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diff --git a/34598.txt b/34598.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5cada17 --- /dev/null +++ b/34598.txt @@ -0,0 +1,22565 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Through Night to Light, by Friedrich Spielhagen + +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: Through Night to Light + A Novel + +Author: Friedrich Spielhagen + +Translator: Schele de Vere + +Release Date: December 8, 2010 [EBook #34598] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH NIGHT TO LIGHT *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + 1. Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/throughnighttol00veregoog + 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + + + + Through Night To Light + + + A NOVEL + + + BY + FRIEDRICH SPIELHAGEN + + + + FROM THE GERMAN + + BY + PROF. SCHELE DE VERE + + + + _Author's Edition_ + + + + "Ex fumo dare lucem cogitat." + + Horace + + + + _REVISED EDITION_ + + + + + NEW YORK + HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY + 1878 + + + + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by + + LEYPOLDT & HOLT, + + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States + for the Southern District of New York. + + + + + + STEREOTYPED BY + DENNIS BRO'S & THORNE, + AUBURN N. Y. + + + + + + Through Night to Light. + + + + + + Part First. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +The sun hung glaring red near the horizon. In the valleys of the +mountain ranges dark-blue shadows were gathering, while high on the +forest-crowned tops the warm evening light was still aglow. The trees +were gorgeous in their gay autumn livery, but in this part of the +mountain dark forests of sombre evergreens covered the narrow ravines +up and down, and all the swelling heights. + +On the turnpike which led in manifold windings towards the main ridge +of the mountains, and was lined on both sides with unbroken rows of +dwarf fruit-trees, an old-fashioned carriage was slowly making its way. +It was one of those broad but clumsy vehicles, drawn by two raw-boned, +broken-kneed horses, and carefully provided with a huge drag-chain, +which are hired in the cities for a few days' excursion into the +mountains. The horses lagged, with drooping heads, heavily in their +harness, and labored painfully step by step up the hill, for the road +was steep and the carriage heavy. The driver encouraged them from time +to time with a friendly Gee, bay! up, sorrel! as he walked slowly by +their side, and the two gentlemen who had employed him for some days +had gotten out at the foot of the mountain and were leisurely following +at some distance behind him. + +They were a couple of young men, evidently belonging to the best +classes of society, that is, to the middle classes, in which +intelligence and culture are nowadays almost exclusively found. They +were both tall and showed the slight build and the elasticity belonging +to their years. One, the smaller one, whose mouth and cheeks were +nearly hid under a close, deep-black beard, would probably have been +thought the more interesting of the two, as his finely-cut features, +full of intelligence, were sure to please the more careful observer, +and yet he was neither as tall nor as handsome as his companion, who at +once attracted the eyes of all fair maidens and matrons in the towns +and villages through which they had passed. + +The two young men had for a time walked on in silence, separated as +they were by the whole breadth of the turnpike, which was here covered +with small broken stones, to the despair of horses and foot-passengers. +Now, when they had passed the bad places, they approached each other +again, and the one with the black beard put his hand in a kindly manner +on the other's shoulder and said affectionately: "_Eh bien_, Oswald, +why so silent?" + +"I return your question," replied the latter, turning his beautiful, +earnest eyes towards his companion. + +"I enjoy in full draughts the glory of this evening's landscape," said +Doctor Braun; "and enjoyment, you know, is silent, because the very +pleasure is business enough, and leaves us no leisure for talking. But +tell me, is it not a wonderful country, this Thuringia? Is it not +worthy to be the heart of Germany, and thus the heart of the heart of +our continent, in fact of the inhabited globe? Stop a moment where you +are; we have just here a view which would be unique if there were not +thousands and thousands like it in these lovely mountains. There is the +valley, which we have just left! you can now follow easily the +meandering course of the willow-fringed brook through the meadows. +There is the village, a dirty place when seen near by, but now how +beautiful it is, half veiled by its gay cloak of trees, and the blue +columns of smoke, which rise straight up from the chimneys, and +gradually dissolve on the sides of the mountains into blue, transparent +clouds. And now these beautiful heights with their evergreens! how they +rise one behind the other with their deep coloring. And now, here to +our left, the glimpse of the blue mountains which we crossed this +morning. And, above all, this marvellously fair sky, clear and deep and +unfathomable, like the eye of some one we love. Oh, there is something +divine in these outlines and these lights. They are surely intended to +be more than a mere pleasure for the eye, or even a study for the +painter: they are meant to comfort us and to admonish us. A glance at +the enchanting face of our mother nature puts our wild hearts to sleep, +makes us forget the eccentric character of our so-called culture, +brings us back to the first harmony of the soul, and awakens and +revives in us the conviction that everything true, beautiful, and +noble, is infinitely simple, and that the well of contentment gushes +forth at the bidding of every one who seeks it with a pure heart." + +While Doctor Braun had spoken these words in his usual animated and +impressive manner, Oswald had looked with sad eyes into the far +distance. Now, when his companion ceased, he said--an ironical smile +playing around his lips-- + +"Are you quite sure of that? And suppose it were so, who will blame the +unfortunate man whose heart is not pure, who is cursed with blindness, +and never sees the well of contentment? We shall meet one of these +unfortunate men to-night. If you will open his closed eyes and restore +to him the purity of his heart, I will worship you as a god." + +Doctor Braun seemed to be much affected by these words, which had +towards the end assumed a passionate tone of bitterness. He was silent +for a few moments while they ascended the mountain, and then he said, + +"I thought the journey would have calmed you and made you more +cheerful, Oswald. I begin to doubt my professional skill when I see +that the old dreams are as powerful as ever in you. You seemed to be +almost cured of the fatal desire to sit down, like Heine's young man, +by the sea coast, and to ask the restless waves for an answer to the +painful old riddles of life, and now----" + +"Now I am once more bored with the old complaint! No, Franz, I will not +bring disgrace upon your mental cure and try to find the world as +beautiful and reasonable as you do. That was only a recollection of the +past. Is it not natural, is it not quite intelligible, that it should +turn up just now, when we approach the end of our pilgrimage, and I am +about once more to meet face to face the noble, unfortunate man to whom +I owe so much, and that after an interval during which so much, so very +much, has changed for him and for myself! I have followed your advice +faithfully, as well as I could. I have let the past bury the past; I +have practised industriously the art of forgetting, and I have sent the +very shadows of the departed back to Hades, when they became +troublesome. But here comes the form of a living man who is dead, of a +dead man who still lives, and I find neither in my mind nor in my heart +the magic words which will lay this spirit, whom I reverence, whom I +mourn with tears, like the others." + +"Then let us turn back," said Doctor Braun, with great vivacity. "If +you do not feel the strength in you to maintain the position which you +have yourself chosen, against every objection and every authority, it +would be madness to expose yourself to such danger. Let us turn back; +it is time yet." + +"No," said Oswald, "that would be both cowardly and foolish. We do not +overcome danger by avoiding it. I must see Berger and speak to him. +This interview must be the test of the problem that has occupied us +these four weeks. Either I recover myself from my own insanity by +seeing this madman, or----" + +"There is no _or_," cried Franz. "Really, when I hear you talk so, +Oswald, I have a great mind to let you starve and thirst till you come +again to your senses, or consent to do honor to reason. You are an +enigmatical man, a thoroughly problematic character. There are +incongruities in your character which I have not yet learnt to explain, +in spite of our long intimacy. Natural disposition and education, which +jointly make the man, must in your case have been most strangely +intermingled. I have so far always avoided speaking of your early +youth, because I felt a natural reluctance to inquire after what you +evidently did not care to reveal. But my friendship for you is greater +than such considerations, which are after all of little account between +such intimate friends as we are. What do you say, Oswald, while the sun +is gloriously setting behind those mountains, and our poor horses are +painfully dragging themselves up the hill, you might tell me something +about your early years--much or little, as you are disposed. Will you +do it?" + +"Willingly," replied Oswald. "I also have been thinking much of my +youth in these last days. If one is engaged in settling his affairs, as +I am now doing, at a certain epoch of one's life, it is almost +indispensable to trace that life back to the beginning. It is true you +are the first man, and perhaps the only one, whom I could permit to +look into those dark portions of my existence; but I will do it." + +"I shall be all the more attentive," replied Doctor Braun. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +"To begin at the beginning," said Oswald, after a pause, during which +he seemed to have collected his thoughts, "I was born in the capital. +My father was a teacher of languages, my mother the daughter of a +mechanic. You see, therefore, that I have no claims to nobility, and +that my hatred against the nobles is the very natural and legitimate +hatred of the plebeian against the patrician, of the Pariah against the +Brahmin. + +"I have never learnt why my father left the capital, and shortly after +my birth--I was, and remained, the only child of my parents--he went to +live in the little Pomeranian port W----. It is true I never knew much +of the history of my parents and of all that happened before my birth. +I do not even know whether I have any relations on the father's or the +mother's side. If there are any, I have never made their acquaintance. + +"My mother also I only recollect dimly, after the manner of a person +whom we have seen in a dream. But even now I sometimes dream of a fair +young lady, with great, sweet blue eyes. She says in a soft tone some +words which I do not understand, but which sound like the music of +heaven, and always move me to tears even in my sleep. I know that this +lovely creature of my dreams is my mother, for she never changes. She +died before I had ended my fourth year. + +"If ever man succeeded in replacing a mother to an orphaned, motherless +child, my father solved that problem. When I was a little child, he +sang and talked me to sleep; when I was sick, he watched day and night +by the side of my little bed; he sat by me in the garret window and +blew alternately with me bright soap-bubbles from a little clay pipe +into the air; he taught me the alphabet and to make ships from the +bark of trees; he made me learn the first Latin words, and taught me to +swim and to skate; he gave me the first lessons in Greek, and in +pistol-shooting and fencing. I had no other friend but him, until I +went to the University." + +"He was a strange, unfathomable man, even so far as his outer +appearance was concerned. Imagine a figure of dwarfish size, but +exceedingly well proportioned, very agile and active, dressed in winter +and summer, early and late, invariably in a worn-out black dress-coat, +black shorts, black stockings, and shoes with large buckles, walking in +sunshine or rain, always hat in hand, through the streets of the city. +Imagine this figure ending in a disproportionately large head, with a +well-set brow, bald on the temples, beneath which a pair of sharp eyes +sent out flashes of lightning, and a face which, though fine and sharp +of outline, either had never known how to laugh or forgotten how to do +it for long, long years. This was the figure of my father, the Old +Candidate, as he was called in W---- by everybody, even the boys in the +street, with whom I had many a battle royal, when they dared to laugh +at the old gentleman's appearance. + +"The nickname, besides, had no application to my father, if I except +the word Old. He had never in his life been a candidate for any office, +clerical or political, as far as I know, and, in spite of his enormous +erudition, he would not have been fit for any office, for his +eccentricity and odd disposition would have made it impossible for him +to fulfil his duties. + +"In later years I have often and often tried in vain to find out what +bitter experience of life, what sad misfortunes, could have changed my +father into such an odd character. He was a hypochondriac and a +misanthrope at once, who avoided most carefully every contact with the +world, and who, therefore, was as carefully let alone by everybody +else. Those who claimed to be men of refinement and religious +convictions called him a cynic because he had emancipated himself from +all social obligations; and an atheist, because he never appeared at +church. The superstitious rabble crossed themselves when they saw him, +as if he were standing in nearer relations to the Evil One than was +proper for a good Christian. If he had lived two hundred years sooner, +they would no doubt have burnt him as a sorcerer or a magician. + +"I must confess, to be candid, that the refined and the unrefined +rabble were not so far amiss when they attributed to my father ideas +and notions which are not ordinarily met with in the brains of the +majority. He had a supreme contempt for all faith founded merely upon +authority, because he felt himself fettered by it in the freedom of his +existence; and an intense hatred for all worldly tyranny, because it +prevented him from acting freely. He openly declared a republic to be +the only form of government under which a man who had the right _point +d'honneur_ could live happily. Every prerogative granted to one, to a +few, or to the many, was to him an injustice, which could only be +explained by the insolence of the ruler and the cowardice of the ruled. +He could see no difference in the end between a flock of sheep driven +to the slaughter-house by a stupid servant and a savage dog, and a +people who allowed themselves to be oppressed and ill-treated by a +proportionately small number of men. The men, he said, only managed to +cover their disgrace with bright-colored garments, while the sheep were +not able to do the same. + +"His special hatred, however, was given to the nobility. As soon as he +happened to speak of their caste, he had a whole dictionary of +opprobrious epithets at his command. He never entered the house of a +nobleman; and whenever young men of noble birth proposed to take +lessons from him, he immediately refused. Once, as we were firing at a +target--a practice in which he excelled--he told me that in his youth +he had hoped thus to engage himself against a nobleman who had mortally +offended him. Unfortunately the man had died before he could carry out +his plan. That is the only hint which I ever received as to my father's +former life. + +"And thus I grew up, exclusively communing with this strange man. The +relations between us were as extraordinary as he himself. Although my +father did more for me than generally both parents jointly do for their +child, and although he apparently lived and suffered only for my sake, +I still do not think he really loved me. He was a purely spiritual man. +Either his heart had received, at some time or other, a fatal blow from +which it had never recovered, or his sentiments had all evaporated into +mere notions under the influence of his scepticism. Whatever he did, he +did from a sense of duty, from a conviction that it was right; for, as +he said himself, Justice is higher than Love; it does all that Love +does and a great deal more. + +"More, and yet not quite so much," interrupted Franz, "What we do from +affection for those we love, we ought to do for others from a sense of +justice; that is, from a conviction that the interests of all men are +represented in each. Love and Justice stand in the same relation to +each other as individual and species. One can not exist without the +other, for they need each other mutually. Justice can never teach us +all the thousand little acts of tenderness which we lavish upon those +we love, as individual love does not aid us any longer when we are +called upon to help a brotherhood, a nation, or all mankind." + +"You may be right," replied Oswald, "and what you say renders it easier +for me to make a confession which I was about to make. I honored my +father deeply, but I did not love him; on the contrary, I often +experienced, as I only felt clearly in later years, a fear approaching +repugnance, when I came in closer contact with the strange man. Now I +hardly wonder at it, since I have found out that nature probably never +produced two beings more radically different than my father and myself. +We were as unlike in body as in mind and in inclination. I loved +already, as a boy, with perfect passion, everything brilliant and +splendid, and whatever is beautiful in nature and the world of men. I +was enthusiastically fond of my schoolmates, who rejoiced in the +youthful ornaments of golden locks, red cheeks, and bright eyes. I +loved to visit in houses where everything was elegant and in style, +after the manner of those days. I attached much importance to my dress, +and liked to hear it when women called me a handsome boy. + +"You may imagine how little a young fellow with such wants and such +inclinations must have suited, as a companion, a misanthropic +hypochondriac, whose manner of life he was nevertheless forced to share +to a certain degree. For although my father allowed me a certain amount +of liberty, which was hardly in keeping with his general views, and +although he indulged me in my love of fine clothes and the comforts of +life to a degree which I have never been able to comprehend, I knew +nevertheless that he was deeply offended by this fondness of mine for a +world which he despised. I tried, therefore, very hard, to wean myself +from such a life, and succeeded all the more readily in my efforts, as +I soon discovered in the solitude, which was at first intensely hateful +to me, a source which changes the most desolate desert into a blooming +paradise--the Castalian spring of poetry. + +"We lived in a small house built against and upon the city wall. The +solitary small window from which my room received its light was pierced +in the thick wall, so that the whole looked very much more like a +prison than anything else; and yet, what marvellously blessed hours I +have spent in that room! From my window I had an unlimited view over +the wall and the ramparts of the city--upon smooth ponds, lined with +beautiful copses of trees--upon rich meadows, with willows scattered +over them here and there, far out to the sea, which glittered like a +dark-blue ribbon through the green woods. + +"Here, at this window, I used to sit on summer evenings, when the sun +was setting in brilliant splendor, my heart full to overflowing of +chaotic sentiments, and my head weaving thoughts as fair and bright, +and, alas! as perishable as soap bubbles! I remember I often wrote +verses in bright summer days and in dark autumn evenings, afterwards, +while I was sitting in deep meditation over my books, to remind me of +the happy days then, which had dropped one by one from the cup of time, +bright and brilliant, into the ocean of eternity. + +"But why should I any longer attempt to describe to you these relations +to my father, which appear only the more enigmatical to me the more +clearly I desire to present them to you. If I ever had felt, as a +child, true, hearty love for my father, it grew less and less as I +became older and more independent. I had to hide in my heart all the +feelings, all the tenderness, which we ordinarily lavish upon our +mother and brothers and sisters and friends, for I could not feel any +confidence in him who, as matters happened to stand, ought to have +stood me in place of all of them. The constant intercourse with a mind +so sombre and sceptical gave to my mind a coloring which was little in +harmony with my sanguine and passionate disposition. I was an Epicurean +sitting at the feet of a Stoic, a Sybarite on terms of intimacy with a +Cynic philosopher. My exuberant fancy dreamed of the most magnificent +worlds, which my cool judgment destroyed pitilessly; I exhausted myself +in subtle devices, while my hot blood was filling my heart to +overflowing; I sat in my cell and studied dusty old parchments, while +my adventurous mind was longing for the marvels of the East and for +lofty deeds of chivalry. + +"Thus matters continued till I went to the University, when I was +nineteen years old. I parted without grief from my father. What he felt +at the parting I cannot tell. He spoke to me, when I said good-by, like +a philosopher who dismisses his pupil, and recalled to my mind once +more all the great principles of his harsh worldly wisdom. The letters +which he wrote to me at regular intervals were in the same tone. There +were not many of them; for about six months after I had left him I +received a letter from the authorities of my native place, in which +they dryly informed me of the death of my father. He had left me a +little property, the fruit of his long and painful saving; it was just +enough to support me in a modest way during my university course, and +perhaps some little time beyond that. No will had been found; nor had +there been any papers, letters, diaries, or anything which might have +possibly given me a clue to the former history of my parents. + +"Thus I was standing alone in the world--a young man in years, with the +weary mind of an old man. I was far too old for my fellow-students, who +looked to me like children at play; and yet I was far too young and +inexperienced myself to resist the temptations of a large city, or to +wander about in such a Babel without ever and anon losing my way. How +could a young man, in whom the current of full youthful life had been +so long artificially dammed up, avoid going astray? I became the hero +of many an intrigue, of which I was in my heart thoroughly ashamed, as +I ought to have been. I was spoilt by the women, and became the +innocent victim of many a heartless coquette. I gathered much +experience without growing any wiser--the worst thing that can befall a +man. And the most remarkable of it all was that I loathed in my heart +the enjoyments to which I gave myself up; that my heart yearned after +true love at the very times when I wasted it upon women unworthy of +such a gift; and that I cherished the most extraordinary plans for the +future, while I squandered my strength in senseless amusements. + +"A friend, who in those days had some influence over me, rescued me +from the whirlpool in which I would have perished sooner or later. He +advised me to go to Grunwald. I followed his advice. + +"From that moment you know my life, at least in its outlines. You know +that I became there acquainted with the unfortunate man whom we are +about to visit. You will now also be able to understand why it was +utterly impossible for me to resist the charm of Berger's extraordinary +character, and how I entangled myself by my intercourse with him only +more and more deeply in the thorns and briars of internal conflicts, +which finally made my heart bleed to death. + +"Berger wished me to go to Grenwitz and to take there a position in a +noble family, which suited me about as well as a dove-cote suits a +hawk. You have followed me through the great periods of my life there +with an observant eye, and at the same time as a philosopher and as a +friend. I do not know--and I do not want to know--how much you have +seen, how much you have understood, and what may have remained an +unexplained mystery for you. A part of these events I dare not touch +upon; another part I am in duty bound to leave untouched. When the +catastrophe came which you had anticipated, and the frivolous world in +which I was living, crushed me--then you stood by me as a friend; you +snatched me out of the confusion, and you laid upon yourself a burden +which has no doubt made you sigh more than once since. But no! that +cannot be! You are as clever as you are wise, and as wise as you are +kind. Tell me, Franz, what Odysseus was your father, what Penelope bore +you, that Pallas Athene, goddess of wisdom, should always so manifestly +have held you under her gracious protection?" + +"I believe everything in my life has happened in the most ordinary +way," said Franz, laughing. "I pray you will not think I escaped +altogether from either Scylla or Charybdis! I have been, like yourself, +on the point of despair. What has saved me is the conviction that the +world is, after all, but a Cosmos, in which everybody, be he what he +may, has to fill his modest place--a conviction which came to me first +very dimly, then more and more clearly and distinctly, and finally +filled my heart with triumphant certainty. This idea has given me that +cheerful calmness without which life would in the end become +unbearable. I said to myself: This world, of which you know after all +but very little, is such an old, solid, and well-finished edifice that +you need not give up the plan on which it was built, even if you should +not comprehend it in all its details. This race of ours, which maybe is +intended for as many millions of years as we now know thousands, is +such a marvellous and unfathomable problem of creative power that you +will never come to an end studying it, if you were to live ever so +long. Goethe tells us that no man ever possessed art, and I add, no one +ever possessed philosophy. + +"Starting from this conviction, I determined to find a sense and a +meaning in life, and I cannot help saying that my efforts have been +crowned with some success. Mistrusting even as a school-boy the results +to be obtained from mere speculation, I chose a science which reveals +the processes of our soul, as it were, _ad oculos_--Medicine. I chose +it, moreover, because in its practice it brings us advantageously into +intimate contact with other men, from whom we hold but too generally +aloof--whatever may be said in praise of solitude. He who has once +understood the solidarity of all human interests--that fundamental +principle of all moral and political wisdom--knows also that his +individual existence is but a drop in the vast stream, and that such a +drop has no right to claim absolute independence. It would be different +if men fell like ripe fruit from the trees. But we are brought into +this world through the agony of a mother, in order to be the most +helpless of all created beings, entirely dependent on the faithful care +of parents; we are then allowed to grow up, if fate favors us, amid +brothers and sisters, in order not only to share with them all the joys +of life, but also to obtain them by their assistance; and, even later, +we cannot enjoy any true pleasure, any delight of our heart, except +through others and with others. All this teaches us that we are true +children of men, the offspring of this earth, with the right and the +duty to work out our life here below upon our inheritance side by side +with other children of men, our brethren, who have the same rights, and +of course also the same duties, as we ourselves. + +"Thus you see, Oswald, the world becomes a Cosmos, and we cease to be +mere atoms whirling about in the infinite space without a reasonable +government, while nobody knows whence we come and whither we go. The +great fault of your life, which it is true you could hardly avoid with +such an experience as you had in your young days, is that you have +always lived for yourself only and never truly for others. Thus you +have drifted into a false position, in which you could not be useful to +the world, and the world could not be useful to you. Now, all this will +be different. From friendship for me, you have made the sacrifice of +taking a step which I know well--and better now than before--must be +very painful to your whole nature. But I am convinced you will bless +this step hereafter. The trial year which you mean to devote to the +college at Grunwald will be in more senses than one a trial year for +you. You will see whether you can obtain the hardest of all victories, +the victory over yourself--over your own arbitrary, sovereign will. I +wish you were, like myself, engaged to some good, sensible girl. That +would compel you to work and compel you to struggle, if not for your +own interest, at least for the sake of her who is dearer to you--ten +thousand times dearer to you--than your own life, and you would see how +easy the battle, how easy the victory would be to you." + +Oswald made no reply. He felt convinced of the truth of what his +companion said, but at the same time he felt painfully ashamed. For the +face of truth is stern, and makes him tremble who does not worship it +at the cost of every feeling of his own. + +Thus they walked side by side in deep silence, until they reached the +top of the mountain, where the carriage was waiting. They got in again, +and now they rolled in a quick trot down hill towards the little town +which was lying at their feet in the bosom of a secluded valley, +surrounded on all sides by well-wooded hills, and veiled at this moment +by the gray evening mists. It was the end of their day's journey, and +for Oswald the place of his destination--a watering-place, called +Fichtenau, renowned far and near on account of its charming position, +its invigorating baths of spruce leaves, and more recently yet its +large and admirably-kept insane asylum, which Doctor Birkenhain, a man +of great intelligence and large experience in such matters, had founded +there a few years ago. + +Oswald's heart was filled with strange sensations as he saw from the +corner in which he was leaning back the rocks and the trees flit by, +and felt that every step brought him nearer to the place which had +occupied his mind during the last months so persistently and so +painfully. How unmeaning the name had sounded to him when he first +heard it mentioned at Grenwitz as the place where Melitta von Berkow's +suffering husband was living! Then he did not know Melitta yet, then he +did not anticipate that he would a few days later be enchained by the +charms of that beautiful woman. Afterwards he had heard her mention the +name, though only rarely, and always with much reluctance, and in his +state of boundless delight the place had given him very much the +impression with which the owner of a superb, brilliant house looks upon +a dark room which he does not like to open, and of which he avoids +speaking, because years ago a person who was dear to him had committed +suicide there. Then the time had come when Melitta obeyed Dr. +Birkenhain's summons and went to see her dying husband--at last the +painful, wretched days during which he knew she was at Fichtenau by the +side of her unfortunate husband, and when he received from Fichtenau +those letters in which every word was a longing kiss. In those days +Fichtenau had appeared to him alternately the grave and the cradle of +his happiness, as he at one moment fancied Berkow's death would remove +all impediments in the way of his marrying Melitta, and then again +feared the very same event might forever separate him from her. Then +came the fatal day when he found out that the man whom he had from the +beginning looked upon as his most formidable rival was with Melitta; +when malicious tongues had whispered the most hateful explanations of +this fact in his ear, and he, unhappy man, had but too readily listened +to these abominable slanders. Alas! he had even then betrayed his own +love by his own acts, and, like a ship-wrecked man, who, in order to +save himself and his treasures, pitilessly pushes his best friend from +the frail plank into the ocean, he had sacrificed Melitta in order to +justify his passion for the fair Helen before the tribunal of his own +heart! And finally, to fill the cup to overflowing, and to prove as it +were to his troubled mind that the whole world was out of joint, and +one error more or less did not matter much, the same place must hold +both the woman he loved so ardently, who sought comfort for the moments +she must needs spend at the deathbed of her husband in the arms of a +fascinating roue, and the revered friend and teacher, whose genius, so +like a bright blazing torch, had just been extinguished in the deep +darkness of insanity! Only a little later death had robbed him of the +boy whom he had learnt to love as a brother, and Fate had broken, in a +most painful manner, his connection with a great and noble family; then +he had seen his rival wounded unto death by his ball, lying at his +feet, and separating him forever by this one deed from the beloved +girl, from whom a thousand other reasons would, even without this, have +compelled him to flee. Was it a wonder that he felt as if the whole +earth had no more suitable asylum for him than a cell adjoining that of +his friend and teacher in Doctor Birkenhain's famous Insane Asylum at +Fichtenau? + +Doctor Braun had originally suggested to him this trip for scientific +purposes, but now Oswald had insisted upon starting at once, although +the former had endeavored to postpone the visit under one pretext or +another for some time, and this for good reasons. He had written to +Doctor Birkenhain, without telling Oswald, and asked him to give him a +minute description of Berger's case. Doctor Birkenhain had replied, +that Berger's insanity consisted exclusively in the fixed idea of the +absolute non-existence of all things, but that otherwise he was in full +possession of all his mental powers, and would have been dismissed from +the institution long since but for his own urgent desire to prolong his +stay there. Doctor Braun knew perfectly well that under these +circumstances a visit to Fichtenau might be extremely dangerous to +Oswald's eccentric mind, excited as he was by all that had happened of +late. The sight of a madman might have restored him to tranquillity; +but the intercourse with a hypochondriac, whose genius shone brightly +even in Its aberrations, might possibly only tend to confirm him in his +extravagant ideas. + +Moved by this apprehension Doctor Braun had postponed the visit to +Fichtenau till the end of their journey, instead of going there at +first, as Oswald had wished. He had hoped that the frequent intercourse +with other men, the beneficent influence of a journey through a +beautiful country, brilliant in all the glory of autumn, would bring +Oswald back to calmer and more reasonable views of life, and enable him +to meet Berger, if not with the superiority of this calmness, at least +without danger for himself. + +Now Franz saw himself deceived in his hopes. He was by no means pleased +with Oswald's excited manner, and would have liked best to turn back, +if that had still been possible. He sat casting now and then an anxious +glance at Oswald, who, throwing himself back in his corner, looked with +fixed eyes upon the little town below, and he determined at least to +shorten the visit as much as possible, and to prevent his friend's +being alone with Berger while they were there together. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +The sun had already set for half an hour behind the broad back of the +well-wooded hill, which embraces Fichtenau on the western side, when +the carriage left the mountains and rolled down into the plain in which +the town is situated. The wearied horses enjoyed the level ground and +the easier motion of the carriage, and hastened to meet their good +supper of oats. They seemed to gather new strength from the shrill +notes of a clarinet which were heard high above the unfailing roll of a +big drum, from the midst of a close circle of men on the commons near +the town-gate, who surrounded a band of rope-dancers. The road passed +close by the place, and as the crowd of curious people had overflowed +upon the turnpike, the driver saw himself compelled to drive more +slowly, and at last to stop altogether, as the people were not willing, +in spite of his scolding and cursing, to give up their vantage ground, +and persisted in remaining on the spot, from which they could +comfortably look down upon the performance. + +The good people thought it naturally quite hard to be disturbed just +then, as the wandering artists were at that moment engaged in +performing their masterpiece, with which they always wound up the +evening's work, so as to dismiss the audience with the most favorable +impression. + +They had stretched a rope from the little circus to the top of a tall +but broad-branched oak-tree which stood upon the common, smaller ropes +ran on both sides down to the ground, and were there held fast by stout +boys, who had volunteered to perform that service for the sake of High +Art. The increased shrillness of the clarinet and the growing thunder +of the big drum announced the coming of the great moment when the +famous acrobat, Mr. John Cotterby, of Egypt, called the Flying Pigeon, +would have the honor to perform, with permission of the authorities, +his great feat, admired by all the potentates of Asia and Europe, viz., +to fetch down a flag fastened to the top of a steeple four hundred feet +high, on the extraordinary path of a single rope, and moreover walking +backwards all the time, a feat which he hoped the nobility and the +highly cultivated public of Fichtenau would not fail duly to +appreciate. + +The tower, four hundred feet high, of which the placards at all the +street corners had spoken, had changed, it is true, into an oak of +perhaps forty feet in height, and the enemies and rivals of the Flying +Pigeon--and what great artist is without enemies?--insisted upon it +that this change in the programme diminished not only the danger but +also the interest of the daring feat. But it was not Mr. John +Cotterby's fault, surely, that in the Thirty Years' War the +Imperialists had shot to pieces the steeple of the little church on the +public square of Fichtenau, which was then held by the Swedes. Nor was +he to be blamed if the paternal government had now for two hundred +years annually determined to rebuild the steeple, but never +accomplished it yet. What could he do, Mr. John Cotterby, of Egypt, if, +for want of better times to come, the church on the square was to this +day without a steeple? Certainly, if the conscience of the Flying +Pigeon was as innocent of every other crime as of this, he could +perform his great feat, even with the change of the programme, +unblushingly before the potentates of Europe and Asia, and the nobility +and highly cultivated public of Fichtenau. + +And without blushing--unless the carmine of his rouge should be +interpreted as the flush of modesty--the Flying Pigeon now presented +himself upon a little scaffolding, hung with soiled linen sheets, to +begin his journey heavenward, accompanied by desperate efforts of the +clarinet and the big drum, which were at that solemn moment reinforced +by the tinkling of a triangle and the squeaking of a tuneless fiddle. +He was a handsome, well-made man, and quite young; his dark curly hair +was confined by a narrow band of brass, and his whole costume consisted +of a suit of stockinet which had long lost its first color of innocent +white, and a jacket of the same material, to which on the shoulders two +wings had been fastened, which, however, had evidently performed such +very hard service that they had lost many a feather on previous +occasions. + +Encouraging applause greeted the artist and drowned easily the hissing +of the opposition; he bowed gracefully all around, with an air which is +only found among circus riders, rope-dancers, and other members of that +airy guild, while other mortals in vain endeavor to imitate it, and +thus to rob them of their exclusive secret. But the applause ceased +suddenly, when to the astonishment of the whole audience a huge, +shapeless figure was seen climbing after the courteous artist upon the +platform, and presenting him, after a hearty slap upon the place +between the Icarus wings, with a long slip of paper! The white +nightcap, the large blue apron, but above all the enormous, deep-red +nose, left no one who was learned in such matters long in doubt +as to the nature of the man; they saw at once in him the owner of a +beer-shop, or something of the kind, and in the paper an unpaid bill. + +The artist would not have been a true artist if he had not been deeply +embarrassed by this sudden intrusion of stern reality upon the bright +regions of art. There followed a pretty pantomime; the Flying Pigeon +shrugged his shoulders and pointed at the place in his stockinet where +people with trousers of larger dimensions indulge in pockets, in order +to express his very evident inability to pay, and seemed to implore the +landlord with much wringing of hands and plaintive gesticulating to +have patience. The latter replied, however, as it seemed, only by +making fearful faces and by striking his hand with his closed fist, and +thus made it very clear that he was inexorably hard-hearted. + +The highly-cultivated public of Fichtenau and the surrounding country +looked upon the scene as a very serious affair, and showed their +amazement and deep interest in every feature. But the excitement rose +to a painful intensity when next, upon a sign from the red-nosed +landlord, two fellows with huge moustaches, in blue coats and black +tri-cornered hats, came climbing up on the stage, and filled the hearts +of the innocent spectators with horror as they raised their arms upon +the bidding of injured Justice, and, seizing the unlucky artist with +fearful grimaces and gesticulations, bound his impecunious hands behind +his winged back. + +And now, at this most painful moment in the earthly career of an +artist, it was to be shown that the great god Apollo knows how to lead +his saints wonderfully out of troubles and trials, and to secure to +them the well-earned apotheosis, if not in this vale of tears, at least +in heavenly regions. + +For, from the thickest of the oak-tree, where the rope had been +fastened to a mighty branch, there suddenly appeared the figure of a +lovely genius, winged like the Flying Pigeon, with a wreath on the hair +and a bright banner in the right hand. This was evidently the flag +which Mr. John Cotterby, of Egypt, usually fetched down from a steeple +four hundred feet high, and which he saw himself on this day forced, +for want of a suitable tower, to bring down from heaven itself. For was +not the winged genius one of the heavenly choirs? + +When the messenger from Olympus showed himself so opportunely, the +servants of earthly Justice and the wine-colored dispenser of +abominable beverages were, as in duty bound, seized with sudden terror. +They abandoned their victim and fell with all the signs of deep +contrition upon their knees, while the Flying Pigeon relieved himself +of his fetters and began to ascend the narrow path that leads to +heaven, with all the swiftness and agility which had won such honor +for his name and reputation. When he had gone up half-way he knelt +down before the heavenly apparition, who had beckoned him on with +unceasing waving of the flag, rose to his full height and made there, +far above the earth and all earthly fear, a gesture towards his +conscience-stricken pursuers, which is universally understood upon the +earth. Loud applause and cheerful laughter accompanied the humorous +artist up to the very heavens, where the genius handed him the flag, +crowned him with the wreath, and then disappeared once more in the +branches. Mr. John Cotterby then returned to the stage, where the +constables had in the meantime learnt to appreciate the value of the +ideal and of the divine nature of art, and now received him with deep +bows, while the red-nosed landlord yielded to the impulse of the +moment, and with most praiseworthy repentance tore the enormous bill +from end to end, thus giving the spectators a comforting assurance that +the Flying Pigeon was, at least for the present, safe against all +attacks upon his freedom. + +The performance was at an end. The generous landlord, who now appeared +in the character of manager of the company of artists, alone remained +behind on the stage, and in his epilogue promised the nobility and +highly-cultivated public of Fichtenau and the surrounding country on +the next day a far more splendid representation. The audience dispersed +very suddenly, for a suspicious ringing of money on tin plates reminded +them suddenly of a duty which the ungrateful among the spectators did +not hold themselves bound to perform, while many grateful admirers +regretted deeply their inability to prove their gratitude. + +Nevertheless the majority of those unable to pay were still honest +enough to allow the unwelcome plate to come quite near to them, and +those who were not kept by honesty remained from curiosity to find out +how the genius who dwelt in the branches of oak-trees might look when +seen near by. For it was Apollo's own messenger who deigned to make the +collection for the benefit of his children upon earth. + +The cunning director could not have made a better choice. The +genius--it was hard to tell whether it was a boy or a girl--had a pair +of magnificent brown eyes, which looked with such bewitching modesty +and so imploringly into every face that the purses opened together with +the hearts. Kindly words followed the child everywhere, and one or the +other of the well-to-do citizens seemed to think himself entitled by +his gift of a few cents to pinch the brown cheeks; but the genius +appeared by no means disposed to appreciate the caress. + +The driver had been on the point of leaving as soon as the crowd +allowed him to pass, but Franz and Oswald, who had followed the drama +of the artist's earthly career and his apotheosis with great interest, +and now and then with hearty laughter, ordered him to stop till the +genius should have made his way through the dense crowd to the +carriage. They had not to wait long, for a travelling carriage with two +gentlemen inside was surely worth more than a dozen of poor citizens of +Fichtenau. + +Franz was looking for some small change in his purse when he was +startled by a loud exclamation. + +"What is the matter?" he asked, looking wonderingly up at Oswald, who +had jumped up and uttered the cry. + +Oswald did not reply, but leaped with a single bound out of the +carriage, and hurried to meet the genius, who no sooner recognized the +young man than he dropped the plate with all the silver and copper +coins, and fell into his arms. + +"Czika, is it really you?" + +"Yes, man with the blue eye," replied the child, eagerly and +affectionately, still hanging on his neck; but then suddenly tearing +herself away and anxiously looking toward the carriage: + +"Is the other one there also?" + +"No, Czika," said Oswald, knowing very well that the other of whom she +spoke was Oldenburg. "But are you quite alone?" + +"No, mother is with me; mother does not leave the Czika. Come and help +me to collect the money again." And the child stooped down to pick up +the coins that were half hid in the dust. + +"Oldenburg's child among rope-dancers," said Oswald to himself, +mechanically obeying the child's injunction and unconscious of what he +was doing, kneeling down and picking up here and there the scattered +pennies. + +The highly-cultivated public thought this meeting of an apparently +great personage with a rope-dancer's child, and their warm embrace, +more remarkable than anything they had seen that evening. Young and old +they crowded around them, forming a close circle, and apparently +determined not to leave the place till they had solved the mystery of +this extraordinary meeting. + +Franz, who had witnessed the scene from the carriage, had scarcely been +less amazed than the crowd. Very soon, however, he recollected the +mysterious reports about a gypsy girl whom Baron Oldenburg was said to +have harbored at his lonely house for several weeks, until she had +escaped from him one fine day, and, with that rapidity of combination +which is often found in strong heads, he at once concluded that Oswald, +who no doubt was in the baron's secret, had recognized the gypsy girl +in the beautiful genius. His next thought was to shorten the scene, for +Oswald's sake mainly, and in order to diminish as far as possible the +sensation which it had already produced. He jumped, therefore, from the +carriage, hastened to Oswald, and said, + +"Let us go on! At least till the crowd has dispersed." + +At the same moment the director of the company, who had also observed +the scene from the stage, on which he had harangued the public, pushed +his way through the assembly. His curiosity to know what was going on, +and his indignation at seeing the important business of collection +interrupted at the critical moment, had made him forget that he still +wore the costume of the red-nosed landlord, and that he, therefore, +ought not to have mingled with the people unless he wished to sacrifice +the dignity of his art. Franz was justly afraid that the tragi-comic +scene might become decidedly disagreeable if that personage should join +them, and therefore anticipated his questions by meeting him before he +came near, and whispering to him in a tone just loud enough to be heard +by the bystanders, + +"I am a physician, sir. This young man (pointing over his shoulder at +Oswald, who was still kneeling down with Czika) is rather eccentric. +You understand. Here is something in compensation for the loss he may +have caused you." + +The man considered this explanation, which was given in a very solemn +manner, perfectly satisfactory, since the possible loss was amply made +up by the two silver dollars which Franz had slipped into his hand. He +smiled cunningly, and said, pulling off his night-cap and bowing low, + +"Understand, understand, your excellency. Only pray get him away +quickly, so that the Czika can go on with the collection." + +"Where are you staying?" inquired Franz. + +"At the Green Hat, your excellency. Your excellency will rejoice a poor +artist's soul if you will bestow upon him your gracious patronage." + +"Well, well," said Franz, and then turning to Oswald, who had risen in +the meantime, + +"I pray you, Oswald, let us go on now. I know where these people are +staying; you can go and see them some other time." + +Oswald, who had recovered from his first overwhelming astonishment at +finding Czika in such company, now saw very clearly the extraordinary +character of his position, and knew too well how sensible his friend's +advice was to neglect it any longer. + +The Czika had shown the wonderful self-control which this remarkable +child never lost but for a few moments, and was going on with the +collection as if nothing had happened. She did not even cast a glance +at Oswald as he went back to the carriage, almost forced to do so by +Franz. + +The carriage drove off. The crowd had quickly seized upon the fable of +Oswald's insanity, which Franz had invented with such admirable +presence of mind, and dispersed all the more rapidly as the increasing +coolness of the evening air reminded them forcibly of the warm supper +that awaited them in their warm rooms at home. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +It was a few hours later. The evening had come completely. The +mountains of Fichtenau were wrapped in their double veils of night and +mist; on the dark sky a few lonely stars peeped here and there through +the drifting clouds. The narrow streets of the little town were +deserted; lights, however, were shining from the windows of the low, +simple houses. People were sitting around the stove after their frugal +suppers, and the husband told his wife, who for good reasons had not +been able to venture into a crowd, what wonderful feats of strength, +agility, and skill he had seen outside of the town on the great meadow; +how an insane gentleman had driven up with his physician (who no doubt +was bringing him to Doctor Birkenhain's great institution), and how he +had embraced the pretty gypsy girl, who was going around with the +plate, before all the people. The old, half-deaf grandmother, who was +nodding in her arm-chair near the stove, and only heard half of what he +was saying, remarked, + +"Yes, yes! gypsies are the devil's children; everybody knows that. My +sainted great-grandfather lent a hand when five of them were burned on +the great meadow." + +There was great feasting that night in the Green Hat, a low drover's +inn near the gates of the town, and not far from the great meadow. The +Green Hat was also the headquarters of all wandering rope-dancers, and +therefore a most attractive place for all lovers of art among the +people of Fichtenau. + +The long table in the public room, which was filled with tobacco +smokers, could scarcely hold the number of guests, although they were +sitting closely enough on the hard benches. At the upper end, +especially, the crowd was great, for there the artists sat and drank in +the full consciousness of their dignity and the hearty enjoyment of a +free treat. The director, Mr. Caspar Schmenckel, from Vienna, presided +as a matter of course. He had laid aside all the insignia of the last +part he had played, except a few patches of rouge which still adorned +his bloated face; he had taken off his nightcap and the blue-checked +apron, together with the pillow with which it was stuffed. He appeared +now in the comfortable and elegant costume of a gentleman who has +relieved himself of his coat and waistcoat, and who forgets, in the +consciousness of his artistic fame and of his broad, richly-embroidered +suspenders, that his linen is not of the cleanest. Mr. John Cotterby, +of Egypt, who sat on the right hand of his lord and master, had been +compelled to make a greater alteration in his toilette, especially +since the artistic wardrobe boasted only of a single suit of stockinet, +and it was therefore of the utmost importance for him to do all that +could be done in order to preserve its delicate whiteness. Mr. John +Cotterby, of Egypt, wore a short, gray coat with green trimmings, and +would have looked, all in all, far more like a handsome Tyrolese (which +was, by-the-by, his real character) than the son of the land of mystery +through which the Nile rolls its waves, if the narrow brass band which +still confined his dark locks, and the broken German which he composed +most artistically for the occasion, had not vouched for his mystic +descent. There were two other artists sitting a little further down the +table; one a modest, silent, tall man, who took his craft in earnest, +and meditated deeply how he might introduce a new feature in his +far-famed performance, the Gigantic Cask; the other, the clown of the +company, a round, odd-looking creature, who produced a new grimace at +every glass which he drank with a new guest, and thus proved the +immense stock of those valuable commodities which he owned, since this +process of touching glasses occurred on an average every five minutes. + +Mr. Casper Schmenckel, director, etc., had been a fine-looking man +until the abundance of his potations had injured the fair symmetry of +his person, and he loved to recall the many gallant adventures of which +he had been the hero, and in which even great ladies, whose eyes had +been well pleased with the gigantic proportions of the Hercules, played +a prominent part. When Mr. Schmenckel had emptied his third glass he +was apt to become eloquent about this heroic age of his life, and +tonight he had already more than doubled the mysterious number which +loosened the chaste seal on his lips. The young men who pressed around +him glass in hand would have fared better, probably, as far as their +morals were concerned, if they had not honored the Green Hat on that +particular evening with their presence. + +Mr. Schmenckel's fancy was exuberant, and where ordinary eyes saw but a +number of midges dancing in the air, his rolling orbs beheld a host of +elephants. He calculated with incredible boldness upon the credulity of +his listeners; above all he endeavored to surround himself and the +members of his company with a nimbus of adventurous glory. The accident +on the great meadow, which had brought the madman and the Czika into +contact with each other, was far too useful for such a purpose not to +be fully employed by Mr. Schmenckel. It is true the gypsy and her child +had joined his troop quite accidentally a few days ago, as they were +making their way across the mountains towards Fichtenau, and Mr. +Schmenckel knew as little of their former history as any one in the +company; but his imagination was only the more perfectly free to rove +at random, and he invented a magnificent story in order to satisfy the +curiosity of the guests, who continually came back to the beautiful +child and the gypsy woman who had appeared as a dancer in the first +part of the performance. + +"Yes, you see," said Director Schmenckel, "that is a very mysterious +story, and I should be quite ready to tell you all about it, but it is +so very incredible." + +Mr. Schmenckel dived with his red nose into his beer and slowly +absorbed the remaining half, while his eyes twinkled with delight as he +looked by turns through the swollen lids at one and the other of his +friends. + +"Tell us, tell us, Director!" cried half a dozen voices. + +"Another bumper for the Director!" cried another half dozen. + +"It may be about ten or twelve years," began Mr. Schmenckel, after +having diminished the contents of the new glass to a considerable +extent, "when I was making a trip to Egypt----" + +When he said Egypt all eyes turned to Mr. John Cotterby, who leaned +back in his chair and smiled mysteriously. + +"What were you going to do in Egypt?" asked a voice. + +"May I tell, Mr. Cotterby?" asked Mr. Schmenckel. + +"Fideremkankinsavalilaloramei," replied the Egyptian, who could not +imagine what his lord and master wanted to be allowed to tell. + +"Thanks, Cotterby," said Mr. Schmenckel, "modesty adorns a man, but why +should I conceal it that it was on your account I was making that +journey? You must know, gentlemen, that the fame of Mr. Cotterby was in +those days filling the whole Orient, and that nobody spoke of anything +but the Flying Pigeon. I said to myself: You must induce this man, the +greatest artist whom the world ever saw, to join your company, as sure +as your name is Caspar Schmenckel. No sooner said than done. I went to +Egypt, where I was told Mr. Cotterby was then residing, but Mr. +Cotterby was nowhere to be found. At last I learnt from an old Dervish +who had sold me the talking serpent, which I shall have the honor of +exhibiting to-morrow, that Mr. Cotterby was staying somewhere far away +in the desert near the pyramids. May I tell why you did so, Cotterby?" + +"Framtebaramta! Tell what you wish to tell," replied the Egyptian, with +a generous, modest smile. + +"Mr. Cotterby, you must know, had retired for some time into the +desert, and sworn a fearful oath that he would not again appear in +public till he had ascended every one of the pyramids on a rope." + +"What are those pyramids?" inquired a voice. + +"Pyramids!" said Mr. Schmenckel, dictatorially, "are immense heaps of +stone, which the old Egyptians raised in honor of their gods, a +thousand feet high, or more, and so steep that a cat can hardly get to +the top. On the top there is a pointed stone pillar, called obelisk; to +this Mr. Cotterby fastened one end of a rope, while the lower end was +held by two thousand black slaves of his, and thus he walked up and +down, so that those who saw it felt their hair stand on an end. That +was the way I found Mr. Cotterby engaged in the desert, and of course I +became more anxious than ever to engage him for our company; but he +refused. What was I to do? I had nothing left but to climb at night to +the top of the pyramid at the risk of my life, and next morning, when +Mr. Cotterby arrived there, to seize him around the waist and to cry: +Either you consent to an engagement for three thousand a year, or I +send you head over heels down this pyramid, as sure as my name is +Caspar Schmenckel. May I tell what you replied, Cotterby?" + +The Egyptian nodded assent. + +"If you are Mr. Schmenckel from Vienna," said Mr. Cotterby, "you need +not have made such an ado about it. I should have come to you any way +to Vienna, as soon as I had done with this pyramid. There is only one +Schmenckel, as there is only one Cotterby; both ought to be together, +like bread and butter. But that was not exactly what I was going to +tell you, gentlemen," said Mr. Schmenckel, emptying his glass and +holding it up to the light, as if he wished to convince himself that +there was really nothing left in it. + +"A glass for Director Schmenckel," cried a dozen voices. + +"Thanks! thanks! gentlemen! Your health!--but how I made the +acquaintance of Madame Xenobia--or Kussuk Arnem, as her true name +is. But that story is almost still more incredible, and contains +certain episodes which I can only touch upon in the way of delicate +allusions----" + +"Oh, never mind! Just go on and tell us!" exclaimed the listeners, +crowding more closely around him. + +"Well, then, I will tell you! A short time after I had thus secured Mr. +Cotterby for my company, I was giving a few representations at +Constantinople on the great square before the Sultan's palace. He took +uncommon interest in our art, and had given us permission to fasten our +rope to the uppermost turret of his palace, upon the flat roof itself. +Now, you must know that the upper story of this palace contains the +rooms of the wives of the Sultan, and on that account it is called the +harem. I had always felt the most intense desire to make my way some +time or other into such an harem, which otherwise is utterly +inaccessible to everybody. And now Cotterby had told me that whenever +he came by the top story the most beautiful black eyes in the world +were glancing at him through the narrow crevices between the planks, +which are nailed over the windows of the harem. What could I do? I say +to Cotterby: 'Cotterby,' says I, 'you can do anything. Suppose you take +me to-morrow in the wheelbarrow which you carry up and down the rope, +and then let me get out on the roof. I must see how things look up +there. You can bring me back the same way the day after. Will you do +it?' 'Why not?' says Cotterby, 'if you wish it particularly.' The next +day the thing is done. I hide myself in the wheelbarrow. Cotterby +carries me up to the roof; he turns the barrow over and there I am, on +the roof, quite alone, for Cotterby had gone back immediately, so as to +create no suspicion. Now you may believe it or not as you choose, +gentlemen, but I assure you I felt rather peculiar in that position. +How easily the head of a black guardsman might pop out through one of +the openings in the roof--and then farewell to my sweet life! But there +I was, caught in the trap, and I was determined not to leave again +until I had a taste of the bait. While I was still considering what I +had better do next, I suddenly hear the rattling of spears and of +swords on the staircase which leads up to the roof. It was the Sultan +himself, who wished to admire Mr. Cotterby from that elevation. I, in +my terror, run up to the nearest chimney which rose out of the roof, +creep into it, and--I had not time to think for a moment--down I go +some twenty feet deep--and where do you think, gentlemen, I came out +again? In the fire-place of the bed-room of the Sultan's first +favorite. But here I must ask the pardon of all the gentlemen present +if, to spare the honor of a great lady, I can only assure them that the +next twenty-four hours were among the happiest which Caspar Schmenckel +has ever enjoyed in this life. On the day following, Cotterby brought, +as a matter of precaution, a much larger wheelbarrow, and carried me +safely down again. We left Constantinople that very night, and from +that moment our company was richer by one great artist, and the harem +of the Sultan had lost its fairest flower." + +Mr. Schmenckel looked around him triumphantly. He could well be +satisfied with the impression which he had made by his stories on his +audience; they sat there listening with breathless attention. At that +moment a lady came running into the room; it was the same one who used +to sit at the ticket office, and who attended to all the domestic +affairs of the company; she whispered a few words in the director's +ear, of which the company only heard one or two, which sounded like +"woman--run away." The director did not seem to be pleased with the +information. His face darkened perceptibly. He grumbled something about +the devil and his luck, and left the table without finishing his +glass--a proof that the news he had just received must have been of the +utmost importance. + +And the news was important, for it amounted to nothing less than that +the fair flower, which Mr. Schmenckel had stolen ten years ago with so +much daring and such cunning from the palace of the Lord of the +Faithful, had been lost again. Alas! he had allowed her to rest ever +since on his broad bosom, he had seen the tender bud of the beauteous +flower unfold itself under his watchful care, and now both flower and +bud had been torn away by a storm, carried off by the deeply-injured +Sultan, or at least they could not be found anywhere in their chamber +or in the whole house! Mamselle Adele had made the discovery as she was +about to invite the gypsy to the common supper of the ladies of the +company, which was laid in another room. Mamselle Adele, a lady with an +abundance of black curls, the genuineness of which was strongly +suspected by envious rivals, a dark face full of energy, and a voice +chronically hoarse and rough, informed Mr. Schmenckel of her discovery +with that gift of the gab and that dramatic power which is given to +ladies who are in the habit of addressing the public from the open +steps of a wooden booth. The news was soon confirmed by the result of a +thorough search of the whole house, in which he himself took the lead; +it fell upon him like a flash of lightning from a clear sky. The escape +of the gypsy woman was to him what the death of his best lioness and +her cub would have been to the owner of a menagerie. He lost in the +mother and child a capital which had cost him next to nothing, and +which yet promised to produce abundant interest--the ornament, the +glory, the poetry of his establishment. Even Mr. John Cotterby, of +Egypt, might have been replaced more easily. Flying Pigeons are rare, +but after all they can be procured; but a genius with such eyes, such +deep, brown eyes, with such a kindly, serious smile, that could tempt +the stingiest green-grocer to lavish profusion, was not to be found +again. Mr. Schmenckel would not have been a man and a director, and +above all he would have had to drink, instead of so many glasses of +bitter beer, as many gallons of the milk of human kindness, if he had +borne such a loss with stoic repose. Mr. Schmenckel was a man, he was a +director, he had been drinking beer and not milk--and Mr. Schmenckel +gave himself up to fearful wrath. The first explosion fell very +naturally upon the bearer of the bad news, especially as Mr. Schmenckel +had had full opportunity during the many years of their intimacy to +become aware of the jealous temper of this lady, as well as of her +other foibles. He accused her in terms which ought t(C) be impossible +even among the most intimate friends, of having compelled the gypsy by +her intrigues to seek safety in flight. Mamselle Adele, whose temper +was naturally not of the gentlest, and who found herself in this case +considered guilty when she was really quite innocent, replied in a tone +which betrayed her inner excitement but too distinctly. Mr. Schmenckel +belonged to that class of heroic men who, in the consciousness of their +superiority--especially when they have drunk deep--allow of no +contradiction, and whose proud motto in decisive moments is: "Works, +not words." Mamselle Adele no sooner felt the heavy hand of her master +upon her cheeks than her burning heart burst forth in flames, and her +tongue began to ring the alarm-bell with such loudness and shrillness +that the guests inside started up from their seats and hurried to the +door, apprehending that some dire calamity had taken place in the hall, +where the scene between Mr. Schmenckel and Mamselle Adele was then +under way. + +The sight of so many uninvited and undesirable witnesses brought the +director, who was always anxiously concerned for the good name of his +troop, very quickly to his senses; but the poor lady, who saw her honor +thus compromised before a great crowd, was exasperated beyond +endurance. So far she had only threatened to let the director feel her +nails; now she added the act to the threat. The highly-cultivated +public of Fichtenau, as far as it had assembled at the Green Hat, were +unspeakably shocked when they saw the celebrated artist, the hero of so +many adventures, the master of the far-famed pyramid-climber, the +robber of the Grand Sultan's own palace, in such a state of suffering. +Mamselle Adele's attacks did not cease for a moment; they were even +carried out with irresistible energy, force, and agility. Some wished +to come to the assistance of the defeated general; others laughed and +encouraged her; still others, men in blue blouses and heavy hob-nailed +shoes, who were regular customers at the Green Hat with their wagons +and horses, and bore no good-will to the rope-dancers, because they +interfered with their accustomed comfort, spoke loud of "rabble," and +"turn them out," a sentiment which in its turn displeased a few +enthusiastic admirers of high art. Angry faces, threatening arms lifted +high, and curses loud and many, formed a tableau, which in the +twinkling of an eye was changed into another, in which even the +landlord of the Green Hat, who was leaning against the kitchen door in +phlegmatic composure, his pipe between his lips, could no longer +distinguish any details. Dense clouds of dust half concealed and half +revealed a heap of struggling men, rolling to and fro on the floor of +the inn, while everybody was striking out with his natural weapon of +the fist, or the artificial weapon of a leg of a chair, against his +real or imaginary adversary. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +Oswald had been hospitably provided for in the elegant "Kurhaus" of +Fichtenau, but he had not been able to resist the desire to visit +little Czika that same evening. He hoped to learn from the Brown +Countess how they had become mixed up with such strange company, and at +the same time to persuade her either to return to Baron Oldenburg, or +at least to give up the child to him. He thought he should be able to +accomplish by management what the violence of the baron had rendered +impossible, and this all the more readily as the Brown Countess seemed +to be kindly disposed towards him, and little Czika evidently felt more +confidence in himself than in the "other," who was her father. And then +there was still another feeling besides the personal interest which he +felt in the beautiful child and the gypsy, whom he had first met on +that eventful afternoon when he was lost in the forest on his way to +Melitta, and who, therefore, had in a manner been the instrument to +bring him to Melitta, to say nothing of their subsequent connection +with Oldenburg, all of which prompted him to act energetically. He felt +the burden of the gratitude which he owed to Oldenburg for his +chivalrous assistance at Bruno's death, and in the duel with Felix. He +did not like to be under such obligations to a man against whom he had +felt a strong antipathy from the beginning, and whom he had afterwards, +in the days of his love for Melitta, feared as his most dangerous +rival--a man whose determined strength of will had something imposing +to him in spite of his reluctance to acknowledge it, and whom he yet +accused--heaven knows with what justice!--of duplicity and +inconsistency!--a man who had betrayed him all these days in the most +humiliating manner, if the relations between Oldenburg and Melitta were +at all like what they were represented to be by the Barnewitz family +and other friendly spies and gossips. If he could now succeed in +rescuing the child whom he had almost given up, and render him the very +great service of restoring her to him--then the oppressive debt of +gratitude would be paid, he would have acquitted himself of all he +owed, and Oswald Stein would have no reason to cast down his eyes +before Baron Oldenburg, if fate should ever array them against each +other as foes--and the young man apprehended that such a moment might +come. + +These thoughts and feelings filled Oswald's heart as he followed a +servant from the Kurhaus through the silent streets of the town towards +the Green Hat, where he had been told by Franz that he should find the +rope-dancers. Franz himself had remained at the Kurhaus, as he was too +discreet to intrude upon a secret which was apparently kept from him. +For when he had laughingly endeavored to explain to his friend how he +had managed to interpret, for the benefit of the crowd, the strange +scene with the rope-dancer's child, Oswald had remained perfectly +silent, and Franz had seen no other way to explain this reticence than +by supposing that his companion was either not willing or not at +liberty to give any further explanations about the matter. When Oswald, +therefore, remarked that it would probably be too late that evening to +pay a visit to Berger, he had simply answered: "I think so!" and +refrained from offering his company when Oswald, after walking up and +down in his room for a quarter of an hour in perfect silence, had at +last declared his intention to take a walk in the cool of the evening. +Franz adapted himself all the more readily to the fancies of his +companion, as he was busily occupied at that moment with his own +affairs. He had hoped to find in Fichtenau a letter from his betrothed, +but his hopes had not been fulfilled. This disappointment caused him +some apprehension, as Sophie generally wrote very punctually, and they +had come to Fichtenau several days later than they had originally +intended. He consoled himself, however, with the hope that the last +mail, which was expected every moment, might yet bring him the +much-desired letter. + +In the meantime Oswald arrived at the hospitable shelter of the Green +Hat at the very moment when it sent a part of the odd crowd that had +assembled there that evening through the open house-door into the +street, where the conflict in large masses, as it had been carried on +in the hall, changed into a fight between isolated groups. For a moment +they blazed up, like the remains of an exhausted fire, only to sink the +next moment into utter night for want of fuel. Peace was soon restored, +for nobody knew exactly why they had been fighting each other with such +rage, and there were quite enough closed eyes and bruised limbs for +such an intangible cause of war. The excitement, it is true, was not +allayed, and there was still a good deal of noise, but it was only the +long swell of the ocean after the violence of the storm has been +broken. They cursed and swore, they bragged and threatened--but they +sat down again and drowned the last remnants of hostility in beer. + +Oswald was so anxious about Czika that he had not been so much +disgusted with the horrible scene as he would have been under other +circumstances. Fortunately he saw neither the child nor Xenobia in the +crowd, but the mere thought that they might have been mixed up with +such a pandemonium was terrible to him, and he determined to remove +them at any hazard. He pushed his way through the noisy fighting crowd, +who did not notice him at all, and inquired of the one and the other +why they were fighting, and where Xenobia the gypsy was, with her +child? No one had time or inclination to answer his questions, until at +last he happened to speak to a young man who looked a little less +rowdyish than the rest, and who told him that some members of the +rope-dancer's troop had run away, a gypsy woman and her daughter, and +that this had given rise to a general fight. He pointed out to him a +man who was wiping the blood off his face and speaking with most +animated gesticulations, intimating that that was the director, and +that he would probably be able to tell him all he desired to know. + +Oswald felt greatly relieved when he heard this. Xenobia and Czika were +gone, and it mattered little where they had gone to, so they were free +from this association. He considered for a moment whether he had better +return without having anything more to do with the rope-dancers; but +the desire to hear more, and to ascertain, perhaps, the place to which +the fugitives might have escaped, overcame his reluctance, and he +addressed the person who had been pointed out to him as the director. + +Mr. Schmenckel was a man of remarkable elasticity of mind, and had +readily recovered the imperilled harmony of his soul after the battle, +from which he had come forth covered with honorable wounds. As soon as +the first storm of his passions had subsided a little, he generally +exhibited a high degree of that philosophic resignation which submits +with dignity to the inevitable, and makes every effort to adapt itself +to the circumstances. Since the gypsy woman was gone, all lamentations +about his loss would only make him ridiculous, and it became a noble +character to forgive and forget. He pretended, therefore, to ignore the +whole occurrence, and treated it as something by no means unexpected. +"Ingratitude is the world's reward--easily won, easily lost--to-day it +is I, to-morrow it is another. Let us sit down again, gentlemen. +Director Schmenckel is not so easily thrown out of gear. We have other +means still in reserve to entertain a highly-honored public, and you +shall see that the performance which I shall have the honor to give +to-morrow--what does the gentleman wish?--you wish to speak to me? I am +at your service--a director must be always ready." Mr. Schmenckel +followed Oswald, who had asked him for a few moments conversation, very +readily, since the circumstance that an elegantly-dressed gentleman +came all the way to the Green Hat in order to have an interview with +Director Schmenckel, was well calculated to make a sensation. + +"What does your excellency desire?" inquired Mr. Schmenckel, when they +were in the hall. + +"I should be glad if you would give me some information about the gypsy +woman, who, I am told, has left your company this evening." + +Mr. Schmenckel was startled; the question sounded suspicious. He +availed himself of the light of the lamp before the house--for they had +reached the street by this time--to examine Oswald's face more +carefully, and he now recognized in him the gentleman whom the Czika +had embraced. Mr. Schmenckel knew at once how the matter stood. This +young gentleman was an immensely rich lord who had a mania for gypsies, +and was in the habit of buying up young gypsy children for his +amusement. Mr. Schmenckel reflected that the woman might possibly +return, and that the greater his claims were upon her, the higher the +price he might ask for the child. + +"Well," he said, in order to gain time for consideration, "why would +your excellency like to know?" + +"That does not matter," replied Oswald; "it will suffice for you that I +do not mean to leave the man who gives me the information I desire to +obtain unrewarded," and he slipped a dollar into Mr. Schmenckel's hand. + +"Thanks, your excellency," replied Mr. Schmenckel, whose suspicions +were only confirmed by Oswald's liberality, "nevertheless I should like +to----" + +"But I do not understand why you should hesitate to tell me what little +you may possibly know about the woman?" + +"Well," replied Mr. Schmenckel, "perhaps it is not so very little I +know about her. When one has had somebody thirteen years in the +company----" + +"But I have met the gypsy only this summer at--never mind, not very far +from here, and quite alone." + +"That may very well be," replied the cunning director; "it is not the +first time to-night that Xenobia has run away, but she has always come +back again." + +"Thirteen years!" said Oswald, who did not think for a moment of +doubting the fable; "how old was the child, then, when she came to join +you?" + +"How old?" said Mr. Schmenckel. "Why, your excellency, when she came to +us, she had no child. I know that, as a matter of course, ha, ha, ha!" + +"You?" said Oswald, and he shuddered. "You?" + +"Well! why not? Do I look to your excellency's eye as if a pretty young +woman could not possibly fall in love with me; and did not this girl, +moreover, take wages from me? I can tell your excellency that I have +made very different conquests in my time. Has your excellency ever been +in St. Petersburg? There is the Princess--but, after all, I am not at +liberty to speak as freely of such a great lady as----" + +"In one word," said Oswald, scarcely able to restrain himself, "the +Czika is your child?" + +"I couldn't swear to that," said Mr. Schmenckel, smiling, "but I can +take my oath that she might be my child, and that I have always looked +upon her in that light." + +"And you think the gypsy will come back again?" + +"Oh, your excellency may rely upon that; she is never as well off as +when she stays with me." + +"But why does she run away so often, then?" + +"Yes, just think of it, your excellency; women are a strange kind of +people," said Mr. Schmenckel, philosophizing, "and the kinder you are +to them, the sooner they will play you some trick or other. There is no +truth and no faith among them, and especially these gypsies----" + +"Very well," said Oswald, who was overcome with disgust, "we will talk +about that some other time." And he went away quickly. + +Director Schmenckel followed him with his eye for awhile, shook his +head, put the dollar, which he was still holding in his hand, in his +pocket, laughed and returned into the public room, feeling very happy +in the pleasant conviction that he had cheated a greenhorn. Within +peace had in the meantime recovered its sway, and the whole company had +joined in singing the favorite ballad: "Blue blooms a blossom." + +While Oswald was receiving this doubtful information about the true +history of poor little Czika from the truth-loving lips of Director +Schmenckel, Franz was waiting for his return with painful impatience. +The mail had really brought him the long-desired letter from his +betrothed, but unfortunately had also confirmed the vague apprehensions +which had of late troubled his mind. Sophie wrote in a hand almost +illegible from anxiety, that her father had had a stroke of paralysis, +from which the physicians feared the very worst. Her father, she added, +was at that moment, several hours after the attack, still speechless +and unable to move. If there were any hope for her father, help could +only come from Him whom she looked up to with trusting confidence and +perfect submission. + +Franz had formed his resolution instantly. As the driver who had +brought them to this place declared he was unable to go any further, he +had at once ordered post-horses, in order to reach the nearest railway +station that night. To think of his sweet love in such bitter need and +sorrow--watching and weeping by the sickbed, perhaps already by the +coffin of her father--and he, her comfort and her hope, some four +hundred miles away--all this was enough to disturb even so firm a heart +as that of Doctor Braun was under ordinary circumstances. He felt as if +the ground was burning under his feet. The few minutes before the +carriage could be made ready, seemed to him an eternity. + +At last he heard the horses coming, and Oswald also returned. Franz +told him the sad news he had just received, and what he had determined +to do. He begged his friend, in a few parting words, not to prolong his +stay at Fichtenau beyond what was absolutely necessary, and above all +to be punctually at the appointed time at his post in Grunwald. Oswald +had been so thoroughly excited by the many extraordinary occurrences of +the last hours that he apparently expected nothing but surprises, and +thus he received his friend's communications with an air of +indifference. He promised, however, what Franz asked of him, as he +accompanied him to the carriage. + +"What do you say, Oswald," said Franz, who had already settled himself +down in the carriage; "Come along with me! You may find my proposal +somewhat extraordinary, but the strangest way is often the best way." + +"I cannot do it, Franz," said Oswald. "I cannot leave here without +having seen Berger, and besides----" + +"I know all you can possibly say on that subject," replied Franz, "and +I must tell you frankly that I have no good reason whatever for making +the proposition. But I feel as if I ought not to leave you here +alone--as if there was something in the air here that boded you no +good. Come with me, Oswald!" + +"I will follow you as soon as I can." + +"Then farewell! Go on, driver!" + +Franz once more pressed Oswald's hand. The carriage rattled over the +uneven pavement of the little town and disappeared around a corner. + +"What a pity the gentleman had to leave so soon," said Louis, the head +waiter at the Kurhaus, who was standing near Oswald, a napkin under his +arm and a pen behind his ear. "A most pleasant gentleman--would you +like to have supper now, sir? You will find very agreeable company in +the dining-room, sir." + +Oswald went back into the house. If Franz could have repeated his +request at that moment, Oswald would not have again refused to +accompany him. For since Franz had left him he felt as if his guardian +angel had abandoned him, and as if the air of Fichtenau was really +laden with mischief. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +On the next morning Oswald awoke late from his broken slumbers, which +had been much disturbed by strange haunted dreams. Melitta, whom he had +so ardently loved but a short time ago, had appeared to him, her fair, +pale face disfigured by sorrow, her brown, gentle eyes overflowing with +tears, and looking at him with an expression of ineffable sadness. Thus +she had sat by him--her sad, sweet smile on her full lips, which he had +so often kissed, intoxicated with love! And Oswald's heart had been +overflowing with love and pity! He had forgotten all that had come +between her and himself the bad weeds sown by whispering tongues which +had grown up to maturity so suddenly, thanks to the fickleness of his +own heart; he had forgotten everything except the remembrance of those +sunny days of inexpressible happiness. And he had thrown himself at her +feet and shed tears, bitter-sweet tears, upon her knees, and stammered +words of repentance, and implored her forgiveness. Then an icy-cold +hand had been laid on his brow, and as he looked up it was no longer +Melitta, but Professor Berger; but not the man of the melancholy humor +and the biting satire, who had so often sat opposite to him with his +sardonic smile on the mysterious lips when they met at aesthetic teas, +but a gruesome mask of wax, motionless and silent. And of a sudden +there had begun a quivering and a stirring in the cold, rigid face of +the mask, as when one tries to speak and the tongue refuses to serve +him; then the mask had actually spoken, not in human language, but in a +mystic idiom, of things half intelligible, half mysterious, of +unspeakable, fearful things--awful secrets of another world. + +Oswald had not been able to endure the horror any longer, and his soul +had made a desperate effort to rise from the intolerable twilight into +the bright light of day. But the light of day had not brought him the +right kind of cheerfulness, for the visions of the night still cast +their spectral shadows upon the day. Woe to him whose heart is not +clear of sin! Woe to him whose heart conceals recollections, which he +drives away with a slight frown, when they obtrude upon him in moments +of wakefulness and preparation! He may well see to it. What dreams are +coming to him in his sleep? + +Oswald spent the whole forenoon in this heavy state of mind. He could +not summon courage to undertake the painful task of going to Doctor +Birkenhain's Asylum; he postponed the visit till the afternoon, and +tried to persuade himself that he would then be in better humor, and +better prepared to stand once more before Berger, face to face. He went +down to take his dinner at the table-d'hote, where he found, in spite +of the advanced season, quite a number of persons still, who, were +either drinking the waters of the place or travelling for their +amusement. He sat quietly sipping his wine, and amused himself with +listening to the brilliant conversation of some commercial travellers, +as it flitted to and fro, touching a thousand subjects, and among them +also the escape of the gypsy woman and her child, and the "enormous +row" which had arisen in consequence, disturbing the peace of the Green +Hat and the nightly rest of a considerable part of the little town. +Some of the young gentlemen who had witnessed the exhibition on the +great meadow enlightened more recent arrivals as to the beauty of the +gypsy, and regretted eloquently the disappearance of that "famous +person." The little one, also, was represented as a "famous" thing, +with really "famous" eyes. An eccentric Englishman, who had been near +the stage, they added, had instantly fallen in love with her, and there +was no doubt at all but that this Englishman, of whom no one had +afterwards seen or heard anything more, had eloped with the gypsy girl. + +Oswald was rather troubled by these authentic reports of the fate of +Xenobia and the Czika, and left the table for the purpose of returning +to his room. He was naturally less than ever disposed now to call upon +Berger, and he had therefore to make a great effort at last to ring for +the waiter, and to inquire of him the way to Doctor Birkenhain's +institution. + +"Doctor Birkenhain's asylum, sir? Quite near by, sir. The best way is +through our garden up the hill, then always turning to the left, on the +height along the river, until you come to a large house. That is Doctor +Birkenhain's asylum. You have perhaps a relation of yours there? We +have many people coming here who have relations at Doctor Birkenhain's. +Only this summer there was a lady here from your country, who stayed +several months at the house. Very beautiful lady, sir, perhaps you may +know her; a Frau von Berkow, with her brother, a Baron Oldenburg--very +tall gentleman, with a black beard----" + +"Is Baron Oldenburg a brother of that lady?" asked Oswald, not without +some reluctance. + +"Why, certainly, sir. The gentleman and the lady were at least two +weeks here, and always together. But the brother had to leave before +the lady's husband died--what a misfortune for such a beautiful lady! +Will you be back in time for supper, sir? No? But you will certainly +stay over night, sir? Oh, I thought so--of course. Nothing else I can +do for you, sir? How far is it? Oh, at most, ten minutes' walk. I'll +show you the way, sir." + +When the loquacious waiter had at last left him, Oswald walked slowly +along the path which followed the slope of the low range of hills. On +the left hand prattled merrily a clear mountain brook, rich in trout, +which gave its name to the town, and flowed evenly beneath tall trees. +Here and there the water peeped out from between the dense foliage, but +only to disappear again, like a playful child that likes to tease. At +one point the brook had been stopped and forced to turn the wheels of a +mill. The little vagabond did not seem to like the delay. It poured its +waters wrathfully into the mill-race, shook and struck the buckets with +all its might, and then rushed off, foaming and pelting, in angry +haste. + +Oswald sat down on the low railing opposite the mill, and looked +wearily into the water, as it played and purled, drawing wide circles +and pushing wave after wave. He thought of Melitta, how often she had +probably come down this way, hanging on the arm of "her brother," and +stopping no doubt frequently at this very spot, whose picturesque +beauty could not have escaped her attention. + +He felt sad unto death. His feelings boiled within him as the waters +did in the mill-race; his thoughts were whirling around like the +foam-bubbles on the surface. Was his hatred to be as blind as his love? +Was there anything wrong and anything right in the world?--the world to +be a cosmos? Yes, for him whose glance was content with skimming the +surface, where the waters flowed merrily over the level ground in the +shade of beautiful trees--but also for him who sounded the depths, +where all was rushing and roaring chaotically? Up! up! to him, the man +of sorrow! He had sounded the depths of life, he shall tell me what he +has seen there, what masks and spectres, that he should ever after +close his eyes in horror and disgust! + +Oswald rose and continued his journey; the path became steeper until it +led to a large building, which lay at a short distance from the +highroad on a moderate hill, amid gardens. Surrounded as it was on all +sides by high walls, it looked too much like a castle to be a private +residence, and yet too much like a prison also for a castle. It was Dr. +Birkenhain's asylum. + +Oswald rang the bell by the side of the iron grating, with some +palpitation of heart. A window opened in the porter's lodge; the +gate-keeper looked out and asked what he wanted. Oswald wished to see +Doctor Birkenhain. + +"Do you come by appointment?" + +"Yes." + +"Your name?" + +Oswald gave his name. + +The man looked at a table, on which the names of those who were to be +admitted seemed to be written; then he put his head out again, and said +through the small window, + +"Go straight across the court to the main entrance; there ring again!" + +The gate opened, and closed again when Oswald had entered. He went +towards the house across the large court-yard, which was covered with +gravel and adorned here and there with groups of trees and shrubberies. +On a bench under one of the trees, amidst a group of several persons, +sat a young man remarkably well dressed. When Oswald passed him he rose +very politely, and taking off his hat and making a deep bow, said, + +"I surely have the honor of addressing the Emperor of Fez and Morocco?" + +As Oswald answered No! to the strange question, the young man shook his +head sadly, and looking at Oswald with a vacant stare, he added, + +"It is very remarkable! the emperor had promised me solemnly to come +for me this summer; and now the summer is nearly gone and the emperor +has not come yet. I shall have to wait till next summer. But then he +will be here most certainly. Don't you think so?" + +"I do not doubt it for a moment," replied Oswald. A faint ray of joy +flashed across the pale face of the unfortunate man. He bowed again, +put on his hat, and went back to his seat on the bench. + +Oswald went to the front door, rang the bell, and a servant who +appeared at the summons opened the door for him and showed him into a +parlor. Then he took his name, and begged him to wait a few moments. +Doctor Birkenhain would be in directly. + +It was a handsome, lofty apartment. A few excellent oil-paintings hung +on the walls; antique heads and busts stood about on brackets, the +Apollo Belvedere, the Zeus of Otricoli, the Ludovisi Juno; upon the +centre-tables lay books and portfolios with engravings. All breathed +the highest kind of enjoyment, and nothing reminded the visitor that he +was in a house of disease and death. + +After a few minutes the door opened and Doctor Birkenhain entered. +Oswald had of course formed to himself some idea of the man who had +recently become so very important to him, and was grievously +disappointed when he found that there was not a feature of his portrait +in the man before him. He had imagined Doctor Birkenhain to be a +venerable old man, full of dignity and gravity, and now he found +himself standing before a man little older than himself--he had surely +not passed his thirtieth year--tall and thin, with spare, light-brown +hair and carefully-trimmed moustache and beard, a pale face of a +sickly, sallow color, a lofty brow, and large light-blue eyes, in which +one could instantly see that they were accustomed to read the hearts of +men, and whose intense piercing sharpness became after awhile almost +unbearable. + +Doctor Birkenhain greeted Oswald with due politeness, and then +expressed his regret that he should have been deprived of the pleasure +of making Doctor Braun's acquaintance, whom he had wished to +congratulate upon having secured to himself a place among the first +physicians of Germany by his admirable treatise on typhus. Then he +added: + +"I have looked forward to your visit with the greatest interest, +because I hope great things for Berger from the effect of your meeting +with him. I know through Mr. Bemperlein, and also from Berger's own +lips, that you are the most intimate friend, and, so to speak, the +favorite, of the unfortunate man--that you were so at least before the +breaking out of his disease. If anything can succeed in reviving once +more the interest in life which has been almost entirely extinguished +in Berger, it is love--not the universal love of mankind, which is only +another kind of egotism, but the special love for a single individual, +with whose joys and sorrows he can heartily sympathize. Love is the +most vigorous of all feelings; it resists annihilation better than any +other and outlives all others. The greatest psychologist who ever +lived, and to whom we physicians are deeply indebted, Shakespeare, +makes Lear say to the fool shortly before insanity overwhelms him: 'I +have one part in my heart that's sorry yet for thee.' This one part of +the heart is the sound part, where the cure must begin, and so it is +with Berger. I beg, therefore, you will try to interest Berger by all +means in your own fate. Tell him all about your plans and purposes, +your hopes and your wishes--about your joys and your sorrows; speak to +him especially of your griefs, if you have any--and you will pardon +such an indiscretion in a physician--I think your confidences will be +particularly ample in that direction. You smile! Well, perhaps I am +mistaken, and what I thought I read in your face is the result of mere +bodily uneasiness, and not of mental suffering; but, however that may +be, do not conceal from Berger the shady side, and even the night side +of your life. On the contrary, complain--and the more impressively, the +more painfully, you can do that, the better--only mourn and grieve like +a sick man, who longs after health like an imprisoned bird that yearns +after freedom. The sufferings of those we love are a thousand times +more touching to us than our own, and the burden which Berger hardly +feels in his own case will appear to him unbearable when he sees it on +the shoulders of one who is dear to him. For, I repeat it, that is the +only way to approach such a man. He is too deep a thinker, too subtle a +philosopher, not to be clad in impenetrable armor against all +reasoning. If you prove to him the dignity and usefulness of life, he +meets you with ten arguments which prove the contrary; and if you split +a hair, he splits each half over again. On the other hand, you need not +fear that he will involve you, as formerly, in long philosophic +discussions. The science which was once his delight, is now a horror to +him; he will hear nothing of it and see nothing. And now, one thing +more: how long do you propose staying in Fichtenau?" + +"Four or five days at most." + +"Very well; I was just about to ask you not to extend your visit beyond +that. The purpose is to make a deep impression upon Berger; and after +the pleasure he will feel at seeing you again, he must experience the +pain of parting so soon. Perhaps we may thus lure him back into the +world, from which he now turns away in disgust." + +"Has Berger been made aware of my arrival?" + +"No. I wished to profit even by the surprise. I shall not go with you, +so that there maybe nothing to diminish the surprise. You can tell me +afterwards how he received you. He generally takes about this time a +walk in the mountains, which he occasionally extends into the night. I +give him perfect liberty, as any restraint would only be injurious. You +know, besides, that his coming here was his own wish and resolution. Go +with him when he takes his walk; heart opens to heart more readily +under the great dome of heaven than under the ceiling of a room." + +"One thing more," continued Doctor Birkenhain, as they were rising. +"You will find Berger much changed in appearance; try to influence him +in that direction also, though of course you will have to use your +discretion. Such apparent trifles are of great importance; a missing +glove-button may make a dandy lose his composure, and we have a +different temper in our dressing gown and in evening dress. Now let us +go, if you like; I will show you the way to Berger's door." + +The two gentlemen went from the reception room across the hall, with +its tessellated floor, up the wide stone steps, through lofty, airy +passages. + +They were met by several persons whom Oswald would not have taken for +patients if Doctor Birkenhain had not told him so; they gave such +sensible answers to the casual questions of the physician. + +"This wing is for the slightly-affected patients," said Doctor +Birkenhain; "as it is such fine weather most of them are in the garden +or in the court-yard. How do you do, counsellor?" + +"Thank you, doctor," replied an exceedingly corpulent, good-looking +man, whom they met passing with a watering-pot in his hand, "thank you, +I should be perfectly well, if----" + +The counsellor cast a glance at Oswald, and then came quite close to +the doctor, whispering something in his ear, of which Oswald could only +catch the words, "bundle of hay"--"in my side." "Oh, that matters very +little," replied Birkenhain, in a tone full of confidence, which +sounded as if it must have been inspiring to the greatest +hypochondriac; "we'll soon settle that." The patient gratefully shook +hands with his physician and went on, evidently quite comforted and +delighted with the probable victory over his imaginary ailment. + +"I wish Berger's case were as easy as that man's," said Doctor +Birkenhain, as they were walking down the long passage; "but pills and +ointments have no effect on his complaint. Here we are; now you go to +the end of the passage, and the last door to the left is Berger's room. +I am very curious to hear what you will have to tell me. Will you dine +with me to-morrow? I shall take great pleasure in presenting you to my +wife. At three o'clock. Will you come? _Au revoir_, then!" + +Doctor Birkenhain shook hands with Oswald and went into one of the +rooms which they had passed. Oswald went alone to the end of the +passage, full of the deep impression which the man who had just left +him had made upon him, and at the same time very much troubled about +the part which he was to play. He was to help Berger to recover his +interest in life, and he had himself lost all such interest! Was he not +of all men the least fitted for such a mission? And yet he had accepted +it! He must fulfil it! + +Oswald came to the door which had been pointed out to him. Upon the +brown panel was something written in chalk, and evidently in Berger's +hand: + + "_Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate_." + +Oswald shuddered as he read it. He remained standing undecided before +the door, and it was some time before he could make up his mind to +knock. He listened to hear if anything was stirring within; he heard +nothing. At last he summoned courage and knocked with a strong hand. As +no answer came, he knocked still louder; again no answer. A great fear +overcame him; he hastily opened the door and entered the room. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +Oswald need not have feared. Berger was sitting in the centre of the +darkened room, all the curtains being closed, before a table covered +with books. He was resting his head in both hands, and seemed to sleep, +for he did not stir even when Oswald stepped up close to the table. +Oswald did not dare wake him. He remained standing by the table and +looked at the poor sufferer, his eyes filling unconsciously with tears. +What havoc these few months had made with the face once so proud, so +full of energy; the dark curling hair was grizzled; the massive brow, +hewn apparently out of the live granite, appeared even more powerful +and imposing, thanks to the increased baldness at the temples. A full +beard, formerly an aversion to Berger, now flowed, silver-gray, from +cheek, lips, and chin, so that the end nearly touched the table. His +hands, once so plump and carefully kept, had become so thin, so +transparent! And what a costume! A blue smock-frock, instead of the +black coat which was never allowed to show a particle of dust; a +coarse, ill-fitting shirt, instead of the fine, dazzling white linen +upon which he formerly insisted. On the table a worn-out slouched hat +and a stick, which had evidently not long ago formed part of a hedge of +thorns, in place of the smooth silk hat from Paris, and the clouded +cane with its gold head! If the outer man could change to such an +extent, what a revolution must have taken place in the lowest depths of +the soul! + +Berger stirred. He raised his head, opened his eyes, and looked at +Oswald. His eyes were deep and clear, and looked larger than usual; he +did not start nor betray astonishment, wonder, or fear, at the +unexpected sight. + +"I had but just now dreamt of you, Oswald," he said, rising, with a low +voice, from which all former sharpness and energy seemed to have +departed. + +Oswald could restrain himself no longer. He sobbed aloud and threw +himself into Berger's arms. Now only, lying on the bosom of this man, +he felt all his sufferings fully, as he thought; now only, in the arms +of this man who had endured so much, he fancied he need not be ashamed +any longer of the tears which his heart had bled when his eyes refused +to weep. + +Berger held him in his arms, as a father holds his son who comes home +from a far country in which he has fed with the swine. + +"Weep on," he said, "weep! Tears relieve a young, overflowing heart. +When I was as young as you, I wept as you do; now my eyes have +forgotten how to weep." + +"Berger, dear, dear Berger!" + +"I knew I should see you again. I expected you long ago. I did not +think you would stand it so long in the great desert outside. Weep on! +Tears are the price with which we buy our souls back again, when we +find what a wretched bargain we had made before we knew better. Ere we +give up life we have to learn that it is better not to live. Some learn +that sooner, others later. Be glad that you are one of those who during +the bitterness of the Sansara have already a foretaste of the sweetness +of the Nirvana." + +He left Oswald, and took his hat and cane from the table. + +"Come!" he said. + +Oswald was so deeply moved by this scene that the recollection of +Berger's odd costume only suggested to him the conviction how utterly +impossible it would be to speak to such a man of such things. He would +as lief have reminded a mother who was weeping over the body of her +child of some defect in her toilet, a bow out of place, or a ribbon +which had come loose. + +They passed through the long passages, down the broad stone staircase +and out into the court-yard. As they went across the latter, the young +man who was sitting on the bench came up to them and repeated the +question which he had before asked of Oswald: + +"I certainly have the honor to address the Emperor of Fez and Morocco?" + +"No!" replied Berger, "The emperor is not coming; you may rely upon +it." + +"Is not coming!" repeated the young man; and his pale face became still +paler, and his eyes wandered restlessly to and fro; "is not coming! how +do you know that?" + +"Because, if he should come it would not be for your happiness, as you +imagine, but for your final ruin. Why do you wish him to come? To bring +you gold, which you will gamble away? and jewels, which you will lavish +upon your mistresses; to afford you the means of continuing a life +which you ought to thank God on your knees you have escaped from--if +you believe in any God? What appears to you a star of promise, is a +will-o'-the-wisp from the moors. Do not trust in its glimmer--it lures +you hither and thither, and each time deeper into the moor. Turn +resolutely back from it! I tell you once more, the emperor is not +coming! and it is fortunate for you that he does not come!" + +"Do you know his majesty so intimately?" stammered the young man. + +"Very intimately," said Berger, and a peculiar smile played on his +features, "only too intimately. I also was misled by his majesty. You +expect from his promise money and lands. I was promised--never mind +what; and thus he promises everybody something else, in order to fool +and trick everybody. The conviction that his majesty's promises are +nothing but wind--that is the beginning of wisdom, and the last +conclusion of wisdom into the bargain." + +Berger had uttered the last words with a suddenly-sinking voice, as if +he were speaking to himself. He paid no further attention to the young +man, who was standing there, hat in hand, with an indescribably sad +face. Nor did he seem to notice Oswald, who followed him silently, and +most painfully affected by the touching scene. + +Berger apparently felt what was going on in his companion's heart, for +they had left the gate which was opened to them without delay, and +found themselves on the turnpike, which followed first one bank, and +then, after crossing the river on a bridge, the opposite bank, rising +higher and higher into the mountains. He suddenly broke his silence and +said, + +"You are wondering why I did not treat the poor fellow more tenderly, +instead of destroying so rudely his absurd illusions? This apparent +cruelty was in reality a great kindness." + +"Who is the unfortunate man?" + +"A Count Mattan, from our country. He has spent during the last few +years a fortune of half a million in senseless extravagance. Now he +hopes for the fabulous emperor, who is to restore to him all his +losses." + +"But if your robbing the young man of his last consolation should +deprive him of the last feeble remnant of sense----" + +"You speak like Doctor Birkenhain. It makes me laugh to see how these +optimists blindly try to arrest the power which drives man irresistibly +into destruction, like children who try to stop a river with their +little hands. My study here is the observation of this peculiar +struggle, which would be grand if it were not so ludicrous. These +doctors move in the dark, as if they were playing blindman's buff, and +think they have cured the disease when they have gotten rid of the +symptoms. They do not know, they do not even suspect, that life itself +is the shoe that pinches, the garment of Nessus which burns our living +body--and that to pull off this shoe, to throw away the garment, is not +only the best but the only remedy by which we can escape the +wretchedness of existence." + +They had left the highroad and reached a clearing in the forest, which +was thickly overgrown with moss and heather. Before them was a view +over the tops of pine trees into the plain from which they had +ascended, and far into the land of hills; behind them the forest +extended upwards. It was quiet, perfectly quiet, around them. Long +white gossamer floated through the thin, clear air. The flowers were +gone; the birds had forgotten their songs, the locusts their chirping; +summer itself had died, and Nature sat in silent grief by the corpse. +Even the autumnal sunshine had something sad in it, like a widow's +smile; the blue of the sky was sickly, like the tearful eye of a +mourner. + +Berger had seated himself on the low stump of a tree, and Oswald lay +down close by him on the thick heather. In this silence of the forest, +which reminded him so forcibly of the woods of Berkow and Grenwitz, and +of the painfully sweet days he had spent there, he felt that +irrepressible impulse to speak which at times overcomes us all of a +sudden. As the Catholic is moved to whisper his deep-hidden secrets +into the ear of the priest, his personified conscience, so Oswald felt +impelled to confess to the unhappy man by his side, in whom he had ever +seen another self, all that he had experienced, tried to obtain, +suffered and sinned, during these last eventful, fatal months. He did +not think of Doctor Birkenhain's suggestion to interest Berger by all +means at his command in his own fate, and thus to play the part of the +physician to his patient. Was he not a very sick patient himself? But, +whatever might agitate his heart--the man by his side had suffered +worse things; what, he hardly dared confess to himself--the man who was +wandering with lowered head in the dark labyrinth of his soul, and +could find no way to light, he could hear all, all. And thus he told +him, first hesitatingly, then with animation, with passionate +excitement, all he had to tell: his love of Melitta, his love of Helen, +his friendship for Bruno, and how jealousy and sickness of heart had +robbed him of the one, and strange circumstances and death of the +other. + +Berger had listened in silence, supporting his chin in his hand, and +looking with his large eyes fixedly at the distance, without once +interrupting Oswald. At last, when the young man wound up with the +painful complaint "Why did you send me into this troublesome world? Why +did you let me wander about so long in this darkness?" Berger raised +his head, turned his eyes towards him, and said slowly, thoughtfully, + +"Because you had to learn this also; because, as long as you were with +me in Grunwald, you still believed in that great falsehood which we +call life; because the pride with which you insisted upon its being a +truth had to be broken. I have led you the shortest and safest way to +wisdom. I knew you would allow yourself to be dazzled by false +splendor; I knew you would hasten with beating heart, with parched +tongue, through the lonely, white sand of the desert, towards the blue +lake with the wooded shore, which drew back further and further as you +thought you were coming nearer, until you would at last break down, +cursing your sufferings and your existence. Be joyful! You have gone +through with it; you have finished your first and hardest course in as +many weeks as it took me years. You have opened your eyes and looked at +what was there, and behold! it was not good! The value of life, the +purpose of life, has become doubtful to you. You have begun to +understand that the assertion of superficial optimists: Life is the +purpose of life! is hardly correct--unless one could find satisfaction +in striving after a purpose which can never be accomplished, or which, +if it be accomplished, is worth nothing. You have seen how indissolubly +untruth, stupidity, and vulgarity are interwoven with truth, honesty, +wisdom, and majesty. This knowledge, which only the brutalized slave, +grinning under the lash of the driver, receives with indifference, but +which saddens noble hearts unto death, is the beginning of wisdom, the +entrance to the great mystery." + +"And the great mystery?" + +Berger made no reply; he looked again with fixed eyes at the distance. +Oswald dared not repeat his question. + +Deep silence all around. Silently the light gossamer floated through +the clear air; silently the evening sunshine wove its golden net around +the heather and the dark-green tops of the pine-trees. + +They sat thus speechless side by side--silent and sad, like two +children lost in the woods. But while the one, who had wound up his +life, and who was fearfully in earnest with his contempt of the world, +suffered himself to sink deeper and deeper into the abyss of his grief, +the young, fresh vitality of the other struggled mightily towards light +and air. + +"What is this in me which rouses me at this very moment, when I least +expected it, to oppose your wisdom?" he inquired, looking up at Berger. +"My reason tells me you are right, but my eye drinks with delight the +beauty of this evening landscape; drinks it down into the heart, and +there, in my heart, a voice whispers: 'The world is so fair, so fair! +and even if life makes you suffer bitter things without end, it is +still sweet.' Tell me, Berger, did you ever love with all the strength +of your heart? and can love die, as the summer dies, and the flowers, +and the warm sunlight?" + +Berger smiled--it was a strange, weird smile. + +"Did I ever love?" + +He cast down his eyes, and took off with his stick a piece of the thick +crust of moss at his feet. + +"What good does it do," he said, "to lift the veil which so many years +have spread over the past? You see what is below--decay and +destruction." + +"And yet," he said, after a pause, "it is but right you should learn +that also. Hear, then:" + +"It is now thirty years. I was then at your age, but without having +made your experiences; clinging to life in full, unbroken strength, and +thinking it as sweet and precious as a love of my heart. If ever man +was enthusiastic about liberty and beauty--about all those fail fancies +with which we try to beautify our miserable existence here, and to hide +its wretched hollowness--if ever man was raving about those bloodless +images which we call ideals--I was that man. In my madness I fancied +that eternal bliss might be won even here below wherever men were +living in a free country. I believed in my native land, and sealed my +faith with my blood on the battle-fields of Leipzig and Waterloo. I +returned full of burning zeal to complete the great work. But before I +could undertake to heal the wounds which my country had received during +the war, I had to think of healing my own wounds. They sent me, when I +recovered, to Fichtenau. + +"In those days Fichtenau was not what it is now. There was no Kurhaus +then, and no asylum for the insane; nevertheless the town was always +full of visitors, for the poetic halo with which the great men of +Weimar had surrounded these valleys attracted the crowd. I kept aloof, +and lived only for my health and my studies. + +"I boarded in the house of an old schoolmaster with whom I had become +acquainted, and whose friendship I cultivated because he possessed +quite a large library, and books were not so easily accessible then, +especially in this remote part of the world. But the old gentleman +possessed yet another treasure, besides his library--a most beautiful +daughter. The daughter soon became more interesting to me than the +library. You asked me if I had ever loved with all my heart. If you had +known Leonora, and seen how high and how powerfully my heart then beat, +you would not have asked me that question. + +"It was a summer day--a marvellously beautiful summer day. We had gone +out into the woods after dinner--a mixed company--young and old. We lay +down on the swelling moss in the shade of the pine-trees. How my eye +dwelt upon her graceful form as she did the honors of the company with +merry modesty; how my ear drank in the tones of her silvery, sweet +voice! It was the old song of the sirens, which was heard thousands and +thousands of years ago, and which will yet be heard thousands and +thousands of years hence--till the time is fulfilled. + +"After the coffee we strolled about in the forest--in groups, by pairs, +as accident and inclination brought it about. I had followed Leonora, +who was gathering a bunch of wild-flowers. I helped her, although I did +not know much of these things, and was often laughed at by the teasing +girls on account of my odd selection. She however became more and more +silent the deeper we went into the wood and the further we left the +others behind. As she became more silent and anxious, I grew more +animated and pressing. Her silence and the blush on her cheeks told me +what I had long since desired in secret, what I had prayed heaven to +grant me, and what I had yet never hoped to obtain. + +"Then we stepped out upon this clearing. The same mountains which are +there lying before us looked as blue to us, and the same sun which +looks down from heaven now poured a dazzling light lavishly down upon +us. And the golden light shone brightly on her dark, curling hair, and +played upon her round, white shoulders; and here, on this very place, +we fell into each other's arms and swore each other eternal love, amid +hot kisses and hot tears. + +"The stump on which I am now sitting was then a tall, slender, powerful +pine-tree, and I was young and slender, and full of exuberant strength. +The tree has been cut down and burnt in the fire; I--I have become what +I am----" + +Berger paused and stirred up the moss at his feet with his cane. Oswald +looked with reverence at the unfortunate man; but he dared not speak, +nor even seize Berger's hand, which was listlessly hanging down by his +side. Lofty calmness rested on Berger's face; not a gesture betrayed +what was going on in his heart; but he did not look like one who +requires sympathy or expects sympathy. + +"Not at once," he suddenly continued--"the strength within me was great +and could only be broken by piecemeal. I spoke, after our return home, +to the old gentleman; he liked me and was heartily glad to see our +affection. A few days later I returned to the University in order to +resume my studies, which the war had interrupted. I studied with +increasing diligence, for my thirst of knowledge was hardly less of an +incentive than my desire to be able as soon as possible to carry +Leonora home with me as my wife. I therefore went only rarely to +Fichtenau, and then stayed only a short time to sun myself in Leonora's +love, and to return to my work with new courage and new strength. But I +had another lady-love, whom I worshipped with no less ardor--Liberty. I +shared that passion with many other noble young men. We did not mean to +have shed our blood on the battlefields in vain; we were not willing to +become the prey of so many jackals and wolves, after we had +successfully overcome a lion. But the jackals were on their guard, and +the wolves broke in our fold. + +"I had been engaged in teaching for a year; I had prepared everything +for the wedding; the day was fixed; I was counting the days and the +hours. Suddenly, one night, I was seized in my bed by armed men. My +papers were sealed up; and the next night I slept in a casemate of a +fortress. + +"Or, rather, I did not sleep--I was enraged, I was maddened; my hands +bled from my efforts to break the bars of my cage. Gradually I consoled +myself with the hope that this captivity could not last long, and +Leonora--well! she would bear her hard lot like a heroine. A second +Egmont, I saw freedom and my beloved hand in hand. Through night to +light! Through battle to victory! That was the mystic word with which I +tried to frighten back the serpent-haired monster. Despair, when it was +pressing upon me and about to strike its fangs into my heart. The +mystic word had ample time to prove its power. I remained in prison for +five years! + +"You may imagine if my faith in the so-called divine nature of the +world's government was shaken during this time, which I measured by the +beats of my heart, and the drops which fell, one by one, from the damp +ceiling of my cell. But, I told you before, my strength was great, and +I was sternly determined to live. I had heard, to be sure, in the +silent nights which saw me tossing restlessly upon my hard couch, the +great word that releases us, but I had understood it only half, and +perhaps not quite half. I had but just begun to spell the letters in my +long apprenticeship; life itself was to be my school, before I should +be able to read it fluently. + +"I had scarcely been set free when I hastened to this place--you may +imagine with what feelings! In the beginning of my captivity I had +received one or two letters from Leonora, in which she conjured me to +endure patiently, and to remain faithful, appealing to the God to whom +she was hourly sending up her prayers for my release. Her letters had +become rarer, and after about two years none had come any more. That +was my greatest sorrow; but I always believed that it was the cruelty +of my jailors which denied me this consolation, and I ground my teeth +and cursed my tormentors. + +"I had done them injustice. + +"It was far in the night when I reached Fichtenau. I drove directly to +the familiar house. I jumped from the carriage and pulled the bell. A +window was opened up-stairs; an old woman looked out and asked what I +wanted? I inquired after the schoolmaster. 