
+rooms of the old house!
+
+Why didst thou do that, Tobias, silly monk? Is't possible that thou
+hadst something in store, that thou wast guarding something, for the
+happiness of those who came after thee, that thou wert, after all,
+laboring for the unity of mankind that we said thou hadst no conception
+of?
+
+Yes, a treasure was found. It did not have the appearance that our
+scholars thought it would, when their glance first rested on the faded
+letters of thy record. The treasure that both the scholars found, had
+clenched fists, and dimpled cheeks, and sweet, bright eyes. Their
+treasure came to them alive, nor was it of the silent kind. Bachhuber,
+can it be that thou hast frivolously transcended the rules of thy
+order? Was it thou that set down this treasure in the 'dry hollow
+place' commonly called a cradle? in the cradles of two homes?
+
+To-day there is a great christening at the Professor's house--a double
+one. The Professor's son is called Felix, and the Doctor's young
+daughter Cornelia. Almost at the same time the children resolved to
+narrow the space of the over-crowded world by their appearance. The
+sponsors of the boy are Professor Raschke and Mrs. Struvelius; the
+sponsors of the girl are Professor Struvelius and Mrs. Raschke; but Mr.
+Hummel is godfather for both, stands in the middle and swings first
+one, and then the other godchild.
+
+"I am delighted that yours is a boy," he said, to the Professor; "he
+will be fair and jolly. For womankind is rapidly getting the upper
+hand, and will soon become too powerful for us; we must strengthen
+ourselves by an increase, otherwise a complete revolution will take
+place. I am delighted that yours is a girl," he said, to his daughter;
+"the creature is dark and bristly; it will be no Hahn, but a Hummel."
+
+The christening is over, and Professor Raschke raises his glass.
+
+"There are two new human souls in the kingdom of books, two more
+scholars' children in our blustering, curious, pedantic, and whimsical
+community. You children will take your first riding-lessons on your
+fathers' folios; you will make your first helmet and your first dress
+from your fathers' proof-sheets: you will regard, earlier than others,
+with secret terror the books that surround your rosy youth. But we hope
+that you too will help preserve for a future generation the proud and
+lofty spirit with which your fathers have dedicated their lives to
+science, to thought, and to creative activity. You too, be you man or
+woman, must become the faithful guardians of the ideals of our people.
+You will find a national spirit that takes a stronger flight and makes
+higher demands on its intellectual leaders. As we in the present, so
+you in the future, will often be accorded a smile. But see to it that
+it be kindly. And see to it that the office that has come to you from
+your fathers, remain worthy of the people. And see to it that you too
+shall acquit yourselves as steadfast and honest workers in the fields
+of Science--true to your faith in the good genius of this our life."
+
+Raschke spoke: and waved his glass.
+
+"Pray, Professor Raschke!" exclaimed Mrs. Struvelius; "you have my
+glass. My gloves are in it. Do not drink them, I beseech you!"
+
+"True enough," said Raschke, apologetically; and he poured with
+measured deliberation the wine from the flask on the gloves, to join
+with great appreciation in the toast he had offered.
+
+But in the dimly, lighted corner, by the book-case, whereon the tiny
+record of our loved Brother lay, appeared the humble figure of
+Bachhuber,--Tobias Bachhuber, observed by no one--in the resemblance of
+a nurse. He greeted, and graciously bowed his thanks.
+
+When the friends had departed. Ilse sat on the sofa, the child before
+her in her lap. Felix knelt at her side, and both looked down upon the
+young life between them.
+
+"It is so small, Felix," said Ilse; "and yet all that was and all that
+is, does not make the mother so happy as the soft beating of the little
+heart in its breast."
+
+"Restlessly the thinking mind struggles after the eternal," exclaimed
+the Scholar; "but he who holds wife and child to his heart, feels
+forevermore united in holy peace with the high power of life."
+
+The cradle rocked, as if moved by spirit hands. Thus does the treasure
+look, blessed Bachhuber, that thy active hand has helped bestow upon
+a future race. Thou hast not acted well by us. Thou hast done us
+wrong. But when we think how studiously active thou wast, in the old
+manor-house and elsewhere, to perform, to the glory of coming
+generations, the kindly offices of a match-maker, we cannot be angry
+with thee on this solemn, festive occasion. All in all, we must say
+thou wert an unfortunate, ill-starred fellow, and hast been the cause
+of much trouble. But thy heart was kind. And after all, Tobias, thou
+hast been taken up into heaven--with a question-mark it is true: for
+thou shalt ever wear on the back of thy celestial cowl a tag of Satan's
+making--a mark for all future time of thy dealings with the lost
+manuscript of Tacitus.
+
+
+
+                               [THE END.]
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: Compare the library scene in the chapter "A Day of
+Visits," Vol. 1, p. 265, of this novel.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Andres_ means "the other."]
+
+[Footnote 3: A festive and bibacious celebration, in honor of some
+prominent person, or commemoration of a great event.]
+
+
+
+
+
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