'He died three years ago,' +was the curt answer. 'And where is his daughter?' 'You must ask the +great gentleman who eloped with her three years ago,' said the woman, +and shut the window with violence. I stood thunderstruck. Then I +laughed aloud; but I was silenced by an intense pain in the heart--for, +Oswald, I had loved Leonora. + +"I never knew how I reached the inn. Late in the night I roused the +good people from their slumbers by my wild laughing and furious raging. +They broke open the door of my room--I was in full delirium. The air of +the prison had affected my health, and the fearful blow, finding me +utterly unprepared, had shaken the weakened edifice to the foundation. +I struggled four weeks for my life, but I clung to it fiercely, and +Death had to give up its prey. Woe to me! That death would not have +been the ordinary death to me--it would have restored me to life! If I +should die now I would die for ever!" + +Oswald shuddered. What was the meaning of these mysterious words: "Die +forever!" Did they contain that great mystery which was yet hidden from +him by a thick veil? + +"My convalescence," continued Berger, "lasted long, for my strength had +been utterly exhausted. I crept through the streets of the village, +leaning on a stick, and rejoiced to find that I could climb, day by +day, a few steps higher, until I succeeded at last in reaching this +spot here--the scene of an oath, which I had fancied to be sworn for +eternity, and which had passed away with the breath of her lips. I came +every day here to weep over my lost happiness, and to quarrel with +Heaven who lets his sun shine upon the unjust, and hurls his lightnings +at the just. For I was, like King Lear, a man more sinned against than +sinning. I had meant well and faithfully in all I had hoped and striven +for in life. I had loved my native land as a child loves its parents, +with a simple, believing heart; and in return it had made me suffer +five years in a dungeon. I had loved Leonora with every drop of blood +in my heart; and in return she had betrayed me. Up to that moment I had +so lived in the world that I could face all and say: Who can accuse me +of a sin?--and yet! and yet! I racked my brain to solve the mystery. I +had never yet understood fully that life itself is the great sin, from +which all other sins flow necessarily, as the stone, once set in +motion, must roll inevitably down the precipice. Thus only I gradually +comprehended that He cannot be a God of love who created and still +creates a world in which the sins of the fathers are punished down to +the third and fourth generation--a world, the whole government of which +rests on the fearful Jesuitical principles that the end sanctions the +means. So far I had always tried to find out only what was good in the +world and in men; now my eyes had been opened by sore sufferings for +the sufferings of my fellow-beings. I now saw how every page of our +history bears the record of some fearful deed that makes our hair stand +on end, and our blood curdle in our veins; I saw that there is a dark +corner in every man's heart which he never dares look into; that no man +yet has lived who did not wish once in his life that he had never been +born; I saw that the life of countless multitudes is nothing more than +a desperate struggle for existence; that sickness and sin, repentance +and sorrow, undermine our life most thoroughly and eat their way to the +core like worms in ripe fruit; that at best our pleasures are a dance +upon graves--that, if life really ever was precious, death, inexorable +death, is forever scorning and scoffing at this precious life. And I +looked around on nature, in which poets see an idyll, and I found that +it was either dead and insensible, or, when it does feel and +sympathize, only repeating the bloody drama of human existence in a +ruder and more shocking form. I saw that the different races of animals +are engaged in fierce, implacable warfare against each other, +uninterrupted by a moment's peace, and that their wars are carried on +with a cruelty by the side of which even the most refined tortures of +the Inquisition appear at times very harmless proceedings. + +"And whilst I thus tore the gay rags to pieces, under which cowardice +and stupidity try to conceal the wounds and sores of society, there +arose in my heart a feeling which I had not known before--hatred. It +was only my love in another form, although I tried to persuade myself +that I had forgotten the faithless one; it was only another expression +of my fondness of life, although I had fancied that I had forever +closed my account with life. When we really give up life, we know +nothing more of love or hatred. + +"At that time, however, I did hate. Passionately as I had loved, my +whole being was concentrated in the one, burning desire to be revenged. +Revenge! revenge! on him! on her!--this was the cry of a voice within +me, which I could never silence again. They all knew my misfortune in +Fichtenau, and felt for me with that cheap sympathy which is composed +of delight in scandal and the pleasure we take in the failures of +others. They told me, unasked, all that was known about Leonora's +flight. + +"About the time when my letters had first failed to come to me, a young +Polish count had arrived in Fichtenau and taken the rooms in the old +schoolmaster's house which I had occupied. Soon the whole town had been +full of him, of his beauty and his wealth. They had teased Leonora +about her handsome lodger, but she had rebuked all such jests on the +part of her young friends with great indignation. Soon, however, they +no longer dared to say openly to her what they thought about her +relations to the young count, but only whispered it about with bated +breath that they had been seen together late at night at such and such +places, and that the gold chain which she was now wearing had not been +in her possession before. And then came a day on which they had no +longer whispered, but proclaimed aloud in the streets, that the +schoolmaster's Leonora had eloped the night before with the handsome +count, and that her poor old father, a confirmed invalid, had been so +deeply affected by the news as to be dangerously ill. A few days later +the old man had really died. Of Leonora nothing had been heard since +that night. + +"Fortunately the name of the count was well known, and that was all I +desired in order to carry out my plan of revenge. I took what little +remained of my fortune and began my travels--first to Warsaw. There the +count was very well known; they described him to me as a profligate +young man, who made it the business of his life to seduce beautiful +women. An acquaintance added, that he had seen him about two years +before in Venice in company with a beautiful lady, who might have been +Leonora from his description. + +"I went to Venice. There also he was well remembered; he had lived +there several months and had then moved to Milan. From Milan they sent +me to Rome. There I met with a friend of my youth, a painter. He had +seen the count and Leonora very frequently, and pitied the poor girl +long before he knew that she had ever been dear to me. He told me that +the count had treated her very badly, and laughingly told everybody +that no one could do him a more valuable service than by relieving him +of this burden. Then the painter hesitated and declined to say more. I +conjured him to tell me all, assuring him that I was prepared to hear +the worst. At last he yielded, and told me that after some time the +count had really found a successor in the person of a French marquis, +or at least a pretended marquis, who had taken Leonora with him to +Paris. This had occurred about a year ago. The count was said to be +living in Naples. I went to Naples, with my friend the painter. I had +told him my purpose to have my revenge. He thought it would be very +difficult, since the count was as cunning and brave as he was +dissipated and cruel. But when he saw me firmly bent upon my purpose, +he offered to accompany me. I accepted the offer; for the painter had +many acquaintances among the great men of the world, and could +introduce me into the circles frequented by the count, to which I would +not otherwise have found access. + +"We reached Naples. The count was still there, the spoilt pet of the +women and the horror of fathers and husbands. The painter succeeded +without any trouble in introducing me in good society. For some time +chance seemed to defeat every effort I made to meet the count at one of +the parties where he was expected. At last I met him at a great soiree +given by the Russian Minister. I saw him standing in the centre of a +group of ladies and gentlemen, and could not deny him the praise of +really superb beauty and an almost irresistible charm of manner. I +approached the group, with the painter by my side. + +"'Count,' said the painter, 'Doctor Berger, of Fichtenau, desires to +make your acquaintance; permit me to present him to you.' + +"At the mention of Fichtenau the count had turned pale, and changed +countenance in such a manner that all the by-standers were struck by +it. + +"'I shall not detain you long, count,' said I, stepping forward, 'I +only desire to learn from you the present place of residence of that +young lady whom you carried off from her paternal home three years ago, +and whom you finally sold to a French adventurer in Rome.' + +"I said these words calmly, slowly, weighing every syllable. My voice +was heard all over the room, for at the first words I uttered everybody +had become so silent that you could have heard a pin drop. + +"The count had turned still paler, but he soon recovered himself and +said: + +"'And what right have you to ask such a question at a time and place +which you have chosen marvellously well?' + +"'I had the misfortune of being engaged to the young lady.' + +"'And if I decline giving you the information----' + +"'Then I declare you before all these ladies and gentlemen to be from +head to foot nothing but a vulgar blackguard.' + +"With these words I threw my glove into his face and left the company, +after having asked their pardon for the necessity that had forced me to +provoke so unpleasant a scene. + +"An insult of this kind could only be wiped out by blood, according to +the views of the society in which the count moved. To prevent his +pleading too great a disparity in social rank I had taken the +precaution of wearing my officer's uniform; and besides, the well-known +name of my friend, the painter, secured me against the suspicion of +being an unknown adventurer. The very favor which the count enjoyed +with the ladies had, moreover, made him very hateful to the men, so +that everybody was glad to see him thus publicly exposed, and if he had +refused to fight me he would probably have lost his standing in +society. His few friends had, therefore, shrugged their shoulders, and +his enemies had smiled with delight, when he had left the house soon +after my departure, and an hour afterwards I received a challenge for +the following morning. That was all I desired. I was delighted; and the +few hours still wanting till I should see the seducer of Leonora, the +murderer of my earthly happiness, at the mouth of my pistol, seemed to +me an eternity. I could not bear the confinement of my hotel; I wanted +to cool the fever of revenge that burnt in me in the balsamic night +air. My friend begged me not to do so, since I might easily take cold +during my nightly promenade, as he called it, with an ironical smile. +But excited and maddened as I was, I insisted on my purpose, and he +accompanied me, but only after having provided daggers for both of us. + +"I was soon to learn how much better the painter knew the character of +my enemy and the manners of the people among whom we happened to be. We +had scarcely gone a few hundred yards from the hotel, and were just +turning into Toledo street from a narrow lane, when four men suddenly +jumped forth from the deep shadow of a house and fell upon us with +incredible fury. Fortunately the painter was a man of gigantic +strength, and I also had my good arm and presence of mind. The +murderers seemed to be surprised by our resistance. After a few moments +they took to their heels. I was going to follow them. 'Let them run,' +said the painter, wiping his bloody dagger; 'I fear I have scratched +one of them rather too deep. But the fellow was really too zealous to +earn the few dollars which the count had given him.' + +"I had lost all desire to continue my walk. We returned by the nearest +way to our hotel, and awaited the appointed hour with impatience. + +"The painter tried to persuade me that I ought not to fight a duel with +a man who had resorted to assassination, but should knock him down like +a mad dog; but I replied to him that that was exactly what I meant to, +do, and that the duel was only an empty ceremony. We became quite warm +in the discussion. + +"Very unnecessarily so. Morning broke at last; we were the first on the +spot; no adversary was to be seen. At last, an hour later, the count's +second appeared--a young Italian nobleman--pale and overwhelmed with +shame. He told us how sorry he was to have kept us waiting so long, but +that it was not his fault. The count had left his house late at night, +after having arranged everything with his second, leaving orders for +his man servant not to sit up for him. Since that moment he had not +been seen again. It seemed to be highly probable that some accident had +befallen him, for of course it would be ridiculous to presume for a +moment that a man of the count's high social position should have +escaped by flight from a duel. + +"The painter replied that we could very well afford to wait, and that +delay was not defeat. The young nobleman promised to inform us of +anything he might learn concerning the count's movements. But the count +remained unseen, and I had at last to take the painter's view, which he +had already mentioned on the night of our encounter with the assassins, +that the count himself had led the attack, being in all probability the +very person whose violence had been most conspicuous, and who had been +so severely punished by the strong arm of the painter. Either he had +died in consequence of the wound received on that occasion, or, what +was more probable, he was only wounded and remained concealed in order +to avoid giving an explanation of his condition. Perhaps, also, he +wished to escape the investigation of the affair by the police, who +showed an unusual activity in the matter, as if they had been +stimulated by the enemies of the count, and at the same time to escape +from an adversary who attached such vulgar importance to matters which +in his circle were passed over with a slight smile. + +"However this might be, my adversary did not re-appear, and after the +strange affair had been for four weeks the favorite topic of +conversation all over town--for it had created an enormous sensation--I +saw myself compelled to leave Naples without having accomplished my +purpose. + +"I went by way of Rome--where I took leave of my friend--to Paris. I +felt that I had fulfilled my duty only half; the hardest part was yet +to be done. I was afraid to meet Leonora again; and yet I wished it +almost as earnestly. You will ask how I could take so deep an interest +in a person who had so frivolously trifled with my happiness, and who +had lost the last relic of respect which might have remained alive for +her after her elopement with the Pole, by running away with the +Frenchman. But I told you I had loved Leonora with an ardent, +demoniacal love, the fire of which had never yet burned out, and which +was to burn, alas! long after all was consumed. Besides, I knew that +Leonora, however recklessly she might have acted, was in reality not +ignoble, but had probably in Rome been forced by a most fearful +necessity to leave the man whom she had followed so far from love. I +felt that now, if she was still alive, she must most assuredly be +wretchedly unhappy. + +"I reached Paris. The city was quite familiar to me, for I had already +paid two visits there, in company with a few thousand armed friends. +Moreover, I had provided myself in Naples with letters of introduction +from the painter and several distinguished Italian and French +gentlemen, whose acquaintance I had made there. A few inquiries +confirmed at once the painter's original suspicion, that the marquis +who had carried off Leonora from Rome was an adventurer. A marquis of +that name did not exist, had never existed, at all events not in the +Faubourg St. Germain. I had to continue my search in other less +aristocratic quarters. + +"A young Frenchman, an author, whose acquaintance I had made years ago, +was my faithful companion in all my wanderings. He was a pleasant man, +warmly attached to myself, and has ever since remained my best friend. +I had, of course, told him the whole of my sad story; and he, who was +far superior to me in knowledge of the world, and especially of that +little world which makes up Paris, had first suggested to me to carry +my investigations into the Quartier Latin, and other still more modest +parts of the city. 'Paris,' said the Frenchman, 'is a place where men +and things rarely preserve their original value long; they rise and +fall in price with amazing rapidity. During a whole year the poor girl +may have passed through very sad changes. If she has not committed +suicide--and this is hardly probable, as she would probably have killed +herself already in Rome, if she had had the courage to die--she has +certainly sunk very low. I pray you prepare yourself for the very +worst.' + +"You may imagine how my heart bled when I heard these words, and felt +how true they were likely to be. I felt like a man who is grappling in +a lake for the body of his drowned child. + +"One evening, as we were wandering about at haphazard through one of +the most crowded suburbs, my companion surprised me by asking me: 'Did +Leonora have any talent for dancing?' When I told him that she had +always been perfect in that art, he said, 'We ought to have thought of +that before. How strange that I never thought of asking you before.' He +was so taken up with his new idea that he did not deign to answer when +I inquired what the art of dancing had to do with our search. He hailed +a cab; we went back into the city. We stopped at one of those +dancing-halls which were then less brilliant, perhaps, but certainly +not less crowded than nowadays. 'Look around, if you can see Leonora +anywhere! We searched the whole establishment; Leonora was not there. +'Then let us go on.' We drove to another dancing-hall, and, when our +search was here also fruitless, to a third, and a fourth. All in vain. +I was so exhausted by the sad scenes I had witnessed, by the dust and +the heat which filled these crowded rooms, by the efforts to find one +certain person among so many, who were constantly changing from place +to place, and by the excitement, the anxiety, and the very fear of +finding what I was looking for, that I begged my companion to abandon +the search, at least for to-night. 'Only one more locality,' he +replied; 'I have on purpose left it for the last, because the +probability of finding her there is strong enough, but also very +painful.' 'How so?' 'The establishments which you have seen so far,' +replied the Frenchman, 'are after a fashion quite respectable in spite +of what is going on there. The visitors are beyond measure reckless, +arrogant, frivolous, but after all not exactly vicious. They are +students with their ladies, clerks with their grisettes, well-to-do +mechanics who want to have a frolic, in company with their girls. The +society into which I am now going to introduce you is far more elegant, +but not quite so harmless. It is a house frequented mainly by wild +young men of rank from the aristocratic quarters of the town, who seek +here compensation for the dullness of their own saloons, and by +foreigners who come to Paris to ruin their health and to waste their +fortune. The fair sex is such as suits these people. You find here the +most beautiful, but also the most corrupt of women, men-catchers, who +drive to-day a four-in-hand, and die to-morrow in the hospital--mainly +foreigners: Creoles, English, Italian, or German girls, who here find +countrymen in numbers. Prepare yourself to look for her--I trust in +vain--in this pandemonium. + +"We reached the place. Broad marble steps led up. My heart beat +violently; I could scarcely stand, for something within me told me that +I had reached the goal of my wanderings; that the disfigured, swollen +head of the dead body would the next moment rise from the black waters. + +"We entered the brilliantly lighted hall. The orchestra played +bacchantic music, and in bacchantic madness the dancers rushed by each +other. The dazzling lights, the loud trumpets, the crowds, the heat, +the narcotic fragrance of exotics, with which the room was adorned, and +the fearful excitement under which I labored, took away my breath. I +had to lean for a moment against a pillar, and closed my eyes in order +to collect myself. As I was standing thus, faint and nearly falling, a +voice fell upon my ear which stung me at the first note like an adder. +The ear is a faithful monitor; it never in all this life forgets a +voice whose notes have once been sweet and dear to it. It had not +deceived me. + +"Close before me, so close that I could have touched her with my hand, +stood a girl, talking fast to a handsome young man; she was tall and +slender, had large, brown eyes, which shone with feverish brightness, +and a face far too sharply accented, too much worn out by life for so +young a person, but nevertheless still very beautiful--and this girl +was Leonora. + +"Strange! when I had first heard her voice my heart had trembled as at +the moment when I stood at night before the house in Fichtenau, and the +old woman called down to me that Leonora had eloped. But after the +first spasm I felt calm, quite calm. The chord had been stretched too +far, it had broke; it now uttered not a sound of joy or of grief. I +looked down upon Leonora as coldly as if she were a picture on the +wall. I heard every word she said to her partner, as we hear words just +before we are going to faint--as if they had been spoken at the other +end of the hall. I examined her from head to foot, even her costume, +with the calm criticism of an artist. I noticed that she was rouged, +and that her dark eyebrows and lashes were dyed still darker. I noticed +that she wore her hair exactly in the same manner in which I had myself +once arranged it, after an antique, and as she had ever after worn it +as long as I knew her. I heard everything, I saw everything, and yet I +heard and saw nothing; for I had no clear perception of what I saw and +heard. + +"My companion, who had looked all around the hall in the meantime, now +returned to where I stood. 'I have not been able to find any one +corresponding to your description,' he said. 'God be thanked! I breathe +more freely; I should not have liked, for the world, to have found her +whom we look for in this place. But, _mon Dieu_, what is the matter? +You look like a corpse!' + +"'I have found her.' + +"'Where?' + +"'There!' + +"He took his glass and examined Leonora for a few moments with most +intense interest. She was still perfectly unconscious of those who were +so near to her, and chatted and coquetted with her dancer. + +"Then he shrugged his shoulders with pity and dropped his eye-glass. +His face had become very serious. + +"'_Pauvre homme_!' he whispered to himself. + +"The music was breaking forth louder than ever; a new figure began in +the Francaise, and it was Leonora's turn. She had evidently made great +progress in her art since the day when I had seen her last dance at a +club-ball in Fichtenau. I can candidly say I have never before or +afterwards seen anything more perfect. It was the enchanting +gracefulness of a jet-d'eau swaying to and fro in the light breeze, and +yet at the same time a passionate rapture, such as we find nowhere else +except perhaps among the Zingarellas of Spain or the Ghawazees of +Egypt. At one moment it was the soft longing and yearning of gentle and +subdued love, at the next moment it was the very soul of passion, +trembling in every nerve and vibrating in every muscle, but here as +well as there, a beautiful rhythm of marvellously complicated and yet +ever harmoniously united movements was never wanting. This dance was a +song--a song of love--but not of German love, dreamy, fragrant with the +perfume of blooming lime-trees and softened by the pale light of the +moon, but of sensuous Oriental love, hot with the burning rays of a +Southern sun, and breathing narcotic voluptuousness. And with all that, +her features were calm, not a muscle moving, not a trace of that +repulsive, stereotyped smile worn by so many far-famed artists. Only +her eyes burnt with uncanny fire, which blazed up brighter with every +step, with every motion. Her partner rather walked than danced all the +steps required with much elegance, but with a lofty carelessness, as if +he looked rather ridiculous in his own eyes while performing the +ceremony, and this calm composure seemed to make the passionate woman +almost desperate, and determined to rouse him from his weary apathy by +all the arts of which she was master. Perhaps this was really so; +perhaps it only looked so--at all events this gave to the dance a rich +dramatic interest, and afforded the by-standers a most attractive +sight. + +"'_Ah, la belle Allemande_!' cried an enthusiast near me. + +"'_Grand Dieu, qu'elle est jolie!_' cried another; '_Brava! brava!_' +and he applauded energetically with both hands till all the by-standers +followed his example. '_Brava! brava! Vive la reine Eleonore! Vive la +belle Allemande!_' + +"My friend seized my arm and drew me further back under the pillars +near which we had been standing. 'Come!' he said. 'Where?' 'Away from +here!' 'Never!' 'Why, it is impossible you can feel an interest in such +a creature! What can you do with her? I tell you she is lost! +irreparably lost!' 'We will see that!' I murmured. The Frenchman +shrugged his shoulders. 'You Germans are a strange people. But, at +least follow my advice. Do not make a scene here; you would most likely +have to fight half a dozen duels. Call upon the girl to-morrow, or +whenever you choose. I will find out in a few minutes all about her +residence, and whatever else you may want to know.' + +"I saw that his was sensible advice. While he slipped away through the +crowd, I threw myself into a chair and rested my head on my hands. +Those were terrible moments. My temples were beating, my limbs were +trembling--and yet within me all was calm, deadly calm and quiet. And, +Oswald, in those moments, while I sat there alone, my face hid in my +hands, in silent, unspeakable sorrow, amid the noisy crowd; and while +my idol, the beloved of my youth, the woman whom I had worshipped in my +dark dungeon like a glorious saint, was dancing a few steps from me, +after a wicked, voluptuous music, the voluptuous dance of Herodias--in +those moments, Oswald, I bid an eternal farewell to happiness, to life. +It was then that the curtain which had so long concealed from me the +Great Mystery suddenly parted in the middle, and I stood shuddering at +the threshold, which I yet dared not cross, and which I only crossed +many, many years afterwards, for then I had not yet drained the cup to +the dregs. + +"The dance had come to an end. It became very lively all around me; +laughter and joking, the rustling of rich dresses close to my ear. They +took seats at the small tables, to cool their fever with ices and +champagne. To my table also came a couple, who either could find no +other place vacant, or thought the sleeper was not likely to be a +dangerous listener. + +"'_Et vous m'aimez vraiment, Eleonore?_' said a soft but manly voice. + +"'_Oui, Charles!_' + +"'_De tout votre coeur?_' + +"'_De tout mon coeur!_' + +"I thought what an impression it would make upon Leonora if I should +suddenly raise my head from the table and say to her: 'Did you not tell +me precisely the same thing on the meadow in the forest of Fichtenau?' +But I checked myself and listened to the conversation, which continued +for some time. At last the gentleman said: + +"'And when shall I see you again?' + +"'Whenever you wish.' + +"'What does that mean?' + +"'That I am always at home for my friends.' + +"'And where is at home?' + +"'_Boulevard des Capucines, Numero Dix-sept_. You have only to inquire +after Mademoiselle Eleonore----' + +"'Or rather _la Reine Eleonore_. _Adieu, ma reine!_' + +"'You won't go already?' + +"'Unfortunately I have to go.' + +"'Why?' + +"'My betrothed is waiting for me at her mother's, and she will be +inconsolable if her faithful shepherd keeps her waiting much longer.' + +"'You are engaged--oh, poor man!' + +"'I hope, _ma reine_, you will help me bear my misfortune?' + +"'_Nous verrons._' + +"And the two went off laughing; Leonora's silk dress struck me as she +passed. + +"My companion came back and put his hand on my shoulder. + +"'I have learnt everything,' he said. + +"'So have I,' I replied, raising my head. + +"'How?' + +"'She has told me all herself.' + +"My friend thought I was delirious. 'Come,' he said, 'the heat has been +too much for you.' + +"You may imagine that I did not sleep much that night. I formed a +thousand plans and rejected them again. Only one thing was certain: I +must save Leonora from this hell. I did not doubt what was my duty for +a moment. + +"And yet I rose next morning without having formed a resolution. I was +not afraid for myself, for my heart could not be torn more fearfully +than it had been torn the night before. I was afraid only for Leonora, +that a sudden meeting might humiliate her too fearfully, might kill her +perhaps. A few days passed, and I found no better plan after all than +to go straight to her. My friend shook his head whenever I spoke of my +project. 'But, _mon cher_,' he said again and again, 'don't you see +that you still love her?' Was he right? I do not know. At all events, +this kind of love was very different from ordinary love, for it knew +nothing of humiliated pride, of mortified vanity--nay, nothing even of +the fear of possibly becoming ridiculous, by attempting to save a woman +who did not at all desire to be saved. + +"When I had at last decided in my own heart, I went one forenoon to the +house on the Boulevard. The porter smiled as he gave his customary +reply: '_Qui, monsieur, au troiseme!_' to my question if Mademoiselle +Eleonore was living there. But he added: 'Mademoiselle will hardly be +at home for anybody; she only came home towards daybreak.' + +"I ascended the staircase covered with costly carpets; in the third +story I read on a china plate near a bell-rope: '_Mademoiselle Eleonore +de Saint Georges._' How many names had the poor girl had, since she had +laid aside the honest name of her father? + +"I rang the bell. An ugly woman, half waiting-maid, half companion, and +looking all the uglier because of the neatness of her dress and the +affected respectability of her manner, opened and asked me what I +wanted, I wished to see Mademoiselle Eleonore. + +"'Mademoiselle is indisposed and cannot see anybody to-day.' + +"'But I must see her.' + +"'Impossible,' said the woman, 'I have just sent for a doctor.' + +"'But, madame, I am the doctor.' + +"'_Ah, c'est autre chose, entrez, monsieur le docteur._' + +"She led me through a small entry into a lofty, stately apartment, +furnished with almost princely splendor, and asked me to wait there a +few minutes, until her mistress should be able to see me. + +"'Has mademoiselle got up yet?' + +"'Yes; I shall be back in a moment.' + +"She disappeared behind a thick curtain. + +"I remained standing in the centre of the room, and looked upon all the +splendor by which I was surrounded--the luscious paintings by Watteau +and Boucher in their broad, gilt frames; the Chinese pagodas upon the +marble mantelpiece; the vases and cups of finest porcelain, the +luxurious divans and sofas--and I felt like the physician who is +looking upon the lace cuff of a hand which he is called in to amputate. +Had I not come here as a physician? Was I not here now under the +pretext of being a physician? + +"The maid returned, and begged me to follow her. She drew back the +curtain to let me pass. I entered a half-dark room, covered like all +the others with thick, soft carpets, and hung with deep red-silk +hangings, the chamber of the mistress of the house, and then through +another curtain into a second room, light and bright. Of the furniture +of this room I saw nothing; I saw only the slender, white form which +rose when I entered from the divan on which she had been resting, and +now advanced a few steps to meet me. And this slender, white form, with +the pale, worn-out, beautiful face, in which the large dark eyes shone +with almost ghastly brightness--this beautiful being, broken in body +and soul, lost for eternity, was my Leonora, whom I had worshipped, and +who had once been blooming like a rose in innocence and youth! + +"'I have sent for you, doctor,' she said in a low voice. + +"Then she raised her eyes and looked at me. Her lips grew silent; she +stared at me with eyes which seemed to leap forth from their orbits; +then she uttered a piercing cry and fell down, before I or her maid +could seize her in our arms. + +"We carried her back to the divan. She was deadly pale and cold; I +thought for a moment the sudden blow might have snapped the frail +thread on which her life was hanging. I should have hailed her death as +a rescue from hell, as a mercy from heaven. But soon I became convinced +that life was not going to let her loose for some time yet. I knew +enough of medicine to remember what was to be done in such an +emergency. While I was busy with the fainting girl, I asked the maid if +Leonora was at all subject to such attacks; what was the general state +of her health? The woman thought it her duty to drop her assumed +respectability before a physician. 'She had been only about six months +in the service of mademoiselle. Since then matters had gone down hill +very fast indeed. But mademoiselle was really living too fast in all +conscience. Dancing every night till three or four o'clock in the +morning, drinking champagne without stopping--no one could stand that +long, least of all a lady of such delicate structure. She was begging +mademoiselle every day to abandon such a life, but she received always +the same answer: the sooner it is over the better. And over it will be +very soon,' cried the woman; 'and I shall lose my poor dear mistress, +whom I love like my own child, although she does not lead a life such +as she ought to lead.' + +"The invalid began to recover. I sent the maid away, ordering her to +buy some salts at the druggist's; for I did not want to have any +witness present when Leonora should fully awake. The old hypocrite had +hardly left the room when Leonora once more opened her eyes and looked +at me with a confused, incredulous glance. I noticed that in proportion +as her mind returned her horror at my presence increased anew, and +threatened to make her faint a second time. This painful shrinking from +one whom she used to meet with open arms was harder to bear than all +the rest, and nearly moved me to tears. I felt not a trace of hatred, +of anger, in my heart, not even of contempt--no, nothing but pity, +boundless, unspeakable pity. I do not know what I said--but I must have +spoken good, mild words of love and of forgiveness, for her rigid +features began gradually to become softer; her eyes, dilated with +horror, filled with tears, and at last she broke out into passionate +weeping, hiding her head on my bosom as I was kneeling by her side. It +was a terrible weeping; it was as if all the tears of the last years, +which she had concealed under laughter and jests, were breaking forth +from their deep, deep cells and would never cease to flow; and between +a sobbing as if her heart were breaking, a crying as if her innermost +soul were pierced by two-edged swords. I have never in all my life, +either before or afterwards, witnessed anything like this fearful +breaking forth of repentance in a soul stained with sin, but noble by +nature. + +"We seemed to have exchanged the parts allotted to us. It looked as if +she had been offended, and I was the criminal. I exhausted myself in +prayers, in implorations, to pour soothing oil into her wounds, to calm +the terrible grief that was raging with such violence. Gradually I +succeeded in calming her after a fashion. She wept, quietly resting her +head on one hand, while I spoke to her holding the other hand--how +white and slender and transparent her fingers had become!--spoke to her +as a brother would speak to his sister in such a case. I begged her to +look upon me as a brother, to confide in me as her best, perhaps her +only friend. I conjured her by all that was sacred to her, by the +memory of her youth, by the memory of her parents--who were both now +resting under the green turf--to tear herself away from this whirlpool +which must swallow her up sooner or later, and to follow me. I promised +to take her, if she wished it, into a desert--to the very ends of the +world--only away, away from this gilded wretchedness. + +"'It is too late; too late!' she murmured. 'You are kind, I know; +inexpressibly kind; but it is too late, too late!' + +"I do not know how long this struggle might have lasted if a strange +episode had not occurred, which decided it to my great astonishment +quickly in my favor. + +"While I was yet kneeling at Leonora's side, I suddenly heard somebody +say behind me: '_Mais vraiment, c'est superbe!_' I rose, full of +horror. Before me stood a young man elegantly dressed, who examined me +through his eye-glass from head to foot and back again, and then +repeated: '_Superbe! mademoiselle_, I congratulate you on this new +conquest.' + +"The young man was one of Leonora's friends, whose lavish liberality +had procured for him the privilege of being looked upon by her as her +only lover. He knew that Leonora was by no means rigorously faithful to +him, and did not mind it much; but he did not like to meet his rivals +at her house, which he had furnished at his own expense, and with +princely magnificence. + +"'I beg you will explain this scene, mademoiselle, he said, turning to +Leonora, in a tone of insulting indifference, which drove all the blood +from my cheeks to the heart. + +"I was opening my lips to give him an insulting answer, when Leonora +anticipated me. As soon as she had seen the new comer she had risen, +and stood now, pushing me gently back, between him and myself. + +"'This gentleman,' she said, pointing at me, 'has a right to be here.' + +"'What right?' + +"'The right of one who has been unfortunate enough to love me once.' + +"'Ah, mademoiselle,' replied the young man, smiling ironically, 'the +gentleman shares that misfortune with many others.' + +"'Sir,' said I, 'whatever claims you may have upon mademoiselle, I have +older claims, and I cannot allow you to insult a lady to whom I was +once engaged in my presence.' + +"'Ah,' said the young man; 'you were engaged to mademoiselle. It is not +possible! and now, I dare say, you propose to marry her, after I'--with +a glance at the furniture--'have had the folly to provide mademoiselle +with a trousseau. Very well conceived, upon my word!' + +"'Stop, sir!' cried Leonora, rising to her full height, 'enough has +been said. You think you can control me, and insult me, because I have +accepted your presents. Here, I return you all you have ever given me. +There, and there, and there!' and she tore with feverish excitement the +gold bracelets and all the jewels she wore from her and threw them at +the feet of the young man. + +"The passion with which she did this was too deep to be for a moment +misinterpreted, and evidently made a great impression upon the dandy. +'I have had enough of this.' he said. 'I shall see you again, +mademoiselle, here is my card, sir!' and he hastened to leave the room. + +"'Come! come!' cried Leonora; 'not another moment will I stay here. +Rather at the bottom of the Seine than here!' + +"'I took her at her word. I begged her to change her dress while I +wrote in her name a few lines to the Marquis de Saintonges--this was +the name of Leonora's lover--and placed the lodging, which he had +rented for Leonora, and everything he had ever given her, once more at +his disposal. We left the house, handed the keys to the porter, and +gave the letter into the hands of a messenger, who promised to deliver +it immediately, and a few hours afterwards I had settled all my +affairs, said farewell to my friends, and the city was several miles +behind us. + +"Our journey was for the present not to be a very long one. A few +stations beyond Paris, Leonora became so unwell, we had to stop in a +little town. The physician who was called in was fortunately an able +man, and told me that mademoiselle, my sister (for such Leonora +appeared to be), was threatened with inflammation of the brain. His +diagnosis was unfortunately but too correct. The very next day the +terrible disease showed itself clearly. The poor sufferer raved in her +delirium of the hot orgies in the _Jardin aux Lilas_ and of the cool +shades in her native woods, of the Marquis de Saintonges, and other +Paris acquaintances, and of myself, now appearing as her guardian +angel, and now as an avenging demon, while I sat by her bedside and +meditated on our strange position. During my eager pursuit of Leonora I +had followed rather a blind impulse than very clear motives, and never, +in all my dreams, had it occurred to me that we might be placed in a +situation like that in which I now found myself. But amid all my +troubles one thought rose high above all doubt: I must never again quit +Leonora, if she should recover. + +"After a little while symptoms appeared which gave us hope, and one +fine morning the physician brought me the news that a crisis had taken +place in the disease, and that Leonora was for the present out of +danger. 'Nevertheless,' he added, with a very serious expression, 'I +must not conceal it from you that, according to human calculations, +your sister is not destined to survive this attack very long. I +apprehend that her lungs are seriously affected; she must have been ill +a long time before I saw her. I do not know your circumstances, and +cannot tell, therefore, whether you will be able to follow my advice. +My advice is this: Go with your sister to a southern climate--to Italy; +if you can, to Egypt. In a less genial climate mademoiselle would +succumb in a very short time.' + +"My resolution was instantly formed. I had nothing more to win and +nothing to lose in Germany, where my political cure was to be completed +by a prohibition to teach publicly during the next five years. My means +had been nearly consumed during my long wanderings; there was only a +small remnant left, but I might spend that sum just as well in Italy as +elsewhere; besides, I hoped to derive abroad some advantages from my +knowledge of languages; and, finally, I had no choice. I would have +rather endured extreme suffering than to omit doing anything that could +benefit Leonora. A few days later we were on our way to Italy. + +"I settled down a few miles from Genoa, upon the coast of the glorious +Mediterranean. I was fortunate enough to obtain a few lessons in the +family of a rich Englishman, who had come to the place for the same +reasons which brought me there, and thus I was relieved of all anxiety +on the score of money. All the greater was my anxiety for Leonora. + +"Our flight from Paris had been so sudden, and was for Leonora so +entirely the result of a momentary impulse--her sickness, following +immediately afterwards, had so completely broken down all her energies +that she had willingly acceded to all my arrangements, and was only now +coming to a clear understanding of our situation--I had not thought of +it at first, and became aware of it only now through Leonora's manner +towards me--that in this dependence on a man whom she had shamefully +betrayed, and in the constant company of him before whom she would have +loved to hide herself in the lowest depth, she suffered probably the +severest punishment that could have been inflicted upon a person in +whom the last spark of honor and self-respect was not extinguished. +Leonora did not hesitate to say so; but she added, 'the punishment is +severe but just; it was the only way, perhaps, to teach me how +grievously I had sinned against you.' While Leonora found thus a +soothing comfort for her conscience in her deep repentance, I had in my +unspeakable sorrow only one very modest consolation: to act towards +Leonora as my conscience dictated. I was at liberty to drain the cup of +sorrow to the very last drop. That was the fulfilment of all the +precious happiness of which I had dreamt so much in the golden days of +Fichtenau, and even later in the dark nights of my imprisonment in the +fortress! This pale, feeble form--that walked slowly along the +sea-coast in the evening sunlight, hanging on my arm and never lifting +up the weary head--she by whose sick-bed I sat watching day after day, +when sickness confined her in her room, and in whose broken heart it +had become my duty to pour soothing balm, of which I stood so much in +need myself--this was the girl whom I had chosen to be my wife, and in +whom I had worshipped, full of bright hopes, the mother of my children. +Oh, Oswald! Oswald! the most fanatical optimist might have been +appalled--the most orthodox soul might have been led to doubt if there +were not after all a great deal of truth in Voltaire's assertion, that +life was nothing but a _mauvaise plaisanterie_. + +"And yet it was good for me to pass through this trial also. It was a +bitter medicine; but it cured me thoroughly of that disease which +others call joy of existence and pleasure in life. + +"Leonora's humility in bearing her sufferings put me altogether to +shame. In proportion as the disease was destroying her bodily form, the +original beauty of her soul began to reappear. She had led a sinful +life; when she died, she died like a saint. + +"It was late in the evening. I had carried the poor sufferer, who was +specially excited on that day, and anxiously yearned after air and +light, in my own arms from the fisherman's cottage which we occupied, +to the edge of the black basaltic rocks which here hang over the sea. +She was resting on a couch formed of cushions. The sun was setting in +resplendent magnificence, and just sinking into the sea. Not a breath +stirred the smooth surface of the waters, and the emerald and golden +lights which shone in the sky were purely and calmly reflected below, +as in a mirror. Upon the pale face of the patient also fell an +enchanting sheen--a rosy lie--the lie with which the sun and life scoff +at the night and at death. And in that hour Leonora took leave of the +sun and of life. She told me that she had always loved me, even at that +moment when vanity and folly had blinded her; that her whole life since +that day had been but a continuous effort to drown her remorse. She did +not desire to live, even if it were possible that I should ever love +her again. She felt herself to be unworthy of being my slave, much more +so of being my wife. She was shuddering at the mere thought. 'Oh never, +never more,' she continued, and her beautiful eyes shone with a +supernatural fire, 'never upon this earth, where I have so tearfully +sinned against you. But when this desecrated body has crumbled into +dust, and the soul has been freed from the fetters that bound it to the +dust, then I will hover around you, I will wait for you; and when you +come, your soul will kiss my soul, and by that kiss I shall know that +all has been atoned for, that all is forgotten and forgiven.' + +"I told her that I had long since forgiven her fully, and that I now +loved her with a purer and holier love than in the days of our +happiness. + +"I kissed, weeping, her white hands and her pale lips. + +"'This is our wedding-day,' she whispered--'poor, poor man.' She sank +back upon the cushions. + +"I carried her, quite exhausted, back to the cottage and to her bed. + +"It was the last time. + +"That night Leonora died." + +Berger had risen, and Oswald had followed his example. The former was +entirely filled with the recollections which had just passed before his +mind's eye, clothed by his powerful imagination with all the accuracy +and clearness of reality; the latter thought of nothing but what he had +just heard; and thus both hardly noticed the road which led them +gradually higher and higher through the dark pine forests. + +Thus they found themselves suddenly upon the bare top of the mountain, +which the people of the neighborhood call the Lookout, and which is by +far the highest all around among all the brothers and sisters. + +The sun had set, but the western sky was still glowing in all the +splendor of the evening glory, and a faint reflex gave even to the +eastern horizon a faint, rosy tinge. Here and there one of the higher +mountain-tops, steeped in purple, looked after the parting light of the +day; but the larger valleys were already filled with gray shadows of +the evening, and whitish mists floated in the narrower glens. The +pine-trees, whose heads rose from below to a level with the travellers' +feet, stood calm and rigid, like a breathless multitude in anxious +expectation. + +Berger gazed into the glow of the setting sun, resting on his stick, +and watching it as every instant some tinge vanished and another turned +pale. Oswald's eye hung upon his features, which seemed every moment to +become more and more spiritual. Was it the effect of the ghastly light, +or merely the expression of what was going on within? Suddenly Berger +dropped his cane, spread out his hands as if in prayer, and said: +"Mother Night, all-powerful original Night, from whose bosom the +creature tears itself away in mad desire to live, only in order to +return after long wanderings, penitent and humiliated, to your faithful +maternal heart, I hail you, even in this faint, earthly image! Yon +bottomless bourn of oblivion, yon sweet cradle of unbroken rest, how I +long for you with my whole heart! Oh, take it from me, this intolerable +burden of life; spare me the daily returning grief to open these weary +eyes to a light which they hate; take from me this remnant of dust, +which weighs me down with its sinfulness, and which becomes only the +more painful as it daily dwindles away! Let it, oh, let it quickly be +consumed! I know I could quickly come to you if I but took a single +step beyond the edge of this rock; but even if my bones were broken +into atoms below, my soul would find no rest, for it has still a few +drops left in the cup of life; perhaps--who can tell?--the very +bitterest of them all. No! no! get thee away from me, Satan, who +allurest me down into the abyss! The abyss is not death; life in all +its splendor, is true death. I know thy old tricks; thou didst try them +with the carpenter's son of Nazareth! But he rebuked thee and thy +temptations--honor, power, and the favor of women--all he rejected, in +order to hunger, to thirst, and not to have where he might lay his +head, to wash off the last remnant of earthly life in the bloody sweat +of the night on the Mount of Olives, and in order to die the death of a +murderer on the cross at Golgotha! Oh that I could go forth into all +the world, to preach the word, the sacred word, that frees us now and +forever--the word that leads us back again to our good, mild, dear +Mother Night, whom we have left in order to suffer infernal punishment +in the bright sun-glow of life, while our tongue is parched and our +temples are beating! The word, the holy, mysterious word, which has +become a mere mummery, a derision, and a mockery, in the vain show with +which they fancy they serve their God. Forgive them, oh Mother, for +they know not what they do; they would willingly come to you if they +had but ears to hear your sweet voice, and eyes to see your mild +beauty. I can see your holy face; its smile fills me with hope and +comfort. I can hear your voice; it whispers, 'wait, wait but a little +while, and you shall sink back into my faithful arms, back to eternal +peace.'" + +The rosy hues had vanished from the sky; gray twilight was spreading +over the valleys, and the evening breeze began to whisper and to murmur +in the tops of the pine-trees. + +Oswald was seized with vague terror. He felt as if that mystical Night, +which Berger had invoked in his strange prayer, was chilling him +already with a breath from the grave--as if the sun had set never to +rise again But this fear was not without a strange admixture of +delight. The narcotic fragrance of thoughts of death which had been +borne to him on Berger's ecstatic words, filled his heart, together +with the perfume of the heather and the aroma of the pines. + +He thought of Helen and of Melitta, but not with the restless anxiety +of the morning, but in calm melancholy, as we think of the departed +whom we have loved. He thought of the troubles and blunders of his gay +drama in the chateau of Grenwitz, but it looked to him like a +puppet-show for children. He thought of the future, but it had no +longer any charms for him; it filled him neither with hope nor with +fear; it was as if his whole life were withdrawing from without, as if +the world were not worthy of so much love or so much hatred. + +Thus he sat, resting his head on his hands, upon a large rock, and +looked out into the evening, which was spreading its dark wings wider +and wider over the heavens. + +A hand was laid on his shoulder. + +"Come!" said Berger, "let us return to the dead!" + +They descended from the summit and plunged into the damp darkness of +the forest. Berger seemed to know every path and every stone in the +mountains. He went on, supporting himself every now and then with his +stout cane, at a pace which made it difficult for Oswald to follow him, +though he was considered a good pedestrian. + +Thus they had reached a meadow lying in the very heart of the forest. +As they followed the edge of the wood they suddenly saw a light +glimmering on the opposite side. It came from the flame of a pile of +briars which had just been kindled. Within the bright circle of the +flames two persons were visible--a woman, as it seemed, and a child. + +Oswald's sharp eyes confirmed him in a suspicion which had entered his +heart at the first glance. + +They were Xenobia and Czika. + +He hastened as fast as he could across the meadow towards the fire, but +he had hardly accomplished half the distance when he sank up to his +ankles into the morass. He saw that he could not go any further. He +cried as loud as he could: "Xenobia! Czika! it is I! Oswald!" + +But his call had scarcely broken the peace of the silent forest when +the fire vanished, and with the fire the two forms he had seen. + +All was quiet--quiet as death. Oswald might have imagined that his +fancy had played him a trick. + +"What was the matter?" asked Berger, when Oswald joined him again. + +"Did you not see the fire!" + +"It was a will-o'-the-wisp in the swamp," replied Berger. "Let us go +on." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +It was completely dark when the two wanderers left the last spur of the +mountain, and reached the first houses of the village. Oswald, who was +for the first time in this region, and whose sense of locality was not +strongly developed, had of course allowed himself to be entirely guided +by Berger, and had expected that the latter would return by the nearest +road to Doctor Birkenhain's asylum. He was, therefore, not a little +surprised when he found out that they were approaching the town from +the opposite direction. There were the huge wagons laden with bales, +there was the wide court-yard with its hospitably open gates, there was +the green lamp burning in dismal dimness over the door of the house, +and casting a mournful light upon one-half of the leaden hat which had +once shone in all the splendor of oil-paint, but which had since passed +through many a storm, losing its youthful freshness under the action of +wind and weather and rain. There they heard in the low room to the +right of the hall, with its four tiny windows and its dim light, the +clinking of glasses, as thirsty guests knocked them impatiently against +each other, and the concentrated noise of some twenty male voices, +which were by no means delicate, and yet insisted upon being all heard +at once. + +It would scarcely have needed all these unmistakable signs to convince +Oswald that he was near the hospitable roof of the Green Hat. + +The sudden meeting with the gypsies in the forest had reminded him most +forcibly of this whole affair, which Berger's recital had nearly driven +from his mind. + +He should have liked much to consult Berger in this matter, as the +latter had in former times given him frequent opportunities to admire +his skill in unravelling intricate situations and problematic +characters; but he was loth to trouble a mind which was constantly +seeking the truth in the mysterious depths of mysticism, with stories +in which Director Schmenckel was playing the most prominent part. + +What was his amazement, therefore, when Berger suddenly stopped at the +door of the Green Hat, and said: + +"I am thirsty; let us go in here for a moment!" + +"Here?" inquired Oswald, who shrank from the idea of introducing the +dreamy, delicate man, with his horror of the mere odor of tobacco, to +such vulgar society. "The company in there is hardly suitable." + +"What does that matter?" replied Berger. "Are they not the children of +men?" + +With these words he entered through the open house-door into the halls +where yesterday the enthusiastic admirers of art had fought their +battle royal with their adversaries, and through the door of the room +which was also open into the coffee-room. + +The appearance of the latter was nearly the same as on the previous +day, before and after the fight, only that the table at which the +artists had their seats was to-day much less sought after by the other +guests. The glory of artists is apt to fade quickly in the eyes of men +who still feel the smarting of the blows which they have received a day +before on account of this very glory, and who are prosaic enough to +recollect the number of glasses of beer which the artists have drunk at +their expense, solely for the purpose of not interfering with the +general good-temper of the company. Thus it came about that many who, +in their enthusiasm for art, had utterly forgotten their old friends in +the blue overalls and the heavy shoes, to-night joined them once more, +and granted to new comers the privilege of listening to Director +Schmenckel's long stories, and of paying his long bills. + +Mr. Schmenckel was far too great a philosopher to lose his good humor +and his temper on account of this insulting desertion by his friends. +His fat face shone as bright as ever--it was redder than usual, even, +because its original color appeared still richer and more intense in +contrast with a few patches of black which had become indispensable in +consequence of his fight with Mamselle Adele. His swollen eyelids +winked at everybody as cunningly as ever, his linen was perhaps a shade +less white, but the suspenders had not lost a line of their width, and +none of the embroidered roses seemed to have suffered in the least. + +And as rosy as this indispensable part of his wardrobe, was also the +temper of the man whose broad bosom it adorned. + +"How do you like the beer, Cotterby?" he said, laying his broad hand +upon the shoulder of the man of the pyramids. + +"Sour!" was the laconic reply; for the hero had received but meagre +applause to-day, since the genius in the oak-tree had not been there to +hallow his flight. + +"Pshaw!" said Mr. Schmenckel, "you are spoilt, Cotterby. It is of +course not as good as you drink it in Egypt, but nevertheless it is +good, very good indeed. Your health gentlemen." + +The director put the glass to his lips, but only swallowed a moderate +quantity, a circumstance which might have convinced the impartial +observer of the correctness of the judgment of the Flying Pigeon, whose +beer had not been paid for to-night by enthusiastic admirers of art. + +At that moment Berger and Oswald entered the room and approached a +table at which the artists sat, because it had some vacant seats. Mr. +Schmenckel's observant eye had scarcely seen the new comers--whom he +recognized instantly as the insane young count of the day before, and +an old gray-bearded fellow of curious appearance whom the count had +picked up for his amusement after the escape of the gypsies--when he +rose from his seat, went up to Oswald, bowed low before him, and said, +with a voice which he intended should be distinctly heard all over the +room, + +"Ah, your excellency, count, that is nice in you, that you come to call +upon a poor artist in his lowly inn. Sit down here by the side of +Director Schmenckel! Move on a little, Cotterby! That's it! Now, +gentlemen, take your seats; delighted to make your acquaintance, old +fellow, much honor. Two fresh glasses of beer for the gentlemen, and +one for Director Schmenckel! Empty your glass, Cotterby! So, now bring +four glasses! Who would have thought that we should have such excellent +company to-night?" and Mr. Schmenckel rubbed his hands with delight as +Oswald and Berger took seats in his immediate neighborhood. + +"Well, here is the beer--fresh from the cask, my angel--well, all the +better! Here gentlemen! Your health, count, and your health also, old +man! Ah! that was the first mouthful I have relished this evening. Odd! +is it not? Bad company spoils good beer; good company makes bad beer +good! Am a lover of sociability, count. See that you are another. Will +you have the kindness to introduce me to the old gentleman? Director +Schmenckel likes to know with whom he has to do." + +Oswald glanced at Berger to see what impression was made upon him by +this company and these surroundings, and to judge from that what he had +better do for Director Schmenckel. To his astonishment, Berger seemed +to listen to the prattle of the rope-dancer with some interest. He had +hung his hat upon the back of the chair, placed the cane by his side, +and was now leaning with both arms upon the table, exactly like one who +does not intend to leave the place very soon again. + +"My name is Berger," he answered to the director's question. + +"Professor Berger," added Oswald, with the good intention of making an +impression upon Mr. Schmenckel by the title, and to put, if possible, a +check upon his familiarity. + +"Professor!" repeated Mr. Schmenckel, with a look at Berger's blue +blouse and ill-kept beard. "Ha! ha! ha! Very good! May I make you +acquainted with my friend Cotterby? Mr. John Cotterby, of Egypt, known +as the Flying Pigeon. Mr. Berger, known as Professor! Ha! ha! ha!" + +"Shall we go again," inquired Oswald, who was seriously embarrassed by +Mr. Schmenckel's conduct. + +"I think we had better stay a little longer," replied Berger. + +"Your fist, old boy!" said Mr. Schmenckel, seizing Berger's small thin +hand and shaking it warmly. "I like you prodigiously. When your tile is +losing its glue, and your blouse is going to tatters completely, you +must come to me. Director Schmenckel will be delighted to receive a man +like you as a member of his company. Your beard alone is an ornament +for the whole land. You would create a sensation in a pantomime. What +did you think of our performance to-day, count?" + +"I was unfortunately unable to see it," replied Oswald, encouraged by a +smile upon Berger's lips to continue the strange conversation. + +"Oh, you have lost much, indeed very much," said the director in a tone +of sincere regret, shaking his huge head slowly to and fro. "The +performance was by far the finest we have given for a long time. +Director Schmenckel has convinced everybody that the absence of +a few estimable members of his company could in no wise impair the +general efficiency of the same. I do not mean myself--although the +world-renowned Schmenckel-act, with three cannon-balls of forty-eight +pounds each, has never yet been imitated by anybody in this world, and +my _fontaine d'argent_, with ten silver balls, is as yet unequalled. +But, gentlemen, you ought to have seen Mr. Cotterby on the trapeze; I +tell you the ring-tailed apes of the Island of Sumatra are miserable +bunglers in comparison--absolutely miserable bunglers! And then Mr. +Stolsenberg with his gigantic cask! I tell you--come nearer, +Stolsenberg. An artist such as you are need not be so very modest, and +the count here does not mind another glass of beer, or even several he +is not like ordinary men. And then Mr. Pierrot, as contortionist!--come +this way, Pierrot! Artists ought always to keep to each other. I tell +you, count, your penknife is a ramrod in comparison with Mr. Pierrot. I +have said it again and again: Pierrot, if we ever should travel by rail +together, I mean to pay only for myself; I shall put you in my hat-box. +Ha! ha! ha! A clever idea! Is it not, count? But the professor's glass +is empty; and by all the Powers! mine is empty too! I verily believe +that man Stolsenberg has secretly emptied my glass, and his own into +the bargain! You had better drink yours too, Pierrot. You will save the +pretty waiting-maid some trouble. Here, my angel, five fresh glasses; +but really fresh, my beauty--fresh, like the roses on your cheeks. Fond +of pretty women, count?--such a pretty child, with brown eyes, dark +hair, and a slight, graceful person, like Czika? Eh? Just let her grow +a few years older and you'll see something; she'll give you pleasure!" + +"Have you any news about them?" asked Oswald. + +Mr. Schmenckel, who had not the remotest idea of what could have become +of the two gypsies, but who considered it wrong to destroy all hope of +meeting the last object of his mad fancy in the heart of a man who was +immensely rich and passionately fond of young gypsy-children, winked +cunningly with his swollen eyes, put his fat finger against his nose, +and said: "Are not far from here, in the woods--have certain +information--can get her when I want her--don't want her, though--women +must have time to get over their tantrums--then they come of their own +account, and are thoroughly cured of their fancies. Yes, you have to +know them well! Women are troublesome people to deal with, only they +are all alike--and yet not one is like the other. What do you think +about that, old boy?" + +"I think you a great philosopher, from whom one might learn a great +deal yet," replied Berger, looking with a curious smile into Mr. +Schmenckel's face. + +"Well, I should think so," said the director, throwing out his +capacious chest and resting his hands on his hips. "Mr. Schmenckel, of +Vienna, knows where the hare burrows, and the man who wants to lead him +astray has to rise early in the morning. But, by all the Powers! it is +no wonder after all if I know rather better than others how the world +wags; I have been shaken about in it, upside and down, round and round +and round, like a cork in an empty bottle." + +"An empty bottle," said Berger. "That's a capital comparison; perfectly +correct. How did you get hold of that?" + +"How I got hold of it?" replied the director with an air of +astonishment. "How I got hold of it? Probably, because I have an empty +glass standing before me. Ha, ha, ha." + +"It looks as if you had not been displeased, so far, with the beverage +of life," said Berger, while Mr. Schmenckel made use of the interval, +till the new glass of beer could come, to fill his short clay pipe. + +"Well, and why not?" replied the director, lighting his pipe at the +flame of the tallow candle that stood near him on the table, and +disappearing for a few moments from the sight of the by-standers in +thick, blue clouds. "Life is a prodigiously funny thing for a man who +knows what's what, like Caspar Schmenckel, of Vienna. Thanks, my +angel!" + +"I am not your angel, sir," said the girl, snappishly, as she pushed +back violently the arm with which Mr. Schmenckel had embraced her +waist, and cast a stolen glance at Oswald. + +Mr. Schmenckel's only reply to this insulting correction was this: he +pressed the five finger-tips of his right hand against his thick lips +and cast a kiss after the girl as she slipped out, and then, closing +his left eye, winked cunningly with the other at Oswald, who was +sitting on the opposite side. + +"Nice girl, your excellency, isn't she? Pretends to eat me up alive, +and is head over ears in love with me." + +"You seem to be very successful with ladies," said Oswald, merely in +order to say something. + +"Well, can't complain, your excellency," said Mr. Schmenckel, laughing +complacently. "Women are like the weather. To-day too hot, and +to-morrow too cold; to-day sunshine, and to-morrow rainy weather. Must +take everything as it comes from them, just as from the Great One +above." + +"I should think that depended solely upon yourself," said Berger, whose +look dwelt imperturbably upon his jovial companion, as if his mind +could not comprehend so remarkable a phenomenon. + +"How so, old fellow? You think I should let them alone, every one of +them? Well, old gentleman, that might do very well for you; but of +Caspar Schmenckel, of Vienna, you cannot expect such a thing. The +deuce! Leave them alone? Why, I had rather be dead and buried!" + +"That would certainly be the best of all," said Berger. + +"Look here, old gentleman," replied the director, with an effort to be +serious, which sat very oddly upon him. "Don't commit such a sin! I +tell you again, life is a mighty good thing, and we must not paint the +devil's likeness on the wall. Oh, pshaw! Why do you let your beer grow +stale, and make a face like a tanner whose skins have been washed down +the stream? Come, drink a glass with Caspar Schmenckel! Well, that's +right! Schmenckel is a merry fellow, and likes to be in company with +merry fellows. Well, gentlemen, what do you say, shall we have a nice +song? Cotterby, you have a voice like a nightingale! Come, fall in! +Does your excellency know the song of the midges?" + +"No; but let us hear it." + +"Well, here goes; Stolsenberg, Pierrot, fall in!" + +And Mr. Schmenckel took the pipe from his mouth, leaned back in his +chair, and began with a tremendous bass voice, while his three friends +sang chorus: + + + "Good morning, fiddler, + Why are you so late? + Retreating, advancing, + The midges are dancing, + With the little killekeia + With the big cumcum. + + "Then came the women, + With scythe and sickle, + To keep the midges + From dancing like witches, + With the little killekeia, + With the big cumcum." + + +"Well, gentlemen, isn't that a fine song?" cried Mr. Schmenckel, after +having finished off the remarkable air by pummelling the table with +both hands so that the glasses began to dance. + +"Very fine," said Berger; "do you know any more?" + +"Hundreds," replied Mr. Schmenckel, "but Mr. Cotterby knows the best. +Sing us a solo, Cotterby." + +The Egyptian smiled complacently, twisted his small, jet-black +moustache, and passed his hand through his dark, well-oiled hair, +leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes half, and began in quite a +pleasant tenor voice: + + "A peasant had a pretty wife, + She loved to stay at home, + She begged her husband by her life, + To go abroad and roam, + Through the grass and through the hay, + Through the grass--alas! + Ha, ha, ha; ha, ha, ha; hideldeedee! + Hurrah! hurrah! + To go abroad, and in the grass." + + +"Ho, ho, ho!" laughed the director. "That is a good song--very good. +That reminds me of a pretty story, which I will tell if you say so, +gentlemen. You can finish the song afterwards, Cotterby." + +The Egyptian seemed to take it rather amiss that he was thus +interrupted; but Mr. Schmenckel did not notice it, or did not choose to +notice it. He took a long pull at his glass of beer, and said to the +waiting maid, whom the song or the presence of the young, distinguished +stranger had brought back to the table, + +"You go a little outside, my angel. The story which Director Schmenckel +is going to tell is not made for young girls." + +The pretty girl blushed up to her ears and ran away, looking back for a +moment at Oswald. Mr. Schmenckel cleared his voice, leaned over the +table, and began with a voice which sounded all the hoarser for his +efforts to subdue it: + +"Gentlemen, you know that all thinking men divide women into two +classes--such as serve, and such as are served. But love knows no such +distinction, for love masters them all. I have myself experienced this +very often in life, but it has never become quite so clear to me as +some----" Here Mr. Schmenckel looked almost anxiously around, to see +that no unauthorized ear, especially no female ear, should catch the +chronological fact which he was about to mention. "Some twenty years +ago, in St. Petersburg. Have any of the gentlemen ever been in St. +Petersburg?" + +They said no. + +"How did you get to St. Petersburg?" inquired the hopeful son of a +citizen of Fichtenau, who had in the meanwhile joined the company. + +"Schmenckel, of Vienna," replied the director, in a dogmatic tone of +voice, "has been everywhere. You may expect him, therefore, at any +place on earth. St. Petersburg, gentlemen, is a beautiful city, as you +may judge from the fact that the palaces of the emperor and of all the +great nobles are cut of blue and white ice, which shines brilliantly in +the sun." + +"How can that be," inquired again the man from Fichtenau; "don't they +melt in summer?" + +"In summer," said Mr. Schmenckel, by no means taken aback; "in summer? +Why, what are you thinking of? I tell you, sir, in St. Petersburg there +is no summer. Snow and ice, ice and snow, all the year round, from one +New Year's Eve to the next New Year's Eve. You have no idea, in your +country here, of such a cold; the human mind can't conceive it. I tell +you, the breath from your mouth falls instantly as snow to the ground, +and when two persons have been talking to each other for some time in +the street, a heap is formed between them so high that when they part +they have to climb up in order to be able to shake hands. Why, it is so +cold there that the milk freezes in the cow; and when you say: here, +give me a glass of beer, or a little mug-full, the Petersburg people +say: give me a slice, for the beer freezes into a thick syrup, and is +not poured out, but cut into long, thin slices, put upon buttered +bread, and eaten in that way." + +"That must be quite uncomfortable," remarked the oldest guest of the +Green Hat. + +"Every land has its ways," replied Mr. Schmenckel. + +"But we know that expression, too," said the fat landlord, who had come +up to the table. + +"Well, then, just let me have a slice, my good man," said Mr. +Schmenckel, draining his glass and handing it over his shoulder to the +landlord, "but Christian measure, if you please! + +"In one word," continued the director, after he had graciously accepted +the applause which his wit received as a tribute due to his +superiority, and after trying cautiously the contents of the new glass, +"in a word, St. Petersburg is a fine city, and when you see how the sun +glitters on all the ice palaces, and how the Russians, wrapped in their +bearskins, drive furiously through the streets in their sleighs with +four reindeers abreast, you feel as if your heart was laughing within +you with delight, and you must go into the nearest shop to take a good +glass of gin. + +"Well, then, we were in St. Petersburg, and liked it mightily. We--that +is to say, the famous circus company of my uncle, who was the director, +Francis Schmenckel, and myself, who had the honor to be engaged as +Hercules--I can say that we created a sensation, especially our horses; +for the Russians know horses only from hearsay. The emperor alone has +two or three shaggy creatures that look like big dogs in his stables. +Everybody else, as I said before, drives only reindeer--even the +cavalry is mounted in that way; and I can assure you, gentlemen, that a +Russian cuirassier of the guards, mounted on his reindeer stallion, is +not so bad a sight after all. + +"We had immense audiences. The emperor and the whole court were every +evening at the circus. His majesty applauded so furiously that he had +to put on a new pair of white kid gloves every five minutes, because he +had torn the others to pieces. During the entire act I had to be on my +post at the door of the Imperial box, so that I could show his majesty +the way behind the scenes and into the stables, where his majesty +condescended to pat the best animals most graciously on the neck, and +to pinch the cheeks of the handsomest ladies in the company, with his +own hand. But more than anybody else did I enjoy the emperor's favor. I +cannot tell exactly why! I only know that the emperor sent for me to +his box the very first night, and said to me before the whole court: +'Mr. Schmenckel, you are not only the strongest but also the handsomest +man I have ever seen. Ask a favor!' 'Your majesty,' I replied, bowing +gracefully, 'I ask only for a continuance of your favor, which I esteem +above all things else.' 'That you shall have, and patents of nobility +into the bargain,' exclaimed his majesty, most enthusiastically. 'Give +me your strong hand, Mr. von Schmenckel; with a company of men like +yourself, I would dictate laws to the whole world.' + +"From that moment we were sworn friends. 'Mr. Schmenckel, come this +evening and take a cup of caravan tea with me! Will you drink a glass +of wutki punch with me to-night, after the performance is over? dear +von Schmenckel. You know, quite _entre nous_, perhaps, a few ladies and +gentlemen of my court. Will you come?' That was the way, day by day. + +"Well, gentlemen, Mr. Schmenckel, of Vienna, is not a proud man, but he +likes to be in good company----" + +Here Mr. Schmenckel made a courteous bow to the bystanders, and +continued: + +"And an emperor is, after all, always an emperor, and it is a pleasure, +which I will not deny, to be on such terms of intimacy with such a man. + +"Those were famous evenings which I spent, so to say, in the bosom of +the imperial family. The gentlemen of the court were very pleasant +people, and the ladies----" + +Mr. Schmenckel closed his eyes, kissed his hand toward! the ceiling, +and sent a deep sigh after the winged messenger of his love. "The +ladies! I tell you, gentlemen, he who has not seen the women of Russia, +has not seen any women at all. Such hair, such eyes, such figures, such +fire; and if Schmenckel of Vienna, was to live four thousand years, he +would never forget the winter in St. Petersburg! + +"The Russian women are beautiful, and you may feel a little twitch of +envy, gentlemen, when I tell you that I had the pick among the fairest +of the fair. You may think that sounds like brag, gentlemen, but I +cannot help it, it was so. They sent me whole wagon-loads of locks of +hair, bouquets and little notes, which always began thus: 'Divine +Schmenckel, or Apollo Schmenckel,' and always ended thus: 'Meet me at +such and such a place, at such and such an hour.' + +"But, as it happens most frequently in such cases, she whose favor I +should have valued most highly was not one of my admirers. This was a +young and very beautiful lady, whom I saw every evening at the circus; +but she always assumed a prodigiously haughty and reserved air, +although I invariably made her a special bow when they applauded. + +"'How do you like our ladies?' the emperor asked me one evening as we +were walking, arm-in-arm, up and down the reception room. + +"'So so! your majesty,' I replied, for discretion was always Caspar +Schmenckel's special gift. + +"'You are hard to please,' said the emperor. 'How do you like the +little Malikowsky?' + +"'What name was that?' suddenly asked Berger, who had been sitting +immovable, his brow buried in his hand, and who now, for the first +time, raised his head. + +"Malikowsky, old gentleman," repeated Mr. Schmenckel. "Another Russian +slice, landlord. With your leave, gentlemen. I'll fill my pipe once +more." + +Oswald looked at Berger. He felt as if a strange nervous twitching was +agitating his calm, serious features, and as if the eyes betrayed an +unusual excitement but the next moment Berger had again hid his brow in +his hand. Mr. Schmenckel continued his story: + +"'The little Malikowsky?' I asked. 'Who is she?' + +"'Have you never noticed a lady in black who sits very near the +imperial box? Pale face, large eyes, chin rather long?' + +"'Certainly, your majesty; but she seems to be a shy bird.' + +"'Nonsense! dear Schmenckel; sheer nonsense! Between us be it said, the +lady once stood in somewhat nearer relations to our house than I liked. +We have given her a husband, a Polish nobleman who was ruined; her +reputation was not very good, his is very bad; he has nothing, she has +half a million souls----'" + +"How much is that in Prussian money?" inquired the fat habitue of the +Green Hat, who kept a grocery-store in the town. + +"Five million dollars, twenty-six silver groschen, and fourpence--'thus +they suit each other exactly. When she wants to get rid of him for a +time, she sends him to his estates in Poland. Just now he is again on +his travels. You had better make a conquest of her, and I will say then +that Schmenckel, of Vienna, is not only the strongest and the +handsomest, but also the luckiest man on earth.' + +"'Your majesty's wish is my command,' I replied, and went home +considering how I could win the heart of the beauty. 'Only by doing +something which no man ever yet has been able to do,' I said to myself, +and then, gentlemen, it was I invented the famous Schmenckel-act, with +the three cannon balls of forty-eight pounds each. On the first evening +I played with one of them as with a boy's ball--she smiled; on the +second I played with two--she clapped her tiny hands; on the third I +played with all three of them--she threw me a bouquet. I was sure +of my success now. But here, gentlemen, I must beg you to excuse +me if I follow my invariable custom when a lady is mentioned in my +recollections, and if I only suggest, therefore, in a general way, that +the same evening a pretty maid presented herself at my rooms and asked +me to follow her to her mistress who was dying of love for me. I may +add that Schmenckel, of Vienna, has too good a heart to let anybody die +for him, and least of all for love for him, if he can help it, and that +the next four weeks belonged to the happiest of his whole life." + +"You are a fortunate man, director," said the native of Fichtenau, who +had been for four years secretly in love with the daughter of an +alderman, and had already triumphed so far over all obstacles as to +have obtained, almost, a kiss from her. + +"As you take it, young man," replied Mr. Schmenckel, with paternal +benevolence, "where there is much light, there must also be dark +shadows. I ought properly to let my story end here, but I suppose I +must finish it for the benefit of such young hot-blooded creatures as +you are. Master Miller, and you Cotterby, you abominably fast man, and +you Pierrot, the greatest scamp I know. Well, just listen, gentlemen! +The pretty maid was not less passionately fond of me than her mistress, +for, as I said just now, in that matter of love all the women are alike +What happens, therefore? One fine evening, as I was drinking my cup of +tea with the lady--in all honor and propriety, gentlemen, upon my word +of honor--somebody suddenly knocks with great violence at the door +which leads into the count's apartment, and which was locked from +inside. 'Open the door! open the door!----' + +"'Great God, the count!' whispered the countess, pale with terror. +'Nadeska has betrayed us.' + +"'Open the door'--and here followed a fearful oath--'open the door!' + +"'Well,' said I, 'that's a nice predicament; what's to be done next?' + +"'Schmenckel, you must save me.' + +"'With pleasure; but how?' + +"'I'll slip into my chamber, and lock the door behind me.' + +"'Very good; but what am I to do?' + +"'You have broken into the house, through that window'--and as she said +this she opened the window, took the candelabra with the lights, passed +through the second door, locked it, and began to cry as loud as she +could--'Help! Help! Thieves!' + +"Well, gentlemen, just imagine my position, if you can. Before I could +collect my five senses the door was broken open, and the count rushed +in, holding two pistols in his hands, and five men-servants with lights +and big sticks behind him." + +"How did the count look?" Berger asked in a low voice, without raising +his head. + +"Well, old gentleman, I had not exactly time to look closely at him. I +only know that he was a fine-looking, tall man, with a pair of eyes +that fairly burnt with fury. 'Ah, I have caught you, rascal?' he cried. +Crack! went a ball past my left ear--crack! and another ball went past +my right ear. Well, gentlemen, that was, after all, a little too +strong, and not exactly the way to make Caspar Schmenckel's +acquaintance. What could I do? I seized the count around the body, and +threw him out of the window; and in case he should have broken +something in falling, I threw one of the servants right after him. The +others were frightened and ran away as fast as they could. I ran after +them through the other rooms across the hall and down the stairs, and, +gentlemen, when I had gotten so far I found the way into the street +easily enough by myself. How do you like my story, professor?" and Mr. +Schmenckel put his broad hand upon Berger's shoulder. + +Berger raised his head. His face was deadly pale, his eyes were rolling +fearfully, his gray hair hung down into his face. + +"If you can tell the truth, man," he said, with weird-sounding voice, +"answer me; have you told the truth?" + +"I believe the old gentleman has taken a little too much," said Mr. +Schmenckel, good-naturedly. + +"Yes, I have drunk too much," cried Berger, gesticulating violently +with his hands--"too much of the wretched beverage of this miserable +life, which is utterly good for nothing, and the liquor has gotten into +my head. Ha! ha! ha!" + +It was a terrible laughter; but the half-drunk visitors thought it +highly amusing. + +"Oh, ho! the professor is taking to it very kindly," cried Mr. +Schmenckel, holding his sides. "Speech, speech! Let the professor give +us a speech!" + +Oswald had jumped up and stood by Berger's side. He tried in his +anxiety to calm the over-excited man, and to persuade him to leave the +house. + +Berger paid no attention to him. He stood there, leaning with both his +hands upon the table, as Oswald had seen him do so often in his +lecture-room. + +"Write, gentlemen," he said, "this is the quintessence of the long +syllogism, the parts of which I have just explained to you: + + + "I climbed on a pear-tree, + I wanted to dig beets, + Then have I all my life + Eaten no better plums. + + +"You will say that this is not a speculative idea, but an old drinking +song; but, gentlemen, in a world where good people are made fun of, and +led by the nose by impudent demons--where folly with the fool's cap on +the head is ruling supreme, and causes its lofty conceptions to be +executed by stupidity, vulgarity, and brutality--there speculation +becomes a drinking song, and the idea--the grand, all-sublime +idea--why, you are the idea yourselves, gentlemen, rough, vulgar +fellows as you are." + +"Oh, ho! old man, I won't stand that," cried Mr. Schmenckel, who could +hardly laugh any longer. + +"Yes indeed, yourself," continued Berger, growing more and more +violent. "You, Director Caspar Schmenckel, of Vienna, you represent the +justice of heaven! The idea can do nothing without you; you are the +idea, the incarnate idea. I told you life was good for nothing, but +no--that is saying too much--it is worthy of you. I detest you, but I +honor you; I shudder at the sight of you, but I worship you. Come into +my arms, that I may measure the depths of this wretchedness, that I may +touch with my own hands the incredible." + +"Come to my heart, old boy," cried Mr. Schmenckel returning the +embrace. "You are a trump--a perfect brick; let us be brothers." + +He let go Berger and seized his glass. + +At the same moment Berger fell, pressing his hand upon his heart, with +a fearful cry, and fainted away. + +It was a fearful cry indeed--like the cry for help of a drowning man at +the instant of sinking--a cry that was heard high above the din in the +room, that silenced all the chatting and chaffing, and made the +drinkers jump up from their seats in utter consternation. They crowded +around the fallen man, and glared with stupid, half-drunken eyes at +him, as Oswald tried in vain to raise him from the floor. No one lent a +hand to assist the young man. The fright seemed to have paralyzed the +crowd. + +"Will nobody help me?" cried Oswald, supporting the burden of the +lifeless body in his arms. + +These words were addressed to Mr. Schmenckel, who until now had been +quietly standing near, with open mouth and fixed eyes, his pipe in one +hand, the glass of beer in the other. + +Oswald's appeal brought him back to his senses. + +"You are right, count," he said, "we must do something for the old +gentleman." + +He put his pipe on the table, took Berger, who was still unconscious, +from Oswald's arms, lifted him without effort on his shoulder, and +carried him out of the room as a lion bears off a dead gazelle. + +Oswald and the landlord followed him. + +"Here, come in here," said the landlord, opening the door of the room +on the opposite side of the hall, where more distinguished guests were +commonly received. + +Mr. Schmenckel laid the patient on the sofa. + +"The old gentleman had an empty stomach," said Director Schmenckel, +whispering his information gravely into Oswald's ear, while the latter +was busy about Berger. + +"Your excellency ought to have made him eat a good slice of ham with +brown bread, and a glass of brandy." + +Berger began to stir. He opened his eyes and looked wonderingly at the +by-standers, like somebody who is awaking from a heavy dream. Then he +rose fully, with Oswald's assistance, and said in a low voice: + +"I thank you, my friends. I have given you much trouble. We are +dependent one on the other in this life. I hope I shall soon meet you +again; perhaps I may be able then to reciprocate your kindness. Come, +Oswald, let us go." + +"Do you feel strong enough? Had we not better send for a carriage?" + +"Oh no! Horses and carriages are not for people like me." + +He went to the door. Suddenly he stopped again. + +"Pay the people what we owe them, Oswald; we must not remain in +anybody's debt on this earth." + +Oswald paid the landlord his bill, including in it, to Mr. Schmenckel's +evident satisfaction, all that the ropedancers had consumed. + +A few moments afterward he and Berger had left the house and were +walking slowly through the silent streets of Fichtenau, back to Doctor +Birkenhain's asylum. + +Berger observed a silence which Oswald dared not break. The young man +reproached himself in secret to have been so imprudent as to have left +Berger so long in such company. He ascribed his exaltation mainly to +the heat and the drinking of the strong beer, to which he was not +accustomed. He had no suspicion of the close connection between +Berger's history and the grotesque adventures of the circus-director, +whose story he had scarcely heard. He only thought of Dr. Birkenhain, +and how little he had attended to his suggestions. He was reflecting +whether his presence was not perhaps rather injurious than useful for +Berger, and thought of leaving Fichtenau as soon as possible, for his +own benefit as well as for Berger's. + +Thus they had reached in silence the road which led past the mill to +the gateway of Doctor Birkenhain's asylum, when Berger suddenly said: + +"You must leave us to-night, Oswald!" + +"To-night?" + +"Rather to-day than to-morrow. You have to go out into the desert once +more; I cannot spare you the trial. And I, myself--I have to learn much +yet, and you cannot assist me. It is better for us, therefore, to part. +You go your way, and I shall go my way--it is the same road and +although I am a little ahead of you, you learn quickly and will soon +overtake me. Until then, Oswald farewell!" + +Berger embraced Oswald and kissed him. + +Oswald was deeply moved. + +"Let me stay with you," he said, his voice half-drowned in tears; "let +me stay with you and never leave you again. I hate the world, I despise +the world, as much as you do." + +"I know that," said Berger, "but to despise the world is but the first +stage of the three on the road to the Great Mystery." + +"And which is the second stage? Mention it, so that I may reach it at +once!" + +"To despise one's self." + +"And--the third?" + +They were standing before the gateway. Berger rang the bell; the door +sprang open. + +"And the third--the last stage?" + +"Despise being despised." + +"And the mystery itself--the Great Mystery?" + +"He who has passed all three stages knows it and understands it without +asking any questions. He who asks about it does not know it, and cannot +understand it. Oswald, farewell; we shall meet again!" + +Berger pressed Oswald once more to his heart; then he entered through +the gate, which closed immediately upon him. + +Oswald remained standing near the gate, like the beggar who has been +refused the refreshing drink for which he has asked; then he went, with +drooping head, back the way he had come with Berger. + +The night was dark; hardly a star on the murky, cloudy sky; the poplars +by the wayside were whispering to each other; and the mill-race down +below said in its own way: To despise the world--to despise one's +self--to despise being despised. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +During the time when Oswald and Berger had watched the sun from the +summit of the Lookout Mountain, as he sank slowly into the green ocean +of the forest, a guest had arrived at the Kurhaus, whose arrival caused +a certain joyous sensation in the hotel. It was a fair young lady, +dressed in a dark, remarkably elegant costume, and accompanied by a not +less handsome boy of about twelve years, who looked, however, pale and +sickly. With them came an old man, whose gray moustache and military +carriage gave him a very marked appearance, and who seemed to be partly +a servant and partly a friend of the lady. The lady had spent several +weeks in Fichtenau during the summer, though then without the boy, in +order to attend her husband, who had been for seven years in Doctor +Birkenhain's asylum, and who was now dying. Her sad fate, not less than +her great gentleness and kindness towards everybody, especially the +poor and the sick, had won her the love and admiration of the +inhabitants of the little town to such a degree that even now they were +blessing, in more than one family, the remembrance of the "good lady" +with deep gratitude. + +It did not look as if this time, also, a pleasant purpose had brought +the lady to Fichtenau, for she had scarcely been shown by the landlord +himself, amid countless bows and scrapings, into the best parlor of the +second story, when she sat down to write a few lines to Doctor +Birkenhain, which the old servant had orders to carry immediately to +the asylum, a hotel servant showing him the way. In the meantime the +boy, who was exceedingly tired from the journey, had been put to bed. +Two rooms to the left of the parlor had been fitted up for the lady's +use, and great regret was expressed that unfortunately the room on the +right could not at once be added, since it was yet occupied by a +gentleman, who, however, would certainly not stay beyond the next +morning. + +An hour later Doctor Birkenhain had driven up before the Kurhaus with +the old servant by his side; he had gone up to the lady in her parlor, +and had been engaged with her in a long conversation, which could not +have been very satisfactory, for Jean, the waiter attached to those +rooms, had seen, when he carried the tea-things into the parlor, that +the lady had been weeping, and was trying to wipe her eyes. + +Doctor Birkenhain had, after the conversation was ended, walked up once +more to the bed of the boy, who was fast asleep, had put his hand on +his heart, bent over him, and pressing his ear on the boy's bare +breast, listened attentively for some time. Then he raised himself +again, carefully covered the sleeper, pushed the abundant curly hair +from the fair, pale brow, and turning to the lady with a smile on his +lips which positively lighted up the stern, serious features of the +man, said to her, while she held a light in her hand and looked up to +him with the strained expression of painful uncertainty, + +"Calm yourself, madame; I can, of course, not decide positively, but +all that I have seen so far gives me great hope that matters are not +half as bad with our little patient there as my colleagues in Grunwald +seem to have fancied." + +A beam of joy lighted up the lady's face, and her large eyes filled +with tears. + +Doctor Birkenhain took the light from her hand and escorted her back to +the parlor. + +"I shall come again to-morrow morning," he said, taking his hat and +cane; "if it comforts you, you can let old Baumann sit up with the boy. +But you yourself must go to bed early, and take one of these powders. +You are very much exhausted and require rest." + +"Stay another moment, doctor!" said the lady. "I have one more question +to ask." + +Her features betrayed great emotion, her bosom rose and sank with +agitation; she seemed to be about to give utterance to a thought which +she was unable from great fear to clothe in words. + +Doctor Birkenhain laid dawn again his hat and cane. + +"Sit down, madame, I pray you!" he said, sitting down by her side on +the sofa. "I know what you are about to ask. I have read the question +all this evening in your anxious eyes and upon your trembling lips. You +do not believe in the disease of the heart, of which the physicians at +Grunwald have said so much; if you did you would not have come to me, +however kindly you may think of my modest knowledge and my experience. +You fear the evil is more serious--in fact, that it is a hereditary +disease, the first germ, the beginning, of an affection which has +already once been so fatal for you. Am I right?" + +The lady's answer was a flood of tears, which broke irresistibly from +her eyes, like a long pent-up torrent. Sobbing, she pressed her +handkerchief to her face. + +"My dear madame," said the physician, taking her hand in his, "I pray +you, I implore you, calm yourself. As far as I can judge from the +written reports of my colleagues, from your own account, and from my +observation, there is not the slightest ground for your terrible +apprehension. Insanity is hereditary, to be sure; it descends through +many generations, turning up here and there, often after a long +interval; but in your husband's family his own case is the very first +in the whole history of his family, and consequently for many hundred +years. And this exceptional case had its own peculiar and very sad +causes, which could affect only the individual, and could not possibly +have any effect upon his descendants. Herr von Berkow was naturally in +the enjoyment of very good health, perhaps even superior in his +physique to most men; but remember, I pray that it is a physician who +is speaking now--he had ruined this powerful constitution by +dissipation. That which often saves others in his position--the +marriage with a chaste, pure being--became in his case his ruin, for he +felt his own unworthiness--felt it so deeply that he despaired of ever +winning your love or attaining your forgiveness, and therefore +abandoned himself hopelessly to that melancholy in which he quickly +lost all pleasure in life and all energy of mind. The sins of the +father will not be visited on the next generation. If there should +really be an affection of the heart, it has as yet made very little +progress and can easily be cured, with the aid of Julius's youth and +excellent constitution. Therefore I pray you, madame, lay aside all +your anxiety; confide in me; confide in your good fortune; the clouds +that are hiding your star for a moment will soon disappear." + +"My star?" asked the lady, with a melancholy smile; "my star? Why, +doctor, I fear, if there ever was such a one, it has set long since and +forever." + +"That we shall see," said Doctor Birkenhain, rising. "I believe in +favorable stars, and above all in your good star. One so fair and so +dear and so good as you are must not and shall not be unhappy! Good +night!" + +Doctor Birkenhain took the lady's hand, raised it reverently to his +lips, and left the room. + +She remained sitting after the physician had left her, resting her head +in her hand, and sunk in deep meditation. + +As in a dream, all the scenes of her life passed before her mind's eye. + +She saw herself a rosy-cheeked, wild child, playing in her father's +park with a solemn, awkward boy, whom she at times loved dearly and +then again hated bitterly; who, now haughty and imperious, resisted her +caprices, and then, when she was kinder to him, spared no trouble and +feared no danger in order to fulfil her childish wishes. She saw +herself, a few years later, in company with the same boy and a few +other boys and girls, perform very complicated steps in the large room +of her father's chateau, while a poor man accompanied them with the +violin, and the grown people, men and women, expressed their delight +and overwhelmed the little coquette with praises and caresses; and she +saw the boy, whose awkwardness she had ridiculed and derided in her +exuberance of spirits, sit in a distant corner and weep bitterly. She +saw herself again, a few years later, in the fresh brightness of a +beauty of sixteen years, courted and admired on all sides, +thoughtlessly sipping the sweet, precious beverage from the +rose-crowned cup of life with eager thirst; flitting from pleasure to +pleasure, as a light-winged butterfly flits from flower to flower, and +yet feeling, amid all these blissful enjoyments, in her heart's deepest +depth, a continuous restlessness, which made the golden Present appear +gray and colorless in comparison with the bright-colored, glorious +Future, which was to fulfil all her plans and all her hopes. She had +lost sight of the solemn, awkward boy in those days. What could he have +done in the midst of this fairy world, full of brightness and +fragrance, in which nightingales sang, and all were playful and happy. +But the Future had become the Present, and nothing had been fulfilled +of all her promises; a poisonous dew had fallen upon her bright +flowers, and had robbed them of their beauty and their fragrance; the +nightingales had ceased to sing, and the whole spring landscape was +concealed under a gray, dismal veil--a veil through which now and then +fearful scenes became visible--a father kneeling before his daughter +and beseeching her by his gray head, which he must bury in dishonor if +she did not comply with his wishes to marry a man whom she does not +love, and against whom an instinctive feeling warns the pure, innocent +maid; a husband who--away, away with these fearful visions, which make +the unfortunate woman hide her face with shuddering, even now, after an +interval of so many years. And then she sees once more the form of the +solemn, stubborn boy in the shape of a haughty, cold man, who yet, +whenever he meets her, changes his haughtiness into humility, and his +coldness into unspeakable kindness and love; who assists her with +counsel, comfort, and help; who turns aside whatever harm he can avert, +and helps her bear it where he cannot prevent it; who ever tries to +take everything upon his own shoulders. And now the thought occurs to +her, more and more frequently, that, after all, this man is probably +worth more than all her fantastic dreams; but as yet she cannot, by any +effort of her own, abandon all the ideals that once filled her youthful +heart. She treats the man as she has treated the boy; she sends him on +his travels as she used to send him in the garden, when he was not +willing to fall in with her caprices. + +And now come peaceful visions of years spent in the green solitude of +her estate, and among them continually re-appearing the forms of a +fair, delicate boy and an old gray-bearded servant in varied and yet +always similar situations--peaceful visions, although a certain +fragrance of melancholy attaches itself to all their bright perfumes, +the effect of unsatisfied longing and vain hopes. She thinks often +enough of the man whom she has sent into exile, but no longer with the +warm heart, which is in truth ashamed of its ingratitude. Some +bitterness has begun to mingle with her feelings towards this man, +since he has dared--it happened during a journey to Italy--to speak +openly of his love for her; since she has rejected him, fancying in her +false logic that she was consistent when she only adhered obstinately +to a caprice; and since he, proud as he was, had at once accepted her +decision, and left the country to travel in Egypt and Nubia. She +imagines even that she has begun to hate the companion of her youthful +years, the faithful friend who has stood by her in every need and +danger; and yet, any one who knows the human heart might have told her +that hatred is only the wild brother of the sweet sister love, and +indifference the only really impenetrable armor for a woman's heart. + +And now there appears amid these peaceful scenes the form of a man +whose beauty delights her artistic eye, whose gentle kindness lingers +around her like the breath of spring, whose longing finds in her own +heart, full of vague yearning, an eloquent echo--of a man who in +everything seems to be the realization of all her dreams. And as in a +dream she accepts his love, returns it with thousand-fold fire; she +will not see the danger, she will not wake, she insists upon being +happy once in her life. But morning breaks; it becomes impossible to +keep her eyes closed any longer, and to retain the visions of her +dream. Her friend has returned, contrary to all expectations, and +appears before her, warning her, and the very next hour his prophecy +has become true. Blow upon blow, misfortune falls upon her. Did he +dream of it, when it drove him from the ruins of Karnak to his home in +the far North? The news of the approaching death of the man whose name +she bears summons her away from the arms of him whom she loves; she +hastens to fulfil a duty which is all the more sacred to her because of +the blissful happiness that she has enjoyed during the last weeks; and +she returns, her heart full of sweet hopes, and at the same time full +of painful anticipations, and she hears and sees that the man to whom +she has abandoned herself with boundless love has betrayed her. And, as +if that was not enough punishment for her short, secret happiness, her +only child--that beautiful, lovely boy, who was her delight and her +pride--is taken down with a disease which appears to her the beginning +of an affection such as she has just seen end in the most fearful +manner in the father of that child. + +But this second blow is perhaps a blessing in disguise. It stuns her so +that she scarcely feels the wound in her heart. The love of the woman +is swallowed up in the love of the mother. She watches day and night by +the bedside of the boy; she has eyes and ears only for his wants and +his wishes; and as soon as he recovers slightly, she takes a journey to +the man in whose experience she has unbounded confidence, and from +whose lips she means to hear the sentence, the decision of life or +death--no! a thousand times worse than death itself! And he has spoken; +he has left her some hope; he has even encouraged her to hope--her boy +is going to live; he will recover; the sins of the father are not to be +visited on the next generation. + +And now that her soul has been relieved of the fearful burden--now she +thinks for the first time again of her betrayed love. + +Was not this betrayal a just punishment for having cared so much for +her own happiness, and so little for that of the boy? For having +committed treason against her own child; for was not the love for a man +who filled her whole heart treason against her child? + +Here, in this very room, she had during the past summer dreamt so often +of a future which was to be realized in such a sad present, and now the +current of life had floated her back to the same place, almost into the +same situation! Was it not as if Fate wished to give her time to +consider before she acted--before she laid her own happiness, and that +of her child, into hands which were far too feeble to defend such a +treasure successfully? + +Here, in this very room, her friend had warned her against these hands +that were grasping with childish eagerness at everything that was great +and beautiful, in order to cast it aside again in childish caprice, as +if it were worth little. Here, in this very room, he had prophesied to +her things which had since come true, word by word. + +Here, in this very room, he had spoken to her thus: "And when you lie +crushed by this blow, and wish to die, and yet cannot die; then you +will be able to feel what anguish a heart suffers when it sees its love +betrayed and despised; then you will make me amends in your heart, and +be sorry for the wrong you have done me." + +Where was he now? this faithful, noble friend, who--she had often felt +it, though never so deeply as at this moment--was wasting his proud +strength for her sake in idleness or senseless adventures, as a tree +whose heart has been taken out breaks forth in abundant branches and +leaves, but never bears fruit again? Once more he was wandering +restlessly, like the wandering Jew, through the wide, desert world. +And, as if he should never call anything his own, the child whom he had +loved before he knew her to be his child, had vanished again like a +short, fair dream. He had let her go, because his sense of justice told +him that he had no claim upon this child, for whom he had done nothing +but to call it into existence. Was it really to be his fate to sow love +and reap indifference? + +No! no! not indifference; although it might not be love such as he +felt, and such as he wished for, but certainly not indifference! Did +she not feel hearty friendship, deep, sincere regard for him? Would she +not have sacrificed whole years of her existence, if by so doing she +could have restored his child to him? + +Where was he now? She had become so accustomed to seeing him by her +side, whenever the dark hours of her life were coming, that she missed +him sadly now, when he was for the first time absent. And yet, what +right had she to a love which she had refused a hundred times, and +which she had so grievously insulted by her love for another man? + +The fair lady had been so lost in such thoughts that she did not hear a +gentle knock at the door. The door opened, and an old, gray-bearded +face peeped in. Behind the grim, bearded face the form of a tall man +was visible. + +"Madame," said the moustache, "a good friend who has just arrived +wishes to present his respects, if possible yet, this evening." + +"Who is it?" asked the lady, rising with surprise from her seat. + +The tall gentleman entered. + +"Oldenburg!" cried the lady; "Oldenburg! Is it really you?" + +"Yes, Melitta!" said the baron, seizing the proffered hand of the lady +and carrying it to his lips. "It is I, in person." + +The old man had remained where he stood, rubbing his hands and looking +at the two, as they were shaking hands, with an eye full of hope and +apprehension. When he saw the unmistakable expression of joyful +surprise upon the fair face of his beloved mistress, and the tear which +glistened in her eye as the baron bent over her hand, his own eyes +slowly filled with tears. He left the room with noiseless steps, closed +the door very gently, and one who could have observed the old man +afterwards--but there was no one there to see him--would have seen how +he folded his hands, when he was outside, and murmured an ardent prayer +with trembling lips, in his gray beard--a prayer which thanked God for +this meeting between his mistress and the only man whom he thought +worthy of her, and implored Him to turn everything, oh everything, to +the best, in this the eleventh hour, by His infinite mercy and +kindness. + + * * * * * + +When old Baumann had left the room, the baron had, according to +his old habit, walked silently up and down the room with long +strides, to overcome a feeling which threatened to get the better of +his self-control. Melitta had seated herself on the sofa, since her own +excitement, which was probably not less strong than Oldenburg's had +deprived her of the power of standing. + +After a few minutes the baron came and took his seat by her side on the +sofa, and said with a soft voice, which did not show the slightest +trace of the vehemence of his rough manner, + +"And you do not ask, Melitta, what has brought me here through night +and storm, across these mountains, to this village and this room?" + +"No!" replied Melitta, looking full and clear into his eyes; "no! for I +know it without asking." + +"I thank you, Melitta!" + +This was all he answered; but the whole heart of the man was in these +few words. + +"Yes, and even more than that," continued Melitta. "I was but just +thinking of you--of the faithful friend who has as yet always stood by +me in the hour of misfortune, aiding me by counsel and deed, however I +may have rejected his advice and rewarded the sacrifices he has made +for my sake with bitter ingratitude. + +"Sacrifices--ingratitude!" said Oldenburg, and a melancholy smile +played around his lips; "those are words, Melitta, which have no +meaning for us--I mean for myself. At least they have none now, +whatever else I may have thought of them in former years. In the end +everybody submits to his fate; and when the captured lion has come to +an end with his despair, and sees that his strength can do nothing +against the iron bars of his cage, he lies down in the corner and is +for the future as gentle as a lamb. But no more of that; I did not come +here to plead for myself, and to renew a suit which has already been +lost in all the stages of appeal; I did not come for my sake, but for +yours. I was told in Grunwald, where I was on business, that Julius had +been attacked by serious sickness, and that you had gone with him to +Fichtenau. I feared the worst, and followed you at once, travelling day +and night, in order to help you as far as I could. Fortunately our +apprehensions were unfounded. I have spoken with Birkenhain downstairs, +after he left you. He has completely reassured me, and thinks you can +go back as soon as you feel strong enough. That is all I wished to +know; and now, when the purpose of my journey is fulfilled, and I have +been able by a lucky accident, thanks to the gods, to see you and to +hold your dear hand in mine--God bless you, Melitta! and may +misfortune--for good fortune has nothing to do with us--not make us +meet soon again." + +The baron said these last words with a smiling air, but in his voice +there was a secret pain, the pain of a noble heart full of love, which +finds no home in all this wide, rich world. + +He had taken Melitta's hand in bidding her farewell, and was about to +rise; but he could not do it, for the hand so dear to him not only +returned warmly the pressure of his--he felt, at least he thought he +felt, that Melitta would not let him leave her, that she would be +pleased to see him stay. + +This was something so new to him that he looked at her, wondering +whether it were really possible--whether his presence was for once no +punishment to her. + +"You must not go yet," said Melitta, with some precipitancy, while a +passing flush colored her pale cheeks for a moment. "I cannot bear to +see that, while all the world praises my kindness and every beggar +leaves me contented, you alone should look upon me as upon a statue, +which never gives and always takes without ever saying Thank you! You +have not told me a word yet about yourself; not a word how and where +you have been all this time. You come from a distance of several +thousand miles to look at my Julius, and you mean to go again before I +have even been able to ask you if you have had any news of your Czika? +Is that generous? Why, it is not even right in you." + +The baron looked at Melitta as she said this, almost frightened. + +"Melitta," he answered, so seriously as to be almost solemn; "it is not +right to awaken the desire to live, in a man who is sick unto death. Do +not spoil me, from pure pity, with a kindness which does not come from +the heart!" + +"Not from the heart!" repeated Melitta in a low voice. "To be sure I +have deserved that reproach; I ought not to complain." + +"I did not mean to reproach you, Melitta." + +"And yet I deserve it. Yes, Oldenburg, I must tell you, or it will +oppress my heart beyond endurance. I feel deeply ashamed before you. +The burden of gratitude which you impose upon me weighs me down." + +"A burden, Melitta! A burden! By God, I did not wish to lay any burden +upon you by the few services I have been able to render you." + +"You will not believe me. I cannot measure and weigh my words as you +do. If there is no voice in your heart speaking for me--if you are not +willing to listen to me with your heart, then----" + +Her voice was drowned in tears. + +"What is this?" said Oldenburg, seizing his head with both his hands. +"Am I dreaming? Is this my head? Are these my hands? Am I Oldenburg? +Are you Melitta? You, who are shedding tears, because I, Oldenburg, do +not understand you, or will not understand you?" + +"You shall understand me," said Melitta, drying her tears, with an +impetuosity very unusual in her. "You have seen me so often weak and +irresolute in our intercourse, that you do not think me any longer +capable of forming a resolution. And yet I have the strength to do so; +and that I have it, I owe to you, Adalbert. During the sickness of my +child you have spoken to me, and I have not closed my heart to your +voice. I have heard it very distinctly during the long, anxious night +hours which I spent watching and weeping by the bedside of my child. +Then I have asked my child's pardon with silent, burning tears, that I +could ever forget being a mother. Then I have vowed to myself that I +would never, never forget it again. Then I have----" + +She was silent; burning shame flooded her cheeks with deep glowing +blushes; but she made a great effort and said, + +"Then I have abjured a passion which humiliates me in my own eyes, in +my child's eyes, and, Adalbert, in yours." + +"Stop, Melitta! stop!" cried Oldenburg, rising suddenly. "You are +beside yourself! You are not alone! You are in the presence of another +person--of a man who loves you, Melitta. He does not want to hear what +you ought to say to no one but to yourself." + +"Let me finish, Adalbert! I trust in your goodness, as I trust in your +strength. I have not told you all yet; not even all the vows I have +made by the bedside of my sick child. I have often thought of your +child, then, and that a most terrible fate has robbed you of the love +of your child as well as of the love of her whom you love. And then I +vowed that, if I cannot make you as happy as you deserve to be; if +much, far too much, has happened which parts you and me forever; I can +yet help you bear your fate, as far as in me lies. I will try to +reconcile you to life, and live for you as far as I am able." + +Melitta had, while she said these words, risen from the sofa. She stood +before him with deep-red cheeks and beaming eyes. + +Oldenburg had heard her with breathless excitement, with an emotion +which grew stronger and deeper with every word. His eyes flashed, his +bosom heaved, he pressed his hands upon his heart, which felt as if it +would burst with unspeakable bliss. + +When Melitta's last word had dropped from her lips he approached her, +knelt down before her, and said, with a voice deep and firm, like the +sound of an iron shield, + +"And now hear my vow, Melitta! As surely as I have loved you ever since +I can think, as surely as the night of my life has been lighted up but +by a single star, as surely as I have wandered about restlessly and +aimlessly in the vast desert of life, only because I despaired that +that star could ever shine down upon me benignly--so surely will I, +from this moment, strive to attain the highest aim of man with all the +power I may possess. I will lay aside all little weaknesses and all my +cowardice; I will try to make up for the time which I have lost in +inactivity. And as sure as my heart is at this moment overflowing with +a happiness which words cannot describe, so surely will I seek neither +rest nor repose till you love me as I love you--till you are mine. Do +you near, Melitta--till you are my wife!" + +He had risen, too. + +"And now, Melitta," he cried, and his words sounded like shouts of joy, +"farewell! I cannot bear it any longer under this roof; the whole, wide +world has become too narrow for me. Farewell! farewell! till we meet +again!" + +He embraced Melitta impetuously, and kissed her on her brow. Then he +hastily left the room. + +Melitta had remained standing in the middle of the room, as if she were +petrified. She had not had the strength to keep Oldenburg back, nor to +return his farewell. She placed her hand upon her beating temples. + +"What have I done? What have I said?" she asked herself. And the voice +of her heart answered: "Nothing you need be ashamed of, before yourself +or before your child." + +She hastened into the adjoining room. She bent over the sleeping boy; +she kissed him amid burning tears. + +Then she heard the rolling of a carriage, which rapidly drove away from +the door of the hotel. + +"That is he!" she said, listening; and then, pressing her face in the +cushions, "Farewell! farewell! till we meet again!" + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +While this interview between Melitta and Oldenburg was taking place at +the Kurhaus, and, as by the blow of a charmed wand, the barriers fell +which had seemed to be destined to part two good hearts forever, there +had been sitting in the room on the right hand--which "was occupied by +a traveller who would surely not stay beyond the next morning"--this +very traveller quite near the door which led from one room to the +other, supporting his feverish head with his hands, and suffering in +his lacerated heart unspeakable anguish. + +Oswald had returned, on his way from the asylum, along the river, +almost as in a dream; for when he left Berger at the gate of the +institution, the parting with him and the last terrible words of the +unfortunate man had quite overwhelmed him, and kept him from every +effort of thinking calmly. + +His brains and his heart were a perfect chaos, filled with all that he +had heard and seen since his arrival in Fichtenau on the preceding +evening--with all the impressions which he had so suddenly received, +all the thoughts that had been stirred up, all the passions that had +been unchained. He had a dim presentiment that such a state of mind +must in the end lead to insanity, if it were not already itself a kind +of insanity. + +Ought he not to turn back and knock at the gate behind which Berger had +disappeared? Was not that house, with its high prison-walls, the best +refuge for hearts that were as weary of the world as his was? Or still +better, ought he not to throw himself over the railing into the river +below, where it rushed, deep and silent, between the steep, high banks, +gliding noiselessly along like a serpent? Would he not be sure thus to +cool his heated brow forever, and to silence the hammering pulsations +in his temples for all eternity? How could he hope ever to find an +issue into rosy light from a labyrinth in which so noble, so lofty a +mind as Berger's had lost its way irretrievably? Was not Berger far +superior to him in strength of mind, as well as in nobility of soul? +And yet, and yet--"that I may fully measure the depth of this +wretchedness, that I may touch with my own hands the incredible," the +poor man had said, when he fell into the arms of the rope-dancer. Was +that, then, the last conclusion of wisdom? The high-minded idealist saw +himself excelled by the rude slave of sensuality in courage of life and +joyousness of life! The pupil of Plato acknowledged a drunken clown as +his master! The man who, like the youth of Sais, had striven all his +life only after truth, fraternized with a coarse story-teller, a +charlatan, who defied all rules, of probability even, and lived merrily +and cheerfully on the credulity of others, as the swallow lives on +midges. As old Lear in the tempestuous night on the heath tears the +royal mantle from his shoulders, so as to have no advantage over poor +Tom, the "poor bare-backed animal, whose belly cries for two red +herrings," so Berger also had laid aside the philosopher's cloak, that +did not warm him half as well as the rope-dancer's bare vulgarity. +Berger had learnt from this man that only he can hope to enjoy real +happiness who gives up all pretentions to wealth, to honor, and +splendor, and who sees neither a punishment nor a disgrace in the +contempt of the world. Did those men of olden times think differently +about it who fed on locusts, and exposed their bodies to the heat of +the sun and the chill of rains--Indian penitents. Christian anchorites, +Flagellants, pillar-saints, and ascetics of every kind? Is asceticism +not the consistent pursuit of holiness? Is not contempt of the world, +and of one's self, the consistent effect of asceticism? Can we +reach the Holiest of Holies--the blissful original state, the sweet +Nirvana--unless we first annihilate ourselves, as far as it can be done +in life? And is such annihilation possible as long as we continually +cling to life and to all that makes life dear to us? Is it an accident +that saints appear odd in the eyes of the multitude, and the company of +publicans and sinners is the best in the eyes of holy men? Yes, indeed! +Berger and Schmenckel, arm in arm! Was that the solution of the great +mystery, the squaring of the circle? + +Oswald could not get rid of the picture, and the terrible impression it +had made upon him at last brought him back to calmer views. His sense, +of the beautiful was shocked by the abhorrent garb which that ascetic +wisdom had adopted. He agreed with all his heart to join the order of +the threefold contempt, but he could not be reconciled to the costume +of the order. He thought of himself in the dress in which he had seen +Berger--a blue, faded blouse, a coarse slouched hat, a stick cut from a +thorn-bush--and he shuddered all over. He thought of Doctor Braun, and +what he would have said if he had met him in company with Berger--he +who gainfully fastidious about his appearance, and considered it a +fundamental principle, that if we wished to remain physically and +psychically healthy, we must be careful not to come in contact with +bodily or mental uncleanliness. Despise the world!--why not? Despise +one's self! I have done that often enough; and, alas, generally for +very good reasons. But despise being despised! Never!--rather +die!--rather, a thousand times. + +And why die? Why not rather live? Is life so very contemptible? Have I +not found in Braun a friend of whom I have every reason to be proud? +Might I not succeed in finding my way out of this labyrinth, if I had +such a friend by my side? May not much come right again, even if +everything does not turn out well? Suppose I were to make up my mind to +abandon this striving after exalted ideals which threaten to ruin my +mind? If I were to turn back, even at this the eleventh hour, from the +way which leads in the end to Doctor Birkenhain's insane asylum? If I +were this very night to leave Fichtenau, where the air is filled with +ill luck for me, as Doctor Braun anticipated. + +Oswald was standing before the Kurhaus. A carriage which had just +arrived was waiting at the door. In the dining-room, at the end of the +long table, two gentlemen were sitting in close conversation. He +thought one of them was Doctor Birkenhain. He did not desire in the +least to meet the physician, whose wishes with regard to Berger he had +so lamentably failed to fulful. He would drop him a few lines before +leaving, and excuse himself on the score of pressing business and +Berger's express desire, for his failure to say good-by in person. + +He went to his room and rang the bell. + +"Is there any mail leaving to-night?" + +"In half-an-hour, sir." + +"I shall leave by the mail, then. Secure me a seat in the coach, and +bring the bill," said Oswald, already busy packing his things. + +"Yes, sir, directly." + +"Yes! yes! I must leave here," murmured Oswald, passionately, +strengthening himself more and more in his resolution. "Away from here +before more ill luck befalls me!" + +"The bill, sir!" said the waiter, coming back again. "Much obliged to +you, sir. Need not be in such a hurry, sir; you have twenty-five +minutes left; the office is close by here. Thought you would stay over +night, sir. Might have given this room to a lady, sir, if we had known, +who has just arrived; she has taken the parlor next door, and two rooms +on the other side. We had to give her those rooms, although they are +not good enough for such a grand and beautiful lady." + +The waiter uttered these words in a whisper, which made it clear that +the doors of the Kurhaus were not exactly impenetrable to sound. + +"Who is the lady?" asked Oswald, locking his trunk. + +"A Frau von Berkow; old customer of ours. Told you this morning about +her, sir. Will send the porter directly to carry your trunk to the +office. Anything else, sir?" + +The waiter left the room, waving his napkin in a most graceful manner. +Oswald rose. His face was deadly pale. He had to support himself on the +table; his limbs trembled. + +Had he heard right? Melitta here? In this house? Next door? How did she +get here? What did she come for? To this place, which had such mournful +associations for her? Was it an accident? Was it purpose? Could she +have come for his sake? Could she have found out the purpose of his +journey? Was she looking for him? Had she failed to receive the letter +which he wrote to her after Bruno's death, and an hour before his duel +with Felix--that letter in which he told her with unfeeling cruelty, +though he thought it heroism then, that "his heart was no longer +exclusively hers, that he did not intend to deceive her and himself, +and that he was bidding her--and perhaps life itself--an eternal +adieu?" Or had she received it, and read it with the incredulity of a +loving heart, which does not comprehend faithlessness, because it knows +itself no other love but true love? Had she come to tell him that she +had forgiven him?--that she was still his Melitta? If he were to hasten +to her and to fall at her feet, would she raise the repentant lover and +tell him that all was forgiven and forgotten?--that she had never +ceased to love him? + +He listened to hear if anything was stirring in the adjoining room. He +heard nothing--nothing but the beating of his violently-agitated heart. + +She was alone. She waited for his coming. Were the blissful days of +Berkow really to return once more? Was really everything to end well, +after all? + +He listened. A door opened. + +Probably a waiter, who has executed an order. + +A deep male voice. The soft notes of a woman's voice. + +The soft voice was Melitta's! But the other? + +He listened. The voices rose, became more distinct. + +A convulsive spasm flew across the features of the listener; a hoarse, +unpleasant laugh broke from his lips. The man who was speaking so +warmly to Melitta was Baron Oldenburg. + +The sofa on which the two speakers were sitting, stood close against +the door which led from one room to the other. Oswald could not hear +everything they said, but why was that necessary? The meeting of the +two in this remote little town, which had already once before been the +scene of their stealthy rendezvous, spoke eloquently enough. He had +been right, after all! The two had after all but made a fool of him! He +had done Melitta no wrong which she had not inflicted on him also. They +were quits. + +A knock at the door. + +The porter came to carry the gentleman's trunk to the office. + +"It is high time, sir. The postilion has blown his horn twice." + +Oswald followed the man mechanically down the long passages, out of the +house, across the dark street to the coach. + +A minute later and the heavy coach was rumbling over the pavement. The +postilion played a merry melody in the silent night-air, and Oswald +furnished a text to the air: to despise one's self, despise the world, +despise being despised. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +It was an early hour of a murky day in autumn. Fogs were brewing in the +mountains around Fichtenau, and hung so low that the traveller on the +high road, which makes a steep ascent close behind the village and +loses itself in thick woods, could scarcely distinguish the pine-trees +on the edge of the forest. + +By the wayside, at a place where two roads crossed each other, sat +Xenobia and Czika. Their faithful companion in all their wanderings, +the little donkey, with the red feathers on his head and the scarlet +saddle-cloth on his back, was grazing peacefully in the ditch on the +short, ill-flavored grass. He did not seem to relish it much; he shook +his head indignantly, as if he wanted to say: I am frugal, but +everything has its limits. + +Nor did the gypsy woman and her child seem to enjoy the weather any +more. They sat there, each wrapped in a large coarse shawl, silent and +motionless, like a couple of Egyptian statues. This attitude, natural +as it might be to the woman, had something very uncanny in so young a +child as Czika. + +And Xenobia herself was no longer the hearty woman whom Oswald had seen +on that afternoon in October in the forest near Berkow. Was it the +effect of the weather, or was it sickness and sorrow--but her features +had little now of that haughty energy which formerly made them so +remarkable. Her brow was furrowed with small lines; her eyes had sunk +deep into their orbits and did not shine with the same brightness as of +old, as she now glanced in the direction from which her sharp ear heard +the noise of a carriage comings from Fichtenau. + +"That is not theirs," she said, letting her head sink again. A few +minutes later a well-closed travelling carriage, drawn by two horses, +appeared rising out of the fog. On the box, by the side of the driver, +sat an old man with a long, silver-gray moustache. He turned round +continually, to cast a look at the inside of the carriage, and to smile +respectfully and yet amicably at the occupants--a lady and a boy. + +Thus he had failed to notice the gypsy woman, who had stepped forward +as she saw the great lady in the carriage, and asked for alms. What was +his amazement therefore, when he saw that the lady suddenly called to +him to stop the horses, exhibiting all the signs of extreme +consternation, and that she was standing in the road itself long before +the horses could be checked. + +"Isabel, it is you! and the Czika! My God, how fortunate!" cried +Melitta, seizing both hands of the gypsy. "Now I shall not let you go +again. My God, how very fortunate!" and the young lady embraced the +gypsy woman with tears in her eyes. + +But the latter freed herself almost violently, and stepping back some +little distance she crossed her arms on her bosom and looked at Melitta +with a suspicious, almost hostile glance. + +"Do you not know me, Isabel?" said Melitta; "it is I! Have you +forgotten the days at Berkow five years ago? That is my Julius, there! +And how tall and how beautiful the Czika has grown." + +Julius had jumped out of the carriage; old Baumann also had climbed +down from the box. + +Melitta hastened up to Czika, embraced the child, and kissed and +caressed her over and over again. The others spoke to Xenobia, who paid +no attention to them, but looked with anxious eyes at Melitta, who now +came back to her, holding Czika by the hand. + +"Isabel!" said Melitta, "you must, really you must, give me the little +one. I dare not, I cannot, continue my journey without her." + +"Why will you not leave us as we are?" said the gypsy. "You are a great +lady, fit for the house; the gypsy is fit only for the forest. You +would die in the forest; the gypsy would die in the house. I cannot go +with you." + +"Then give me the Czika?" + +"Will you give me your boy?" + +Melitta did not know what to answer. She felt too deeply that the gypsy +woman could not act differently, and that she, in her place, would have +done the same. And yet could she let the two go out again into the wide +world? To see Oldenburg's little daughter, whom he yearned after, whom +he was searching for everywhere, disappear once more, after an accident +such as might never happen again in all her life, had brought her right +in her path--she could not bear the thought, and like a child that +feels how helpless and friendless it is, she broke into tears. + +The gypsy woman seemed to be touched. She took Melitta's hand and +kissed it. + +"You are very kind, I know," she said; "I know it well. I would rather +give you the Czika than anybody else." + +She reflected deeply. Suddenly she took Melitta's hand once more and +led her aside. + +"Do you know," she asked, "who Czika's father is?" + +"Yes." + +"And are you doing what you do for the father's sake, or for your own?" + +Melitta's cheeks reddened. + +"For the sake of both," she replied, after some hesitation. + +"Where are you going to now?" + +"Home--to Berkow." + +"And are you going to stay there?" + +"Yes; at least during the winter." + +"Then listen to me. I swear to you by the Great Spirit, I will bring +you the Czika as soon as I feel that I am to be gathered to my fathers. +That may be very soon. More I cannot promise; more I dare not say." + +Melitta felt that she must be satisfied with this promise. She knew the +character of the Brown Countess too well not to be aware that if she +had once formed a resolution, all persuasion was in vain. She +re-entered her carriage, therefore, sadly, after having embraced +Xenobia and the child once more, and soon was out of sight. + +The rattling of the wheels and the trot of the horses were no longer +heard. The gypsies were still sitting by the wayside. + +Another carriage came up in the direction of Fichtenau. One could hear +from afar off the cries of the driver, and the clanking of chains which +formed part of the harness. + +A few minutes later the wagon appeared out of the mist. It was a huge +box--a whole house on four wheels, stuffed up to the roof and high +above the roof with chests and boxes, kettle drums and trombones, stage +scenery, poles and ladders, and all kinds of kitchen utensils and stage +property. The four horses who drew this Noah's Ark had hard work of it. + +Before the wagon a number of men were walking on foot--Cotterby, the +Egyptian; the artist of the gigantic cask, Mr. Stolsenberg; and the +clown, Pierrot. All these gentlemen wore gay-colored shawls around the +neck, and had short pipes in their mouths. From the open windows of the +ark the crying of children was heard, and the scolding voice of +Mamselle Adele. Behind the wagon followed, apparently in eager +conversation, the director, Mr. Schmenckel (also with a bright shawl +around the neck and a pipe in his mouth), and a man in a blue blouse, +with a heavy stick in his hand, and an old slouched hat on his head. +Director Schmenckel had made his acquaintance a few nights before under +very peculiar circumstances, in the drinking-hall of the Green Hat; he +had met him since very frequently at the same tavern, and found him +quite unexpectedly that morning, ready to join the rope-dancers, just +as they were leaving the village. + +When the wagon reached the cross-roads the driver stopped to let the +horses breathe. + +The gypsy woman with her child stepped up and was vociferously greeted +by the rope-dancers. + +Mr. Schmenckel shook hands with her, and patted the Czika paternally on +her brown cheeks. + +"That's right, Xenobia! here you are, back again!" he said. "By the +great dickens, we could not get on at all without you. Good-by, +professor! Thanks for the escort! You must turn back here, or you won't +find the way to Fichtenau." + +"I'll go a little further with you," replied the man in the blouse. + +"All right!" said Mr. Schmenckel; "the further the better. Such a good +old brick, like yourself, we do not meet with every day. Is all right +in there? Well, go on then!" + +The wagon was set in motion. After a few minutes the whole +procession--wagon, horses, and men, had been swallowed up by the thick +gray fog. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +The town of Grunwald played, in days previous to those to which this +story belongs, a far more important part than now. It had been an +honored member of the great Hanse League, and rivalled Hamburg, Bremen, +and Lubeck in wealth and power. Its ships sailed on all the northern +seas, and the Grunwald flag was well known even in the ports of Genoa +and Venice. The citizens were a broad-shouldered, hard-headed race, +strong in their love and their hatred, and thorough in all their ways. +They were justly proud of their liberties and their privileges, and +trusted implicitly in their secure position, amid the ocean and +bottomless swamps, and the high walls and ramparts of the city, but +more fully yet in the sword by their side and the brave heart in their +bosom. Even in the Thirty Years' War, Grunwald still proved its ancient +reputation in fierce battle against the Imperialists, and the +recollection of the glorious deeds of their forefathers survives to +this day in the hearts of the present inhabitants. + +They must unfortunately fall back upon past glory, for modern times +have done little for them in this respect. The long and tortuous canals +in the great bay on which the town is situated admit only of small +vessels of light draught, and navigation nowadays cannot well get along +with such ships; trade has, besides, sought other roads and found other +markets, and Grunwald has slowly but steadily sunk from its proud +eminence, till it has fallen at last to the level of a small provincial +town of no account in the great world, as far as political influence +and commercial importance are concerned. + +The harbor is filled up now, the ramparts are razed, and the once +enormous walls exist only in fragments, and yet there is a melancholy +sheen of former greatness about the old Hanse town which attracts the +thoughtful traveller, as the mouldy smell of an old parchment charms +the book-worm. In spite of all the efforts made by the last generations +to give the town a sober, trivial appearance, they have after all not +been able to straighten all the crooked narrow streets, and to destroy +all the poetry of many an old house, with its narrow, lofty, and +richly-adorned gable-end. And above the labyrinth of streets, lanes, +and courts, with their half-modern, half-mediaeval character, there +tower still the steeples of glorious churches, which are far too grand +for the reduced proportions of Grunwald. But at night, when they cast +their gigantic shadows far over the town which sleeps beneath them in +the pale moonlight, or in the evening as you approach the harbor from +the open sea, and gray mists rising from the water spread over the +whole a mysterious veil, the illusion is yet strong, and the effect +full of grandeur. + +Justice requires, however, to add that Grunwald can be called +insignificant only in comparison with former days of great power and +surpassing splendor. The town is still of vast importance for the whole +province in which it is situated. If her flag no longer waves on every +sea, her port is still continually crowded with schooners and sloops, +and near her wharves many a larger vessel awaits completion on the +stocks. If her walls have been torn to pieces by the artillery of the +Imperialists, and her ramparts have been razed by the French, the town +is still a fortress, whose commandant would not sleep quietly unless he +had received from all the guards and posts the report that all is +quiet. If the town has lost her ancient privileges, and no longer +enjoys as of old perfect freedom and sovereign independence, she has +profited on the other hand largely by becoming an integral part of a +great monarchy. Grunwald has not only a numerous garrison of infantry +and artillery, but is also the seat of the highest court of the +province; and above all, as everybody knows, enjoys a university, +although the light shed by this seat of the muses cannot be said to +penetrate far into distant lands. Grunwald is, moreover, the favorite +residence of the surrounding nobility, which is particularly rich, and +enjoys a very great influence on public life. When the magnificent +crops upon their vast domains have been safely housed, when the trees +in their parks lose their foliage in the autumn winds, and the crows +migrate from the bare woods to the towns, then all the counts and +barons and smaller noblemen also come to Grunwald. From the great +island, which lies right opposite the town, and from the whole +surrounding country, they come in their lumbering state carriages, all +driven four-in-hand, and settle down with children, servants, tutors, +and governesses for the whole winter. They own stately houses all over +the town, which in summer are easily known by their utter silence, the +closed curtains, and the grass growing in idyllic happiness between the +flags of their court-yards--far different from the ordinary houses +inhabited by ordinary people, who have to pay taxes, enjoy no +privileges, and are forced to work summer and winter alike. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +It is autumn. The fields are bare; from the linden-trees in the +court-yard at Grenwitz the brown leaves are falling in showers. Thick +fogs cover the sea, the high shores of the island with their noble +beech-forests, and the low coast of the continent. The towers of +Grunwald rise out of the mist like giants of former days, and around +the lofty steeples crows and blackbirds are fluttering, having left the +unhospitable forests to move to warm cities. + +The sun has set for an hour, and the last blood-red streak, just above +the edge of the sea, has turned pale in the shadow of the heavy, +low-drifting clouds. The streets of the town have grown silent, and the +lamplighter is lighting one after the other the oil lamps, whose dim +light is useful only in making the mist still denser and the darkness +still darker. He has just done with two unusually large and bright +lamps before the entrance-gate to a huge, massive building in one of +the streets that lead down to the harbor. It was the first time this +year--a proof that the great family which has owned this house for many +a generation, and which lives on its estates regularly in summer, and +quite frequently in the winter also, has moved into town on that very +day. + +Nevertheless the windows of the mansion which look upon the street are +still dark. They are, to be sure, rarely seen lighted up, only on +solemn occasions, when the family gives one of those stiff evening +parties, to which of course only the nobility and the very highest +officials in the government service are ever invited. + +Ordinarily these state apartments remain closed, exactly like the lofty +halls and grand reception-rooms of the hereditary castle in the +country, and the family are content to live in the less gorgeous rooms +which look upon the rear. The modest, exceedingly unpretending taste of +the mistress of the house prefers the latter, all the more as the front +rooms can only be heated at great expense, and the woods of the +Grenwitz estate, as far as entailed, are rented out at the ludicrously +small sum of ten thousand dollars. + +In one of these rooms, which was stately enough, sits the Baroness +Grenwitz on a sofa before a round table, on which two wax-candles are +burning brightly. She looks as if the last six weeks had added as many +years to her age. Her forehead has become narrower and more angular, +the dark hair shows here and there a silver thread, her eyes look +larger and more fixed and meaning than ever. Her nephew, Felix, is +lounging in a most comfortable position opposite her, in a large +easy-chair, filled with soft cushions. The young man wears his right +arm in a sling, and the sickly pallor of his face contrasts strangely +with his hair, as carefully parted and curled as ever, and with the +whole toilet, which is as perfect as usual. Between the two stands a +table, covered with letters and papers, all of them written in the same +handsome handwriting. The baroness and Felix seem just to have finished +the perusal of these documents, and to be still too busy with the +thoughts which have been suggested by them, to be able to speak. They +are brooding in silence over the impression produced on each one, while +the monotonous tic-tac of the pendulum of the rococo clock on the +mantel-piece is the only noise heard in the room. + +At last the young man breaks the silence. + +"The thing looks more serious than either of us thought," he says, +raising himself slightly in his easy-chair, and taking up once more the +paper he had been reading last. + +"I still do not believe a word of it," replied the baroness. + +"That is saying a good deal, _ma tante_! although you have read the +whole story in black and white." + +"In Timm's handwriting! In Timm's handwriting! what must the scamp have +invented and written up!" + +"Certainly nothing but what is in the original documents." + +"And why does he not send us the originals?" + +"But, pardon me, _ma tante_, that is rather a naive question. To +surrender the originals--that is to say, the weapons which he means to +use against us--would be an act of generosity or stupidity such as you +cannot possibly expect from my good friend Timm, who is a very sly fox, +I assure you. He evidently does not fear to be unmasked, but only to be +deceived or over-reached by us, else he would not have made the offer +to submit the original papers in the presence of a third party, an +umpire, to our minute examination. No, no, dear aunt; do not give +yourself up to idle hopes. These letters and papers are really in +existence; you may take poison upon that." + +"What do you say?" + +"I mean, you may rely on that. I, for my part, am as fully convinced +that this Monsieur Stein is related to the family of Grenwitz as of my +own existence, and therefore I hate the man, as one is apt to hate such +an interloper of a relative, especially if he happens to be a +conceited, vain, puffed-up, impertinent, accursed blackguard, like this +scamp of a good-for-nothing fellow." + +This flood of names, little suitable to the place, would under other +circumstances have infallibly brought down upon the ex-lieutenant a +severe reprimand from his highly moral aunt. At this moment, however, +the lady was too busy with other things. + +"But nothing has as yet been proved," she said, with obstinate +vehemence, "as long as the identity of that man with the child of that +Marie Montbert has not been fully established by the clearest evidence. +I grant the thing is probable--it may be plausible even; nevertheless +we cannot afford to throw away hundreds of dollars for mere +probabilities or plausibilities." + +"Hundreds?" replied Felix, with a contemptuous smile. "You may say +thousands! Timm will not let us slip out of his tight grip so cheaply." + +"You cannot be in earnest?" said the baroness, raising her eyebrows, +Juno-fashion. "That man will surely not carry his impudence so far as +that!" + +"_Nous verrons!_" replied the dandy, laconically, and fell back into +his easy-chair. + +There followed a pause in the conversation of the accomplices, which +Felix improved to subject his fingernails to a minute examination, +while the baroness busied herself in arranging the papers on the table +according to their numbers (for they were all methodically numbered). + +"The gentleman keeps us waiting," said the baroness. + +"He pretends to be indifferent," replied Felix. "I know him from of +old. Whenever he pretended to be tired, and to wish to go home, we +could be sure that he was determined to break the bank!" + +At that moment the servant announced: "Mr. Albert Timm desires to pay +his respects." + +"Show him in," said the baroness, raising herself upright, with her +accustomed dignity; but her voice was not as firm as usual. + +"For heaven's sake keep your temper, aunt!" said Felix in great haste, +while the servant went to show in Timm. "If the rascal sees that our +pulse goes faster, he'll pull the screws tighter, and----" + +"I am perfectly calm," replied the baroness, although the unusual flush +on her cheeks and the quick breathing announced just the contrary. + +Half a minute's intense excitement on the part of the persons in the +room and the door opened, admitting Mr. Timm, who walked in rapidly. + +His appearance was, aside from a somewhat more carefully chosen costume +of fashionable cut, precisely the same which lingered still in Anna +Maria's recollection from last summer: the same white brow, the same +smoothly-brushed light hair, the same fresh, rosy cheeks, and the same +impertinent smile upon the smooth, handsome face. If the baroness +looked at her favorite, in spite of his unchanged appearance, with very +different eyes now, the fault was evidently her own. Mr. Timm was not +disposed to allow the cold reception to have the slightest influence on +his own warm greetings. + +"Good evening, baroness! Good evening, baron!" said Mr. Timm, in his +clear, fresh voice, kissing Anna Maria's right hand, which she granted +him most reluctantly, and heartily shaking Felix's left hand (the other +was in the sling). "Delighted, baroness, to see you look so remarkably +well--so cheerful too; and as for you, baron,--well, I may say, +considering the circumstances, not so bad! Permit me to follow your +example----" + +And Mr. Timm moved one of the heavy arm-chairs which were standing +around the table, sat down, and looked at the two with eyes beaming +with insolence and intense delight, as far as one could judge, through +his glasses. + +"Mighty comfortable!" he continued, stretching out his legs and patting +the arms of the chair with his hands "And the baron stayed at home! +Must be devilish uncomfortable in the big, damp, old box." + +"The baron had to attend to some very important business," said the +baroness, merely to say something. + +"Business!" cried Mr. Timm. "How can anybody trouble himself about +business when his business is, like the baron's, not to have any +business at all! Incomprehensible!" + +"You ought to be able to comprehend that very well, Timm," said Felix, +with very perceptible irony; "otherwise I should not be able to guess +why you have troubled yourself about a certain business." + +"A lawsuit is no business," remarked Timm. + +"But it may become one," said Felix. + +"For instance, if one borrows money from the Jews, and sues them +afterwards, when they want to be paid, for usury," replied Timm. + +This recollection from the early life of Felix was so little to the +taste of the ex-lieutenant that he turned over impatiently in his +chair, and said in an audibly irritated tone: + +"I think we had better come to the point." + +"With pleasure," said Mr. Timm, drawing up his chair close to the +table, with an expression which by no means belied his words. + +"You have been kind enough," began Felix, while the baroness stared +with furrowed brow and downcast eyes into her lap, "to send us, at our +request, copies of certain letters, and so forth, which you say you +have found among the papers of your deceased father." + +"You mean, which you have found, baron!" + +"Very well, then; which you have found. We can admit that without +committing ourselves, for there is nothing in them all to show how this +fabulous son of my uncle Harald can be helped by your aid--as you are +good enough to state in your letter--to the inheritance he may claim." + +"That depends entirely upon the _point de vue_ from which you look at +the matter," replied Mr. Timm. + +"And may I beg you will inform us of your own?" + +"Why not? It gives me special pleasure to do so. According to my view +the thing is this: I have here a number of documents and papers, which +not only shed a light on the relations once existing between Baron +Harald and Mademoiselle Marie Montbert, but which would also, in the +hands of an able, practical man (such as any good lawyer would +represent), give a certain clue to the subsequent fate of the said +Marie Montbert and of her child; that is to say, of the two persons who +according to the last will of Baron Harald are alone entitled to the +possession of the estates of Stantow and Baerwalde." + +"What do you call a certain clue, Mr. Timm?" inquired the baroness. + +"A clue that can be established upon evidence, madame. It can be +established that the person to whom I have referred, and in whom I +believe I have discovered by a fortunate combination of very remarkable +and almost miraculous circumstances the heir in question, bears, in the +first place, the same name which Monsieur d'Estein (pray look at letter +No. 25) says he intends to assume after the elopement with Marie +Montbert. In the second place, it can be established that a man called +Stein, and accompanied by a young woman who passed for his wife, and by +a child which passed for his son, settled shortly after Baron Harald's +death in the town of W----." + +"How do you know that?" asked Felix. + +"I have been myself to W----, and have spoken with the old woman in +whose house Mr. Stein lived from the first to the very last day of his +residence in that town." + +"Go on!" + +"In the third place, it is established that this Mr. Stein is the same +person who eloped with Marie Montbert from Grenwitz, viz., Monsieur +d'Estein, who alone had a right to help the young lady, and who alone +was obliged to do so." + +"Why the same person?" + +"Because the man who managed the elopement looked exactly like the man +who a few months afterwards settled in W----." + +"That might not be so easy to prove," cried Felix with a smile of +incredulity. + +"Easier than you think. I have (quite accidentally) discovered the man +at whose house Monsieur d'Estein, then already under the name of Stein, +stayed a fortnight in order to ascertain the opportunities at Grenwitz, +and who afterwards drove in the night of the elopement the couple in +his carriage from Grenwitz to that very ferry on which you crossed +to-day. This man's name is Clas Wendorf; he lives in Fashwitz, and is +well known to everybody (even to the Rev. Mr. Jager) as a perfectly +trustworthy man. If this man were to be confronted with Mrs. Pahnke in +W----, the identity of the man who eloped with Marie Montbert, viz., +Monsieur d'Estein, with the French teacher Stein in W----, would be +established beyond all doubt." + +The baroness and Felix looked at each other, while Timm was making his +statement, in a manner which betrayed but too clearly the consternation +which the irresistible logic of their enemy produced in their minds. + +"You have made good use of the last four weeks," said Felix. + +"Perhaps so," said Timm, good-humoredly. "The days are getting to be +short now. Besides, I had to be exceedingly cautious in making my +inquiries, since I had promised you not to let anybody into the secret +until I should have communicated the matter more fully to you, and I +meant to keep my promise. Hereafter, when I can go to work without any +such precautionary measures, and when I can avail myself of all the +assistance which the law affords in such cases, I shall probably be +able to do more in four days than I have now done in as many weeks." + +And Mr. Timm rubbed his hands with delight. + +"Then you really think of making this ridiculous affair public?" said +Anna Maria, in a tone which she meant to be ironical. + +"I do not understand you, madame!" replied Mr. Timm, with an air of +ingenuous simplicity which, in a farce, would have earned him the +applause of all the connoisseurs in the pit. + +"I mean: do you really intend, contrary to our wishes and intentions, +to expose to common gossip and the scoff and scorn of vulgar plebeians, +an affair which concerns no one but our own family, and which, +moreover, has been forgotten and buried these many years?" + +The applause of the connoisseurs would have become louder and louder, +as they watched the peculiar expression in Mr. Timm's face. + +"Contrary to your wishes and intentions ... An affair which concerns no +one but your family ... I really have not the advantage of knowing how +I am to interpret the lady's words. I find it impossible to believe +that a lady who is so universally known for her stern sense of justice +as the Baroness Grenwitz should wish anything different from the last +will of a dying man, when chance or providence brings it about, when, +against all human expectations, that last will can after many years be +fulfilled; I find it impossible to believe that. But what am I saying? +You will laugh at me that I have taken a jest, by which you wished to +ridicule my over-great desire to serve you, for a moment in good +earnest. Do I not know better than anybody else that I have acted +exactly according to your views by preserving all the documents, the +sacred relics of departed friends, like a precious treasure, and by +doing whatever I could do towards securing the property to the rightful +owner? Do I not know that your hesitation, your incredulity, your +mistrust even, are only the result of your apprehension to awaken in +the heart of a fellow-being brilliant expectations, which may not be +realized, for, however improbable, it is not absolutely impossible that +we may be mistaken. Do I not know that all the parties concerned are of +one and the same opinion, and that your husband, whom you have no doubt +promptly informed of all the details, is overjoyous to pay off an old +debt which fortunately is not yet extinguished by limitation?" + +The position of a captured she bear, whom the increasing heat of the +bars of her cage forces to rise on her hind legs and to dance as +gracefully as she can, while she would like nothing better than to +break out of her prison and to tear her adversary to pieces, resembles +exactly that of the baroness as she was now sitting opposite to Mr. +Timm. The cruel irony with which Mr. Timm appealed to that sense of +justice and equity of which she had boasted all her life, and of which +she after all had nothing but the outward appearance, seized her like a +hot iron. Her cold, selfish heart boiled over with indignation. Rage +and fury filled her soul. She would have liked to strangle Timm, who +sat smiling before her--to stab him, poison him. And she could do +nothing, nothing, but swallow her wrath, and to say with all the +calmness she might command: + +"Mr. Timm, you do not look upon the matter exactly as we do; and it is, +of course, quite natural that you, who are standing outside, should +also see nothing of it but the outside. Unfortunately I am too tired +to-night to explain to you my own views of the affair. I have requested +my nephew, Felix, to do it in my place, and I beg you, therefore, to +look upon anything he may tell you as if it were coming from myself. I +am fully persuaded that you will find no difficulty in choosing between +the good will of the family of Grenwitz and the friendship of a +nameless adventurer. Good-by, Mr. Timm!" + +"Regret infinitely not to be able to have the pleasure of seeing you +any longer, baroness," said Mr. Timm, accompanying the baroness to the +door; "hope it is nothing but a passing indisposition, which will soon +disappear after a good night's rest. Hope you will rest well, madame!" + +And Mr. Timm closed the door after the baroness, came back, sat down in +his easy-chair opposite to Felix, put his hands on his knees, and said, +in a dry, short manner, which contrasted very strangely with the smooth +kindness of his language so far: + +"_Eh bien!_" + +No answer came for some little time. The two men looked for a few +seconds at each other with sharp, suspicious glances, like two +combatants who try to find out their weak points--like two tricky +gamesters, each one of whom knows how carefully he must watch the hand +of the other, and who yet is not quite sure that he will not be duped. +They both remembered, moreover, that there was an old account to settle +between them, which dated back from the time when Ensign Baron Grenwitz +had treacherously abandoned Ensign Albert Timm in order to save himself +(it was a matter, of security on a bill), and Felix knew perfectly well +that Albert was one of those men who, whenever they can get the law or +the right of the stronger on their side, insist upon being paid by +their debtors to the very last farthing. + +He had therefore to summon all his skill and self-control, in order to +overcome an unpleasant sensation which threatened to master him as he +faced his adversary, who was armed _cap-a-pie_ and utterly without +pity. Still he succeeded in assuming a tone of good-natured frankness +(which sat very awkwardly upon him) as he said: + +"I think, Timm, we had better treat the whole matter without +reservation or trick, like men who know the world and what they are +about." + +"If you know as well what you are about as I do, why, then, the whole +thing is easily settled," replied Albert, dryly. + +"Well, tell me then frankly, what do you ask?" + +"I am the seller, you are the buyer; it is your duty first to say +distinctly what you wish to buy." + +"We want the originals of those papers on the table, and your word of +honor that you will never inform any one, whosoever it be, by writing +or by word of mouth, or in any other way, of the discovery which you +have made." + +"_Bon!_ I understand what you want." + +"And what do you ask on your side?" + +Albert bent over a little, and said in a low but very distinct voice, +with his eyes firmly fixed on his adversary: + +"Twenty thousand dollars in Prussian current money, payable between now +and eight days." + +"The devil!" cried Felix, jumping up from his chair, in spite of his +feebleness, and running around the room. "Twenty thousand dollars! why, +that is a fortune." + +Albert shrugged his shoulders. + +"Two years' interest of the sum represented by the two estates of +Stantow and Baerwalde. You must know best, of course, what the legacy +is worth to you." + +"But that is atrocious!" cried Felix, still running about in the room; +"atrocious!" + +"Don't hollow, Grenwitz; your people might hear you down in the +kitchen. Sit down, if you please, and let us talk the matter over like +men who know the world." + +The unconquerable coolness and the cutting irony with which Albert +uttered these words acted like a douche upon Felix's violent agitation. +He sat down, and said, in a calmer tone: + +"My aunt will never listen to such a demand." + +"I should be sorry, for your sake, and for your aunt's sake, if you +were not to accept my offer. I can only make you both responsible for +the consequences." + +"You speak as if it depended on no one but yourself who was to have the +two estates!" + +"And on whom else can it depend?" replied Albert, and his lips seemed +to grow thinner, his nose more pointed, and his whole face sharper, +as he spoke: "I tell you, I have made the net so close and so +strong--leaving only a few meshes open on purpose till I should hear +your decision--that I can draw it together at any moment, right over +your head, and you may struggle as you may; it will not break, but you +will die. You know, Grenwitz, that I have rather a good head for such +things, and you know also that I have no cause to show you the shadow +of generosity." + +"Me! I have no personal interest whatever in the whole matter." + +"Do you think I am a child, Grenwitz? Don't you want to marry Miss +Helen? and are not the two estates to be the dower of the young lady?" + +"I marry Helen! Who says so? I don't dream of it." + +"Well, then, don't marry her; hand the young beauty over to the man +whom you have more reason to hate than all other men--who is even now +your favored rival--at least evil report has it so--and who will lose +nothing, I am sure, in Miss Helen's eyes, if he can present himself a +second time as her cousin, and the lawful heir of a very considerable +fortune." + +Felix had turned alternately white and red as his adversary was +inexorably punishing him with these words. His vanity, deeply wounded +by the allusion to his fatal encounter with Oswald, writhed like a worm +on which somebody has trod. He could not but confess that for the +moment Albert was by far the stronger of the two, and that he, who was +so proud of his cleverness and adroitness, was utterly helpless in the +power of an adversary whom he had in reality always despised. + +"Lower your demands a little, Timm," he said, in a subdued voice. "I +must confess it is a matter of the very greatest importance for me to +bury the whole affair in silence, and if it depended on myself alone I +might not be unwilling to pay you the sum which you demand. But you +know my aunt, and you know that she would rather let matters go on to +the last point than to make such an enormous sacrifice. I tell you, +Timm, it can't be done; upon my word, it can't be done. And what do you +want with so much money at once? You will lose it in a few unlucky +nights at roulette, and then you are poorer than you ever were before. +Come, now, I'll make you an offer. We will pay you for one year four +hundred dollars a month, and at the end of the year six thousand +dollars in a lump." + +"Altogether ten thousand eight hundred dollars," replied Albert. "Won't +do; and besides, what security can you give me that all the payments +will be made?" + +"The documents, which in the mean time you may retain in your +possession and which you are not expected to hand over till the six +thousand dollars are paid." + +"Well!" said Albert, "it is not much; but among good friends we ought +not to insist too strictly. I accept." + +"Let us make it out in writing." + +"Why? If we do not wish to keep our word, we'll break it, anyhow; and +besides, a paper of that kind might, if it should fall into the hands +of the wrong person, commit the family of Grenwitz more seriously than +they would like, and would, after all, but put one more weapon in my +hands. You see I am perfectly candid." + +"_Bon!_" said Felix. "Do you want the first four hundred at once?" + +"I should think so." + +Felix rose, took one of the lights, and went to a bureau which was +standing back in the room, opened a drawer, took a few packages of +bank-notes from it and placed them on the table before Albert. + +"Count them!" + +"It is not necessary," said Albert, slipping the parcel into his +pocket; "your aunt never makes a mistake in counting. Well, Grenwitz, +that matter is nicely arranged; now let us have a bottle of wine upon +it--I have talked so much I am quite thirsty. If you permit me I will +ring the bell." + +"Pray do so!" + +Felix ordered the servant who came to bring a bottle of Hock and two +glasses. + +Felix was rather pleased to see that Albert was in better humor; he had +another question to ask yet, which no one could answer as well as he +could. + +"You have seen, Timm," he said, filling the glasses, "that I have met +you half way, as far as I could. One service is worth another. Will you +do me a favor?" + +"Let us hear." + +"Then tell me, how is little Marguerite?" + +"What interest have you in her?" + +"Well, I do have an interest in her." + +"And why do you think I know anything about her?" + +"Because I have observed you both at Grenwitz, and besides--well, for +divers other reasons." + +"For instance?" + +"I will be frank with you. From sheer ennui I had begun at Grenwitz +already to pay her some attentions, and afterwards, during my sickness, +I saw still more of the little thing, till it ended in my thinking the +girl really very charming and prodigiously attractive. But she +pretended to be so very reserved that I suspected at once she had a +serious attachment. Now I cannot think of any one else who could have +been in my way but yourself." + +"Very complimentary," said Albert. "I am, indeed, as good as engaged to +the young lady." + +"But, Timm, are you going to run into your ruin with your eyes open? +You and a wife! and worse than that, a poor wife!--what has become of +your former principles? Upon my word, I should not have thought you +could be so mad." + +"Nor I, myself," replied Albert, emptying his glass and filling it +again. + +"Are you in love with the girl?" + +"There you ask me more than I know myself." + +"Look here, Timm, I will make you an offer. We are, it seems, in the +way of speculating. Let me have the girl, and I assume the three +hundred dollars which you have borrowed from the poor little thing." + +"Who says so?" said Albert, furiously. + +"Your fury just now, for one; besides that, however, little Louisa, +Helen's maid, and my own man's lady love, who happened to see it, when +Marguerite gave you the money in the park at Grenwitz." + +"Nonsense!" said Albert, who could not repress his anger at this +inconvenient exposure. + +"Don't be angry!" said Felix; "rather be glad that you find somebody +who is willing to relieve you of this troublesome burden. What do you +say?" + +"We will talk about that another time," said Albert, rising and taking +his hat. "Farewell, Grenwitz." + +"Good-by, Timm! Be reasonable, and come and see your old comrade as +soon as you can." + +The worthy pair shook hands, and Albert went away rapidly. His face was +darker than when he came. Either the second part of the conversation +had not been to his taste, or he thought it good policy to assume an +air of being offended. Felix, who knew him pretty well from former +days, was disposed to take the latter view. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + +About the same time, and while these transactions were going on in the +Grenwitz mansion, a young man was impatiently walking up and down in +front of a large house in one of the suburbs of Grunwald. His +impatience looked very much like that of an honest lover who is waiting +on a cool autumn evening in a dense fog for the lady of his heart, whom +he has orders to call for "punctually at seven, but be sure to be +punctual," to see her home from a little party, and whom he sees at +half-past seven sitting near the brightly-lighted-up window, engaged in +most lively conversation. It may be he sees really her whom he loves; +it maybe the shadow belongs to a very different person. + +The young man is Doctor Braun; the house before which he patrols, +Leporello-fashion, is the famous boarding-school of Miss Bear; and the +young lady for whom he is waiting is his betrothed Sophie, the only +child of the privy councillor and professor, Doctor Roban, a physician +of great renown in Grunwald, and a distinguished member of the +university. + +"What a vague idea of time even the cleverest of women have!" murmured +Franz, pulling out his watch and looking at it by the faint light of a +badly-burning cigar; "it is a psychological fact which I must treat of +one of these days in a monograph." + +He throws away the short end of his cigar, which threatened to singe +his moustache, and looks up once more at the lighted window. + +"Heaven be thanked, they are getting ready! Dark shadows are flitting +to and fro near the curtains! Now for the cloak, and the bonnet--a kiss +to say good-by then a little bit of a chat of ten minutes about the +next place of meeting--then another farewell kiss. The window is +looking darker; there is a light in the hall; now a final discussion on +the steps--_enfin_!" + +"Do you come at last, _ma mignonne_? said Doctor Braun, greeting the +slight maidenly form which had come out of the house, and now hastened +with light steps across the little garden which divided the house from +the street, to the iron gate. + +"Poor Franz! You have not been waiting for me," answers the girl, +affectionately leaning on the arm of her betrothed. + +"Oh, not at all! Nothing to speak of! Half an hour or so!" + +"I really did not know it was so late. The time passed so quickly, +although the whole party consisted only of two persons. Can you guess +who they were?" + +"Yourself, probably, for one." + +"Very well--and the other?" + +"Helen Grenwitz." + +"Exactly! She sends you her best regards. Only think, she will probably +stay with the Great Bear, although her friends are coming to town for +the winter, If they have not already come to-day. That will be a fine +subject for gossip. Poor Helen! I pity her with all my heart!" + +"Why?" + +"How can you ask? Is it not bad enough that the whole town will ask why +a girl of sixteen--no, sixteen and a half--should be sent back to +school when she has hardly been four weeks at home? And as long as the +Grenwitz family was not living in town, there might have been some +explanation; but now--oh, I think it is abominable. People must think +of her--I don't know what; and it is not so much to be wondered at if +they connect Helen in some way or other with the duel fought by her +cousin and your amiable friend, Stein." + +"And what says Miss Helen?" + +"Nothing! You know how she is. She never speaks of family matters; at +most she occasionally mentions her father, whom she seems to love most +tenderly. She is quiet and serious; but not exactly sad." + +"I believe she is much too proud ever to be really sad." + +"How so?" + +"Sadness is a passive disposition; the disposition of one who sees that +he cannot struggle with fate, and therefore submits to endure it as +well as he can. But there are characters which resist as long as it is +possible, and when nothing more can be done, instead of laying down +their arms, break them to pieces and throw them fiercely at the +victor's feet." + +Sophie came up closer to her betrothed and said, after a pause: + +"I am not one of those characters, Franz. I am not too proud to be sad; +I have been very often sad these last days. I was sad when you left us +with Doctor Stein, although at that time I had no particular reason for +being so. But since then, when papa was taken sick and I sat by his +bedside, and my greatest anxiety--next to that about papa's life--was +whether you had received my letter ... You might have travelled on and +on, and my heart was all the time breaking with longing for you! You +went to see him, I am sure, before you came to call for me at Miss +Bear's." + +"Of course! He is better. I begged him to lie down, but he insisted +upon sitting up till we should come back." + +"And I have wasted so much time! Let us go faster!" + +"A few minutes, more or less, do not matter; and besides, I should like +to speak with you definitely about our future. We must at last make an +end to this provisional state, which is pleasant to no one--not to +God--I mean Nature--nor to man--and is daily becoming more oppressive. +An unmarried man is a fish; but an engaged man is neither fish nor +flesh. When two people are in their own heart and conscience man and +wife through their mutual love, they ought to be man and wife also in +the world, before men, provided circumstances admit of their marrying. +Now, that is the case with us. We have enough for our support, and for +the present we need no more; whatever else may be necessary will come. +In short, shall we have our wedding day four weeks from to-day?" + +"But, Franz, I have not finished half of my trousseau!" + +"Then we'll marry with half a trousseau." + +"And what will papa say? You know how very hard it is for him to let me +go from him; and shall I just now ask such a sacrifice from him, when +he needs me more than ever? I have not the courage to propose it to +him." + +"But I have it; your father knows that I am not less anxious for your +happiness than he is, and he is far too sensible not to see that my +plan is the best. Come, my darling, don't hang your head. To-day four +weeks we are man and wife." + +"Ah, Franz! I wish it could be so. But I fear, I fear, Heaven does not +mean it so well with us!" + +"Why not? Heaven means it well with all who have the courage to +determine upon their own happiness. For, how says the poet: 'In our +bosom are the stars of our fate.'" + +The haste with which Franz pressed her had a very good motive +in the illness of her father. Franz, as a physician, knew best that +the life of the excellent man was hanging on a very slender thread. He +had rallied quickly enough from a stroke of apoplexy, which had +attacked him a fortnight ago, but several bad symptoms announced that +another attack was not improbable, and with his nervous, very +delicately-organized system, this was likely to be fatal. But if the +father died before his daughter had been married, the poor girl would +have been placed in a very painful position, as her mother had been +dead for many years, and she had neither brothers and sisters nor any +near relations. The world with its prejudices would have hardly been +willing to admit that under such circumstances her only home should be +in the house of the man whom she loved, but would have been +inconceivably shocked if the daughter had married "before the shoes +were worn out in which she had followed her father's funeral." The +whole city would have broken out in one cry of indignation against such +a fearful crime against decency and propriety. + +Sophie loved her father with a love which bordered upon enthusiasm, +little as enthusiasm generally formed a part of her clear and sensible +character, which shrank instinctively from all exaggeration. And the +father was well worthy of such love. + +The privy councillor, Roban, was a man of rare distinction in many +respects. As a man of science he stood very high; he was considered the +very first pathologist in Germany. But a remarkable versatility of mind +enabled him to gather, outside of the studies which his profession +required, information upon the most varied fields of knowledge, and to +attain to a high degree of perfection in more than one of the arts. In +the morning he would take his pupils, hour after hour, from bed to bed +in the hospital, and open to them views into the innermost workings of +nature. Then again he would wander for long hours from house to house, +soothing here a sufferer's pains, comforting others, and exhorting them +to patient endurance. And yet in the evening, when a circle of intimate +friends were gathered under his hospitable roof, he would be ready to +take an active part in an animated conversation about art, literature, +or politics, or perhaps take his favorite instrument, the violoncello, +between his knees, and delight even the best cultivated ears by his +correct and yet deeply-felt playing in a quickly-improvised quartette. + +Where there are lights there must be shadows, and where there are +shadows there is never a lack of people who take pleasure in painting +everything in the darkest and blackest of colors. Thus it was with the +little foibles of the excellent man, which his rivals and enemies +subjected to pitiless criticism. Some declared he was a charlatan, who +understood his business tolerably well, but the necessary bragging and +boasting about it still better; others declared his bon-mots were +better than his prescriptions, and a good story more welcome to him +than the most famous case in his practice. Still others said that the +essence of his nature was a restless vanity, which induced him to try +all the arts and to play the Maecenas for all travelling artists and +spoilt men of genius. Still others--so-called practical men, who +laid no claim to any opinion in matters of art and science, but who +demanded in return that everybody should comply with their standard of +morality--shook their heads when people spoke of the councillor's +hospitality, and said: "If everybody would sweep the dust before his +own door, many things would be seen that are hidden now; and if certain +folks would remember the old saying: 'Save in time and you'll have in +need,' they would be better off than they were." + +Of all these reproaches none really affected the distinguished +professor, except the last. Money was to him what it is to Saladin in +Lessing's great drama, Nathan: "the most trifling of trifles;" he +looked upon it, as Saladin did, as "perfectly superfluous when he had +it," much as he appreciated the necessity of being provided with it +whenever he was reminded of it by his liberality, his generosity, and +his intense antipathy against all bargaining and all haggling. If he +had lived economically he might have become a very rich man, for his +income was considerable; but Mammon would not stay in his hands, which +were ever open to all who were poor and suffering. He never could force +himself to accept money from the hard hand of a mechanic, even if the +sum had been ever so small. "It is bad enough," he used to say, "that +Nature has not wisdom enough to allow only such people to be sick as +have leisure and money enough for it; but for the poor, sickness itself +is a punishment severe enough, not to sentence them moreover into the +payment of costs." Thus it happened to him very often that he poured +the golden reward he had earned by his attention and his skill in the +palace of rich Sinbad a few minutes later into the open hand of poor +Hinbad, and reached home with a lighter purse than he had carried out. + +His house also was an expensive one, although the whole family +consisted but of himself and his daughter. A nature as richly endowed +and as productive as his own was not made to be content with meagre +fare and thin beer; he was fond of rich, savory dishes and fiery old +wines; above all he loved to share the pleasures of his table with +others who were as willing to be pleased as he himself with the good +things of this world, and especially with one of the best among the +good--a pleasant table-talk. + +All this might have been accomplished without causing a deficit in the +budget of the privy councillor, if a careful, sensible housewife had +managed the whole, and spent what was coming in properly and +economically. His wife, however, an exceedingly amiable, intelligent +woman, died the second year after their marriage; and her husband, who +had loved her above all things, could not summon resolution to fill the +place in his heart which death, inexorable death, had made vacant, and +to give a stepmother to his daughter, in whom he soon concentrated all +his affections. He remembered too well the old saying, _apud novercam +queri_! He had seen the fairy tale of Cinderella repeat itself in too +many families. Thus he left his child in the hands of nurses and +governesses whom he paid magnificently, and sent her, when she was old +enough, to Miss Bear's boarding-school, in case anything should have +been forgotten in her outward polish or her inner culture. In the +meantime he kept a kind of bachelor's hall, which soon became a very +costly life, owing to the thievishness of his servants and the +incapacity of a housekeeper in whom he placed implicit confidence. He +comforted himself, however, whenever Mrs. Bartsch had forced him into a +very uncomfortable discussion about credit and debt, with the prospect +of the time when his daughter could relieve him of all this _misere_, +and of the answer to the question: what shall we have for dinner, etc., +which ought not to be allowed to trouble a good Christian's peace of +mind. + +The time came at last, but Miss Sophie's return to the paternal home +did not exactly mend matters. Sophie was too young and too +inexperienced to see the cause of the evil and to reform the abuses, +which were deeply rooted after so many years' toleration. Mrs. Bartsch, +who could not adapt herself at all to the new regime, was dismissed, it +is true; but--as the doctor said, "the bad one is gone, the bad ones +have stayed"--the servants stole just as before, and the privy +councillor did not know yet "what in all the world could have become of +the miserable money?" As it could not well be otherwise under such +circumstances, the accounts agreed less and less every year, and +instead of saying, "I must learn to be more economical hereafter," he +only said, "I must work harder." He felt himself yet in the full vigor +of his strength. He saw before him yet long years of energetic +activity, during which he might make up what had been so long +neglected. + +But it was not to be so, and the beautiful fruit-bearing tree, in whose +broad, hospitable shade so many who suffered from the burning heat of +life sought shelter and refreshment, and found it too, was to be +irreparably injured by a flash of lightning which fell from a clear +sky. Like wildfire the news flew one morning all over town that Privy +Councillor Roban had had a stroke of paralysis over night, and was now +laid up without hope. People told it one to another with grave faces, +and said it would be an irreparable loss to science, especially as far +as the university was concerned, which had had in Roban its only really +great man since Berger had become insane. But of all who suffered by +the loss, the poor were most seriously threatened, since they lost in +the privy councillor their generous friend and protector. For many and +many a day one might have seen old women dragging themselves painfully +along on crutches, men so old and feeble that they had to be led by a +boy, young pale mothers with a baby in their bosom--all sitting on the +steps of the house, bathed in tears, and asking every one who came out +whether things were not going a little better with the privy +councillor, or whether there was really no hope at all that the good +old gentleman would recover? + +In the meantime the patient was lying in that terrible state which is +neither night nor day, but a painful twilight, when the sun is about to +set, and the darkness is rising full of threatenings on all sides. For +a long time it remained uncertain whether life or death would be the +end, and when at last the cruel conflict was decided in favor of life, +death only yielded after having marked his victim unmistakably forever. +One might even have said, that he had taken all the reality away with +it, and left only the shadow of existence. + +To-day was the first time that the privy councillor had risen for +a few hours; they had rolled him in his large easy-chair from his +bed-chamber, before the fire-place in the sitting-room. He had insisted +upon it that his daughter, who since the beginning of his sickness had +scarcely left his bed, should go out to her little party; and he had +dismissed his son-in-law, who had taken his practice provisionally in +hand and came to see him every evening--for he wished to be alone. He +felt the necessity of availing himself of the first hour in which the +pressure on his brain was less overwhelming, for the purpose of +thinking over his situation. As a physician, he would probably have +warned his patient against such an injurious excitement; but now he was +physician and patient at once, and made the experience in himself that +the physician may very often demand certain things which the patient is +unable to do with the best will in the world. + +Poor, unfortunate man; doubly and trebly poor, because you have been +doubly and trebly rich and happy before, in the fulness of your mental +and physical strength, in the elasticity of your sanguine temper, nay +even in the easy humor which bore you like a bird high over the +greatest difficulties! Where is now your restless activity, which +formerly made it impossible for you to sit still in one and the same +place for any length of time, which induced you even at table +frequently to change your place among your guests? Where is your sharp, +penetrating mind, which used to solve the hardest problems as in play? +Where your brilliant fancy, which threw even upon every-day occurrences +a bewitching light? Where, above all, your Olympian cheerfulness, which +made it so easy for you not to be angry or excited, but allowed you to +fight at most with a humorous smile and satirical wit against the +misery and wretchedness of life, against the stupidity and vulgarity of +men? Where are the thousand arguments with which you often nearly +overwhelmed the pessimist views of your friend Berger, when you tried +to persuade him that this earth was by no means a vale of tears from +the rising to the setting of the sun, but a wide, fair landscape, in +which hill and dale, waste deserts and Elysian fields alternated very +wisely, and that in most cases man was not only at liberty but even +commanded to avoid the one and to enjoy the other? Have you all at once +changed your views? Has a brutal blow of fate suddenly reduced you in +the discussion to an _absurdum_? Has the pressure which weighs on your +brain and paralyzes the elasticity of your mind transformed you all of +a sudden from an optimist into a pessimist, so that you see the world +and your own situation in dark colors, as you are counting the beats of +your pulse mechanically, and sit there, rolled in a ball in your +easy-chair, glaring in dull thoughts at the dying embers of the +fire-place? + +And indeed there were reasons why it was hard for the privy councillor +to drive away the gray shadowy form of care, as it pressed more and +more closely upon him the darker the room grew. He who had himself +observed so many similar cases, could least of all disguise from +himself how precarious his physical condition was. He knew but too well +that he was doomed to be henceforth a cripple in body and mind, that he +was only a pensioner on life, and that death might come at any moment +to collect the debt which was long since due. And yet, much as he was +attached to life, this was his least sorrow. The physician did not +struggle against omnipotent fate, which had never yet granted him one +of its victims; the pupil of Epicure knew that joy and grief, delight +and suffering, are inseparably interwoven in our life. But what made +his heart particularly heavy, was the thought of his inability to +arrange his circumstances, that he should have to leave life a +bankrupt, and that after all he should have to rob his creditors of +their rights by his death. Had he not always referred them to the +future, and now the future refused to accept the draft; now the +credulous man was to be denied credit at the very bank on whose credit +he had so implicitly relied. + +The unfortunate man sighed, hiding his deep-bowed head in his hands. + +And his daughter, his darling daughter! Where was now the hope he had +cherished to endow her with a fortune which was forever to free the +spoilt, tender child from all the vulgar cares of life? which was to +afford her the means always to enjoy a comfortable existence such as +alone seemed to be suitable for the character of the young girl? Now he +could not only leave her no fortune--no! but not even an honest, +stainless name! + +She had no idea of the painful pecuniary situation of her father. He +never had the courage to trouble her childlike mind with cares which he +tried to keep from himself as long as he could. She took it for granted +that her father was, if not a rich man, at least well-to-do, and that +she could enjoy the simple comforts by which she was surrounded with a +clear conscience. + +And was she the only one who labored under this illusion, and whom he +had allowed to remain blind from fear of an explanation? Did not his +friends think the same? Above all, the youngest and dearest of his +friends, the man who had won his daughter's heart, and whom he himself +loved with hearty, paternal love; who deserved such friendship, such +love, by his upright, noble bearing, by his ability and his goodness; +what would he say, what would he do, if he should learn what sooner or +later he would have to learn--nay, what the father of his future wife +was under such circumstances bound to tell him without further delay, +if he did not mean to renounce all claims to be considered an honest +man? + +The privy councillor pressed his trembling hands upon his eyes and +groaned loud, like one who is suffering cruel torture. + +And suddenly he felt soft arms embracing him, and a girl's voice asked +anxiously: "Papa, dearest papa, you are surely sick again;" and the +kindly, firm voice of a man who had taken his hand to feel the pulse, +and who now said: "You have stayed up too long! we must try and get you +into bed again." + +These voices, these words, fell like a mild, refreshing rain falling +upon a sunburnt plant, upon the heart of the poor man, who was so sick +in body and soul. He put his arms around the slender waist of his +daughter and drew her to his heart in a long, silent embrace. He could +have wept, but he was ashamed. Sophie asked again and again if he felt +worse. Franz, who had ordered lights to be brought in, begged more and +more urgently that he should not risk what had been so painfully gained +by sitting up any longer. But the privy councillor would not hear of +going to bed; he said he felt very comfortable in his arm-chair, and +not in the least fatigued. Besides, he had to talk to Franz, and Sophie +might in the meantime attend to the supper. + +Franz, whose clear eye had well observed the restlessness, the +excitement of his patient, considered it best to humor him in his +wishes, and gave a nod to his betrothed to leave him alone with her +father. Sophie went out with an anxious, inquiring glance at Franz, +which the latter answered by a reassuring smile. + +The door had hardly closed after the slender form of the young girl, +when the privy councillor seized Franz's hand and said, in a voice +which was in vain striving to be firm, + +"I have something to tell you, Franz, which I cannot any longer conceal +from you under the circumstances, and, since I may have to meet death +any moment, without acting dishonorably." + +"What is it, my dear sir?" asked Franz, moving a chair close to the +privy councillor's seat and taking his hand into his with a gesture of +great kindness. + +"It is this!" said the privy councillor--and now he told Franz, that +partly the want of prudent economy and partly the loaning of countless +sums of money to poor and needy people, which were never returned, had +gradually brought him seriously into debt; that he had hoped to work +himself out by means of increased industry in the coming years, but +that now all such hopes were futile, as he felt but too painfully. + +The privy councillor paused here, partly because he was too much +exhausted for the time, and partly because he expected an answer from +Franz. But the young man sat there with cast-down eyes, remaining +silent, and the patient continued with a lower and more trembling +voice: + +"Pardon me, my dear Franz, that my perhaps criminal selfishness, for +which I hope you may find some excuse, has made me hesitate so long +before making this communication to you. But it is a terrible task to +have to afflict a man whom we love; to have to impoverish a man whom we +would like to load with all the world can give." + +He paused, and tried to draw his hands from those of the young man, as +if the revelation he had just made had interrupted and ended their +friendship. But Franz moved nearer to the sufferer and said, looking at +him with his clear, truthful, bright eyes: + +"I have let you finish, my dear sir; and now let me have my say. +Suppose a man were to give the friend he loves best an unspeakably +valuable treasure, a treasure which the other values so much that he +could not live without it, and he were then to say to this friend, 'My +dear, while I was guarding this treasure I had not the time, as you may +readily imagine, to attend with proper care to the management and +settlement of all my other affairs. There are a few creditors who wish +to be paid, and who must be paid. Will you take that upon yourself? You +are younger and stronger, and have no objection to business.' Suppose, +I say, the giver should speak thus to him who receives, and the latter +were to answer: 'The treasure which is to make me immeasurably rich for +all time to come I am ready to take, but as to your other affairs you +can see how you can manage them yourself. I will have nothing to do +with them.' Would you not justly look upon a man who could give such an +answer as a monster of heartlessness, as a horrible instance of +ingratitude? Exactly such is the relation in which we stand to each +other. You are the generous donor; I am the man who receives the costly +gift--the immeasurably precious treasure itself is my own Sophie. +Between us there can be no longer any question of mine and thine; what +I have is yours, for you are to me all in all--my friend, my teacher, +and my father. What I have amounts to about ten or eleven thousand +dollars, left me by an aunt whom I have never seen in my life, and they +are entirely at your disposal. I know that this sum will not suffice to +free you from all responsibilities. But it will be a relief to you, a +help; and I beg, I conjure you to make any use of it you may choose. +No, my dear sir, don't shake your head! You can't help it. You owe it +to me to Sophie, to yourself, not to refuse me. And then, I am not +going to ask you to do this favor without asking one for myself in +return. We have never yet agreed upon the day for our wedding. We were +afraid to speak of it, because we feared you would refuse, or at least +give your consent only with reluctance. Now I have become bold, and ask +neither for Flanders nor for liberty to think, Oh, King Philip, but for +your permission to make your daughter, Dona Sophie, my wife, this day +four weeks. Look! there she is herself! Kneel down, darling, and thank +your lord and father for his kindness. He consents to our marriage this +day four weeks." + +Sophie, who had entered the room during the last words spoken by Franz, +hastened to her father. + +"Good, dear papa! dearest darling of a papa!" she cried, embracing the +privy councillor and kissing him tenderly on brow and lip. The privy +councillor was deeply moved. His trembling lips tried in vain to utter +a word; his tear-flooded eyes turned now towards his daughter, who was +kneeling before him, and now towards the noble man, who stood by his +side leaning over him and looking at him with tenderness. His mind, +weakened by his sickness, could not at once overcome the chaos of +conflicting thoughts, but in his heart he heard a voice assuring him +that he could die now in peace. + +Franz, who had his reasons for fearing that the violent emotion might +change the condition of the patient for the worse, hastened to make an +end to the scene. He rang the bell and asked the servant to help him +carry his master to his room. The privy councillor suffered them to do +as they chose. Franz and the servant rolled the chair to the door of +the adjoining room, which had been opened by Sophie, lifted it over the +sill, and closed the door behind them, while Sophie remained alone in +the sitting-room. + +After a few minutes Franz returned. He was moved as Sophie had never +yet seen him; but she saw also that his emotion was not painful. His +eyes shone brightly, his step was elastic like that of a conqueror, and +his voice, generally rather sharp, sounded softer and fuller, as he +said, folding his betrothed almost violently in his arms, + +"Rejoice, my girl; all goes well, excellently well. I have won your +father's consent by gentle means and harsh means. Did I not tell you we +should be man and wife four weeks hence? Did I not tell you, 'In our +heart are the stars of our fate?' Oh, I feel a whole heaven in my +heart! dear, dear Sophie!" + +"Dear, dear Franz!" + +And the lovers held each other embraced in that bliss for which the +ordinary language of earth-born men has no words. + +Then, when the torrent of glorious feelings had sobered down to greater +quiet, they walked up and down in the room, arm in arm, and their +voices grew low like their steps on the carpet, and what they whispered +to each other was sweet and cozy, like the dim rosy light of the lamp +under its veil, and yet as hot and as glowing as the coals shining +through the light covering of ashes in the fire-place. + +It was a lovely pair, the two lovers; and Zeus of Otricoli, whose +lordly face with the god-like brow beneath the ambrosiacal curls that +shade Olympus, looked majestically down upon them from a niche in the +wall, must have enjoyed the sight as they walked again and again past +his bust, although neither the young man nor the girl could lay claim +to a beauty exactly classic. Their tall forms were too lithe for that, +wanting in the voluptuous fulness of the Grecian ideal; their faces, +full of expression, were wanting in that architectural regularity, that +indelible antique harmony, which knows no struggle, at least no +struggle that excites the soul to its innermost depths. + +Sophie Roban had, if you examined her strictly, nothing that could be +called beauty, except a graceful, delicate figure, though connoisseurs +would have objected to her arms as too thin, and a pair of large, soft, +deep-blue eyes, of which connoisseur and ignoramus spoke with equal +delight. Her mouth is rather large, and it is fortunate for her that +her teeth, which are in consequence seen very frequently, are, if not +literally "two rows of pearls," at least beautifully white and regular +The cheeks are round and full, the nose belongs to no special category. +The best feature of the whole is, probably, next to the large blue +eyes, the abundance of chestnut-brown hair, which forms a frame of soft +waves for the somewhat low but smooth and most intelligent brow, and is +very artlessly but tastefully arranged. Sophie is so tall that Franz, +who is above medium size, scarcely rises a head's length above her--a +proof, as Sophie says, that she has some claims to be counted among +Jean Paul's "lofty beings," an opinion which Franz is by no means +disposed to accept. He says, on the contrary, that she falls short, if +not in everything, yet in much of that great honor, especially in that +exuberance in thought and sentiment which the author requires for +"lofty beings," and of which Sophie has not a trace, unless it be when +she plays on the piano, and the genius of Beethoven, her favorite +composer, lends her soul the wings which are otherwise wanting. Franz +mentions besides, in his diagnosis of his betrothed, a certain cool +sobriety of views and judgment, a kind of shyness to go beyond her own +self, and a mistrust of all who do not possess this shyness and are too +ready to sing their own praises or their own complaints, without +inquiring whether the gods have given them a talent for stating what +they suffer or not. Sophie, on the contrary, is disposed to be very +quiet in moments of great enjoyment or great sorrow, on which account +Franz prefers classing her with Jean Paul's "silent children of +heaven." Besides, he attributes to Sophie the following qualities and +peculiarities, all of which are more or less incompatible with the +character of "lofty beings." She is particularly fond, he says, of +canary birds, dogs, tree-frogs, rabbits, horses, and even of donkeys, +which evidently shows a predilection for Dutch pictures of still life; +she betrays a highly improper indifference for literature, unworthy of +the daughter of a man of science, and the betrothed of a man who may +possibly yet become famous in the world; she will not condescend to use +a dictionary, even in cases of necessity, when she reads French or +English authors; and as to the productions of her mother tongue, her +indifference is so great that she has actually dared to fall fast +asleep when Franz has been reading to her aloud the most beautiful +chapters from Goethe's Truth and Fiction or his Italian Journey. Then +she has a decided fancy for putting on her hat on one side, and to +catch her dress when walking out in all the thorn-bushes by the +wayside, both of which habits indicate a dreamy, twilight life, utterly +incompatible with the manner of "lofty beings." She is even suspected +of clairvoyance, for she had actually once told her maid, when she was +dressing her for a ball and wanted a pin, that there was one lying way +back in the parlor under the fourth chair from the window. + +The conversation of the two lovers had gradually approached this topic +of the little weaknesses of his betrothed, which Franz was apt to play +upon in countless variations. He had a talent to jest gracefully, and +to conceal the sober face of a well-meaning preceptor under the smiling +mask of a good-natured but ironical critic. Sophie, who was not fond of +ample explanations, felt grateful to her lover for this mode of +instructing her, and Franz adopted this method all the more readily as +it gave him an opportunity to admire the cleverness and the wit with +which Sophie knew how to defend herself against his insidious attacks, +and to deny her faults, or even to pretend that they were in reality +nothing but very lovable virtues. + +They were so deeply engrossed in their conversation, now playful, now +sober, occasionally interrupted by a half-suppressed laugh or a stolen +kiss, that a person who was in the habit of coming every day at this +hour to the privy councillor's house, and of entering unannounced, had +to knock three times at the door before they answered with an unisonous +"Come in!" + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + +"Good evening, most honored friends and betrothed," said he, as he +entered the room; "do I disturb your devotions?" + +"Good evening, Bemperlein," replied Sophie, loosening Franz's hold and +cordially offering her hand to the little man, who came with careful +steps to her side; "you are just in time to protect me against this +arch-scorner." + +"Good evening, Bemperlein," said Franz; "you are just in time to help +me in my efforts to convince this obstinate sinner." + +"Before I can do the one, and not the other," replied Mr. Bemperlein, +drawing off his gloves and folding them up carefully, "I beg leave to +inquire, as in duty bound, after the privy councillor's health." + +"He is much better," replied Franz. + +"I hoped so from your joyous disposition," said Bemperlein; "well, I am +delighted. Then we can at least take our supper to-night without +feeling as if every morsel would stick in our throats from sheer +melancholy and mourning, as has been the case for the last fortnight. +_Ad vocem_ supper; is it ready. Miss Sophie? I--who am not lucky enough +to be able to satisfy my hunger with the ambrosia of confidential talk, +and to quench my thirst with the nectar of love--I feel an unmistakable +longing after earthly food and drink." + +"I believe supper has been on the table for half an hour," said Sophie; +"I had forgotten all about it." + +"Then let us lose no more time," said Bemperlein, offering Sophie his +arm, and leading her the familiar way into the adjoining room, where +supper was regularly laid out. + +Miss Sophie and Mr. Bemperlein were great friends. The excellent man +had at every epoch of his life found somebody to whom he could offer +his devotion and his love. When he had come over to settle in Grunwald, +he had felt for a few days unspeakably lonely and wretched. Unable to +live in solitude, and full of childlike trust, he had no sooner been +introduced into the house of Privy Councillor Roban than he had poured +out his complaints into the willing ear of Miss Sophie; whose large +blue eyes encouraged him wonderfully. Sophie had not only listened to +the little, lively man, who opened his whole heart to her with Homeric +_naivete_, as if he could not help doing so; but after following him +with great attention to his last words; "that is all over now! over, +and forever!" she had given him her hand with most cordial kindness, +saying: "You must come and see us very often, Mr. Bemperlein. Papa is +very fond of you and so am I. We'll try if we cannot make some amends +to you for the loss of Berkow." + +It was a strange friendship that bound the two to each other. Sophie, +although twelve years younger than Bemperlein, was the admonishing, +reproving, directing Mentor, and he the obedient, attentive, and docile +Telemachus. She had aided him in arranging the modest lodgings which he +had rented at some little distance from the privy councillor's house, +and she made with him, and sometimes without him, the necessary +purchases. Her attention went even beyond that. She trained him, after +a fashion, for his entrance into society, for there was much to be +done. She made him aware that it was not exactly the thing to hold +gentlemen with whom he conversed continually by a coat-button, or to +turn his back persistently upon ladies by whose side he had found his +seat at table, however tedious they might appear in his eyes. "You must +not do this, Bemperlein! You must stop doing that, Bemperlein!" the +young lady continually said to him, and the good-natured man obeyed her +implicitly, and was but too happy and proud if she said another time, +"Bemperlein, that was well done! You played quite the cavalier +to-night, Bemperlein!" + +Bemperlein was soon even fonder of Miss Roban than he had been of Frau +von Berkow. The latter remained, with all her kindness and goodness, +after all, the great lady, the benefactress, the mistress; and the +impression she had made upon him when he, a poor, bashful, awkward +candidate for the ministry, had arrived one summer afternoon at Berkow, +and been presented by old Baumann to the great lady, had never been +wholly effaced in the seven long years which he had spent at her house. +But Sophie was not grand; she laughed as heartily as any one of them; +she looked at him so trustingly with her big, blue eyes; she made no +pretensions; you could speak to her as to an equal, you could love her +like a brother, without being all the time filled with awe and +reverence. + +And such paternal love Bemperlein felt for the hearty girl. Even if she +had not been already engaged, it would never have occurred to him to +fall in love with her. But to sympathize with all that interested her; +to declare that her betrothed, whose acquaintance he made soon +afterwards, was the most amiable and excellent of men; to render her +any service which he could read in her eyes, and, when the privy +councillor was ill, to watch with her till Franz should come back, day +and night, with womanly patience and tenderness, by the bedside of the +sufferer; and now, when he heard that the latter was better, to rejoice +like a child to whom a father is restored, and to conceal this joy +under a hundred innocent tricks and teasings--that was in the power of +the ex-candidate of divinity and actual student of philosophy, Mr. +Anastasius Bemperlein. + + * * * * * + +"I fear the potatoes are cold," said Sophie, raising the cover off the +dish. + +"Then they have exactly the temperature of this fish," said Franz, +presenting her his dish. + +"Or of this sauce," said Bemperlein, handing her the sauce-dish from +the other side. + +Sophie shrugged her shoulders. + +"Nothing is eaten quite as warm as it is cooked, gentlemen. I must know +that best, as future housewife!" + +"For we are to be married in four weeks from to-day, Bemperlein," said +Franz; "that is to say, if your dress-coat, which you have intended to +order ever since you first came to Grunwald, can be ready by that time, +Bemperlein, otherwise it cannot be." + +"The coat shall be ready! The coat shall be ready!" cried Mr. +Bemperlein; "even if I have myself to cut it out, to sew it, and to +press it." + +"That would make a nice coat, Bemperlein." + +"Not so bad, perhaps, as you think. At all events it would not be the +first dress-coat I have made with my own hands." + +"Impossible, Bemperlein!" cried Franz, with amazement. + +"As I tell you. It is a long time since, to be sure--perhaps fifteen +years; and I was, during that Robinson Crusoe period of my life, much +more inventive and industrious than I am now; but still I do not think +I should find it impossible even now." + +"But how did you come to make such a funny experiment?" + +"Through the author of all inventions--necessity. You know, Miss +Sophie, that I belong to those of God's children, or rather did belong, +for now I have been promoted to another class, to whom the heavenly +kingdom is promised, because they call nothing their own upon earth. +This compelled me, when I left the Elysian fields of my native village +and came to this town, to lead a life like a cicade, and to avoid all +unnecessary expenses. Thus it occurred to me also, after long and +painful meditation, that it might be feasible, even in this century of +ink-consumption, to manufacture my own clothes, like Eumaeus of old, +the god-like keeper of swine. No sooner thought than done. I had formed +a great intimacy with a boy--his name was Christian Sweetmilk, the son +of the old tailor Sweetmilk in Long street--who was to be a tailor and +wished to be a doctor. We made a covenant that I should teach him every +evening, when papa Sweetmilk's stentorian voice announced the closing +of the shop, his Latin and Greek grammar; while he in return should +instruct me in the use of the needle and the goose. Our studies were +carried on with equal secrecy and industry, for I had good reason to +fear the jibes of my school-mates, and he the never-missing yard-stick +of his father and master. Oh! those were precious hours which we thus +spent together, hours never to be forgotten again! I can see us still +sitting by the light of a miserable train-oil lamp in our diminutive +garret, on an autumn evening like this to-day, when the rain was +pattering down upon the tiles right over our heads, and the gutter was +overflowing, and the owls and rooks in the steeple of St. Nicholas were +crowing and croaking. We were not cold however, although there was no +fire burning in the little cast-iron stove, for the sacred flame of +friendship warmed the blood in our veins with a gentle glow, and I was +sewing till the thread smoked, and he was learning his grammar till his +head smoked; and when I had finished a seam in masterly style, and he +could tell his _typto_, _typteis_ without a mistake, we fell into each +other's arms and envied no king on his throne in all his splendor." + +Mr. Bemperlein paused and looked deeply moved into his glass. + +"Hurrah for old times!" said Franz. + +"Hurrah for the new ones, too!" replied Bemperlein, touching glasses +with the betrothed. + +"But how about the dress-coat, Bemperlein?" asked Sophie. "I hope it +was not the coat in which you were confirmed?" + +"You have guessed it, fair lady; it was my confirmation coat. The time +for the ceremony was drawing near. A merchant, to whose children I had +given lessons in reading and writing, and at whose table I dined every +Friday gratis, had presented me with the cloth for a dress-coat. The +good man even told me to have it made at the tailor's at his expense. +But I thought it would be abusing his goodness if I should avail myself +of that offer too, and I asked his permission to have the coat made by +my own tailor. Well, you may imagine who 'my own tailor' was. But alas! +Papa Sweet milk had found out our 'abominable tricks,' as he called the +sacred hours devoted to friendship and hard work, in his vulgar +language. He had discovered the Greek grammar, which Christian used to +throw quickly into 'hell,' the place of remnants and rags, when the +Boeotian father suddenly entered, and the effect of this fatal +discovery was, that he first used up his yard-stick on the shoulders of +the attic youth, and then ordered him peremptorily to give up all +intercourse with me hereafter, under penalty of being immediately and +permanently banished from the paternal house, and of being disinherited +besides. My faithful friend told me of the fearful sentence, weeping +bitterly, as I met him the next day at the corner of the street. 'But I +will not submit any longer to such tyranny,' he cried, flourishing a +pair of trousers, which he was ordered to carry to one of his father's +customers, with more energy than grace. 'This one more slavish service +I will render (and he struck the dishevelled inexpressibles with his +closed fist in wild fury) and then I will go into the wide, wide world. +Will you go with me? 'It took me some time to quiet the boy. I knew +that nothing pained him more than the thought that he would now be +unable to help me with my dress-coat. I reminded him of the +commandment, that we must honor father and mother, if we wish to live +long in the land which the Lord our God has given us. I told him +his father would probably give way after a while; and as for the +dress-coat, I promised him that the pupil should do credit to his +master. Christian shook his head sadly. 'You can't do it, Anastasius,' +he said; 'you will not get it done, even if you had any idea how to cut +it out.' 'What will you bet, Christian?' I cried. 'You shall see me +to-day week at the confirmation in church, wearing the coat I have made +without your assistance, and you shall have to confess that it fits me +well. If I win, you shall give me your bird; if you win, I'll give you +the Odyssey, Heyne's edition. What do you say?' 'Done!' said Christian, +laughing, in spite of his troubles. 'I ought not to bet, because you +are sure to lose, but since you will have it so, let it be so.'" + +"Well, and who won the wager?" asked Sophie, full of interest. + +"On the following Sunday, at St. Nicholas," said Mr. Bemperlein, and +his voice trembled, and the glasses in his spectacles were dim, "on the +following Sunday I was kneeling amid a number of youths before the +altar, and the music of the organ was floating through the vast +edifice, and the minister proclaimed God's blessing over us; but I +heard nothing of all that. I only looked up to the gallery, to a boy +with long, brown hair and brown eyes, who kissed his hand to me, and +whose dear face was beaming with pride and joy that his friend should +look so well, contrary to all his expectations. When my turn came that +'the Lord might bless me and preserve me and let His countenance shine +upon me,' he folded his hands piously and prayed for me earnestly with +bent head." + +Bemperlein paused again. He had taken off his glasses, which had become +dimmer and dimmer, and was now rubbing them bright again with his silk +handkerchief. + +"And what has become of Christian?" asked Franz. + +"He is now professor of ancient languages in one of the best lyceums in +Belgium; his grammar of the Doric poets is considered a most valuable +work for philologists. I had a letter from him day before yesterday, +sixteen pages long." + +"And what has become of the dress-coat?" asked Sophie. + +"It hangs still, as a valued memento of former days, in my wardrobe," +replied Bemperlein, replacing his spectacles, and looking with a smile +at Sophie; "and what is more than that, it still fits me so well that I +can present myself in it at any time, if my gracious lady should +entertain any doubts as to the truthfulness of this veracious story." + +"Will you do me a favor, Bemperlein?" said Sophie, with unusual +seriousness, offering him her hand. + +"Anything!" said Bemperlein, enthusiastically, and seizing the girl's +hand. + +"Then don't order a new dress-coat for my wedding, but come in the old +one, which has become very dear to me through your touching story." + +"Are you in earnest?" + +"Can you doubt it?" + +"Well, then," said Mr. Bemperlein, kissing Sophie's hand reverently, "I +will be at your wedding in the coat which I have made myself for my +confirmation." + +The little company finished their cold supper and then went back to the +cosy sitting-room, where Sophie made tea, while Franz went to inquire +after the privy councillor. He returned with the welcome news that papa +was, for the first time since the beginning of his sickness, lying in +quiet, refreshing sleep, and that the servant who was watching by his +bedside said "he had fallen asleep almost immediately after having +murmured a few unintelligible words, with folded hands." + +Franz assured them that the recovery would now progress with rapid +strides, and that he felt very little doubt any more of a perfect +restoration. Sophie embraced and kissed him as a reward for this good +news, and Bemperlein vowed he would hereafter acknowledge a fifth most +profane evangelist, besides the four in the Bible--namely, a St. +Franciscus. + +They were sitting around the fire-place. The steam of the tea-kettle +and the smoke of the cigars which the gentlemen had lighted, rose in +clouds up to the Olympic Zeus, who now became a comfortable Zeus +Xenius. Franz was in a peculiarly elated humor, which Sophie placed on +the ground of the favorable turn in her father's disease, but which had +a very different reason. It was the nervous excitement which overcomes +even the bravest before the beginning of a battle; for Franz felt and +knew that to-day the battle of life had commenced for him in good +earnest. He had assumed most serious obligations, which might have +incalculable consequences for his own future and for Sophie's future. +The very heaviest responsibility was henceforth resting on his +shoulders. He saw of a sudden the ocean, on which the vessel which +contained their joint fortunes was sailing, filled with most dangerous +reefs, which it would require an always clear head, an always bold +heart, and an always steady hand to clear successfully. Sophie did not +suspect what her betrothed was then experiencing; she began, with +Bemperlein's aid, to draw a picture of the future--a little paradise, +full of peace and comfort, quiet and sunshine. + +"You must get married too, Bemperlein," she cried. + +"With the greatest pleasure," replied Mr. Bemperlein "if you will find +the main thing." + +"What is that?" + +"A girl who is willing to love me, and whom I can love." + +"I'll pick you out one, Bemperlein. I know your taste, and I know +exactly what the future Mrs. Bemperlein must be like." + +"I am rather curious to hear," aid Mr. Bemperlein, comfortably +ensconcing himself in his chair. + +"In the first place," said Sophie, "as regards the exterior--for you do +attach some importance to appearances, Bemperlein, do you not?" + +"Certainly," said Bemperlein, eagerly. + +"Well, then, your future wife must not be tall." + +"Why not?" + +"Because you are not a giant yourself Bemperlein; and, you know, like +and like ... I therefore submit that she ought to be delicate and well +made, a nice little figure, with dark hair and dark eyes, clever, +active, gay, and mobile. Are you content?" + +"Hem!" said Mr. Bemperlein. "Not so bad! not so bad! Go on!" + +"Then, as regards fortune; she must not be rich. You know why." + +"Because I would not know what to do with the money." + +"Exactly so. Am I right?" + +"Perfectly. But now tell me why said lady must necessarily have brown +hair and brown eyes?" + +"As far as I recollect, I have only spoken of dark hair and dark eyes; +but if you have a decided preference for brown, Bemperlein----" + +"Preferences" said Bemperlein, almost anxiously "I have a preference! +What do you mean?" + +"Bemperlein, you blush! That is a very suspicious sign. Do not you +think so too, Franz?" + +"Very suspicious," replied Franz. "I propose that the accused be +examined most rigorously, and persuaded by every available means to +make an open and full confession." + +"Yes, he must confess! he shall confess!" cried the overjoyous girl, +clapping her hands; "he shall give an account of that treacherous +redness on his cheeks. Accused! I ask you, upon your conscience, do you +know a lady with brown hair and brown eyes?" + +"But how can you ask me that, Miss Sophie?" replied Mr. Bemperlein, +blushing deeper than before. + +"Let your words be Yea, yea! or Nay, nay! accused, and nothing else!" + +"Well then, I have!" said Bemperlein, laughing. + +"And when you spoke of brown hair and brown eyes, did you think of this +lady?" + +"Yes!" replied Bemperlein, after some hesitation. + +"Now we have him! He has thought of her! He has thought of her!" cried +Miss Sophie, and laughed with delight. + +"But who is _she_?" asked Franz. + +"We shall learn that presently. Accused! does she live in this city?" + +"Yes." + +"Franz, take that down: she lives in the city. Accused! do you see her +frequently?" + +"No." + +"Then, have you seen her to-day?" + +"But, Miss So----" + +"No subterfuges! Have you seen her to-day?" + +"Well, I see I shall fare better by confessing everything at once," +said Mr. Bemperlein, who in spite of all his efforts to appear +unconcerned had become more and more embarrassed. "Hear, then, oh +severe judge, and you, grave assistant judge, with your diabolic smile, +the strange story which has happened to me to-day, and which seems to +be specially intended to lead me from one trouble to another." + +"Tell us, Bemperlein; tell us!" cried Sophie. "The affair begins to +look romantic." + +"Well, then, you know, Miss Sophie, that the Grenwitz family has come +to town to-day." + +"We are aware of that. Go on, accused!" + +"But you do not know that the baroness wrote to me immediately after +her arrival, and asked me to call on her in the course of the day. She +said she had to confer with me on a matter of the utmost importance." + +"The affairs of the baroness are always of the utmost importance," said +Franz. + +"That I knew; and therefore I did not exactly hasten to pay my visit. +Towards evening, however, just before I came here, I went to the +house." + +"Well, and what was the great trifle?" + +"I never found it out, for I was not fortunate enough to be admitted. +In the house-door I met Mr. Timm, who was in such a hurry that he +nearly ran over me, and he had barely time to say to me 'What on earth +are you doing here, Bemperlein?' In the ante-chamber to which the +servant had shown me I found Mademoiselle Marguerite." + +"Has she brown eyes, Bemperlein?" + +"She has brown eyes. Miss Sophie; very fine brown eyes; which appeared +to me at that moment all the brighter as they were filled with tears." + +"Oh," said Miss Sophie, unconsciously dropping her gay tone; "why so?" + +"Do I know it? I had entered without knocking, as I did not expect +there would be anybody inside. When I came in, the young lady, who had +been sitting with her head on a table and sobbing, jumped up and did +her best to hide her tears. When I asked if I could see the baroness, +she replied that she would go and see. But she did not go, at least not +beyond the nearest door, where she stopped and again broke out into +tears. You may imagine how embarrassed I was. I cannot see anybody +weep, much less so young, poor, and helpless a creature as Mademoiselle +Marguerite. I went up to her, took her hand--upon my word I could not +help it--and said--what else could I say?--'why do you cry, +Mademoiselle?' Her tears flowed only the faster. I repeated my question +again and again. '_Je suis si malheureuse!_' was all she could utter +amid her sobs. That was all I heard. I pitied the poor child, with all +my heart. I asked if I could help her. She shook her head. I tried to +comfort her, and said whatever can be said in such a state of things. +Gradually she calmed down, dried her eyes, pressed my hand, and said, +'_Oh, que vous etes bon!_' Then she stepped out at the door. I was as +wise as before. After a few minutes there came, in her place, Baron +Felix, to tell me that his aunt was exceedingly sorry not to be able to +see me to-night. She was too much fatigued from the journey. I might +call again in the morning. As Baron Felix also seemed to be in a great +hurry, I took my leave very quickly. When I was in the door he called +after me, 'Apropos, Mr. Bemperlein, do you happen to know when Doctor +Stein will be back again?' 'I believe in a few days,' I replied, and +left. There you have my romantic story." + +"Which is full of suggestions," said Franz. "For instance, I should +like to know myself when Oswald will be back. He ought to be here by +this time." + +At that moment a maid came in, to hand him a card. + +"Is the gentleman still there?" asked Franz, rising quickly. + +"No, sir. He asked if you were alone? I told him, 'No, Mr. Bemperlein +was in the room.' Then he said he would call again, and left." + +"Who was it?" asked Sophie. + +"Oswald!" replied Franz. "What a pity! I should have liked to see him." + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + +Oswald had reached Grunwald a few hours ago. The early autumn evening +was coming on apace, as he approached the old town on the turnpike--for +this part of the Prussian Vendee was then not yet in possession of a +railway. The high towers rose dimly like Ossian's giant bodies in the +floating gray mist; mists hung low upon the meadows between the +causeway and the sea, and mists hovered over the wide waters between +the island and the firm land. + +Oswald wrapped himself, shivering, more closely in his cloak, and fell +back in the corner of the coupe. What was he to do in Grunwald? What +did he want in Grunwald? He did not know it himself. Even the low trees +by the wayside, bent by the northeast storms, which slipped by in +wearying monotony as he drove on, did not know it; the raw-boned stage +horses, dripping with wet and trotting mechanically along with drooping +heads, did not know it; even the old, bearded guard, who was pulling +out the list of passengers for the hundredth time, from sheer +weariness, and was conning it over once more, even he did not know it. +Nobody knew it, unless it was the crow, which had delayed too long in +the woods and was now flying lonely and sadly above the stage-coach +towards town, and vanished in the mist. And the trees danced by, more +like spectres than ever; and the horses shook more impatiently the +heavy collars, and the mist rolled up in closer and darker masses, and +through the close and dark mist a few lights become visible; and now +the coach rolls across the drawbridge, through the narrow town-gate, +into the narrow, ill-paved, tortuous street, and stops before the +post-office. The sudden quiet after many hours' shaking, jolting, and +rattling, is indescribably sweet for one who reaches the end of his +journey, but indescribably painful for him whose journey has no end, or +for whom the end is not the desired goal. He would rather the jolting, +shaking, and rattling should begin once more and carry him further and +further away from all men into eternal night. + +But he is now in a civilized city among civilized men, who have no +sympathy with eccentricities of any kind, and who hold to the opinion +that a gentleman who arrives in Grunwald by the express stage-coach at +the appointed hour, half-past seven o'clock, is bound to give the guard +a fee, to ask him respectfully to pick out from the other boxes and +trunks his own trunk and hat-box, marked in legible letters with a +"Doctor Stein, passenger for Grunwald," and then to send these things +by a porter to the Hotel St. Petersburg. Here Doctor Stein thought he +would be kindly remembered from the time when he studied and passed his +examination here under the auspices of Professor Berger, and used to +drink many a bottle of wine at said hotel in company with the latter; +but now nobody knew him, for the old landlord had died several months +ago, and the new landlord had engaged new waiters. + +This had the effect that the clerk looked upon him as a stranger in the +fullest sense of the word, and treated him as such, presenting to him +at once the large book in which he was to enter his name. "Mr. +Drostein? Thank you!... Doctor O. Stein? Ah! I beg pardon; thought it +was all one name. Are you going to honor us with your presence for +any length of time, sir? No? Much life in town just now: theatre, +horse-fair, student's ball.... Doctor Braun? Know him very well, +practices in the house since the privy councillor has been paralyzed. +Was here to-day.... Where he lives? Quite near here. Post street, +second house on the right, close by the privy councillor's. Are you +going to order supper, sir? No appetite? sorry to hear it! Very fine +fresh oysters! Natives! Anything else? water to drink? Pitcher of +water? Directly, sir, you shall have it at once!" + +An uncomfortable-looking room; two lighted candles on the table before +the sofa; a trunk on a low trestle; a hat-box on the chair close by; +all around silence, when the step of the waiter is no longer heard in +the long, narrow passage. Oswald did not think the situation calculated +to cheer up a melancholy man. He made haste to leave the room and the +house. + +It had been his first intention to call on Franz, the only one in +Grunwald from whom he could be sure of receiving a hearty welcome--a +friend's reception; but he soon abandoned the plan and wandered aimless +and purposeless through the streets. He had never felt at home in +Grunwald; but yet he had not found the town looking so utterly strange +to him, even in the first days of his former residence here. Was it +only the effect of his melancholy humor? Was it the dark, misty +evening? He did not recognize the streets--the squares through which he +used to walk so often; and when he thought he recalled one or the other +feature, it was only like something seen in a dream, where we confound +the near and the far chaotically in some great unknown distance. At +last he found himself in one of the streets leading down to the harbor. +Here he was more at home, for the harbor with its crowd of boats and +ships, its smell of the sea and of tar, its monotonous sailors' songs, +and its ceaseless hammering and knocking and sawing, had ever been his +favorite part of the town, and the almost daily end of his walks. + +But to-night everything was deserted and death-like, even in this the +only lively portion of the old Hanse town, every other part of which +looked as if it had been fast asleep for centuries, and was at best +murmuring in a half dream something about its past glory and power. +Here and there a light was visible through a cabin window, now and then +a dog barked on the deck of a vessel, or a sailor's hoarse call was +heard; otherwise all was silence and darkness. + +He walked upon the wharf that stretched far into the sea, and along +which vessel lay by vessel, out to the uttermost point. Here he stood +for some time, sunk in silent meditation, and looked with folded arms +out into the darkness which rested on the waters, and listened to the +low, monotonous splashing of the waves which were all the time kissing +and caressing the massive blocks of the breakwater. Was this his +dearly-beloved sea, on which his dreams and his hopes had so often +taken wings in company with countless gulls? Was this the dark abyss, +in which his hopes and dreams had been irretrievably swallowed up for +all eternity, like the treasure of a shipwrecked vessel? + +Beyond, on the other side of the black waste of waters, lay the island, +so near and yet so far off, like the time which he had spent there--the +short span of time that held all he had ever known of happiness and +peace in this life. A ferry-boat, which came from the island across, +sailed close by the outer end of the wharf on which he was standing. He +heard the measured dip of the heavy oars as they struck the waters, and +the peculiar low screeching which they cause as they rub against the +gunwale; he heard the confused voices of the passengers; he could even, +as they came nearer, distinguish single words; he thought he heard +Helen's name. Perhaps it was only an illusion, or an echo in his own +heart; but it struck him with peculiar force, and all of a sudden a +desire overcame him to seek out the house where, as he knew, the fair +maid was staying at the time. + +He went back into the town; he crossed the market-place. He stopped +before the house where Berger had lived. There was no light in the +windows. He could see by the light of a street-lamp that the green +blinds were closed, as in a house whose owner had died. From the +steeple of St. Nicholas the solemn music of a choral was heard, in +which, according to an ancient custom, Grunwald bids every evening at +nine o'clock farewell to the day that has gone by. Ordinarily the +organist only sends four men up to sing; but on days when a citizen of +distinction has been gathered to his fathers, he sends half, or the +whole of the choir, according to the desire of the survivors, who wish +to give an expression to their grief in this extraordinary manner. +To-day all the voices were fully represented--the deceased must have +been a man of very uncommon importance. + +Oswald listened till the last note had died away. He thought of death, +and the Great Mystery which the grave does not solve, but makes only +darker, and how happy the men are, after all, who find their trust in +believing in a Saviour and a Redeemer. + +The long-drawn summons of the sentinel before the main-guard awaked him +from his dreams. The squeaking voice of a youthful hero gave the +command: "Carry arms! Ground arms! Helmets off for prayer!" Piety by +order--effusions of heart, according to the paragraph of the +regulations! In a well ordered state everything must go by rule. + +"Why," said Oswald to himself, while he was walking towards the +town-gate, "why are you not a pedant among pedants, since fate does not +permit you to be a Roman among Romans? Why do you kick against the +pricks to which all the cattle patiently submit? You might be as well +off as the others. After all, it may not be so bad a thing to sit, as +Berger used to call it, in the easy-chair of an office; the night-cap +of a sinecure may protect one against many an attack of rheumatism--the +effect of a draught in this windy outside world; and he who has a +virtuous wife lives twice as long; and when he is compelled to die, +like everybody else, they play and sing from the steeple, that the +whole town hears it and prays for the peace of his soul." + +Above him it rustled in the tall trees with which the street was lined +that led to the suburb and to Miss Bear's boarding-school. The evening +breeze has torn the dense veil of fog, and the crescent of the +increasing moon was dancing through the clouds in their spectral +flight. A horseman galloped past him towards town. The horse snorted; +sparks flew. A moment later, and the noise was scarcely audible, and +soon ceased altogether. "Somebody, I dare say, who rides for the +doctor; a husband, perhaps, whose wife is taken ill; a father, whose +son is lying on his death-bed." Oswald thought of the night when Bruno +died, and of his fearful ride across the heath from Grenwitz to +Fashwitz. If Bruno had only lived! Oswald thought everything would have +happened differently then. It seemed to him as if the death of the boy +alone had made him so miserably poor--as if he could have challenged a +world in arms, with him by his side. With him and good fortune! no +sacrifice would have been too great for Bruno's sake; not even the +sacrifice of his love for Helen. He would have willingly and cheerfully +given the fair girl to Bruno--but to him alone, in the world. Given? +What had he to give--he the beggar? + +Now he was standing before the house he had come to see, and supported +himself against the iron railing of the garden. There was not a window +lighted up in the whole house. The inmates had probably all retired to +rest. He thought of the summer nights when he had stood looking by the +hour at the open window with the curtains lowered, from which the music +of a piano was wafted to him through the soft, silent air; and hours +afterwards, long after the light had vanished behind the red curtains +and the music had ceased, and he had still wandered up and down between +the flower-beds and under the tall beech-trees, sometimes till the +first purple streak of morning-dawn appeared on the eastern horizon, +and the birds in the thick bushes began dreamily to twitter above him. + +A breath of wind rushed through the two tall poplar-trees on both sides +of the lofty portal and whispered mysteriously in the dry leaves, a +window-shutter flapped in the house, a dog in a neighboring house began +to bark. + +Oswald shivered as if he had a fever. The momentary excitement after +his long journey in the stage-coach had passed away; he felt tired and +sick. He buttoned up his overcoat and turned to go back into the city. +A carriage came rapidly towards him. A horseman with a lantern in his +hand galloped before it--probably the same who before had galloped +madly through the dark night into town. + +Could it be Doctor Braun, who was going away? The thought that he might +possibly not find his friend at home, awakened in Oswald the desire to +see him and to talk to him. In a few minutes--for the distances in +Grunwald are not considerable--he stood before the house which the +waiter had told him was Doctor Braun's house. The girl who opened the +door said her master was at the privy councillor's, adding that he +spent all his evenings there. Here Oswald was told that Bemperlein was +in the sitting-room--Bemperlein, the only one, with the exception of +old Baumann, who knew his relations to Frau von Berkow--the only one +whom he feared to meet; whose reproachful glance, in case he should not +yet have been informed of the most recent events, must be painful to +him. + +He only remembered, when he was in the street again, that his going +away in such a manner must have appeared extraordinary, if not +ridiculous. This disturbed him and made him feel worse than before. He +would have liked best to hide himself in the lowest depth of the earth; +to forget in sleep the misery of life. In sleep? Why not in wine, when +sleep is not to be had? "The best of life is but intoxication," says +Byron; and there where a solitary lamp shines dimly between two stone +pillars, is the entrance to the cellars of the old city hall. Down the +long, broad staircase with the low steps, down into the bowels of the +earth, where nobody cares for sentiments that make the heart heavy, and +for thoughts that confuse the head! + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + +The city cellars of Grunwald cannot rival those of Bremen, but +nevertheless they are very respectable cellars. The low, spacious +vaults stretch far under the city hall, and extend even below the +market-place, on which it is situated. There are rooms enough that have +in former days served as drinking rooms of every size, and may even +to-day be used for larger and smaller companies, but what is most +needed is wanting--the guests. The good old times, when Grunwald was +wealthy and powerful, are no longer. Those who built these vaults and +filled them with ringing of cups, with songs of cheerful converse--the +honorable sober-minded burgesses with their broad shoulders, their +full, well-trimmed beards, and the broad-swords by their sides--they +sleep, all of them, sound, good sleep in the old graveyards, or under +the huge slabs of stone with which the churches are paved, if they were +members of the council, or otherwise great men, and there "await a +blissful resurrection." Their grandchildren crowd together in dark, +narrow chambers, and drink stale brown beer, instead of fiery, golden +wine; many a one, whose ancestor went down these steps day by day, +whenever the rosy summer evening was lying on the high gable roofs, or +the storms of winter were careering through the dark, narrow streets, +hardly knows how it looks down there in the city cellars. + +Nevertheless they do not seem to be entirely deserted by the good +people of Grunwald. The dim little lamp at the entrance burns +night after night--often far into the small hours, sometimes till +daybreak--and the solemn citizen who has been belated at some +Christening feast or other great festivity, and now walks home with +wife and daughter in the silent night through the deserted streets, and +past the city cellars, often sees a dim light shine through the +unwashed windows, and hears perhaps low confused voices, which seem to +rise from the bowels of the earth and make an uncanny impression at +that hour and in that place. + +But there are no gnomes carrying on their wicked doings below there, +only gay companions, jovial, or at least not very pedantic fellows, who +can fully appreciate the value of a good glass of wine, taken from a +good cask, and enjoyed in good society. There are men who do not relish +all of life so very heartily that they should not at times desire to +wash the dusty, unpleasant taste down with a glass of wine; others who +have neither chick nor child at home, and get tired at night among +their silent books; still others who, wearied of the monotony +of married life, want to have a merry night for once; and still +others, who have quite accidentally found their way down the broad +cellar-steps, and cannot very well get up again a few hours later, +however broad the steps may be. There are young professional men, +artists, actors--if there happen to be any in town--young literati, now +and then a farmer from the neighborhood, or an official--these make the +main ingredients of the public which is apt to assemble every evening +in the great vault to the left of the entrance, and sometimes, when +they wish to be still more exclusive, in a smaller room on the other +side of the building. + +Oswald knew the place very well from his former residence here, +although he had never reached the dignity of an habitue. He had been +occasionally at the cellars with Berger, without taking much notice of +the rest of the company that might be there. Thus the damp, cool air, +filled with the peculiar odor of marvellously-ancient walls, and the +fragrance of last year's wine, greeted him pleasantly, and he found +without much trouble the way to the low door which opened into the +drinking-hall. + +Except the waiter, there happened to be at that moment nobody in the +long, vaulted, and badly-lighted room, but a single guest, who sat with +his back to the door, and did not allow himself to be disturbed in the +least by Oswald's entrance. He was pleasantly engaged in discussing +fresh oysters, and Oswald, who had taken his seat not far from him at +one of the small round tables, noticed with some astonishment what a +mountain of shells the indefatigable worker had already accumulated. +And yet he did not look tired. At least he leaned only now and then +back in his chair, in order to sip with evident satisfaction a glass of +wine, and then renewed his labors with a zeal which certainly spoke as +eloquently for the good quality of the oysters as for the excellency of +the digestive powers of the consumer. + +The last shell was dropping from the mountain, and the last drops were +flowing from the bottle into the glass. + +"_Sic transit gloria mundi_," said the man; "nevertheless, we can +easily renew this _gloria_. Carole, bring another dozen of these +excellent dwellers in the deep, and half a bottle of this most +praiseworthy hock." + +Oswald listened. The voice was familiar to him; it reminded him of +by-gone, happy days. That fresh, clear voice had refreshed and +encouraged him more than once, as the wind does the prisoner blowing in +through the open windows of his prison; it did not fail to-day to have +the usual effect on his darkened mind. Of all men this was the one +whose company was by far the most welcome to-night. + +He rose, therefore, approached him, and greeted him with unusual +animation. + +"_Ah, dottore, dottore!_" exclaimed the oyster-eater, rising at once +and seizing the proffered hand. "You here? Well, that is a most +sensible notion of our stupid friend's accident. Carole, a whole bottle +instead of half a bottle, and several dozen oysters instead of one." + +"Am I really at this moment a _persona grata_ to you, Timm?" said +Oswald, taking a seat by Albert's side. + +"_Persona grata!_ at this moment!" cried Albert Timm. "Don Oswaldo! Don +Oswaldo! I have missed you sadly, upon my word, ever since we parted at +Grenwitz, and I am as delighted as a snow-bird to see you here again. +Where on earth have you been hiding all this time? I have inquired of +everybody. Since when are you back?" + +"Three hours ago." + +"And, of course, you are hungry and thirsty, just as you were when you +left the stage-coach; at least you look so. Carole, Carole! Why does +the fellow not come? At last! Here, dottore, is food for a sound +stomach, and drink for a sick heart! Here's your health! Welcome in +Grunwald!" + +And Mr. Timm's face smiled so kindly as he said these kind words that +it would have looked like blackest ingratitude to doubt the sincerity +of his sentiments. + +Oswald at least was most pleasantly affected by this cordial reception +of a man whose friendship he had never tried to win, whose amiable +frankness he had often met with repulsive coldness, and he felt this +all the more deeply as he had suffered a few moments before acutely +from a sense of loneliness in the world. + +"One service deserves another, Timm," he said, while the latter was +filling the glasses again. "I can tell you that I am heartily glad to +have met you the very first night I spend again in this town. Let us +have another glass! Here's our good friendship!" + +"With pleasure!" cried Mr. Timm, heartily grasping Oswald's proffered +hand. "We will hold together honestly. Heaven knows this wretched +old-fogy place does not have an abundance of men with whom one can +hold together, or like to do it. But this league of two noble souls +ought to be celebrated in a nobler beverage. Carole! A bottle of +champagne--Clicquot and _frappe_--else, by the bones of my fathers, the +lightning of my wrath falls upon your bald pate. And now come, _dottore +mio_, tell us something of your wanderings; or, rather, tell us that +some other time; and let me know, first of all, for that is most +interesting to me, has Fame told us falsely in making a most wonderful +mixture of great and small things of the last scenes of your farce, +your drama, or your tragedy at Grenwitz?" + +"Before I can answer that," said Oswald, whom the oysters, the wine, +Timm's company, and the whole atmosphere, were gradually putting into +better humor, "I must know what it is Fame has reported." + +"Do you really wish to know?" + +"Certainly." + +"Well, there were two readings; but you must not blame me, Stein, if I +touch a sore place in your heart without knowing." + +"But, Timm, do you think I am a child?" + +"In some respects all men are children, and remain children, dottore, +and you are no exception to the rule. Whatever flatters our self-love, +goes down as easily as a rich oyster; whatever hurts our vanity, tastes +like wormwood and quinine. _Eh bien!_ Some say you had favored an +understanding between Bruno--what a pity, by the way, the poor boy had +to bite the grass so young!--and Miss Helen; that Felix had come to you +to hold you to an account about this in the name of the parents; that +this had led to a difficulty between you, which had ended in a scuffle; +that Felix had slipped, in his endeavor to turn you out of the house, +and that he had broken his right--some say his left--arm, once; some +say twice." + +"The accursed rascal," murmured Oswald, between his teeth, hastily +throwing an empty oyster-shell to the others. + +"Did I not tell you I might annoy you, Oswald? Come, don't be a child, +and wash your anger down in a glass of this famous wine. The other +reading is not half so bitter." + +"Let us hear!" + +"According to this variation it was not the pupil, but the teacher, +whom the young lady looked upon with favor; and the broken arm of the +baron was not the effect of a fall, but of a pistol ball, which was +applied to his aforesaid extremity in the presence of witnesses, and +according to all the rules of art." + +"Well, and which reading do you prefer?" + +"Of course the latter, my brave Knight of La Mancha. Here, +Oswald--nobody hears us in these halls, sacred to friendship and +love--fill your glass and drink! Drink it to the last drop of silvery +foam! Her health!--the health of the only one, the sweet, the fair, the +beautiful one, with the blueish-black hair and the dark sea-deep eyes! +Drink! I say, by the bones of the eleven thousand virgins at Cologne! +Drink! How, noble Don, are you ashamed to confess the lady of your +overflowing heart? and to deny her before me--me, the wise Merlin, who +can hear the grass grow and the eyes sigh? Have I not heard the sighing +of your beautiful eyes in those sunny days which are no more, when you +and she, two children of a rare kind, played innocently under the +rose-bushes and thought that no one saw you, not even the Creator of +heaven and earth who gave you the warm breath with which you playfully +whispered to each other the sweet mysteries of love? And did I not hear +how serpents' tongues hissed around you? Did I not see with what +intense hatred basilisk eyes glared at you? Oh, I have seen and heard +all that, and I knew before that it would come thus, but I said +nothing; for speech is silver, but silence is gold, and he who meddles +with love affairs would do better to go and sit down in a bed of +nettles." + +"Tell me, Timm, have you--have you seen her since she has come to +Grunwald?" + +"I have seen her, my master!--not once, but many times, by the side of +other fair beauties, among whom she looked like the rose of Sharon amid +dandelions, gliding over the pavement of Grunwald, through dismal +streets; and the paving-stones in the streets and the bricks in the +houses received speech, and they spoke and sang: Blessed art thou among +women!" + +"She is at Miss Bear's house, is she not?" Oswald asked, who thought it +would be folly to try and conceal his attachment from a man of such +sharp observation as Albert. + +"Yes, she is at the She Bear's--this pearl of an argus-eyed female. +There she dwells, and sits at the window and sees the clouds drift over +the tops of the poplars; and if you pass by there at noon, between +twelve and one, you can see her sit there yourself, as I have seen her +every time I have passed there at that hour. And always she raised her +beautiful eyes, and always she looked at me inquiringly: Can you bring +me no news of him--of him, the only man I love dearly? Why, Oswald, +I--a prosy old fogy--I speak in verses whenever I think of the maid; +and you, who are a poet, mean to deny that you love her with all your +heart, with all your soul, with all your mind? Fie upon you; you do not +deserve that I take so much trouble about you--that I have thought of +you these last weeks more frequently than you have done during the +whole time. But ingratitude is the reward of the world, and--Carole, +another bottle!--I shall hereafter not trouble myself about you and +your fate any further." + +Timm rested his head in his hand, as Oswald had been doing these last +ten minutes. A pause followed, while bald-headed Charles placed a new +bottle of champagne into the wine-cooler, turned it round a few times +in the ice, and then left them again as noiselessly as he had come. + +This sudden transition from exuberant hilarity into such melancholy +silence, in an elastic nature like Surveyor Timm's, was somewhat too +sudden to be perfectly natural. Oswald, however, was too busy with his +own thoughts to notice this. He thought Timm was sincere, and he was +flattered by the lively interest which he had excited in a man whom he +had heretofore looked upon as altogether frivolous and selfish. He +filled his own glass and Albert's from the new bottle, and said, + +"I am not ungrateful, Timm; I am really not so; and least of all in +this case. And if I have heretofore not put full faith in your +friendship, it was only because I felt how little I had deserved it. +Let us have another glass together! You know you must not be exacting +with a melancholy man like myself!" + +"Well, I should think I knew that," said Timm, with his usual merry +laugh, pushing back the long fair hair that had fallen down upon his +forehead, and emptying his glass at a single draught. "And I have often +wondered how a man like yourself, who has a right to enjoy life more +than any one else, can look upon the world in a way which seems only +fit for sick canary birds and like invalids. I should say nothing if +you had never commenced to enjoy it from mere bashfulness, or if you +had wasted your strength in enjoyment; but as neither the one nor the +other is evidently the case with you--as you are not an enthusiastic +saint nor a worn-out roue--as you suffer neither from an exuberance of +strength nor from too great weakness, I really cannot tell what is the +matter with you, except one thing." + +"And what is that?" + +Mr. Timm rested his elbows on the table, and the smooth face in his +white hands, and smiled craftily at Oswald. + +"And that is--what, Timm?" + +"Ten thousand dollars annual income." Oswald laughed. + +"A very prosaic remedy for contempt of the world." + +"But a very radical one, and in your case infallible." + +"Why exactly in my case?" + +Timm filled the glasses once more, lighted a fresh cigar, and said: + +"Heine, you know, divides men in two classes: fat Grecians and lean +Nazarenes. I have found this distinction as acute as true. The former +believe in Our Lady of Melos, the latter worship the Virgin Dolorosa. +The former enjoy the good things of life in cheerful happiness; the +latter prefer a grumbling resignation and meditative asceticism. In +order that both classes should be right, that the Grecians should be +able to live well and the Nazarenes pray well, the former must have an +abundance of money, and the latter must be poor, very poor indeed." + +"Before you go on with your exposition, Timm, tell me first to which of +the two classes you belong yourself." + +"To both, or to neither of the two, as you choose. I have the good +digestion, the sound teeth, the fine perception--in a word, the desire +and the capacity to enjoy which belongs to the Grecians; but I have +also the tenacity and frugality necessary to the Nazarenes for the +practice of their peculiar virtues. I have the invaluable talent of the +camel to be able to thirst a long time without losing heart or +appetite; on the contrary, abstinence only serves in my case to sharpen +the appetite and to season the next drink more attractively. When I +have travelled through the desert, and--as just now, for instance--the +branches of mimosas and the fans of palm-trees wave over me, and the +icy-cold well--as just now, for instance, from the bottle--I meant to +say, from the rock--foams and purls--then I bend my long camel's neck +and drink and drink and drink, and bless the dry, brown desert which +has led me to such a delicious well." + +And Mr. Timm poured down a full glass of champagne with the hasty +eagerness of a traveller whose tongue is glued to the palate. + +Oswald watched the exulting companion who sat opposite to him with a +peculiar sense of pleasure, not unmixed with envy. How sharp and +bold, and yet how fine and intelligent, were the features in this +smooth, almost boyish face! How well that haughty superciliousness +suited him, which played around his delicate nostrils and curved the +sharply-accented red lips! How the words flew from these lips, swift as +feathered arrows, each one of which hits the bull's-eye! What a +sovereign contempt for mere phrases, for any kind of ornament, for all +those rags with which hypocrites and fools try to cover their +nakedness! How eloquent the whole bearing of the man, his head thrown +boldly back, as he blew the smoke of his cigar from him, or as he took +the bottle from the cooler, shook it, and filled again and again his +empty glass to overflowing! How light the burden of life seemed to be +to this man, light as to the lion who leaps with the colt in his teeth +swiftly over hedges and ditches! + +Oswald was not inclined at that moment to cast a glance into the +bottomless abyss of selfishness which lay concealed under the surface +of this humor, dancing about in merry waves. The time and the place +were not favorable to such an analysis. He felt down here, in this +deep, quiet cellar, with its dim, mysterious light of two small +candles, as if he were thousands of miles away from the rest of the +world. He had come here to drink himself into oblivion; he had +succeeded in his wishes. His brow was all aglow, as he followed the +example of his companion and poured down glass after glass. He had not +felt so free and so happy for a long time as he did at that moment. + +"As for you, now, noble knight," continued Timm, "you are a Grecian, +without the means of being so at all times, and without the gift of +simply transferring the time during which you cannot be so to the +account of the future. Instead of doing that, you play the Nazarene, +and feel just as happy during the time as the eagle whose wings and +claws have been clipped, and who wears a chain around his foot. The +exuberant strength, which you cannot employ outwardly, turns within and +checks the normal growth of your nature, which has once for all been +intended for enjoyment. This is not the first time I call your +attention to this contradiction in you. Do you recollect what I told +yon already at Grenwitz? You hate the nobles, you hate the rich, you +hate the powerful, because the ten fingers of our hands itch with a +desire to be noble and rich and powerful yourself. Do not talk to me of +your moral humbug of the nobility of mind, the wealth of a pure heart, +and the power of truth! All that is mere stuff for those who know what +merchandise is sold in the market of life. Pshaw! what has a man like +you to do with poverty--a man of your youth, your charms, your pretty +face--for, by heaven, Oswald, you are a handsome fellow, a man whom the +women embrace without his asking, A man of thoroughly aristocratic +tastes and tendencies! It is simply ridiculous! You ought not to be a +poor schoolmaster, but a wealthy baron, like those Grenwitz people with +whom, by the way, you have a most striking resemblance; then you could +enjoy life, and afterwards blow out your brains with some show of +reason; then you could marry the fair Helen; could do, in a word, or +not do whatever you liked! That is why I say again: you want an income +of ten thousand dollars. I wish I could get it for you, I would do it, +and were I to take them I know not where." + +"I really believe you were capable of doing it, Timm." + +"Why not? And if it were only from curiosity to see how you would act +in such a case towards your old friend." + +"I would do with the mammon, you may rest assured of that, as I did +when I was a boy with the cherries people gave me--I would share it +with my friends." + +Albert looked fixedly at Oswald, as he said these words with flushed +cheek and raised voice. Suddenly he said, as if awaking from a dream: + +"I am a curious fellow, Oswald; as sceptical as a heathen, and yet as +fond of all sorts of omens as an old woman. As I was sitting here alone +eating my oysters, I said to myself: you happen to have a few dollars +in your pocket and you would like to spend them with a friend. And then +there occurred to me, as to Wallenstein, the question: who of all those +whom I meet here evening after evening meant it best and most honestly? +and that it should be the one who would first enter at the door. But, +strange enough, contrary to all the customs of the place, not one of +them came. Instead of that, you came--you, of whom I had not thought at +all. Oswald, I do not know how you think about such matters, and it may +be that my request will offend you, but I should like to drink with you +to our future, our intimate friendship. What do you say?" + +"With all my heart!" cried Oswald. "There is just one more glass for +each of us in the bottle." + +"And no one shall ever drink again out of this glass!" cried Albert, +and threw the empty glass on the floor. + +Oswald did the same; but the noise of the breaking glasses sounded +shrill and painful to his ear, like the laughter of delighted demons. + +Bald Charles, who had sat behind his counter at the other end of the +hall, nodding, started up when he heard the noise, and came gliding up, +drunk with sleep, thinking they had called him. + +"How is it, Oswald," cried Timm; "I think we had better have another +bottle. We shall not meet again as young as we are now." + +"No," said Oswald; "let us be content. My head burns. And I have to +call, to-morrow, on Tom, Dick, and Harry. What is to pay?" + +"Stop!" cried Mr. Timm, holding Oswald's arm. "Mine is the helmet, and +it belongs to me! Carole, if you accept a red cent from this gentleman, +I break this empty bottle on your bald skull! Come! Make yourself paid +out of this rag for to-night and for the last nights; and what remains +over, why you can buy yourself on the way a wig with it, my Carole!" + +With these words Timm had drawn a twenty-five dollar note from a bulky +parcel which he took from his coat-pocket, and handed it to the waiter, +who seemed to be not a little astonished at this sudden wealth in the +hands of one of his very worst customers. At least he grinned in a very +peculiar manner as he took the note, while Mr. Timm put back the +package with an air of perfect indifference, and tilting his hat on his +head, sang: + + + "I am the last of guests to-night, + Come show me out of the house! + And we wish each other good-night, + I take a kiss from my little mouse!" + + +They were standing outside in the street. The mist had disappeared +entirely, and the moon was shining brightly on the dark sky. The lamps +had gone out, and deep shadows alternated with broad streaks of light +in the narrow streets between the high gable-ends. A watchman standing +at the corner with his long spear and antediluvian horn, called out the +twelfth hour. Nothing else was to be seen in the death-like streets +through which Oswald and Albert were now walking home, arm in arm, as +it became such good and intimate friends: Oswald unusually heated and +excited, Albert as cool and fresh as if he had been drinking nothing +but water in the city cellars at Grunwald. They talked over the members +of the town council and of the college on whom Oswald had to wait the +next day, and Oswald's career at the college especially, which Albert +declared was a fabulous idea, such as no one could have conceived but a +Knight of La Mancha. Thus they reached the door of the hotel, then they +wished each other good night. Oswald went in; Albert lounged down the +main street, his hands in his pockets. But suddenly he stopped and +seemed to meditate for a while. Then he turned into a by-street and +vanished in a labyrinth of lanes and courts, formed by rheumatic little +cottages, whose exterior did not belie the reputation enjoyed by this +part of the town. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + +The official dwelling of the rector of the college, Doctor Moritz +Clemens, was shining to-night in unwonted splendor. They had not only +removed the covers from all the sofas, sofa-cushions, and chairs, in +the best room and the sitting-room, so that the luxurious light of two +lamps and half a dozen stearine candles poured in floods over the +displayed magnificence; but even the rector's study, on one side, and +the sitting-room and chamber of the two daughters, on the other side, +had been changed into salons by removing the writing-table in the one, +and the beds in the other, while each was lighted up with a lamp and +three candles. The aromatic fragrance which always rises when incense +is strewn on the hot-plate of the stove, perfumed all the rooms, +and sufficed in itself to produce a festive excitement in every +well-regulated mind. + +The Clemens family is in grand gala, and awaits the guests who are to +come. The Clemens family consists of four persons: father, mother, and +two grown daughters. Rector Clemens is a man of fifty years, who must +have been very handsome in his youth, and who may still pass for very +good-looking. He wears his curly brown hair very long, and, contrary to +all fashion, his collar turned down _a la Byron_ over a loosely-tied +handkerchief, which gives him, in connection with a somewhat vague +softness of his features, an ideal, not to say an effeminate +expression. He is fully conscious of the soft character of his +appearance, and does all he can to heighten the effect. His speech is +soft, his voice is soft, his movements are soft. "I am called Clemens, +and I try to do honor to my name," he is accustomed to say, modestly, +whenever anybody compliments him on the "perfect humanity" of his +manner and his appearance. "Humanity" is his pet word. The learned +world knows him as the author of a moral philosophical work +"Purification of Man towards Perfect Humanity;" and the public at large +through his dramatic poem, "John at Patmos," which has appeared in a +second edition in the bookstores of the University of Grunwald, and +bears the motto, "_Homo sum, nihil humani mihi alienum puto_." + +Mrs. Rector Clemens is, at least in her outward appearance, a perfect +contrast to her husband. Her figure rises far beyond the ordinary size, +and is broad and strong. The features of her face are proportionately +heavy and massive; her voice is a tolerably deep bass, and her +movements and manners remind you forcibly of a vessel rolling in a +trough of the sea. She is indeed the daughter of a captain of a mail +steamer, and has made in her young days twice the voyage to the Indies. +It is hard to understand why her etherealizing husband with his +enthusiasm for Hogarth's line of beauty, should have chosen her above +all others, and the only explanation is to be found in that mysterious +affinity which unites the strong and the weak, the stern and the +gentle. The contrast between the two characters, however, does not +appear quite so striking upon closer observation. The husband has +succeeded in lending short wings to the somewhat clumsy psyche of his +wife. He has talked to her so much about true humanity, that she is +determined to become aesthetic in spite of her colossal size, and to be +refined in spite of her defective education. She reads a good deal, +although she does not understand it all; and she is the founder and +manager of a dramatic club, although she has never been able to +distinguish very clearly between a dative and an accusative. + +The two Misses Clemens are eighteen and nineteen years old, and enjoy +the beautiful old German names of Thusnelda and Fredegunda. The latter +resembles her mother, Thusnelda her father, but the difference in +character, which the common longing after humanity has nearly effaced +in the parents, is still very perceptible in the daughters. They +quarrel very frequently, are almost always of different opinions, and +resemble each other only in one point--the very high opinion they +entertain of themselves. + +"It seems to me our dear guests keep us waiting rather long," said +Rector Clemens, looking at his watch for the twelfth time in the last +twelve minutes, as he nervously walked up and down in the room. + +"I cannot comprehend why the good people don't come," said Mrs. Rector +Clemens, sitting down for a moment on the sofa and wiping her heated +brow with her handkerchief. "I had asked Doctor Stein expressly to be +sure to come before seven, because I wanted to read his part over with +him." + +"Will he be able to read the Captain?" said Miss Fredegunda Clemens +from the adjoining room, where she was busy with her dress before a +mirror. + +"He'll read it at least as well as Broadfoot," replied Miss Thusnelda +in an irritated tone. + +"But, children, surely you are not going to quarrel now," said the +mother, trying to appease them. + +"Fredegunda cannot stop teasing me," said Thusnelda. + +"And you are always trying to be better than everybody else," said +Fredegunda, appearing in the door. + +"For heaven's sake, children, I pray you, keep quiet," cries Doctor +Clemens, with imploring voice, raising his hands as if in prayer; "I +hear somebody in the passage." + +The door was really opened at that moment by a maid, and in walk +Professor Snellius, Mrs. Professor Snellius, and Miss Ida Snellius. + +The broken peace of the Clemens family is immediately restored. They +receive the new-comers as heartily as people who have worked their way +to genuine humanity are apt to welcome their friends. + +Professor Snellius, teacher of the first form and con-rector, a man of +some forty years, aspired, like Rector Clemens, and perhaps even more +energetically, to the ideal, and was perhaps even more favored in these +efforts by his outward appearance. While the beauty of Rector Clemens +had something vague about it, the character imprinted on the clear +features of Professor Snellius was unmistakable; even the most +malicious critic could not have denied that he bore a more than passing +resemblance to his favorite poet, Schiller. His admirers found in him +the same boldly-curved nose, with the electric spasms around the +nostrils, the same earnestness, the same majesty, the same tall form, +which, however, was not dressed in ideal costume, but yielded so far to +the demands of the time as to submit to a plain black suit, in which +the painful neatness is interrupted only by the spotless white of a +somewhat tight cravat. Professor Snellius is a pedagogue in the fullest +sense of the word. His erudition is literally overwhelming. He teaches +all the modern languages, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Sanscrit, and is not +quite unacquainted even with Chinese, which he reads in his leisure +hours. He is enthusiastic about the young and his vocation as a teacher +of the young. He has proclaimed his views on this most important task, +and his propositions how to solve its problems in the best manner, in +his voluminous work: "History of Education among the West Asiatic +Nations prior to the times of Rhamses the Great." The motto of this +work, and at the same time the professor's own motto, is: "Through +struggle to victory!" Professor Snellius looks soberly upon life, and +stammers a little whenever he becomes excited, as very frequently +happens to him, about the want of ideal enthusiasm in his pupils, or +about any other of his favorite subjects. + +Mrs. Professor Snellius is a little lady who would be insignificant if +she were not the wife of such a very great scholar. Miss Ida Snellius +is an exceedingly tall and exceedingly awkward girl of sixteen, who +looks marvellously like her father, and has the reputation of having +inherited largely the erudition of her father. She likes to converse +with highly-educated gentlemen--with others she does not speak at +all--of comparative philology, and of Wilhelm von Humboldt, and is +reported to have read through the twelve volumes of her father's famous +work. This report, however, is so monstrous, that its truth may well be +doubted. + +The long-drawn salutations between the families Clemens and Snellius +had not yet come to an end, when the door opened once more to admit Dr. +Kubel with wife and daughter. Kubel teaches the third form, and is a +round, jovial little man, with a smoothly-shaven face, and white, +well-kept hands--so round and so jovial that our days no longer produce +the like, and that they were found only in the peaceful, stagnant +waters of the period from the Congress of Vienna to the year 1848, in +out-of-the-way colleges and other quiet districts of quiet Germany. His +voice is loud and squeaking, and reminds you, as the figure of the man +himself does, of the harmless dwellers in morasses. His erudition is +not remarkable. Scoffers maintain that his only merit as a philologist +consists in his having a very pretty daughter. Mary Kubel is indeed a +very pretty, brown-eyed girl, ever cheerful and ready to laugh, who is +unspeakably despised by the Misses Snellius and Clemens; by the former +because she has once confounded Alexander and William von Humboldt; and +by the latter because she has no idea of reading dramatic compositions. +To-day she especially roused the indignation of Thusnelda and +Fredegunda, because she arrived at the same time with the two doctors, +Winimer and Broadfoot, and therefore has the appearance of having them +in her train. Now Thusnelda and Fredegunda are accustomed to claim the +attentions of these two gentlemen as their own exclusive right, and +that not without reason, for Mr. Winimer has already worn a lock of +Thusnelda's hair near his heart for about six months, and exhibits it +in sentimental moments to his intimate friends, threatening them with +fearful disgrace if they should ever, ever betray him; and Mr. +Broadfoot has lost at least a dozen philippines, and, some say, his +heart with them, to Fredegunda, during the six months since he received +his appointment at the college. Doctor Winimer is a slender young man +of medium size, whose tact in the intercourse with the fair sex is a +proverb among his colleagues, and who is always in more or less nervous +excitement--thanks, no doubt, to the many delicate relations in which +he stands, and of which he speaks in mysterious terms. Doctor Broadfoot +is a gentleman whom a stranger might take for a butcher, and who is the +continual butt of his friends, on account of his enormous hands and +feet, and his ordinary manners. + +"Now, our club is nearly assembled," says Rector Clemens, rubbing his +hands softly and raising his voice moderately. "Our dear guests alone +have not come yet." + +"Our guests, dear _collega_?" says Professor Snellius. "I thought the +question was in the singularis of _hospes_?" + +"_Minime!_" smiled the rector. "I have prepared a dual, yes, I may say +a plural of surprises for you to-night, gentlemen and ladies. There +will be two new guests here, besides our new colleague, of whom I +expect great things for our social intercourse. Can you guess who they +are?" + +"But, Moritz, it was to be a surprise!" says Mrs. Clemens, in a +reproachful tone. + +"I think, my dear, it is better to prepare the club beforehand. Is it +not our wish to receive the persons in question, not only as our guests +for to-night, but to win them permanently over for our little club; and +for that purpose, you know, we must have the consent of all the +members, according to the regulations which you have prepared +yourself." + +"Who is it, rector." asked Doctor Winimer. "You torture us." + +"A gentleman whose name has a good sound in the republic of letters, +and a lady who will be of special interest for you, _Collega_ Winimer, +in your capacity as lyric poet?" + +"A lady?" cried Mr. Winimer, passing his hand through his +carefully-arranged hair, his pride and his ornament, a gesture for +which he receives his punishment immediately in a reproving glance from +the lady whose lock he wears upon his heart. + +"Yes; a lady, a highly-gifted lyric talent." + +"No doubt, Primula; I mean Mrs. Professor Jager!" cries Mr. Winimer. + +"You have guessed it; the poetess of the 'Cornflowers' and the +interpreter of the fragments of Chrysophilos, will appear to-night as +stars, and, we hope, be willing to accept a permanent engagement +hereafter," said Rector Clemens, with his softest smile. + +A long-drawn, unisonous "Ah!" of astonishment, testified to the +interest felt by the company in this announcement. + +"I had another reason, besides, why I invited Mr. and Mrs. Jager +to-night," continues the rector; "it was, so to say, a consideration of +humanity for our new colleague, Doctor Stein. He is an entire stranger +in our circle, and seems to be remarkably shy, embarrassed, and little +accustomed to move in larger circles. Mr. and Mrs. Jager, he told me +himself this morning, are old acquaintances of his--from the time when +he was a tutor, I believe--and he will no doubt be glad to meet +to-night among so many strange or nearly strange faces, at least a few +old friends." + +"This delicate attention does you honor, _collega_," says Professor +Snellius, pressing the rector's hand, and displaying in the act the +elegiac feature near the nostrils. + +"But I think, Mrs. Clemens, the parts have all been distributed," says +Doctor Winimer, who is to read "Max," and is all the more opposed to +any change of programme, as his beloved Thusnelda reads the "Thekla," +and he has spent four weeks' arduous study upon learning his part. + +"I have given Doctor Stein the Captain, who was not yet given out," +says Mrs. Clemens, in the tone of one not accustomed to contradiction, +and allowing no opposition. "That is a very nice part, and he can show +to-night whether he can read or not. I should have liked, to be sure, +to read it over with him, but he must look but for himself now. As to +Mr. and Mrs. Jager, I have given them the Devereux and MacDonald, who +were still vacant." + +"But, my dear Mrs. Clemens," squeaked Doctor Kubel, "do you really +think those parts are quite suitable for our new friends at their first +debut?" + +"Why not, dear doctor?" asks the manager, with a frown of impatience. + +"I only think they will hardly like it particularly to make their first +appearance among us as murderers," says Doctor Kubel. + +The lady manager, whose brow has become darker and darker as her jocose +guest speaks, is about to reply, but is prevented from doing so, for +the door opens at that moment in order to admit Mr. and Mrs. Professor +(ex-pastor) Jager into the room. + +The noble pair have not left the "lowly roof" and the "country fields" +behind them without a change which might possibly escape the careless +observer, but which the sharper eye would at once discern in many a +characteristic symptom. Professor Jager knows but too well the use +which the mask of humility, of modesty, and unpretending simplicity has +rendered Pastor Jager, to lay it aside now when he has barely reached +half of his ambitious end. He has only aired it a little, and he who +has eyes to see, can at times very clearly discern underneath, his true +face, marked with the double impress of the scholar's conceit and the +priest's pride. Mrs. Jager affords the same sight, only translated into +childish and foolish words. The author of the "Cornflowers" has the air +of a person who expects every moment an effusion of overwhelming +praise, and is quite determined to deprecate it. If the appearance of +the professor reminds one of the well-known wolf in sheep's clothes, +and one cannot very well feel quite safe in his neighborhood, his +wife's appearance recalls the familiar crow, who thought herself Juno's +own bird, and it requires an effort to remain serious. The change in +the outward appearance is less perceptible; the interpreter of +Chrysophilos has exchanged his plain glasses in horn for a pair of gold +spectacles, and Primula wears in her golden hair a few artistic +imitations of those blue flowers that have furnished her with a title +for her poems. Both hold in their hands a copy of Wallenstein, full of +joyous anticipations, hoping to carry off the honors of the evening by +their masterly declamation, and without the most remote suspicion of +the mortal insult which is to be inflicted upon their pride during the +next ten minutes. + +Full of hope and free of suspicion they enter the room, welcome the +"highly-honored landlord and landlady," and greet the younger gentlemen +of the college, who are formally introduced. This is the first large +party at which they appear since their triumphant return to Grunwald. +Rector Clemens is known for the intelligent and interesting company he +has at his house; he surpasses in this the other professors of the +university even, unless it be Privy Councillor Roban, whose parties, +however, do not consume half as much poetical sentiment. Mr. and Mrs. +Jager are determined that this circle shall soon be only the nebular +preparation for the brilliant light of their own superiority. + +"Ah! my worthy friend," says Professor Jager, after having saluted +Clemens and Snellius, to Doctor Kubel, under whom he has been sitting +as pupil, pressing the fat, white hands with great warmth; "how +delighted I am to meet you, my highly esteemed teacher, and to see you +in such excellent health! Indeed, one might say of you as of +Wallenstein, that the swift years have passed over your brown hair +without leaving a trace. Indeed, indeed, _mens sana in corpore sano_. I +learnt that from you, but you have practised what you taught, Doctor +Winimer, I rejoice exceedingly to make your personal acquaintance; both +myself and my wife have known you long and held you dear, through your +charming 'Mayflowers.' Permit me to present you to my wife; I should +like to see the Cornflowers and the Mayflowers bound up in a bouquet, +ha, ha, ha! Doctor Broadfoot, I am happy to meet a man of science, of +your great merit. Your admirable monographs on Origens and Eusebius +have rendered me essential service in writing my Fragments. I am glad +to be able, at last, to thank you in person." + +While Professor Jager was thus making the round, winding snake-like +through the circle of the gentlemen. Primula flitted sylph-like through +the circle of ladies. She had, like the "maiden from afar," a gift for +every one. She pays a compliment to the elder ladies. She envies +Thusnelda and Fredegunda their "charming, highly-poetical" names; she +congratulates Ida Snellius on her progress in Portuguese, and pats Mary +Kubel on the blushing cheeks and calls her a dear, sweet child. + +"But our colleague comes really a little too late," says Rector +Clemens, looking at his watch. "I think, Augusta, we might have tea." + +"Whom do you expect, my dear sir?" asks Professor Jager of the rector. + +"Whose foot did not yet cross this threshold?" asks Primula, who is +full of reminiscences of Wallenstein, of the lady manager. + +At the very moment, when the professor and his wife are about to answer +these questions, the door opens and Oswald's tall form appears in the +frame. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + +When the last comer at a party enters the room he always excites a +certain sensation in the assembled company, especially when, as was +here the case, the arrival of the guest has been looked for with some +curiosity. Oswald was a perfect stranger to the whole circle. His only +acquaintance was the rector, whom he had met officially. The other +gentlemen and ladies, belonging to the college, he had perhaps seen now +and then in company during his former residence in Grunwald, but +without noticing them or being noticed by them. When he had paid his +visits during the day, he had found nobody at home except the Kubel +family. The gentlemen were curious to see their new colleague, the +older ladies the young man who might possibly become one of these days +their son-in-law, and the young ladies the new acquisition for their +social meetings--all were ready to examine him and to criticize. Thus +there followed a pause in the merry conversation, as he entered, and he +had to encounter the eyes of the whole company. + +Undismayed by this cross-fire of glances, Oswald approached Mrs. +Clemens, kissed her hand, excused his late arrival, and begged her to +present him to the other ladies, whom he was not yet fortunate enough +to know. After this ceremony had been performed in due form, he begged +the rector in like manner to make him acquainted with the gentlemen; +then he turned again to the ladies to pay a few compliments to his +hostess, and at last to Primula, who immediately entered upon a lively +conversation with marked eagerness. Primula had taken Oswald from the +first moment into her poetic heart, on account of his "fair, +chevalieresque, and truly romantic appearance," as she called it, and +all the admonitions of her husband had not been able permanently to +arrest the current of her sympathetic sentiments. She had, to be sure, +paid due respect in the country to existing circumstances, and dropped +the fallen greatness, but she had determined in her heart to follow the +impulse of her soul freely whenever she should be able to let her +captive psyche fly with untrammelled wings. That moment had come now; +she greeted Oswald, who had become more interesting than ever to her +through his "exceedingly romantic catastrophe at Castle Grenwitz," with +the double warmth of friendship and of admiration. Oswald, however, who +was determined, if possible, to make himself acceptable to all the +ladies, could not be kept long by all the charms of the poetess; he +talked seriously with the elderly ladies, he teased the younger ones, +and after ten minutes he seemed to have accomplished his end. + +In the meantime he had been carefully watched by the gentlemen, who had +gathered around Professor Jager. The interpreter of the fragments of +Chrysophilos hated Oswald with a very hearty hatred. Oswald had never +paid the vain man the attention which he claimed, and had even treated +him with undisguised contempt, especially during the latter part of his +stay at Grenwitz. Professor Jager had never forgotten the insult +offered to Pastor Jager, and waited only for a suitable occasion to pay +off the long accumulated debt. He was, however, far too clever and too +cowardly to come out with it openly, as the gentlemen of the college +now questioned him about Oswald, whom he declared he knew perfectly. He +contented himself with mysterious hints, as: "a young man, about whom +much might be said--you will see yourselves, gentlemen--I only hope he +has grown more prudent in the meantime; hem! hem! You know he is one of +Berger's pet pupils. Well, Berger is a remarkable man, a brilliant man; +but he is at the asylum in Fichtenau, and we see once more that 'all is +not gold that glitters;' hem! hem!" These and similar words fell like +poisonous malaria upon the harmless souls of the pedagogues. + +"If we had known that, _collega_!" said Rector Clemens secretly to +Professor Snellius. + +Professor Snellius shrugged his shoulders, and replied, + +"I hope much from the advantages he will have in his intercourse with +us. The acquaintance of really well-bred, learned----" + +"Truly humane," supplied the rector. + +"Truly humane men," continued the professor, "is the best training for +genuine culture and erudition----" + +"And humanity," supplied the rector. + +"What do you think of our new colleague, Winimer?" asked Doctor +Broadfoot, who had noticed with great disgust how merrily Miss +Fredegunda, who generally distinguished herself by a certain morose +reserve, was now chatting and laughing with Oswald. + +"I believe the gentleman is a great dandy," replied Mr. Winimer, +passing his hand through his hair. "He has a way of bending over ladies +in their chairs which is downright intolerable. I am afraid we shall +never be good friends." + +"But that is too bad," cried Mr. Broadfoot, and advanced with the +intention to interrupt the conversation between Oswald and Fredegunda, +but he lost his courage on the way; and in order to mask the +unsuccessful attack, he took a cup of tea from the waiter which a maid +presented to him, and then, cup in hand, he remained standing in the +centre of the room, the picture of helpless embarrassment. + +He was fortunately soon relieved by the question of the lady manager, +whether they should now begin the reading of Wallenstein--the original +purpose of their meeting--and the invitation to follow her into the +adjoining room. + +"In which part will you, madame, give us an example?" asked Oswald. +"But why do I ask? There is in Wallenstein only one part for you, as in +this company there is but one lady fit for that part--yourself!" + +"You are jesting," said the poetess, tapping him gently on the arm with +the book which she was holding in her hand; "why should I have any +privilege?" + +"But, surely, there can be but one opinion about this that the most +poetical character in the piece ought to be represented by the most +poetical character in the company; and again, there can be but one +opinion as to who that is." + +"And who--ha! I will try to overcome my childish bashfulness--who could +that be?" asked Primula, with melting voice, raising her eyes in sweet +anticipation to Oswald. + +"Permit me to take the copy you are holding in your hand, a moment. +Thanks! I see there is a mark. Let us see where it is. 'Act +Third.--Scene First.--Countess Terzky: Thekla, Fraeulein von Neubrunn.' +Thekla under-scored. I thank you, Thekla!" + +"That is an accident," cried the blushing poetess, pressing the book, +which Oswald handed back to her with an ironical bow, to her bosom. "I +swear it to you by the nine Muses, it is an accident." + +"And I swear by father Apollo himself, and by all the other Olympians +besides, that I believe in no accident, at least only in the most +fortunate accident which has led me to-night once more into the company +of--may I venture to say so--of a friend." + +"If you may say so!" cried the poetess, tenderly pressing Oswald's arm +with her own; "if you may say so! Oh believe me, Mr. Stein, I have been +your friend ever since you put your foot on our humble threshold; I +have always taken your part when prosaic minds, without reverence for +the Great and the Beautiful----" + +Primula was forced to arrest the overflowing waters of her tenderness, +which Oswald had called forth so suddenly by his coarse flattery; for +at that moment they had reached the adjoining room, where a part of the +company were already seated around the long table, which was covered +with a white cloth, and lighted up with two lamps and two candles. At +the upper end stood Mrs. Rector Clemens, the founder and manager of the +"Dramatic Club," looking at her company like a herd at his flock, and +appointing to the still homeless guests their seats, gesticulating +fiercely with her arms, and letting her deep voice out more fully than +seemed absolutely necessary. + +"Sit down by Fredegunda, Doctor Broadfoot. Will you take a seat by my +daughter Thusnelda, Doctor Stein? Mrs. Jager, you will please take a +seat by Professor Snellius. Professor Jager, you by Mrs. Kubel. Well, +now we are all seated." + +Mrs. Manager seized a bell, which stood before her on the table, and +began to ring it for half a minute with all the energy of a president +of a parliament who wishes to drown the mad voices of a few hundred +furious representatives of the people. As the absolute silence reigning +in the whole assembly furnished no pretext for this display of +energetic efforts, Mrs. Manager at last put the bell down on the table, +and seized instead a sheet of paper, on which, as on a theatre bill, +the parts in the piece and the names of the company were arranged in +double columns. + +"Ladies and gentlemen!" she said, examining the faces of the audience, +as they looked up to her, with satisfaction. "You know that we have +chosen at our last sitting 'Wallenstein's Death' for this meeting with +universal acclimatization; I meant to say, acclamation. As +unfortunately the piece has more parts than we have members, I have +been forced to leave out several which did not appear to me essential. +But even then there remained a few which I could not well fill, and +which would have remained blank if some of our dear guests who give us +the pleasure of their company to-night had not put it into my power to +complete the bill to the general satisfaction of all, I hope. Although +most of you already know which part has been allotted to you, I will +for the sake of regularity, and especially for the benefit of our dear +guests, read the whole list from the beginning once more. Listen then, +I pray, attentively!" + +Mrs. Manager cleared her voice and read, amid the attentive silence of +the company: + + + Wallenstein, Rector Clemens. + Octavio Piccolomini, Professor Snellius. + Max Piccolomini, Doctor Winimer. + Terzky, Fredegunda Clemens. + Illo, Doctor Kubel. + Butler, Doctor Broadfoot. + Gordon, Mrs. Kubel. + Seni, Miss Ida Snellius. + Duchess, Mrs. Snellius. + Countess Terzky, Myself. + Thekla, Thusnelda Clemens. + Fraeulein Neubrunn, Marie Kubel. + Swedish Captain, Doctor Stein. + Devereux, \ Mr. and Mrs. Jager. + MacDonald, / Captains in Wallenstein's army. + + +Oswald, who had been not a little amused by this original distribution, +had to bite his lips not to laugh loud, when he saw the foolish faces +made by the last-named persons as they heard their names coupled so +intimately with the names of the murderers of the hero. Professor Jager +drew down the corners of his mouth lower than Oswald had ever seen +them; and Primula, who had turned as white as the lace collar on her +pale-yellow dress, seemed to be on the point of breaking into tears. + +That was, then, the triumph which she had hoped for from this night! +Was this the hospitable house of dear friends, who were so proud of +their perfect humanity? or was it a blood-dripping cave of brutal +Troglodytes? Was he the interpreter of the fragments of Chrysophilos, +or was he not? Was she the famous author of the "Cornflowers," or was +she not? And no cry of indignation broke forth from the throats of all +who had heard with their own ears this desecration of names so renowned +in science and in art! + +The professor and his wife looked at each other across the table with +eyes in which an attentive observer might have read these and other +questions; then they glanced around the company at the table to see +what impression such blasphemy must needs have produced upon the +audience. But no one seemed to think any harm about this disgraceful +insult to scientific and poetic fame; no one, with the exception +perhaps of fat Doctor Kubel, who replied to an interrogative glance of +the professor with a friendly grin, and Oswald, who stealthily pressed +Primula's hand under the table as a sign of his sympathy, for Primula +sat on his left, while Thusnelda was his right-hand neighbor. Otherwise +nobody troubled himself about the insulted sufferers, each one was busy +only with his own part, and the impression he hoped to make upon the +others, and all awaited now the signal for beginning. The lady manager +gave it at once, with the same grace and the same noise with which, in +a menagerie, the docile elephant rings the bell for dinner, and the +bear or the monkey for supper. + +Mrs. Clemens presented next, in a neat little speech to Miss Ida +Snellius, the offer to "come down, as day was breaking and Mars in the +ascendant," whereupon the young lady begged her to "let her observe +Venus first, that was just rising and shining in the east like a sun," +but her voice was so indistinct as to be almost inaudible, either from +the great remoteness of the astronomer or from the embarrassment of the +performer. + +The rest corresponded with this interesting beginning, and they +inflicted upon the unlucky drama all the horrors which art-loving +ladies and gentlemen are apt to practice when they assemble for the +purpose of reading a drama with "distributed parts," as they call it. +Rector Clemens changed Wallenstein into the gentle member of a Moravian +brotherhood; Professor Snellius, the clever, intriguing Octavio, into a +wooden pedant; Doctor Winimer howled and groaned as the noble son of an +ignoble father, so that unspeakable horror befell every heart; and +Doctor Kubel seemed to take Illo for Chamisso's washerwoman; while +Doctor Broadfoot read silent Butler's words as if he had been a +charlatan dentist at a fair. Countess Terzky became one of Pappenheim's +Cuirassiers; and Thekla, in the hands of Miss Thusnelda, a love-sick +seamstress. + +And with all that, there was a holy zeal animating them all and +inducing them to turn over the leaves long before their turn came +again, and thus to produce a continuous rustling; and with all that, an +unvarnished enthusiasm which rewarded the performances of some, as +those of Doctor Winimer; and with all that an unselfish modesty with +which less gifted members, like Marie Kubel, submitted to correction on +the part of Rector Clemens, who enjoyed, by the regulations of the +club, the privilege of interrupting the reader and of pointing out to +him or to her the mistakes made in reciting. + +Oswald enjoyed this Babylonian confusion, this nibbling of mice at the +club of Hercules, until gradually disgust overcame him, and even the +sight of Mr. and Mrs. Jager was no longer able to cause him to laugh +heartily. The professor sat, lost in his large easy-chair, immovable, +the corners of his mouth drawn down so low that its outline presented +the form of a horse-shoe, while he looked with his small, green +eyes over the frame of his large, round spectacles at his wife, his +fellow-sufferer, his companion in his disgrace. The conduct of the +poetess was, of course, far more striking, as might have been expected +from so eccentric a character. Now she would throw herself back in her +chair with crossed arms and fix her eyes on the ceiling, and now she +would lean forward and support her head, with the golden hair and the +wreath of blue cornflowers, in her hands. Then again she smiled a smile +of supreme contempt, or she yawned as if overcome by intolerable ennui. +Oswald was very curious to see what she would do when her turn came, +for she had whispered to him at the beginning, in feverish excitement, +"I will not read; rely upon it, I will not read!" + +However, his curiosity was not to be so easily satisfied, for after Mr. +Winimer had declared himself at the end of the third act, with a final +effort of all his voice, "ready to die," Mrs. Clemens once more began +to ring with all her might, and gave thus the signal for a long pause, +which, according to Sec. 25 of the statutes, occurred in a drama of five +acts invariably after the third act, and in a piece of four acts after +the second, and during which, according to Sec. 26, wine and cake were +handed round. + +In order to comply with the tenor of these paragraphs, the company left +the table and returned to the sitting room in the highly excited +condition in which people come from a finished artistic performance. +They sat, and stood about, with glasses in their hands, and talked of +the piece and the declamation. They all agreed that Doctor Winimer had +this time, as always, surpassed them all, and that Miss Marie Kubel had +not yet spoken loud enough, although, generally speaking, she might be +said to have made some progress. The gentlemen gave each other marks, +as they did with their school-boys, and of course all received the +highest number. The ladies spoke of the sublime poet, of the chaste +nobility of his verses. Miss Ida Snellius insisted that Schiller +reminded her frequently of Euripides, whereupon the circle fell into a +learned discussion, in which the words Sophocles, Goethe, Schiller, +Aristophanes, AEschylus, Euripides, Don Carlos, Oedipus upon Colonos, +and Wallenstein, were tossed to and fro like snow-flakes. + +Oswald looked for the author of the "Cornflowers," whom he had +lost sight of since the beginning of the pause. He found her in a +window-recess of the second room (otherwise the chaste bed-chamber of +the two Misses Clemens), whispering eagerly to her husband. He was +about to withdraw modestly so as not to disturb the _tete-a-tete_, but +Primula rose as soon as she saw him, seized his hand and drew him into +the recess. + +"Speak low," said Primula, with the hollow voice of a ghost. + +"What is the matter?" asked Oswald, in the same tone. + +"You shall tell me whether I ought to read!" breathed Primula; "Jager +has no sensibility for such a disgrace." + +"Oh! yes, dearest Augusta," whispered the professor; "but I should +like to avoid a scene; I pray you, darling, what will the people say +when--oh, I cannot think of it." + +"I should be disposed to agree with the professor," said Oswald. "I do +not see how you can be saved after being once entrapped into this +lion's den." + +"Is the author of the 'Cornflowers' a murderer--a wretched assassin?" +whined Primula. "Never, never!" + +"It is disgraceful," chimed in Oswald; "but the interpreter of +Chrysophilos is in the same position, and you see he bears his hard +fate with dignity." + +A pressure of the hand from the professor rewarded Oswald for this +flattery. + +"Oh, you men have no feelings for insults," sobbed Primula. "Well, I +will try, but if----" + +The stormy ringing of the president's bell from the adjoining room cut +Primula short. She stepped ahead of the two gentlemen with the air of +one who has formed a resolution, happen what may. + +"Now it will soon be our turn," said Doctor Winimer, as they took their +seats under continued ringing of bells, to Oswald; "don't be afraid, +and read bravely on. Even if you do not do very well the first time, it +will be better the second time, and practice makes the master." + +"Whom I admire and revere in you," replied Oswald, bowing. + +"Well, well," said Doctor Winimer, rubbing his hair, with a smile; "it +might be better. To be sure when I recently heard Holtei, who is +probably the best reader in Germany, the old saying _Anch' i sono +pittore_ came at once into my mind." + +"I believe it," said Oswald. + +The bell ceased to ring, and Doctor Broadfoot, as Colonel Butler, +raised his voice, and cried so that the windows rattled: + +"He is inside. Fate led him hither." + +The murderous night at Castle Eger progressed now rapidly from scene to +scene. Oswald was so curious about the manner in which Primula would +take her fate, especially since he had seen her excitement grow apace +as the fatal moment approached, that he could hear the words of +Fraeulein Neubrunn, "The Swedish captain is here," without excitement. +He actually asked Princess Thekla--Thusnelda, quite coolly, and without +the slightest palpitation of the heart, to pardon him for his "rash, +inconsiderate words." Nor did he notice the uncalled-for warmth of +feeling with which Miss Clemens recited the words: + + + "A fatal chance has made you, + A stranger, quickly my familiar friend," + + +although her tone made Doctor Winimer feel bitter pangs in his heart. +Miss Fredegunda looked most significantly at her Doctor Broadfoot. He +did not notice the murmured applause which followed his recital of the +death of the cavalry-colonel; and the following scenes also passed +unnoticed, till at last the fatal net encloses Wallenstein altogether +in its meshes, and dark Colonel Butler distributes, in the secrecy of +his rooms, the parts to be taken by the murderers. Already Major +Geraldine has hurried off with his bloody commission, and--now the +moment comes, when (on the stage) the curtain parts and the grim +captains Devereux and MacDonald present themselves in collar and tall +riding-boots, and long swords at their side, before the commander of +their regiment. + +"What is she going to do?" thought Oswald, as he saw the face of the +sufferer turn pale and red by turns; "she is not going to read." + +But Primula overcame the noble indignation which made her heart swell, +cleared her voice, and said, with the soft voice of a saint who +surrenders himself into the hands of the executioners: + + + "Here we ARE, general!" + + +The lady manager, who thought the accent ought to have been upon the +word _we_, because there were two murderers, availed herself of the +right conferred on her by Sec. 73 of the regulations, and said: + + + "Here WE are, general!" + + +That was too much. The string was overstrained; it snapped asunder; the +insulted poetess rose, closed her book with a jerk, and said with pale +lips: + +"I am sorry if I disturb the company by my declaration that I am unable +to read any more. But as I--can--not even--read a part--which--I must +force myself--violently--to read--" + +She could say no more, but fell back into her chair and broke into +convulsive weeping. + +The consternation which this scene produced in the harmless company +could not have been greater. They rose suddenly from their seats; they +crowded around the sobbing poetess; they asked one another what was the +matter with Mrs. Jager? and the professor if his wife was subject to +such attacks? Nobody suspected the true cause of her condition, which +the gentlemen tried to remedy by persuasion, and the ladies by Cologne +water. But Primula would accept neither the one nor the other. After a +few seconds she rose from her chair, declared decidedly that she must +go home, and went out without saying good-by to any one, hanging on the +arm of her husband, who had made a very foolish face during the whole +scene. + +At the moment when the company, extremely surprised by the +disappearance of such honored guests, were still standing about in the +sitting-room and discussing the facts, a letter was handed to Oswald, +which, as the parlor-maid said, "a young man had brought, who was +waiting for an answer." + +Oswald opened the note, which contained only the words: + +"Make haste and come away. I am waiting below.--Timm." + +Oswald did not neglect such an admirable pretext to escape from a +company which became every moment more and more intolerable to him. He +said he had received news which required him to return home instantly. +The next moment he had joined Timm in the street. + +"Heaven be thanked that I could get away," he cried, seizing Timm, who +was delighted to see him, by the arm, and dragging him with him. + +"Thought so," said Mr. Timm, "thought you were suffering infernal +pains; meant to help you, poor fellow. Come, let us wash down the +learned dust which you have swallowed, with a bottle of golden wine." + + + + + + Book Second. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +"The Boarding-School for Young Ladies," in the suburbs of Grunwald, was +not exactly a house of correction for young girls who were incorrigible +at home, as the students of Grunwald and other wicked people +maintained; nor was the principal of the institution, Miss Amelia +Bear--known as the She Bear--altogether the female dragon which +malicious tongues represented her to be. It is true, no one could deny +that during the day the curtains were almost invariably down in the +windows looking upon the street, and that after nine o'clock in the +evening no light was to be seen in the whole house. The boarders were +never seen in public, except in solemn procession, walking two and two, +and with a teacher at the head and a teacher at the end; no letter +passed the threshold of the house, going out or coming in, which was +not first subjected to a close scrutiny in Miss Bear's study, and +stamped there, so to say, with the official seal; but these and similar +regulations are either common to all "boarding-schools for young +ladies," or there was, in certain cases, a special reason for them. The +institution was intended for the "higher classes," whose female +offspring was counted upon for its support; this meant almost +exclusively the high nobility of the district, as the daughters of +persons not noble rarely sought admission, and still more rarely found +admission. Now it happens that young ladies of rank born and bred in +the country, and enjoying the twofold privileges of country life and an +exceptional social position, accustomed to manage from their twelfth +year their ponies with the skill of circus-riders, and at thirteen +often more familiar with the humbugs of society than other girls ever +become--that such girls are not to be treated as leniently as other +daughters of Eve. They are used to the society of busy idlers as their +only male companions: young land-owners, officers on furlough, and +other men of frequently very loose morals; and great is the danger, +therefore, that this inborn and inbred sovereign haughtiness may bloom +forth abundantly, and bear equivocal fruit, unless they are restrained +in time and with method. + +This was the excuse which Miss Bear's friends made for the draconic +laws of her institution; she was the responsible keeper of this +precious but fragile ware, and who could wonder at the stern glance of +her once perhaps beautiful eyes, and the crowd of wrinkles on her brow, +which seemed to deepen and to multiply every year? Like so many among +us, she was what she was, not because she wished to be so, but because +she was forced to be so. It was her vocation to look stern, and to +frown, as it is the vocation of others to smile forever, and to wear as +smooth a face as they can produce. But as the greatest psychologist of +our day has taught us that one may smile and smile forever, and yet be +a very great rascal, so it is also possible to look like a chief +inquisitor, and yet to have a truly womanly, gentle, and kindly heart. + +Miss Amelia Bear was the living proof of such a possibility. Miss +Amelia Bear had had a very hard time of it all her life long. She was +the poor daughter of a poor village minister, and began at fourteen her +thorny career as a governess in noble country families. In those days +she was very pretty, and therefore exposed to many temptations; but her +prudence and her cleverness had helped her to escape from all dangers, +till she was old enough to be left alone, and to procure for herself a +kind of independence by establishing a school upon the savings of long +years and the presents she had occasionally received. Her honorable +character was known to everybody; and this, and the experience she had +gained in the field of education, justified such an enterprise, while +her numerous relations to noble families promised almost certain +success. She preferred the nobility, because the nobility preferred +her; and she hesitated to accept girls of other families, because she +was sure to lose or not to receive for one such boarder, six from the +nobility. + +Nevertheless she gave up the principle whenever a special case seemed +to require an exception from the rule. Thus it had been with Sophie +Roban. The privy councillor was the physician of the institution, and +Miss Bear was under great obligations to him. Even her noble patrons, +therefore, understood perfectly why she could not well refuse the +widowed privy councillor, when he asked her to take for a few years a +mother's place to his orphaned child. + +Her relation to Sophie Roban was the best proof of the exaggeration +which had given rise to so many fables about the dragon nature of Miss +Bear. She had become a real mother to the motherless girl; she had +guarded and protected her against every bodily and mental danger, not +in order to earn her compensation honestly, nor for the sake of the +reputation of her school, but because she loved the girl with her whole +heart, as if she had been her own. Malicious people went so far as to +say that she had not only raised but also spoiled the girl, and it +could not be denied that Sophie--little Sophie, as the She Bear +said--could dare what no other boarder, not even Emily von Breesen, who +was at the same time there, and who passed for absolutely untamable, +would ever have ventured to do. Sophie could interrupt Miss Bear in the +most violent philippic against any wrong-doer who had done something +especially horrible, _e. g._, cutting round holes in the curtains for +the purpose of peeping at the people who passed by the house, and could +fall upon her neck and say: Miss Mal, Miss Mal, I would not be so very +angry if I were you! Sophie could at all times freely enter her +study--that mysterious adytum to which the young ladies came with fear +and trembling, and where the dispatches to their parents were prepared, +and all their letters, coming and going, were subjected to rigorous +scrutiny! Sophie could do what she chose. + +These relations between teacher and pupil had ripened into a friendship +of a peculiar nature after Sophie had left the school and become the +presiding officer of her father's house. Miss Bear appreciated Sophie's +good judgment, and did not disdain to consult the lady, young as she +was, in critical cases; and what is more, she almost always followed +the advice which her young friend gave, more in play than in good +earnest, but always with perfect simplicity and impartiality. Such a +case had occurred a few weeks ago, when the Baroness Grenwitz had +expressed a wish to send her daughter Helen back for some time to the +institution to finish her studies, especially in the sciences. Now such +a step was remarkable enough in itself, as Miss Helen was coming +straight from a well-known, superior school, in which she had spent +four years; but it became still more embarrassing by the circumstance +that the instructions which Miss Bear received from the baroness on one +side, and from the baron on the other, differed essentially as to the +degree of freedom to be granted the young lady. If Miss Bear obeyed the +written instructions of the baroness, Helen was to be kept as a state +prisoner, under latch and key; if she followed the requests made orally +by the baron, when he brought, himself, his daughter to Grunwald, the +young lady was to be left in absolute liberty. As both methods of +education were equally incompatible with the system adopted in the +school. Miss Bear was in great embarrassment, and turned, in her +dilemma, to her young friend, to receive from her advice in this +mysterious affair. + +Fortunately Sophie had heard much from her betrothed about the state of +things at Grenwitz, and what he had not explained she readily divined +by the talent peculiar to all women of delicate feelings. + +"They tried to marry Helen to a man unworthy of her," said the young +lady, as she met her motherly friend soon after Helen's arrival in the +mysterious adytum of her study, in order to confer with her about the +Grenwitz affair, "and Helen has very properly refused to consent. In +return, they have banished her for a time from her paternal home. You +will surely not increase the hardship by being unnecessarily severe +against the poor girl? Surely, Miss Mal, that would not be like you. Do +what the father says: treat Helen not as a pupil--for that, she is too +old; treat her as a young girl who has taken refuge with you from a +tyrannical mother who ill-treats her, and from a father who is too weak +to protect her. For that is, as far as I can see, the truth of the +case." + +When Sophie said so, she did, of course, not suspect Oswald's love for +Helen, and Helen's love for Oswald, which, if known to her, would +probably have made her speak somewhat differently; and afterwards, when +Franz's reports about the catastrophe at Grenwitz, and many a word +spoken by Helen herself, made her see more clearly this all-important +point, she still did not change her advice, because she looked upon it +as treason against a friend to tell others a secret of which she +herself was not yet fully convinced. Helen, moreover, had become her +friend in the meantime; at least she was most devotedly attached to the +pretty girl, although she had reasons to doubt whether Helen, in her +haughty pride and reserve, returned her love. It was mainly their +common enthusiastic love for music which had brought the two young +ladies so closely together. They soon found, not only that they shared +this enthusiasm, but that they complemented each other in their +knowledge of music as well as in their powers of execution. Sophie was +the more learned; the mysteries of Thorough Bass--for Helen, a book +with seven seals--were open to her; but Helen felt and appreciated +music more fully. In comparison with Sophie, Helen was, on the other +hand, a mere scholar on the piano, but she had a rich alto voice, as +extensive as well trained, while Sophie said of herself that she had +not a note in her throat. + +Thus the two young ladies could play and sing by the hour, either in +Helen's room at the institute, or more frequently in Sophie's parlor, +without ever getting tired. Helen insisted that nobody had ever +accompanied her as well as Sophie; and Sophie, that nothing had ever +afforded her a greater musical enjoyment than Helen's sweet, melodious +voice, full of deep feeling. + +But, strange enough, although their souls met in the realm of music as +kindred souls, and gave each other a sister's kiss, their tongues +became silent as soon as they attempted to approach each other in human +speech. Their conversation stopped frequently, and they had to turn +again to music in order to fill a pause which threatened to become +painful. Sometimes Sophie thought Helen was making a violent effort to +break the charm which bound her in silence, but she never went in such +moments beyond the first stammered sounds of intimacy, and the very +next moment saw the young girl longing for friendship changed into the +haughty lady of the world, calm in her self-satisfied repose, and +unapproachable. + +"She is a marble statue," said Sophie to her father, "in spite of her +black hair, and her dark, brilliant eyes. You cannot get near to her. I +believe she is secretly an Undine." + +The privy councillor laughed. + +"You may not be altogether wrong," he said; "for if the two entirely +different elements, air and water, harbor also entirely different +creatures, which cannot have real communion with each other, it is +perfectly logical that different moral atmospheres, like that in which +the nobles live and that in which we live, must also produce morally +different beings, who can never become real friends with heart and +soul. Have you formed any friendship, during the time you spent at Miss +Bear's school, which has lasted beyond those years?" + +"Yes, papa, with Miss Bear herself," answered Sophie, laughing. + +"There you see," said the privy councillor, with his satirical smile, +"one can become good friends with she bears even, but not with +Undines." + +Sophie was too young yet to be able to share the suspicions suggested +to her father by his long life and ample experience. She explained +Helen's reserve by her innate or acquired reluctance to come out of +herself, and forgave her this shyness all the more readily as she was +not quite free from it herself. She was herself generally looked upon +as stern and cold, and many people declared openly that "she was not at +all like other girls." "She cannot help it," she would say to herself, +"and we ought not to expect to gather figs from thistles. Helen would +be just the same to you if the Robans had been barons at the time of +Charlemagne." + +This view did greater honor to Sophie's head than to her worldly +prudence, and she would have perhaps become a convert to her father's +views, "that Undines can at least be intimate with Undines," if she had +been able to look over Helen's shoulder on the afternoon of the third +day after Oswald's arrival in Grunwald. Helen was writing to her +friend, Miss Mary Burton (an Undine beyond doubt, for she belonged to +an old and noble English family), and the delicate gold pen was flying +fast over the paper. Helen wrote: + +"This is the first time for a long, long time, dearest Mary, that I +have the heart to answer your letters--for there is quite a pile lying +before me. But I could not get the courage to write to you, who have +now entered the great world, and have been presented at court--who are +engaged, and about to become the wife of an English peer, that I, Helen +von Grenwitz, to whom you prophesied such a brilliant future, have been +sent back to boarding-school! sent to boarding-school, like a naughty +girl; sent to boarding-school, like a gosling from the country! You +wonder; you smile incredulously; you lisp your 'It is impossible!' and +when you find at last that you have to believe my repeated assurances, +you seize me with both your hands and cry: 'but, for God's sake, what +does it mean? what can it be?' and you force me to tell you the whole +story from the beginning. Well, I see no possibility to escape from the +punishment, but you will find it natural that I shorten the pain as +much as I can. + +"Therefore, in short, if not for good: + +"The relations with my mother, which I wrote to you before were so +satisfactory, became worse and worse in consequence of my decided +refusal to accept Felix as my husband, until an open rupture, which I +had long seen coming, was inevitable. I have borne myself in the whole +affair as I thought I owed it to myself and to you. It was a fierce +battle, I assure you. To oppose my mother requires courage, and my +father supported me but feebly, for he is feeble. Well! the battle is +over; the dead are buried, and the wounds begin to heal. Yes, Mary! the +dead. My Bruno, my pride, my knight, _sans peur et sans reproche_, my +brother, my friend, my darling Bruno, is no more! He died fighting for +me, and has breathed the last of his young, heroic soul in a kiss upon +my lips. The fierce grief about this loss--for I only knew what he had +been to me when I had him no longer--made me dull and indifferent to +everything and everybody around me. As this boy loved me, no one on +earth ever can and will love me again. I was light and air to him; I +was meat and drink to him; I was waking and sleeping--I was life itself +to him. How often have I laughed at him when he told me so, with +glowing cheeks and bright eyes and trembling lips! And I said, 'Come, +Bruno, none of your extravagancies! none of your fables! you are a +little fool!' Now I would give many a year of my life if I could but +hear it once more from his proud lips. A suspicion, which I cannot +shake off, tells me that I would have found in Bruno and with Bruno all +the happiness that this earth can afford; and that in losing him I have +lost every prospect of happiness here below. You smile; you think: a +boy! but I tell you, you did not know Bruno. + +"Do not ask me to repeat everything in detail. I cannot do it. My heart +is too full. The remembrance of my lost pet does not leave me for a +moment, and I should like nothing better than to lay down my pen and to +cry to my heart's content. Tell me, Mary, is it really our fate, as we +have so often told each other in sad hours, to go through life +unsatisfied, without joy, without happiness, without the hope that the +future at least may bring us the fulfilment of our wishes? Is fortune +ever to appear to us only as a _fata morgana_--charming in its beauty +and treacherously fleeting? Or is it ever to present itself only in a +shape which, however great the inner value may be, offends our +delicacy--our prejudices, if you choose to call them so? Your lot, to +be sure, it seems, is to be different. In the same circles to which you +belong by birth and training, you have found the man who would have +been dear to your heart even if your judgment should not have approved +of the choice of your heart. A man, a hero, a lord! Happy, thrice happy +you are to have found one to whom you have to look up, proud as you +are! Smile with your aristocratic curve of the lip upon--your friend at +the boarding-school! + +"It is true, I am very comfortable at this boarding-school. They treat +me, not as a pupil, but as a guest, and I am sincerely grateful to the +principal, a Miss Bear, for her goodness, and the delicate +consideration with which she treats me, as if she knew all. Perhaps she +does know all. Such events, in families like ours, are not apt to +remain unknown. Have I not myself learnt much about my own engagement +only several weeks afterwards, and not from my father, with whom I have +corresponded all the time, and who has even come to see me several +times from Grenwitz (my mother, who I am told is here in Grunwald, has +broken off all intercourse with me), but from a young lady, a Miss +Sophie Roban, a former boarder here, whose acquaintance I have made, +and with whom I have even formed a kind of friendship. She is engaged +to our physician at Grenwitz, who has recently settled here, and thus +her news seems to be reliable. She told me what had occurred after my +departure from Grenwitz, and what papa had carefully kept from me; that +the young man, of whom I wrote you already last summer, our tutor, +Doctor Stein, has become my knight and my avenger, inasmuch, at least, +as he has fought a duel with Felix, and given my great cousin a lesson +which he will probably not forget very soon, as I learn from the same +authority. I cannot tell you how strangely this news has affected me. +At first--I may confess to you--my pride was offended that my name +should be coupled in the world with the name of a man like Mr. Stein; +that a stranger, a hireling, should have assumed responsibilities for +me, as if he were a relative, and my equal in rank. But then I thought +of the old saying, 'that if the people were silent the stones would +speak;' I remembered that a brother could not have behaved more +brotherly, nor a knight more chivalrously toward me than this man had +done from the first moment. I recalled, above all, that this man was my +Bruno's dearest friend, and I forgot my pride, and felt, not without +wondering at myself, that I could be grateful to this man for his great +kindness and affection without feeling, as I generally do, that this +gratitude weighs upon me as a burden. Nay, even more, I felt the desire +to see him, who was abroad, once more, in order to thank him in person, +and when I saw him to-day, quite unexpectedly, pass by the window at +which I was sitting, I felt--you will laugh at me, Mary--I felt that as +I returned his bow the blood rushed into my face. When he had gone by I +could not help following him with my eye, and then I leaned back in the +window and wept bitter tears over the memory of Bruno, which the +appearance of Stein had suddenly and powerfully revived in my mind. I +wish I could speak to him undisturbed. + +"But I must break off here. I hear Miss Roban, who comes to play with +me, and Miss Bear, in the next room." + +Helen rose to meet the two ladies, who had entered the room upon her +_entrez_! Sophie Roban passed Miss Bear and embraced Helen, with an +affectionate haste which contrasted somewhat with the calm and +dignified carriage of the young aristocrat. + +"I have really longed to see you, Helen! Why have you not come to see +me since the other night, when you promised to call again? Miss Mal has +not put her veto upon it?" + +"_Point du tout_," replied Miss Bear, pushing her glasses on the top of +her head, in order to look more freely at the large, friendly blue eyes +of her favorite. "You know, little Sophie, that Helen is perfectly free +to dispose of her time. But that was not what I came for, dear Helen! +Here is a letter for you; one of your servants brought it; I suppose it +is from your father?" + +Helen took the letter with a slight acknowledgment, cast a glance at +the direction, and said: "Yes, indeed; from my father!" and put it on +her portefeuille, which she had closed when the two ladies entered. + +"I will not interrupt you any longer," said Miss Bear. "Little Sophie +comes to carry you home with her. Shall I send a servant for you?--and +when?" + +"You are surely coming, Helen?" said Sophie, who had taken a seat on +the stool before the piano, and was looking at a collection of music. +"I have received some beautiful new songs. A splendid one by Schumann; +we must look at it together." + +"With all my heart," replied Helen. "But I cannot well stay long, +because I must finish a letter for England to-night, so that I can send +it off to-morrow morning. I am much obliged to you. Miss Bear, for the +servant; but I shall be back before dark." + +"As you like it, dear Helen," said Miss Mal, kissing first Helen very +lightly on the forehead, and then Sophie Roban very heartily; "_adieu, +mes enfants_." + +And Miss Bear slipped her spectacles down again upon her nose, wrinkled +up her brow in imposing severity, and rustled back to her sanctum, from +which Sophie had unearthed her a few minutes before. + +"How is your father to-day?" asked Helen. + +"Thanks," replied Sophie, still looking at the collection of music; "he +is much better; he has stayed up to-day a couple of hours longer. But +now read your letter, Helen, and then get ready. We must go." + +"Directly," said Helen, opening her letter, while Sophie was reading +the music. A few moments later she looked up and found Helen holding +the letter in one hand, which hung down, while her head rested in the +other, and she was evidently deep in thought. The long lashes concealed +the bright eyes, and the dark eyebrows were contracted as if in +indignation. + +"What is the matter?" cried Sophie, hastily closing the book and +putting it down on the piano. "Have you had bad news?" + +"Oh no?" replied Helen, who had gathered herself up at the first sound +of Sophie's voice, and tried to smile. "Oh no! Papa will be here +to-morrow, that is all!" + +"To stay?" + +"Yes!" + +"And you--Helen?" + +"I was just thinking about that. My father leaves the choice to me, +but----" + +The young girl paused, and assumed the same half-thoughtful, +half-wrathful expression of face. She seemed to have forgotten Sophie's +presence. All of a sudden she asked, her eyes still cast down, + +"Would you, if you had been insulted, be the first to offer the hand +for reconciliation?" + +Sophie was seriously embarrassed by this question, the meaning of which +she could easily divine. Helen had never spoken to her about her +affairs, not even in allusions. She was not to know anything of them, +therefore, and yet it did not suit Helen's candor, and her friendship +for Helen, to affect an ignorance and an indifference which were not +real. + +"That depends," she replied, after a short pause, "on what the offence +was, and above all, who was the offending person!" + +"How so?" + +"There are offences, I think, which only become such by our own making, +and offenders who can never be such--who ought never to be such--I mean +persons who stand so near to us, with whom we are so closely united by +nature, that it would be unnatural, if----" + +"They hated us," interrupted Helen, quickly. "But if such a case did +occur: if those hated each other for once, who ought to love each +other; if they persecuted and warred against each other, who ought to +support, help, and bear one another--how then?" Helen had risen; +her face was all aglow; her eyes sparkled; her hands were firmly +closed--the image of a person rejoicing in combat and prepared for +victory or death, but never for surrender. + +"I do not know," replied Sophie, affecting a calmness which she did not +possess; "I only know that I for my part could never be placed in such +a position. I could never hate brother or sister, much less father or +mother who gave me life, happen what would. Are they not--myself? And +how can one hate one's own self?" + +"Are you quite so sure of that?" answered Helen. "How do you know it? +You never had brother or sister; your mother died very early; your +father has, as you told me yourself, always overwhelmed you with +unbounded affection; but I--I have other----" + +Helen probably felt that if she added another word she would not be +able to keep up her reserve hereafter, and broke off with a suddenness +which showed the remarkable control this young creature had already +obtained over herself. + +"But we are losing time," she said, with a totally changed air, tone, +and carriage, "and about most unprofitable things. Come, we must hurry +to get back to our music!" + +It was not the first time that Helen had thus suddenly given a new turn +to a conversation that threatened to become too intimate. Sophie had to +submit to it, although she was pained by this want of confidence, and +especially as she felt how Helen was entirely left alone, and what a +blessing it would have been to her to be able to pour out her +overburdened heart into the sympathizing bosom of a true friend. She +did not feel offended, therefore, by Helen's haughty reserve; on the +contrary, she was more than ever resolved rather to make her way slowly +and stealthily into Helen's confidence, than to return pride for pride +and reticence for reticence. + +There was to be more than one occasion offered her to-day. + +They had been playing and singing at Sophie's house, almost without +interruption, until it began to grow dark in the large room, which was +in the lower story. They paused because they could not see very well +any longer, and were walking up and down in the room, arm in arm, while +the effect of the music was still vibrating in their hearts, and even +Helen's proud heart felt milder and softer. She had been forcibly +reminded of the death of her favorite by one of Robert Schumann's +beautiful songs, which filled her with sweet pain. The sad, mournful +words, with the sad, plaintive melody, continued in her ear-- + + + "Thy face, alas! so fair and dear, + I saw it in my dreams quite near; + It was so angel-like, so sweet, + And yet with pain and grief replete. + The lips alone, they are still red, + But soon they also will be pale and dead." + + +She thought of the night when Baron Oldenburg had led her from the +midst of the dancers to Bruno's dying bed; she saw again how at her +entrance the boy's eye flamed up in his deadly-pale face. + + + "The lips alone, they are still red, + But soon they also will be pale and dead," + + +she murmured, as if she were speaking to herself. + +"This song seems to have made as great an impression upon you as upon +Doctor Stein," said Sophie. + +"Upon whom?" cried Helen, suddenly aroused from her dreams. + +"Upon Doctor Stein! your Doctor Stein!" replied Sophie, as +indifferently as if she had never given a thought to the relations +which might possibly exist between Oswald and Helen. + +"When did you see him?" asked Helen again, in her ordinary calmly-grand +manner. + +"Last night, here; for the first time. He had been two days in town +without having seen Franz. Yesterday Franz met him accidentally in the +street, and brought him home with him. Otherwise we should probably +have had to wait a long time for his visit." + +"How so?" + +"Well, it did not look as if the visit gave him particular pleasure. +Still I can hardly judge of that fairly, as yesterday was the first +time I ever saw him. But to tell the truth, he looked to me as if +nothing in the world was likely to give him much pleasure. Franz says +it is not so at all, but he admitted that Mr. Stein had changed +remarkably in the short time during which they had not seen each other. +How was he when you knew him?" + +Sophie thought she felt that Helen's heart was beating higher, as she +asked this very harmless question. Yet she did not show any excitement +in her voice, as she answered: + +"I have seldom seen Mr. Stein except in company and, you know, there we +have very little opportunity to see men as they really are. He looked +to me generally very grave, almost sad, reserved, and silent, +especially during the last weeks. But the state of things in my family +at that time was such as to produce very naturally such an effect. How +was he yesterday?" + +"That is difficult to say for one who is as little of a psychologist as +I am," replied Sophie, determined to tell the truth, even if it should +hurt Helen. "He looked to me gay, almost exuberant, but not cheerful; +talkative, but not communicative; witty, but not entertaining; in one +word, a combination of striking contrasts, which produced a very +painful impression on me, because I love, above all, what is clear, +easily intelligible and simple. I was especially shocked at the manner +in which he spoke about his position here and his vocation in life. He +seemed to look upon everything as mere play. He gave us a sketch of a +party to which he had been invited at Mr. Clemens's house, and poured a +perfect flood of irony and sarcasm on the poor people. He described his +solemn installation at the college, which had taken place that morning, +and represented the whole as a scene in a puppet-show. Franz tells me +he has something of Doctor Faust in his nature; to me he looked rather +like Mephistopheles. Nor did I think him so very handsome, as Franz had +represented him. He looked pale and haggard, as if he were sick, or had +not slept for several nights. His large eyes had an expression weird +and ghost-like. I had all the time to think of the lines: 'It is +written on his brow, that he can make no vow of faithful love'--or +however the verse may be." + +"Then he must indeed have changed very much," said Helen. + +The tone in which the young girl said these words was so very sad, that +Sophie regretted having been carried away by the secret antipathy she +felt in her heart against Stein, and perhaps still more by a desire to +provoke Helen by violent contradiction, and thus to punish her for her +reserve. + +"Still," she said, to soothe the wound; "still, this is not to be my +final judgment about Doctor Stein; it is nothing but a first +impression. I shall probably think differently about him when I see him +more frequently. Franz is so very fond of him, and, you know, we girls +when we are engaged are apt to be jealous. But I just remember, he may +be here every moment!" she cried, interrupting herself. + +"Who?" said Helen, "Oswald?" + +"I had really quite forgotten it. Thoughtless girl that I am!" + +"What is it?" + +"Stein and Franz had agreed to hear a lecture by Professor Benseler +together. And Franz went directly after dinner to see a patient of +father's in the country. I was to have sent word to Stein. I wonder if +it is time yet?" + +"It is half-past five now," said Helen, stepping to the window to look +at her watch. "It is almost dark and I must make haste to get home." + +At that moment there came a knock at the door. + +"There he is!" cried the two young ladies _unisono_, trembling like a +couple of deer when a shot is fired in the wood. + +Another knock. + +"What shall we do?" whispered Helen, who seemed to have lost all her +self-control. + +"Of course we must say: 'Walk in!' What else can we do?" replied +Sophie, laughing involuntarily. "Walk in!" + +The person who entered was probably unable to recognize the ladies in +the half-dark room; he remained standing near the door, as if he +hesitated. + +"Come nearer, doctor," said Sophie, holding Helen's hands. "I must ask +your pardon for receiving you in the dark; but we will have light +directly." + +Oswald had approached her as she said these words, and had bowed to the +ladies. Evidently he had not yet recognized Helen, who stood aside, +looking towards the window. + +"I have to ask pardon," he said, "for I fear I have interrupted the +ladies. But as I found nobody in the hall----" + +Suddenly he stopped; the blood rushed to his heart. He shuddered all +over. Was not the silent figure by Miss Roban, Helen? He approached a +little nearer. There was no doubt; that head whose outline he had so +often admired almost reverently, could belong to no one but Helen ... +He hardly heard Sophie say "You do not recognize Fraeulein von Grenwitz; +I will go myself to order lights." He heard the door close behind Miss +Roban; he only knew that he was alone with her. He knelt down before +her and seized her hand to cover it with burning kisses. + +The surprise and the darkness favored Oswald's boldness. Helen trembled +so violently that she could not prevent him; she had barely strength +enough to say: + +"For God's sake, Oswald, get up! I pray you, get up!" + +It was high time, for at that moment Sophie returned, followed by a +servant who brought a lamp. + +Oswald succeeded in checking his emotion. Helen turned to the window, +under the pretext that the sudden light was dazzling her eyes, and +looked down upon the street, while Sophie explained Franz's absence. + +"Then I will not deprive the ladies for another moment of the enjoyment +of a friendly chat," said Oswald, bowing to take leave. + +"Why, Doctor," said Sophie, gayly, "are you such a foe to friendly +chats that your presence must need make an end to them? You ought +rather to sit down and do credit to Franz, who calls you the most +entertaining companion he knows. Come, Helen, take a seat here by the +fire-place. Miss Mal will not cry too bitterly if you stay a little +longer." + +Oswald had just been about to accept the offered seat; but when he +heard that Helen possibly might not stay, he contented himself with a +silent bow, to acknowledge Sophie's invitation. + +"Thanks, dear Sophie," said Helen, turning round from the window, "but +I must really go--another time." + +She had apparently regained her usual calmness; only a very acute +observer might have noticed in the deeper red of her cheeks the last +trace of past emotion, and in her cast-down eyes the desire to conceal +the latter from observation. + +Oswald, who was looking around for the means to retain Helen a few +moments longer, saw the piano open, and music lying upon the desk. He +took up the first piece he found; it was Robert Schumann's composition. + +"Oh pray, pray, Miss Helen," he said, "if you have a minute to spare, +sing this song. It deserves to be sung by you!" + +"We have just sung it over," said Sophie; "it is really very fine, and +Fraeulein von Grenwitz sings it beautifully. Will you sing it, dear +Helen?" + +If there was a question of music, no one was more eager than Sophie. +Taking Helen's consent, therefore, for granted, she had placed the +music on the stand, taken her seat on the edge of the piano-stool, as +she liked to do, and was looking expectingly at Helen, while she played +a few bars of a prelude. + +Thus Helen saw herself forced to lay aside her hat, which she was +already holding in her hand, and to step up to the piano, although she +felt at that moment little disposed to sing, since her young, full +heart was still trembling under the effect of the passionate scene +which had just taken place. + +Oswald stood a few steps off, leaning with folded arms against the +mantelpiece, his eyes fixed immovably on the two slender forms. And, +indeed, the sight was such as to arrest his attention; a more charming +one could hardly have been found. + +One might have doubted at that moment which of the two was--not the +more beautiful, for Helen was indisputably the fairer--but the more +interesting. The harmony of most lovely features, the velvety softness +of a dark complexion, and the bluish blackness of her rich hair--all +this spoke in favor of Helen, and seemed to raise her to inapproachable +heights of beauty; but the expression in Sophie's face as she sat +there, given up to her music, now bending over the keys, and coaxing +out, as it were, the soft notes, and now looking up as if she was +following the escaping sounds in the air, would have been ample +compensation for him who finds the greatest beauty in the most +spiritual expression. As a favorable glance of sunlight may often pour +over a landscape, which has no charms of its own, a marvellous beauty, +so the noble, art-loving soul of the girl lighted up and made brilliant +her face, which was far from being really beautiful. There was +something of Beethoven's nature in it--the meteoric light which the +freed spirit of man casts through the vast night of sensuality into the +unbounded regions of eternal brightness. And, strangely enough, in the +same measure in which music heightened the expression in Sophie's face, +it softened the harshness in Helen's energetic beauty, by giving her +proud features a mildness which they never showed in ordinary life. The +harmony of sweet notes awakened there the slumbering genius, and put +here the demon of pride and ambition to sleep, so that the poetic +excitement benefitted both, though in quite opposite ways. + +So it seemed to Oswald, while his eyes rested on the charming picture +of the two girls at the piano. Helen seemed to him almost a stranger; +he had to become once more familiar with her beauty; and yet, it did +not make the same overwhelming impression upon him as before. He +ascribed this partly to the unaccustomed surroundings, partly to the +attractive form of Sophie, which interrupted him in his devotion. He +did not know that since he had seen Helen last, the mirror of his soul +had become dim, and was no longer able to reflect a pure image purely. +In vain he tried to catch a glance from Helen. If Sophie was so +entirely given up to her music that she had really forgotten his +presence, Helen seemed at least to be in the same state of mind. She +did not raise her eyes from the music. Oswald rejoiced at it. He +concluded from it that his stormy greeting was, if not forgiven, still +also not yet forgotten. + +They had drifted, as is apt to happen in such cases, from one song into +a second, and from that into a third and fourth. But suddenly Helen +declared she must go home now. Oswald, who thought that of course a +servant from the institute was waiting outside, was just considering +how he should manage to ask her permission to see her home, when +Sophie's question: "but you cannot go home alone?" relieved him of his +trouble. What was more natural than that he should make his bow and +politely offer his arm to Fraeulein von Grenwitz, and that Fraeulein von +Grenwitz should accept it with a haughty bend of her head! + +Sophie was just buttoning the young lady's velvet cloak, and tying a +white fichu around her neck, "that your voice may not come to harm, +Helen!" and Oswald was standing, hat in hand, by her side, when the +door opened, before any one had heard a knock, and in walked Mr. +Bemperlein. + +Oswald, who was standing with his back to the door, only became aware +of Bemperlein's presence when he heard Sophie's greeting: "How do you +do, Bemperly?" and turned round to see the new comer. At the same +moment Bemperlein recognized Oswald. + +They had not seen each other since that night in which Bemperlein had +come to carry Melitta to Fichtenau and surprised the lovers in the +park. They had then parted in cordial friendship; and now, after so +many weeks, when they saw each other again, neither offered his hand to +the other, neither greeted the other with a smile, nor with a hearty +word of kindness. Their whole welcome consisted in a formal bow and a +few indifferent phrases, so that Sophie, who had thought Oswald and +Bemperlein were intimate friends, was not a little surprised and did +not exactly know what she ought to do in such an unforeseen case. +However, the embarrassing situation was not to last long; for Sophie +had scarcely introduced Mr. Bemperlein to Fraeulein von Grenwitz who +either did not recollect the tutor, whom she yet had often enough seen +at Berkow, or did not choose to acknowledge it in words--when Helen and +Oswald left the room. Sophie went as far as the door with them, while +Bemperlein remained standing near the fire-place, his hands on his +back, and his eyes rigidly fixed upon the ground. + +It was almost night when Helen and Oswald found themselves in the +ill-lighted street. + +"What way shall we go?" asked Oswald. + +"I thought there was but one way?" + +"Oh no! we might go the way by the ramparts. It is nearer and more +pleasant walking there than on the rough pavement." + +"As you like it!" + +"Will you take my arm now?" + +It was the first time Oswald had had an opportunity to take Helen's +arm. He took pains not to shorten the pleasure of walking arm in arm +with the girl he loved through the dark night. The way he had proposed +was not only much longer, but also much darker. It led between the +walls of the city and the ramparts of the fortress--a pleasant walk in +summer and by day, but very unattractive on a dark autumn evening. + +"It is darker than I thought," said Oswald, when they had left the damp +gate in the city wall, where the last lamp was burning, and had reached +the ramparts; "had we better turn back?" + +"Not on my account; I like it quite well so." + +"At least, please wrap yourself up well in your cloak; the wind is +blowing very keen from the sea, and the air is damp and cold." + +They went on for a few moments in silence. The dry leaves of the trees, +with which the walk was covered, rustled under their feet; plaintive +sounds were heard in the air; it sounded like the groaning and sighing +of a shivering patient. + +"How must it look now in the Grenwitz park?" asked Oswald. + +"I was just thinking of it," replied Helen. + +"I wish I could be there at this moment!" + +"What would you do there?" + +"I would saunter through the familiar walks, between the yew-hedges in +the garden below, and under the beech-trees on the wall above, and talk +with the slender crescent of the moon, as it dances in the clouds, and +with the night-wind as it blows through the branches and around the +castle, of the blissful hours that are no more, and can return no +more." + +"Then you like to think of Grenwitz." + +"Why should I not? Have I not spent the happiest days of all my joyless +life there? What do I care now for all the bitter drops that fell into +the cup of intoxicating sweetness? I know nothing more of them. I feel +as if I had lived then for the first and last time of my life, and as +if I had since died together with the flowers in the garden and with +the sunlight that was playing in the morning on the dewy branches and +scattering strange shadows on the paths. Happy he whose life really +came to an end with that precious summer." + +"Happy indeed!" whispered Helen. + +"Yes, happy! He enjoyed for an hour the sight of what was most +beautiful, most glorious to him, and then he passed away like the rosy +breath of morning in the rays of the much-beloved sun. He was relieved +of the burden of the oppressive heat and the stifling dust of noon. He +needed not cover himself shuddering against the sharp evening wind; he +did not see the beautiful, gay world sink into weird darkness. Pardon +me, I pray, Miss Helen; this is the second time to-night I am carried +away by the recollection of my departed darling. But I cannot tell you +how strangely the sight of you and your presence recalls to me his +memory. The scarred wounds bleed afresh, and the dry eyes begin to weep +once more." + +"Is it not so with me too?" said Helen, and her voice trembled. + +"Then you loved him too? But no, I did not mean to ask you that. How +could you help loving him--fair and brave, good and marvellously lovely +as he was, and when he loved you so! loved you inexpressibly! Oh, Miss +Helen, do you really know how dearly he loved you? Do you know that he +loved you unto death--that he loved you more than his own life?" + +"I know it," said Helen, in a whisper. + +"More than his life," continued Oswald, passionately; "beyond death. It +was on his last day, a few hours before his death, that he showed me a +medallion with a lock of your hair, which he wore in his bosom, and +begged me to place it in his grave by his side. I was not able to +fulfil his wish. You know that I left the castle the next morning, not +knowing whether I should ever put my foot inside again, whether I +should be allowed to watch over my departed darling till his last +moment. I could not bear the terrible thought that the precious jewel +might fall into profane hands; I took it therefore, with the intention +to hand it to you, who alone have a legitimate claim to it. I still +have it in my keeping. When do you desire me to send it to you?" + +They had passed through the gate of the fortress, and were now walking +down a street in the suburb, beneath tall, whispering poplar-trees. +Oswald tried to read Helen's face by the uncertain light of the moon, +which was just peeping out from behind drifting clouds. She looked pale +and deeply moved. Her arm rested more firmly on his arm, when she +replied, after a pause, + +"Is the medallion very dear to you?" + +"Can you ask me?" + +"No, no! do not misunderstand me; I am not insensible; not ungrateful +for love and friendship. Keep the medallion! Keep it in memory of +your--of our darling!" + +"Only in memory of him? It is your hair, Miss Helen; and only in memory +of him?" + +"And--of me!" + +Oswald took the small hand which was resting on his arm and carried it +to his lips. + +"You make me very proud and happy," he said. "I have done nothing to +deserve so great a favor; but then, on the other hand, would grace be +grace if it could be deserved?" + +"You are overwhelming me with your modesty. You wish me to thank you +for all your kindness, as I ought to thank you, and yet am not able to +do. You have always been very kind to me; you stood by me when even my +nearest relatives rose against me, and at the very last----" + +"I did nothing but what I would do again at the peril of my life. But +here we are at Miss Bear's house. Is the gate locked?" + +"No." + +They went through the small garden up to the house-door. Oswald rang +the bell. + +"Shall I see you again?" + +"I go often to Doctor Rohan's!" + +The door was unlocked from within. + +"Good-night!" + +"Good-night!" + +Oswald seized Helen's hand and pressed it passionately to his lips. + +The door opened. + +"Till next time!" whispered Oswald. + +"Till next time!" replied Helen, in a still lower tone. Oswald thought +she mentioned his name also. The next instant she had disappeared in +the house. + +Oswald went back into the town in a state of excitement which was by no +means altogether joyous. Pure, chaste joy could no longer enter his +heart--as little as we are able to play a correct air upon an +instrument out of tune. + +Thus he reached town. Where Market street opens upon the square all the +windows were brilliantly lighted up in the corner house, carriage after +carriage drove up to the door, dressed-up ladies and gentlemen stepped +out and disappeared under the lofty portal. When Oswald, walking close +to the house, had come immediately in front of me door, another +carriage was driving up. The driver checked the fiery horses too +violently, and the servant, who was just jumping down from the box, was +thrown violently upon the ground. He gathered himself up immediately, +but the pain was probably too great--he remained immovable, as if +stunned. Oswald, who had seen that there was only a lady in the coupe, +who had already risen, expecting the door to be opened, seized the +bolt, opened the door, and offered his hand to the lady, who, placing +her hand in the well-fitting white glove unsuspiciously upon his arm, +came down in a cloud of tulle and laces. + +At that moment the light from the interior of the house fell brightly +upon the lady and Oswald, and the former uttered a cry, remaining +motionless, and staring at Oswald with wide, open eyes. + +A deep blush overspread her face, her eyes flamed up--was it love or +was it hatred, who knows? Her lips trembled; evidently she had been +overcome with surprise. + +The poor servant, who came limping up, hat in hand, broke the charm. + +"Pardon me, my lady----" + +Oswald's face showed an ironical smile. + +"I congratulate you, _my lady_," he said, offering his hand to escort +her up the steps. + +Oswald felt the slender fingers grasping his arm very firmly. + +"Was it not your will?" she whispered. And now he knew that the great +gray eyes had flamed up with love, and not with hatred. "Many thanks! +Let me see you soon. I promise you Cloten will receive you well!" + +They had reached the last step. + +Oswald bowed. + +"Then I shall see you again?" + +"I will come!" + +The young lady entered the house. Oswald went down the steps, past the +lame servant, who was still rubbing his knees, and looked wonderingly +at his improvised colleague. + +Oswald laughed aloud as he went on: "Emily Breesen--Frau von Cloten! +And merely because I would have it so! And if I should not wish it to +be so any longer--what then?" + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +During the next eight days the last crows had come to town from the +woods, and moved into their winter quarters in the steeples; likewise, +it was reported in well-informed circles, that of the noble families +who used to spend their winter in Grunwald not one of importance had +remained in the country. The increased animation which filled the +otherwise quiet streets, proved this sufficiently. At the theatre, the +front boxes, which were exclusively reserved for the nobility, now +overflowed every night. The good citizens of Grunwald were often +frightened out of their first sleep by the noise of furiously-driven +carriages, and twelve hours afterwards the same carriages came +thundering back again through the streets, when the disturbers of their +nightly rest had slept long enough, and felt an irrepressible desire to +see each other again after so long an interval, and to exchange their +views about the interesting events of the last ball--how often young +Count Grieben had danced with the youngest Miss Nadelitz, and what a +strange head-dress the Baroness Renrien had worn. + +Last night there had been a great ball at Count Grieben's; and +to-morrow was to be a great party at the Grenwitz mansion, the first they +had given this season. As the local etiquette required that the invited +guests should call on their host before the party, as well as after it, +visits had to be paid to-day at both houses. The rolling of carriages +had, therefore, no end to-day. + +When visitors were expected in larger numbers, the large +reception-rooms of the Grenwitz mansion, which fronted upon the street, +laid aside their reserve and opened their doors to all comers. So it +was to-day. A dozen visitors had been there; another dozen were +expected. Just now there was a pause. It so happened that only the +baron and the baroness were sitting in the parlor. + +Any one who should have observed them just now, as they were escorting +Mrs. Nadelitz and her three daughters with smiles and compliments to +the parlor door, and who should have seen them after the door had been +closed, would have been greatly astonished at their altered appearance. +The old gentleman sank with an air of thorough weariness into his +easy-chair, and Anna Maria sat down opposite to him on a sofa, with a +face from which all smiles had vanished to give way to clouds of +deepest indignation. There had evidently been a scene between the two +before the last visitors came, such as is not unusual in regular family +dramas, and the question was now, simply, which of the two was to +resume first the interrupted dialogue. + +In former days this would have evidently been the privilege of Anna +Maria, who enjoyed strife, and felt sure of victory. But strangely +enough, husband and wife seemed recently to have exchanged parts. The +baron was almost transformed since Bruno's death and Helen's departure +from home. Formerly good-natured, yielding, and peaceful, he had become +sensitive, grumbling, and obstinate. This change might have been in +part the effect of his bad state of health and his decline, which had +become very perceptible in the last weeks; but sometimes it looked as +if the cause was a deeper one--as if the recent events had roused the +old gentleman from his lethargy, and shown him many things and many +persons in a very different light from that in which he had seen them +before. He who had formerly hardly taken a glass of water without first +consulting his Anna Maria, suddenly began to act for himself, even to +think for himself, and to have positive views of his own, which he +maintained with that obstinacy and pertinacity which is often observed +in weak minds. He had had attacks of this obstinacy in former years +also, but now the sporadic occurrences seemed to have changed into a +chronic disease. People are apt to say of somebody who acts in an +extraordinary manner, "he won't live long;" and if there is any reason +for this assertion, the days of the baron must have been numbered. +Perhaps this was really so, and the baron suspected it secretly, so +that he made unheard-of efforts of his mind and his will, exactly as +old, very sedate canary-birds are apt to hop about and to flutter with +nervous violence a few minutes before composing themselves to sleep. + +Such a nervous violence characterized the manner in which the old +gentleman, taking a pinch from his gold snuff-box, closed the top, and +then said, as if Anna Maria had given him the cue just then, and not +half an hour ago: + +"Stay! Everything must have an end; we cannot leave Helen forever at +Miss Bear's." + +"I am not accustomed," replied Anna Maria, taking up her +embroidery--she liked to be found busy at work when visitors came--"I +am not accustomed to say one thing to-day and another thing to-morrow. +Others may think differently about it. We would make ourselves +ridiculous before the whole world if we were to take Helen back after +four weeks." + +"It is nearly six weeks," growled the baron. + +"Four or six, that makes no difference." + +"It does for me. I am an old man; I may die to-morrow." + +"You have said so these ten years." + +"If I have said so for ten years," replied the baron, deeply offended +by the indifference which lay in the words of his wife, "it is because +I have not had a well day for ten years; and one of these days the +morning will break when I am no more, and that is why I should like to +have my daughter near me again as soon as possible." + +"And of your son you say nothing; you do not mind whether Malte is well +or unwell. And yet it is Malte in whom all our hopes are centring. You +ought to thank God that you have a son who can inherit the estate; +instead of that it is Helen, and all the time Helen, whom you consider +as all-important." + +"I thank God that I have a son, and I thank you that you have given me +a son; not because he is my heir, but because he is my flesh and blood, +whom I can love, as I love my daughter also. As to the estate, you know +my views about that. I abhor entails, which only serve to create +discord in the family." + +The baron took a pinch, evidently in order to becalm; but the remedy +seemed this time to have the opposite effect, for he continued, after +this interruption, with increasing violence: + +"Why did you absolutely want to marry your daughter to Felix? Because +Felix may possibly one of these days inherit the entail! Why is Felix +your special protege? Because he may possibly inherit the entail! Why +must O have Felix in my house, whom I cannot bear, and do without +Helen, whom I love? Because Felix may inherit the entail?" + +"Don't repeat yourself so often, dear Grenwitz," said Anna Maria in a +quiet tone, which did not harmonize at all with the deep-red spots on +her cheeks and the piercing sharpness of her large gray eyes, "and do +not excite yourself unnecessarily so much, your cough will return +directly. It matters very little how you think about entailed estates. +You cannot change them, God be thanked. But as for me, you must permit +me to think differently about it, and to do in that direction what I +think is my duty. If, you have no duties to fulfil to your children, I +have. If you are willing to give your daughter to the first adventurer +who wants her, or whom she wants--you need not stamp impatiently with +your sick foot; and you will spill the snuff on the carpet if you knock +your box so violently on the arm of the chair. I say, if it is +indifferent to you whom Helen marries, it is not so to me. I have +advocated the marriage with Felix, not from obstinacy, which I leave to +others, but because I thought it was a good match, the best which a +girl without fortune could make. You can see how little obstinate I am +when you consider that I am no longer in favor of the match since +Felix's accident, since the doctor thinks he is consumptive. On the +contrary, as soon as it is well ascertained that Felix wont live long, +I shall be one of the first to drop him, especially as he will leave +nothing but debts." + +The old gentleman seemed to be by no means pleased with this exhibition +of cold-blooded egotism. He had a kind of dim perception--not the first +of its kind--that his highly moral wife might possibly have a very bad +heart, and he sighed. It is bitter to have to give up in the evening of +life an illusion which we have indulged in for a quarter of a century. + +He fell into silent meditation. What it was that had occupied his +thoughts, he showed in the first words that fell from him. After a +pause, during which Anna Maria had been busy at her work, in nervous +silence; + +"At least, be kind to her to-morrow when she comes to see us." + +"I have always known what my duty is," replied the baroness, looking up +from her work and raising her eyebrows. "I shall know it in this case +also." + +The baron apparently did not feel quite reassured by her words; but +before he could find words to express his apprehension, the servant +opened the door and announced, "Baron and Baroness Barnewitz." + +The two entered the room. + +Baron Barnewitz and his wife had only come to town the day before. +Baron Barnewitz was a great hunter before the Lord, and did not like to +leave his dogs and his horses. He had not come much into the parlor +since the hunting season had opened, and he still bore the traces of +his last fox-hunt. His shoulders and his red beard looked still +broader, and his voice was louder and hoarser than usual. Hortense +Barnewitz, on the contrary, was a shade paler and lighter than in the +summer, and looked a great deal more wearied and fatigued. Her lips +were thinner, and her blue eyes had become sharper. She evidently began +to find life, all in all, unprofitable, especially since last night. +She had been sadly neglected at the ball for the sake of younger and +more attractive ladies. + +"Oh, at last we have the pleasure!" said Anna Maria, rising to meet her +guests, with the stereotyped gracious smile which she always held ready +for such occasions. + +"Entirely our own pleasure, madame," cried the fox-hunter, kissing the +thin hand of the baroness; "entirely our own. By God, could not come +sooner. Arrived yesterday at noon; last night at Grieben's. Pity you +were not there; famous, I tell you; had almost as much fun as at the +last hunt. My wife was tired; had no encouragement. People are always +tired when no encouragement. Ha, ha, ha!" + +"You must pardon Karl's way of talking," said Hortense, taking a seat +by the baroness on the sofa; "he has lived the last six weeks almost +exclusively with grooms and huntsmen." + +"And with you, my darling! ha, ha, ha!" laughed the gallant husband. +"Well, Hortense needn't take it amiss. Husbands, wife, can afford a +joke, eh?" + +"How do things look at home?" asked Anna Maria, trying to give a more +interesting turn to the conversation. + +"Oh, so so!" said Baron Barnewitz. "The winter wheat is generally doing +very well; here and there the mice have done some harm. The summer was +too hot. I think the rain will do us some good now. _Apropos_ of rain, +Grenwitz! we must settle that question about the ditches, else we shall +all of us be drowned one of these days. I talked about it to Oldenburg, +a few days ago. He belongs to our district, with his estate at Cona. He +thought, too, the thing would have to be done this fall." + +"Why, does the baron nowadays take an interest in farming? That is +something entirely new," said Anna Maria. + +"Entirely new, madame," affirmed Baron Barnewitz; "the very last news, +ha, ha, ha! since his return from his travels; that is to say, about a +fortnight. I think he will be crazy next." + +"Or marry your cousin Melitta," said the baroness, smiling. + +"Perhaps that would be the same thing," suggested Hortense. + +"But, dear Hortense, you ought not to be so satirical," said the +baroness, threatening the satirical blonde with her uplifted finger +jestingly. + +"Are jealous; you are jealous!" cried Baron Barnewitz. "You have always +envied her her beaux, because she has one for every finger." + +"It is a great art to be attended by gentlemen, if one leaves no means +of coquetry unused," said Hortense, dropping her cloak far enough to +show her white shoulders. + +"Well, it is not quite as bad as that," replied her husband. + +Hortense shrugged her white shoulders. + +"Bad is a relative idea. Melitta has given so much ground for gossip in +her life that people are not so very strict with her." + +"But that might be the case with Baron Oldenburg too," said Anna Maria. + +"Possibly," said Hortense. "I do not know Baron Oldenburg well +enough----" + +The fox-hunter saw himself compelled to pull out his handkerchief, and +to blow his nose furiously. + +"Not well enough," repeated Hortense, who probably discovered some +connection between her words and the violent blowing of her husband's +nose; "but, if he can get over Melitta's last affair, he must, indeed, +be very tolerant." + +"Last affair!" said moral Anna Maria, raising her eyebrows; "why, I had +not heard of anything!" + +"Gossip, madame, gossip!" said Barnewitz, who remembered that Melitta +was his first cousin, and that he had, as a boy of seventeen, +worshipped the beautiful girl of twelve. "Nothing but the gossip of a +set of old women." + +"Old women often have very useful, sharp eyes," remarked Hortense, +examining attentively the stucco ornaments of the ceiling. + +"You make me very curious," said Anna Maria, sitting down comfortably +in the sofa-corner. + +"It is nonsense, madame, I assure you," said Barnewitz, angrily. "A +couple of old women from our village, who were stealing wood at night +in the Berkow forest--at least I cannot see how else they could have +been there--say that Melitta has had secret interviews in her little +forest cottage with--Heaven knows whom!" + +"Why, that is quite a piquant story," said Anna Maria. + +"Yes; and what makes it still more piquant," said Hortense, her eyes +still busy at the ceiling, "is this: that the Heaven knows who always +came by the road from Grenwitz, and always went back again the same +way!" + +Anna Maria's eyes opened as wide as they possibly could when she heard +this statement. + +"When is that reported to have taken place?" she asked, with severity, +"I will not hope----" + +"Oh, do not trouble yourself about it," interrupted Hortense; "Felix +came much later. It was about the time when we gave our first ball, and +Oldenburg, who was assigning the guests their seats at table with Karl, +made my cousin go to table with Doctor Stein, and carried him +afterwards home in his own carriage. It was a touching attention, +though not without its comical side in this case; as well as the warmth +with which Oldenburg afterwards took Mr. Stein's part when your nephew, +Felix, had that unpleasant affair with him. Oh, it is too amusing! But +nobody can accuse my cousin that she does not know how to make friends +of her friends." + +The old baron had listened to this interesting conversation in perfect +silence, and apparently with utter indifference. All the more +surprising was the vehemence with which he now said, shaking his gray +head indignantly, + +"Frau von Berkow is a dear lady, whom I esteem; Baron Oldenburg is a +man of honor; I have always known him as such, and have had quite +recently occasion to see it again in some very important business I had +with him. I am sorry, my friends, to hear you speak of them in this +hard and unfeeling manner--very sorry! very sorry!" + +And the old man trembled so violently with deep emotion that he could +hardly carry the pinch he held between his fingers to his nose. + +Baron Barnewitz nodded his head, as if he wished to say: The old +gentleman is not so far out. But Hortense was not in the humor to +accept the correction patiently. + +"Don't trouble yourself about that, my dear baron," she replied +scornfully; "you know that the name of this Mr. Stein has elsewhere +also obtained quite a celebrity in the annals of the past summer. The +more frequently it is, therefore, coupled with my cousin, why, all the +more rarely can it be put in connection with the names of other +ladies." + +It was fortunate for the old gentleman that he did not understand this +allusion to Helen, since it had never occurred to him in the most +remote way that his daughter could have been the cause of the duel +between Felix and Oswald. + +In the meantime Hortense seemed to feel that she had probably gone too +far. She hastened, therefore, to say that it was quite late already, +and she was just about to rise in order to take leave when more +visitors were announced, which compelled her to stay. No one was to say +of Hortense Barnewitz that she had fled before a rival. But such a +rival was, in more than one respect, Emily Cloten, who now rushed in +ahead of her husband. + +Emily had been married a fortnight. She had preferred not to make any +other wedding tour than from the estate of her parents, where the +wedding had taken place, to Grunwald. She did not wish to miss the +beginning of the season. She longed to appear at once on the stage of +her future triumphs, in order to prevent any possible competition. +Emily Breesen did not wish to become Frau von Cloten for nothing--the +wife of a man to whom she had engaged herself in a fit of +jealousy--whom she had married from pure caprice. + +The success which she had obtained at the first balls of the season +fulfilled her boldest expectations. She saw all the men at her feet, +and the consciousness of the power of her charms furnished an excellent +relief for her coquettish beauties. The certainty of victory beamed +from her large, almond-shaped gray eyes; the certainty of victory +played around her rather large but well-shaped mouth, with its dazzling +white teeth; the certainty of victory peeped stealthily from the +dimples in her rosy cheeks; the certainty of victory even proclaimed +itself in the rustling of her long silk dresses and the nodding of the +white ostrich-feather on her black-velvet hat, from under which the +luxuriant brown hair overflowed in all directions. + +Baron Cloten, on his side, seemed to have found out that the sublime +good fortune of being the husband of so brilliant a lady was somewhat +equivocal. There was around his eyes a faint expression like that +of a turkey-hen who has for weeks been dreaming and boasting of the +hoped-for happiness to promenade in the poultry-yard at the head of a +number of young, respectable turkeys, and who suddenly sees her brood +swim on the pond in the shape of wild, disrespectful ducklings. Those +who had known him before could not help noticing that he twisted his +blond moustache less frequently, and that his voice sounded by no means +as self-complacent as formerly. Perhaps he was all the more +disconcerted as he had unexpectedly and without any desire of his own +met his lady-love, whom he had faithlessly and somewhat cowardly +abandoned; while on the other hand, this very circumstance seemed +visibly to increase the good humor of his young wife. She had the +pleasing consciousness of having totally eclipsed Hortense last night, +and she now enjoyed the sight of her rival most heartily. Of course she +greeted her with all the signs of most cordial friendship, and asked +her with deep sympathy whether the night's rest had relieved her of her +headache of last night. + +"What a pity, dear Barnewitz, that your migraine compelled you to leave +before the cotillon. I assure you, it was the most lovely cotillon I +have ever danced. Prince Waldenberg--you know I led the cotillon with +Prince Waldenberg; Max Grieben had begged us to do so--knew a number of +the newest figures, as they dance them at the court balls in Berlin. I +tell you such a cotillon was never danced yet in Grunwald. Was it not +charming, Arthur?" + +"Oh certainly, certainly?" rattled the obedient husband, who had been +condemned to dance with a poor, hunchbacked countess; "I assure you, it +was divine; upon my word, divine!" + +"I thought the company, to tell the truth, was rather mixed," said +Hortense, who looked a few degrees more _blasee_ since Emily had come; +"I counted not less than four--say four--artillery officers who were +not noble." + +"Why, that is very likely," said Emily, "although I had no time to +count them. I have even danced with one of them--Jones, or Smith, or +whatever his name was--and, by the way, he waltzed as magnificently as +I could wish." + +"But, dear Emily, might you not have escaped that?" said Hortense, +drawing up her cloak. + +"Precisely the same question which Prince Waldenberg asked. 'Your +Highness,' I replied, 'I am no enthusiast about the artillery; but, +after all, I would rather dance with a man who is not noble than not to +dance at all." + +This allusion to a misfortune which had twice occurred to Hortense last +night, put the poor lady in such an excited state that the rouge on her +cheeks became quite useless. She was just about to commit the folly of +betraying by a violent answer how deep the venomous arrow shot by Emily +had wounded her, when the servant announced "Professor and Mrs. Jager." + +The man was so well trained that he did not, as usually, admit the +persons he announced at once into the parlor, but closed the door +behind him and remained standing there bolt upright, waiting for +further orders. + +"You will excuse me, my friends," said Anna Maria, apologizing, and +turning to the company present, "if I receive the professor and his +wife. The good people have always shown themselves loyal, and quite +aware of their social position. I think it is our duty to encourage +such people." + +Upon a sign of his mistress the servant went out, and there appeared +the man of the Fragment and the poetess making deep bows and +courtesies, which were returned with a gentle nod by the noble company. +Only the old baron rose, shook hands with them, and bade them welcome +in his cordial, unvarnished manner. + +If Primula, who looked somewhat shyly from under the cornflowers on her +bonnet, seemed to stand rather in need of some such encouragement, the +editor of Chrysophilos evidently could very well do without it. +Humility, it is true, spoke from his small eyes, which squinted +suspiciously above the golden rim of his spectacles as he approached +with bent back; modesty, it is true, smiled from the unpleasant lines +which, marked the large mouth with its low-drawn comers; but they were +the humility and the modesty of a cat rubbing her back against +the foot of the ladder which leads to the garret where the fat pigeons +are cooing. He went up to the baroness, kissed repeatedly her +graciously-extended hand, bowed low to the other two ladies, not quite +so low to the gentlemen, seated himself after some hesitation on the +edge of a chair which stood rather outside of the circle, and waited, +his head slightly on one side, till somebody should feel disposed to +honor him with a question. + +The conversation of the company turned on a most interesting subject, +the person of his Highness, First Lieutenant Prince Waldenberg, who had +been ordered a few weeks ago from his regiment of the Guards at the +Capital to the line regiment which was in garrison at Grunwald, and who +had of course, from his first appearance, become, the lion of the whole +country nobility now residing in town. + +"Only I should like to know why he has been ordered here," said +Cloten. "Felix, with whom I talked it over yesterday--_apropos_, it is +very well, madame, you make him keep his room; he looks really very +badly--Felix thinks the prince has probably had another duel; they say +he is the most passionate man in the world." + +"Why, Arthur!" said Emily. "You talk as if passion were a crime. I wish +some people I know had a little more of it." + +"Are not the Waldenbergs of Slavonic descent?" asked Hortense. "It +seems to me the prince looks like a Mongolian." + +"Oh! you have not seen him near, my dearest Barnewitz," said Emily; "he +is one of the handsomest men I have ever seen, and he dances divinely." + +"I believe the Waldenbergs are originally a Polish family," said Anna +Maria. + +"Not at all, madame," cried Cloten; "pure Germanic, upon honor, pure +Germanic." + +"I am sure Professor Jager can tell us something more about that," said +the baroness, turning with a gracious smile towards the man of science. + +"Indeed, my gracious lady," said the latter, glad to have found an +opportunity for the display of his knowledge; "indeed, I have always +taken special pleasure, while pursuing my historical studies, to trace +out the genealogies of noble families, and thus it happens that have +given special attention to the history of the Waldenberg family, which +is in many respects a most interesting one. The Waldenbergs were, if +you will excuse me for correcting your remarks, of purely German +descent. They came originally from Franconia, and only went to Prussia +with the German knights. Afterwards, it is true, they have largely +intermarried with noble Polish families, and hence they own still large +estates in the Lausitz, where the family estate lies, and in Russian +Poland. The present prince, also, has both Slavonic and Germanic blood +in his veins. His mother, the Princess Stephanie Letbus, of the house +of Wartenberg, married in eighteen hundred and twenty-two, in St. +Petersburg, where she has lived from her early youth--I mentioned +before that part of their possessions are in Russia--a Count Constantin +Malikowsky, the last scion of a once very rich and powerful Polish +family, who is now, however, quite reduced. The Emperor Alexander, who, +as they say, was under obligations to both families" (here the +professor ventured upon a stealthy smile to the young princess, who was +lady in waiting to the empress and exceedingly beautiful, and to the +count whose family had been mainly ruined by Russian confiscations,) +"has the credit of having made the match. Such influence was perhaps +necessary, because the reputation of the count was--I trust you will +pardon the veracity of a conscientious historian--was, how shall I call +it, somewhat doubtful. Young noblemen must sow their wild oats, we all +know that; but Count Malikowsky had probably carried the matter a +little too far. However that may be, the offspring of this marriage of +Count Constantin Malikowsky with the Princess Stephanie Letbus is the +prince, who at first was in the Russian service; but when with the last +Prince Waldenberg the male succession in the family came to an end, and +the estates lapsed back to the crown, the King of Prussia as a special +favor declared him qualified to succeed, and he entered our service as +Prince Count Malikowsky Waldenberg. His full name is, as you may +possibly not know yet, Raimund Gregorius Stephan, Prince Count +Malikowsky Waldenberg, hereditary lord of Letbus." + +The company had followed the genealogical lecture of the learned +professor with the same attention with which a company of ordinary +crows might listen to the report of an owl about the descent of a rare +raven who measures four yards from tip to tip. The devout silence was +suddenly interrupted by the voice of the servant, who opened the door +with nervous haste and called out, "His Highness, Prince Waldenberg!" + +The nervous servant seemed to have electrified the whole company in the +room. A moment later and they all stood straight up before their +chairs, anxiously looking at the door, through whose wide-open frame +the prince was entering so quickly that Anna Maria was not able to make +the three steps to meet him which etiquette required, but had only time +for one and a half. + +"You have had the kindness, madame," said the prince in excellent +French, slightly bending over the hand of the baroness, "to anticipate +my wishes by your invitation, before I had an opportunity to make +myself worthy of such an attention. Permit me to try to make amends for +my neglect." + +"An effort, _mon prince_," answered Anna Maria, with her sweetest +smile, also in French, "which in a gentleman like yourself is sure of +success. I regret exceedingly that, rarely as we are from home, an +unfortunate accident should have caused us the other day to be absent +just when you thought of honoring us with a visit. Permit me to present +to you my friends: the baron, my husband; Baron and Baroness Barnewitz; +Baron and Baroness Cloten." + +"I have already the honor," said the prince, smiling. + +"Professor Jager, an excellent scholar, and a friend of our house; Mrs. +Jager, a lady whose poetical talent deserves encouragement." + +The prince bowed to each one of the persons presented--even to the +last-mentioned, which made quite a sensation--with the same dignity and +courtesy, and gave the signal to sit down by choosing himself a seat by +Anna Maria on an easy-chair. + +During this long salutation those who had not known the prince before +had an opportunity to study his outward appearance. His was a Herculean +form, calculated to impress a professional boxer forcibly, and to +create a sensation in a circus, dressed up as an athlete; but for +ordinary life was, perhaps, a little too large. Upon the large, +powerful body, whose height was in full harmony with the breadth of the +shoulders and the magnificent chest, there was set a head more angular +than round, covered all over with short, curling black hair, and firmly +resting upon a neck which looked too short for the size of the head. +The features of the face corresponded with the whole. The brow was low +and straight, the eyes of bright darkness but small, and apparently +still further reduced in size by the heavy eyelids with their dark +lashes. The nose as well as the thick lips were somewhat protruding. A +beard, thicker and blacker than the hair on the head, covered the +cheeks and the upper lip. The chin alone, shaved smooth, in military +style, was the energetic base of this energetic face. Taken all in all, +the assertion made by Hortense that the prince looked like a Mongolian +agreed as little with the reality as Emily's judgment that he was +strikingly handsome. Nevertheless, the whole was a far too striking +individuality and too full of character to be called plain, even if the +strict rules of ideal beauty were not all observed. A physiognomist +would in vain have looked for ideal qualities of any kind in the face +of the prince, but he would have discovered, in return, a most +energetic, powerful will; and, perhaps, if he had examined carefully, a +boundless pride, which slept with open eyes behind the mask, like a +lion behind the bars of his cage, and could be roused by a mere +nothing. + +The prince wore the simple uniform of the regiment in garrison in +Grunwald, but the two decorations on his breast--a small cross set in +diamonds, probably Russian; and the order of the Blue Falcon of the +second class, with crossed swords--proved abundantly that he was a man +whose importance was great, aside from epaulet and sword-knot. + +Anna Maria treated her great guest with a distinction corresponding +fully with this higher mystical importance, which was only revealed to +the profane eye by the awe-inspiring sparkling of the diamonds. It was +this that caused the modest silence into which Barnewitz and Cloten had +fallen since his arrival; the coquetry with which Hortense and Clotilde +tried to attract his attention, and the embarrassment of the author of +the fragments and the poetess, who had a vague impression that they +were more than superfluous in this most noble company, and yet did not +dare to rise from their seats and to go away. The prince and the +baroness at first kept up the conversation alone, until Hortense +succeeded in wedging in a casual remark, expressed in excellent French, +and thus to obtain the word to the great annoyance of Emily, who had to +leave her adversary in the undisturbed enjoyment of this triumph, as +she spoke French but imperfectly, and was hardly able to follow the +rapid utterance of her rival. Hortense, who knew Emily's weak point, +carried her malice so far as to turn round to her continually with a +"_qu'en dites--vous, chere amie? N'est ce pas, Emilie?_" and to force +her in this way to reply in a manner which might be clever in spirit +but was very imperfect in form. Any one who could have noticed the +intense delight with which Hortense enjoyed her triumph over her +adversary would have been compelled to acknowledge that even malice has +its moments of happiness. The delight, however, became almost too great +to be borne, when at last the prince hardly noticed Emily any longer, +and gave himself up entirely to the charm of Hortense's amusing +conversation. + +Emily, however, was far too frivolous and too bold to lose her good +humor at once, because of such a momentary defeat. The prince was not +to her taste, although she had before praised him in order to annoy her +rival; and if he did not choose to speak German to her, as he had done +the night before, he might leave it alone. Emily played with her beaux +as a trifling child plays with its dolls; it was utterly indifferent to +her whether she broke the head of one, or the other fell into the +water; she felt it only when one of her favorite dolls and she had +occasionally, for the sake of variety, one that she overwhelmed with +caresses and kisses--was not willing to be tender to her and to return +her affection. Oswald had been such a favorite, but cold, desperately +cold doll for her. She might have married him and become his faithful +wife if he had belonged to the same circles in which she lived--at +least her fancy represented it to her as possible in dreamy hours--but +now she was Baroness Cloten, and then--what did it matter to her? Was +she not handsome and young, and ten times cleverer than her foolish +husband with his everlasting "upon honor!" and "divine!" Why will +foolish men marry clever and handsome young wives, especially when +these wives have a fondness for fancies brighter than the dull gray of +actual life? Are the wives to be blamed in such cases if they go their +own way, which is sometimes so narrow and dark that virtue and honor, +the faithful companions of good wives, are lost by the way? + +Emily Cloten had been watching the whole time for an opportunity to +enter into conversation with Mrs. Jager, who, she suspected, might be +able to give her some news about Oswald, whom she had not seen again +since the night before. She availed herself, therefore, of the +favorable moment when the prince was speaking to the baroness and +Hortense, and the baron to the reverend gentleman, in order to inquire +of Primula about "that young man who was tutor at Grenwitz last +summer--Fels, I think, or Rock, or Stein, or whatever his name +was--since a friend of hers was in need of a teacher." Emily was not +mistaken; Primula could give her all information about Mr. Stein--"not +Fels, although he has a heart like the poet's hero, Felsenfest; not +Rock, although he towers like a rock above all men"--as the +enthusiastic poetess added warmly. He called nearly every day, she said +(Oswald had been there once); he was like a member of the family, and +as truly united with her in warm friendship as in their common +aspirations. "Excelsior!" She did not think, however, Oswald would just +now accept such a position, as he was "suffering in the dull bonds of a +school," but she would mention to him the offer. + +"Perhaps you had better not say anything," said Emily, after a short +meditation. "You know Mr. Stein--how could I forget the name--did not +leave our circle in perfect harmony. He might reject the offer at once, +if it came to him in that way. Could you not--how shall we manage +it?--yes! that's the way! Could you not arrange it so, my dear Mrs. +Jager, that I should meet him at your house as if by mere chance? I +have long since desired to see the table on which the author of the +'Cornflowers' composes her beautiful poems." + +"You overwhelm me with your kindness," cried Primula. "I can only say +with Zeus at the distribution of the gifts of the earth: if you really +wish to enter my lowly hut, as often as you come it shall be open to +you. Shall we say day after to-morrow, at seven?" + +"That will suit me exactly," said Emily. + +Emily had given herself so completely to this interesting conversation +that her husband had to remind her of the intended breaking up of the +company. The prince had risen; the others had followed his example. + +"_Madame_," said the prince, "_jai l'honneur_"--the word died on his +lips, for he saw in the large mirror before him the form of a +marvellously beautiful girl who had suddenly entered the room without +being announced by the servant. He turned round almost frightened, and +stepped aside, with a low bow, to make room for the young lady, who +went up to the baroness. The young lady was Helen Grenwitz. + +Her appearance here was unexpected by all except the baron and the +baroness, and surprised and interested each one in his own way. The +prince, who saw her now for the first time, was the only one who knew +nothing of the difficulties in the family; the others had discussed the +Grenwitz catastrophe for weeks with great zeal and vast ingenuity in +all directions, and as Helen had thus been the common topic of +conversation, this first meeting of mother and daughter was therefore +to them all a most attractive scene. But if they had expected anything +extraordinary they were doomed to disappointment. The baron, to be +sure, showed some emotion as he rose to meet Helen and to kiss her +brow, but mother and daughter met with courteous coldness, which +furnished little food for the curiosity and thirst for scandal of the +assembly, ready as they were to notice every gesture, and to treasure +up every word. + +"Ah, good-day, my dear child," said the baroness, in French, kissing +Helen likewise on her forehead, but very lightly. "You come just in +time. Permit me, _mon prince_, to present my daughter, Helen--His +Highness, Prince Waldenberg, my child, the most recent as well as the +most brilliant acquisition for our society." + +Helen returned the low bow of the prince, apparently not dazzled by his +high rank and his imposing appearance, and then turned to Emily Cloten, +who welcomed her most heartily. Emily's sharp eyes had not failed to +observe the impression which Helen's startling beauty had produced on +the prince. Let the prince admire whom he pleased, so Hortense lost her +triumph! + +"Oh, how nice!" she cried, embracing Helen, "that you show yourself at +last. I was coming to see you soon; we have a whole world to tell each +other." And she seized her friend by both hands and drew her aside a +few steps, so as to be able to say to her: "Look, the prince is done +for, _totalement_ done for! He does not take is black eyes off you for +an instant! If you want him, I'll let you have him. He dances +beautifully, but he is not my _genre_. Encourage him a little; it +annoys the Barnewitz fearfully. Just think, the old coquette still +wants to play her part, although she has now to paint even her veins +blue, and last night remained twice without a partner! How do you like +the She Bear? _Apropos_, have you heard anything of Oswald Stein? I +shall never forget that evening at your house! We came too late with +our warning, but he pulled through beautifully. Even Arthur says he +acted like a perfect gentleman. Don't turn round, the prince is coming +this way. He no doubt wants to secure the first waltz for tomorrow." + +Emily's cunning had guessed right. The prince had really, while keeping +up a conversation with the baroness, looked incessantly at Helen, and +had been so absent in his answers that one could easily see his +thoughts were elsewhere. Suddenly he interrupted a brilliant sentence +of Anna Maria's by asking whether there would be dancing to-morrow, and +whether he might be allowed to ask Fraeulein von Grenwitz to keep him a +dance? When both questions had been answered with a gracious "_Mais +oui, monseigneur!_" he approached the two ladies with a bow. + +"I beg pardon," he said in German, "if I interrupt the ladies in an +interesting conversation; but I cannot leave without having made an +effort to secure a dance for to-morrow. May I hope, madame? May I have +the honor, Miss Helen?" + +The madame and the miss had the goodness to grant the prince's request, +and his highness left with a haste which clearly showed that nothing +had kept him so long but the accomplishment of this important task. + +The departure of his highness was a signal for the other company, who +had been waiting for it to go likewise, to the great satisfaction of +coachmen and servants in the street below, who began to be as impatient +as the horses. + +The carriages had rolled away. The reception-rooms were once more +empty; only the baron and the baroness remained, for the two Clotens +had taken Helen in their carriage; the interrupted dialogue might have +been resumed. But it was not done. The old gentleman felt too tired, +and Anna Maria began to look in an entirely new light upon the question +whether Helen should remain at the boarding-school or not? For about +ten minutes ago the thought had suddenly entered her mind that it +might, after all, be wiser to be reconciled to her daughter, who had at +least as much prospect as any other young lady, and probably more, to +become Princess of Waldenberg Malikowsky, Countess of Letbus. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +A man who is to be married in a few weeks finds it usually very hard, +even in ordinary cases, to do equal justice to his professional duties +and to his duties as a betrothed. But in the case of Franz this +dilemma, insuperable to many persons, was perhaps the easiest part of +his task, although he had an abundance of business as one of the +representatives of the privy councillor in his medical practice +(another part had been assumed by one of his colleagues). But more +difficult by far than these duties were the troubles arising from his +effort to arrange the extremely complicated money matters of his future +father-in-law. It appeared gradually that the debts of the privy +councillor would not be so overwhelming, if it should be feasible to +collect the sums which were due him on all sides. But this was in most +cases highly improbable. The debtors of the privy councillor generally +lived in garrets and cellars; they were the lame and the crippled, the +infirm and the invalid, often widows and orphans, as often also +unworthy people, who had wretchedly abused the well-known liberality of +the privy councillor. What enormous and, alas! what useless efforts +this man had made to fill the Danaids' tub of the poor! with what zeal +he had made himself poor in order to overcome the poverty around him, +like the fabled pelican, who feeds his young with his own blood. What +embarrassments he had wilfully assumed, in order to relieve others from +the same troubles! How often he had given up his own sleep that his +neighbor might sleep! How he had borrowed money at usurious interest in +order to pay the debts of others. How he had entered into the most +hazardous speculations, of which he knew nothing, but which must +succeed and return a hundred per cent, if you believed the originators, +but which of course never did succeed, and overwhelmed the good-natured +and credulous privy councillor with new indebtedness--only to help +others on in their own business! + +It would have been a difficult task for the most experienced lawyer to +find his way through this vast mass of more or less complicated +questions, and to decide in each case what was to be done for the +moment, and what for the future; how much more for Franz, who had no +experience in such matters of business. But love lent him miraculous +power, and sharpened his natural delicacy in his peculiar relations to +his father-in-law, which called upon him continually to encourage, to +appease, and to persuade. "I should not hesitate a moment," he would +say, "to jump after you into the water, if I saw you were in danger of +drowning, and you and everybody who should see it would think it +perfectly natural. Now you are in a danger which to many people appears +more formidable even than drowning--for many escape it only by rushing +into eternity--and I risk for your sake not my life, which you could +not give me back, but a few thousand dollars, which you can pay me back +at any time, when, as it seems highly probable, your health is +completely restored, and which, even if the worst should happen, it +would not make me unhappy to lose." + +In this way Franz tried to help his father-in-law through many a sad +hour, in which the sense of his disease and the consciousness of his +position weighed too heavily on his soul. Franz hoped that the +excellent constitution of the man would do the rest. The privy +councillor had indeed hardly gained the conviction that--thanks to the +able and energetic help of his son-in-law--no dishonor could be +attached to his name, even if he were to die now, than he laid aside +all thoughts of death and determined to get well as soon as he could. +"Not quite well," he said, "for that I can never be again; but half +well, or two-thirds well--just well enough to be able to bring the hay, +which is now lying fresh on the meadow, dry into the barn. I feel it, +there are a few evening hours left me yet; I mean to make good use of +them. You shall not spend your money upon me, and into the bargain +sacrifice your future prospects for my sake." + +Unfortunately this sacrifice had already been made. + +Just at this time it happened that a famous professor of the university +in the capital had seen a monograph on typhus, published by Franz +during the summer, and had then been reminded that Franz had formerly +been one of his most talented pupils, for Franz had pursued his studies +for three years in the capital. He wrote to Franz congratulating him on +his work, "which gave excellent evidence of his sharp acumen, and of +his astounding erudition, rare in so young a man. But," continued the +letter, "while thanking you in the name of science for your book, I beg +leave at the same time to make you a proposition, which I hope you will +consider promptly and seriously. Next Easter the place of first +assistant in the great hospital here will be vacant. I know among our +younger men of eminence none to whom I would entrust this place as +readily as to you." The great man then spoke at length of the +advantages which Franz would secure by accepting this position, and +concluded with the words: "You see this is a prospect as favorable as +you will ever have. I am, as you know, a very cool judge of men and +things; and as matters stand now in our university, you cannot fail, if +you wish, to obtain in a few years the appointment as full professor. I +am convinced that my friend Roban, to whom I beg you will give my +kindest regards, will look at the matter in the same light. Consult +him, and let me hear from you as soon as you can." + +Franz had answered, but without having consulted his father-in-law. He +had declined the offer, though he was fully alive to the advantages it +held out. The career which was opened to him was one of great +attractions to a man of science, and promised in the end to satisfy +even the most insatiable ambition; yet it did not appear to be +lucrative for some years to come, but, on the contrary, to require at +least a small independent fortune, which Franz did no longer possess. +He had placed himself by his generosity in the disagreeable position to +have to move into a new house before it is finished or dry--an +embarrassment in which many honest men find themselves; or, to speak +more clearly, to have to look to money-earning at a time when +he needed money to spend on his full preparation for his profession. +And for such a purpose Grunwald and his position as son-in-law of the +most prominent physician of the place were peculiarly well adapted. +Therefore--farewell thou golden toy of a life overflowing with mental +enjoyment and high aspirations! + + + "Away, thou dream, so bright and golden, + But life and love are not yet lost." + + +Thus Franz consoled himself while he made this great sacrifice of his +ambition and his hopes for the sake of those he loved, and his only +great care was now to keep this sacrifice a secret from those beloved +ones, especially from his betrothed. + +This care seemed to be unnecessary. Sophie found an explanation for the +clouds which darkened Franz's brow when he thought himself unobserved, +in the overwhelming burden of his professional duties; and for his +frequent and long interviews with her father, in the nature of his +practice. Since the condition of her father no longer filled her with +apprehensions, the happy cheerfulness of Sophie had fully reappeared. +She worked hard at her trousseau, and complained to Franz of the +confusion which the care for so many and so varied things produced in +her head. How much would a knowledge of the transactions that took +place between Franz and her father have interfered with the happiness +which she enjoyed in these days, as she labored to build her little +nest like a merry bird full of song and playful flutterings, if she had +known that the money with which she paid her long bills so cheerfully +had come from the purse of her betrothed? She had easily consoled +herself as to the grief arising from her inability to get ready by the +day on which Franz insisted with very unusual pertinacity; she had even +openly confessed that she had never looked upon it as such a very great +misfortune to have to begin her housekeeping with a few dozen napkins, +towels, etc., which were not yet hemmed, or marked in full. + +Nothing, therefore, was more painful to Sophie in these days of +excitement and great pressure than that the familiar circle could +not, as usually, assemble at night around the fire-place in the +sitting-room. The father, although able to sit up daily a little +longer, had yet to retire quite early; Franz was often down town till +far in the night, or he had to study in his rooms; even "the third in +the league," the old student, as he called himself, Bemperlein, _alias_ +Bemperly, did not show himself nowadays, and Sophie had at last deemed +it her duty to inquire for him at his lodging, thinking that he might +be sick, and that Franz had kept it secret from her so as to cause her +no apprehension. But she found the old student in his laboratory, in +the midst of phials, retorts, boxes, and instruments--looking, if not +like Faust, at least like Faust's famulus--at all events very busy and +industrious, but evidently not in danger of death from sickness. +Bemperlein excused himself on the score of his work--a very complicated +chemical analysis, which must not be interrupted. How could Sophie +think he had taken anything amiss?--he, and take amiss! and from +Sophie!--really, the analysis alone was to blame, and as an evidence of +it he promised to come that very night and stay as long as ever. + +Sophie's eyes, though a little near-sighted, were yet very well able to +see things near by, and thus she had not failed to notice a certain +veil of embarrassment which hung over Bemperlein's honest face, while +he blamed the troublesome analysis. As the young lady was slowly +walking homeward, and thought what might be the real reason why +Bemperlein had stayed away, she came, just as she was turning around a +corner, upon a gentleman who came hurriedly from the opposite +direction. + +"Pardon!" said the gentleman, lifting his hat and hurrying on. + +It was Oswald Stein. He had evidently not recognized Sophie. + +This unexpected meeting gave a new direction to Sophie's thoughts. She +remembered now that Bemperlein had not been at her house since he had +met Oswald there, who was just about to leave with Helen; that the +meeting of the two gentlemen had been very cold, strangely cold, and +that Bemperlein had given evasive answers to all their questions about +the relations in which he stood to Oswald. Was it Oswald, who had since +spent several evenings there, once in company with Helen Grenwitz, who +had frightened away Bemperlein? Was Bemperlein jealous? + +As Sophie knew nothing of Bemperlein's former relations to Oswald, she +could of course hardly expect to guess rightly. The truth lay somewhere +else. + +When Anastasius Bemperlein was no longer willing to shake hands with a +man whom he had once esteemed highly and loved heartily, one might rest +assured that a goodly portion of strong poison must have been mixed +with his milk of human kindness. Anastasius Bemperlein had fully +trusted Oswald Stein. He had seen the life and happiness of those he +loved best in his hand without fear, and he had overcome all his +apprehensions about a union formed so suddenly and resting on the +unsafe basis of entirely different social positions. He had said to +himself, "All this is idle nonsense in comparison with the invaluable +price of true love. Is not love stronger than faith and hope; how can +it fail to be stronger than foolish prejudices?" He had reached a point +where he had seen in the union of Melitta and Oswald a triumph of pure +humanity over the barbarism of civilization, and victory of truth over +falsehood. + +But only upon such a lofty basis was such a union justifiable and +possible. If one or the other sank below the level, both were lost. +Bemperlein had known Fran von Berkow for seven years; he knew that her +heart was true and good. Bemperlein had known Oswald for as many weeks, +and he thought Oswald was worthy of her. He thought so because he had +no choice; because to doubt would have seemed to him to insult his +much-beloved friend. + +And yet such doubts had made their way to his heart, slowly, silently, +as in our dreams a fearful monster drags itself towards us and we try +in vain to escape. He had struggled against these doubts until he could +struggle no longer. + +Melitta had returned from her second journey to Fichtenau, on which +Bemperlein had in vain offered to accompany her; but after a few hours' +stay at Grunwald she had gone on with Julius to Berkow, without sending +for Bemperlein. The latter did not hear of her having been there except +through old Baumann, who had remained behind to arrange Julius's +things, and to execute some other commissions. Bemperlein had never +spoken to the old man about Oswald. This time the latter began himself +He told him that Oswald had been at Fichtenau when they were there, +that he had learnt from the waiter that his mistress was at the hotel, +but had left again without calling on her. Here he paused, evidently in +order to hear what Bemperlein would say about this piece of news. But +when Bemperlein said nothing but "so so!" "indeed!" the old man could +no longer control himself, and poured out his full heart, and with it +the full cup of his wrath over Oswald. + +"He had never trusted the fine gentleman from the first moment, and now +he thought it as clear as light that the scamp had deceived his +mistress infamously. He had spoken himself to his mistress about it, +with all deference--for he knew he was nothing but a servant, and knew +his place--but also very seriously, for he had carried her about as a +child in his arms, and had always loved her tenderly; and she had +always confessed to him on all such occasions, not entirely and not by +halves, but sufficiently full for him, who knew her as well as his own +hand. And then he had had a great desire to shoot the fine gentleman +who had played his mistress such a mean trick, like a mad dog; and +little had been wanting one night on the heath between Grenwitz and +Fashwitz. But now he thanked God that he had held his arm and saved him +from such a crime, especially as He had allowed it to happen that the +story did not break the good lady's heart, but opened her eyes and +showed her the way in which alone she can find happiness on earth." +What this way was the old man had not said, but had risen and marched +straight out of the room, as if he wished to make all further questions +utterly impossible. + +It may easily be imagined how much this conversation, which confirmed +his worst fears, had affected Bemperlein; and what impression it must +have made upon him, when he came, quite full of these sensations, to +Doctor Rohan's house, and the first man who met him there was Oswald. + +This meeting had been so painful to him, and a possible repetition +seemed to him so intolerable, that it took him a whole week to recover +from his fright; and that he would perhaps never have recovered +entirely if Sophie had not come and made an end to his indecision. Poor +Bemperlein! He had longed to see his fair friend so much! He had to +tell her matters of such importance--of amazing importance for +Anastasius Bemperlein. + +Fortunately Sophie was alone when he appeared an hour later in her +sitting-room. Franz had just left, promising to be back later. Sophie +was surprised by Bemperlein's repeated question: "But there will be no +other visitor to-night?" and she naturally connected these questions +with her suspicions about the causes of Bemperlein's absence. As it was +not her nature to keep a thing long to herself, she said, after +watching Bemperlein for a time in silence as he was continually +stirring the fire with a poker, + +"Was not the true reason, Bemperly, why you have not been here for a +whole week, that you did not wish to meet Oswald Stein here?" + +"Who says so?" asked Bemperlein, pausing in his occupation, quite +frightened. + +"A question is no answer," replied Sophie. "Out with it, Bemperly! It +does not pay to attempt keeping secrets in your intercourse with such +clever people as I am. I know everything." + +"What do you know?" exclaimed Bemperlein, in great excitement, and +jumping up from his chair. + +"Why, Bemperly!" said Sophie, "you forget all consideration for my +nerves. You frighten me out of my wits, standing there with the red-hot +poker in your hands like the man in Shakespeare. Compose yourself, I +pray you! I know nothing at all. But you would really do me a favor, +if--pray sit down again and put the poker down!--well! if you would +tell me in all peacefulness and friendship what is the matter with you, +for the more I look at you the more change I see in you." + +"Miss Sophie," replied Bemperlein, "you know we cannot always be quite +open, even with our most intimate friends--and there is no one in the +wide world I would trust rather than you--because our secrets are in +many cases not our own, but are shared by others, and have to be kept +sacred for their sake." + +"Why, Bemperly!" said Sophie, "you surely do not think I want to pry +into your secrets! I am neither so impertinent nor so curious. Let us +drop the matter and talk of something else!" + +"No, no," exclaimed Bemperlein, eagerly, "let us speak of it! You +do not know how I have longed to talk with you--about--certain +things--certain persons--who----" + +Mr. Bemperlein had once more seized the poker, which had not yet cooled +off, and stirred the coals more assiduously than ever. Sophie shook her +head as she watched his doing so. It occurred to her that Bemperlein +might have made too great exertions in his chemical analysis, and that +his mind might have been somewhat injured. + +"As for my not coming here," continued Bemperlein, of a sudden, "you +were quite right. I stayed away because I did not wish to meet Oswald +Stein here." + +"But," said Sophie, "Franz told me you and Oswald Stein had been very +good friends. How did you fall out?" + +"How?" said Mr. Bemperlein. "Why, Miss Sophie, that is exactly what I +cannot tell you, much as I would like to tell you. Would you be friends +with somebody, or rather would you not try in every way to avoid +meeting somebody, who had mortally offended a third person whom you +love and revere?" + +"Certainly," replied Sophie, "for then he would have offended myself. +But are you quite sure that that is so? Have you heard both parties? As +for myself, I am not so enchanted with Mr. Stein; or, to tell the +truth, I dislike him the more the oftener I see him; but Franz, who is +very clever, and a capital judge of men, is quite enthusiastic about +him. How could that be if Stein were a bad man?" + +"I did not say he was bad," replied Bemperlein, working hard at a big +lump of coal; "bad is a very relative idea, and what I call acting +badly, Mr. Stein calls, perhaps, only acting thoughtlessly, in a +cavalier manner, or some such name. But I call it acting badly, if a +man----" + +Here Bemperlein interrupted himself, and poked more violently at the +coal than ever. + +"How would you call it, for instance--I do not speak now of Mr. +Stein--if a man were to promise marriage to a poor dependent girl, +without parents, without friends, who has not a soul in this wide, wide +world to protect her, who has believed his oaths and is willing to +follow him, and who then finds herself sold and betrayed to a--Oh it is +rascally, it is atrocious!" + +"But, for Heaven's sake, Oswald surely has not----" + +"I told you I am not speaking now of Mr. Stein. There are more +cavaliers of the sort in this world, and they look as much one like the +other as one viper looks like another viper." + +"My dear Bemperly, I pray you put the poker down; I can really stand it +no longer. Take this cushion, if you must absolutely have something in +your hand." + +"Thanks," said Bemperlein, putting down the poker, and seizing the +cushion; and then, holding it like a baby in his arms, sinking into +deep silence. + +Sophie began now in good earnest to be troubled about Bemperlein's +excited condition. But what was her terror when Bemperlein suddenly +jumped up, let the cushion in his arm fall on the ground, knelt down on +it with both knees, seized one of her hands in his own, and bowing low +before her, groaned in most piteous tones: "Oh! Miss Sophie, Miss +Sophie!" + +"For Heaven's sake, Bemperly," exclaimed the young lady, "get up! If +anybody saw you--saw us!" + +"Let me kneel," murmured Mr. Bemperlein. "I must tell you; and I +cannot tell you if you look at me with your big eyes, or if you were to +laugh----" + +Sophie at first did not know whether she should laugh or cry at this +unexpected declaration of love. For Bemperlein's sake she could have +cried; but for her own person, she could hardly help laughing aloud. +"Bemperly," she said, "Bemperly, compose yourself; think of what you +are saying, of what you are doing." + +"I know," murmured Bemperlein. "I have told myself so a hundred and a +thousand times. At my age--" + +"Leaving that aside," said Sophie, in whom the inclination to laugh +gradually became too strong, "how can you, Franz's best friend, +and--at least I have looked upon you in that light until now--my best +friend----" + +"I shall remain your friend; I shall remain Franz's friend," cried +Bemperlein with great animation. "Love and friendship shall both find +room in my heart; they shall become only the purer, the deeper, the +holier, the one through the other." + +"But, Bemperly, how do you reconcile it with such a lofty Platonic love +to lie on your knees like a Don Carlos? If Franz should at this moment +come in at the door----" + +"And if he came," cried Bemperlein, jumping up, "'_il n'y a que le +premier pas qui coute._' I feel, now that I have spoken--that I have +spoken to you--the courage to tell it to all the world. Franz will +approve of my choice when he knows her as I know her." + +"As you know _me_?" + +"And you also will approve of it," cried Bemperlein, utterly unmindful +of her interruption, and waving the cushion like a flag in the air; +"you will be a friend and a sister to the poor girl; you will do it for +my sake, because I love you and esteem you so very much; you will do it +for her sake, for you may believe me, Miss Sophie, she deserves it." + +"But whom do you mean, Bemperly?" + +"I thought you knew long since," said Bemperlein, suddenly, half +frightened; and then he added in a very low voice: "Marguerite Martin, +the governess at Grenwitz!" + +Fortunately, Bemperlein's excitement was too great to allow him to +observe the confusion created by this announcement in Sophie's mind. +The knot was cut most unexpectedly. She had been so near committing a +great folly by suspecting her friend of another great folly! And yet +she was not quite free from a little disappointment that she was not +the exclusive idol of Bemperlein! Such a feeling could of course only +pass for an instant through Sophie's heart as a light breeze curls the +mirror-like surface of a deep lake only in passing, and before +Bemperlein had quite recovered his equanimity she was again wholly the +sympathizing, prudent friend for whom Bemperlein had been longing in +the anguish of his heart. + +As to the fact that Bemperlein, quiet, old-maidish Bemperlein, had been +seized with a passion--that did not surprise her so much. Her main +apprehension was, that the modest, unsuspecting man, who in spite of +his thirty years was utterly inexperienced, might have fallen into the +net of a coquette; and this fear was all the more serious as she had +heard the brown eyes of Marguerite spoken of more than once in +connection with events which seemed to confirm her suspicion. Her first +question was, therefore, + +"Do you really know Mademoiselle Marguerite, Bemperlein? I mean, do you +know that she is a good girl; that she has a good heart; in one word, +that she is worthy of my good Bemperlein?" + +"She worthy of me?" cried Bemperlein, most enthusiastically. + +"You mean to say, that I am worthy of her?" + +"I wanted to say exactly what I said. I, your best friend--for that +privilege I am not willing to give up yet--I have the right and the +duty to be strict, and to examine before I say: Yes and Amen." + +"Oh, Miss Sophie, I assure you my Marguerite is an angel." + +"Your Marguerite? Why, look at the lion-hearted Bemperlein? Has it come +to that already? But, jesting apart, Bemperly! what do you know of the +angelic character of your Marguerite? I mean of that angelic nature +which is perceptible to other mortals also? Come, sit down here by me +quietly, before the fire, and tell me the whole thing from the +beginning. Here, take your cushion again, but please leave the poker +where it is!" + +In spite of the trifling words, Sophie's voice sounded so faithful and +good, and her large blue eyes looked so full of sympathy and kindness, +that Bemperlein was not in the least afraid now to let the dear girl +look into the holiest of his heart, and to tell her everything, which +he did not even dare to think of but with trembling! + +"You remember, Miss Sophie," he began, "that I told you and Franz +recently how I went to the Grenwitz House in order to find out what the +baroness, who had sent for me, wanted of me. I told you also that I +found Mademoiselle Marguerite in the ante-room, and the remarkable +scene which there took place; but I did not tell you, and I have not +let anybody see yet, the deep impression which that scene had made on +me. A man who has grown up in great poverty, as I have, and who has had +to struggle hard with cares and troubles, learns to understand +thoroughly what it means to be helpless and forsaken. You will +understand, therefore, what I mean, when I say that such a man, when he +sees others suffer, feels and thinks very differently from those who +have never been in such a position. That was the reason why I could not +get rid of the sight of the poor, forsaken girl in tears. I saw her +continually before me as she was standing near the door which led to +the rooms of the baroness sobbing and pressing her little hands upon +her eyes, while the bright tears were slipping through the slender +fingers. I heard continually the words: '_Oh, je suis si malheureuse_,' +and I worried myself to find out why the poor girl should be so +unhappy; for I could have sworn that there must have been another cause +than the mere sense of dependence, or the pain of having been once more +unjustly scolded. + +"This troubled me so much that I could not sleep all night long, and +the next day it seemed to me an eternity before the time came when I +was to wait on the baroness. At last it struck two o'clock. I went to +the house and was admitted at once. The baroness was alone in her room. +She was uncommonly gracious, inquired after Frau von Berkow, asked how +I liked Grunwald, if I had much to do, and at last came out with her +request. She could not make up her mind, she said, to send Malte to +college, for reasons which she mentioned, but which were so foolish +that I will not repeat them here; but she was as little inclined to try +another tutor after the sad experiences which she had made. The lady, +therefore, decided to have him taught at home by private tutors, who +must, of course, be tried men of well-known principles, and--now we +came to the point--would I whom she esteemed most highly, aid her in +her work, and give her son, daily, one or two lessons in ancient +languages! Now you may imagine, Miss Sophie, that I would have refused +under other circumstances without hesitation; because, setting every +other consideration aside, I could employ my time much better than by +sacrificing it for the sake of a stupid boy, whom I never could bear; +but I considered that this might give me an opportunity to meet poor +Marguerite more frequently, and as this was my most ardent wish, the +offer of the baroness seemed to me a sign from on high, and I accepted +it at once." + +"Bravo, Bemperly!" said Sophie; "I see you have, after all, more talent +for a little innocent intrigue than I expected." + +"Oh, it comes still better," replied Bemperlein, smiling; "you will +marvel at my talent. In the course of the conversation the baroness +spoke also of French lessons, and mentioned how inconvenient it was to +have to engage a French teacher, although she had a French woman in the +house, because she had little confidence in mademoiselle's grammatical +knowledge. I said at once--I do not know yet how I gathered courage to +do so--that I was sure mademoiselle would very quickly learn grammar, +and be able to teach it hereafter, if she had been carried once through +a regular course of grammar. My time, I told her, was fully occupied; +but half an hour every day--the baroness did not let me finish, and +accepted my offer at once. The very next day the lessons were to +begin." + +"When did you have that interview with the baroness?" + +"Yesterday was a week, on the same day on which I had come home very +full of this interview, and of another which I had had on my return +home with--with--I must not tell you, Miss Sophie, with whom--when I +hastened to you. I found Mr. Stein here." + +Bemperlein paused; his face darkened once more, and he took hold again +of the poker. + +Sophie took it quietly out of his hand, placed it further away, and +said: + +"You were excited that evening, and did not stay long. Does the other +interview with the great unknown stand in any connection with your +story?" + +"Not directly," replied Bemperlein, seizing once more the cushion, +"only, inasmuch as it increased my interest in poor Marguerite, +to whom--and afterwards my suspicions have been most remarkably +confirmed--some thing similar might have happened; but never mind that! +Next day, then, I began my lessons. The lesson with that boy, Malte, +was soon over. I was left alone in the room, and waited for my fair +pupil; I can tell you, Miss Sophie, my heart beat! Why, I could not +tell myself. I only know that I felt all of a sudden as if I were a +very bad man. I had never yet in all my life played comedy; and these +lessons in grammar were, after all, nothing but comedy. I had a great +mind to run away; but as that could not very well be done, I could only +pull up my collar, make a bow before the mirror, and say with my best +accent: '_Ah, bon jour, Mademoiselle, comment vous portez-vous!_' As I +repeated the question a third time--and this time to my complete +satisfaction--the lady came into the room, a book in her hand, and I +was so much confused by the fear she might have seen me before the +mirror that I blushed all over, and stammered something, which might +possibly have been French, but which certainly was very foolish, for +Mademoiselle Marguerite smiled and said something of _bonte_ and +_enseigner_. Next I only know that we were sitting opposite each other, +and that we were turning over the leaves without saying a word--what +else can I tell you, Miss Sophie? What is best and most necessary I +can, after all, not tell you. I have been with Marguerite now for a +week daily, quite alone, during a whole hour. We have not studied +grammar; at least, we never read beyond the first pages; but, in +return, she has opened to me the book of her life, and I have been +allowed to read it, word by word, from the first to the last page. I +tell you, Miss Sophie, there is not a bad word in it, and not a page of +which she need be ashamed. She has had to fight her way through the +world, poor thing--much worse than I! Her parents died so early that +she has never known them; brothers and sisters or near relations she +never had, except a wicked aunt, who made her life a hell, until at +fourteen she fell among strangers, who at least did not beat her like +her wretched aunt. Alas! Miss Sophie, if I were to tell you what the +poor thing has suffered, you would say: 'Such things are impossible,' +and your heart would overflow with sympathy as mine did." + +Mr. Bemperlein paused because his emotion was too deep. Sophie took his +hand and said, "Good Bemperly!" Bemperlein returned the pressure +warmly, and continued, after having cleared his voice repeatedly to +hide his emotion: + +"She kept nothing from me; not even that she has of late come in +contact with a bad man (I repeat, Miss Sophie, that I am not speaking +of Mr. Stein)--with a man who has cheated her most egregiously, and who +wished to hand her over to a notorious scapegrace. But that is such a +mean, low story that I would rather not speak of it, even if I had not +promised Marguerite never to mention the person in question to any one, +whoever it be. And now," concluded Bemperlein, taking both of Sophie's +hands in his own, "what do you say, now you know all?" + +Sophie was somewhat embarrassed by the sudden question. She had formed +a picture of Marguerite from casual remarks made by Helen, Oswald, and +her betrothed, which was by no means flattering for the young lady; and +even Bemperlein's account was not calculated to remove her prejudice +completely. She was pained to have to hurt the feelings of the poor +man, whose kind face was turned towards her with an excited, anxious +expression, as if life and death depended on her decision, and yet she +could and would not prevaricate, and an answer she must give. She +assumed, therefore, a charming air of wisdom, shaking her head gently +and thoughtfully, + +"Love is a curious thing, Bemperly. I have often reflected on it since +the time that I learned to know Franz and to love him. There are +sensations which are very praiseworthy in themselves, but they are not +love, and we must be careful not to mistake them for love. And the +nobler the heart the more easily it falls into the danger of committing +such an error, just as the most trustful people are always the readiest +to take false money instead of good money. I, for instance, never +failed to find a false coin in my purse upon returning from market, if +there was a false piece in the whole crowd. Now, there is no sensation +which looks so much like love, and which so readily deceives a noble +heart, as sympathy. Might it not be, Bemperly"--and here the young lady +put her hand upon Bemperlein's hand--"that, as your interest for Miss +Marguerite first arose from sympathy, it may to this moment not be the +genuine love, but only sympathy?" + +Bemperlein's face had been growing longer with every word of this long +exposition. He had expected a very different welcome for his news here. +Almost despairing, he asked, therefore, + +"But, Miss Sophie, how do you distinguish sympathy from love? Is not +the love of our neighbor, the purest form of love, identical with +sympathy?" + +"The love of the neighbor?" replied Sophie; "yes! but not that love of +which we are speaking--the love which we must feel if we wish to marry +somebody--the love, for instance, which I feel for Franz, and which +Franz feels for me. That is something very different, quite +different,"--and the young philosopher nodded thoughtfully her wise +head. + +"But what is it then?" cried Bemperlein, desperately. "How can we find +out if we really love?" + +"That is very difficult," replied Sophie; "yet it is also very easy. +For instance; have you always simply wished to transfer Miss Marguerite +from her dependent position to a better one, to shelter her, to protect +her against all trouble and danger; or have you sometimes desired----" + +Here the philosopher hesitated and blushed. + +"Well?" asked Bemperlein, eagerly. + +"To give her a kiss!" said Sophie, determined to clear the matter up, +even at the risk of being thought indiscreet, + +"If that is all," said Bemperlein, triumphantly, "I can answer that +question with 'Yes.'" + +"Bravo, Bemperly! And _have_ you given her a kiss?" + +"No!" + +"Have you confessed your love to her?" + +"No!" + +"How do you know, then, that she loves you too?" + +"I don't know that." + +The gradually decreasing certainty of these negations was so comical +that Sophie could hardly keep from laughing. + +"But, Bemperly," she cried, "how will you find that out?" + +"I will ask her!" replied Bemperlein, resolutely. + +"Very well! And if she says No?" + +"She cannot say so; she will not say so;" cried Bemperlein, pale with +emotion. "I have never thought of it, but that would be terrible. I--I +thought it would be so beautiful if she should become my wife and I +could work for her, and I could love her and she should love me back +again! For I must love somebody with my whole heart, and I must feel +that somebody loves me with her whole heart, or I should be the most +wretched man in the world. Oh, Miss Sophie! surely, surely. Marguerite +will not say No!" + +His voice trembled and his eyes filled with tears. The kind-hearted +girl was hardly less deeply moved. The passionate feeling of Bemperlein +had touched a sympathetic chord in her heart. She felt suddenly under +an obligation to protect the youthful love of her thirty-year-old pupil +with all her power. + +"What do you say, Bemperly?" she said, very decidedly. "We can soon +find out. Bring Marguerite here!" + +Bemperlein breathed freely again. + +"May I, really?" + +"Of course. I cannot very well call on her, because that would attract +attention; but she can come here without its being noticed. Just tell +her I should like to make her acquaintance. If she loves you, she will +come soon enough; and if we once have her here, the rest will follow of +course. Yes, yes," continued the young lady, clapping her hands with +delight, "that is the way! that is the way! And when we are good +friends, then we have another plan--oh, Bemperly, another plan--if you +knew what--but no, no!--you must not know yet--nor must Franz know. +Hush, there he is. Not a word, Bemperly, of _our_ secret!" + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +Felix had changed sadly in these days, and it looked almost as if his +last appearance as a star in Grenwitz, which had been such a lamentable +failure, should also be his last performance in the salons where he had +so often shone brilliantly. The wound which he had received in his duel +with Oswald, though in itself not dangerous, had thoroughly undermined +his whole system, already weakened by a wild, profligate life, just as +a house in which the timber is affected with dry rot will be in danger +of tumbling down at any time, if but one of the joists be removed. The +ball had not injured any of the vital parts, and he had had the best of +medical advice, and yet the wound would not heal. And when it began at +last to look a little better, very grave symptoms of pulmonary disease +in an advanced stage had suddenly shown themselves. The physicians who +were called in shook their heads, spoke of the necessity of a change of +air, and a longer residence in a southern climate. + +But Felix refused to see what was very clear to all others. Those +little scars?--why, I have been spotted very differently before. That +little fever?--ridiculous; I have felt worse many a morning after a +wild night. My lungs?--nonsense! What does that old wig, Balthasar, +know of my lungs? I don't believe in wise wigs. Felix Grenwitz wont die +so easily! + +Perhaps it was a desire to confirm himself in this conviction which +made the _bon vivant attempt_ to succeed in the part of a lover as soon +as he was allowed to leave his room again after several weeks' +confinement with a diet of medicine and mucilage. He had looked upon +neat, pretty, blue-eyed Madeline, as soon as he had seen her, as a +rose-bud which it might be worth his while to gather, and he would have +made some efforts in that direction long since if Albert had not, for +very good reasons, dissuaded him earnestly. Besides, he had then not +given up the hope of winning the fair Helen, and his eyes had been +captivated for a time by her exceedingly pretty maid, Louisa. Now, when +those hopes were gone, he found in the monotony of his convalescence +the necessary leisure and ample opportunity to turn his attention +towards little Marguerite. Felix Grenwitz knew only two classes of +women: pretty women and ugly women; any other division, virtuous women +and others, he did not admit. He did not believe in female virtue; he +had never met with it; at most, caprice, coquettish cunning, and the +art to enhance the value of the merchandise so as to induce the buyer +to pay the highest price. Hence Felix Grenwitz did not believe that +Marguerite was virtuous, and this all the less as this experienced man +soon discovered that "Mamselle" had carried on a love affair with Mr. +Surveyor Timm while the masters were at the watering place. Timm +thought about women just as he did himself, as Felix knew perfectly +well; he had therefore won the game even before beginning it. Could +Felix Grenwitz fail where Albert Timm had succeeded? Nevertheless, +there was another item in the bill which he had overlooked, and the Don +Giovanni was not a little surprised, therefore, when he failed after +all. Little Marguerite had a soft heart, thirsting after love, and she +had so small a share of love alloted her in life! Hence Albert Timm had +been able to overcome the heart of the girl, but not her virtue. For +little Marguerite was proud--proud as poor beings are who have been +enslaved and ill-treated from childhood up without losing their native +nobility, and whose only defence against the contempt of the world lies +in their self-respect. She would have sacrificed for her lover the +whole of her hard-earned little fortune, but nothing else. If Albert +could not succeed who really loved her, Felix must of course fail, for +she detested him. And yet he was not fastidious in the means he +employed. He presented Albert to her in the darkest colors; he laughed +at the poor girl for having allowed herself to be cheated by a man who +wanted nothing but her few hundred dollars; a man who would do anything +for money, and who would yet gamble away in a single night all the +money he might have secured by fair means or foul. He effected by this +description, which was unfortunately not untrue in its main features, +nothing but that the little one said with flaming eyes and deep-red +cheeks in her broken German: "And if _Monsieur Albert_ is really a bad +man, you are not any better by a hair, _Monsieur le Baron_!" Poor +child! she was soon to become fully aware that _Monsieur Albert_ and +_Monsieur le Baron_ were really of precisely the same value! She had +been in the adjoining room when Felix and Albert Timm had been holding +their conversation, and she had felt as if she ought to sink into the +ground for shame and indignation when she heard how the two gentlemen +bargained so unceremoniously for her virtue, as if they had bargained +for a horse. To dispel every doubt as to what she had only half +understood, she had managed to meet Mr. Timm when he left the baron in +the ante-room. Here she had asked him, hot-blooded as she was, about +the matter, and received an answer which caused her to be bathed in +tears, when Mr. Bemperlein came in a few minutes later. + +Felix, however, was content to have driven off his most dangerous +rival, and did not pursue his advantage for the present. The whole +affair had become too serious for his taste for one thing, and then +another business was just now claiming his whole attention. His health +had become so much worse during the last days that even his frivolity +could no longer make him blind to the imminence of actual danger. The +wounds, but half healed, opened once more; a slow fever undermined his +nervous system by day and by night, and he had hardly fallen asleep +when a hacking cough waked him from dreams so fearful that even +sleeplessness seemed a benefit in comparison. The anxiety about his +health was increased by other cares which he had formerly treated very +lightly, but which now had a sad effect upon his hypochondriac temper, +and confused and troubled him sorely. People would crowd into his +bed-chamber who would not be refused admittance by his servants--people +with odd faces and remarkably soiled linen, who had no sooner succeeded +in making their way to his bed-side than they opened large pocketbooks +and presented the baron with a little bit of a note "for two hundred or +three hundred dollars--a mere trifle for the baron." + +Perhaps the baron would have been able to redeem these ominous papers +if he had been what he had hoped to be when he adorned them with his +signature: the acknowledged affianced of Helen, and the son-in-law of +the richest landowner of the province. But unfortunately he was neither +the one nor the other, had no prospect of becoming such, and could +therefore not be very much astonished if the baroness was less gracious +every time she met one of these suspicious personages. It had been +different a few weeks ago, when the sun of his invincible power of +charming was still in the zenith. Felix knew perfectly well that his +aunt was so liberal only, in spite of her natural disposition, because +she knew him to be in possession of a grave family secret. But even +this last tie, which could be replaced by no other, was hanging on a +single thread. + +For he could not doubt that it was only the fear of "the stupid honesty +of the baron"--the identical words of his amiable wife--which kept her +from bringing matters to a crisis in her conflict with Albert Timm, and +Felix was by no means quite sure whether even this fear was likely to +induce her to assent to the bargain which he had made with Albert in +her name. He had, therefore, not dared yet to tell her the full amount +for which he had purchased Albert's silence. + +His timidity in the whole business had a very good motive in his +critical situation. He had to keep his aunt in the best possible humor +in order to obtain from her the sums he required for his personal +wants. It would be time enough hereafter to enlighten her on the +subject of Timm's demand. Felix hated Oswald intensely, and it would +have been intolerable to him to see the hated man obtain possession of +the large fortune with Albert's aid, and perhaps after awhile also of +Helen's hand; but all that had to give way for the present to the +imperative necessities of his position. + +This was the condition of things when the baroness came on the morning +after the party, where Felix of course had not been able to be present, +to pay the patient a visit, after having been ceremoniously announced. +Felix was wrapped up in a large dressing gown, and sat shivering close +to the stove. His big eyes, once so supercilious, and now glassy and +staring, and the sickly, well-defined red spot on his lean cheeks, bore +witness to the rapid progress which the disease had made during the +last days. Somewhat astonished at such a visit at so unusual an hour, +he half rose from his chair, and offered his aunt his thin feverish +hand. + +"_Bon jour, ma tante!_ must I say, so early or so late? for you have +been dancing till very recently. I heard the bass viol all the way down +to my room here: brm! brm! brm! until it nearly made me crazy; and if +you had not cured me of cursing, my dear aunt, I could have wished the +accursed creature who made all the tantrum down to the deepest place +in----" + +"I hope your health is not worse to-day than your cursing," said Anna +Maria, smiling. She settled down in an arm-chair before the patient, +and took out some work as an evidence that she intended to pay a long +visit. "But seriously speaking, dear Felix, I have been sorry for you, +and I have come to ask your pardon for the interruption." + +"Why, you are prodigiously gracious to-day, _ma tante_?" + +"I thought I always was so," replied Anna Maria; "only there are people +who will never be persuaded of it." + +"I am not one of them, dear aunt." + +"I know it, Felix; and I trust you will acknowledge that I have always +done for you whatever was in my power." + +"Yes indeed; yes indeed!" murmured Felix, reflecting whether this was a +favorable moment to mention to his aunt a little affair in which he was +involved--now nearly three months--with a certain Mr. Wolfson, of the +firm of Wolfson, Reinike & Co., and which had to be settled in a few +days. + +"The company--who, however, broke up punctually at a quarter past two, +dear Felix--seemed to enjoy themselves very much," continued the +baroness, "and I was heartily sorry that you could not be there. It is +really high time you should report yourself well again." + +"God knows!" sighed the patient, impatiently tossing about in his +arm-chair, "I am turning a perfect hypochondriac in this hole. But tell +me something about yesterday. Who was there?" + +"Oh, not a great many; you know I do not like very large parties: +Grieben, Nadlitz, Bamewitz, Cloten----" + +"That is not a bad arrangement of names," said Felix. "Did not Hortense +and Clotilde scratch each other's eyes out?" + +"Oh, no! they are the best friends in the world; and besides, yesterday +they had no reason to dispute each other the palm, as that had been +decided before by the unanimous judgment of the whole company." + +"Oh, indeed! And who was this bird Ph[oe]nix?" + +"Your cousin, dear Felix," said the baroness, counting the stitches in +her work; "she looked really magnificent last night. I was quite +surprised myself; but she was universally admired." + +Felix listened attentively. To hear Helen praised by her mother was +such a new air that he did not trust his ears. + +"It looks as if the last weeks--five, six, seven--had, after all, had a +very happy effect upon her. She has eight, nine, ten--lost a good deal +of her haughtiness; the Countess Grieben congratulated me on her +modest, truly womanly manners." + +"Pardon me, dear aunt," said Felix, most bitterly; "but I can hardly +rejoice as much as you at this favorable change. I wish it had taken +place a few weeks before. Perhaps I should then not be lying here +helpless, like a horse who has been hamstrung;" and he struck the arm +of his chair violently with his sound hand. + +"I know you have some reason to complain of Helen," said the baroness; +"but hatred and revenge are very unchristian feelings, especially +between relatives, whom nature has ordained for mutual love." + +"Oh, certainly," interrupted Felix. "You are perfectly right, dear +aunt! Our whole plan was built upon that supposition. What a pity, +though, that Miss Helen did not care at all for this Christian love for +our relatives!" + +"You are bitter, Felix; and, as I said before, I admit that you may +complain. But let us talk now of the matter that brought me here so +early in the morning. The state of your health, dear Felix, causes me +such great concern that I have been thinking of it all last night, and +now I have formed a plan. You must start, and as soon as possible, on +your trip to Italy." + +Felix was destined to-day to pass from one astonishment into another. +The physicians had advised this trip urgently for a fortnight; Anna +Maria had opposed it as strenuously, because neither Felix, as she +thought, nor she herself could at that moment afford to provide the +necessary means. All of a sudden these means were forthcoming! All who +knew the consistency of the baroness must have known that only a very +extraordinary reason could have produced so sudden a change in her +views. + +What this reason was Felix did not learn in the further course of the +conversation. He did not care particularly to know it. The last days +and nights, full of pain, had broken his spirit; the frivolous +haughtiness which he had so far boastingly exhibited had given way to +mournful nervousness, in which but one thought remained uppermost--the +desire to be well again at any cost. For this great purpose any means +were welcome. If his aunt was willing to furnish the means for his +travels, which he knew were indispensable for his recovery, well!--and +all the better, the more she gave! Why she gave--why she gave now, +after having declared it only a few days before utterly impossible to +raise the means--what did he care for that? No more than a man who is +in danger of drowning inquires from whence the saving log comes +swimming down to which he clings at the very last moment. + +When the baroness rose an hour later and folded up her work, the +Italian journey was a settled matter. Felix was, if his condition did +not grow worse, to start in a few days. "You know, dear Felix," said +Anna Maria, "I am in favor of doing promptly what has to be done. And +here there is danger in delay; besides, I should forever reproach +myself bitterly if I had not done whatever was in my feeble power to +avert this threatening danger from you." + +She offered him kindly her bony hand, and Felix kissed it reverently. +Anna Maria then left the room. + +"The old dragon," grumbled Felix, sinking back exhausted; "what can +have gotten into her head to make her all of a sudden so liberal? How +lucky I did not tell her how much that rascal Timm is asking for! She +will have to hear it one of these days; but not before I am down in +Italy. Oh! my arm! I must submit to a regular cure; and, after all, +every man is his own nearest neighbor." + +"The foolish fellow," thought Anna Maria, as she slowly walked back to +her room through the long passages; "it is hard that I have to go to +such fearful expense after having paid so much for him already. But it +cannot be helped. He must leave the house, and this is the most +respectable and the least noisy way to get rid of him." + +The explanation of the generosity of the baroness was very simple. The +ambitious thought that her daughter had at least as much prospect to +become the wife of the prince as any other lady, had been so much +encouraged last night during the party that it had grown up into a +well-built plan. The prince had distinguished Helen in the most +flattering manner. He had not only against all rules, danced twice with +her, but he had, besides, borrowed her from her regular partner as +often as an opportunity offered; he had led her to supper, and during +the whole evening not lost sight of her for a moment; he had, finally, +spoken in the most exalted terms of the incomparable beauty of the +young baroness to the Countess Grieben, who had reported his words five +minutes later to the baroness. All this was the more striking as the +cool reserve with which that grand seigneur generally received all the +homage offered him by the provincial nobility had already become +proverbial. What was poor Felix in comparison with this proud eagle? A +poor crow, plucked bare by misfortune and countless creditors. And +especially now since the physicians began to shake their heads +ominously, and when the baroness asked them upon their consciences, +answered: they would give the young baron six months, unless a miracle +took place! What was Felix when he ceased to be the presumptive heir to +the entailed estates? Nothing!--less than nothing; a very expensive +pensioner on the bounty of the family, whose only merit was that he +would in all probability not draw that pension long! No, no! That sun +had set in mist and fogs; now a more brilliant, a more powerful sun +must give its light. It was worth while to become the mother-in-law of +His Highness Prince Waldenberg. Then the obstinate, intolerably +obstinate old husband might die today or to-morrow, and the executors +were welcome to add the revenues from the estates, which now belonged +to her, to the principal. She had laid aside enough, thanks to her wise +economy; and then there was the very respectable sum of Harald's +legacy, which that impudent fellow, Timm, would no longer dare to +trouble her about. And suppose even that the baron should leave Helen +the greater part of his fortune, which seemed very probable, the +gratitude of a princely son-in-law to whom she had given so beautiful a +wife, and of a daughter to whom she had given a princely husband, was +in itself a capital that must bring ample interest. + +Strange! from the moment in which this brilliant perspective had opened +for Helen she had no longer felt any resentment against the rebellious +child. Even her pride, of which she had so bitterly complained, now +appeared to her eyes as a merit in the girl. Was not this very +haughtiness, together with the beauty which it served to bring out more +strikingly, that feature which had evidently decided the prince to give +the preference to her daughter over other young ladies like that very +beautiful but blond and sentimental Miss Nadelitz, and even over +pretty, coquettish Emily Cloten, and graceful, intriguing Hortense +Barnewitz? For the past two days the baroness had actually felt some +affection for her daughter--her beautiful, brilliant daughter--who, by +her prudent management had secured the bright dazzling prospect of +becoming Princess Waldenberg-Malikowsky, Countess of Letbus! + +The first step towards this lofty goal was of course a full +reconciliation with Helen. The catastrophe at Grenwitz had taught her +to respect an adversary who was able to act with so much firmness in +spite of her youth. Henceforth she would see if she could not succeed +better with love and kindness; and how could she better prove this love +and kindness than by recalling the disobedient and yet cherished child +from her banishment back again (if only Felix would go quickly!) to the +paternal house, to the dear parents who impatiently expected their +beloved daughter! She had immediately begun this great work of +reconciliation; this very day she hoped to finish the preliminaries. + +It was a late hour on that day. The windows in Miss Bear's +boarding-school had been darkened for two hours, except one which +looked upon the garden in the rear. He who could have watched this +window from the garden, or from the public park which adjoined the +garden--and there was really a young man leaning against the trunk of a +beech-tree whose eyes were incessantly directed through the dense +darkness towards the lighted window--might have seen that the light +came from a lamp which was standing quite near it on an escritoire, and +that the occupant of the room was sitting at the escritoire writing or +reading; it could not be distinguished. + +The occupant of the room was Helen Grenwitz. She was writing eagerly, +with burning cheeks, as young ladies who have no confidant but a friend +hundreds of miles away are apt to write: + +"You quiet, prudent girl, with your quiet, prudent blue eyes! Ah, who +could pass through life as you do, ever true to one's self! Who could +have your peace of soul, in which everything is reflected, as in a deep +still lake, in clear colors and sharp outlines! Whatever you think +right to-day, you think so to-morrow; what you like to-day, you will +not dislike to-morrow. The standard by which you measure men is, though +severe, unchangeably the same; he who does not come up to it is, to +your mind, not your equal, and you treat him accordingly, to-morrow as +to-day, and every other day, with that mild kindness for which I have +so often envied you. With me, alas! everything is different--so very +different! My heart is a storm-tossed ocean, and the images of life +tremble in it, changing and restless, and troubling me like so many +spectres. On the surface, to be sure--well, there all is apparently +calm; at least people say so, and I feel so; but down below!--there it +seethes and boils; there are wishes growing up which I dare scarcely +confess to myself; there thoughts are rising that frighten me; there a +longing is forever blooming--a longing of which I have often told you, +and alas! never in words equal to what I really feel, and which you +always sent back into the realm of dreams. Is it possible that you were +right? that the passion which is glowing within me is never to be +cooled? that the voice which often calls from the depth of my soul in +every still night, as just now, full of complaint, of yearning, of +despair--that this voice is never to find an echo? My brow is burning, +my eyes are blinded, my heart beats impatiently! What do you want, +restless, wild heart!--Love? Yes! Power, and honor, and distinction? +Yes! But how, if you cannot have all at once; if you must sacrifice the +one or the other!--how then? Which are you willing to give up? Love? +No! High rank? No! Oh no!... Well then! beat on restless and +unsatisfied, and trouble me without pity, till this hand and this head +shall be tired of counting your feverish pulsations! + +"I see you looking at me expectantly, with your soft, blue eyes; I see +your lips trembling with the question: What is the matter, dearest? Oh, +dearest darling, _you_ are to tell me! For some time now, I have not +known myself any longer. + +"I wrote you that I saw Mr. S. accidentally from my window, and that I +wished very much to see him alone. My wish was to be fulfilled the same +day. I met him at Miss R's, and as my servant did not come for me, he +accompanied me home. We had a conversation on the way which affected me +deeply, as it turned on Bruno, and I had, at last, an opportunity of +thanking Mr. S., as I had so long desired to do. I was deeply moved +when he took leave of me at the door. The charm which this man has +always had for me, and which I can only shake off when I do not see or +hear anything of him, had become once more all-powerful in his +presence. I felt it; and yet, just on that account--you know me--I did +not avoid seeing him again, although I might easily have done so. + +"Two evenings later I met him again, also at Miss R's. This time the +servant was behind us as we went home, but as we spoke French--Mr. S. +speaks it beautifully; he told me he was half French by descent--our +conversation was as free as if we had been alone. What the two days' +absence had set right, two hours' intercourse destroyed again, and I +found out to my great humiliation--and I write it with blushing +cheeks--that the feeling which overcomes me when he is near is stronger +than my pride. Not that he is so imposing by his lofty mind or by his +male strength! Far from it. He does not resemble the ideal which I bear +in my heart of the hero whom I might love; but there is something in +the tone of his voice, in the glance of his large blue eyes, in his +whole manner, which touches me unspeakably. And then--I mean to be +candid with you--I know that he loves me, and, as it cannot be +otherwise under the circumstances, loves me without hope, and that +makes him dear to me, like the dagger with the bright Damascus blade +and the golden handle which I, a girl of twelve, found in the armory at +Grenwitz, and which I then took as a precious treasure to my room, and +never have allowed to pass away again into other hands. I know--Oswald +and the dagger--both belong to me; to me alone. It is so exquisitely +sweet to be able to call something one's own of which nobody else knows +anything, nobody suspects anything, and which is still sure to stand by +us, and to assist us in extremity, when all others shall have abandoned +us. Whenever I see Oswald's eyes fixed upon me I feel as if I were +drawing the dagger half-way from the sheath and saw the blade glitter +in the sunlight. + +"But there is danger in this glittering. How often have I drawn out the +weapon entirely, and, placing the sharp point upon my heart, said to +myself: a slight pressure and you are no more! And there is danger in +the presence of this man; a word from him, and he has ceased to live +for me; and if I were weak enough to reply--I dare not think of it; I +dare not think how near I have already been standing to the abyss. + +"I have determined not to go any more to Miss R's, and I have carried +out my determination. Day before yesterday, towards evening, when I was +alone in the garden--the others were walking out as usually with Miss +Bear as leader--I heard the roaring of the sea so distinctly that I +felt an invincible desire to see my favorite element once more eye to +eye. Our garden adjoins a public park which extends down to the +sea-shore. It belongs to the city, and is, I am told, a popular +promenade in the summer. In autumn, however, and especially in the +evening, when it is damp and cool, I had never seen anybody in the wide +avenues under the tall trees. I therefore, opened, the gate, which was +not locked, and went into the park. It was darker there than in the +garden; the evening breeze was sighing in the bare branches of the +mighty beech-trees; the sea roared grandly. Beneath my feet the dry +leaves were rustling; overhead two crows were cawing, unable to find +rest on the storm-tossed branches. I wrapped myself closer in my shawl +and went on. The darkness was coming on apace, and the cool, damp +breath of the woods and the sea brought their old charm to bear upon +me, as I had felt it so often in early childhood. I felt no fear; +the happiness to be for once perfectly alone with myself and my +thoughts--alone amid such surroundings, which entirely harmonized with +my state of mind--did not allow such feelings to rise in me. I went on +and on, as in a dream, till I came to the end of the avenue. There a +small open square, almost entirely overshadowed by tall trees, looks in +one direction towards the sea, which breaks almost directly upon the +moderately high but steep shore. An iron railing runs along the edge. +There are benches here for the tired visitor, and for all who wish to +enjoy the coolness of the place and the view over the sea. I was +leaning on the railing and looking out upon the dark waste of waters, +bright in its way amid the darkness, and I saw wave follow wave without +rest and breaking into foam upon the smooth pebbles of the narrow +beach. The thunder, which drowned every other noise, was like a nursery +song for my stormy heart, and lulled me to dream wonderfully of +happiness deep and boundless, like the deep, boundless sea, on whose +fading horizon my eyes were hanging, and--would happiness else have any +charms for me?--of fearful mysteries and unforeseen dangers. + +"Suddenly a voice fell upon my ear from quite near by. I rose from my +stooping position, and Mr. S. was standing before me. + +"'I beg your pardon,' he said, 'if I interrupt you in pleasant dreams; +but the accident which made me find you here at this hour is too +remarkable to be looked upon as nothing more than a mere accident.' + +"I was so surprised and frightened by this sudden meeting--and I +suddenly saw how very improper the step was--that I replied coldly and +sharply: + +"'How do you mean, sir? I hope it is really an accident only which +procures me at this moment the pleasure of your company?' + +"He stepped back a step. + +"'Pardon me, Miss Helen,' he said, 'I did not know you objected to my +presence.' + +"He bowed, and went away. + +"The tone in which he had uttered these words cut me to the heart. When +he was a few yards off, I could not bear it any longer. I called his +name. The next moment he was again by my side. + +"'Mr. S.,' I said, 'I beg your pardon. I was frightened I did not know +what I was saying.' + +"'No, no!' he replied. 'You were quite right. It is not an accident +which has made us meet here. At least not on my side. I saw you enter +the park; I followed you; I did not lose sight of you for an instant.' + +"'And do you often come here?' I inquired, as we began to walk back the +dark avenue. + +"'Yes,' he replied; 'the unhappy find in darkness and solitude their +most suitable companions.' + +"I did not have the courage to ask him why he was unhappy; we went on +side by side in deep silence. I hastened my steps, for the old charm +was creeping over me and I was determined to escape. A few minutes +brought us to the iron gate which leads from the garden into the park. +Among the shrubbery and under the tall trees it was quite dark. My +heart beat as if it would burst. I was determined, should it cost me my +life, to reject his love, if he should begin to speak of love; and +still I wished him to speak; I was angry because he did not speak. The +few seconds seemed to be an eternity--an eternity of fear and hope. We +were standing at the gate. Oswald opened it. I thanked him, and wished +him good-night. He only answered by a silent bow. When the gate fell +behind me into the latch I started like a prisoner who hears close +behind him the door of the cell which parts him forever from life. At +first I felt like stretching my hand after him through the grating and +telling him--I know not what; but I checked myself and went, without +looking back, rapidly up to the house; and when I had reached my room I +threw myself on the sofa, and wept bitterly, bitterly--as I had never +wept before in my life--as I did not think Helen Grenwitz would ever be +able to weep! + +"But then I rose and swore I would overcome this weakness, which was so +humiliating, at any risk and sacrifice. My pride, I felt it, is my only +property--the bright weapon which makes me, when I hold it in my hand, +the equal of any adversary, even of my mother! I thought with trembling +of the moment when I should feel humiliated before myself after having +humiliated myself before others; when I should no longer be able to +look boldly into her cold, stern eyes. I knew--I knew with absolute +certainty--that that moment would be the last of my life. + +"And thus I went to bed; but sleep would not come. I was lying there, +my hands crossed on my bosom, and I repeated to myself over and over +again what I had sworn; and whenever my heart became heavy--ah, so +heavy! from an unspeakable sense of wretchedness--then I put the point +of my dagger upon my disobedient, rebellious heart, and it became quiet +again and humble! It felt, so to say, that it had no hope of victory in +a battle between pride and love. At last I fell asleep and dreamed I +was reconciled to my mother. She covered me with kisses and with +jewels; but the kisses were icy, and the jewels chilled me to the +marrow of my bones. Yet I suffered it to be done, and she took me by +the hand and led me through dark passages into the brilliantly-lighted +interior of a church which was full of people. The eyes of all these +people were fixed upon me. Then it was suddenly no longer my mother who +held my hand, but a tall, strange man in a uniform dazzling with gold +and diamonds. I could not see his face, for he held it always aside. +Thus we approached the altar; a priest was standing on the steps. The +organ sounded, and song filled the high vaults. Above the priest hung a +large wooden crucifix, such as we have hanging in the chapel at +Grenwitz, which always filled me with horror when I was a child. The +same horror overcame me now; for while the priest was speaking, the +image was continually shaking its head; and when I examined it more +accurately it bore Oswald's features, but disfigured and deadly pale, +and in the side of the body my dagger was sticking up to the hilt, and +black drops of blood were trickling down one by one. Then it opened its +lips and cried aloud--a fearful, yelling cry--and the cry scattered the +crowd, the vaults came down with a crash, and the man by my side +changed into a skeleton. I tried in vain to escape from its hold. +It seized me with its bony arms and went down with me into dark +depths--faster, faster, till I awoke with horror! The dismal autumn +morning was looking into my room, but I thought I still heard the +trumpets, and it took me some time before I could make out that they +were the melancholy strains of a military band which escorted a funeral +past our house to the graveyard near by. + +"I tried to smile at my ridiculous dream, and I succeeded; because I +_willed_ it; because I was determined not to allow empty fancies of an +excited imagination to influence my decision. Besides, I could now, +when I was calm again, readily explain how the dream had come about. +The night before I had seen Oswald take leave of me, suffering greatly; +on this very day I was to meet my mother once more after a long, long +interval. My father had brought about this interview. He wished me to +be at a party which they proposed to give, and I could not refuse my +good father this request. + +"I went there in the morning at the time for visiting. The meeting was +less painful than I had expected, I found fortunately a crowd of +visitors there--the Clotens, Barnewitz, etc.; also an officer--a Prince +Waldenberg--a remarkably stately, proud man, but not handsome. He had, +of course, introduced himself to me, and asked me to give him a waltz +for the next night. Soon afterwards the visitors left, and I also. +Emily Cloten--I have often written to you about her--congratulated me, +as she drove me back to my boarding-school in her carriage, on my +'conquest.' I told her I had no fondness for conquests which were so +easily made. '_Chacun a son gout_,' she answered, laughing. 'I, for my +part, think that what we do not catch on the wing is not worth +catching. My motto is always: _l'amour ou la vie_. It is true I am a +swallow, and live on midges. Royal eagles, like yourself, must have +nobler prey: a prey which at need can defend itself. The princely +quarry is too proud for me, I confess. But for you--_e'est autre +chose_. Like and like, you know.' + +"The frivolous words of the talkative woman had roused my curiosity. I +resolved to examine the prince more closely during the party. In the +humor in which I was I liked the idea of measuring my pride against the +pride of another. Had I not sworn never again to admit softer feelings +to my heart? Thus it was a kind of comfort to me that there were other +people in the world who thought about it as I did. + +"My mother received me on the evening of the next day with a kindness +which, to say the least, I had not deserved. It was evidently her +intention to show me that she intended a genuine reconciliation. She +kissed my forehead, took me by the hand and led me to the ladies, who +likewise overwhelmed me with civility. It looked as if the whole +festivity was arranged only for my sake, as if I was the centre of the +whole. Wherever I sat or stood I had a circle of gentlemen and ladies +around me, like a queen. + +"It was the first time since I had left Grenwitz that I could again +move among my equals in fine, well-lighted rooms. I felt, more clearly +than I had ever felt it before, that this was the only sphere in which +I could move freely, that this was the only air I could breathe with +comfort; in fine, that I was born to rule and not to serve. It seemed +to me all of a sudden not so very difficult after all to keep the vow +which I had burnt in that night into my heart with glowing tears. I +only smiled at the fancies of a girl at boarding-school. And with a +smile I received the homage which was profusely laid at my feet. + +"Among those around me was also Prince Waldenberg. I did not need to +inquire after his family and circumstances. Everybody was eager to +furnish me with information. He is a native of Russia, and immensely +rich. His mother's estates--she is Princess Letbus--lie in various +parts of Russia; he is Prince Waldenberg through his mother, who comes +of that family. Since he has succeeded to the estates, he has left the +Russian service for our service. His father is a Count Malikowsky. Both +parents are still alive, and he is their only child. You see, dear +Mary, here appears in my letters for the first time a real grandee, who +is the equal of your dukes and marquises; and while the prince's black +eyes, however far he was from me, were all the time looking at me, I +was thinking of you, whether I would see an encouraging smile in your +eyes if you were here, and you would say, 'He is worthy of you!' I +hoped you would, for the appearance and the manner of the prince is as +lofty as his rank. I noticed with heartfelt shame how sorry our own +young men looked by his side, and how they all tried in vain to copy +his way of walking and his carriage. He spoke several times very +eagerly with me. One of his sayings I remember, because it came from my +own heart. I asked him why he, who has thousands and thousands of +serfs, was serving in the army like our young noblemen, who had nothing +in the world but their swords? 'Because I am too proud,' he replied, +'to wish to rule where I am not fully entitled to rule.' 'How so, +highness?' I am not sovereign; my ancestors were sovereign; I have to +pay for the weakness of my ancestors.' 'Would you not have given up the +sovereignty?' 'Never,' he said, and this was the only time that I saw a +kind of genuine emotion in his cold, proud face; 'never! a thousand +times rather my life. But,' he added after a short pause, 'I know +somebody who also would rather die than be humbled.' 'And who can that +be?' 'You yourself, Miss Helen.' + +"The party did not end till late at night. Papa sent me home in our +carriage. Mamma promised to return my visit the next day; that was +to-day. She really came this forenoon. She was again exceedingly kind, +paid me many compliments about my conduct last night, and expressed her +desire to have me back again at the house, just as my father also +wishes it. However, she left it entirely to me, whether I would come +back at all, and when. 'You did not exactly have your free will when +you went away,' she said; 'I want, therefore, at least to be perfectly +sure that your coming back is quite voluntary.' + +"'And cousin Felix?' 'He leaves in a few days for Italy. I shall of +course not expect you to stay with him under the same roof.' + +"Certainly, even if my mother does not mean it honestly, she has at +least found the right way to my heart. I am half decided to do what she +and papa want me to do." + +The young girl had, as it will happen, felt all the changes of her own +heart which she described in her letter, once more in their full +strength. The tormenting conflict between love and ambition, the desire +to read clearly her own heart, had put the pen into her hand, and she +had at last obtained in the process of writing that peace which had +been so far from her when she began her letter. + +She was leaning back in her chair with folded arms, and was looking +fixedly before her as in a dream. She listened mechanically to the +modulations of the night-wind in the poplar-trees before the window, +through which she heard occasionally the low thunder of the ocean as it +dashed against the shore. This music recalled to her the earliest +recollections of her childhood, and with them very different sensations +from those of which she had been writing. Suddenly she started and +listened breathlessly towards the window. Through the mournful sounds +of the wind she heard the singing of a soft, deep voice. At first she +fancied it was a trick of her excited imagination, but as she listened +more attentively, she distinguished the words. The voice sang: + + + "Thy face, alas! so fair and dear, + I saw it in my dreams quite near. + It was so angel-like, so sweet, + And yet with pain and grief replete, + The lips alone, they are still red, + But soon they will be pale and dead." + + +Then the wind became louder again and silenced the voice; then it began +once more distinctly: + + + "The lips alone, they are still red, + But soon they will be pale and dead." + + +Helen trembled in all her limbs. She knew the singer could not look up +into the lighted room; but she felt as if his eyes--his blue dreamy +eyes--were resting on her. She dared not move, she hardly dared to +breathe. Once more, but at a greater distance now, scarcely to be +distinguished, he sang: + + + "The lips alone, they are still red, + But soon they will be pale and dead." + + +Helen thought of the image in her dream, the pale crucified one, who +shook his head so sadly when the priest was saying the blessing; and +she thought of the dagger which had been thrust into his side up to the +golden hilt, and of the drops of blood which slowly trickled down, and +shuddering, she pressed, her face in her hands. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +From the moment when an accident had thrown into Albert Timm's hand +that famous package of faded letters, bound up with red-silk ribbon, +and long hid in the archives of Grenwitz, the lucky finder had not +rested till he had found out, if not all, at least most of the threads +of the secret web which he had so unexpectedly touched; then he had set +to work making a good stout tissue of it. The work had not been easy. +He had been forced to use all his ingenuity and all his inventive +power, and finally, when the decisive moment occurred in the interview +with Felix and the baroness, all his coolness and boldness. But the +venture had succeeded. The captured quarry was struggling in the +meshes, and the excellent huntsman rejoiced at it. No sportsman could +blame him for his joy. Now farewell to labor and trouble! Welcome, +sweet leisure, which would allow him to rest after his work! Four +hundred dollars a month for a whole year, and then, "after so many +sorrows," a few thousand dollars extra. Albert Timm would not have been +the contented redskin he was, if he had not left it with unbounded +confidence to the Great Spirit to care mercifully hereafter for his red +child. + +Nevertheless, Albert Timm was too good a sportsman, in spite of all his +modesty, not to know the old rule, that one must always have "two +string's to the bow." Albert Timm had a second string to his bow, and +the manner in which he had twisted this string according to all the +rules of his art out of innocent sheep-sinews was so odd that the +artist himself could not help laughing heartily whenever he thought of +the story. Or was it perhaps not odd at all, that the man whose the +booty legally was, not only never suspected it, but actually had been +good-natured and stupid enough to become the intimate friend of the +poacher. Not odd at all that Albert Timm, feeling the first four +hundred dollars, hard-earned money, in his pocket, and sitting in the +city cellar of Grunwald to drink his own health and a happy issue of +all his plans, should have used the _lupus in fabula_, Mr. Oswald +Stein, and thus been able to treat him with champagne and oysters, for +which he paid with the very money out of which he had cheated him. He +who did not think this remarkably odd or witty, as Albert Timm called +it, had doubtless no eye for comical combinations, such as accident +from time to time shakes together in the kaleidoscope of life. + +Partly to enjoy the comedy and partly for the sake of a "second +string," Albert Timm had met his old acquaintance from Grenwitz with +open arms, and had even carried the fun so far as to offer to become +his intimate friend. He calculated thus: It cannot be a bad speculation +in any case to be the friend of this disinherited knight. If the +Grenwitz keep their word and pay punctually--good; then it is a +beautiful evidence of your good heart, to let part of the abundance +drop into the lap of the knight who has unconsciously procured it for +you. If Anna Maria (he thought he was sure of Felix) wishes to break +the contract, or if an unforeseen accident relieves you of your +promise, still better; then your disinterested friendship for the +knight whose claims you then boldly advocate, gives you the strongest +claim upon his gratitude--in dollars. + +Thus or nearly thus, the first sketch of his outline had been formed, +when Albert met Stein that night in the city cellar. Since that time he +had employed his leisure hours (and he had now an abundance) to fill up +the sketch, and he was so much pleased with his new plan, that he was +already considering whether it would not be better, after all, to +overthrow the legitimate ruling dynasty, and to proclaim Oswald as the +pretender. However, to act suddenly is not the manner of Indians, and +to throw away muddy water before you have clear water, is folly. Albert +found upon thoughtful reflection that Oswald was not quite ripe yet for +the part which he meant him to play. Oswald was an enthusiast, and +enthusiasts have all kinds of odd notions in their heads. For instance: +"Property is theft," or "the true beggars are the true kings," and so +forth. Might he not take up one of these odd notions at the very moment +when he ought to have acted promptly? It is true he found Oswald +greatly changed since he had seen him last. He seemed to have laid +aside his dreamy sentimentality, and to be filled with a concealed +restlessness, which broke forth now in extravagant merriment, and now +in savage, ironical bitterness. But who can ever judge rightly of +problematic characters? A remnant of the old ideology was no doubt +still there, and that had first to be driven out thoroughly. Faust, +just escaped from his cell, must find it impossible to return; he must +be taught to relish gay life; and how could he have found a better +teacher in this noble art than in the past grand master of all merry +fellows, the invincible Albert Timm, whose very sight was a laughing +protest against all old fogyism. And then there was a will-o'-the-wisp +with which the knight, wandering helplessly in the labyrinth of his +passions, could be led far into the morass, from where there was no +escape. This will-o'-the-wisp was love; his love for a certain great +and rich lady, for whose sake it was well worth while to leave the +straight road; a love which the knight had in the meantime confessed to +his friend, and which the friend fanned in a way which would have done +honor to the cleverest Marinelli. When the knight was once lured far +enough to make the return impossible, when he had been turned round and +round till he knew no longer where his head was, then the moment had +come when he might go up to him and say: Honored knight, what will you +give your Pylades if he enables you to possess all the glorious things +which heretofore have been mere phantoms seen in voluptuous dreams, in +tangible reality? + +Unfortunately Oswald spared him much of the trouble. He was at that +time unhappier and less self-reliant than he had ever been before. +Berger's doctrine of contempt was a bad seed, which had fallen upon soil +only too fertile. And since Oswald thought he had been betrayed by Melitta, +he had, in order to be able the more readily to betray her himself, +irrevocably lost the better part of his self-respect. It did not avail him +that he charged all the blame of the rupture with Melitta upon her, that +he called her a heartless coquette, who had betrayed him disgracefully, +and who now laughed at the poor victim (how many were there in all?) in +the arms of her lover. There was a voice continually whispering to him, +which he could not silence, and which repeated again and again: You lie, +you lie; a woman with such deep, loving eyes is not heartless; a woman +capable of such love is not a coquette; a woman with such noble thoughts +and feelings does not betray the man whose happiness she knows is in herself +alone. + +But even his love for Helen was but a faint reflex of that heavenly, +pure flame which had lighted up his heart like the moon in a dark night +during the time of his love for Melitta. There was in this love much of +that weird, consuming fire of an eager devouring passion which knows no +holy reverence for its idol. + +To all this must be added, that he felt indescribably unhappy in his +position. His duties at the college were repugnant to him, when he had +hardly begun them. The virtues required by the exceedingly difficult +vocation of a teacher: industry, perseverance, patience, self-denial, +he had practised little in his life. The close air of the class-room, +and the noise of a crowd of merry boys were a torment for his +over-wrought nerves. And then his colleagues! this Rector Clemens, +overflowing with a false humanity; this stiff, wooden Professor +Snellius; this Doctor Kubel, combining easy comfort with so-called wit; +these lions of learning, Winimer and Broadfoot. Gulliver meeting, on +his famous travels, with the man-like, and therefore awfully hideous +Yahoos, could not feel a greater aversion for them than Oswald did for +those people with whom his position brought him in daily contact. And +these Yahoos were exceedingly obliging and familiar; they seemed to +have no suspicion of their ugliness; they overwhelmed the new comer +with all possible kindnesses; they invited him again and again to +evenings at whist, and evenings at tenpins, aesthetic teas, and dramatic +readings! They did not seem to mind at all his reserve, his chilling +coldness; on the contrary, they saw in it the awkwardness of a young +man who has not moved much in good company, and must be encouraged. +Even the ladies seemed to be full of this notion, especially Mrs. +Rector Clemens, who declared openly her intention to take the shy young +man, who was standing so sadly alone in the world, under her wings, and +who had already begun to carry out her threat. "I like you, dear +Stein!" said the energetic lady; "you have conquered my heart, and +gained by your reading of the 'Captain' a place in our dramatic club. I +consider it my duty to polish the younger colleagues. True humanity can +only be acquired in intercourse with refined ladies. For what says the +poet: 'If you wish to know what is becoming, ask noble ladies!' Look at +our colleague, Winimer! You have no idea what a bashful, awkward man he +was two years ago when he first came here, and what a charming young +man I have made of him! Well, with help from above, I shall probably do +as well with you." + +Oswald overlooked, of course, the natural bonhommie which prompted this +and similar little speeches, and only saw the ridiculous form, at which +he laughed mercilessly with Timm, whose company he sought regularly +after these inflictions. + +But there was in Grunwald, besides the fair manager of the dramatic +club, yet another lady who thought she had an older and better right to +humanize the young scapegrace, and who was the less willing to yield +her part to a rival, as she had elsewhere also been mortally offended +by her in her most sacred feelings. + +This lady was the authoress of the "Cornflowers." + +Primula still trembled whenever she thought of the terrible evening on +which she had been expected to become the murderer of a great general +and hero, and her only consolation was that so far from reading the +part allotted her she had scarcely commenced it. But, however that +might be, her hatred and her contempt for the people who had treated +her with such indignity remained the same. She declared that an +unexpected meeting with Mrs. Rector Clemens might have the most +disastrous consequences for her health. She carried, even at first, the +precaution so far that she never went out without sending her husband +some twenty or thirty yards ahead, so that he could warn her in time of +the probable approach of the "Gorgon's head;" and although this extreme +nervousness gradually subsided, the mere mention of her adversary's +name continued still to cause her immediately great and painful +emotion. + +But Primula's enterprising spirit did not rest long content with such +an apparently passive resistance. Her adversary, and not she alone, but +her whole kin and her whole circle, must not merely be despised in +silence; they must be positively humiliated. She must be cut to the +heart, or, as the poetess called it in Maenadic passionateness, "the +flaming firebrand must be hurled upon her own hearth." This, however, +could be done in no other way than by exploding the dramatic club by +establishing another club in opposition, which should contain, under +Primula's direction, all the intelligence of Grunwald, and eclipse the +club of the schoolmasters as completely as the moon eclipses a fixed +star of first magnitude. To preside over such a club at Grunwald had +long been Primula's favorite dream when she was still wandering in the +evening twilight by the side of the Fragmentist through the fields of +Fashwitz, winding a wreath of blue cyanes for herself in sweet +anticipation of the triumphs which she was to celebrate hereafter. She +had thought this dream near its fulfilment when she crossed the +threshold of the reception rooms in Rector Clemens's house, her +Wallenstein in her hand, and the part of Thekla word by word in her +head. She had expected that evening to be the hour of her triumph. Was +it not to be foreseen--or, more correctly speaking, was it not a matter +of course--that as soon as she, Primula, had read the first lines, an +immense storm of applause would break out; that the men would beat upon +their shields (or books), and men and women would exclaim as with one +accord: + + + "Hail, thrice hail, to the proud light + That makes our darkness bright! + Oh, poetess of lofty mien, + Be thou hereafter our queen! + Oh, don't deny this prayer of ours, + Great author of 'Cornflowers!'" + + +For this was the Paean which the authoress had herself composed for the +occasion. + +Now she saw clearly that she had chosen the wrong road. The scales had +fallen from her eyes. What had she, the thoughtful weaver of +cornflower-wreaths, to do with the conflict of tragic passions; she, +the poetess of the famous Ode to the Mole that she found dead by the +wayside, and to the May-bug that lay on its back, in a _dramatic_ club? +A lyric club it ought to be; and to establish such a lyric club in open +and explicit opposition to the dramatic club at Rector Clemens's house +was the thought which, as the poetess sang in her own words, "was +rushing through her soul like a mighty tempest in spring, calling forth +a thousand germs irresistibly, and yet overthrowing everything in its +path." Who could resist such inspiration? + +Surely not the author of the Fragments, who was filled with like +ambition, and whose vanity had been most deeply offended by the conduct +of the pedagogues. He became the first pupil of the prophetess. + +But a prophetess and one pupil make no congregation; and husband and +wife, however clever they my be, do not make a club when they sit at +the tea-table. The first condition of their success was, therefore, +that prophetess and pupil should go forth as fishers of men; that is to +say, of members of the new club. The task was not so easy. Professor +Jager knew comparatively little of Grunwald society, which he had only +seen at a distance when he was a poor student there. His wife, on the +other hand, a native of the town, the seventh daughter of +Superintendent Doctor Darkling, knew of course the society well; but +the society knew her also as a bugbear of fright and disgust, on +account of her eccentricities, long before Jager, then a candidate for +holy orders, had courted her, and at last upon his appointment to the +curacy of Fashwitz had carried her home under his lowly roof. Although +the prophetess, therefore, stood at the shore and cast out her nets day +after day, and from morning till night, she had as yet caught but few +fish. This would have been extremely painful for a sensitive poetess if +her favorite Oswald had not been among the few captives. + +His conduct on that evening had won him Primula's heart, a large slice +of which he possessed already before, and to a certain degree also the +heart of the Fragmentist. Both had urgently requested him not to forget +the "hospitable friends of Argos in the plains of the Scamander," and +Oswald had accepted the invitation in a fit of malicious curiosity. He +had vied during the visit with the professor and the professor's wife +in sarcasm against the pedagogues and their wives, and had at last, +when Primula revealed to him her plan of a club, entered into her views +with the greatest enthusiasm. He had promised to interest the surveyor, +Mr. Albert Timm, whom everybody in Grunwald knew as a very clever man, +for the plan, and the poetess had in reward for such a happy thought +embraced him before the eyes of her husband. + +Since that visit not a day had elapsed on which a poetical epistle +written by Primula had not reached Oswald. She inquired anxiously after +the success of his efforts--little notes which Oswald carefully kept, +and then read at night, of course without mentioning names, in the city +cellar before the "Rats' Nest." This was the name of a secret society +which held every evening its sessions in the above-mentioned rooms, and +to which Oswald had the honor to belong as honorary member. His reading +invariably provoked a Homeric laughter on the part of the assembled +rats. + +It was the day after the party at the Grenwitz house, when the +professor's servant Lebrecht brought him once more one of these +poetical inquiries, written on pink paper. This time, however, it +seemed to be of special importance, for Lebrecht, a pale young man of +fifteen years, who had been a charity boy a few months before, and +still looked more than half-starved, remained standing near the door +and said, with his hollow, orphan-house voice, "An answer is +requested." Upon the envelope, also, in one of the corners, the +letters A. a. i. r. were written daintily, surrounded by a wreath of +forget-me-nots. The note was of course in verses, and ran thus: + + + TO A YOUNG EAGLE FLYING THROUGH THE CLOUDS. + + + The proud young eagle, + Why does he stay so far, + Amid gray crows and rooks, + He my life's only star? + + Oh, how I love to see + The dark-brown eagle's hair, + On your dear noble head, + With the blue eyes fair. + + Know not what was done! + Oh glorious conquest! + When in thy eyes I looked, + Was lost fore'er my rest. + + But to the stars he soars, + He prizes naught below, + That I, poor Primula, + Am naught to him, I know! + + +Oswald read the verses twice and a third time without understanding +what answer could be expected to such nonsense, until he discovered far +down in the corner a microscopic "_tournez s'il vous plait_. He turned +the leaf over, and there, on the other side, he read: + +"Dear O.: I must needs descend to prose. I was yesterday in most noble +company, about whom I can tell you much if you will listen. This +evening a lady is coming to see me (a member of the same society) who +has very distinctly intimated her desire to meet you at my house, and +who has something to communicate to you which may possibly be decisive +for your future happiness. It is true I should be deeply grieved to +lose you, but my friendship for the young eagle (see page 1) is as pure +as the element which he beats with his mighty wings. Will you call at +seven o'clock on + + "Your servant, Primula." + +A joyful fear fell upon Oswald. Who else could this be but Helen? It is +true the step was a bold one, but what is it that love does not dare? +He threw with rapid pen a few lines on the paper and gave it to +Lebrecht, with the direction to be sure and not to lose the note, an +admonition which seemed to be but too well justified by the exceedingly +stupid appearance of the orphan boy. + +The hours which had to pass till the evening came seemed to him to +creep slowly. Misfortune would have it, besides, that he had to give +two lessons that afternoon, and to an upper class, where the pupils +disliked him particularly on account of his partiality. There was no +lack, therefore, of annoyances and tricks, especially as their young +teacher seemed to be in worse humor than usually, and Oswald allowed +himself to be carried away by his passionate anger--a scene which +restored quiet in the frightened class, but which caused him greater +annoyance than anything else. + +Wrath and disgust in his heart, he left the college. Not far from there +he met Franz. No meeting could have been more inconvenient to him just +then. He had cultivated the friendship of this excellent man very +little; he had hardly been two or three times at Doctor Roban's house, +and generally with a hope of not finding Franz there. He knew that such +conduct towards a man to whom he was deeply indebted laid him open to +the charge of gross ingratitude, but he preferred that to the sense of +humiliation which he always felt when the grave eyes of his friend were +resting upon him. + +"How are you, Oswald?" said Franz, crossing over from the other side of +the street and cordially shaking hands with him. "You must be +desperately busy that we see so little of you." + +"Not exactly," replied Oswald; "but what little I have to do is all the +more disagreeable." + +"How so?" + +"That school! A single hour in the wretched treadmill spoils my temper +for the other twenty-three hours of the day. Rather a sweeper in the +streets than a teacher." + +"I knew beforehand the thing would not suit you." said Franz, with his +kindly, warm smile; "but, Oswald, you know habit is a great thing; and +then, pray, consider, every profession requires self-denial and +sacrifices, even the sweeper's profession. Good-by, Oswald; I have to +call here. Do, pray, come and see us soon: I have something important +to tell you." + +Franz entered the house of his patient, and Oswald walked on. + +"Self-denial--sacrifices!" he murmured; "that sounds very beautiful +from the lips of one who is happy in his vocation. There is nothing +more intensely disagreeable than to be lectured in such general +phrases, which suit our position about as well as a blow upon the eye. +Timm is right: Franz is a tiresome pedant." + +Involuntarily he turned into the street that led to his friend's +lodgings. Albert lived under the shadow of the church of St. Bridget, +in the house of the sexton, Toby Goodheart, a man who stood in the odor +of very special sanctity, so that nobody could comprehend why the very +unholy tenant should have chosen such a landlord, and still less how +the two had been able to get along so well for many years. + +Albert was at home. He was lying on a sofa, reading. The fragrance of a +fine Havana cigar filled the room which formed a suitable frame for the +occupant in its reckless disorder. + +"Ah, here you are, '_Pompei, meorum prime sodalium_,'" he said, +throwing down his book as Oswald entered, and rising. "I was just +thinking of you, and wondering whether you like Horace as much when you +interpret him from your desk to your boys as I enjoy him here on my +sofa with a good cigar between my teeth. Isn't he a famous fellow? I +always think of him as a small man with a bald head, a promise of a +paunch, bright black eyes and large kissable lips, who lounges, his +hands crossed behind him, through the streets of Rome, casting sheep's +eyes at a pretty girl on his left and flinging a sarcasm at a citizen +on his right, and whose whole moral code is contained in the words: +'Hurrah for Falernian wine and pretty girls! To live without them is +not worth while!' Am I right?" + +"I rather think you are." + +"Oh heavens! What a sepulchral voice. What is the matter now? Have you +a note to take up?" + +"This wretched college!" + +"Oh, is that all? Send it to the Evil One, who invented them all!" + +"'_Mais il faut vivre_,' as the tailor told M. de Talleyrand." + +"'_Je n'en vois pas la necessite_,' as M. de Talleyrand replied; at +least not the necessity to live as you do." + +"How shall I live then? I have about three hundred dollars; when they +are at an end--and that may be very soon--I must either work or make an +end of myself too!" + +"Don't be such a fool! A man like you, who has a thousand ways to make +his fortune!" + +"For instance?" + +"For instance, by marrying the little Grenwitz, who seems to me to wish +nothing more eagerly." + +"That is easier said than done." + +"Perhaps not, if you take the right road." + +"And which is that?" + +"Force them to give you the girl, whether they will or not." + +"What do you mean by your riddle?" + +"You are very hard of comprehension to-day." + +Albert leaned back in his sofa-corner and blew, as he loved to do, ring +after ring in the air. Oswald was absorbed in thought. He considered +whether he ought to confide to Timm the secret of the rendezvous to +which he had been invited for to-night. At last he said, almost against +his own conviction, + +"I received a curious note from Primula to-day; I should like to see if +you can make more of it than I can." + +"Let us hear," replied Albert, lost in admiration of a huge blue ring +which he had just accomplished. + +Oswald read him the address to the young eagle, and the mysterious +postscript. Albert started up from the sofa. + +"Oswald, you are the luckiest dog alive!" he cried. "Why, the thing is +evident. The young lady can be nobody else but the little Grenwitz. The +girl has indeed ten times more sense and pluck than her chaste lover, +who understands so little of the great art of seizing fortune by the +hem of her garment. In good earnest, Oswald, the cards have been dealt +so well for you, it could not be better. Of course, it will not be +quite so easy to take the fortress. The Jager has evidently said more +than she was authorized to say; but never mind that--you have the +outworks, and if you do not get on soon it is your own fault. When are +you to be at Primula's house?" + +"At seven." + +"It is five now; we have two hours time. Come, let us consider the plan +of operation with the help of a good glass of wine. Charles the Bald +has an excellent hock, and you must drink of that bravely, so that you +may show yourself strong and hearty in your enterprise and permit no +trace of sickly hesitation to be seen. Come!" + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +Primula was sitting in her study before a table covered with new books, +magazines, and papers. The door was open towards the reception-room, +which was also lighted up. She had just finished a longer poem, which +had to be sent this very evening to the editor of a literary journal, +in the "correspondence" of which the following notice had appeared +three times already: "P. V. in Gr. Great and gifted friend:--We await +the promised MS. _impatiently_." There it was now, the promised MS., +written with the heart's blood of the poetess! She had but just placed +the last dot over the last i, and already it was to be sent away into +the wide heartless world, before he who had inspired all these glowing +stanza had ever seen a line of the poem! If he would only come early, +so that she might read him at least a few stanzas before that young +Baroness Cloten came, in whose presence that would of course be +impossible! + +There, listen! Was not that a ring at the bell? The door is open below +... A deep male voice ... It is he! it is he! Thanks be to you, oh +gracious gods! + +Primula blushed, cast a glance at the mirror that was hanging over her +writing-table and pushed the fair curls from her blushing face, seized +a pen and began although there was no ink in the pen--to scribble with +nervous eagerness on a blank sheet. + +"Do I interrupt you?" asked the deep voice, close to her ear. + +"Why, great heavens!" exclaimed the poetess, casting away the pen; "is +it you, Oswald? I had not heard you come at all." + +"You were kind enough, madame, to tell me in the most charming note +that I have ever read----" + +"You flatterer! If you praise thus the simple lines of this morning, +what will you say of these verses which I have written this evening +with glowing brow and beating heart, thinking of no one but yourself? I +must read you at least the beginning. She will not be here so soon; +perhaps not at all." + +"But who is it?" + +"Pray, take a seat. It has to go to the post-office in half an hour. +Listen! What do you think of this original metre, which seems to be +worthy of our Freiligrath? The title is, 'The lion at the Cape.'" + +The Castalian Spring once opened was not to be checked. Oswald had to +submit to his hard fate and allow himself to be flooded by a genuine +deluge of wretched verses. Suddenly the door-bell rang again. The sound +seemed to be but a signal for the poetess to read with double and +treble rapidity, while she laid her hand upon her hearer's arm, as if +to prevent him from escaping. There were only about thirty stanzas yet +to be read, when a silk dress was heard rustling in the adjoining room, +and suddenly the graceful figure of Emily Cloten was standing in the +open door which led to the reception-room. + +"I do not interrupt, I hope?" asked the young lady, with a half shy and +half bold glance at Oswald; "I'd rather go away again." + +"Oh no, no!" replied Primula, in a melancholy tone, putting down the +MS. and rising; "not at all! I was just reading to my young friend +Stein a few stanzas of a poem. Why, it is nearly half-past seven, and +the papers must be at the post-office by eight! Dear Baroness Cloten, +dear Mr. Stein, excuse me for the hundredth part of an instant. Stay +here in the sitting-room, and I will be back as soon as I have sent off +the parcel!" + +The excited poetess pushed her guests unceremoniously into the next +room, whispering at the same time to Oswald: "What a pity! Only a poet +can feel it! The _last_ verses were by far the finest." + +She dropped the curtain, partly to be undisturbed and partly not to +disturb her friends, and Oswald and Emily stood gazing at each +other--Oswald speechless from astonishment at this strange and +unexpected solution of the mystery, and Emily also silent and +embarrassed in spite of her boldness and cleverness, but only for an +instant. Immediately afterwards she raised her drooping lashes, smiled +at Oswald from the corners of her large, gray eyes, and said hurriedly +and in a whisper: + +"You surely do not think it an accident which has brought us together +here?" + +"I hardly know what to believe," replied Oswald, unconsciously assuming +the same hurried and secret tone. + +"Then Mrs. Jager has not told you yet?" + +"What?" + +"I made her believe I had a commission to ask you if you would accept a +place in the house of some friends of mine; of course, there is not a +word of truth in it. I only came----" + +A glance from her bright eyes and a quiver of the charming mouth filled +quite eloquently the pause which the young lady made in her speech. +Oswald was still unable to adapt himself at once to the situation. He +had expected Helen, he found Emily--Emily, whose enchanting, coquettish +beauty reminded him so forcibly of some of the most delightful and yet +most painful scenes in the confused drama of his life--Emily, whom he +had intended to meet with a tragic resolve of resignation! And now he +was expected of a sudden to play the part of a lover! He felt a very +decided conviction that he must give the young lady some answer or +other, but the varied sensations which he experienced overcame him so +entirely that he in vain sought for words. + +"Why did you not call, as you promised the other day?" continued Emily, +somewhat disheartened by this silence of her knight, in the tone of a +spoilt child who cannot get the toy she desires, and who therefore is +on the point of breaking into tears. "Is it right not to comply with +the request--the harmless request--of a lady, and thus compel her to +take a step which she can hardly excuse to herself, much less to the +judgment of the world?" + +Oswald stepped back unconsciously, and replied in a half serious half +ironical tone: "It seems, madame, to be my fate to embarrass you always +by my plebeian want of knightly gallantry." + +He had hardly uttered these words when he would have given a world to +take them back. Emily's lovely face, which had until now beamed with +rosy smiles, became deadly pale. Her large eyes grew still larger and +rigid, like the eyes of one who has to suffer an intense physical or +mental pain; her pale lips trembled convulsively, as if she wished to +say something and could not find the strength to do so. Her whole body +trembled, and she grasped the back of a chair. He had not meant to +wound her so deeply. Oswald was ashamed of his cruelty, especially as +he was by no means so much in earnest with the Catonic severity which +he had displayed. He went up to Emily; he seized her hand and held it, +although she made a feeble effort to draw it away; he conjured her in +passionate words to forgive him; he swore he repented of what he had +said; his heart was sick, his head confused, his lips often said what +his head and his heart did not wish to be said; she ought to give him +time to recover and to justify himself before his own heart and before +her. + +Emily's pain seemed to be somewhat soothed by these words, and perhaps +still more by the tone of deep feeling in which they were uttered. She +had seated herself in the chair on the back of which her little hand +was still trembling; her tears began to flow abundantly; she permitted +Oswald, who was bending over her, to kiss her hand while he continued +to implore her forgiveness for his insanity--as he called it--in low +words, which became every moment more passionate and more tender. Her +sobs subsided, like the sobbing of a little girl who feels at last that +the doll which she was refused is laid in her arms amid kisses and +caresses. Both Oswald and Emily seemed to have entirely forgotten that +they were in a strange house, where the very next moment might prepare +for them most serious embarrassment, and they were fortunate indeed +that an unexpected and most ludicrous accident recalled them to their +ordinary prudence, which they had completely lost in the intoxicating +joy of the first blending of heart and heart. + +Suddenly a cry--a yell--was heard in the adjoining room, and Oswald and +Emily started in horror, both thinking almost instinctively that the +poetess was wrapped in flames, and on the point of death. The first +glance as they drew aside the curtain taught them, however, that the +poetess was not in any danger of her life, and as they approached more +closely they saw what had happened. Primula had given herself up so +completely to the admiration of a successful stanza which had received +at the last moment and by the insertion of an indescribably pathetic +epithet a most marvellous additional charm, that she had committed a +mistake, such as will happen to great minds, and to them most easily of +all. She had intended to take up the sand-box, and she had taken the +inkstand and poured its copious contents to the last drop over her +manuscript, and thence in a black cascade over the whole breadth +of her yellow-silk dress! And there she was standing now--the cruelly +ill-treated sufferer--silent after the first anguish had forced her to +utter that cry raising her sadly inked hands and her watery blue eyes +overflowing with tears to the ceiling, as if she wished to call upon +father Apollo himself to be a witness of the terrible fate that had +befallen one of his most favored children. Oswald and Emily could +hardly restrain their laughter; but all their efforts to preserve their +composure became useless in an instant, when the poetess in tragic +grief pressed both her hands upon her face, and a moment afterwards +stood before them covered with terrible paint, like the wildest warrior +of the wildest tribe of Indians. + +"Do not laugh, my friends," said the offended lady, with gentle voice; +"it does not become the friends of persecuted genius to belong to that +sad world which loves to blacken----" + +Emily, who was always quite as ready to laugh immoderately as to weep +bitterly, could not resist any longer. She threw herself into an +arm-chair and laughed till her eyes filled with tears. + +"Baroness Cloten!" said Primula, with dignity, "I must say that your +manner has something very offensive for delicately-strung minds like +mine;" then turning to Oswald, in the tone of Caesar dying: "Oswald, I +have not deserved this!" and she turned to leave the room. + +"Dearest, best Mrs. Jager," cried Emily, rising and stepping in her +way; "I beg a thousand, thousand pardons; but, pray, see yourself if it +is possible for any one to keep from laughing!" + +And she pushed Primula gently towards the pier-glass, before which the +poetess was in the habit of seeking inspiration from her own muse-like +appearance. But now it was the work of a moment to look, to utter a +piercing cry, as if she had beheld a gorgon-head, and then, without +further warning, to fall fainting into Oswald's arms, who was +fortunately standing behind her. + +"Pray ring for the maid," said Oswald, carrying the poor lady to the +sofa. + +Upon Emily's furious ringing Primula's maid appeared at once, but the +poetess had recovered so far as to be able to open her eyes partly and +to say with feeble voice to Oswald and Emily: "I thank you, my friends! +You had a right to laugh, _du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas_. +But now leave me! Leave an unfortunate being, forced to bear her +terrible fate in silence and solitude. Not a word! Not a word! Leave +me!" + +What was to be done? They had to obey a request made in such positive +terms. Five minutes afterwards Emily and Oswald had been shown down the +stairs by sleepy Lebrecht and were standing in the street. + +"_Mais, mon Dieu!_" said Emily; "I never thought of it! I have ordered +my carriage an hour later!" + +"Then there will be nothing left for you but to accept my arm and to +walk home on foot." + +Emily gave her arm to Oswald, and thus they walked for some time in +silence side by side. + +It was a very dark, still evening. The autumn winds had bared the trees +completely, and were resting now they had done their work. Winter was +standing at the gate, but was delaying yet a little while before he +knocked with his frozen hand. The streets were exceedingly dark, as the +lamps had not been lighted for astronomical reasons. It was, therefore, +but natural that Emily was hanging more closely on the arm of Oswald, +who seemed to know the way perfectly well. + +"Do you know where we live?" she asked. + +"In Southtown, I think?" It was the same suburb in which Miss Bear's +boarding-school was situated. + +"Yes. It is a long way!" + +"All the better!" + +A gentle pressure of her round arm rewarded Oswald for the compliment. + +They had reached the town gate, walking rapidly but saying little to +each other. As soon as they were outside the town they began to walk +more slowly, as if by concert. Oswald felt that the young beauty who +hung on his arm was in his power--that it depended on him to make her +happy--in her sense of the word, at least. The virtuous impulse which +he had felt just now, and which had been produced partly by the pride +of self-respect, had long since passed away. Emily's coquettish charms, +whose power he had already once felt overwhelming in the window-niche +at Barnewitz, had not failed to have their effect upon his wavering but +extremely susceptible nature; and if he even thought at that moment of +the greater beauty of Helen, and of what he called his true love, for +which he had sacrificed so much--alas! so much!--this served after all +only to make the sweetness of a stolen and half-forbidden passion all +the more intoxicating. + +"Are you still angry, Emily?" he said, with the most insinuating tone +of his sweet, deep voice. + +"I--and angry?" replied Emily, and she came up closer and closer to her +companion; "can we be angry where we would love, love always, love +inexpressibly, and----" + +"And what, sweetest?" + +"Perhaps be loved a little in return!" + +The words sounded so childlike, good, and true, that Oswald could not +understand how he had ever been able to reject the love of this most +charming creature. + +"And yet," he said, "you were once angry with me; and you had cause! I +swear it by that heaven which was then looking down upon us with its +golden stars! How shall I make amends, oh sweet one! for what--oh! I +cannot bear to think of that night at the ball at Grenwitz!" + +"Really!" replied Emily, merrily; "oh, then it is all right again. Then +I will not be sorry for anything that has happened since." + +"For what has happened since! _What_ has happened?" + +"How can you ask? Am I not Baroness Cloten? And why am I that? Only +because you would none of my love! Oh, Oswald, I cannot tell you what a +tumult there was in my heart that night after I had left you. My heart +was breaking; I could have cried aloud; I could have thrown myself down +on the ground; I could have died. And yet I sent Cloten to my aunt to +ask her for my hand. How could I do it? You do not know women, if you +ask that. Cloten, or any one; I did not care who, at that moment I had +only the one thought--to be avenged on you by making myself as wretched +as I possibly could, so that you should have my unhappiness on your +conscience, and I might be able to say to you one of these days: You +would have it so." + +"This 'one of these days' has come sooner than you probably expected. I +would cheerfully give many years of my life--I would willingly die on +the spot--if I could by so doing make you free again; as free as you +were when we met for the first time at Barnewitz." + +"What could I do with my freedom if I were to lose you?" replied Emily, +tenderly and teasingly. "No, no, Oswald; ten thousand times rather just +as it is now. If you will love me a little----" + +"Can you doubt it?" + +"Perhaps--but never mind; only a little, and I am satisfied. I can bear +being called Baroness Cloten; I can bear your loving another----" + +"Another!" + +"Yes, sir, another; who certainly is very beautiful, but as proud as +beautiful; and who, you may rest assured, would not hesitate to +sacrifice her love to her pride, if she can ever love really, which I +doubt. Oh, Oswald, I wish you had seen her last night! I know people +call me coquettish, and I may be so when I have a chance of making a +fool of a man; but then I do it merrily, and not by casting down my +eyes prudishly, as Helen does. I can tell you I was angry with her last +night for your sake. I thought: there is the poor man dying for love +for you; and here are you, the lady of his heart, and you allow +yourself to be courted to your heart's content, and by whom? By the +essence of all foolish conceit that was ever put into a handsome +uniform; by the king of all ball-heroes in varnished boots and +well-fitting kid-gloves; by the fashion-model of our young dandies, who +try in vain to imitate him in the way he holds his head and snarls out +his _Non Ma'am, oui Ma'moiselle!_" + +"And who is this hero?" asked Oswald, laughing, in a way which did not +sound quite natural. + +"A Prince Waldenberg--Waldenberg-Malikowsky-Letbus." + +"Is he not a dark-haired man, as long as his name, with a face like a +melancholy bulldog?" + +"That's the man. Handsome, he is not; witty, he is not; good, he is +probably also not exactly; but what does it matter? The prospect of +becoming Princess Waldenberg-Malikowsky-Letbus, and to be the owner of +a few hundred thousand souls--the prince is a Russian--covers the +heartlessness of the future husband with a pleasant veil, and one can +gracefully drop the dark silken lashes and smile." + +While Emily was thus acting upon the principle that in war and in love +all means are fair, and invoked the demon of jealousy to come to her +aid, they had come quite near to Miss Bear's house, as their way lay in +that direction. Emily paused and started, for suddenly a gigantic +figure, wrapped in a large cloak, detached itself from the dark shadow +of the poplar-trees at the garden-gate, where it had probably been +standing for some time, and passed them slowly. + +"_Quand on parle du loup_," said Emily; "if it had been less dark we +would have had an interesting encounter." + +This meeting the prince at this hour and at this place was a +confirmation of Emily's words which could not well be stronger. The +drop of jealousy which had fallen into Oswald's heart set his blood on +fire, and brought him with great suddenness to the same state of +despair in which Emily had been on that night when she was rejected by +Oswald and, with wrath against him and jealousy of Helen in her heart, +went to become Cloten's betrothed. The only difference was, that Emily +had never loved the man in whose arms she threw herself, while Oswald +had been from the first moment deeply impressed with the lovely woman +who was now hanging so temptingly on his arm. + +"Here we are!" said Emily, when they had reached a villa which lay on +the same side of the road. Between the villa and the next house a lane, +which Oswald knew perfectly well, led straight down to the park. + +"Have you the courage to walk a little further with me into the park?" +whispered Oswald into her ear, as they stopped. + +"Why not?" answered Emily, still lower. + +But her courage could not be very great, after all for as they went on +between the two houses and then down a very steep hill, which led by +means of a short wooden bridge into the park, her heart beat as if it +would burst; and when they at last found themselves under the tall +trees, and the night-wind blew dull through the leafless branches, she +hesitated, and said: + +"It is very dark here." + +"Then you are, after all, afraid, darling!" replied Oswald, bending his +face so low that his breath touched her cheek. + +"Not by your side, If we were going to face death!" + +Emily hung around Oswald's neck; the lips, which did not meet for the +first time to-day, touched each other in one long, burning kiss. + +They walked up and down the avenue. They did not mind that they could +not see the trunks of the trees at a few paces distance--that the cold +breath of the sea blew on them; the darker it was, the further they +felt removed from the world, which must not know anything of their +love; and the colder it was, the more frequently would he wrap the warm +shawl around her--the more closely could she press to his bosom, to his +arms. The whole fire of passion which was burning in Emily's heart +flared up in wild flames. She kissed his hands, she kissed his lips, +she laughed, she cried, she was beside herself! "Oh, take me with you, +Oswald! wherever you want--to the end of the world--where no one knows +us, no one blames our love! I do not care for riches and for rank. I +have not learnt to work, but I will learn it with pleasure for your +sake. You laugh; you do not believe me. Oh, try me! Make me your slave; +I do not complain, if I can only be near you! And, Oswald, when you do +not love me any more, then tell me frankly; or no! rather tell me not! +take, without saying a word--take a dagger and thrust it in my heart; +and then, when all is over, allow me, for pity's sake, the unspeakable +bliss of breathing my last in a kiss on your lips!" + +Thus spoke the passionate woman amid kisses and caresses--now jubilant, +now melancholy, now in broken stammering words, and now in winged words +of eloquence, like a young little bird that would like to sing forth +all that is in its beating bosom at once, and yet cannot accomplish +more than a soft twittering, and now and then a clear note. + +She could not understand why Oswald refused to visit her openly the +next day, and thenceforth to show himself at her house whenever she saw +company. She fancied such intercourse would be perfectly charming. +"Cloten is often absent for half the day. When you are once introduced +at our house we can spend the most lovely hours together undisturbed." + +"Never!" + +"Why never? You do not want to see me?" + +"I should like nothing better; but the question is: Can I do it? But +how can I return into your society, after leaving in the manner in +which I did? It has always been my principle never again to set foot +across the threshold of a house where I have been one insulted, +purposely or accidentally; for what has been done once may be done +again. And if it is not done, confidence and intimacy must needs be +gone, and they are as little apt to return as innocence." + +"But why do you mind the others? Those I do not wish to see and to +notice, I never do see or notice." + +"You can do that; but don't you see that that is utterly impossible in +my case? Or do you think Baron Barnewitz, young Grieben, or whoever +else belongs to that clique, would leave me unnoticed and unobserved?" + +"They shall not come to our house; not one of them shall come. I will +receive nobody; and those whom I receive, I will receive so that they +will not call again!" + +"My dear child, those are all pretty bubbles, which would burst at the +very first breath of reality. And if you were really to enter the lists +against your society for my sake--where after all you would be +infallibly worsted--would your husband make the same sacrifice for the +sake of a man whom he certainly does not love, and has good reason not +to love?" + +"Arthur does whatever I wish; I can ask Arthur to do anything." + +"And if he were such a fool," said Oswald, violently; "I will not play +this blind-man's-buff. If your husband really loves you, so much the +worse for you and me and him. I know that you women possess in such +cases the marvellous power of not letting the right hand know what the +left hand does, but we men are made differently; at least I am. I do +not talk to you of moral scruples, which we manage at needs to overcome +when we thoroughly despise the man whose confidence we abuse; but I +should suffer unspeakable anguish, for which all the delights of love +would be no compensation, if I saw with my own eyes how the man whom I +despise was placing his arm in coarse familiarity around your waist; if +I were to leave you and knew that you--oh, I cannot, I will not speak +of what I do not dare to think." + +Emily threw herself, sobbing, into Oswald's arms. "Oh, let me always +stay with you! let me always stay with you! let me never go back to my +house! I will not see him again! he shall never again touch my hand. I +have never loved him, you know! Oh, Oswald, have pity on me! let me not +suffer so terribly for something I did, after all, but from passionate +love for you!" + +"Poor, unhappy child," whispered Oswald, pressing her tenderly to his +heart, "poor unhappy child; and unhappy through me! That is the +bitterest part! Emily, sweet one, dear one, don't cry so! Your sobbing +tears my heart. Leave the man who has already made you so unhappy, and +who can do nothing but make you still unhappier. Forget that you ever +saw him! Go back to your husband! You will not be happy with him; but +who is happy in this world? You will get accustomed to him, as man gets +accustomed to everything at last. And thus the stream of life will roll +on quietly, a little stormy perhaps in the beginning, but gradually +more slowly and lazily, until it falls finally into the Dead Sea of +stolid resignation. Oh God! oh God! Come, Emily, it is of no avail to +pity one another. The night is cold; your hair, your clothes, are as +wet from the falling mist as your face from your tears. You must go +home." + +He placed his arm around her waist, and led her back the way they had +come. Emily suffered it all. Her suppressed sobbing ceased after a +while; she seemed to comprehend the helplessness of her situation. But +suddenly, when they had reached the bridge which led out of the park, +she stopped, seized both of Oswald's hands, and said with a low firm +voice: + +"I have considered it, and it is so. I will not live without you +henceforth, since I know how glorious life is with you. If you cannot +love me, I conjure you by all that is sacred to you, tell me. I will +not say a word in reply--not a word. I will not cry--not complain. You +shall not be troubled by me. I know what I shall do then." + +"Emily!" + +"No--let me finish. I tell you I will not live without you. If you do +not love me, it must be a matter of indifference to you what becomes of +me. But if you love me, then you must feel that we must be united in +one way or another. How that can be done, I do not see yet; but I shall +reflect upon it and you will reflect upon it, and we will find a way. +Now tell me: Do you love me? or do you not love me?" + +"I love you!" said Oswald; and he really believed at that moment what +he was saying. + +Emily threw herself into his arms. "And I love you, Oswald, as woman +never loved you before--as woman never will love you again on earth: +And now," she continued in a calmer tone, while they were walking on +slowly, "let us consider our position. For the present, I see, things +must remain as they are; but I must see you from time to time or I +shall become insane. Here in the city, where a thousand eyes are +watching us, that is difficult; but I have another plan. Over there in +Ferrytown [this was a little village on the coast just opposite +Grunwald, where the ferry-boats landed], an old nurse of mine is +living, who is devoted to me. She is a widow, and has an only son of my +own age, who would go through fire and water for me. She is an invalid; +send her every day something, and often call on her; hence nobody +will notice it if I go to see her again. Her son is a hand on the +ferry-boat, which belongs to her, and he will carry us safely and +secretly over and back again. In a few weeks, perhaps in a few days, +the ice will hold, and then the thing will be much simpler. If we do +not before.... What do you say, Oswald?" + +"The plan is a good one," said Oswald, "especially because I see +nothing better. When shall we carry it out?" + +"To-morrow, if you choose." + +"When?" + +"At five o'clock in the afternoon. You know we must not cross at the +same time. I will go earlier. You follow me when it is darker. We will +arrange about the return. The house of Mr. Lemberg--do not forget the +name--is the last on the right hand near the shore. Oh, Oswald! Oswald! +Think of the happiness of being with you for hours and hours and no one +to disturb us! But now, my Oswald, go! You must not be seen with me. I +must be alone when I get home. Farewell--farewell till to-morrow." + +The slender figure of Emily had reached the gate of the villa without +being seen. Oswald heard the bell; the gate was opened and closed +again; Oswald was alone. + +He was alone; alone with a heart in which it was dark like the dark +night which covered the cold, lifeless earth as with a black shroud. +Not a star of hope in the heavens, and none in his soul; dark, all dark +from sunrise to sunset. He could not fix his thoughts upon any point +except the one that he would like to die--that it would be fortunate +for him if his life could come to an end--for him and for others. Did +not misfortune follow his footsteps? Was it not his fate to carry +confusion and sorrow wherever he went? And this last bond, which bound +him irrevocably, if he would not prove himself faithless as--as +what?--as he had always been! Melitta! Helen! Emily!--what had Emily +that the others did not have, except that she happened to be the last? + +Thus he wandered about in the park, down to the shore and back again, +and once more to the sea-shore and back again, driven about by the +furies of his own conscience. The damp cold air penetrated through his +clothes, he did not mind it; he hurt himself against the dripping tree, +he scratched his hand against the thorn-bushes, he did not feel it. +Murmuring curses against providence, against mankind, against himself, +he drank in full draughts from the cup of sorrow which a man prepares +for himself in his folly, against the will of the gods and the counsel +of fate. + +At last he found himself--he knew not how--before the garden-gate +of Miss Bear's boarding-school. There was light in one of the +windows--Helen's window. It was the first light he had seen for hours, +and he felt as if a star was once more shining down into the night of +his heart. Comfort and hope he knew that star could not bring him, but +it softened his despair into sorrow. He glided into that humor in which +man rises from the chaos of his own passions, looks full of painful +pity at the careworn features of his genius, and feels the sorrows of +the world in his own sorrow. He thought not of himself; he thought of +the Son of Man, as he raised his voice, gathering his strength once +more, and walking on the road towards town, and sang: + + + "Thy face, alas! so fair and dear, + I saw it in my dreams quite near. + It was so angel-like, so sweet, + And yet with pain and grief replete, + The lips alone, they are still red, + But soon they will be pale and dead." + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +A few days later a little company was assembled in the sitting-room of +Privy Councillor Rohan's house. It consisted of the privy councillor +himself, his daughter, Franz, and a young lady who had been brought +there by Mr. Bemperlein: Mademoiselle Marguerite Martin. They had had +supper, after waiting a whole hour for Mr. Bemperlein. Now they were +sitting around the fire-place. Upon a table near Sophie, where usually +the tea-things were placed, stood to-day a small tureen, from which the +young lady filled at rare intervals one or the other's glass. The +conversation was not particularly animated; a veil of melancholy seemed +to hang over them all. No stranger would have guessed that this silent +melancholy company was celebrating what is ordinarily looked upon as a +festive occasion--the eve of the wedding-day. + +And yet this was the case. To-morrow in the forenoon the young couple +were to be married in the church of the university by Doctor Black, and +then an hour later they were to leave for the capital, where Franz had +important business. + +For at the eleventh hour before the wedding a great change had taken +place in the plans which Franz had formed for the future. The sacrifice +which he had wished to make in all quietness and secret, for the peace +and the happiness of the family, had not been accepted. When he wrote +his friend in the capital that he was compelled to decline the offered +place as assistant physician in the great hospital, he thought the +matter was settled. But his friend was not the man to abandon so easily +a plan to which he had become attached. He wrote again, and--Franz had +not anticipated this--he wrote to his father-in-law also. Thus the +privy councillor learnt what, according to Franz's plans, was to have +remained a secret forever. He fell from the clouds; but his decision +was formed instantly with all his former energy. When Franz called on +him half an hour afterwards he received him with the letter in his +hand. At this decisive moment Roban found himself once more in the +possession of all his original strength of mind and eloquence. + +"Do you not see, dearest Franz," he said, "that this enormous +sacrifice, which you make for my sake with a light mind, and, like all +men born of woman, with a heavy heart, overwhelms me by its greatness, +and annihilates me, so to say, morally? You have sacrificed your +fortune for me. I do not underrate that, I am sure; but many a father +has done that cheerfully for his son, why should not for once a son do +that for his father? But when you refuse this place you sacrifice +something which can no longer be counted and valued. You sacrifice your +whole future. You sacrifice the ambition that fills every noble, manly +heart, to reach the highest degree of perfection in the profession to +which it belongs; but more than that, you sacrifice also what you have +no right to dispose of--your duty towards your fellow-men. To whom much +is given, of him much is expected and much demanded. You will find in +the great city a sphere of action such as a Caesar would envy, if a +Caesar could ever comprehend in what the true control over men +consists. You will be there, in reality, what the flatterers in +Rome called a Nero and a Heliogabalus: _decus et deliciolae generis +humani_--ornament and a delight of mankind; for you will make the blind +see, the lame walk, and those who are buried under the burden of their +sufferings rise from the death-bed. And pupils, filled with enthusiasm +by your words and your works, will go forth to every land, and thus +your usefulness will extend infinitely, as that of every truly good and +great man is sure to extend. What you can do in Grunwald, others can do +also. What you can do there, few others can do; and it is right and +proper that every soldier in the great army of progress should march in +his own appointed place in the ranks. + +"And now, setting aside these inner and moral motives, which bind you +to answer to your friend's summons with an obedient Here! the actual +circumstances also are more in favor of the step than against it. I +know very well what motives you had for your refusal, but--pardon me, +Franz, if I speak candidly--have you not perhaps underrated my +strength, even if you did not overestimate your own? I am what the +world calls a candidate for death; death has marked me already as his +own, in order to hit me all the more certainly the next time, but the +next time need not come so very soon. If you do not object to it +peremptorily, I estimate my probable life yet some four or five years, +perhaps even longer. During that time I shall hold my lectures and +visit my patients as before, and if I cannot do it all by myself I +shall choose an assistant, who will not be so dangerous a rival as my +excellent son-in-law whom they already begin to prefer to myself. +Seriously Franz we are here in each other's way. And when the question +is, after all, how to make money, why then it is better you go to the +east and shear your sheep there, and I do my shearing in the west." + +Franz was not quite convinced by these arguments, but he felt that the +privy councillor could not well act differently as a man of honor. So +he went to his betrothed and told her he had received an offer to go to +the capital. What did she say to that? + +"Whether you ought to accept the call," replied Sophie, after a short +reflection, "that I must leave of course to you and to papa to decide; +for I do not understand that. But if it must be done, I shall certainly +not say No! When do we leave?" + +"I must be there at least at Christmas, but I have to go at once for a +few days, in order to reconnoitre." + +"Then I will go with you. You shall see that I am not so unpractical as +you think." + +One would have thought Sophie cold and unfeeling, from hearing her +speak so calmly, almost coolly, of a plan which was decisive for her +and Franz's future, and which separated her, if carried out, perhaps +forever from her native town and her paternal home, from her friends +and acquaintances, and from a thousand familiar habits. And yet she +suffered unspeakably from the thought that she should have to leave her +father, whom she loved so dearly and who loved her so devotedly. But +she knew that he would adhere in the hour of decision to the principles +which he had inculcated in his daughter, and that he would expect the +same firmness from her. It was a hard struggle which these two noble +hearts had to endure the night after the evening on which Franz had +decided to leave Grunwald; a struggle such as every son of man has to +go through once or twice--and alas! in many cases again and again--in +his life; a struggle during which the perspiration runs in big drops +from the pain-furrowed brow, and the suffering heart prays: Father, if +it be possible, let this cup pass by me! But when on the next morning +father and daughter embraced each other without saying a word, and held +each other a long, long time, their eyes might gently overflow, but +their brows were clear and their hearts sang heavenly melodies. + +From that moment Sophie gave her whole mind to the one great purpose to +arrange everything in the house so that her father might at least not +miss the accustomed comfort when she should leave him. Especially was +she anxious to find a person of her own sex who could fill her place at +table and in the evening, and assume the general direction of domestic +affairs. Her choice was soon made. The very day after that memorable +conversation before the fire-place, Bemperlein had, at Sophie's express +desire, brought Mademoiselle Marguerite to the privy councillor's +house. Sophie had been much pleased with the pretty, black-eyed French +woman, and congratulated Bemperlein sincerely on his selection. Then +already it had occurred to Sophie, that Marguerite might, after her own +marriage, manage her father's household. Now she hastened to carry out +this plan. The father, upon whom the "little Lacerta," as he called the +slim, slight figure, had made a very favorable impression, thought the +plan "not so bad;" Franz "approved," and as for Bemperlein, it was a +matter of course, that he adopted it with enthusiasm. He being the most +suitable person for the purpose, was therefore deputed to sound +Marguerite about her own views; and with such a fine diplomat as +Anastasius Bemperlein, it was not surprising that his most delicate +mission was crowned with the most brilliant success. Marguerite +declared that she was willing to accept the proffered honor _de tout +son coeur_, as soon as she was released from her present engagement. +Nothing, therefore, was now wanting but to obtain the gracious +dismissal of the Demoiselle Marguerite Martin from the position of +subject to Baron Grenwitz. This was more readily accomplished, to +everybody's surprise, than had been expected. The bright, sharp eyes of +the governess had long been a serious inconvenience to the baroness, +especially since many things had happened in her house, and were still +happening, which could not bear very close examination. Besides, she +had always had the principle that it was better to change her servants +at certain intervals, since she thought she had found out by experience +that "new brooms sweep well," and Marguerite had been allowed to remain +long beyond the ordinary term. She therefore gave her, willingly the +desired _conge_, and permitted her even in consideration of the +peculiar circumstances, to go after a few days at once to the privy +councillor's house. It was a matter of course that Marguerite had to +sacrifice a quarter's salary, "in consideration of the serious +inconvenience and evident pecuniary loss which her sudden departure +caused the baroness," for the young "person" who had served the +baroness during five years with indefatigable zeal, had, after all, +done nothing but her bounden duty. + +Thus Marguerite had become a member of the privy councillor's family, +and could of course not fail to be present to-night at the great +solemnity in the family circle. + +She was, moreover, the only one who could keep up the conversation +to-night without great effort. She tried, to be sure, to adapt herself +as well as she could to the solemn aspect of things, and not to offend +the feelings of the others by her own cheerfulness, but her innate +vivacity did not allow her to be silent for any length of time, and +every moment she broke out into a "_dites moi donc, mademoiselle, savez +vous me dire, monsieur le docteur?_" like a merry little canary bird +who begins to sing loud and joyously again after the first fright has +passed away when it finds its cage buried in darkness. + +"But I should really like to know where in all the world Bemperlein can +be to-night," said Sophie, looking at her watch; "he promised to be +here by eight, and now it is half-past ten." + +"Perhaps miss Marguerite can explain the matter," said the privy +councillor. + +"_Moi pas du tout!_" replied Marguerite, glad to have a chance to say +something. "I have not seen him since last night. I am almost afraid he +is sick; he has looked quite excited and _nerveux_ for some days." + +"I was at his lodgings to-day," said Franz. + +"Well?" inquired Sophie. + +"Well, just think, I did not see the odd fellow at all. He called +through the closed door that he could not see me; he had an important +chemical investigation to carry on, and could not leave it for an +instant." + +"I hope nothing has happened?" said Sophie. "Had you not better go to +his house and see, Franz?" + +"Very well!" replied Franz, emptying his glass and rising. + +At the same moment, however, there was heard suppressed laughing in the +hall, where the servants seemed to be assembled. The door opened and a +strangely accoutred personage entered. Two huge goose-wings fastened to +the shoulders and a bow in the hand, with the requisite quiver and +arrows on the shoulder, together with a wreath on the head, proclaimed +him undoubtedly as Amor, although the spectacles on his nose hardly +agreed with the proverbial blindness of the god of love, nor the black +evening costume with the classic simplicity on which the Son of Venus +generally presents himself. + +This strange figure approached the company with graceful steps, +remained standing at a respectful distance, bowed and spoke: + +"Most highly honored, happy pair, most worthy father of the bride and +most darling demoiselle: + + + "I am--to see it is not hard-- + The great god Amor. + Where'er my flames burn in a heart, + There I am, rich or poor. + Whoever hears my arrows rattle, + Forsakes the hope of doing battle; + The arrow sent from my good bow, + Strikes great and small and high and low. + And who is wounded by my hand, + Drops conquer'd on the sand. + I now will show you of my art, + A sample, which will make you start." + + +Here Amor took with great solemnity an arrow from his quiver, saying: +Do not fear, ladies and gentlemen, the string is loose, and the arrows +have, as you will please notice, huge India-rubber balls instead of +points. Thereupon he placed the harmless arrow on the harmless bow and +aimed it at Sophie, who caught it cleverly in her hand and pressed it +with comic pathos to her heart. The same proceeding was repeated with +Franz, except that it hit him on the head. After Amor had thus +demonstrated that he was not idly threatening, he continued, + + + "Now two have been dispatched, + And all their peace is gone; + It can be clearly seen + That they're forever done. + They know no rest and no repose, + If snow comes down, or blooms the rose, + Until the parson makes them one, + And they are altogether gone. + Then fare thee well, paternal home, + I must through all the world now roam! + Then fare thee well, oh father dear, + We never shall again be here! + Then fare ye well, oh friends of ours, + Who were our joy at all good hours! + Then fare ye well, good people all, + I have to follow another call! + To-morrow, with the evening star, + I shall be gone, oh ever so far!" + + +The last words Amor uttered with deeply-moved voice. The faces of the +company around the fire-place, which had at first beamed with +merriment, had become graver and graver, and through the half-opened +door, around which the servants were crowding, suppressed sobs were +heard. + +"Take a glass of our brewing, Bemperly," said Sophie, offering Amor a +glass. + +"Your health, Miss Sophie," replied Amor, emptying the glass at one +gulp. "But now, sit down again; I have not done yet." + +Amor stepped back again, rattled his quiver as if to convince himself +that there were some arrows left, and then said: + + + "So fierce, as you have just now seen, + Are Amor's arrows sharp and keen, + Yet does at times he find it hard, + When SHE keeps anxious watch and ward, + The good young god is full of zeal--" + + +At these words he glanced adoringly at mademoiselle-- + + + "But she thinks not of woe or weal, + When he of tender love then speaks, + 'I do not understand!' she shrieks." + + +This allusion, quite intelligible to all present, called forth a +universal smile, which changed into loud laughter when Mademoiselle +Marguerite, who had hardly understood a single word of all that Amor +had said, but who clearly saw from the laughter of her friends that +something particularly witty had been uttered, turned round to Sophie +and asked aloud: "I do not understand, _qu'est-ce qu'il dit?_" + +Amor was clever enough to fall in with his own hearty laugh; but +immediately he continued with greater gravity than before: + + + "Then comes the youth in greatest haste + And begs of me, who am Amor chaste, + 'With sharpest arrow hit, I pray, + That wicked girl, so that she may--'" + + +With these words Amor laid his hand upon his heart: + + + "'Hereafter know how one does feel + When one does love her with true zeal.' + And I replied: 'my dear good boy, + I help you forthwith with this toy, + The sharpest arrow that is here, + I'll shoot it at her from quite near, + Whoever feels this sharp, good dart, + With love will burn deep in his heart.'" + + +Amor showed the arrow which he had taken from the quiver while reciting +the last words. To the India-rubber ball a slip of paper was fastened +on which something was written, though it could not be read at such a +distance. He aimed at Mademoiselle Marguerite and called out with a +loud voice, + + + "'If that's not good to awaken love, + Tell me what better is, my dear sweet dove?'" + +The arrow flew from the bow into Mademoiselle Marguerite's lap. But +Amor did not wait for the results of his heroic deed; he turned his +back, adorned with the goose wings, and hurried out, followed by the +loud laughter of the company. + +"What is on the paper, Marguerite?" + +"You must let us see the paper, mademoiselle!" + +"Of course!" cried Sophie, Franz, and the privy councillor, who was +highly amused by Bemperlein's unexpected dramatic farce. But Marguerite +had hardly cast a glance at the paper, than her expressive face was +covered with deep blushes. She tore off the paper hurriedly and threw +it into the fire-place. But Sophie, who had anticipated this, pushed +the paper aside before the flames could seize it, snatched it up and +called out, "I have it! I have it!" Marguerite wanted to take the +precious document from her, but Sophie ran away with it. Marguerite +followed her, while Franz and the privy councillor laughed heartily at +the efforts of the little Lacerta to reach up to the raised arm of +Sophie, who was head and shoulders higher. In their haste the young +ladies rushed at the door just as Bemperlein, who had in the meantime +laid aside his Olympian attributes, was coming back, and thus it +happened that Marguerite, unable to check her rapid course, ran right +into his arms. + +"Behold the sacred power of the god!" exclaimed Sophie, as she saw +this, exulting. "Here, Marguerite, is your paper. I do not care to see +now what was written on the prescription, since I have seen the +effect." + +With these words she made a deep courtesy and handed Marguerite the +paper, who hid it hurriedly in her bosom. + +"That was well done, Bemperly," said the young lady in her exuberance +of merriment. "I must embrace you for it." + +Hereupon she seized the blushing god of love by the shoulders and gave +him a hearty kiss on the brow. + +"I call you to be my witness, privy councillor," said Bemperlein, "that +the ladies are fighting who is to have me, without my making the +slightest advances, and that if Franz challenges me, I am not bound to +give him satisfaction." + +Bemperlein had brought new spirit into the company, and henceforth +laughter and merriment were the order of the day. The good humor of the +circle rose in proportion as the level sank in the punch-bowl. Only +Marguerite was more quiet than before; but the joke had been carried +quite far enough, and they did not tease her any more; they pretended +even not to notice her, when she left her seat near the fire-place and +began to walk up and down in the room, evidently buried in thought. +Franz, Sophie, and the privy councillor were soon engaged in weighty +family matters, and did not observe, therefore, that Bemperlein also +had risen quietly, and joining Marguerite, had commenced a conversation +in a low tone with her, which soon became so interesting that they had +to adjourn to the deep bay-window, where the broad folds of a heavy +curtain protected them safely against the glances of the company. +Unfortunately, however, the stuff of which the curtains were made was +not thick enough to break all the sound-waves completely, and thus it +happened that after the lapse of perhaps five minutes those near the +fire were suddenly startled by a noise which came from the window, and +evidently arose from the sudden parting of the lips of two people, +after they had rested upon each other for some time. + +The origin of this very remarkable sound was the following: + +The happy couple had--quite accidentally--wandered off into the +bay-window; Mademoiselle Marguerite had at once desired to turn back +again, but Bemperlein, bold as a lion, had seized her hand and said +most impressively: + +"Have you read what was on the paper?" + +Marguerite had read it, of course, but she would not have been a little +Lacerta if she had not answered the direct question by saying: "_Non +monsieur!_" + +"May I then tell you what it was?" + +The little Lacerta began thereupon to tremble a little, not daring to +say yes or no; Mr. Anastasius Bemperlein, however, interpreting her +silence and her trembling in his favor, placed his arm around the +slender waist of the little Lacerta, and whispered: "_Mademoiselle +Marguerite Martin, je vous aime de tout mon coeur?_" + +As she only trembled the more after this loyal declaration, and yet did +not make any effort to escape from the arms of her knight, he said in a +still lower and more impressive voice: + +"Marguerite! do answer! Do you love me? Yes, or no?" + +As Marguerite had answered this question with a very faint "_Oui!_" +there was nothing left to do, for a man so perfectly at home in love +affairs as Mr. Anastasius Bemperlein was, but to hold the lady more +firmly in his arms and to press a loud sounding kiss upon her +unresisting lips. + +And this kiss was the noise which suddenly started the company at the +fire-place. They looked at each other in silence. The privy councillor +smiled; but Franz and Sophie, who had not quite so much self-control, +broke out into loud laughter. + +"Oh, _mon Dieu!_" exclaimed the little Lacerta, slipping, full of +terror, out of the arms of her knight. + +"Be quiet!" replied the knight. "They must learn it anyhow," said he, +and seized the little lady by the hand, drew back the curtain, stepped, +like the page in Schiller's Diver, "bold and brave" before his friends, +and spoke: + +"My friends, I have the inexpressible pleasure of presenting to you my +dear betrothed, Miss Marguerite Martin!" + +As Bemperlein had initiated Sophie, under the seal of secrecy, into his +secret, and as the latter had communicated it under the same seal to +Franz, and to her father, nobody could exactly be said to be much +surprised, especially after the scene with Amor and the kiss in the +bay-window. For all that the congratulations were none the less hearty. +The men shook hands cordially, Sophie kissed Marguerite with more +feeling than she usually showed, and it was some time before the +stirred-up waves of deep emotion subsided again and left the surface +once more calm and clear. + +"We must authenticate such an event by a corresponding solemnity," said +the privy councillor, who rang the bell, and ordered the servant who +came in to bring up the last of twelve bottles of "Johannisberg +Cabinet," which a sovereign once had presented to him after having been +saved by the skill of the physician. And when the noble wine was +sparkling in the glasses, he said: + +"My dear ones! In the hour of joy we can easily speak of past sorrow, +and, therefore, I propose to place the merry, pretty picture before us +in a dark frame, which will make its bright colors appear all the more +beautiful. While I was lying these last days helpless on my sickbed--I, +whose office and duty it is to help wherever I can help--a word has +constantly come back to me, a plaintive, tearful word, which once the +poor Roman plebeians, overwhelmed with hard service, cried out before +the patricians: '_Sine missione nascimur!_'--that means, you girls, 'We +are born to have no leave of absence!' You do not care whether our +strength is used up in the endless wars which you carry on in the name +of our country, but for your own good profit and advantage only; or +whether our lands lie fallow and our wives and children are dying in +misery. To arms! to arms! you call from year's end to year's end; and +we have to serve from year's end to year's end: '_sine missione +nascimur!_'" + +The privy councillor drank from his glass and continued, with +deeply-moved voice: + +"We also, we--the children of this nineteenth century--are born to have +no leave of absence. The enormous tasks given us in science, in +politics, in every department of human activity, claim from childhood +up all our powers and consume them entirely. To arms! to arms! This is +the unceasing cry which summons us also, whether our arms are the pen +or the brush, the plough or the hammer, the compass or the lancet. +And work--inexorable, imperious work--what does it care for the +workman?--whether his temples are beating with fever, whether his +brain is overwrought to insanity, or his limbs are trembling from +exhaustion--work does not mind it. It rewards him with poverty, +sickness, and suffering, and demands of the ill-treated, the oppressed, +the labors of Hercules. Yes, my friends, we also are plebeians in the +service of work as those Roman plebeians in the service of war, and we +can complain with them and say, '_sine missione nascimur_." + +"And yet, I asked myself, how is it possible that we, weaklings and +degenerate offspring as we are, can accomplish deeds by the side of +which those of Hercules and other heroes appear like the play of +pigmies? That our time, so often reproached on account of the +prevailing laxity and indifference, nevertheless is like a parturient +mountain, which produces--not a ridiculous mouse, but snorting +steam-engines, gigantic works of industry and triumphs of inventive +genius of every kind? It is possible only by the complete change which +has taken place in the relative position of men. Then, work and +conflict were in the hands of a few heroes, while the masses were +following in idleness and laziness with loud cries. Now the individual, +however great he may be, counts for little; the whole strength of our +day lies in the masses, which are pressing forward in close columns, +slowly but irresistibly, in the path of progress. This is not yet +clearly seen by many. Rulers, princes, and princes' servants, who have +a dim apprehension of the matter, would like to bring back the olden +times for the sake of their brutal selfishness and their frivolous +vanity--the times when the individual was everything and the masses +nothing; but it is all in vain. The army of progress, endowed with the +death-defying instinct of the migratory lemur, marches on in long, +unnumbered lines, shoulder to shoulder, each man stepping in the +footsteps of the man before him, and when here and there a vacant space +occurs the lines are closed up again in an instant. + +"And this thought, my friends, which I tried to see clearly before my +mind's eye, had something marvellously soothing for me. I thought, what +does it matter whether you break down to-day or to-morrow? Behind you +follows a younger and stronger soldier who will at once step over you, +fill your place, and accomplish with the very arms which fall from your +releasing grasp greater things than you could ever have done." + +As he said these words, the privy councillor pressed his son-in-law's +hand; but Sophie, who had long struggled with her tears, threw herself +sobbing in her father's arms. + +"No, no, my child," said her father, stroking her soft hair lovingly. +"You must not cry; I wanted to prove to you, and to you all, that we +must not weep and wail, but rejoice at it, that we are invincible and +immortal in others and through others. Yes, it is a beautiful and a +true saying, which I read to-day in Freiligrath's Confession of Faith: +'On the tree of mankind blossom blooms by blossom.' I see all around me +budding and blooming; a whole spring of mankind in miniature. How long +will it be before these buds and blossoms will change into glorious +flowers, and ripen to luscious fruit? Will I live to see it? I wish to +do so, I hope so; but even if it should not be so--if I should not be +permitted to see your children at my knee--well, then, you dear ones, +sorrow must follow joy as joy follows sorrow; where blossom is to crowd +upon blossom, there the dry wood must be cut out and thrown into the +oven; and if we must part, we had better part, if not cheerfully, at +least bravely." + +While the privy councillor had been speaking, a dull sound of steps and +the confused noise of suppressed voices had been heard before the +windows in the street. Then all had been silent again; and as the privy +councillor said his last words there arose suddenly, in the magnificent +tones of an immense chorus of men's voices, gentle as the spring +breezes, and yet mighty as a thunderstorm, the song: + + + "It is decreed in God's own council + That thou must part + From all that's dearest to the heart; + Altho' in all this world the hardest is + To human heart + From those we love for e'er to part!" + + +Those in the room were startled as if a voice from on high were +speaking to them. Sophie leaned sobbing on her father's breast; the +eyes of the men were brimful of tears; Marguerite even, although she +did not understand a word, was yet so excited that she pressed her +handkerchief to her face and wept aloud. + +Then all rose and went to the bay-window. Below, in the very wide +street, and forming a large semicircle marked out by bright lamps, +stood the singers--members of the Mechanics' Club, which the privy +councillor had founded years ago, and whose president Franz had been +during the last weeks. Further out an immense multitude, head to +head--men and women, citizens, students, poor people--all pell-mell, +silent, motionless, as in a church. + +And higher rose the mighty sounds: + + + "But you must understand me right, + When men do part, they say with might, + Till we meet again! + Till we meet again!" + + +The music passed away; the lamps were extinguished. Quietly as they had +come the crowds went away. It was dark again in the street; but in the +hearts of those who were standing up-stairs in the bay-window, holding +each; other in close embrace, it was bright, like a sunny morning in +May. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +The great woods of Berkow are leafless. Where formerly birds were +singing in the green twilight, and beetles and midges humming drowsily +there the cold autumnal winds are now whistling through the bare +branches; and where dry leaves are yet hanging on old oak-trees, they +no longer whisper to each other lovingly as in the beautiful summer +time, but rustle weird and woefully. Only the evergreens look as if the +season could do them no harm; but their fine foliage also is darker, +and they look now, when all around is bare, blacker and more dismal +than ever. + +Rough autumn has blown through the thick yew-hedge and into the garden +behind the castle, has swept the flowers from the whole parterre, and +filled the trim walks with withered wet leaves. On the terrace, under +the broad branching pine-tree, the favorite place of the mistress of +the house, the little round table with the marble slab is still +standing, because it is deeply rooted in the ground, but the green +benches and chairs have been carried into the garden-house. + +The open place before the house, which is divided off by a railing from +the farm-buildings, looks melancholy. The shutters on this side of the +house are almost always closed, and are only now and then opened by a +wrinkled old hand, whereupon often, as just now for instance, the +wrinkled old face that belongs to the hand, with its icy gray +moustache, looks out for a few minutes to watch a wagon heavily laden +with wood, which four powerful horses can hardly drag through the deep +mud at the side entrance to the yard between two barns, where even in +summer the passage is often quite dangerous. The old man contracts his +brows angrily as he sees the servant whip the horses furiously, amid +calls and cries and curses. He grumbles something about 'infamous +fellow' in his gray beard; but he no longer raises his voice to give +vent to a powerful oath or so, as he used to do; for after all it is +not the servant's fault, but the tenant's, who has not been prevailed +upon these five years to mend the road. This tenant is every way a +vessel of wrath for the old man. He keeps his cattle in bad order; he +is cruel to his hands; in the third place he knows, according to the +old man's notions, nothing of farming; and, finally, he has a red nose, +and is always hoarse, two peculiarities attributed to brandy, and +equally disgusting to the old man's eyes and ears. And, above all, the +terrible prospect of never losing sight of this man for the whole of +his life (for his term has twenty years more to run, and the old man is +not going to live so long); to have to drag him along, so to say, till +his blessed end, like the abominable ball which the old man received in +his leg on the battle-field of Waterloo, and which is still there to +this hour--no, worse than this ball, for that only hurts in spring and +in fall, and whenever the weather is not as it ought to be. But this +rascal of a tenant--and the old man abandoned his thoughts to this +unprofitable and inexhaustible subject, fixing his eyes all the while +upon the bleaching bones of a buzzard which, he had shot many years +ago, and which (as a solemn warning to all evil-doers in the air and on +the ground) had been nailed to the barn-door, until the voice of a boy, +who has just come from the garden and is looking around the yard, comes +up to his ear: + +"Hallo! Baumann!" + +At the sound of this voice the face of the old man clears up, as when a +ray of sunlight passes over a rough Alpine landscape. It is the same +voice, at least the same tone of voice, which has warmed the old man's +heart now for a quarter of a century and longer. He rests both his +elbows on the window-sill and looks down upon the handsome uplifted +face of the boy with the light-brown, hearty eyes. + +"What is the matter, young gentleman?" + +"Wont you take a ride with me, Baumann?" + +The old man casts a glance of inquiry at the sky, where dark, heavy +clouds are hanging low, looks down again, and says: + +"It looks threatening, sir. I think we shall have rain, and perhaps +snow, in half an hour; that is more than _vraisemblable_." + +"Why, Baumann, you always have something to say," says the handsome +boy, grumbling; "the pony is getting stiff from standing so long, and I +should like so much to take a ride." + +"Well, well," says the old man; "we were only yesterday all the way to +Cona." + +"That is a great thing! Three miles! And the doctor says I ought to +ride every day." + +"Oh, if the doctor says so, I presume we must do it," replied Baumann, +who has only been waiting for a good pretext to give way without +dishonor. "I will just open the windows in the parlor here, and then +I'll come down. In the meantime go ask the baroness, and say good-by to +her." + +"Yes; but make haste." + +"Well, well," says the old man, and his gray head disappears from the +window. + +The boy hurries back into the house, but his mother is not to be found +in the "garden-room," where she commonly sits; nor in the "red-room" +adjoining, to which she retires when she wishes to be alone. The boy +hurries from the garden-room--leaving the door, of course, wide +open--into the garden, and down the long walk between the clipped yews +of the terrace. As he does not find his mother here, and yet is in such +a very great hurry, he considers whether he has not done all that could +be done. He hesitates for a moment, and is just about to turn back, +when it occurs to him that Baumann is sure to ask him, sometime during +their ride: Young gentleman, did you say good-by to the baroness? and +that he would be ashamed to have to say, No! He jumps with one leap +down the steps which lead to the terrace and runs deeper into the +garden, calling out from time to time: "Mamma! Mamma!" + +"Here!" replies suddenly a female voice quite near; and as he turns +quickly round a bush, which has been so well sheltered by old +linden-trees that it has almost all its leaves yet, he nearly rushes +into his mother's arms: + +"What is the matter, wild one?" says Melitta, placing her hands upon +the boy's shoulders. + +"We are going to ride out," says the boy, who is in such a hurry that +he can hardly speak. + +"But the sky looks very threatening." + +"Oh, Baumann says--no, Baumann says the same. But I am _so_ anxious to +ride! Please, dear mamma, please!" + +"If it were not so late," said Melitta, looking at her watch, "I should +like to go with you." + +"Oh pray, mamma, do that another time. You would have to change your +dress, and then it may really commence snowing, and then we can't go at +all." + +"You may be right," replied Melitta, unconsciously smiling at the boy's +naive egotism. "Then make haste and get away. But put on an overcoat." + +She kisses the boy on his red lips, and the boy runs away delighted. +Five minutes later old Baumann has himself saddled the boy's pony--he +never allows the grooms to saddle either the pony or Melitta's +horse--and the two gallop out of the main gate into the bare fields. + +When the boy had left her, Melitta resumed her walk in the avenues +between the cunningly-trimmed hedges of beech-trees and the +yew-pyramids. They were the same avenues through which she had walked +arm in arm with Oswald on a beautiful summer afternoon when the sun +was sending down red rays through the green foliage above upon the +flower-beds in all their splendor. How the scene had changed since +then? Where are the red rays of the sun now? where the green leaves? +and where the bright flowers? Is this the same earth that exhaled a +soft, balsamic breath, like the kiss of a loved one? the same earth +which shone in its wedding garment? which embraced the high sky like a +bride in the light of countless stars? And she, herself--she had +changed almost as much; but in her, summer has not changed into winter. +She has altered, but surely not for the worse. + +As she now turns round, having reached the end of the long walk, and is +coming up again in the pale light of the autumnal evening, she can be +better seen than before. How graceful and light her step is! How +delicately slender her figure appears as she now draws the silk shawl +closer around her sloping shoulders and wraps it around her arms! How +prettily the black fichu which she has tied over her head, fastening it +under the chin, frames the lovely oval of her fair face! And how much +more clearly the expression of goodness of heart, which always made the +handsome face so attractive, strikes the observer now! And yet the soft +brown eyes look so much graver! the charming mouth, whose red lips +formerly looked as if they were made only to kiss and to laugh, is now +firm and resolute. It looks as if the beautiful and noble psyche of the +woman had freed itself of all that formerly held it in chains, and was +now free from the mists of passionate thoughts, lighting up the sweet, +kindly face in all its nobility and beauty as the chaste light of the +moon lights up a soft, warm summer night. + +What is she thinking of as she now comes slowly down the walk, her eyes +fixed upon the ground? First of all, probably, of her son, who is +recovering his full rosy cheeks, and growing up so strong and so +hearty, just as Doctor Birkenhain has predicted. She has written to +Doctor Birkenhain to-day to congratulate him and herself on the +fulfilment of his prophecy. Then as she passes a little niche in the +hedge where a low bench is still leaning against a small table--it must +have escaped the eyes of old Baumann--she stops for a moment. On this +bench she sat on that eventful summer afternoon with Oswald, when they +had watched two white butterflies who were hovering on their delicate +wings over the flower forests of the parterre and caught each other and +chased each other and then rose into the blue ether, embracing each +other, then parting again to flutter hither and thither into the green +wilderness. "Will those butterflies ever meet again in life?" she had +asked Oswald; and he had answered: "That may happen, but whether they +meet with the same delight, that is another question." She had not seen +Oswald again since the first night when she left for Fichtenau. If she +should meet him again! She started at the idea, for she felt that she +wished it. Had she not loved him very, very much? Had she not been +unspeakably happy with him? But no! Prudence and pride commanded her to +forget the faithless man who knew only how to conquer but not how to +preserve his conquests. + +She crossed her hands more firmly across her bosom, and her face looked +almost dark, as she went on; but soon it brightened up again, and now +she laughs to herself. What is it? She cannot help it. She must think +of the expression in Oldenburg's face as she said the other night, when +the weather was so terrible and he was just rising to say good-by and +to ride home, "Had you not better stay over night, Adalbert?" and he +had cast one sharp glance at her, and then refused the invitation with +a certain haste and embarrassment. Oldenburg, whose morality was +constantly decried so bitterly; who had the reputation of having had +countless _liaisons dangereuses_ in his life; so carefully anxious, so +tenderly concerned, for the good repute of a widow! Why did he treat +her so differently from all other women, of whom he got tired so soon? +Will he come to-night? The hour has passed at which the hoof of his +Almansor is commonly heard on the pavement of the yard. The young widow +looks anxiously up to the dark clouds, which are threatening more and +more, and from which now a few scattered snow-flakes begin to drop +silently, the first of the season, but melting in a few moments on the +black ground. If Julius only would not ride too far! But old Baumann is +with him, and that ought to be enough for the most anxious heart. +Perhaps they have gone over to Cona and will return with Oldenburg, who +has forgotten the hour over his books. They will be half-frozen when +they come; it would be better to get tea ready for them. + +Melitta hastened back to the house and ordered supper, and sent for the +lamp, for it is quite dark now, and she would like to look a little at +Oldenburg's diary. He had read to her not long ago some of his notes +about his travels in Egypt, and as he could not finish them that night +he had left the book and asked her to read it for herself; and as she +laughingly reminded him of the danger of letting a lady read his diary, +he had replied: "In that book, as in my heart, there in nothing that +you may not know." On the contrary, he had desired she should read it +all; he did not wish to appear better or different from what he was. +That was speaking boldly; and, Melitta soon became convinced, acting +boldly. For there were strange things recorded in these sketches, +thrown off with a daring hand. Here the traveller's glance had rested +on the voluptuous charms of dancing Ghawazees. There half-naked Indian +women are standing by the shore turning the creaking wheel of the +Sakyee in the burning heat of the sun. There, on the market-place of +Asyut, black slaves are crouching, who had but yesterday come down from +Darfoor on the large Nile boats. But amid all these sketches not one +single trait of frivolous sensuality! He describes the dancing of these +children of the Sun with the calm words of a professional critic. When +he sees the poor woman at the waterworks, he curses the tyrannical +government which forces even helpless women to work for cruel taxes, +and in the slave market at Asyut his heart is heavy with grief that man +should permit the image of God to sink to the level of a brute, or even +below! "Sorrow! sorrow!" he cries; "such as man cannot imagine--and the +most sorrowful is that when we see such degradation we begin to despair +of man himself, for we cannot help acknowledging to ourselves that +beneath the civilized sentiments that shine on the surface, deep down +in the darkness of our heart the same fearful passions are slumbering, +which here crop out in all their shameless nakedness, merely because +they may do so with impunity under this burning sun." And thus he shows +everywhere the deep, serious mind with which the traveller observes the +manners of men abroad. The same deep love with which he ever makes the +cause of humanity his own, so that it seems altogether incomprehensible +how this man could ever be looked upon as an eccentric oddity and a +frivolous _roue_. There is no lack even of statistical tables, +reflections on political economy, and other evidences of a mind not +only bold and deep, but also learned and most industrious. And between +these are verses, especially on the first pages of the diary, which are +evidently of a much earlier date than the sketches from Egypt; at least +this is clear to those who, like the fair reader that night, are +sufficiently familiar with the author's life to recollect the different +events which have occasioned one or the other poem. + +Thus she recalls perfectly well how the baron, then a youth of perhaps +nineteen, once walked with a young lady who was then perhaps fifteen, +in the woods, after they had just eaten a philippine at table. He was +to lose who first forgot to say _j'y pense_ when he took anything from +the hand of the other. She had cunningly made a most beautiful bouquet, +and when the young man admired the flowers, she had said with a bashful +smile, "Would you like to have it, Adalbert?" And when he, blushing at +the unexpected favor, had taken the bouquet without saying a word, she +had clapped her hands and cried out, "_J'y pense! j'y pense!_ I thought +you would lose it!" That was a long time ago, and the ink with which +the poem was written had faded considerably. The poem ran thus: + + + J'Y PENSE. + + + I know a little maid-- + J'Y PENSE! + With eyes deep brown and staid-- + J'Y PENSE! + Her hair in brown curls fell, + Her laugh was like a silver bell-- + J'Y PENSE! + + It was a summer's day-- + J'Y PENSE! + The wood in shadows lay-- + J'Y PENSE! + I took the flowers from your hand, + You laughed at me, the dreamer, and, + J'Y PENSE! J'Y PENSE! + + Oh, I forgot the word, + J'Y PENSE! + Now sung by every chord, + J'Y PENSE! + It takes my happiness and rest, + Oh, maiden say and be ye blessed, + J'Y PENSE! + + +Not all the poems are as naive and full of hope as this, but they are +all addressed to the same person. + +Later, the poems become rarer and make way for philosophical and +political reflections. Only on one of the last pages there was written +in a very bold hand, as if the soul of the writer had burnt with hope +and love while he was writing the lines: + + + Yes, thou art mine! I have aroused to life + Thy fair but cold and pallid face divine. + I gave thee life, and thus thou art now mine! + + And I am thine! For all my mournful strife + Would but be wandering in a wilderness + Without thee, therefore I am thine! + + +The lady leaned back in her chair, let her hands fall into her lap, and +looked for a time fixedly before her, absorbed in deep thought. Are +these last verses true? "I gave thee life, and thus thou art now mine!" +I owe him more than I can tell; he sowed the golden seed of varied +knowledge in my young mind; and if I can look higher than most of my +sex, if I have an interest in art and science, if I have a heart for +the sick and the suffering--it is all his work. And who has ever +faithfully stood by me in the strife of life, when no one else troubled +himself about me? He, and always he! And yet, if I thus live through +him only, do I therefore really belong to him? Melitta rested her head +on her hands in order to be able the better to puzzle out this enigma, +which, after all, the heart only can solve, and not the head. She does +not succeed, therefore, any better now than before, and this only is +clear to her, that Oldenburg has never been so near to her heart, and +has never been so dear to her as now. But now for the reverse of the +medal. "Therefore I am thine!" To be sure he has told me so a thousand +times by words and by acts, but--but--is this love, which dates back to +the first years of his boyhood, which, he says, he has carried within +him through all the changes of his eventful life? is it more than an +illusion, such as is not uncommon in fanciful men--one of those fixed +ideas in which very obstinate minds take delight? Is it not, perhaps, +the love of a Don Quixote, who seeks refuge in it when he is offended +by the fearful prose of everyday life, so repugnant to a great and +noble heart? Is it not but too probable that this mirage may look +charming at a distance, but when seen near by, would quickly dissolve +into ethereal vapor? + +What can I be to him? Has he not nobler ends to live for than to make a +woman happy? Can so restless a mind ever restrict itself to the narrow +limits of a family circle? May not what he now aims at as his highest +happiness, soon become to him an intolerable chain? + +Melitta sighs as she comes to this hard knot in her tissue. She has +mechanically opened the book once more, and as she turns over the +leaves she comes to a place which she has not noticed before: + +"They say love is a mere luxury for men, but a necessity for women; a +_passer le temps_ for the former, a life's end for the latter. But +often it is just the reverse! How often do idle, unoccupied women (I +speak only of the wealthier classes) look upon love as a mere article +of luxury with so many others, while to the active industrious husband +it is a pure refreshing element, which gives him ever new courage and +ever new strength! To the laborer (and after all every man is +a laborer, from the president of a cabinet to the president's +bootmaker)--to the laborer, night is the reward of day, as Virgil says +beautifully. And to this must be added: A woman, especially a beautiful +woman, is overwhelmed with attentions from childhood up; wherever she +goes, a hundred hands are ready to serve her. She is always surrounded +by a whole court of flatterers and admirers. Is it not very natural +that like all the great of the earth, she is likely to have her head +turned? that the worship of a single one cannot count for much with +her? that love loses its value because of the abundance of the supply! +But man! if he is not exceptionally a prince, they do not make much +ceremony with him in life. At school, at the university, he may, if +luck favors him, have so-called friends who help him to bear existence; +but he has no sooner entered upon actual life, than the host of friends +is gone and forever, and he stands alone; he must bear alone his +sorrows, his necessities, and what is almost as bad, his joys. Society +opens for him; but when?--after he has succeeded; and until then?--till +then he has to journey along a weary, dusty road, without shade and +without resting-place, which robs him of the best part of his life's +strength, and his life's joy. But if he succeeds, he is chastised with +scorpions, though he was before chastised only with whips. Even his +friends become now his rivals; and he finds himself reduced to lean on +his own strength, his own courage, facing a world in arms, a world +without pity, delighting in his failures, and at best indifferent. And +oh! what bliss, if now, in this fearful crowd, a soft warm hand seizes +his own, and a dear voice says to him, 'Be strong! persevere! if all +abandon you, I will not abandon you; if others are envious of your +triumphs, they will make me unspeakably happy; and if you fail in your +work and they scoff and scorn you, or if you succeed and they pass you +with cold indifference, then you shall rest your weary head on this +bosom, then I will cool your feverish brow with my kisses, I will pour +the precious balm of good, compassionate, comforting words into your +poor, torn heart.' Oh, thrice happy man; now let the world do its +worst, you tremble not, you fear not! In your wife's love you have the +point of Archimedes, from which you can move a world. + +"And thus I have found more than one man in my life who was attached to +his wife with a love which was simply unbounded, which burnt with the +steady light of the north star, unchangeable, through the night of his +life. And certainly, when we find in history an Arnold Winkelried, who +defied death and made an opening for freedom with his body--did he do +it for freedom's sake? Yes! For his country's sake? Yes! But above all, +he did it for the sake of wife and children, who were to him more than +freedom and country and life itself." + +Melitta let the book drop into her lap and looked thoughtfully down; +then she puts it again on the table, rises and takes an album from a +bureau, with which she sits down once more at the table. In the album +there are pencil sketches, and sketches in charcoal and sepia, of +landscapes and portraits, etc. She has not had the album in her hands +since last summer, and she has not taken it out now to draw or to +paint. She searches till she comes to a loose leaf, upon which the +profile of a man is lightly sketched in bold outlines. In the corner +are the letters A. V. O., and the date, July, 1844. The leaf has not +come loose of itself; it has evidently been torn out. What unnecessary +trouble we give ourselves by indulging in a moment's caprice! now the +detached leaf has to be carefully glued upon another! Well! it looks +quite well again; but alas! there the name and the date have been cut +off. What is to be done? name and date must be upon every sketch. The +young widow takes a pencil and writes: Adalbert von Oldenburg; the 22 +November, 1847; then she closes the album, puts it back in the bureau, +and goes to the window. + +It has become nearly dark, and instead of single flakes as before, the +snow is falling pretty thick; nor does it melt now on the ground, but +has already spread a thin, white cover over the lawn. Melitta begins to +be troubled about the long absence of Julius. Perhaps he has had after +all an accident; or perhaps it was the old man. She reproaches herself +for having allowed the boy to ride out so late; she is angry at +Baumann, that he at least has not been more prudent. And Oldenburg, +too, is not coming. If he were here she would ask him to ride out and +meet the two. How cheerfully he would do it! + +She goes, seriously troubled, to the dining-room, to the right of the +garden-room, from the windows of which she can see for a short distance +the road which leads through the wood past Grenwitz to Cona. The snow +is now falling so fast that she can hardly recognize any more the edge +of the spruce forest, although it is only a few hundred yards off. She +opens the window and leans far out, unmindful of the flakes which fall +on her dark hair and melt on her brow. Was not that a horse's hoof? +There they are coming out of the forest, one, two, three dark figures: +Oldenburg, the old man, and between them Julius; Almansor and +Brownlocks in full trot, the pony between them at full gallop so as to +keep up. Melitta waves her handkerchief and calls out, and Julius +answers with a hearty Holloa! and whips the pony across the neck, +whereupon the pony shakes his shaggy head indignantly and begins to +race so furiously that he finally beats his long-legged rivals, after +all, by the length of his own nose. + +The horsemen leap from their saddles. Julius runs up to the window and +calls: "I was the first, after all, mamma!" + +"Yes," says mamma, "only make haste and come in, and tell Uncle +Oldenburg not to busy himself so long with Almansor's saddle." + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +It was after tea. Julius had gone to bed. Old Baumann had removed the +tea-things, and then gone out, casting a benevolent glance at his +mistress and her visitor. Melitta and Oldenburg were alone in the +"red-room." + +"Now tell me candidly, Adalbert, why you are so out of humor to-day," +said Melitta, who sat on the sofa, while the baron was slowly walking +up and down the room, as was his habit. "I am not out of humor." + +"Well then, troubled?" + +"That perhaps. I had a letter this afternoon from Birkenhain." + +"That is strange. I have just been writing to him this afternoon." + +"Have you heard from him lately?" said Oldenburg, pausing in his walk +and looking kindly at Melitta. + +"No; why?" + +"Hem!" + +"Is that an answer?" + +"Certainly, and a very significative. 'Hem!' means a good deal." + +"In this case, for instance?" + +"Do you know that we were in all probability at the same time in +Fichtenau when Czika and Xenobia as well as Oswald were all there, and +we never knew it?" + +Melitta blushed deeply, and did not at once know what answer to give. +Oldenburg, however, did not give her time to reply, but drew +Birkenhain's letter from his pocket, sat down by the table, opposite +Melitta, and said: + +"You see, Birkenhain writes, after having advised me, at my request, +regarding Julius's health--'Julius must be spared all studying till New +Year'--as follows: + +"'You have so often and so kindly inquired in your letters after +Professor Berger, dear baron, that it will interest you to hear again +of this extraordinary man, especially after having made his personal +acquaintance here at my house last summer. You may recollect from what +he told you in your conversations with him, that his insanity belongs +to the class of philosophical aberrations, and that he defended his +fixed idea of the absolute non-existence of all things--or rather the +great original Naught as he called it--with all the erudition and all +the ingenuity which he possesses in so large a degree. My hope to be +able to restore this distinguished man in a short time, was +unfortunately ill-founded, and I confess that the method which I +pursued in his case was, perhaps, not the correct one. I intended to +arouse in him, by seclusion, withdrawal of books, etc., a sensation of +weariness and loneliness, and through these a desire to see company, to +exchange thoughts; in one word, a fondness for life. But I had +immensely underrated the fund of inner life which was at the disposal +of my patient. He could have lived for years on the treasures of his +mind, and the only effect of my efforts was, that he gave himself up +more fully than ever to his bottomless, original Naught. Nevertheless, +I still hoped for some improvement, a reaction which I thought could +not fail to arise in so vigorous a mind as Berger's. About that time--I +think it was the very day on which you and Frau von Berkow were here, +and I forgot to tell you in the hurry in which you were, anything about +these matters which interested me deeply--a visitor, who had announced +to me his desire to see Professor Berger, came very _apropos_. This was +a young man called Doctor Stein'"--Oldenburg did not look up as he came +to the name--"'of whom a colleague in Grunwald, with whom he was +travelling, had told me that he had been Berger's favorite and most +intimate friend. I hoped the very best results from this visit--a hope +which I must confess was considerably weakened when I made the +acquaintance of this Doctor Stein. I found him a remarkably handsome, +distinguished-looking man, who, however, in spite of evidently rare +talents and thorough cultivation, seemed to be completely at odds with +the world and himself, as we find this to be the case, unfortunately, +but too frequently, more or less, in our most gifted men, thanks to the +inactive, thoughtless times in which we live. I ought to have been able +to tell myself, if I had maturely reflected, that Berger would not have +attached himself so heartily to this man just before the breaking out +of his insanity, if he had not also been a hypochondriac. But here he +was, and the thing could not be helped now; besides, I had given Doctor +Stein very precise instructions before I allowed him to see Berger, and +awaited with great interest the result of this interview, at which I +was purposely not present. The result was strange indeed. + +"'When I returned from my interview with you and Fran von Berkow, I +went at once to my patient, who had in the meantime taken a walk at my +request. He had been to the woods in company with his visitor. + +"'At the first glance I felt convinced that something extraordinary had +happened to him. He was walking up and down in great excitement. As +soon as he saw me he paused and said: "What do you think of a theory, +doctor, which has never been tried practically?" "Not much!" I replied; +"but why do you ask?" "Oh, a thought occurred to me to-night, which +lies so near, so near, that I cannot understand why it never occurred +to me before." I asked him to explain. "I cannot do that now," he said, +"but I will certainly do it as soon as I am able." I had to be content +with his promise, for it was useless for me to press him further. I +hoped to learn more about it from Doctor Stein. He had left the same +night, "on account of pressing business," as he wrote me the next day +in a little note from one of the nearest stations. What had happened +between him and Berger remained a secret for me; I only learnt from +others that they had been seen that night in a waggoner's inn, where +they had been eating and drinking with rope-dancers, who happened to be +in the place, and who had created quite a sensation there, less by +their tricks than'"--Oldenburg's voice began to tremble a little--"'by +a beautiful gypsy woman with a still more beautiful child. Berger was +very quiet and taciturn the whole of the next day. I left him quite to +himself, for I did not wish in any way to interfere with the crisis +which was evidently taking place. He had from the beginning been free +to go and come as he chose. It did not strike the waiters, therefore, +nor the gate-keeper, as strange, when he went out of the asylum at +seven o'clock in the morning of the seventh day--it was the day on +which Frau von B. left. But this time he did not return during the day +nor at night, as he usually did, nor on the following day. He had +disappeared. + +"'You can easily imagine what I felt when this occurred. Although the +search which I immediately ordered, and which was carried out with +great energy and circumspection, had no result, I was firmly convinced +that Berger had not attempted his life. He had too often spoken most +impressively against this way "of tying the Gordian knot still more +firmly," as he called it. A letter written by him, which I received +shortly afterwards, and which bore the post-mark of a small northern +town, proved to my great joy that I had not been mistaken. In this +letter the strange man asked my pardon if he should have caused me a +few disagreeable days by his stealthy departure from Fichtenau; he had +not known, he said, how else he could have carried out the idea which +he had mentioned to me. He had joined, for the moment, a party +consisting of "good people, but bad musicians," for the very purpose +of carrying out that idea, and the idea itself was this: that he +could not put his asceticism, the practical side of his theory of the +non-existence of life, to a satisfactory test within the four walls of +his room, or in solitude generally, but only in the wide world, and +especially amid the lower classes of society, to which he had now +descended for the purpose. He begged me, if I felt any interest in him, +not to interrupt him in his experiment, and promised to inform me at +the proper time of the result of his expedition, which promised to be +very favorable.'" + +Oldenburg folded up Birkenhain's letter, after having read so far, and +looked at Melitta. + +"How is it, Melitta?" he said; "you were several days in Fichtenau, I +know; did you also hear people talk of this beautiful gypsy woman and +her child, who must have been Xenobia and Czika, if I am not altogether +mistaken?" + +"More than that," replied Melitta; "it was Xenobia and Czika, and I saw +them and spoke to them." + +Oldenburg rested his head on his hand. "You did!" he murmured; "and +you--why did you not tell me?" + +"Because I feared to renew your sorrow about the lost one; +because--listen to me, Adalbert, I will tell you. I would have told you +long ago if I had had the courage." And she told Oldenburg of her +meeting with the Brown Countess in the Fichtenau forest, how she had +tried to persuade the gypsy to come with her, and how she had been +grieved when she found all her persuasions and her prayers unavailing; +and, finally, how she had received from Xenobia the promise to bring +her the child if she should ever change her mind, and how she, Melitta, +was firmly convinced that this would happen sooner or later. + +As the young widow told him all this, the tears were running down her +cheeks, and her voice trembled with deep emotion. + +Oldenburg rose and silently kissed her hand, then he strode eagerly up +and down the room, while Melitta continued to tell him how she had, +shortly before her encounter with the gypsy, overtaken the wagon of the +rope-dancer, and that she now recollected having seen among them a man +in a blue blouse whom she had then taken for a peasant, but who she now +knew must have been Professor Berger. "There is no doubt," she said, +"that 'the good people and bad musicians,' of whom Berger speaks in his +letter to Birkenhain, were none else but those very rope-dancers, whom +he had joined, and with whom he has wandered to Northern Germany, as +the letter says. Perhaps he is even now in our neighborhood. If +Birkenhain had mentioned the name of the place, I would suggest to you +to go there at once and to do what you can to bring Xenobia and Czika +back with you; as it is, however, it would only be a wild-goose chase, +from which you would return disappointed in your hopes, out of humor +and out of health. I advise you, therefore, to write to Birkenhain and +to await his answer before you undertake anything. I ought to add, +candidly, that I consider it best, all in all, to leave the unravelling +of this strange complication confidingly to the future. Xenobia has a +thousand ways and means to escape from you if she chooses; her +resolution to return to us and to surrender Czika to us must be the +work of her own free will." + +"If you think that waiting is the best I can do in this case, why do +you advise me then to do just the opposite?" + +"Because I fear you will find it impossible to sit still after you have +once more found a trace of the lost one; because I know that you yearn +to see your child; because I know that the resignation to which you +have now condemned yourself is unnatural; and, finally----" + +"Finally?" + +"Because, if I advise you to do nothing for the recovery of Czika it +might look as if I did not wish you such happiness, and for all the +world I would not have you suspect me for a moment of such +heartlessness." + +"The human heart is a strange thing," said Oldenburg, after having +continued his promenade through the room for a little while. "Can you +believe it, Melitta, that I could now almost wish you would show less +readiness to restore to me my child, and the woman to whom I owe her?" + +"Impossible, Adalbert!" + +"And yet it is so. I have made up my mind to be always unreservedly +candid towards you, as you are towards me; at least to try to be so; +and therefore I can keep nothing from you. Formerly, when you seemed to +be beyond my reach as far as the stars in heaven, I often longed for +other human hearts to warm me, and to let me feel by their pulsations +that everything around me was not as dead as I felt; or I threw myself +into wild excesses and neck-breaking adventures, in order to feel at +least that I was still living. But now all that has suddenly changed. +Since there has come to me the faintest ray of hope that you may yet +some time consent to be mine, the world has recovered all its youthful +beauty in my eyes; but now I should also like to see the fountain from +which I have drunk this water of youth, free of all admixture and +undimmed. As you are all in all to me, so I should like to be all to +you; to see you have no other desire than to be loved--loved more and +more--as I have no other desire than to love you, more and more. What +is the rest of the world to us? I have forgotten it; it does not exist +for me any more!" + +Melitta had let this storm of passion rush over her with bowed head. +When Oldenburg paused she took the diary, which lay open before her on +the table, turned over a few leaves, and said: + +"Man strives according to his nature after the general and infinite; in +woman, who stands in every respect nearer to nature, the characteristic +feature of every being, self-love, is much more distinctly marked. Man +represents the centrifugal power of the moral world; woman the +centripetal power. If the former had the government, the world would +soon be in the clouds altogether; if woman ruled, we should never rise +above the top of the wheat-blades that nod over the lark's nest in the +furrow. The way to reconcile the two tendencies is love. When he loves +a beautiful woman, man learns that he is not merely a denizen of the +spiritual world; and when a woman loves a noble man, she learns that +there are higher interests than those of the domestic hearth. They must +complement each other; she must remind him that mankind is made up of +men; he must teach even the most gifted among us first to spell and +then to read fluently the great words of our day: 'Liberty and +Fraternity.'" + +She closed the book and glanced up at Oldenburg, who stood at a little +distance from her, his arms crossed on his bosom. + +"You were right not to let me become faithless to my own convictions," +he said; "and I should like to know but this one thing--whether your +zeal to convert me is quite pure, or whether the priestess is not +anxious to direct the eyes of the sinner to the idol itself, because +their longing glances directed at her begin to be a burden to her?" + +"Oldenburg!" + +"Yes, Melitta, I must say it or it will crush my heart. You know how +dearly, how unspeakably, I love you. The wish to possess you is +all-powerful in me. I have nourished it so long that it fills my whole +being, and all my life is concentrated in it. Without you I am nothing. +With you I defy a world in arms. I know very well that we ought to do +right for the sake of the right, and that he who asks for reward has +already his reward. But I am not a saint. I am a man, with all the +weaknesses and passions of a man, which rise over him and threaten to +drown him like a raging sea, if the dear, the beloved hand is not +stretched out to save him. Melitta, say that you will be mine, and my +deeds shall not fall below my words." + +Oldenburg had remained standing at the same place, in the same +position. As in his carriage, so in the tone of his voice there was +rather a tone of command than of prayer. That man would not have knelt +down before a dozen rifles, nor have suffered his eyes to be bandaged. + +Melitta felt this; but his pride did not offend her this time as it had +often done before. She answered in an almost humble tone: + +"Do not let us act rashly, Adalbert! You know how dear you are to me, +and that must for the present content you. See, Adalbert, this letter +comes just in time to remind us of our duty. You must recover your +child. I should not enjoy a single hour of my life if I were to fear +that your love for myself had extinguished in your heart its most +sacred sentiment. And, Adalbert, think also of this; I am willing to +believe it: You do not love any longer the woman who once inflamed the +passion of the inexperienced youth; but she is the mother of your +child! What will you say to your Czika, if she asks you why another +person than the poor woman whom she calls mother is the wife of her +father?" + +"Where did you meet Oswald Stein the last time since you saw him in +Fichtenau?" + +Oldenburg said these few words slowly and with withering scorn. + +Melitta turned scarlet. A spark of the evil passion of offended pride +which raged in Oldenburg's heart set her own on fire, and kindled the +spirit of opposition which had already been so often fatal to both. + +"Who tells you that I saw him at all in Fichtenau? + +"I only thought so. Perhaps you kept this encounter from me as you did +the others." + +"And if I had seen him in Fichtenau?" + +"That would be what I had expected." + +"And if I had seen him since quite frequently?" + +"That would only prove to me that my coming here is as improper for +myself as it must be inconvenient to you." + +Oldenburg went across the room and took his riding-whip and gloves from +the console under the mirror. As he came back again to Melitta he +stopped, and said: "Good-night, Melitta!" "Good-night!" replied the +proud woman, without raising her eyes. He waited for a moment, and for +another moment, hoping that she would look at him or say a word--but in +vain. Not a word, not a sigh, rose from his crushed heart; he went to +the door, opened it gently, and closed it as noiselessly again. + +Melitta started. She hastened to the door; but instead of opening it +she only leaned with uplifted arms against it and wept passionately. "I +knew it would come thus," she murmured. "Poor, poor Adalbert!" + +Suddenly she heard a horse's foot-fall close by the window. She ran +from the door to the window and opened it, she leaned far out and cried +"Adalbert! Adalbert!" but the storm that drove the icy snow-flakes in +her face swept away her voice, and the black shadow of horse and rider, +which was but just now gliding noiselessly over the white plain and +through the gray night, was at the next moment no longer to be +distinguished. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +Winter has come during the night to the island, and still the +snow-storm rages; and the countless flakes, swept down by its swift +wings from northern lands, fall thick upon roofs and trees, upon +meadows and fields; and one who looked for a time into the darkling +air, from which the white stars are dropping forever, felt as if he +were rising upward with moderate rapidity--up and up, into the gray +boundless space. + +Oldenburg seemed to-day to enjoy the melancholy sight to his heart's +content. He is standing by the window in his study at the Solitude, and +looks fixedly at the sea, or rather at the snow-filled air, for of the +sea little or nothing can be seen to-day. He has been standing there +many hours to-day, and scarcely noticed Herrman, who comes and goes +with mournful mien, and packs several large trunks which stand open +about the room, filling them with clothes and linen and books. The good +servant's good wife Thusnelda, the comfortable fat housekeeper, has +repeatedly bustled into the room under some pretext or other, and once +actually dared to ask her master if he would not come to dinner. But he +had only replied, + +"Very well, my good woman." + +Since then several hours have elapsed. The baron had intended to leave +directly after dinner, but he had not ordered the horses yet. He can +hardly hope that the weather will clear up, for the store-houses of +snow seem to be inexhaustible; and besides, it would be the first time +that he allows the bad weather to keep him from carrying out his +purpose. Moreover, if he had intended to reach the ferry before night, +noon would have been the very latest hour at which to start. He is +probably not very much pressed to go. Perhaps he is rather pleased to +see the snow-storm, as it gives him an excuse from without; or it may +be he expects some important news, for he has repeatedly asked during +the day. "Has nobody been here?" And every time when his old Herrmann +has been compelled to answer, according to the truth, "No, sir!" he has +turned again to the window and continued to drum upon the panes with +his fingers. + +It does not look very probable now that anybody will come. The +muddy-red streak far down on the horizon shows that the sun, which has +been invisible all day long, is sinking into the sea. A fierce blow, +shaking the windows and racing with a howl and a groan around the house +and through the high tops of the pine-trees, tears the snow-filled air +asunder, and the infinite waste of gray waters, with their foam-crested +waves, spreads out in fearful solemnity before the glance of the +solitary man. He opens the door and steps out on the balcony; he leans +upon the railing through whose iron bars the wind is whistling in +shrill notes. He does not cast a look at the tall chalk-cliffs which +stretch far out to the right and the left, and which now, with the +stern forests they bear on their rugged brow, shine in the setting sun +for a moment in blood-red colors. He looks fixedly down, where, a +hundred feet below him, the wild ocean lashes the huge blocks of rock +on the shore with grim thunder. The white spray rises at times in +eddies, driven up by the fierce wind between sharp edges of the steep +walls, till it reaches him and fills his hair and beard with icy-cold +drops. But he does not mind it. In his soul there rages a wilder and +stormier tempest than without. He feels as if he were utterly alone in +this desert of a world--as if upon this desert an eternal night were +gradually sinking down, and as if he were condemned to live on in this +eternal darkness. + +It serves you right! he murmured. Why did you let yourself be led by +the nose once more, when you ought to have known perfectly well how it +would end? And yet! She was so sweet, so kind all these days; she has +never been so before. Could I close my ear to the siren-song that never +sounded nearer or dearer to me? Siren-song--that it is! What do women +know of the true love which men feel in their hearts? All is caprice +with them--idle play and vanity. A pair of blue eyes, a smooth tongue, +and courteous ways, and you have the doll that pleases good little +children. They do not ask whether the little doll has a heart in her +bosom, or brains in her head. On the contrary, that might be +inconvenient, tedious; that would not suit the nursery. + +Well, let it be, then! Let me lay aside the fool's cap forever and for +aye! As the evening twilight darkens yonder on the rocks, I will wipe +off this rosy illusion from my soul and grow rough like the wintry sea; +and as nobody loves me, I will love nobody in return. I will go through +life lonely, as that snowbird is winging his way through the pathless +air, and not even ask whether he has prepared for himself a sheltering +nest under some overhanging cliff on the coast. + +"That you will not do! You are a man; and a man is a great deal more +than the birds under the heavens." + +Oldenburg turned round in amazement, to see who it was that could have +spoken these words in such a calm, firm tone. Close behind him stood +old Baumann. + +"I come," said the old man, answering Oldenburg's anxiously inquiring +looks, "by order of Frau von Berkow." + +"What is it?" said Oldenburg, his blood rushing madly to his heart; +"speak out! Frau von Berkow is ill, is she?" + +"Not Frau von Berkow," replied Baumann; "another woman, who came about +an hour ago to our house, with a child, and who wishes to see the baron +once more before her death, which seems not to be very far off." + +"A woman--with a child!" It seemed as if a veil had fallen from the +baron's eyes. + +"Come!" he said. + +Melitta's sleigh, with two powerful bays, was standing before the door +of the Solitude. The men got in; Oldenburg took the reins and the whip +from the hands of the servant, who sat behind, and off they went at +full gallop through the dark pine-woods; out of the woods into the +level land, which gradually falls off towards Fashwitz, and into +the wide snow plain, with its distant gray horizon, and a few +scarcely-perceptible trees and cottages here and there, thickly covered +with snow. The road also was nearly hid, and even the track made by the +sleigh in coming had long been effaced by the storm. It required all of +Oldenburg's familiarity with the country, and all of his skill in +driving, to be able to race as he did through this wilderness, up hill +and down hill, between bottomless morasses on both sides. Not a word +was spoken on the way, and half an hour later the sleigh with the +steaming horses was standing before the door of the great house at +Berkow. They went into the house. + +"Will you please, sir, step into the garden-room?" said old Baumann. + +He went in first. A lamp was lighted on the table, and in the grate a +fire on the point of going out. The old man screwed up the lamp, +kindled the fire afresh, and then disappeared through the door which +led into the red-room. + +Oldenburg was standing before the fire-place, warming his cold hands. A +thousand confused thoughts filled, his mind at once; he walked up and +down the room a few times, and then stood again before the fire. + +"Melitta was right," he said to himself. "Before this wrong is atoned +for, I cannot expect any happiness. And how can I make atonement? Is it +not the curse of an evil deed that it brings forth more and more evil +deeds? It was the shadow of to-day which fell upon our souls yesterday +in anticipation. How stupid I was, how blinded by passion, that I did +not understand the warning! Yes, she has an older, a holier right; and +woe is me if I were to disregard this right! It would rise ever and +again and testify against me! But it is terrible that the Furies should +follow us even into the temple where we desire to purify ourselves of +our guilt--even into the sacred shrine which holds our whole +happiness!" + +The rustling of a lady's dress behind him made him start. He turned +round, and there stood Melitta, pale and serious, her sweet, fair eyes +shining with the traces of recent tears. + +"Melitta," said Oldenburg, offering her both hands, "can you forgive +me?" + +"I have nothing to forgive, Adalbert," she replied, placing her hands +in his; "let us bear in patience what must be borne." + +They looked silently into each other's eyes for a moment. + +"There is still much between us," said Oldenburg, sadly. "I cannot see +to the bottom of your heart." + +"That is why we must bear in patience," said Melitta. + +Oldenburg let go her hands. + +"How is she?" + +"She is very feeble: in a state between sleeping and waking, but she +knows me; and she has asked for you several times." + +"Is Czika with her?" + +"Yes." + +"May I see her?" + +"Let me first go in alone. I shall be back directly." + +After a few minutes, during which Oldenburg had walked up and down in +the room, his arms crossed on his breast and his eyes fixed on the +ground, Melitta reappeared in the door. + +"Come!" + +Oldenburg followed her through the red-room into a half-dark +room--Melitta's chamber. It was the first time in his life that he saw +it; and, as she led him by the hand to the door, the thought passed +through his head, what a strange circumstance it was that admitted him +to this room. At the door on the opposite side Melitta stopped, and +whispered: "She is in there." + +They went in. It was a large, very magnificent apartment, filled with +rococo furniture, which belonged to the guest-chambers of the great +house. Heavy curtains of yellow silk darkened the windows, the sofa and +the chairs were covered with the same material, and the light of the +fire that was burning in the grate was reflected here and there by the +highly-polished floor of inlaid wood. The mantel-piece was supported by +two little Amors, and on it stood an ormolu clock, representing the +entrance to a grotto, guarded by genii and butterflies, from which a +man with a scythe came forth whenever the hour struck. Paintings in the +taste of the rococo period, full of sheep, shepherds, and +shepherdesses, adorned the room, in heavy gilt frames. A massive lustre +with glass crystals hung from the ceiling, and played in the fitful +light which filled the room in all the colors of the rainbow. And in +the midst of all this splendor, in an immense tent-bed, the silk +curtains of which were drawn back, lay upon snowy pillows a poor woman, +sick unto death, who had first seen the light of the stars in distant +Hungary behind a hedge, and who had spent her nights through all her +life in barns and stables, and still more frequently under the open +sky, on the heath, or in the woods, beneath the lofty vaults of ancient +beech-trees. Her large eyes, shining with feverishness, wandered +restlessly over all the costly objects that surrounded her, and ever +and anon remained fixed for a while on her child, as if this were the +only point where her troubled spirit could rest in peace. Czika was +standing by her bed, dressed in the fantastic gay costume which she +commonly wore, even outside of the stage, in the interest of art. Her +beautiful face looked more serious and careworn than usual. She did not +take her eyes from her mother. She showed evidently that she knew +perfectly well what all this meant; that she saw death in the yellow +hue of her mother's brown cheeks, in the pallor of her red lips, +and in the cold drops of perspiration which were bedewing her +painfully-corrugated brow. + +Near a small table, close by the bed, stood old Baumann. He was very +busy preparing a cooling drink, and he hardly looked up from his +occupation when Melitta and Oldenburg very quietly entered the room. + +But the sharp ear of the sick woman had heard them. A faint smile of +satisfaction passed over her wrinkled face. She beckoned them to her. + +As they approached the bed, Czika came to stand between them. This +seemed to please Xenobia. Her smile became brighter, then it vanished, +and she said, in broken German: + +"Put your hands on Czika's head." + +Oldenburg and Melitta did so. Oldenburg's hand trembled as it touched +the soft hair on the fair young head. + +"And give me the other hand!" + +Xenobia took their hands, and when she saw the chain formed in this +manner, she murmured something which the others did not understand, and +which might have been a curse or a blessing, or both, for the +expression of her face changed at every word. + +Then she said: + +"Swear that you will not abandon the Czika!" + +"We swear!" said Oldenburg; while Melitta, unable to utter a word, only +moved her lips. + +Xenobia let go their hands, in order to cross her own hands on her +bosom. + +"Now leave Xenobia alone," she said, in a very low tone of voice; "only +Czika is to stay, and the old man." + +Oldenburg and Melitta looked at each other, and then at the old man, +who came up with the cooling drink. He nodded his venerable gray head, +as if he meant to say: "Do what she asks." + +Oldenburg did not dare refuse. He took Melitta's hand and led her out +of the room. The clock on the mantel-piece began to strike. The man +with the scythe was slowly coming out of his cave. + +They went back into the garden-room. Neither said a word. Oldenburg +threw himself into an arm-chair near the fire, and glared with troubled +looks at the coals. Suddenly he felt Melitta's hand on his shoulder. + +"Adalbert!" + +He looked up at her with a questioning look. + +"You will not leave, I am sure?" + +"If you wish it--no!" + +"And you will wait in patience till--you can see the bottom of my +heart?" + +"Yes!" + +"Give me your hand on it." + +Oldenburg pressed her hand to his face; she felt his tears flowing. She +bent down and kissed his brow. Then she sat down on the other side of +the fire and fell into deep thought. + +The bells of a sleigh interrupted the silence. It was Doctor Balthasar. +While the old gentleman was warming his hands by the fire, Oldenburg +told him what was the matter. + +"Hem! hem!" said Doctor Balthasar. "Know all: tubercles in the +lungs--travelling in this weather--can't recover. Hem! hem! Where is +she?--let us have a look at her." + +As the three were turning round to leave the room, the door opened, and +old Baumann, with Czika by his side, entered. + +"You are too late!" he said to Doctor Balthasar. + +Melitta, sobbing aloud, drew Czika to her heart. + +"Hem! hem!" said Doctor Balthasar; "the old story--always call me when +all is over--hem! hem! Let us have a look at her." + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +Two men from the village have, under old Baumann's superintendence, +removed the snow in the park of Berkow at a place close to the edge of +the beech forest, and where in summer a beautiful view may be had over +the meadow, which slopes gradually down to the garden and the castle. +They have dug a grave there in the black earth, and in the deep grave +the gypsy woman sleeps now the deep, eternal sleep, weary from her +restless wandering through this checkered, restless life, which has +brought her so little happiness. + +When the weather cleared up, a few days later, and the store-houses +filled with snow seemed to have been emptied for a time, and when it +had been possible to clear the walks through the garden and the park +down to the forest itself, Melitta might often be seen, with Julius and +Czika by her side, walking down to the grave of the gypsy, which is now +marked by a large lock of granite, bearing simply the name of _Xenobia_ +on its one smoothly-polished side. Melitta is almost always holding the +brown child by the hand, and speaks more frequently to her than to her +son, who in his turn waits on the child with almost chivalrous +tenderness. "When the roads are a little better I will drive you in my +sleigh, Czika. Oh, I have a beautiful sleigh; I'll show it to you when +we get back. And we will go out quite alone. The pony knows me better +than any one else; I have only to clack my tongue, and off he goes like +lightning; and when I say: Brr, Pony! he stands as quiet as a lamb. +Don't you think, mamma, I can go out quite alone with Czika?" + +"If Czika is willing to go with you, why not?" + +Czika's dark face had brightened up a little while Julius was speaking, +but now a cloud was passing over it once more. + +"Czika would like to have Hamet back again," she said, looking with her +gazelle eyes into the far distance. + +"Who is Hamet, Czika?" inquired Julius. + +"Hamet? Hamet is Czika's donkey!" + +"Pshaw; a donkey!" cries the boy, curving his upper lip contemptuously; +but a glance from his mother's eye makes a sudden blush of shame to +rise on his cheek. + +"Where is your donkey, Czika?" he asks, with kindly sympathy. + +"Hamet is dead, Mother and I buried him in the forest." + +"Why, that's a pity. Well, never mind, Czika; I will buy you another +one. You know, mamma, Mr. Griebenow, the gamekeeper at Fashwitz, has a +big donkey, with such immense ears. Oh, Czika! the pony always shies +when we meet him. But that does not matter. He must get accustomed to +it, or else"--and Julius threatened him with his switch--"I'll soon +teach him better. Wont you, mamma, wont you let me go over with Baumann +and buy the donkey? Griebenow has offered him to me several times. Wont +you, dear mamma?" + +"Certainly," said Melitta; "and his name shall be Hamet." + +"Oh that is beautiful," cried Julius; "and then we can ride out, all +three of us. You on Bella, I on the pony, and Czika on Hamet; and +then--but no, I am afraid Hamet wont be able to keep up with us!" he +interrupts himself, and looks very grave and sober. + +"Then we will go slowly." + +"Well, to be sure, we can do that. We will ride very slowly, Czika; I +should not like you to have a fall for anything in the world." + +Thus the boy prattles on; and Melitta is delighted to see that his +prattling and his cheerful ways have some effect upon Czika. She thinks +of the time when the Brown Countess first came to Berkow, and how she +had wished even then, long before she had any suspicion that the girl +could be Oldenburg's child, to keep her, and to bring her up with her +Julius; and how strangely her wish had now come to be fulfilled. And +then her thoughts are wandering into the future, and of the possible +time when she may call these children "our children." And when they get +to the granite block, and she has placed a wreath of immortelles on it, +she takes the two children in her arms and kisses them, and says: "My +children, my dear dear children!" + +Melitta was all day busy with Czika; and if Julius had not been himself +so devoted to the pretty little girl he might well have become jealous. +Czika even sleeps with his mother, and mamma puts her to bed herself +every evening--or, rather, puts her on her couch, for Czika's bed +consists as yet only of a few blankets spread on the floor, for she has +declared, in her own grave and solemn way: "Czika will die if you put +her into a bed." The little one retires very early--generally as soon +as it is dark out-doors; so that Oldenburg, who comes over at that time +from Cona, does not find her any more in the sitting-room. He has +occasionally gone with Melitta and stood by her couch, but he does not +do it any more, as the child sleeps very lightly, and the slightest +noise wakes her up. He is content now to hear from Melitta that "their +daughter" is doing well, that she has been out walking or riding with +"their children," and that "their Czika" has called her "mother" +to-day, for the first time. + +"I fear I shall never hear her call me father," says Oldenburg, sadly. + +"We must be patient, Adalbert," replies Melitta. + +Hermann has taken more pleasure in unpacking his master's trunks than +in packing them on that melancholy day. Oldenburg thinks no longer of +leaving, since Melitta has asked him to stay, and the house at Berkow +holds everything that is dear to his heart. Every day towards dark his +sleigh jingles its bells in the courtyard of Berkow, and the young +widow often appears on the threshold to welcome her daily visitor. +Since the evening on which his child had been restored to him, +Oldenburg has become more cheerful than he has ever been. He seems to +have taken to heart Melitta's words--that it would be best to bear in +patience what must be borne. He knows perfectly well what the beloved +one had meant; he knows why she cannot yet look straight into his eyes +with her own dear, sweet eyes. He is sorry it should be so; but he, who +knows Melitta's noble soul better than anybody else, would have +wondered most if it had been otherwise. Melitta no longer loves the man +who had conquered her heart in an unguarded hour and in a storm of +passion, but the wound which the joy and the sorrow of this love has +inflicted on her heart is still bleeding, and here also time must do +what reasoning cannot accomplish. The peculiar situation in which +Oldenburg stands to Melitta is no doubt of great influence, for the +time, on his whole manner of thinking and of feeling. He has laid aside +the plans for the improvement of the world, which he formerly +cherished, as impracticable, since he has found that he will have need +of all his patience, prudence, and caution to steer the vessel that +bears his own fortune, safely into port. He is all the more interested +now in the management of his estates, and follows the politics of the +day with unwearied interest. He regrets, when the representatives of +his province hold their annual meeting, that he has dreamt away on the +banks of the Nile the time which he owed to his country. Now it seems +to him more important to discover new sources of public prosperity than +those of the Nile. He perceives in his solitude the first traces of +that revolution which is not only threatening in France, but which will +unchain at the first outbreak the fearful thunderstorm that is now +hanging gloomily over his own country. + +Melitta takes a lively interest in all his hopes and fears, his wishes +and plans, even in his impatience for the speedy coming of the hour +which he feels must come. She understands it perfectly well that he +wants to go to Paris in order to exchange his new views with his old +friends there. He knows that this time she does not wish him away, but +only thinks of himself, and on this account he decides to go. + +Shortly before he leaves, Czika, who has become somewhat more +communicative, tells him a remarkable circumstance. After Paris has +been several times mentioned in her presence, the child suddenly begins +to speak of an old man who had accompanied them for a long time, and +who had at last brought them to this very place. Not far from the gates +of Berkow, she says, he turned back. That man also had intended to go +to Paris. They press the child, and at last there remains no doubt that +the old man of whom she speaks was Berger. Who can tell why he left +those whom he had so tenderly befriended almost at the threshold of the +house? Who can tell what the strange man wants in Paris? Perhaps he is +anxious to put his shoulder to the wheel and help them when help is +needed; or, it may be, he will only convince himself that the restless +mountain of revolution is once more to give birth to--nought! + +Still, Oldenburg is startled by the news. He has made Berger's +acquaintance in Fichtenau, when he was there on a visit to Melitta. He +had then had many a philosophical and political conversation with the +shrewd, enthusiastic man, in which the word Revolution was mentioned +quite frequently. + +"The musty odor of casemates, and the foul air of a state where the +police is supreme, which I have been compelled to breathe all my life, +have made me what people call crazy," the professor had once said; "I +feel as if nothing but a breathful of free air in my own country would +ever lift the burden that lies here," and with these words he had +repeatedly pointed to his breast. + +"A breathful of free air in his country!" repeated Oldenburg, as he +packed his trunks; "yes, indeed! that would ease us all, every one of +us, wonderfully!" + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +The baroness had with her own tenacity held on to her plan to make her +daughter Princess Waldenberg. She had spared no trouble, nay--what was +much more in her case--no expense, and had spent an immense amount of +hypocritical friendship and love, many smooth words, and still smoother +compliments, in order to fulfil the duty of an affectionate mother +towards her daughter. + +She had conquered the ground foot by foot. In the first place, Felix, +who had once enjoyed all her favor, and who was now fallen so low, had +been compelled to leave the field, and to take his trip to Nice, +according to the directions of the physicians. Felix had gone quite +willingly. He had nothing more to gain in Grunwald, and nothing to lose +but the last faint hope of recovery. His existence in Italy had been +secured for several years by his generous aunt, who knew perfectly well +that he had only a few months more to live. He had arranged all his +affairs, and spoken candidly to his aunt about everything except that +one unpleasant story about Timm. He left Anna Maria under the pleasant +impression that the impertinent young man had been intimidated by him, +and that he had been satisfied with a few hundred dollars. Felix, of +course, did not desire to spoil his aunt's good humor by touching this +sore point, and thus to ruin his own prospects. He thought he could +arrange such matters much better in writing, and "when she sees that +the thing cannot be helped, she will submit to it." Thus he left the +house, followed by the sincere good wishes of his uncle, and bedewed +with the tears of his aunt. + +"Heaven be thanked, he is gone!" thought the baroness, as she returned +to her room through the assembled servants, pressing her handkerchief +upon her eyes; "now for Helen to come back, and--the rest will follow." + +On the same day she paid a visit to the boarding school, and had first +a long conversation with Miss Bear. The baroness was very tender +to-day. She had just said farewell to a beloved relative whose fate +oppressed her heart, and who went probably for a long time, perhaps +forever--here the handkerchief performed its duty once more. Her heart +was consequently deeply distressed. "Ah, believe me, my dear Miss +Bear," she said; "it is hard to have to part in such a way with a young +man whom I have loved as my own son; to have to see his youthful vigor +cruelly broken, and with it all the fond hopes which had been cherished +for his future. And poor Helen, also, will feel the blow sadly; for, if +I am not altogether mistaken, a tender attachment had begun to bud +between the two relatives, whom Heaven itself seemed to have formed for +each other. An attachment which was at first concealed, as happens +often enough, by an apparent aversion, and that so successfully that I +myself was deceived for a time, and--quite _entre nous_, dear Miss +Bear--felt quite angry against the poor child. Now"--and the +handkerchief goes once more to the eyes--"now, I know better. But all +the greater is my desire to have my dear child back again. Would you +take it amiss, my dear Miss Bear, if I were to carry off the precious +jewel so soon again, after having entrusted it to your kind and prudent +hands?" + +The She Bear had too much sense not to perceive the contradiction in +the former and the present manner of the baroness. She received, +therefore, the confidence of the great lady with great reserve, and +only asked whether Helen was to return to the paternal home at once, or +only at a later time. + +"I think we had better leave that to the dear child," replied Anna +Maria, still afraid of a possible refusal on Helen's part. "I know she +likes to be here; and, besides, I should not like to interfere in any +way with her studies, her plans, and even her fancies. Helen knows my +wishes. For the present, therefore, I would only ask you, dear Miss +Bear, to use your influence over my child in my favor--in favor of a +poor woman who is sorely afflicted by a grievous loss." + +Anna Maria had scarcely left the institute when Miss Bear went up to +Helen to communicate to her the conversation she had just had. She had +taken off her gold spectacles for that purpose; she had smoothed down +the official wrinkles on her brow, and carried up with her as much +kindly feeling as a sober, pedantic She Bear can possibly feel for a +fair young girl who, in her opinion, has been badly treated by her +mother. + +"Let us be candid with each other, dear Helen," said Miss Bear, taking +the slender white hand of the young lady familiarly into her own bony +hands. "My dear Sophie, who has just written to me, and who sends you +much love, informed me at the beginning of our acquaintance of certain +facts which helped me to understand what would otherwise be +inexplicable in the conduct of your mother. You need not blush, my dear +child; not a word has been said that could injure you in my eyes; on +the contrary, Sophie and myself have only pitied you heartily, that you +should have so much to suffer while you are still so young. We looked +upon your removal from your father's house as upon a kind of +banishment, and we thought at the same time you might find a desirable +asylum here. If this is so, and if you still look upon it in that +light, pray say so. It is not my way to create discord, especially +between mother and daughter, but as matters are, I do not think it can +be wrong in me to choose the side I like best." + +The She Bear paused. Helen seemed to be more affected than she +generally showed, but her self-control did not fail her even now. +Almost cheerfully she said, + +"You are very kind. Miss Bear; kinder indeed than I deserve; but your +friendly interest in me has probably made my mother's conduct appear in +too unfavorable a light to you. We have, for a time, stood in somewhat +decided opposition to each other; but I hope mamma has forgotten it all +as completely as I have. You know how fond I am of your house, and how +much I like to be here; but if my mother really wishes me to return, as +it seems she does, I should consider it my duty to obey her wishes, +without asking whether it agrees with my own wishes or not." + +The She Bear was by no means particularly pleased with this answer. She +had opened her heart to the young girl; she had, to a certain extent, +committed herself in order to win Helen's confidence; and now, instead +of confidence, instead of frankness, she met nothing but reserve and +diplomatic prudence! The good old lady felt deeply hurt, and left the +room with pain at her heart, after having skilfully led the +conversation into another channel. + +The baroness had shown by her conduct to-day that she knew the heart of +her daughter, at least in one direction. It flattered Helen's pride +that her mother should not even venture to come with her request +directly to her, but prefer hiding behind Miss Bear. She had decided, +on the evening on which she wrote to Mary Burton, that she would return +to her father's house. While she was describing the triumphs she had +enjoyed in the salons of her mother, and the homage that had been +offered her on all sides, she had felt a delight which, to call it by +its proper name, was nothing else but the sweet sense of gratified +vanity after deep humiliation. Helen's friendship for Mary Burton by no +means excluded envy--for such are the friendships of girls; and Miss +Burton had, it must be confessed, done all she could do to fan the fire +of this evil passion in her friend's heart. The young English girl had +no sooner returned to her country from the boarding-school in Hamburg +than she had made a great match, marrying one of the most eligible men +in all England. Helen recollected very well how the romance which had +come so suddenly to a happy end had first commenced. She and Mary, then +girls of fourteen, had made a trip to Heligoland in company with the +principal of the school and half a dozen other girls from Hamburg, and +on this occasion they had gone on board a British man-of-war, lying at +anchor there. The officers had, of course, received their charming +visitors with the greatest courtesy and after refreshments had been +offered, they had wound up with an exceedingly pleasant little ball on +the main deck. The captain of the frigate, a handsome young man, with a +dark sunburnt complexion, had especially attracted the attention of the +young ladies, and would have been still more popular with them all if +he had not so signally distinguished his countrywoman, Mary Burton. The +consequence was that Miss Mary Burton was henceforth incessantly teased +about the handsome captain, until at last the trip to Heligoland and +all that belonged to it was forgotten amid new and more stirring +events. But two persons had never forgotten it, and these two were the +captain and Miss Mary Burton. When the young lady returned to England, +three years later, one of the first persons she met at the house of a +relative, a great lady in town, was Captain Crawley, who now, since his +father and elder brother had died, was Lord Crawley and the owner of a +magnificent property. A week later the fashionable world was surprised +by the marriage of his lordship with Miss Mary Burton, a young lady +utterly unknown before. But no one was more painfully struck by this +news than Helen Grenwitz. She had been Mary's most intimate friend; she +had always been seen with her, spoken of with her; but, and this was +the bitter thing, she had always been considered the prettier by far +and the more striking, and nobody had acquiesced more readily in this +decision than Mary in her modesty. Mary worshipped her brilliant +friend; Helen Grenwitz was in her eyes an inapproachable beau ideal; +she invariably submitted to her better judgment; and when the two girls +built their castles in the air for the future, Mary built magnificent +palaces for Helen, and contented herself with a thatched cottage by the +side of a purling brook. Helen had accepted this worship as a princess +accepts the attentions of her ladies in waiting. Mary had told her so +often that she was the more beautiful, the more charming of the +two--Helen would have been a marvel of nature if, with her pride and +self-sufficiency, she had been able to resist the effects of this +affectionate worship. + +And now it was this humble friend who made such a brilliant match, +which raised her at once to the very highest rank in society, and +actually brought her in connection with more than one sovereign family, +while she--Helen dared not think it out. But now, when an opportunity +offered to escape from this humiliating position; now, when even her +proud mother condescended to proffer a request which she did not dare +present in person; now there could be no doubt any longer as to what +she ought to do; and Miss Bear, who offered her with troublesome +kindness an asylum at her institute, simply did not know how matters +stood at that moment. + +When Miss Bear had left her, Helen walked up and down in her room with +folded arms. At last she stepped to the window and gazed into the +autumnal evening. On the sky, heavy dark clouds were drifting slowly; +below them light-gray little clouds passed with the swiftness of +arrows. The almost bare branches of the slender poplar-trees rocked to +and fro in the sharp wind which hissed and whistled through the few +leaves, while a crow came flapping her wings, sat for a few moments on +the topmost branch of one of the trees, rocking restlessly to and fro, +cawed as if the inhospitable treatment was too provoking, and flew away +again. Helen opened the window. The cool, damp breath of evening +brought her the sharp odor of mouldering leaves. The poplars in the +garden rustled louder, and the tall beeches in the park waved ghastly, +and every now and then the low roar of the waves of the sea came in +monotonous intervals far inland. + +She looked out; she did not mind the damp air which in an instant +covered her black hair with a dewy veil; she only stared more +perseveringly into the evening as it grew darker every moment. Strange +visions passed through her mind. Proud palaces rose by the side of blue +lakes, in which dark forests were reflected; and from the palace came a +merry hunting train with horn and bugle; and at the head of the long +procession rode a lady on a small horse by the side of a man who +negligently curbed his fiery black horse and never turned his dark face +from the young lady by his side; and all, as far as the eye could +reach--castle and lake and forests and fields, which spread down, down +along the lake, and far, far into the country--all belonged to the +young lady and her husband, the knight on the proud horse And then +castle and forests and fields sank into the lake, and the lake grew +into a sea which beat high up against the white chalk-cliffs with their +crown of lofty beech forests; and up there on the high bank, in the +glow of the setting sun, stood the same young lady who had been riding +on the small graceful horse by the side of a man who was not the +cavalier on the black horse, and they looked both out upon the glorious +sight as the sun sank in the swelling masses of waves; and as they +stood and looked, they folded their hands like praying children, and +looked at each other with eyes full of love and overflowing with tears. + +The wind rushed wildly through the poplars, and the young girl started +up from her reveries. She cast a glance at the dim twilight that was +hovering over the park. Two figures--a man and a woman--were passing +the open space between the bosquets, walking arm in arm. It was only an +instant, but the sharp eye of the young girl had recognized them both; +at least she thought she had recognized them. A feeling such as she had +never yet experienced overcame her. She must be sure that she had seen +correctly--that Oswald Stein had really met Emily Cloten at this hour +here in this place. The next moment she had wrapped herself up in a +shawl, put on a hat with a close veil, and had hurried down the stairs +which led into the garden, and was now standing at the gate that led +from the garden into the park. All of a sudden her courage left her. +She was ashamed of an impulse that had misled her, and made her take so +unwomanly a step, of which she heartily repented. She was just about to +turn back again, when the two figures once more came up the avenue +which led past the garden gate. She hid behind one of the pillars of +the gate, so as not to be seen; but a single glance at the two had +convinced her that she had not been mistaken before. There was no +doubt: it was Oswald and Emily who were passing her, lost in secret, +anxious conversation. Helen's heart beat as if it would burst. She +understood now why Emily asked her the other day if she had any news of +Oswald Stein; she understood now Emily's anxiety at the ball at +Grenwitz, when Cloten and the other young noblemen were loudly +threatening Oswald ... Fooled then! and fooled by whom? By a man who +could not resist Emily Cloten. Helen crept back to her room, threw +aside hat and shawl, and now it was settled that she would return to +her parents. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +Prince Waldenberg had not been able to find anything to interest him in +Grunwald until he had become acquainted with Helen Grenwitz. He could +not exactly say that he was tired of it, or that the town and the +people had been particularly unpleasant to him, for he scarcely knew +such a state of mind; at least he never showed any symptoms of +weariness or disgust. His stern, rigid face never betrayed pleasure or +annoyance; it looked as if his features had been frozen, for all time +to come, in the northern climate in which the prince was born, and as +if they could not thaw in the glow of love or of hatred. And it was +really so, to a certain extent. The ordinary sensations of common +mortals were not capable of that sublime self-consciousness which was +given to him. He could not laugh at the wittiest anecdote, nor could he +look disgusted at a stupidity. His servants never heard a bad word from +him; he never showed childish wrath before his soldiers. Nevertheless +the men trembled before him, and even the general did not inspire half +as much respect as First-Lieutenant Prince Waldenberg; for the servants +knew that their master never scolded, but dismissed them upon the +slightest neglect, and the men had terrible stories to tell about him +in the guardhouse and in the barracks. The rumor was that the prince +had the unpleasant habit, if a soldier showed the faintest sign of +insubordination of killing him on the spot--a habit which he had quite +recently indulged in at the capital, and which had led to his being +detached from the Guards and sent to a line regiment in garrison at +Grunwald. The story was probably a myth, like so many others; the +prince had been sent to Grunwald in order to study fortification and +coast and harbor defence, and other useful branches, in preparation for +the high position to which he was entitled, if not by his military +genius, at all events by his high rank; but the myth proved how the +common people, who have a very keen eye for the virtues and the faults +of the higher classes, thought about First-Lieutenant Prince +Waldenberg. The officers, however, seemed also to treat him on their +part with some misgivings, and certainly with great circumspection. No +one presumed to speak to him at the mess-table, or at night at the +club, or wherever else they happened to meet, in that cordial tone +which is generally used between comrades. On the contrary, they rather +avoided him, and, when that was not possible, they confined their words +to what was indispensable; especially the captain of the company to +which the prince was attached--a gentleman like a ball, who barely +reached up to the shoulder of his lieutenant, and who felt probably all +the smaller by his side as he was not even noble. It was most amusing +to hear Captain Miller at drill exclaim, in almost piteous tones, +"First-Lieutenant Prince Waldenberg will have the kindness to step +forward--a mere thought!" and even the old, gray-headed sergeant could +hardly keep from smiling. + +The prince was thus very much left to his own company, even at the +evening parties, which he occasionally frequented. He met here again +his comrades, who had already avoided him at parade, and a lot +of old and young country gentlemen, whose talk about tillage and +cattle-raising could not exactly interest him much who had more estates +than they had acres of land, and more shepherds than they had sheep. As +for the ladies--why there were some very pleasant ones among them, like +the beautiful Misses Frederika, Nathalie and Gabriella Nadelitz, +Hortense Barnewitz, a trifle _passee_ but all the more clever and +interesting, Emily Cloten as piquante as she was coquettish--but they +were either not to the taste of his highness, or the prince was +altogether inaccessible to the charms of the fair sex. For a time, at +least, it seemed as if he were not disposed to pay special attention to +any one of these ladies. + +But no sooner had the prince seen the beautiful Helen Grenwitz in the +salons of her mother than the rumor began to spread--nobody knew +how--that his highness was very much pleased with beautiful Helen +Grenwitz, and that an engagement was not very far off. The report +continued to live, and was even confirmed by numerous details, +the discovery of which did great honor to the ingenuity of the +before-mentioned lovers of gossip and watchers of features. The +Countess Grieben knew positively that the prince was spending every +evening at the Grenwitz mansion; others had it that he passed the +institute of Miss Bear daily after dress-parade, on his superb +Tcherkessian stallion; and still others, that he was frequently seen at +night walking up and down for hours before the house, concealed in a +large cloak. Hortense Barnewitz whispered into Countess Stilow's ear: +"Now I know why poor Felix had so suddenly to go to Italy;" and the +Countess Stilow whispered in reply: "You'll see, dear Hortense; it will +not be a week before Helen, who seemed to be banished forever, will be +back again." + +A smile of satisfaction lighted up all faces when the prophecy of the +toothless Countess Stilow was actually fulfilled, and Helen Grenwitz +exchanged her modest little room in Miss Bear's boarding-school for the +stately rooms of the Grenwitz mansion. + +It was strange, however, that the old baron, who had so urgently +desired this step before, should now seem to be least pleased with it +of all. The old gentleman had of late become exceedingly capricious, +obstinate, and violent, so that one hardly recognized in him the kind +good-natured man of former days, and everybody pitied and admired poor +Anna Maria, who bore her cross with truly Christian patience and +forbearance. + +"Ah, you may believe me, dear Helen," the excellent old lady said to +her daughter on the first evening after her return, as they were +sitting on the sofa in the reception-room, and after the baron had left +the room to retire; "it is very difficult now to get along with your +father, and I need your kind support more than ever. Malte is too +young, and I fear too heartless, to admit of putting any confidence in +him. I have been so long accustomed to bear all alone that I can hardly +realize the happiness of having a friend and a confidante." And the +good lady shed tears while she was gathering up her work in order to +follow her husband. + +The relations between mother and daughter seemed indeed to promise a +better understanding for the future. It was not in the nature of either +of them to be particularly affectionate. They treated each other as +adversaries who have mutually tried their strength and found out that +they had better be friends again. + +After Anna Maria had thus taken the second step toward the attainment +of her end she pursued her plan with greater security. She had every +reason to be pleased with the results. Prince Waldenberg came almost +every evening; and as he did not play cards, and it could not well be +presumed that he found many charms in the conversation with Count and +Countess Grieben, who were near neighbors, and also came very +frequently to play a game with the baron and the baroness, the magnet +could be none other than Helen, with whom, indeed, he spent the whole +of his time. + +Anna Maria took care that the prince and Helen should not be disturbed +more than was unavoidable; and as in these circles the older people had +no other way of spending time than in playing cards, and young people +were but rarely invited, the task was not very difficult. The prince +and Helen spent long hours alone in the little boudoir by the side of +the large room with three windows, where the card-tables were placed, +at least until supper was announced, and even then they were generally +again left very nearly to themselves, as the others had to discuss the +different games that had been played. + +It was most creditable to the conversational powers of the prince that +the young lady, with her pretensions, was never tired of these +interviews. And yet, what he said could not be called interesting, +exactly; at all events the manner in which he said it was not so. He +was never heard to speak in that animated and quick manner which is +peculiar to young people (and the prince was very young yet, perhaps +twenty-four), especially when they speak of favorite topics, or are +excited by opposition. It was always the same monotonous utterance, as +if the words were men and the sentences sections, and they were all +marching about, carefully keeping pace. It was significant, too, that +the prince preferred speaking French, a language which has naturally +such a logical rhythm, although he spoke German as well and as +fluently. It was perhaps due to this fact--that the conversation was +almost exclusively carried on in a foreign idiom--that Helen felt the +strange character of his mind so much less. For the prince was, after +all, in his appearance, and not less so in his manner of thinking and +feeling, more of a Russian than of a German. All the memories of his +childhood and youth, with the only exception of the short time which he +had spent in France, and more recently in Germany, were Russian. He had +been page at the court of the Emperor Nicholas, and the daily sight of +this magnificent monarch, with whom he was even said to share certain +peculiarities of figure and carriage, had probably not been without +influence on the character of the young prince. He had received a +purely military education among the cadets of the Michailow palace, the +same palace whose vast apartments witnessed in that fearful night the +murder of an emperor, when the wife of Paul I., frightened by the low +sound of a number of voices and clanking of arms, snatched the young +Princes Nicholas and Michael from their beds and hastened with them +through the long suit of rooms to the emperor's apartments, when icy +Count Pahlen met her, carried her almost forcibly back to her rooms, +and locking the door carefully, said: "_Restez tranquille, madame; il +n'y a pas de danger pour vous._" The prince had quite a number of +similar stories, and they did not fail to have their effect upon the +mind of the fanciful girl. It was a new version of the adventures with +which the warlike Moor filled the heart of the daughter of the Venetian +patrician. Desdemona also shuddered at the blood flowing in streams, +through his accounts, but the hero appeared only the more marvellous; +and although Helen often felt an icy breath rising from these palace +souvenirs of the Russian page, she was none the less captivated and +ensnared by the secrecy and the horrors that surrounded them with an +irresistible charm. She dreamt of a life in comparison with which the +life she was now leading appeared very pitiful and mean. She saw +herself a lady in waiting at a court where beauty and cleverness are +all-powerful; she fancied herself the soul of grand enterprises, as the +confidante of generals and statesmen; and then she started from her +reveries and looked at the calm, dark face of the giant who had rocked +her to sleep with his strange stories, and she asked herself whether +she would ever venture to enter, on his hand, those lofty regions +towards which she was drawn by the ardent wishes of her proud, +ambitious heart. + +The prince must have been particularly interested in winning the young +girl's confidence, for he laid aside the cool reserve with which he +treated all others, when he was alone with her. He even spoke of his +family with the greatest frankness. He told her that, as for his +parents, he only knew his mother really, because he saw his father but +very rarely. His mother was living in St. Petersburg, where her +influence at court was still very great, although an incurable +affection had sadly disfigured the once surpassingly beautiful woman, +and made her a melancholy enthusiast. His father, Count Malikowsky, +he said, was spending most of his time in travelling and at +watering-places, as he was still passionately fond of the pleasures of +life in spite of his age and his delicate health, and thus could +combine at these Spas pleasure and profit. He, the prince, had, +properly speaking, nothing to do with his father. They exchanged short +letters with each other once or twice a year, on special occasions; he +had seen his father the last time at the capital, when he was swearing +his oath of allegiance to the king, and he had been shocked by the sad +appearance of the old gentleman, which the latter had tried in vain to +conceal by the subtlest arts of the toilette. The count and the +princess harmonized very little, as their characters were so utterly +different. The count went once a year to St. Petersburg, appeared at +court, showed himself once or twice at the Letbus House, and +disappeared again, in order to send friendly greetings for another year +from Homburg, Baden-Baden, Pyrmont, etc. + +Nor did the prince conceal his views on other subjects. He had +evidently thought much about matters which are usually of no interest +to young men of his rank; but as he was far from being brilliant, and +as he looked upon everything from the unchangeable standpoint of the +officer and the aristocrat, his views and thoughts were all more or +less stiff and wooden, as if they had been so many well-drilled +recruits. + +Of his profession he thought very highly. + +"I consider the soldier's profession," he said, "not only the noblest, +but also the most useful; the noblest, because here alone every faculty +of man is roused and developed; the most useful, because it is the only +security for all the other professions, which cannot exist without it. +If the peasant wishes to raise his cabbages, if the mechanic wants to +sit quietly in his work-shop, the artist in his atelier, and the +scholar in his study they must all thank the soldier, who for their +sake stands guard at the town-gate, patrols the streets at night, +disperses noisy revellers, and fights the enemy when he threatens the +country. Compared with this profession, all others are low and vulgar. +And that it is beyond doubt the highest and noblest, is proved by the +fact that the rulers of the earth adopt its costume for their daily +wear, or at least for all solemn occasions. Therefore I think that +nobles alone ought to be officers. And I think it a deplorable mistake +that, of late, others also have been admitted to our ranks, for which +the penalty will have to be paid sooner or later." + +"But do you really think that all who are not nobles are unfit for this +profession?" asked Helen. + +"Certainly," replied the prince, with energy. "Sport and war ought to +be reserved for the nobility, not because those who are not noble +cannot also fire a gun or wield a sword, but because they cannot do it +in the right spirit. Nor is this mere theory; the question has its +practical side also. The spirit of innovation, of insolent disobedience +to the order of things as ordained by God, is everywhere stirring. In +our state they have most unfortunately attempted to keep it down by +gentle means and by concessions. I believe that sternness and severity +alone can check this spirit. We are sure of the men who have been for +three years under, our control and influence; but we are not sure of +the officer who is not noble. Send a platoon under a Lieutenant Smith, +or Jones, against a rebellious mob, and ten to one he will see among +the mob a brother Smith, or a cousin Jones, and therefore hesitate to +give the command Fire! at the right moment. Take your officers from the +nobility, and only from the nobility, and such a thing cannot happen; +and you can quell the rising of a whole town like Grunwald with a +single battalion." + +The prince spoke with great energy and strong condemnation of the +concessions which the king had made that spring to the liberal party, +and to the spirit of the times generally, by convoking a legislative +assembly of the whole people. + +"I do not see," he said, "where this is to end. If the king does not +wish--and I believe he really does not wish--that a sheet of paper, +which they call a constitution, should rise between him and the people, +according to which he is forced to govern, whether he will or not, then +he ought not to have conjured up even the shadow of a constitution. The +shadow is soon followed by the substance. I confess that I am disgusted +by the patience of the king, while these fellows cry so loud; and that +I have long doubted whether I could honorably serve a monarch who thus +misjudges the duty of a king 'by the grace of God.'" + +When the prince was thus judging things by the standard of his Russian +ideas of absolute government, it sometimes happened that there arose in +Helen's naturally good and affectionate heart a repugnance, not unmixed +with terror, towards one who could utter such inhuman thoughts in cold +blood. At other times she would have shrunk from the fearful +consequences of such principles, but now she was too deeply irritated +by the wound which Oswald's treachery had inflicted on her proud heart, +and, as is the case with violent dispositions, she had hastened from +one extreme to the other. Helen hated Oswald. She wept tears of +indignation and of shame when she thought how dear this man had been to +her, and how near she had been to the danger of showing him her love +for him. The treachery itself was no longer doubtful to her mind. +Emily's manner had changed so strikingly of late that even outsiders +had noticed it. The young lady who had formerly found happiness only in +the wildest turmoil of pleasure, now avoided society as much as she had +formerly sought it; and when she could not escape from invitations to +her former circles, she seemed to have only scoffing and scorn for all +she had admired in other days. She declared that the officers were +stupid, dancing a childish amusement, and a masked ball the height of +absurdity. She treated the ladies with undisguised irony, and the men +with open contempt, especially her husband, who did not know what to +make of the strange change, and only discovered gradually the one fact, +that of all the many foolish things which Albert Cloten had done in his +time, the making of an accomplished coquette, like the "divine Emily +Breesen," his wife, was beyond all doubt the most foolish. Most people +laughed, and said: "It is a whim of the little woman's; she will soon +come right again." Others, who were less harmless, said: "There is +something behind that! When a young woman treats the whole world, not +excluding her husband, _en canaille_, she does so only for the sake of +a man who is himself her whole world." But they racked their brains in +vain to find out who the lucky man could be. Some guessed it was young +Count Grieben, who had formerly courted her; others, Baron Sylow; still +others, even Prince Waldenberg; and only Helen Grenwitz knew that they +were all mistaken, and that the object of Emily's love was not to be +met with in the aristocratic circles of the Faubourg St. Germain of +Grunwald. + +If Anna Maria had known what an admirable ally she had at that moment +for the execution of her plan in Oswald Stein, she would probably have +been less displeased with this excessively objectionable and dangerous +young man. At all events, it seemed as if the relations between Helen +and the prince were gradually assuming the desired shape. She +considered it at least a good sign that Helen expressed no desire to +improve the conversation in the boudoir next to the card-room by +inviting other young men to take part in it, and that she did not frown +contemptuously when she (Anna Maria) recently ventured to say: "That +would be a son-in-law to my heart," but quietly let the dark lashes +droop upon the gently-blushing cheeks. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + +Any one who had seen Oswald Stein and Albert Timm sitting every night +behind their bottle, in the city cellar of Grunwald, both full of jokes +and jests and merry tales, would have been convinced that both of them +lived fully up to the motto of the illustrious club of "the Rats," to +which they had the honor to belong. They evidently enjoyed life; and +yet this was true only of Albert Timm, who had seriously adopted the +first and sole article of faith of the secret society: "Live as thou +wilt desire to have feasted when thou diest," and made it the principle +of his existence. For Oswald, on the contrary, this wild life was but a +means to stifle within him the incessant, painful longing after a +nobler model of life. The memory of all "that had once been his" +mingled like the notes of an AEolian harp with the wild allegro of his +present life. His enthusiastic youth, when rosy clouds edged the +horizon, and behind them lay a mysterious, wonderful future; his days +of supreme happiness at Grenwitz, where the old legend of the paradise +seemed to be repeated for him; his friendly intimacy with great and at +least good men;--whither had all this flown? His youth was gone +forever, with all the sweet rosy dreams of youth. Of the paradise, +nothing was left but the bitter taste of the fruit from the tree of +knowledge: that fickleness of heart and true love can never go hand in +hand .... And his friends? With Berger he had parted, and probably +forever, at the gate of the insane asylum; in Oldenburg he now hated a +rival, and the rich aristocrat, the favorite of fortune, who easily +overcame all impediments that exhausted the full strength of others. +Franz, who had stood by him like a brother in the most embarrassing +moments of his life, he had treated with black ingratitude; and in +vain did he try to excuse himself on the ground that he could not +possibly have continued to be the friend of a character which, in its +self-poised calmness and dispassionate seriousness, was so entirely +different from his own. From Bemperlein, the good, harmless, honorable +man, who had met him with the offer of his enthusiastic friendship, he +was separated by the consciousness that he had mortally offended him +through her whom he worshipped, so that when he met him in the street +he was apt to look to the other side in his painful embarrassment. + +And what had he gained in return for so much lost happiness? The few +rare moments which Oswald gave to serious thoughts on his present +situation were unsatisfactory enough. His position in the college was +almost untenable, and yet he had occupied it scarcely three months. The +whole "humanity" of the rector, Clemens, was not sufficient to cover +with the cloak of charity the great and the small vices which Oswald +had committed in his official capacity; and Mrs. Clemens declared +before the assembled dramatic club, with regard to the same unfortunate +young man, that "she had cherished a serpent in her bosom." And the +worthy lady had good reason to complain. She had met Oswald with a +three-fold friendship: as the mother of two marriageable daughters, as +the wife of his superior, and as the president of the dramatic club, +and she had been deeply offended in all these capacities. Oswald had +not only failed to return the bashful attachment which had begun to +germinate in the hearts of Thusnelda and Fredegunda, but he had called +these victims of his caprice before a numerous company "little +goslings, who wanted nothing but the plumage to be perfect." Ah, it had +all been duly and faithfully reported! He had compared the fair +president, the wife of his presiding officer, with an old turkey hen, +who was so proud of the goslings she had hatched that her empty head +was utterly turned; and, finally, he had not only ceased to frequent +the dramatic club, after reading there three times amid general +applause, but he had passed over, with flags flying, so to say, into +the hostile camp, and had become an active member of the lyric club +which had rapidly risen under Mrs. Jager's direction to a splendor +unheard of in the annals of the dramatic club. Certainly, if Oswald had +felt no other misdeed but this on his conscience, the cloud of dark +discontent which was continually hanging on his brow would have seemed +natural enough. + +But Oswald had to answer for more than this faithlessness. His +connection with Emily Cloten, which he had so suddenly begun, partly +from caprice and partly from real attachment, now weighed upon his soul +like a heavy burden, especially since the reckless, passionate temper +of the young lady threatened to betray their secret at every moment. +Emily no sooner felt sure of Oswald's affections than she thought she +could throw down the gauntlet to the whole world. "To love you, and to +be loved by you, is my sole wish and will--everything else is utterly +indifferent to me," she said; and she acted accordingly. Was she to +bridle her inordinate desires, now that her heart for the first time +clearly felt its own capacities? And she loved Oswald with the whole +passion of a naturally most tender, affectionate heart, and with the +whole recklessness of a woman who had all her life looked upon the +world only as a football of her sovereign pleasure. It was in vain that +Oswald reminded her of the duties of his position--of the difficulties +arising from his narrow circumstances. "I cannot conceive how you can +hesitate between the weariness you feel in teaching your boys and the +delight we feel in each other's company. Why don't you give up the +stupid college, and live only for me?" "But, my dear child, I am +already living almost alone for you; and if matters continue so much +longer. Rector Clemens will not only consent to my leaving the college, +but desire that I should only live for you." "Oh, wouldn't that be +splendid!" cried Emily, clasping her hands; "then we could carry out my +pet wish, and go to Paris, where there are no stupid people watching +every step we take." Oswald shrugged his shoulders. "And what are we to +live on in Paris?" Emily made a long face; but the next moment she was +laughing again, and said: "Oh, that will take care of itself if we are +once there." + +The desire to get away from Grunwald, where indeed her position was +every moment liable to be exposed, had of late become a fixed idea with +Emily, and she returned constantly to the danger they were running. She +wanted to enjoy Oswald's love without interruption, and not to pay for +every half-hour spent stealthily in his company with long days of care +and anxiety. So far they had met either in Primula's boudoir, or in +Ferrytown at the house of Emily's old nurse, Mrs. Lemberg, which they +could easily reach as long as the ice held that covered the bay between +the island and the continent. Primula had been initiated into the +secret after Emily's recklessness had once led to a most ridiculous +scene of discovery, and it was characteristic that the author of the +"Cornflowers" had soon overcome her first feeling of jealousy, and +henceforth looked upon this "union of loving souls" as extremely +romantic, and found that the lovers in their helplessness, threatened +by an unloving world, were highly pitiable, and she herself, as the +protector of such an "heroic passion," worthy of all admiration! She +dreamt herself more and more into the part she was playing, and the +subscribers to the "Daffodils," for whose "album" Primula Veris was now +writing her poems, were forced to read long pages about "the twisted +thread of love; the silent, secret doings of secret love, shunning the +light of day;" and especially of the "chaste guardian of the faithful +love." She even warned her readers not to imagine that the latter was +"the moon--the pale virgin," but hinted very explicitly at the meaning. + +Primula also favored Emily's plan. "Flee, my children," she said, "from +this rude Cimmerian sky to milder skies, away from these wild cyclopses +and soulless ichthyophagi! Amid snow and ice even the blue cyane cannot +thrive, much less the red rose of wild love." + +Oswald was not so blinded that he could not have seen the insanity of +the project, but he was pleased with the adventurous nature of the +plan, and he was dazzled by the hope of thus ridding himself at one +blow of all the troubles that beset him, no matter what the blow might +cost. Finally, his attachment for Emily had grown from a mere whim into +a full passion, which did not exactly warm his heart but influenced his +imagination, and which he did not care to combat very earnestly because +it afforded him a kind of excuse for his fickleness. He began to +reflect seriously on the plan for an elopement, especially as the +little remnant of his fortune was rapidly disappearing, owing to the +life he was now leading, and he saw, therefore, that he would have to +do quickly whatever was to be done. + +Oswald would have liked to consult his friend Albert on this +embarrassing subject, but he no longer ventured to speak to him about +Emily. At first he had now and then dropped a word about his last +romance, and Albert was one of those clever men who need be told only +half a word to be at home in the most complicated affair. He had never +troubled Oswald with curious questions, and yet knew how to draw from +him very quickly nearly all he desired to hear. He knew that Oswald had +secret meetings at Mrs. Jager's house, and across in Ferrytown; he knew +who the young, thoughtless woman was, and he was yet by no means misled +when Oswald suddenly ceased speaking of Emily. He only concluded that +matters had entered that stage where silence becomes a duty. + +Timm had not exactly desired that matters should go quite so far. Timm +did not object to Oswald's reviving his taste for an aristocratic mode +of life by an affair with a great lady, and to his becoming thus more +and more anxious for larger means; but he did not desire that this +should turn into a serious attachment, which might lead no one could +tell where, and which, above all, threatened to become fatal to +Oswald's romantic passion for Helen. For it was upon this love that +Timm had based his whole plan. If Oswald could not be induced by any +other means to enter into a lawsuit with the Grenwitz family for the +legacy, then the hope of winning Helen should be his motive. Thus it +was why Helen must not be lost for Oswald, nor Oswald for Helen. And +even this might now happen. Albert, whose eyes were everywhere, had not +failed to learn that Prince Waldenberg was daily at the Grenwitz +mansion; he had discovered, besides, other suspicious evidences of the +favorable progress of the new relations between Helen and the prince; +as, for instance, magnificent bouquets ordered at the first florist's +establishment by the prince, which were "to be sent that night to +Grenwitz House." Since the snow was firm, and the _jeunesse doree_ was +devising sleighing parties in all possible directions of the compass, +he had, moreover, repeatedly seen Helen by the side of the prince in a +magnificent sleigh, whose costly coverings, with the three horses +harnessed abreast after Russian fashion, pointed it out as the property +of his highness. He had as frequently warned Oswald against so +dangerous a rival, but the latter had only given evasive answers. This +state of things displeased Albert altogether, and he considered how he +might, to use his own words, "get the cart into a new track." + +He had not reappeared for some time at Grenwitz House. Felix had sent +him, before leaving, four hundred dollars in advance for the month of +November, taking it from his travelling money, and requesting him at +the same time to address himself hereafter, "in all business matters," +directly to his aunt, the baroness. Albert had as yet not availed +himself of this permission, as it was difficult even for him to spend +four hundred dollars a month in the modest town of Grunwald; and he +had, besides, been specially successful at faro of late. Nevertheless, +he proposed to pay his visit very soon, and to avail himself of the +opportunity for a better examination of the whole situation. + +It happened in these same days that Albert received one evening, just +as he was going out, a letter by the town mail, which put him into such +bad humor that he gave up his original intention to attend an +extraordinary meeting of "the Rats" in the city cellar, and instead, +paid a visit to his landlord--the sexton, Toby Goodheart--the man who +had filled all the little crooked streets and lanes around St. +Bridget's with the odor of his sanctity. + +Mr. Toby Goodheart was a bachelor, because he was too ugly to obtain a +wife, as he said himself: because his heaven-aspiring mind did not +condescend to such worldly thoughts, as his admirers insisted upon +believing. But neither the one nor the other could be the true reason, +for Mr. Toby was not ugly, but a very good-looking man of some forty +years, whose high forehead, bald at the temples, gave him a most +god-fearing expression. Nor was Mr. Toby really so very god-fearing, +unless his piety consisted in the solemn manner with which he stepped, +Sunday after Sunday and year after year, dressed in his shiny-black +dress-coat, black trousers, and a long flowing black gown fastened to +the collar, through the church, pushing his velvet bag by means of a +long pole under the noses of the "devout listeners." That Mr. Toby was +in reality a son of Belial was known to but very few men in Grunwald, +where the excellent man had now been living for twenty years--perhaps +only to one single man, and that was the occupant of the two best rooms +in the sexton's official dwelling: Mr. Albert Timm, surveyor. + +Mr. Toby had dropped his mask in an evil hour, when the spirit of his +much-beloved grog was stronger in him than the spirit of lies, and +shown his true face to Mr. Timm, the "famous fellow." Mr. Toby +Goodheart and Mr. Albert Timm had since that hour formed the closest +intimacy, a friendship which was cemented and secured in its firmness +and duration by a remarkable community of fondness for women, wine, and +dice, and the common possession of delicate secrets. + +Albert Timm entered the little room behind the parlor, where his +landlord used to sit, with his hat on his head, and found the excellent +man engaged in the pleasant occupation of preparing a glass of his +favorite beverage. + +"You may make one for me too," said Albert, throwing his hat upon a +chair and himself into the corner of the well-padded sofa. + +"As heretofore, Albert mine?" asked the obliging landlord, taking +another tumbler and spoon from the cupboard and placing it on the table +by the side of the smoking tea-kettle. + +"Rather a little more than less," was the mysterious reply. + +While Mr. Toby was brewing the hot drink according to this +prescription, Albert was gazing at the tips of his boots. + +"You are not in good humor to-night, Albert mine!" said Toby, looking +up from his occupation. + +"It would be a lie to say the contrary!" + +"What's the matter? Has little Louisa caught you?" + +"Little Louisa be d----d." + +"Or have they sent you a little note, which you had conveniently +forgotten?" + +"Something of the kind!" + +"Well, what is it?" asked Toby, placing the grog he had mixed for +Albert upon the table and stirring it busily. "There, take a mouthful, +and then speak out!" + +Albert took the tumbler, tasted, to see if it was neither too hot nor +too cold, neither too sweet nor too bitter, neither too strong nor too +weak, and when he had gained the conviction that it came fully up to +his standard, he more than half emptied it at one draught. + +"It goes down easily to-night," said Toby, good naturedly. "Try it +again." + +"You recollect that I commenced last summer at Grenwitz a foolish sort +of a thing with a little black-eyed witch of a French girl?" continued +Timm. + +"I know," said Toby, smiling cunningly; "I know what's the matter now." + +"No, you don't. The little thing was as shy as a wild-duck. In other +respects, to be sure, she was as stupid, too, for you know she lent me, +poor as I was, three hundred dollars, which she had put into the +savings bank." + +"That was noble in her." + +"But now she wants them back." + +"Did you give her a note?" + +"No!" + +"Why, then, you have only to say that you know nothing about it, and +it's all right. Selah!" + +"That is not so easy. She has great friends, with whom I should not +like to have trouble." + +"Why not?" + +"Did I not tell you that Marguerite is no longer with the Grenwitz +people?" + +"Not a word. Where is she?" + +"At Privy Councillor Rohan's." + +"How did she get there?" + +"I believe through Bemperlein, the candidate for the university, +forsooth; the hypocrite who, I am told, is now the privy councillor's +right hand, and as others say engaged to my pet of other days." + +"Much good may it do him!" said Toby. "But who has dunned you?" + +"The old privy councillor himself; look!"--and here Albert drew from +his pocket the letter he had received half an hour ago. "The old sinner +writes, 'Dear sir! As Miss Marguerite, who now does me the honor,' +etc., etc., 'tells me,' etc. 'As the relations which formerly may have +existed between yourself and the young lady are now entirely and +forever broken off--you know best why--you will understand that you +cannot, as a man of honor, keep a moment longer a sum of money which +was placed at your disposal under very different circumstances. +Finally, I beg leave to say that the young lady feels a very natural +inclination to leave the matter untouched, but that I learnt +accidentally from members of the Grenwitz family that Miss Martin had +been enabled to save a little capital while staying with that family, +and that this led me to question the young lady on the subject, and to +insist upon being told,' etc. 'Of course, I must consider it my duty,' +etc., etc. Well, what do you say of that?" asked Albert, crushing the +letter and stuffing it angrily into his pocket. + +"That is a bad thing," replied the honorable Toby, scratching his +grizzly head. "The privy councillor is a man of high standing in the +town, especially since he has paid his debts--heaven knows how; so that +you cannot enter the lists against him. I am afraid you will have to +pay." + +"So am I," replied Albert. "That cursed gossip, the baroness! It is +malice in her; but she shall pay for it. I'll put the thumbscrews on +her, till----" + +Albert paused, and poured the rest of the drink down his throat. + +"Look here, Albert mine," said Toby; "how are you standing with the +baroness? I hope, Albert mine, my boy, you have got all the lots of +money which you have made such an unusual show of, of late, in an +honest way?" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Well, the baroness is not so bad yet, and----" + +"Nonsense. That old vixen! I am not so low yet." + +"Then tell me; how did you get the money?" + +"First tell me what you mean by your mysterious allusions to the power +you have over the Grenwitz family, and let me hear it all." + +"Will you then tell me where the money comes from?" + +"Yes." + +"Well! But let us first brew another tumbler, and then we can begin our +stories. But look here; honor bright, Albert mine; honor bright, and no +prattling!" + +"One crow does not peck at another!" said Albert. + +Mr. Toby smilingly nodded his venerable head, mixed the grog with +artistic care, unbuttoned his black satin waistcoat, leaned back in his +chair, and said, + +"I have not always lived in Grunwald; and I have not always been sexton +at St. Bridget's." + +"I know! The capital has the undisputed honor to call you her own; and +whose sexton you were before you became St. Bridget's own sexton, the +gentleman in black will probably know best." + +Toby Goodheart seemed to take this as a high compliment. He smiled +contentedly, and sipped his grog with evident delight. + +"Don't be coarse, Albert mine, or I cannot go on," he said. "My father +was a servant; and I was, from tender infancy, intended for the same +profession. You may judge what remarkable talents I had for my +vocation, when I tell you that I had had twenty masters before I was +twenty years old. About this time it occurred to me how much more +pleasant it would be to be my own master; and as I had laid by a +considerable little sum during the time of my service,"--here the +honorable Toby smiled with his left eye and the left corner of his +mouth--"I had capital enough to open a house of entertainment." + +"Nice entertainment, I dare say, you gave," said Albert. + +"Yes, indeed!" replied Toby, adding another lump of sugar to his grog; +"at least the fair sex was abundantly represented in my nice little +business. I made it a principle to have only female waiters, and so the +'Cafe Goodheart' was well frequented. I had at least six or eight young +ladies to do the honors of my house." + +Albert Timm seemed to listen to these statistics with much delight. He +leaned back in the corner of the sofa and broke out into a loud laugh, +while the honorable Toby again only smiled--but this time, for the sake +of change, with the right eye and the right corner of the mouth. + +"Hush, hush, Albert mine!" he said; "the people might hear us in the +street. How can a prudent youth like yourself ever laugh aloud? I have +never in all my life done more than smile, and I have succeeded pretty +well. But never mind that. The young ladies were, of course, always +very pretty; and I can say that, of all my colleagues, I managed to get +the prettiest. But I must also confess that this was not so much due to +my own good taste as to the discrimination and cleverness of a lady +with whom I had once upon a time stood in tender relations, when we +were both in service, and who was still a friend and a partner in +business. This lady, called Rose Pape, was in her way a very remarkable +woman, with a marvellous talent for business." + +"I can imagine what kind of business that was," said Albert. + +"You can imagine no such thing, young man," replied Toby. "Mrs. Rose +Pape was an excellent lady, whose society was not only sought after by +the most respectable ladies, but also paid for with large sums of +money, and whose night-bell was well known in the whole thickly-settled +neighborhood in which she lived. But Mrs. Rose Pape took not only a +warm interest in young wives, but very consistently, also, in those who +might become such; and thus she had as extensive an acquaintance among +the pretty chambermaids and seamstresses as among the wives of high +officials and rich merchants. + +"One fine day, now, Mrs. Rose came to see me, and told me that an +immensely rich baron of her acquaintance had fallen desperately in love +with a pretty girl, and had charged her, Rose, to help him, without +regard to expense. She had already formed a plan, but she was in need +of a valet of special abilities in order to carry out her superb +conception. She added that there was a lot of money to be made in the +business, and asked me to join her. + +"It so happened that just at that time the police had found occasion to +interfere with the management of my cafe, and I was afraid of +unpleasant consequences; I seized, therefore, with eagerness the +opportunity of leaving the capital for a time in such good company. +Twenty-four hours later I was on my way, accompanying the young lady in +question, and riding in the comfortable carriage of my new master, who +was going to--well, guess, Albert mine, where he was going?" + +"How can I know? But you were surely not going to give me the complete +history of your life? I thought you were going to tell me how you got +to Grenwitz," said Albert, who had been busy with his own affairs, and +had not listened very attentively. + +"Why, you hear, we are on the way to Grenwitz," said Toby, glancing at +Albert from the corner of his left eye across the rim of his tumbler; +"for my new master was Baron Grenwitz, and the end of our journey was +Castle Grenwitz, where you were last summer." + +An Indian, who on his pursuit has discovered his enemy's track in the +grass of the prairie, cannot exert himself more powerfully, with all +his senses, than Albert did as soon as he heard the last words. He had +instantly recognized in Toby Goodheart the valet who had played so +ambiguous a part in the story of Mother Claus; but he did not betray by +a word or gesture the importance of this discovery, but asked, with +well-feigned indifference, + +"The old baron? Upon my word! I should not have expected such things +from the old boy!" + +"Not the present baron, but his cousin, of the older line--Baron +Harald; or Wild Harald, as he is still called by those who have +known him. I tell you, Albert mine, it was a merry life we were +leading at Castle Grenwitz in the year of the Lord eighteen hundred and +twenty-two. Wine and women in abundance! and with all that we played +comedy--well, it was equal to the best thing I have ever seen on the +stage. Just imagine: my good friend. Rose----" + +"She was there, too?" + +"Certainly! Did I not tell you the baron had engaged her to play his +great-aunt?" + +"His what?" + +Toby smiled--this time with both eyes and both corners of the mouth. + +"She played the great-aunt of the baron, with wig and crutch: because +that foolish thing, Marie--Marie Montbert was the name of the little +monkey; and as pretty a girl she was as I have ever seen with these +eyes of mine--I have never seen the like of her. What was I going to +say? Yes! Marie had made a _conditio sine qua non_, as we scholars say, +that an old lady of the baron's family should be at the castle, if she +was to come there. Well, now we had an elderly lady, a famous elderly +lady, eh! Albert mine, eh?" and the honorable Toby tittered, and poked +Albert most cordially in the side. + +"Well, and how did the matter end?" asked Albert, who did not want to +hear the part of the story which he knew. + +"Why, I did not see it end; for we, Rose and I, ran away sometime +before. To tell the truth, we were afraid the whole story might upset; +for Marie had many friends in the city, who might make a great noise +about it, and get us all, especially Rose and myself, into serious +trouble. So we slipped off one fine morning, or rather one fine night, +without taking leave, but requesting various things which happened to +fall into our hands to keep us company in going away with us. Here in +Grunwald we parted, or rather we were separated. For I was taken so +sick--probably in consequence of the high living we had enjoyed at +Grenwitz--that I could not go on, and had to be carried to the +hospital. What I then thought was a great misfortune, turned out +afterwards to be the most fortunate thing; for the late Dean Darkling, +the father of Mrs. Professor Jager, who was then chaplain to the +hospital, fell in love with my modest smiles, and insisted, as soon as +I was well again, upon my entering his service. Well! from the servant +of a minister to the sexton of his church, it is but a step!" and Mr. +Toby sipped comfortably the remainder of his grog. + +"And did you ever hear anything more of your friend Mrs. Rose?" + +"She is living at the capital, and carries on her business with double +entry, and more profitably than ever. If you ever go up to town, Albert +mine, you must not forget to call on her. She lives at the corner of +Gertrude and Rose streets, third story." + +"I am going to take that down at once," said Albert, entering the +address in his note-book. "But what has become of Marie, or whatever +the stupid thing's name was?" + +"Well, that is a curious story. Shortly after we had left, there really +did come one of her friends, a Mr. d'Estein, and stole her away from +the baron, who was so furious at the whole story that he died soon +after from sheer anger. But the most curious part of the whole is this: +Just imagine! Rose has hardly taken up her business again, when the +bell wakes her one fine night, and who do you think wants her? The same +Mr. d'Estein! and for whom? for the same Marie, who is in need of a +midwife!" + +"Impossible!" cried Albert, forgetting for a moment his assumed +indifference. + +"As I tell you. Rose wrote to me at once, and I could have killed +myself laughing at the fun of the thing. First, she is great aunt; and +then--ha! ha! ha!" Toby was so very much amused at the thing that he +could not help laughing aloud, contrary to all his principles. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" chimed in Albert. "Very good! Ha, ha, ha! Perhaps Mrs. +Rose knows also what became of the child?" + +"Maybe," replied Toby; "but I rather think she does not want to know +anything about it. Otherwise she would no doubt have presented herself +at the time when Baron Harald offered in all the newspapers a very +liberal reward for any information concerning Marie's present +residence, etc. I think she was afraid of the consequences, and has +done as I have done--kept her counsel for twenty odd years, till the +grass has grown over the whole affair. Well, but now, Albert mine, it +is your turn to tell me how you have managed to be such a rich man of +late?" + +"Upon my word! I just remember I must attend the meeting of the Rats +to-night!" cried Albert, starting up. "Why, this is foundation-day! +Good-by, Toby; another time. I cannot stay, upon my word!" + +And Albert put on his hat and hurried off, paying no attention to the +grumbling of his friend and hospitable landlord, the honorable Toby +Goodheart, who at once went to work drowning his anger in his favorite +beverage--a plan in which he succeeded so well that the watchman, who +was sent about midnight to fetch the key of the vestry, had to knock +half an hour before Mr. Toby could disentangle himself from between the +legs of the table, under which he had fallen after his sixth tumbler. + + + + + + Book Third. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +"The season" had not been as brilliant in Grunwald for many a year as +it was this winter. It seemed as if the people were already feeling the +first breath of coming spring, and as if they could not make enough of +the little time that was still remaining. Party followed party, and +Heaven alone could tell how the old gentlemen and ladies could stand +the incessant whist and the young people the incessant dancing; and how +all of them could find pleasure in meeting night after night precisely +the same company, for the circle which was thus kept in constant +commotion was quite limited, and consisted of perhaps twenty or +twenty-five families, including the highest military and civil +officials, the family of the commandant of the fortress, Grunwald, his +excellency von Bostelmann, and that of the president of the province, +von Fitzewitz, etc. It may have been that the smallness of the circle +favored to a certain extent the stupid delight with which these select +fashionables were continually turning around themselves, although +everybody knew everything about everybody else, or thought at least he +knew or wanted to know it, so that there was never a lack of topics for +gossip. + +Each week had a special topic of its own, however, which was discussed +with much animation. During the last but one, the strange conduct of +Emily Cloten had furnished the favorite subject. There had, of course, +been two parties--one in favor of the young lady, and another in favor +of her husband. The former claimed that Emily had become crazy because +of Arthur's faithlessness; the latter insisted upon it that, on the +contrary, Arthur had been made crazy by his wife's faithlessness and +was, in this state of mind, seeking consolation in the arms of his +former favorite, Hortense Barnewitz. Emily's friends seemed to be sure +of success, for the young lady--was it from caprice, or from better +reasons?--reappeared suddenly in society, and began to play her former +part as a reckless coquette more zealously than ever, utterly ignoring +all that had occurred in the meantime. + +Thus the spies, cheated out of this scandal, as it seemed, were +compelled to turn their sharp eyes during the present week upon the +relations between Prince Waldenberg and Helen Grenwitz, which had been +already canvassed by everybody, and which yet, far from being +exhausted, had only become more and more interesting, for it was +believed that during the last few days these relations had assumed a +definite form. + +The spies had seen correctly. Since yesterday Helen was engaged to His +Highness, Prince Raimund Waldenberg. Count of Malikowsky, hereditary +Lord of Letbus. + +For the present only in secret, since much time was required before all +the preliminaries of an alliance between the princely family of +Waldenberg and the most noble family of Grenwitz could be +satisfactorily settled. Besides, the public announcement of the +engagement was to take place in the capital, to which the prince was to +return soon after New Year in order to join his regiment again, and +where the prince's parents had promised to meet him, the mother from +St. Petersburg, the father from Paris. + +The baroness had, then, attained the goal of her wishes, and her +exulting joy at her success amply compensated her for all the +humiliations and disappointments, for all the sleepless nights, full of +care and anxiety, of the past months. She carried her head as high as +ever. Did she not owe all the successes she had ever had in life to +herself alone, and so also this last one? Did she not owe it solely to +her own prudence, moderation, and discretion that she, the simple +nobleman's daughter, who had no fortune whatever, had become Baroness +Grenwitz and mother-in-law of Prince Waldenberg? Had she not had to +struggle through all her life, not only with circumstances, but also +with those who stood nearest to her; with her weak husband, who had no +energy and no sense for great comprehensive plans, and with her +haughty, self-willed daughter? Had she not been forced to think and +care for them all; to compel them almost to accept their good fortune? +Truly, if these people were not grateful for their happiness, which +they owed to her alone--well, it was not her fault! + +Were they grateful? Any one but the baroness would have doubted it. The +happy ones showed little of joy and elation in their features; on the +contrary, since the decisive word had been spoken, a veil of +embarrassment, if not of annoyance, seemed to have fallen upon their +faces. The prince's dark countenance looked a shade darker, and his +black eyes rested often with a strange, inexplicable meaning upon the +fair, haughty features of his betrothed, who walked about in startling +silence, very pale, and looking much more like a marble bride than like +a happy girl. Still, those who chose need not have looked far for an +explanation. The deep melancholy seemed to be justified by anxiety for +the father, who had long been an invalid, and who had suddenly been +taken seriously ill. + +In the night which followed the day of the betrothal the old gentleman +had had an attack of his old complaint, the gout, and the physicians +who were called in declared at once that, this time, they could not +answer for the result. From that moment Helen had been chained to her +father's sick-bed, especially as the latter would allow no one else to +be near him, to hand him his medicine and to smooth his pillow. + +The early winter evening had come already. The streets were covered +with deep snow and perfectly silent; only now and then the jingling of +bells interrupted the stillness. No one happened to be near the patient +but Helen. She was sitting near the bed, holding her father's withered +hand trembling with feverish excitement, in her own soft hands, and +trying, as well as she could, to soothe the increasing restlessness of +the patient. + +"Where is mother?" he asked, suddenly. + +"She has gone to her room." + +"And your--and the prince?" + +"I asked him to take a walk." + +"Raise my head a little!--that's it! Now give me both your hands!" + +The patient paused a few moments, and then he spoke with great +clearness and decision, so that it was evident he had long contemplated +what he was about to say and turned it over in his enfeebled mind. + +"My dear child! It is a good thing to be rich, when he who is rich has +also a good heart; but I believe it is very rare to find the two +together, or to see them stay together. And to be clever is also a good +thing, but without a good heart it is worth little. + +"Look here, dear child! Your mother and I--we have lived together +eighteen years, and, next to God, I have loved and honored your mother +more than all things. I think she has taken pains to love me back +again, and I do not blame her if she has not succeeded. No, not her, +only myself. I ought to have taken a wife who was more suitable to my +age and to my ways; but I was vain and proud, and I wanted a handsome, +stately, and clever wife, such as the world admires, and your mother +was handsome, stately, and clever; far too pretty and too clever for +me, an insignificant, simple man, who never was made for the great +world. I felt it, therefore, all the time in my heart that I was not +the man to make your mother happy; but she never let me know it +distinctly until quite recently." + +The old man bowed his gray head sadly, and repeated: + +"Quite recently--when she wanted you to marry your cousin Felix, and I +could not say Yes! and amen! to it--then I saw very clearly that we +thought and felt in the most important and most sacred things so very +differently; and whether I was right or she, that does not matter now; +but, my dear child, it is a bad thing when those who ought to love each +other cannot do it--a bad thing, my dear child, which may easily break +a heart!" + +And as the old man spoke these words the tears were rolling down his +pale, wrinkled cheeks. + +Helen sat there, silent and pale. Her hands trembled. Her father's +words had apparently touched her to the heart. + +"Therefore," continued the baron, after a short pause, "it has always +been my principle, that parents ought not to interfere with the +affections of their children, but only to pray to God that He would +lead their hearts to choose well. Thus I have left you your choice, +then and now. Then you could not decide; now you have decided. I cannot +conceal it from you that I cannot understand the prince, and that I +wish your future husband were less grand and less rich; but, as it is, +I hope God will turn it to the best. You are a good, clever girl, and I +think you cannot have chosen thoughtlessly, or from mere ambition; no! +no! not thoughtlessly, nor from ambition, for you are my good, clever +girl!" repeated the old man, as Helen, unable to control her emotion +any longer, hid her beautiful head on his bosom, and gave way to a +passionate fit of weeping. + +"What is the matter, girl?" he said, frightened by this sudden +vehemence; and then, as if a flash of lightning had lighted up for an +instant the dark places in his daughter's heart, "For God's sake, +child, you have not let your eyes be dazzled by Mammon! You do not love +the prince? You have not followed the voice of your heart, which warned +you against the stern dark man, but the counsels of your mother? Oh, my +child! my unfortunate child! My fears, then, were not groundless! But +it is time yet to turn back. I will speak myself with the prince; I +will speak with him at once; he will have pity on a poor old man, who +is sick unto death." + +And he raised himself with spasmodic efforts in his bed. + +It was a terrible struggle which was raging in Helen's heart while the +baron said these words. Was there really a way yet out of this horrible +labyrinth, in which she had lost herself? Could the step, the fatal +step, be retraced? At what price? At the price of seeing her pride +humbled! Her proud betrothed was to have pity! Pity with her poor old +father! Pity with herself! Never ... Never! + +"No, no, no!" she cried, seizing both of her father's hands. "You are +mistaken, father! I am not unhappy! I have not been dazzled and +tempted! I--I love the prince--I shall love him--I will try to love +him--I will----" + +She could not continue; her throat was closed by a spasm; her pale lips +moved, but were unable to shape the words with which she uttered her +own sentence of death. + +"Oh, great God!" prayed the old man, "enlighten my child's heart! +Child! child! Do not let your father leave this world with such a +terrible doubt on his mind! Oh, if I could but tell you all as I feel +it. Ah, this pain! My God ... My ..." + +The sufferer fell back on his pillow. + +Helen held him in her arms. + +"Papa! dear papa! I will do all you ask; for I will tell the +prince--great God! what is that?" + +The hands of the old man began to tremble; cold perspiration bedewed +his brow. + +It was Death! Helen saw it with horror, and no help at hand--no help! +She rushed to the bell and pulled, but the bell-rope remained in her +hand. Then she rushed back to the bed, but the cold hands trembled no +longer: the rolling eyes were fixed. Whatever help might come now, it +came too late; and Helen threw herself, sobbing aloud, upon the body of +the kind old man, whose brave and true heart had beaten to the last +moment so warmly for her, and now stood still forever. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +While death was settling, up-stairs, life's account by a single dash, +the question of credit and debit had been most actively discussed +down-stairs in the apartments of the baroness. + +The baroness's whole life was given up to this great question, and she +had naturally a sharp eye for all that was going on upon the market. +Her husband's death, which she was expecting as a certainty, was likely +to change her position entirely, but on the whole she was not +displeased with the prospect. It is true, her savings from the revenues +of the entailed estates, which had so far benefitted herself and Helen, +and which, after the baron's death, had to be carried to the principal +till Malte came of age, would be lost; but the sum total of these +savings amounted already to nearly a hundred thousand dollars, all +invested in first-class securities--a sum small enough, in comparison +with the whole estate, but quite sufficient if the two farms belonging +to Harald's bequest were added. + +She had apparently arranged everything to her satisfaction, and if +Grenwitz should really die now, why ... + +At that moment a letter was brought in. "From Felix!" she said, in a +low voice, and casting a glance at the direction; and then she stepped +to the window to read the letter. + +It was a short note, evidently written with pain by the trembling hand +of a sick man, and ran thus: + +"Dear Aunt: I have been in such a wretched state for some days, that +when this letter reaches you I may possibly have ceased to exist, if +this way of living, amid pain and misery, which is fast coming to an +end, can be called an existence. But whatever may come, it is high time +for me to enlighten you on the subject of the * * * affair. * * * has +not been satisfied, as I told you. He has a right to demand four +hundred dollars a month till the claim to Uncle Harald's legacy expires +by prescription, and besides six hundred dollars, if he keeps silent +until then. You will do better to pay the fellow, if you do not wish +him to get you into no end of trouble. I sent him his four hundred for +the month of November before I left Greenwood. I am exhausted. + + "Yours faithfully, Felix. + +"P.S.--If you love me, I pray you will let my rascally creditors wait a +little longer. Moses Hirsch has a note of mine for one thousand +dollars. Offer him two hundred for it; he will still make fifty per +cent." + +The baroness came back from the window, went to the fire-place, laid +the note carefully on the burning coal and waited till the flames had +seized and consumed it. Then she walked slowly up and down in the room, +which began to grow dark. This twilight was most favorable for a face +which was downright disfigured by anger. She murmured curses against +Felix, against Albert, against Oswald, through her teeth. "Not a +farthing the scamp shall have! Not a red cent! I'll send for him and +tell him so to his face; and, besides, I'll warn him not to say a +word ... What is it?" she interrupted her monologue, as the servant +once more entered the room. + +"Mr. Timm desires to wait upon you on business." + +Anna Maria started. This unexpected call of the young man looked like a +threat. All of a sudden she lost all desire to tell Mr. Timm to his +face that he need not expect a red cent from her. + +"Tell Mr. Timm I regret not to be able to see him; the baron has been +taken ill very suddenly." + +"I have told him so; but he said he must see you on very important +business, and would detain you but for a moment." + +"Well, show him in; but--you had better bring lights; and--John, stay +in the next room, in case I should want you." + +"Yes, ma'am." + +The servant immediately ushered in Albert Timm, and then went out, +closing the door behind him. + +"Good-day; or rather, good-evening," said the young man, approaching +the baroness apparently with an air of perfect unconcern; "I beg ten +thousand pardons if I interrupt you. The old gentleman is sick, they +tell me! I hope it is not much. I should have gone away again, but I +have to inform you of an important discovery I have made in the +affair--you know--which admits of no delay. Shall we sit down in the +meantime? Allow me!" + +And Mr. Albert Timm pushed an arm-chair toward the baroness, and the +next moment was comfortably seated himself. + +Anna Maria had not quite decided yet in her mind how she should treat +the young man. But she felt very clearly that it would not be very easy +to get the better of him. She sat down, therefore, in the seat he +offered her, and said, in her most solemn tones: + +"You will excuse me if I beg you to be as brief as possible; the sad +state of things here, which the servant has mentioned to you----" + +"Pray, pray!" said Albert; "exactly my purpose. Only two words and I +have done. The thing is this: I have learnt quite accidentally--for it +is wonderful what a great part accident plays in the whole matter--I +have learnt that two persons who were in Baron Grenwitz's service at +the time when Miss Marie Montbert was at Grenwitz, are still alive. +They were honored by Baron Grenwitz with his special confidence; and, +for instance, initiated into the whole story of the elopement. Now they +are quite ready, I dare say, to appear as witnesses in a suit which +might possibly arise out of the question of the legacy. The evidence of +these two persons would be all the more weighty as they are both +persons of excellent standing in society, and enjoy the confidence of a +large circle of friends and acquaintances. One of them is sexton here +in town--a man who is universally respected; the other--a woman lives +in the capital, and is, in spite of her advanced age, still actively +engaged in her profession, which, by the way, is that of a superior +nurse. If I had ever had any doubt that the young man in question is +really that is, legally--the son of the late Baron Harald, my doubts +would have been completely removed by this last discovery; and I am +sure, baroness, you will agree with me." + +If anything else besides Felix's letter had been needed to kindle in +Anna Maria's heart the flame of wrath, it was the manner in which +Albert Timm was presenting to her the topic which she so bitterly +hated. Nevertheless she answered with a calmness which she observed +strictly in all matters of business. + +"May I beg to know, Mr. Timm, why you honor me with this +communication?" + +"Certainly, baroness; certainly. That is what I came for. You know that +a bird in hand is worth a great deal more than a bird on a tree, and +that a man who sells his property for less than its value is entitled +to the name of a fool. Now you know under what conditions I have +promised Baron Felix to keep my counsel with regard to that legacy----" + +"Pardon me if I interrupt you, Mr. Timm. I know nothing of such +conditions. I directed my nephew to pay you a certain sum, solely for +the purpose of getting rid of you; and my nephew assured me, shortly +before he left us, that the matter was finally settled. I must +therefore beg you will please not return to matters fully settled; and +excuse me if I cannot see you any longer." + +The baroness was on the point of rising, when Albert said, in a most +decided and incisive manner: "Pray, keep your seat for a moment longer, +baroness!" She obeyed his request, half wondering and half frightened. + +"I am tired of being played with in this manner," continued Albert, in +the same tone. "If Baron Felix has not told you the arrangement on +which we agreed, he was afraid of you, or he had a purpose of his own. +After all, it does not matter much whether you know the former +agreement; for I have come for the very purpose of telling you that, +after what I have recently discovered, I am no longer disposed to let +you off so cheap. I now demand nothing less than thirty thousand +dollars, payable within the next fortnight, and request that you will +with like candor tell me whether you are ready to pay or not?" + +"This impudence exceeds all bounds," said Anna Maria, rising from her +seat and seizing the bell, which was standing by her on the table. + +"Let that thing alone," said Albert, coolly; "that bell might cost you +pretty dear. Consider well what you are about to do! If we cease to be +good friends we become mortal enemies, and you may rest assured Albert +Timm gives no quarter. Once more: Are you willing to pay or not?" + +At that moment the door opened. The servant entered with two lighted +candelabra, and close behind him came the prince. The servant placed +the lights on the table and went out; the prince had come up half-way +before he became aware that the baroness was not alone! + +"Ah! pardon, madame," he said. "I thought the servant said you were +alone. Do you wish me to leave you alone?" + +"By no means, prince," replied Anna Maria. "I have nothing more to say +to this young man." And she made a motion with her hand, as if she +wished to intimate to Albert that he was dismissed. + +Mr. Albert Timm wagged his hat, which he held in both hands behind his +back, and said with imperturbable indifference, putting one foot a +little forward: + +"It seems, baroness, you wish me to repeat my last question in the +presence of this gentleman!" + +"Who is the young man?" asked the prince, somewhat astonished at +Albert's manner and the excited state of the baroness. + +"A man," replied the latter, "who has annoyed us for some time with +impudent demands for money, under the pretext of possessing certain +pretended family secrets. I am afraid I shall have to invoke the +assistance of the police to get rid of him." + +The prince looked at Albert from the height of his lofty figure, went +slowly towards the table, took the little silver bell, and touched it. + +The servant entered immediately. + +"Show this man out!" said the prince. + +The servant was so amazed by this order that he did not trust his own +ears. He looked, with a face full of embarrassment, first at the prince +and then at Mr. Albert Timm, who was still standing quietly there, +wagging his hat after the manner of a dog's tail, and again from Mr. +Albert Timm to the prince. + +"Did you hear me?" said the latter, contracting his brows in a +threatening manner. + +The servant came a step nearer to Timm. + +"My good friend, I will spare you the alternative either to have your +nose knocked into your face or to be dismissed from the army," said +Albert, good-naturedly, "and prefer, on that account, to go myself. As +for you, baroness, we shall see each other again shortly, but upon a +different footing; and as for you, _young man_, I should like to advise +you hereafter not to meddle with matters which do not concern you in +the least, in spite of the great airs you are giving yourself." + +The prince made a motion towards his left side. Fortunately he had left +his sword in the hall. Albert did not wait for any further measures on +the part of the lion he had roused, but made an ironical bow and left +the room. + +The prince, who had never in his life been treated in this way, looked +aghast; the baroness cast down her eyes. + +"That could not have happened at home, in Russia," said the prince. + +"I regret," said the baroness, "that accident should have made you +witness so unpleasant an occurrence." + +At the same moment the servant re-entered the room, deadly pale, and +cried, breathlessly: + +"Oh, ma'am! come quickly! The baron is dying!" + +"_Oh, mon Dieu!_" exclaimed the baroness, and seemed on the point of +fainting. + +"Compose yourself madame! compose yourself!" said the prince. "Bear +what has to be borne. Will you take my arm? Ho, there! show us the +way!" + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +About the same hour--perhaps a little earlier two gentlemen displayed +at the billiard-table, in the restaurant near the main guard-house on +the square, that industry which is so becoming to busy idlers. The two +gentlemen who met at this favorite lounging place of the _jeunesse +doree_ of Grunwald, were Cloten and Barnewitz. The former, who excelled +in all the arts which required a sure eye and a steady hand, and no +head work, had beaten his adversary in every game, and hence the young +man was in excellent humor, while the other was nearly angry. + +"Another game, Barnewitz?" asked Cloten, triumphantly, after having +finished the twelfth with a brilliant carom. + +"Thank you; no!" said Barnewitz, throwing his cue on the +billiard-table; "am not in the right humor for it to-day. I cannot play +well anyhow in this miserable twilight!" + +"We can have the lamps lit." + +"No, thank you! Another day! We can play quits to-morrow." + +Cloten now laid down his cue also, stepped before the looking-glass and +twisted his blonde moustache, while Barnewitz threw himself upon the +sofa and yawned. + +"It is wretchedly tedious here," he said; "don't know how on earth to +kill the whole afternoon!" + +"Let us take a walk." + +"It is too abominably cold." + +"A game at piquet?" + +"Too tiresome." + +"A bottle of claret?" + +"Well, that's better." + +"Waiter! a bottle of Pichon and a light." + +The waiter brought what was ordered. Cloten threw himself into an +arm-chair opposite to Barnewitz, and stretched out his legs. + +"Well?" + +"Well!" + +"Don't you know anything?" + +"No! Do you?" + +"No!" + +After this exchange of bright thoughts there followed, as a matter of +course, a pause of exhaustion, and the ship of conversation remained +for a quarter of an hour stranded on a sandbank, while the two men +smoked their cigars and sipped their wine. + +Cloten and Barnewitz had been apparently excellent friends ever since +their terrible collision in summer, but in reality they had watched +each other with unbroken distrust. It is true, the distrust was but too +well founded in this case. Hortense Bamewitz had no sooner come to +Grunwald than she cast out her net--experienced fisher of men as she +was--after her old lover, and Cloten had at that time already +discovered that happiness in the arms of his former lady-love was far +more attractive than the honor of being the husband of the most +fashionable lady in town. Barnewitz, on the other hand, gave the noble +couple ample opportunity for meeting; for he threw himself, at +Grunwald, head foremost into a vortex of amusements, of which there was +no lack there for a rich nobleman who cared more for quantity than for +quality. Nevertheless, he was as much the victim of jealousy now as +before, and he was therefore highly pleased to see, what all others saw +as well, that Emily treated her husband like a school-boy, and had +evidently found a worthier object for her loving heart. + +Barnewitz had long wished for an hour when he might inform Cloten under +the mask of friendship of the reports which filled the town about him +and his wife. The day before he had accidentally heard of some new +scandal, and to-day Cloten's superiority at billiards had greatly +annoyed him. After thinking the matter over for some time, therefore, +he exploded: + +"How is your wife, Cloten?" + +"Thanks! Pretty well; why?" replied Cloten, not a little astonished at +the brusque question. + +"Well, I suppose it is permitted to inquire after your wife! Or do you +allow no questions to be asked?" + +"Certainly; but what do you mean?" + +"Because she has been so very charming for a little while past." + +"Is that so very uncommon?" asked Cloten, slightly embarrassed, and +torturing his moustache. + +"Yes; for she had just before treated everybody, yourself included, so +very badly, that one could not help wondering at the sudden change. At +all events, I was not the only one to notice it; the whole world is +full of it." + +"The whole world ought to pull its own nose," said Cloten; and his hand +trembled with annoyance as he filled his glass. + +"Certainly; but they don't do it." + +"---- the whole world!" + +"Certainly; if you wish it. But if you would rather talk about +something else;--I only thought that, as your oldest friend, it was my +duty to call your attention to certain things." + +"Well, then, come; out with your story," said Cloten, with nervous +vehemence. "What is it? Out with it!" + +"I shall take good care not to say anything more, if the first word +puts you into such a state." + +"I am not in any state," said Cloten; and to prove it, he dashed his +glass upon the table, so that the foot broke to pieces and the wine +flooded the marble top. + +"You are a queer fellow," said Barnewitz. "Wait till you have cause to +get angry. What does it amount to? They say that you are not exactly +Darby and Joan; that your wife has her own way; that you quarrel +occasionally so that the servants hear it in the kitchen, and the +like." + +"Who says so?" + +"The whole world!" + +"And you believe it?" + +Barnewitz shrugged his shoulders. + +"I shouldn't like to hurt your feelings, Arthur; but I cannot deny it +that the way your wife acts looks very suspicious to me. I should not +wonder, and no one in our circle would wonder, if she had some little +_liaison_, and I rather think I know the person." + +"I insist upon it that you tell me all you know," said Cloten, with +great pathos. + +"Do you recollect the party at my house last summer? But of course you +do, for we came near killing each other on that occasion. Ha, ha, ha! +Well, on that evening already your wife began to flirt with that +confounded fool--that Doctor Stein--in a way which struck everybody, +and me too. But I had totally forgotten the whole affair till I was +reminded of it yesterday. You recollect I had left Stilow's because, to +tell the truth, the wine was too bad, and I was very thirsty. I found +in my way to the city cellars, where the company is low enough but the +wine excellent. There were a dozen people--authors, actors, and such +stuff--sitting round a table and drinking; among them our old friend +Timm the surveyor, who talked very big. I sat down at some distance, +ordered a few dozen oysters and a bottle of champagne, and listened, +because I could not help listening. They talked, heaven knows what +stuff. I did not understand a word, and was just thinking what a lot of +sheep they all were, and my eyes were beginning to be heavy, when I +suddenly heard somebody mention your name, or rather your wife's name. +Of course, I was wide awake in a moment. 'Who is she?' asked somebody. +'A wonderful creature,' said Timm. 'Well, and friend Stein is in love +with her.' 'That's it!' 'What a fellow--that man Stein!' 'How did he +get hold of her?' 'Oh, that is a long story!' said Timm; and then they +put their heads together and talked so low that I could not hear the +rest. At all events they laughed like madmen, and I had a great mind to +pitch a few bottles at their heads." + +"Why didn't you do it?" asked Cloten, angrily. + +"I do not like to get into trouble in a strange establishment; I have +had to pay for it often enough," replied the philosophic nobleman, +pouring the rest of the bottle into his glass. + +Then followed a pause, after which Cloten cried out with much +vehemence: "I don't believe a word of it." + +Barnewitz shrugged his shoulders. + +"That's the best for you to do." + +"Don't say so! I won't have it!" exclaimed Cloten, furiously. + +"I only say what the world says," replied Barnewitz, sipping his wine +leisurely. + +"And you think the world says nothing about you?" asked Cloten, +ironically. + +"What do they say about me?" cried Barnewitz, starting up. "---- the +fellow who dares say a word; and I think you, of all men, ought to be +most careful not to open your mouth." + +"Careful or not, I don't see why I should not talk as well as you." + +"What! a fellow like you?" said Barnewitz, thrusting his hands into his +pockets with an air of contempt "I suppose you think you are +wonderfully successful with the sex?" + +Who knows what serious consequences might have arisen from this +word-combat if the door of the billiard-room had not opened just then +to admit Professor Jager, who crept in cautiously, after having first +reconnoitred the room through his round glasses. + +Professor Jager's appearance was never specially inviting, but on this +evening there was something peculiarly unpleasant about the man's pale +face. His stereotyped smile, and the drooping corners of the mouth, +contrasted with his effort to give an air of solemnity to his forehead, +and to look as melancholy as possible through his spectacles, so that +he appeared on the whole not unlike a black tom cat who glides purring +and with raised back around a person's leg, preparing to scratch his +hands the next moment furiously. + +Thus he drew near to the two noblemen, made a very low bow, and said: + +"I beg ten thousand pardons if I am disturbing the _entente cordiale_ +of two bosom friends, but----" + +"Come here, professor," said Barnewitz, who welcomed the interruption; +"join us in a glass of Pichon. Waiter! another----" + +"Pray, don't; many thanks. Regret infinitely that I should have +interrupted you in your cozy talk; but I heard at your house, Baron +Cloten, that I should find you here, and a matter of importance which I +had to communicate----" + +"Don't mind me, gentlemen," said Barnewitz. "I'll go into the +reading-room till you have done." + +"Pray, pray; I have only two words----" + +"Well, all right. Call me when you have done!" + +With these words Barnewitz went into the adjoining room, where he +rested his elbows on the table and his head on his hands, and then +plunged into the mysteries of the Grunwald official journal. + +He had no sooner left them than Professor Jager turned to Cloten and +said, whispering mysteriously: + +"Baron Cloten, I have to tell you something that will frighten you." + +Cloten turned pale and stepped back. His first thought was that his +stables had been burnt, and Arabella and Macdonald, his two +thoroughbreds, had perished in the flames. The professor did not leave +him long in this terrible uncertainty; but with a low, spectral voice, +and drawing the corners of his mouth so low down that they seemed to +meet under the chin, he said: "Your wife----" + +"Ha!" cried Cloten. "What is it? What has happened?" + +"I don't know," replied Jager, "but I fear for the worst. Look at this +paper [he searched his pockets and produced a folded-up piece of +paper]. I found it just now on my wife's writing-table. But before I +read to you what is on the paper you must swear you will never tell +from whom you have heard it." + +"I'll swear anything you want," said Cloten, with nervous excitement. +"What is the matter with the paper?" + +"Directly, directly! First, let me tell you that for some weeks now +your wife and mine have become great friends, an intimacy which from +the beginning has puzzled me sorely. Their meetings, I was told, had a +purely poetical purpose--you know my wife is president of the Lyric +Club--but I was struck by the fact that a third person appeared there +always, or at least very frequently, a person against whom I have ever +felt an unconquerable aversion. This person is----" + +"Doctor Stein! I know! Go on," said Cloten, breathlessly. + +"You know!--ah, indeed!" replied the professor, with a Mephistophelian +smile, which gleamed unpleasantly behind his glasses. "Oh, well; then +the hardest part of my task has been performed by others. Well, sir, if +you know it already I will not detain you by telling you how the first +spark of suspicion fell into my simple soul; how subsequent +observations fanned this into a bright flame, which threatened to +consume this heart of mine, that only beats for the welfare of my +brethren [here the professor laid his hand with its black glove on the +left side]. I dared not forbid my wife all intercourse with the person +in question. You know, sir, poetic minds are apt to be eccentric, and +the aesthetic standpoint from which----" + +"But I pray you, professor, come to the point," said Cloten, who was +standing upon coals. "What was on the paper?" + +"Why, you see," said Jager, opening the paper, "it is the rough sketch +of a poem, which I found quite wet yet on my wife's bureau; the servant +told me she had just left the house to pay a visit. Shall I read it to +you?" + +"Yes; in the devil's name!" cried Cloten, who hardly knew what he was +saying. + +Professor Jager arranged his spectacles carefully on his nose, drew the +light somewhat nearer, and read, in a half-loud, rattling voice, while +the young nobleman was looking over his shoulder: "'Grunwald, December +10, 1847.' You see the date corresponds exactly. + + + 'FOR THE ALBUM OF AN ESCAPING PRISONER. + + + 'You flee!--by the light of the twinkling stars, + In rapturous flight through Cimmerian night; + You flee! and alas I would break all the bars, + I, who have watched over you day and night! + But terrible bonds have forged me a chain, + Which ever in bondage will here me retain. + You flee!--and I stay in Cimmerian night.' + + +"You see this poetical eccentricity of a soul generally chaste and full +of affection," said the professor, who had read the last lines with a +somewhat unsteady voice. + +"Go on! go on!" urged Cloten, whose sufferings made him indifferent to +the sufferings of others. + +The professor continued: + + + "'You flee! and the icicles glitter so bright, + The hoofs now thunder on quivering ice, + You are not frightened by terrible night, + You follow the lurings of glorious price. + You flee! and you do what is proper and right! + Why should you remain with a wretched wight + A puppet of wood on a couch of ice?'" + + +"That is meant for me!" said Cloten, furiously, grinding his teeth. + +"Certainly, certainly!" said the professor; "but listen: + + + "'You flee! and yonder on rockiest strand, + In nurse's familiar house by the sea, + There falls in a moment the hampering band + That bound you before, and there is he! + There love in a thousand fiery brooks, + Breaks forth in caresses and tenderest looks + In Nurse's familiar house by the sea. + + "'You flee! and alas 'tis not to the port, + Where spies are no more nor watching eyes! + Oh flee to the safe, to the only resort, + Where wait for you milder and happier skies! + Oh flee to the banks of the beautiful Seine, + Where love is at freedom, amain! amain! + And free from society's hateful lies!'" + + +The professor folded up the paper again, pocketed it, and said: + +"This poem troubled me sorely, for I know the way my wife makes her +poems. She takes the subject from actual life. But I was much more +startled yet, when I went on using a husband's right and examined the +papers that were scattered all over her table. I found this little note +[here the professor put his hand in his waistcoat pocket]. Do you know +the hand-writing, Baron Cloten?" + +"That is my wife's hand," cried the young nobleman, casting a glance at +the paper. "What does she say? Let me see! 'All remains as agreed upon, +dear Primula. Everything is ready. We meet at Mrs. Lemberg's. Tomorrow +at this hour a world divides us. Shall I be able to embrace you once +more? I shall be at home at three. I should like to see you so much, +but--can you venture to come without rousing suspicion? I leave the +matter to you. Good-by, good-by, dearest! Free to-day! Oh, I can hardly +conceive such happiness! Good-by--a thousand farewells!' By the +Almighty!" cried the happy husband, crumpling up the paper and pushing +it into his pocket. "Now I see it all! I never could understand why she +was all the time going to see that old woman in Ferrytown! But I'll +spoil the fun; I'll----" + +As the happy man did not exactly know what he was going to do, he broke +down, and walked up and down, like a man suffering with a furious +toothache. + +Professor Jager looked at him, his head inclined on his right shoulder, +and folding his hands in sympathetic emotion; but he had the air of an +ear-owl, gazing with big, staring eyes at a poor foolish bird that has +been caught in a snare. + +"You may believe me, my dear sir," he said; "I am heartily sorry for +the whole thing; and I assure you I would have kept it all to myself if +I did not think it was the good shepherd's duty to snatch the lamb from +the jaws of the wolf. For this man is a raving wolf. I found him out at +first sight, but they would not believe me. Now they see it clear +enough. Only this morning Doctor Black, one of the trustees of the +college, came to see me, and to tell me that Doctor Clemens had called +for an official inquiry into the conduct of the terrible man, which +could not fail to end in his dismissal--his dismissal in disgrace. And +while I was still considering how we could best make it known to all +the world that he was a wolf in sheep's clothes, chance came to my aid +and caused these papers to fall into my hands, which prove clearly that +the worst that was reported about this man was not as bad yet as the +truth. I knew at once what my duty was. Certain that my wife would +never hear of the exposure to which I had been morally forced, and +relying on the discretion of a nobleman, I hastened----" + +"I must consult Barnewitz," said Cloten, suddenly; and he made a motion +as if he were going into the room where Barnewitz was waiting. + +"For God's sake, my dear sir," cried the frightened professor, "are you +going to ruin me? Consider, I pray, you have solemnly promised not to +expose Mrs. Jager----" + +"Nonsense!" said Cloten; "you surely would not have me go into such a +serious matter alone. Barnewitz!" + +"What's the matter?" said the latter, looking up from his paper. + +"Just come this way! I have something important to tell you." + +Barnewitz came, and Cloten told him rapidly what the matter was, while +the professor stood by, rubbing his hands, in great embarrassment. + +"It cannot be doubted," continued Cloten. "I must tell you frankly I +had my suspicions; but, to be sure, I did not guess that rascal--that +man Stein ... But I see it all now. I knew she was going over to Ferry +town again to-day; and now I remember she said, contrary to her +usual way, she would not be back before night. And then you saw last +night--oh, no doubt it is all so! What am I to do? What ought I to do?" +And the young man struck his forehead with his closed fist. + +"What ought you to do?" said Barnewitz. "Let her run!" + +"Pardon me," said the professor; "that would cause an unheard-of +scandal, which even now, I think, can only be prevented by very +energetic measures." + +"The professor is right," said Cloten; "we must not let them get off; +but I cannot prevent it alone. Will you help me, Barnewitz?" + +"_Avec plaisir_," replied Barnewitz. "I never could bear the fellow!" + +"But _periculum in mora_, gentlemen. You must go to work at once!" +chimed in the professor. + +"Well, we will," said Cloten. "Come, Barnewitz; I'll tell you on the +way what I think we had better do. The professor will accompany us part +of the way." + +"With pleasure; with great pleasure!" replied the professor. "To be +sure, my time is very limited now; very limited. Ah--here is the door; +I pray, after you, gentlemen!" + +And the three gentlemen hastily left the restaurant. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +The broad sheet of ice between the main land and the island had been +for many a week an immense bridge. People no longer reflected that they +were walking on frozen water, and that the hoofs of the horses were +ringing so loud because they were trotting over a vast abyss. What fear +they might feel was easily dispersed as they looked at the gigantic +blocks of ice which the fishermen had placed as warning-posts around +the large holes cut for the fish, provided they did not carelessly +drive or walk right into them, which was not likely, at least in the +daytime. And as long as the slanting rays of the sun shone on the +bright ice, which covered the sound for miles and miles east and west +of the town, there were crowds of pedestrians to be seen among numerous +sleighs, which were often drawn by two and not unfrequently even by +four horses. But when the sun had set and the mists were thickening, +the moving black thread which connected by day the town with the little +village of Ferrytown became thinner and thinner. The fishermen, who +have been out fishing miles away, come in on their low sledges; or, +standing upright on their sleighs, and pushing them with a long +iron-shod pole, they sweep by, one by one, drifting with marvellous +swiftness through the gray fog, like ghosts of the desert, like spirits +from the northern regions. And now lights are seen on both sides of the +sound: a few on the island, many more on the side of the town; now the +stars also, which until now have peeped stealthily here and there only +through the dark evening sky, begin to sparkle and shine in groups, so +that the eye cannot see enough of their great splendor. But no one +minds them. The moving black thread is no longer seen; only here and +there a belated wanderer, who hastens his steps, although knowing full +well that nothing can happen to him if he but follows the path; or a +sleigh, one of those small, light one-horse sleighs which are fitted up +in vast numbers during winter by fishermen and ferrymen in order to +serve the restless public. + +Such a sleigh was just trotting past through the dim twilight as night +was sinking lower and lower every moment, and fogs and mists began to +cover the fields of ice. There was but a single passenger sitting in +the sleigh by the side of the driver; he had a fur cap drawn low over +his face, and the collar of his cloak was drawn up high. + +As long as they were meeting near the harbor sleighs and +foot-passengers on their return, not a word was said by passenger or +driver; but when they rode out on the wild desert of ice, when the +lights in town were looking dim, and the trot of the crop-eared hack +was sounding loud and clear, the gentleman raised himself in his corner +and said: + +"All in order, Claus?" + +"Yes, sir," replied the handsome youth, turning, half round on his +seat. + +"Have you heard from your cousin?" + +"I saw him yesterday myself. He will be on the strand near Barow +punctually at five. He has his two best horses. They will trot with you +until to-morrow at the same hour." + +"That is more than I want, if you know the track to Barow?" + +"If I know it? I drive it every day. But I should not advise any one +who does not know it as well as I do to drive alone." + +"Why not?" + +"The Barow people have cut hole upon hole into the ice; and where they +stop the Ferrytown holes begin. You see nothing but blue water on your +right and on your left. Cheer up, Fox!" + +The crop-eared horse went faster, and the two men relapsed into +silence. Both listened carefully, but with very different feelings. +Claus Lemberg enjoyed the adventure, because it stirred up his strong +nerves most delightfully, and brought out his cunning and his courage, +the two qualities which he was proudest of in his whole nature. The +other man looked at it more thoughtfully. He knew he was taking a step +which he could never retrace, a step which was to decide not only his +own fate--that mattered little--but also the fate of another being, a +woman, who had won a right to his love by her own sacrificing love, a +woman who had given up rank and riches, and every advantage which her +birth and her social position gave her, for the sole purpose of being +his, and who now was waiting for him in anxiety and anguish on yonder +shore, from which the lights began to beckon to him. His heart was +naturally full of anxious care. He had broken off the bridge behind +him; he was hastening toward a future as black as the night by which he +was surrounded, but by no means lighted up by as many bright, sparkling +stars. But no matter--the die is cast; he cannot go back. Forward then, +forward! What is that? A sleigh coming behind us? + +Oswald raised himself and listened, but Claus's sharp ears had already +discovered the direction from which the sound came. + +"It is a two-horse sleigh from over yonder," he said, turning a little +to the right. "They have fine horses; they'll be here directly." + +Almost at the same moment they saw the sleigh--a dark mass, which +slipped through the darkness like a flash of lightning. As they passed +each other the driver checked the horses a moment, and a voice asked: + +"This is the track, isn't it?" + +"Straight ahead?" was Claus's reply. + +Then again the same voice: + +"The ice is strong enough for two horses?" + +"Oh, for four!" replied Claus. + +"Thanks!" + +"Welcome!" + +And the sleigh moved on swiftly again. + +"Strange!" murmured Oswald; "I thought I heard Oldenburg's voice. What +strange tricks our fancy can play us!" + +The rest of the journey to Ferry town was accomplished in silence. They +reached it in a few minutes, rights were shining in the houses up on +the bluffs. Below, near the ferry, where an inn was standing, there was +much life; the windows were bright; music was heard; sleighs were +standing before the door. + +Claus stopped; Oswald got out. + +"I'll drive along the beach as far as our house," said Claus, "and wait +for you there. But make haste. In half an hour the moon rises, and then +they can see us two miles on the ice." + +"Don't be afraid. We shall not keep you waiting." + +Oswald went past the inn, up the steep village street; then he turned +to the right and hastened along the low cottages, which there line the +beach, until he came to the last of the row. Through a crack in the +shutters which protected the low window there came a faint ray of +light. Oswald gave three measured knocks against the shutter. +Immediately the door was opened cautiously. Oswald slipped in. In the +hall he was met by an old woman of tall stature and large frame, +holding a light in her hand; by her side stood a frail, youthful +person, who fell into Oswald's arms as he entered. + +"At last! at last!" + +"At last! Emily? Why, I come at the minute!" + +"Maybe! I am nearly dead with impatience." + +"Is everything ready?" + +"Yes." + +"Did anybody see you when you left?" + +"No one, except Jager's wife; she insisted upon coming with me. I could +not get rid of her. She is in the room there." + +"The fool!" + +"Don't scold her. We owe her much; be kind to her!" + +"She will show our enemies the way." + +"I am not afraid of that. Cloten is quite unsuspicious. I told I him I +would not be back till night. Come in!" + +Emily drew Oswald into the little low room, where Primula was standing +by a table, making tea. As soon as she saw Oswald she rushed into his +arms. + +"Oswald!" she cried, "this is the last moment! A cup of tea, some rum, +and you must go! Be brave and firm!" + +"Time is precious," said Oswald, disengaging himself from Primula's +embrace. "We must go, Emily." + +"Not without having drained this cup," said Primula, pouring the tea +into a cup. "You know, Oswald, it is cold without, and in the night air +we shiver; even we immortal gods." + +Primula's effort to be jocular was a failure; tears drowned her voice, +she sat down on a settee, pressed her hand on her face, and sobbed. But +a moment and she jumped up again. + +"No womanly weakness, Primula," she cried; "we must be strong now. +Drink, friends, drink; and then out into the dark night and the +star-crowned life!" + +"Come, Oswald," said Emily, who stood there ready for the journey; +"Mrs. Jager is right; a cup of tea will do no harm, and a few minutes +more or less can make no difference." + +"I wish we were off," said Oswald, taking the cup she was offering him +from her hand. + +He had hardly uttered these words when somebody knocked violently +against the shutter. + +All looked at each other frightened. + +"Hallo!" cried a voice. + +"For heaven's sake! That is Arthur!" said Emily. "We are lost." + +"Farewell, my friends!" cried Primula, and dashed into the adjoining +chamber, after having in vain tried to break open the door of a huge +wardrobe. + +"Hush!" said the old woman. "We are not so easily caught here in Ferry +town. Not a word!" + +She went to the window and said, "Who is there?" + +"Is the Baroness Cloten here? I have important news for her." + +The old woman turned round and whispered, "Make haste and get away; I +will try to keep him here. What do you want of her?" + +Oswald and Emily did not hear the reply. They slipped stealthily, +holding each other's hand, through the hall to the back door, which +opened upon the sea. A flight of steps led down to the beach. Below was +the sleigh. Once in the sleigh they were safe. + +"Stay behind me," said Oswald when they came to the door. + +The door was closed by an iron clasp. Oswald opened it cautiously. +Everything was quiet. The wintry sky looked down with its bright stars. + +"There is nobody here," whispered Oswald. "Come!" + +They had no sooner stepped out than the door was closed violently and +with a bang, evidently by somebody who had been standing behind it, who +now, as if to cut off the retreat of the fugitives, was leaning against +it with his broad shoulders. + +In such moments the mind acts promptly, and Oswald recognized instantly +by the aid of the starlight and the sheen of the snow that the +broad-shouldered form before him was that of Baron Barnewitz. + +"We are betrayed," he whispered; "but they shall pay for it. Quick +Emily, step into the sleigh; I'll follow." + +"But not just now!" said Barnewitz, leaping upon Oswald, and seizing +him by the shoulders with both hands. + +Oswald tore himself away, and jumping back a little distance, so as to +have elbow-room, he seized one of the iron-shod pikes which the +fishermen use in propelling their sleds, and of which several were +standing in the corner. He struck his adversary with it so terrible a +blow that the latter, in spite of his gigantic size and enormous +strength, fell down without uttering a sound. + +In an instant Oswald had overtaken Emily, and putting his arm around +her waist he bore her down the steep steps. + +Below, on the snow of the narrow beach, stood the sleigh. + +He put Emily in and followed her. + +"We are betrayed, Claus," he said; "drive fast. It is a matter of life +and death." + +Claus clacked his tongue and the crop-eared hack went off. + +"Thought so!" said Claus, turning half round. "A minute ago a sleigh +came and stopped not a hundred yards from here. I saw two men get out +and climb up the bluff. I was just going to follow them and to warn +you, when you were coming out a the door. Now it's all right. I should +like to see the horses that can overtake Claus Lemberg and his Fox." + +"You might soon have that satisfaction," said Oswald who had been +looking behind; "there they are coming. It seems these bulls do not +fall at one blow, and want to make the acquaintance of a bullet. Where +is the box I gave you, Claus?" + +"Just behind you, in the straw." + +Oswald opened the box, took one of the two pistols that were in it, and +cocked it. + +"For Heaven's sake, Oswald, what are you going to do?" said Emily, who +had not uttered a word since they were in the sleigh. + +"Shoot down the first man who dares touch you." + +"Oh, God! oh, God!" + +"For whom do you tremble; for me? or for him? You have time yet. He +will forgive you, I am sure, if you turn back now;--perhaps lecture you +a little in Barnewitz's presence." + +"How can you talk so? I turn back? Rather dead at the bottom of the +sea!" + +"That may come too," murmured Oswald. + +Oswald thought the crop-eared hack, however swiftly he cut with his +rough-shod shoes into the ice, could certainly not long keep up the +speed so as to escape from the two thoroughbreds before the sleigh of +his pursuers. He had a start of a few thousand yards, but that could +not avail much, as the distance from Ferrytown to the village of Barow +was over a mile. There they were to find another sleigh, provided by +one of Claus's cousins, who was overseer on one of the Breesen estates, +and ready to do and to risk anything in the world for Miss Emily. + +"Once more, Emily: what do you want me to do if they overtake us?" +asked Oswald, bending down to the little woman, who sat there silently, +wrapped up in her furs. + +"Defend yourself like a man!" + +"And if I succumb?" + +"Then I jump into the first air-hole we meet with! Better at the bottom +of the sea than in his power!" + +"Are you quite sure?" + +"As sure as I live, and as I love you." + +Oswald bent down and kissed the beautiful, pale face. + +"Now it is all right," he said; "now come what may." Those were +terrible minutes, and the gloomy surroundings only heightened the +impressive character of the situation. All was perfectly silent around +them; nothing was heard but the ceaseless striking of hoofs on the +ringing ice, and that peculiar sound, resembling a long-drawn sigh, +which is produced when an object moves with great rapidity over a plain +of ice. As far as the eye reached nothing but the fearful solitude of a +plain covered with a thin layer of snow, and the dark night lowering +over it like a leaden cover. Even the stars were now hid by a light, +drizzling fog, and yet it began to be lighter and lighter every moment. +A reddish streak on the gray sky announced the rising moon. The sleigh +of the pursuers could already be seen more distinctly, like a great +black spot, which grew every instant greater and blacker as the light +on the sky grew brighter. + +Only a few minutes had passed since they had left Ferrytown, but they +appeared to Oswald an eternity. He looked ahead for the shore, but +nothing could be seen yet; he looked behind at the pursuers, and the +great black spot bad again grown larger and blacker. + +"We can't do it, Claus," said Oswald. + +"What will you bet, sir?" replied Claus. "I will eat Fox alive if he +does not win. Why, sir, there is no such horse to be found far and +near. We are some twenty sleigh-owners in Ferrytown, and thirty over in +Grunwald, and all of us have good horses in our sleighs, but Fox beats +them all. Eh, Fox?" + +And, as if Fox had been cheered by the praise of his master, he shook +his cropped mane, and cut with his sharp hoofs faster and faster into +the clear ice. + +"But those are uncommon horses." + +Claus laughed. + +"And that's exactly why I don't trouble myself. They can't stand it; +and then they are afraid of the air-holes. In a few minutes you will +see they will fall behind, or I will eat Fox alive." + +Perhaps Fox was afraid of the terrible fate with which he was +threatened if he should allow himself to be overtaken, and made +desperate efforts; perhaps Cloten's horses began really to be tried by +this unusual chase on the smooth ice, or to be frightened by the black +water of the air-holes; at all events, Clauses prophecy began to become +true almost as soon as he had uttered it. Although it was dawning +brighter and brighter on the horizon, the black spot became perceptibly +smaller and less distinct; and when at last the full moon rose over the +gray edge of the ice, and poured her pale light over the vast level +plain, the black spot was no longer to be seen on the white surface. + +"Well, didn't I tell you?" asked Claus, turning round and showing his +white teeth, "that there isn't a horse that can overtake Fox? Up, Fox!" + +Claus had turned round towards his horse. On, on they flew, with the +swiftness of an arrow, over the low thundering abyss, past the weird +glittering of waters, on which the pale moon cast an uncanny sheen. The +icy north wind whistled around their ears as it swept mournfully and +plaintively over the snow-covered fields. Oswald and Emily held each +other in close embrace. Glad to have escaped the danger, they enjoyed +the bliss of a love whose sweet flowers they were gathering on the +brink of a fearful abyss, and willingly forgot for a few moments how +deep that abyss was, and how full of unspeakable horrors. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +It was March. On the twenty-fourth of February the Republic had been +proclaimed in France. The grand event spread its effect in concentric +circles over the whole of the civilized earth. Berlin too had been +excited, and a feverish agitation had prevailed for a few days in all +circles of society--a kind of confusion, of nervous trembling, such as +befalls men when they are suddenly roused from deep sleep by a dazzling +light, and do not know exactly where to find their head; and at the +same time they feel a secret horror of the night in which they have so +long slept an unnatural sleep--a confused idea that, after all, the +golden light of the sun is a very precious thing; a hopeful expectant +stretching and moving in all their limbs, so that the watchmen, who +have kept and guarded the gigantic sleeper in his dreams, become +anxious to begin to converse with each other. "We will have to put him +in iron chains," they whisper, "or he may actually rise; and then, woe +unto us!" + +There was a lively time one fine bright evening at the "Booths," the +principal resort of respectable citizens, who were in the habit of +amusing themselves here on Sunday afternoons with wife and child by +enjoying a mixture of music, beer, and sausages; but any one who had at +all followed the events of the last days in the great city might have +doubted for a moment whether this was a political meeting or a popular +entertainment. Perhaps it meant both. Work, that strict task-master, +had been cheated out of an hour only; and the simple fact that such +masses were here assembled, which no police constable would readily +dare interrupt or trouble, aroused in the assembled crowds a sense of +exuberant self-respect, a very unusual festive excitement. Then the +blue sky of early spring looked so lovely; the slender, leafless +branches and twigs of the trees in the park were so clearly defined +against the clear background, and the evening sun was shining warm and +hopeful down upon the thousands who crowded the vast open space between +the coffee-houses and the river on one side, and the park on the other +side. The pressure was especially great near the wooden stand on the +edge of the park, which was ordinarily occupied by a band, but from +whence to-day a very novel kind of music was heard--a music which was +so strange to the people, and perhaps on that account far more +attractive than all the waltzes of Lanner or Strauss. Further off, +towards the coffee-houses, where the speakers could no longer be heard +distinctly, people seemed to be merrier. Here the waiters could +scarcely hurry up as many glasses of the favorite white beer as thirsty +gullets were clamoring for. Itinerant venders offered rolls and +sausages, half-grown boys praised their cigars with gosling voices, and +even jugglers and acrobats played their tricks. + +Two men were slowly making their way arm in arm through the heaving +crowd. Their appearance was signally different from that of the mass of +the people, which consisted mainly of men, especially young men, of the +lower classes. One of the two was very tall and thin; his gray eyes +looked so keen and bright from under the heavy brows, and around the +well-shaped straight nose there was so much life and meaning, that one +could very easily supply the lower part of the face, which was +completely covered with a close black beard. His carriage was careless, +like that of a man who is too busy with his thoughts to lay much stress +upon external forms; and his clothes, which were made after the last +fashion, and of the very best material, hung so easily and comfortably +on his spare form that one could easily see the owner believed in the +doctrine that clothes were made for men, and not men for clothes. The +appearance of his companion was perhaps even more striking. He was +nearly a head shorter than his tall friend, but much broader in the +shoulders. And yet he stooped like a man who has spent half of his life +in reading books. His large well-shaped brow, and his deep, meek, +dreamy eyes, also bespoke the scholar, the thinker. His hair, which he +wore rather long, was already nearly gray, and so were the bushy +eyebrows, and the beard, which flowed in abundant masses from cheeks, +lips, and chin, down to his waist. He glanced restlessly at the crowd, +and communicated his observations to his companion with a passionate +energy, which characterized his whole manner; the other simply smiling, +nodded his head, or replied in a few short words to the point. + +"Well, how do you like it?" asked the man of the broad shoulders. + +"Not so badly," replied the tall one. + +"But do you think this people will ever dare venture upon a +revolution?" + +"Why not?" + +"Look at these stupid faces, listen to these miserable jokes with +which they try to drown their instinct of the grave nature of the +situation, and the painful feeling of their own insignificance. See how +the people, at the very hour when they hear liberty and justice +eloquently discussed, still have time and relish for _panem et +circenses_, and you see enough to smother the last spark of hope that +these men will ever talk of freedom, much less fight for it." + +"You are still a pessimist, Berger! and in spite of the golden sunlight +which at last shines once more after so many dark years of your life." + +"It is this very sunlight which fills my heart with such impatience. +During the gray winter days we think it quite natural that the trees +raise their bare branches to the sky; but when the first balmy air of +spring plays around us, and the sky is blue once more, we long to see +the green ocean of leaves twittering and rustling in the breeze; and +above all, when the winter has been so long and so hard that it has +taken all our strength from us, and we have no right to hope to live +into summer!" + +"The dead travel fast! You have seen that in Paris." + +"At that moment a man approached them who had for some time looked at +the two gentlemen as if he did not quite trust his own eyes, and said +to Berger, + +"Is this really you, professor?" + +"Why, see there! my old friend!" replied Berger, letting go Oldenburg's +arm, and offering his hand to the new-comer. "How did you get here?" + +"Alas!" said the man, "that is a sad story. If you will come with me a +little way--I would rather speak to you alone." + +"Excuse me a moment," said Berger to Oldenburg, and went aside with the +man. + +Oldenburg looked at the latter not without astonishment. His was a +powerful body, with a broad, well-developed chest and long arms, while +the head appeared not less massive. In the coarse, bloated features one +might read, by the side of much good-nature, and jovial humor also, not +a little cunning, but of a perfectly harmless nature. To judge by his +appearance the man was not exactly well-to-do. His gray felt hat had +evidently seen many a stormy day before it had been reduced to its +forlorn condition. The black velvet coat, very shabby and covered with +rusty-looking frogs, had evidently seen better days; so also the large +linen trousers, the color of which was not easily distinguished, and +the boots, which began to burst in a threatening manner. A red-silk +handkerchief, boldly twisted around the sunburnt, muscular neck, +completed the expression of reduced artistic merit which the whole +person bore in all its features. + +Berger spoke a few minutes earnestly with the man; then they went a +little further aside, and Oldenburg's sharp eye saw how Berger pulled +out his purse and pressed a few pieces of money in the hands of the +stranger. Then they separated; the man disappeared in the crowd, the +professor came back. + +"Who was that strange person?" + +"A man of whom I have often spoken to you: Director Caspar Schmenckel, +of Vienna." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Oldenburg; "why did you not tell me so at once. I +should like to make the acquaintance of a man with whom Czika has lived +so long." + +"He will call upon us in a few days. The poor man is in despair since +Xenobia and Czika have left him; he has met with nothing but +misfortune. First, his clown died; then his first artist ran away; and +the others he has been compelled to dismiss on account of chronic want +of money. Now he lounges about in all the inns of the city, and gives +performances on his own account." + +"We must take care of him," said Oldenburg. "He has treated Czika well, +and I am under obligations to him. Besides, he seems to be a good +fellow. But let us go home. The thing here comes to nothing, as I +expected, at least for to-day." + +As the two friends were leaving, a young man had just gone up on the +stand and demanded to speak. He was of a coarse, thick-set figure, but +the handsome, well-shaved face was full of life and cleverness; and as +he now took off his hat, brushed his long light hair from his white, +well-shaped forehead, he looked more like a precocious boy who has put +on spectacles for fun, than like a man who has a right to address +thousands. If the finely-cut features had something aristocratic, his +more than modest costume placed him far from the privileged classes. +His voice was peculiarly high and sharp and clear, and when he became +more animated it sounded somewhat like the clang of a trumpet, so that +it could be heard all over the large square to the furthest corner. + +"Gentlemen," he said, and a smile of irony played around his lips, +"what would you say of a man who has a pointed arrow in his quiver, and +the strongest bow to shoot that arrow; and who, nevertheless, is +good-natured enough to send the sharp arrow, not by means of the strong +bow, but with his feeble hand? Well, gentlemen, we are exactly like +that foolish man. The arrow in the quiver is the petition with the nine +articles, as we modestly call the just demands of a nation; the +deputation chosen from among us, which is to present the address +to-morrow to the king, is the feeble hand. How far will it send the +arrow? To the threshold of the king's palace--no further! I tell you, +gentlemen, the feeble hand of the deputation will in vain knock at the +gate. His majesty will be graciously pleased to refuse accepting our +petition, and the deputation will return without having accomplished +anything." + +When the orator had finished the phrase, raising his voice very high, a +murmur passed through the assembly not unlike a violent gust of wind +that sweeps over the sea. A few cried "bravo!" among them the gentleman +in the shabby velvet coat, who had pushed his way close to the +platform, and who had listened to the speaker with great delight, which +he tried to express by nods, grunts, and more violent applause. The +majority, however, was evidently opposed to energetic measures. For one +who cried bravo, there were a hundred who shook their heads and +whispered their misgivings. + +The young man was not intimidated by these signs of dissatisfaction. He +repeated with great emphasis, + +"The deputation will return without having accomplished anything! And +it serves us right. Why do we use the hand, when the bow lies idle in +the grasp, close by us? Do you want to know who the bow is? We are the +bow; I mean the whole assembly. If we went four, five, or six thousand, +as many as we are here, in close phalanx, and carried the petition, our +speaker ahead, up to the palace, I should like to see the gates that +would not open, the menials who would refuse to admit us, the +chamberlain who would dare to say: Gentlemen, his majesty is at tea, +and cannot see you." + +"Bravo! bravo!" cried, the gentleman in the velvet coat, and clapping +his hands furiously. But the crowd was not at all pleased with this +humorous way of treating so serious a matter. They hissed and whistled +and cried from all sides. It was only with great difficulty that the +president, a man in a broad-brimmed hat and with a long beard, who +looked somewhat like an author, could restore peace by repeatedly +knocking with his cane on the table. The orator, quite unconcerned, +gathered the whole strength of his clear voice, and trumpeted down upon +the assembly: + +"I have not offered the resolution to proceed in a body to the palace +because I expected it to be adopted, but simply in order to show you +what manner of men you are. Pioneers of freedom, my predecessor called +you. Yes, indeed! Freedom will be much benefited by you, if you are not +even now able to rouse yourself from the sleepy confidence in which you +have rested these thirty years----" + +Whatever else the young man said could not be heard, for the last words +had brought down the storm which had been brewing for some time. "Down +with him!" cried those who stood nearest; "Knock him down!" those at a +distance. + +It is not improbable that the last threat would have been carried out +by the insulted men if the powerful man in the velvet coat had not +embraced the orator enthusiastically as soon as he came down from the +platform, declaring himself thus openly his friend and protector. No +one seemed to desire engaging in a fight with a man of such herculean +build; at least they allowed the two to leave the assembly unmolested, +in spite of the striking minority in which they had found themselves. + +The new friends turned into one of the avenues which lead near the +stand from the open space of the "Booths" into the park. As soon as +they were alone the man in the velvet coat once more shook hands with +the young man of the light hair, and said, with great cordiality, + +"I am exceedingly delighted to make the acquaintance of such a capital +fellow." + +"So am I! So am I!" replied the young man, examining his admirer with a +quick, sharp glance from his blue eyes, and pushing his spectacles with +his finger higher up on his nose in order to be the better able to do +so. "With whom have I the honor?" + +The gentleman in the velvet coat stepped back, threw his chest out, +lifted his much-tried hat, and said, + +"I am Director Caspar Schmenckel, from Vienna." + +"Ah," replied the other, lightly; "glad to make your acquaintance. My +name is Timm, Albert Timm." + +"You are not an artist?" said Mr. Schmenckel, confidentially. + +"How so?" asked Mr. Timm, evasively. + +Director Schmenckel imitated the gesture of one who throws a very heavy +object with both hands straight up in the air, in order to let it fall +again upon the neck. + +"Aha!" said Mr. Timm, who quickly understood in which region of the +fine arts the director had been gathering his laurels; "pardon me that +I was not personally acquainted with a man of your distinction; but I +have only been here a few days." + +"Well, I thought so," replied Mr. Schmenckel, as they proceeded arm in +arm. "You are a noble fellow; very different from these poor creatures +hereabouts. You speak as you think; as you feel in your heart. Caspar +Schmenckel likes such fellows, and if he can be of any service to you +say the word and it's done." + +"Much obliged, director. Delighted to have the honor of your +acquaintance. I presume you are performing here in the capital with +your troupe?" + +"Performing?--Hem! hem!" said Mr. Schmenckel, clearing his throat. "To +tell the truth, you do not see Director Schmenckel just now _in +floribus_, I have been compelled by many reasons to disband my old +troupe, and I am just now engaged in forming a new one--a task which +has its difficulties, as you may imagine. In the meantime----" + +"You are living in private?" + +"In a certain way, yes; that is to say, I perform from time to time +before a few friends; but, you know, only to keep my hand in, that is +all." + +"Of course." + +"Thus I am in a certain way engaged to perform to-night in a very noble +locality, where I meet the very best society; and if you will do me the +honor----" + +"You are very kind." + +"You will find very nice people there; perfectly free and easy; all of +them democrats to the core, although they drink prodigiously little +water, I should think. Ha, ha, ha! I have been a daily guest at the +'Dismal Hole' ever since the winter began, and yet I have never liked +it so well as since we have gotten a new landlady. She has been there +about a week." + +"Indeed!" + +"I shall be proud to make you acquainted with her. Mrs. Rose Pape is a +model of a woman." + +"What did you say?" suddenly asked Mr. Timm, with great animation. + +"I said Mrs. Rose Pape is a capital woman." + +"Did you not say she had taken the business quite lately?" + +"Yes; for she used to be a midwife. The French revolution has made her +an innkeeper." + +"That is original." + +"Isn't it? But then Mrs. Rose is an original, too. She has a wonderful +knack for business; and when the trouble commenced in Paris, she said: +'Now golden days are coming for beer-houses with female waiters!' The +next day she had rented the 'Dismal Hole.'" + +"I am exceedingly anxious to make the acquaintance of the excellent +lady." + +During this conversation the friends had followed little frequented +paths in the park, and were now near the magnificent gate which leads +on this side straight from the park into the city. The crowd at the +Booths must have dissolved immediately after they had left it, for the +head of an immense procession coming from that direction had just +reached the gate. Here they met the crowd that were still coming from +the city into the park. It could not be avoided; the crowds met and +filled the narrow passages of the great gate immediately before the +guard-house, where a company of soldiers was standing with arms +grounded. The people gazed and wondered at the unusual sight. Others +pushed their way up to see what was the matter. In an instant +the guard-house was surrounded by hundreds of men standing in a +semi-circle, which was steadily growing smaller and smaller. The +captain in command of the company, a tall officer with a savage +expression in his sharply-marked features, cast furious glances at the +multitude, but did not deign to say a word. It was easy to see what was +going on in his soul. Suddenly he gave an order with an angrily-shrill +voice: "Attention! Eyes right! Shoulder arms! Attention! Load!" + +The ramrods rattled, and in an instant the order was obeyed. + +It had been intended as a warning merely for the crowd; but, as it will +happen in such cases, it produced exactly the opposite effect to what +had been intended. Those who stood nearest could not move back, and +those behind had only become more curious to know what the noise of the +ramrods meant. A fatal encounter between the soldiers and the people +seemed unavoidable. + +Just then a tall man pushed his way between the idlers and walked up to +the captain. + +"Allow me to say a word to you." + +"What do you want?" + +"My name is Oldenburg. I have the honor to address Count Grieben?" + +The officer touched his helmet to salute. "Glad to see you again, +baron, after so many years. Come in time; shall be compelled to fire +upon the rabble." + +"It was to prevent that that I begged leave to introduce myself. You +have a simple and infallible means to induce these people to move on, +and thus to prevent an irreparable calamity." + +"What is that?" + +"Let your men retire into the guard-house." + +"What are you thinking of! to make such a concession to the rabble? +Besides, it is against orders." + +"Then at least call upon the people to go home." + +"I have no desire to open negotiations with the _crapule_." + +"Will you permit me to do so?" + +"As you like," replied the officer, leaving Oldenburg with cold +politeness. + +Oldenburg advanced a few steps towards the close semi-circle and said, +speaking as loud as he could, + +"Gentlemen, you are in some danger if you remain standing here. Many of +you have been in the army, and know that the soldier has to obey +orders, and no questions allowed. Don't, therefore, force your +fellow-citizens, who are here under arms, to turn against you. Let us +avail ourselves of our right to go where we choose to go. It is a bore +to remain standing so long on the same spot." + +"He is right," said a square-shouldered citizen from the head of the +crowd. "I will begin to scramble off!" + +The people laughed. And as the shrill voice of a cigar-dealer began to +sing, "Move slowly, slowly, good Austrians, now!" the dense crowd +gradually got into motion, especially as at that moment cries and other +noises arose in a different direction and attracted the curious among +them. + +Some distance higher up the Lindens--for Unter den Linden is the name +of the superb street which leads from the gate to the palace--a +collision had taken place between the people and one of the numerous +patrols which had been marching up and down for some hours between the +palace and the gate. Unfortunately there had been no Oldenburg here to +interfere and prevent the mischief. The commander of the patrol--a +second detachment was marching on a level on the opposite side of the +street--was an officer of gigantic stature, whose dark, threatening +mien announced the firm determination to punish the slightest +resistance instantly and without mercy. Everybody had so timidly given +way before him, as he marched down at the head of his men, that he +seemed to be justified in smiling contemptuously whenever such an event +occurred. But now he came to a place where a narrow but much frequented +side street opened upon the Lindens. This passage was crammed full of +people, who wanted to see what was going on in the main street. From +the Lindens others came who wished to go down that passage. Thus an +immense mass of people had been crowded together here, and the +confusion, great as it was, became still more awkward, when the patrol +marched straight down upon them. + +"Make way!" ordered the officer, marching into the crowd without +looking right or left. + +Those who stood nearest gave way to the side, but others pressed back +upon them. A short confusion arose, during which the officer was cut +off from his men. + +"Make way!" repeated the officer, in still harsher tones. + +"Make way yourself!" cried a young man in the crowd. + +He had no sooner uttered the words than the officer rushed upon him, +seized him by the collar and tossed him, by a slight effort of his +powerful arm, into the midst of his men, saying: + +"Arrest the rascal!" + +The soldiers seized the young man, who tried in vain to free himself. + +"Knock the dog down if he resists!" cried the officer. + +Who knows but the soldiers would have done his bidding if at that +moment Mr. Schmenckel had not suddenly appeared before the officer, +crying out: + +"Let the man go, your excellency, or ten thousand----" + +The officer of the Life Guards and the man of the people stood a few +moments opposite each other, both of them men of gigantic size, +surprisingly alike in their tall figure, their full chest and ample +shoulders, with long, muscular arms; yes, as they stared at each other +with fierce passion, there was some resemblance even in the massive, +coarse features. + +But it was only a moment during which they stood thus; at the next +moment the officer had hit the man with all his strength upon his chest +in order to gain room to draw his sword. But he might as well have +tried to move a rock from its place as the man in the velvet-coat. The +blow sounded dull on the broad chest--that was all; but at the same +time the man extended his powerful arms, seized the officer around the +waist, lifted him sheer from the ground, and threw him with such +violence against the soldiers, who had their hands full in holding the +young man, that officer, men, and prisoner all rolled together in a +heap. + +"Hurrah!" cried the delighted crowd, admiring the display of physical +strength. "Hurrah! At them! Down with the soldiers!" + +Mr. Schmenckel probably did not expect much assistance from the courage +of the crowd. He drew the prisoner with one great effort from out of +the confused heap of men, and before the officer could regain his feet +both had disappeared in the crowd, who readily opened to let them pass. + +It was high time, for the two detachments had been able in the meantime +to break through the crowd and to unite their forces. + +The officer started up and ordered with a voice shrieking with rage: +"Left Wheel! Forward! Charge bayonets!" + +"Hurrah! hurrah!" cried the soldiers, pressing with lowered bayonets +into the crowd. The people scattered, crying and howling. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +While such scenes were taking place, Under the Lindens and the +inhabitants of the adjoining streets felt a feverish excitement, so +that the crowd scattered at the mere sight of an approaching force, +merely however to reassemble at another temporarily safe point, and +arrests were made in large numbers. The inhabitants of distant parts of +the city dwelt in profound peace, utterly ignorant of what was going on +elsewhere, and enjoying the calm monotony of an idyllic country +village. + +In a small one-story house in one of these quiet streets, which +derived, from a garden before the door and a slight iron railing +between the garden and the gate, somewhat of the appearance of a villa, +there sat just before sunset two persons in eager conversation. A +little aquarium with gold-fish stood near the window, a bright cage +with a canary bird hung between the curtains, and flowers were seen all +about in pots and in vases, so that everything bespoke the presence of +a lady, although the inevitable work-stand was not to be seen. The man +was not exactly young, although even the bald places at the temples +would hardly have justified any one in calling him old; the lady was +much younger. They conversed eagerly, like two good friends who have +not seen each other for months, while in the interval events have +happened of the greatest importance for both, which indeed may be said +to have inaugurated a new epoch in their lives. + +"And Franz is perfectly satisfied with his position here?" + +"Perfectly! How pa would have been delighted, if he----" + +The young lady did not end the sentence, but turned towards the window +and busied herself with the flowers. The gentleman looked at her kindly +through the glasses he wore, and after a while he laid his hand lightly +on her arm and said: + +"You must not only appear firm, my dear friend; you must be so;--you, +the daughter of such a father!" + +"You are right, Bemperly; I will try to be as firm and as reasonable as +I look. But now let us speak of something else. What does Marguerite +say to our new plan?" + +"She is delighted--or _charmee_, as she says. But I think it is less +because our position will be better--although, quite _entre nous_, a +married student is a very remarkably amphibious creature--as because +she will be able to be near you again. You do riot know what an +impression you have made on _ma petite femme_." + +"She is so kind-hearted! And I have done so little for her; been able +to do so little for her! I have, properly speaking, done nothing but +tease her. Even that last evening--you recollect Bemperlein, when you +appeared as author--when you kissed each other in the bay-window, when +we drank the old hock, and pa afterwards gave his grand speech, the +last I ever heard from his lips. Now only I know what it was that moved +him so deeply. He took leave of us, not only for the moment, but +forever." + +Sophie tried to master the emotion which threatened to overcome her, +and then she continued: + +"I have done so little for Marguerite, and she has done so much for me! +Do you know, Bemperlein, that I was weak enough to become quite jealous +of the little one when I saw, in papa's letters, how very fond he was +of her, and how he disliked the idea of your getting married even more +than our own marriage?" + +"And yet it was only by his assistance that we were able to marry; at +least Marguerite is indebted to him alone for her trousseau and the +furnishing of our house, both of which would otherwise have been almost +out of the question. You know, I am sure, what I mean!" + +"The Timm affair! Marguerite wrote me about it. What amazed me most +was, that Timm should have returned the money so promptly." + +"We were all astonished; no one more so than I, who knew best how +overwhelmed he was with debts--a fact which led me to dissuade your +father earnestly from making a useless effort. The whole affair has +caused me, _entre nous_, a good deal of heart-ache; and little reason +as I have to like Mr. Timm, I have still been quite sorry when I heard +soon afterwards of his being sent to jail. He was unable, it seems, to +pay a note long since due, and perhaps only because he had paid us. For +all I know, he is a prisoner still." + +"What!" said Sophie, "has my old admirer really come to that at last?" + +"Your old admirer?" + +"Yes; don't you know it? I went to the same dancing master as Timm; and +I can well say that I liked him best of all with whom I talked or +danced. He is an extremely clever man, and can be most agreeable when +he chooses to be so. I am sincerely sorry that he should manage his +great talents so very badly. He resembles in that respect----" + +"Oswald Stein, you mean. Well, say on. I have fortunately mastered the +feeling of bitterness which used to overcome me in Grunwald every time +I heard the name mentioned. He does not exist any longer, as far as I +am concerned, especially after his last adventures." + +"That is hardly right, Bemperly. You know I never liked Stein +particularly; but since you all rise in arms against him, and since +even Franz, who used to excuse him so long, begins to chime in, I have +a great inclination to take his part." + +"Of course," said Bemperlein, with a slight touch of bitterness; "that +is the old story. Women like a man the better, the worse he is. Even my +Marguerite, who generally cannot bear him, breathed the other day a +_pauvre homme_ in her softest notes! _Pauvre homme!_ I should like to +know what sensible man would think so of him. If a man rushes madly +through life, acting not upon principle but upon impulse; if he must +needs gratify all his caprices, and if he meets with difficulties +breaks out in furious anger; if, instead of loving his neighbor like +himself, he runs away by night with his neighbor's wife--they say of +him, with tears of sympathy in their fair eyes: _Pauvre homme!_" + +"Bravo, Bemperly," cried Sophie, almost with her old cheerfulness; +"bravo! You could not preach better if you were yourself the happy +neighbor! But tell me, has no one heard anything yet of the reckless +couple?" + +"As far as I know, no one? The earth seems to have swallowed them up." + +"But how does the unlucky husband bear his misfortune?" + +"Ah," said Bemperlein, almost angrily, "it is not worth while to +sympathize with that class of people. They deserve nothing better, and +reap what they sow. Just think, Miss Sophie--I meant to say _Mrs._ +Sophie--this man, this Cloten, who, when Stein had run away with his +wife, behaved himself as if he never cared to see the sun shine any +more, not only found comfort in a very short time, but has inflicted +the same injury on his neighbor's house that he himself suffered. Baron +Barnewitz, Frau von Berkow's cousin--the one with the red beard, you +know, and the broad shoulders. Oh, you must have seen him. No? Well, it +does not matter--_Eh bien!_ Baron Barnewitz comes home the other day at +an unseasonable hour and finds--so gossip has it--the door to his +wife's room locked, suspects mischief, breaks a window, pulls out the +whole sash, rushes into the room and catches Baron Cloten, whom his +wife is just pushing out at another door! Then follows an explanation; +and the result is that Hortense has gone to Italy, and Baron Cloten, +after keeping his bed for a week, has retired to his estates without +taking leave of anybody." + +"What a treasure trove that must have been for the good gossips of +Grunwald!" + +"You may believe it; almost as great as when Helen Grenwitz became +engaged to Prince Waldenberg." + +"How is that?" + +"As far as I know, the solemn betrothal--I mean the official +ceremony--is to be celebrated here in the city in a few days. Anna +Maria told me recently that Helen would be here at the beginning of +March." + +"Then you are still keeping up your relations with the family?" + +"I could not well find an excuse for giving up the lessons. Anna Maria +honored me all the time with her special favor; and, besides, I have +recently become better reconciled with her ways. I believe we have +wronged her in many points. She has her very objectionable sides, no +doubt; but, if we wish to be just, we must acknowledge also that her +position is a very peculiar one. If she procures Helen a rich husband, +she does after all only what every mother in her position would do +likewise. And her circumstances are by no means as brilliant as they +think. Since her husband's death she has nothing but a comparatively +small annuity and the income from what she may have saved, but the +whole amounts to very little in comparison with her former revenue. And +if Malte should follow his cousin Felix's example, and die of +consumption, she would lose even that--and the poor fellow looks +shocking; he is nothing but skin and bones." + +"Ah," said Sophie; "why, then Helen's marriage is almost a kind of +necessity in the meaning of these people, although I am convinced it +must be a very sad necessity for Helen." + +"Why?" + +"I will tell you in confidence. I think she had given her heart to +somebody else when she accepted the prince. Would to God she had been +less reserved towards me, perhaps it would all have come differently." + +"Don't believe that! The girl has a kind of obstinate pride that no man +can bend, perhaps not even fate. She will allow no one an absolute +control over her decisions." + +"Tell me, Bemperly, what is the truth of this report, that your Frau +von Berkow and Baron Oldenburg are living on very intimate terms with +each other?" asked Sophie, after a short pause. + +"Nothing; nothing at all!" said Bemperlein, very earnestly. "I should +like to know what people have to do with that. There is an old +friendship between them, which dates back to the years when they were +children. That is all. Then they are neighbors, and must needs see each +other frequently--is not that perfectly natural? Why could not they +marry each other if they liked it? Instead of that the baron goes to +Paris, and leaves her, amid snow and ice, quite alone at Berkow. Does +not that show as clear as daylight that there is no question of love +between them?--or it must be a strange kind of love." + +At that moment Sophie started with joy. She had caught a glimpse of a +tall, elegant man with a black beard, who was hastily passing the +window. + +"There is Franz!" cried the young wife, her large blue eyes brightening +up and her cheeks blushing a deep red. "Hide yourself, Bemperly!" + +"But where?" said Mr. Bemperlein, looking around in the room. + +"There, behind the curtain! Hold it together in the middle, so that it +cannot open--thus!" + +The bell was rung. Immediately afterwards the door of the room opened, +and Franz entered with rapid steps. + +"Has not Bemperlein come?" + +"Do you see him anywhere?" + +Franz, it is true, did not see Mr. Anastasius Bemperlein, but upon a +chair a gentleman's hat; and, besides, the folds of the heavy curtain +arranged in a manner which very clearly betrayed the efforts of a hand +to hold them together. + +So he said: + +"That man Bemperlein is, after all, an utterly unreliable, frivolous, +unconscionable whipper-snapper; a man without faith, without principle; +a quack, whom I have regretted over and over again to have recommended +to Mr. Planke as director of his chemical manufactory, so that he has +actually engaged him with a salary of a thousand a year and five per +cent, of the clear receipts. He is a perfect Don Giovanni of a +Bemperlein, who has secret interviews with the wives of his friends, +hides himself when they return behind curtains, and is stupid enough +to leave his hat in the middle of the room. A harlequin of a +Bemperlein----" + +"Stop!" said that gentleman, opening the curtain "I am found out!" + +The two friends embraced with great cordiality. + +"Do you know whom I have just seen?" asked Franz after the most +important questions had been fully answered. + +"Well?" cried Bemperlein and Sophie. + +"Baron Oldenburg and Frau von Berkow." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Bemperlein, casting an embarrassed look at +Sophie, and receiving in return a triumphant smile. + +"As I tell you. I met them arm in arm near the palace. Frau von Berkow +has given me her address and asked me to call on her. There! Broad +street. No. 54. She has furnished lodgings. This, and the circumstance +that she has her children with her, make me believe that she has come +here for some time. I told her we were expecting Bemperlein to-day, and +she seemed to be very glad to hear it. Baron Oldenburg also sends his +best regards, and wants you to know that he has returned only yesterday +from Paris, in company with Professor Berger. You know, I suppose, that +the two met in Paris and witnessed the whole revolution? They are +staying at the Hotel de Russie Unter den Linden. I have advised Frau +von Berkow, if she has not very pressing business here, to leave the +city, because we shall in all probability have very troublesome times +soon. Albert street is full of people, swarming to and fro like an +ant-hill in uproar. Aids and orderlies are galloping through the +streets at full speed. At the corner of Albert and Bear streets they +had actually guns in position. Under the Lindens, they say, there has +actually been a collision, and an officer of the guards is said to have +been brutally ill-treated by the mob. Some said it was Prince +Waldenberg. The excitement was so great that the people left the grand +opera, although they were giving a new ballet, soon after the beginning +of the performance. In Fisher street the mob has attacked a gun-shop, +and an acquaintance of mine saw in Gold street the beginning of a +barricade. In one word, the city is in a state of feverish excitement, +and therefore, little wife, you had better bring out your tea, instead +of standing there with your mouth wide open and swallowing the horrible +news." + +Sophie fell upon her husband's neck, pressed a kiss on his lips, and +went out to order supper. The two friends sat down on the sofa and +discussed their own and public affairs with that seriousness and +thoroughness which becomes wise men. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +The "Dismal Hole" was one of those suspicious places to which +respectable people never resort, even after a long and dusty walk, when +some refreshment seems to be needed. Young men, perhaps, who have less +virtue than desire to enjoy life, and whom the spirit of mischief has +led far from their accustomed haunts, occasionally drift into its +sombre halls, and find next morning their heads aching furiously, and +their minds filled with confused but by no means pleasant reminiscences +of the night. Nevertheless the "Dismal Hole" was found in a by-street +of a very fashionable quarter of the city, and very modest in the day. +It shone forth at night by means of a blood-red lamp, which looked up +and down the street invitingly until the sun came and extinguished it. +During all these hours it seemed to be irresistibly attractive to many +people; at least it was almost always crowded with customers. Thus it +was on this evening also. There was scarcely a vacant chair in the four +or five large rooms which formed the "Dismal Hole." Eliza, Bertha, and +Pauline, the three pretty waiters, had their hands full in bringing the +beer to each thirsty guest, and in giving him time to pinch their +cheeks, or at least to say a civil word. These confidential interviews, +short as they were, no doubt interfered somewhat with business, but +what could be done? Thirsty gentlemen, belonging to a certain class of +society, insist upon holding the pretty hand that brings them the mug +of beer, though it may be slightly moistened with foam, a little while +in their own; and in this case such a desire was all the more +justifiable, as the three girls were really very pretty, and did all +honor to the good taste of the landlady of the "Dismal Hole." + +Mrs. Rosalie Pape was a lady of fifty or more, who struck you at first +sight by her enormous size. It was only after more careful examination +that you noticed the coarseness of the features, which were half hid in +fat, and the short and square fingers of the plump white hands; and +only the experienced observer could discover that the brown hair which +adorned abundantly the head of the matron could not possibly be her +own, and that the small, bright blue eyes, in spite of the apparent +kindliness of the broad mouth, had a sharp and at times even a +downright wicked and dangerous expression. + +The guests at the "Dismal Hole," however, were not the men to make such +observations. In their eyes Rosalie was a charming, splendid woman, +under whose management the fame of the place was spreading far and +near, and they were delighted when the good lady left her place behind +the bar and made a tour through the whole basement. Here she would +familiarly clap an acquaintance on the shoulder, or welcome a newcomer; +there she would graciously accept the praise of her beer, or try to +disarm a critic by putting his glass to her own lips and taking a pull +of which a sergeant need not have been ashamed. + +Thus she had just now approached two men who were sitting alone in a +corner, and putting their heads close together whispered so eagerly +that it was evident the topic of their conversation must have been of +the greatest importance. + +"Well, little Schmenckel, how do?" said Mrs. Rosalie, putting her fat +hand upon the broad shoulders of the strong gentleman in the velvet +coat; "it seems to me you look rather warm. Do not drink too much, or +you will not be able to show off well afterwards. You have a large +audience to-night." + +"I fear I wont be able to do much to-night," said the director, with +stammering tongue, his face flushed and almost painfully. + +"But, Schmenckel, you promised!" replied Mrs. Rose, and her eyes did +not look very kindly at him. "One good turn deserves another, you +know." + +"My friend Schmenckel will consider it," said the other gentleman, a +man with light hair, and wearing spectacles over his sharp blue eyes; +"he happens just now to be somewhat excited by an encounter he had an +hour ago Under the Lindens. However, I am particularly delighted, +madame, to have found out your new address through Mr. Schmenckel. I +had been looking for you all over town for two days, and all in vain." + +Mrs. Rose Pape cast a glance at the speaker. There was something in his +whole appearance, and in his way of speaking, which attracted her. + +"With whom have I the honor?" she said. + +"All on my side! Will you favor us with your company for a few +moments?" said the young man, offering Mrs. Rosalie the third yet +vacant chair near the little table. "My name is Albert Timm, from +Grunwald. I have a letter of introduction to you from an old friend, +who sends his kindest regards. May I be permitted to place the document +in those beautiful hands?" And Mr. Timm handed the lady an unsealed +letter, which he had drawn from a very shabby pocket-book. + +Mrs. Rosalie seemed to be a little embarrassed by this communication. +She cast one more searching glance at the stranger, looked all around +the room to see that she was unobserved, opened the note, turned +ralf-round to get the benefit of the gas-light, and read: + +"Dear Rose: The bearer is a very good friend of mine, whom you can +trust _unconditionally_. He will tell you something about that matter +at Grenwitz that will make you open your eyes wide. If you and Jeremiah +will help him, we can, I am sure, help a certain gentleman to his +inheritance, and make a prodigious profit out of it ourselves. Good-by! +I hope you are well; and I hope the same of your still warmly attached +T. G." + +"You know the hand-writing?" asked Mr. Timm of the good lady, who, +after reading the letter twice, and folding it up carefully to put it +in her pocket, had been looking at him for some time with suspicious +glances. + +"It seems to me the hand-writing is familiar," she said. + +"Well, for the present that is the main point. As for the rest, I will +tell you more at the proper time. I hope you will grant me, to-night, +the favor and the honor of a confidential talk. I am sure we shall be +the best friends in the world by to-morrow." + +There was a confidence and self-assurance in the manner of the young +man which decidedly imposed on Mrs. Rosalie, however nicer people might +have been shocked by the air of vulgar impertinence with which it was +flavored. She returned the familiar pressure of Timm's hand and rose, +as just at that moment one of the three Hebes came to say that she was +wanted at the bar. + +Mr. Timm turned once more to Director Caspar Schmenckel, from Vienna, +who was so drunk or so absorbed in his thoughts that he had paid little +or no attention to the conversation between his friend and Mrs. +Rosalie, and then he said: + +"I don't see how you can be doubtful a moment. I tell you, as you were +thus facing each other I was struck by the likeness, although I had +little leisure at that time to make observations. I grant the accident +is marvellous which has brought you together once more after so many +years, at an hour and at a place where you perhaps least expected ever +to meet. But what does that amount to? I have a great respect for +Master Accident, for he has helped me over and over again out of many a +predicament when all cleverness and wisdom were at fault. And this +accident is too famous not to be something more than a mere accident. +And what is the great wonder, after all? You court, twenty-two years +ago, a frivolous lady, and you succeed. When the husband returns, and +finds you under suspicious circumstances, you pitch him out of the +window. The lady never has had but one child, and the age of that child +agrees to the day. You were in St. Petersburg, you tell me, in +September, eighteen hundred and twenty-five, and the prince was born in +May, twenty-six ----" + +"How do you know all that?" asked Mr. Schmenckel, and shook his head +incredulously. + +"I tell you, my man, I know it! That is enough for you. And suppose the +fellow is not your son, then----" + +"But why shouldn't he be my son?" cried Mr. Schmenckel, striking the +table with his gigantic hand "Do I look as if I was not up to having +children?" + +Mr. Timm took off his spectacles, wiped the glasses carefully, put them +on again, looked laughingly at Director Caspar Schmenckel's flushed +face, and said good-naturedly: + +"Look here, old man, you are a funny old creature. First, I talk till I +lose my breath to prove to you that you are the father of this hopeful +youth; and then, when I merely assume it might not be so, you become +disagreeable, and look as if you were going to beat me. I only meant to +say this: Suppose the man is not your son, then, that also does not +matter much. We can only try. We can ask if the princess remembers a +certain evening at St. Petersburg, and so forth, and so forth. I'll +wager my head against an empty pumpkin we frighten her out of her wits, +and the roubles come tumbling down into our lap." + +"But wont they hand us over to the police?" asked Mr. Schmenckel, +shaking his head thoughtfully. + +"Pshaw! They will be glad if no one else hears of it. There is no +better ally for people like us than a bad conscience. I tell you I have +some experience in that department." + +Mr. Schmenckel reflected so deeply on the grave matter that, what with +the mental effort, and perhaps also with too much beer, his head began +to glow. Suddenly a thought occurred to him which might throw some +light, if not upon the matter itself, at least upon the character of +his new friend. + +"But," he said, "what, after all, is the whole story to you?" + +"Fie, director," replied Timm, with great indignation "I should not +have expected such a question from you. Did you not save me from the +paws of the soldiers! Does not one hand wash the other? Is there no +such thing in the world as gratitude? If you insist absolutely upon +being a poor devil for the rest of your life instead of living in your +own house with an annuity of a few thousand roubles, and of driving +your own carriage, I have nothing to say to it! I beg your pardon for +having troubled you with all these things. Come, let us talk of +something else!" + +"Now, come, don't fly off at such a pace!" cried Mr. Schmenckel, +anxiously. "I don't dream of taking anything amiss, especially if you +want to make me the father of a live prince. But that I should have +such a grand son, and that I should have whipped him so unmercifully +the very first time I ever set eyes on him, that is surely amazing +enough. If Caspar Schmenckel were to tell anybody else so he would not +be believed." + +"I do not see," said Timm, "why that is any more amazing than that I +must be the only one of the thousands in the park to run right into the +arms of the prince; that I alone happen to know him from former times; +that I remember his name, mention it to you, and thus call up in your +mind a remembrance which helps us to make this important discovery. I +can assure you I was at first quite as much amazed as you are; but such +things, thank God, do not last long with me." + +Mr. Timm threw himself back in his chair and picked his teeth. Mr. +Schmenckel looked with infinite astonishment, not unmixed with fear, at +the man whom even such an extraordinary event could not move from +habitual coolness. Mr. Schmenckel was not the man to reflect deeply on +the relations in which he stood to this man; but still, he had an +indistinct feeling about it. As he was looking at him thus, he felt a +decided inclination to give the young man a hearty drubbing, or to +punish him in some other way for his superiority, as an elephant +sometimes may dream of the pleasure he would enjoy if he could hurl his +Carnac on the ground and trample upon him with his feet for a few +minutes. + +It was a few hours later. Only a few guests had remained in the "Dismal +Hole," where they had had very lively times--the excitement was intense +everywhere; beer was drunk by the cask, and speeches were made without +number and without end. They sat scattered about, in groups of three +and four persons, mostly people of rather peculiar appearance, such as +are only seen in large cities, and there also rarely or never in the +day-time and on the streets. Men in shabby, often fantastic costumes, +with dissipated and yet attractive features, and with eyes which now +blazed up in wild passion, and now gloated stolidly on vacancy--strange +figures, who tell the knowing eye without opening their lips long +stories of proud plans and childish deeds, of great talents and still +greater recklessness, of lofty pride and low disgrace, of senseless +dissipation and gnawing hunger, of incredible efforts condemned to end +like the labors of Sisyphus, and of an ambition leading only to the +sufferings of Tantalus, until efforts and ambition and every virtue, +nay, every good instinct, is drowned in the morass of apathetic +indifference. + +But these groups also gradually disappeared; one light after another +was put out by the poor girls, who had for the last hour been nodding +here and there in the corners, their pretty faces buried in their round +arms; and at last there was nobody left but Mr. Schmenckel, who was +asleep, drunk, on one of the sofas, and two other gentlemen who were +sitting with the landlady around one of the small tables over a bottle +of champagne. One of these men was Albert Timm, from Grunwald; the +other was a man of middle age, who had only come about an hour ago, and +whom Mrs. Rose had introduced to Mr. Timm as the brother of his +landlord in Grunwald, Mr. Jeremiah Goodheart. From his clothes and his +whole general appearance he might have been taken for a modest citizen +in tolerably good circumstances; a grocer, perhaps, or a tobacco +dealer; but in his small eyes, overshadowed by heavy eyebrows, there +was something that seemed to indicate that the occupation of the man +was not quite so harmless, or at least had not always been quite so +harmless. + +The three persons had been conversing very eagerly, and Mr. Timm now +summed up what had been said. + +"Then there are two questions," he said. "First we must get a peep at +the baptismal register at St. Mary's; or, better still, obtain a +certified copy of the entry; and, secondly, we must find the principal +personage in this comedy--I mean Mr. Oswald Stein." + +"But how do you know he is to be here?" asked the man with the odd +eyes. + +"I do not know it; I only presume so. He wrote me a week ago from Paris +that he could not support himself any longer there, and that he must +try to reach home before his money was at an end. It seems to me, +beyond all doubt, that he must have come here, where he had had +literary engagements when he was a student here, and where he has +therefore the best prospect of finding some means of support for +himself and his sweet one. Only I think he will not appear under his +true name, so as not to expose himself to disagreeable encounters with +the relations of the Baroness Cloten, who, I know, are still after him, +and would very soon find him out here. This might therefore be the more +difficult task of the two, unless accident, my faithful old ally, +should again come to my assistance." + +"That item you may quietly leave in the hands of my friend here," said +Mrs. Rosalie, familiarly placing her hand on the head of the man with +the odd eyes; "and now, gentlemen, I believe it is time we should part. +Tomorrow is another day. Yes; but what shall we do with the big fellow +there on the sofa, who has been drinking for twelve to-day?" + +"We shall have to carry him home, if you, fair lady, have not perhaps a +snug little place for him somewhere," replied Mr. Timm, with a look +full of meaning. + +"You scamp!" said the lady, pinching Mr. Timm's cheeks. "I will have to +stop you." + +"I hope so--with a kiss." + +"You scamp, you!" said the lady, evidently not unwilling to try the +experiment. + +Mr. Timm seemed to be afraid of it, for he suddenly turned to Mr. +Schmenckel and began to shake him, first gently, then more vigorously, +and at last as hard as he could. + +"Uff!" groaned the giant, half asleep yet; "let me go, I'll manage the +boy." + +"What will he do?" asked the man with the odd eyes. + +"Oh, he is talking in his sleep," said Mr. Timm, "give me a glass of +water, Lizzie; I believe that will wake him up." + +At last the colossus stood upright, but not without swaying to and fro +like a beacon in a storm. Still he could stand on his feet now, and, as +Mr. Goodheart happened to know where he lived, the task of carrying him +home seemed feasible. Mr. Timm seized him by one arm, the man with the +odd eyes by the other, and thus they managed to lift him up to the +cellar door and into the street. + +The night was as dark as a night can be when there are no stars +visible. The wind was sweeping mournfully through the deserted streets +and threatened to extinguish the few gas-lights that were still +burning. Mr. Schmenckel recovered in the fresh air somewhat, and +embraced his companions tenderly; then he vowed them eternal +friendship, and promised each of them a hundred thousand roubles as +soon as it should be fully established that Prince Waldenberg, whom he +had whipped that day under the Lindens, was really his own son. Thus +they reached the street, then the house, and at last even the little +bed-room in which Director Caspar Schmenckel, from Vienna, was residing +for the present. Mr. Schmenckel sank down upon his modest couch, and +his two companions left him, but not until Mr. Jeremiah had pulled out +a dark-lantern from his pocket and gone about, to Mr. Timm's great +astonishment, examining every corner of the room. What he found was not +much: iron balls, brass balls, sticks and staves of all kinds, drums +and trumpets, odds and ends, all in fearful disorder. + +"Now you must fill the measure of your kindness," said Timm, when they +were in the street again, "and tell me my way home. I live----" + +"White Horse, Falcon street, No. 43, back room," interrupted Mr. +Jeremiah Goodheart, closing his lantern and putting it back into his +pocket. + +"Are you the devil?" cried Mr. Timm, nervously retreating a step. "How +can you know where I live; I have told nobody." + +"Do you think so eloquent a speaker at the great meeting at the Booths +can long remain unknown to us?" said Mr. Goodheart. + +"To us? To whom?" asked Timm. + +"Never mind that. Anyhow, I would advise you to deliver your speaking +exercises rather within the four walls of your house, especially for +the sake of our little affair, which might be sadly interfered with if, +for instance, you should go to jail." + +"Pshaw!" said Timm; "do you think I covet the glory of a political +martyr? I have given the good people a speech because I like to talk; +and secondly, because I was angry at the fools." + +"All the better," said the other, dryly. + +As they were passing under a gas-light Timm cast a glance at his +companion, and all of a sudden he understood the enigmatical appearance +of the man, and the "us" which he had used. + +"Excuse me, Mr. Goodheart," he said. "I think I have heard your brother +say that you are a highly-valued member of the Secret Police. Is that +so?" + +The man with the odd eyes smiled. + +"You are a cunning fox," he said, "and have a keen scent. My brother, +to be sure, did not tell you any such thing, for he knows nothing about +it; nor did Rosalie tell you, for she knows it, but she has her reasons +not to speak of it; consequently----" + +"The evil one must have told me," interrupted Timm, quite restored to +his former sense of security by this proof of his ingenuity. "I think I +might have made a good detective." + +"That might depend on yourself alone." + +"How so?" + +The man with the odd eyes did not answer his question, but said, as +they had reached a corner of the street: + +"That is your way. I shall call at eleven o'clock. Then we will talk +the matter over more fully." + +The two men parted. Their footsteps were heard for a while down the +lonely streets, while the gray twilight was slowly rising over the +house-tops. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +In a fine room of a large private hotel in Broad street there sat, a +few days later, Melitta and Baron Oldenburg. A lamp was burning on the +table; lighted wax-candles were standing on the mantel-piece and on the +consoles. Frau von Berkow expected other visitors that night, and +Oldenburg had only availed himself of the privilege of an old friend to +come before the appointed time. + +"It seems to me you are very silent to-night, Adalbert," said Melitta, +putting her work on the table and turning with a kindly smile to +Oldenburg. "I talk to you of the children, how hearty the boy has +grown, and how pretty Czika looks in her fashionable dresses, and you +look--well, how do you look?" + +"Like the knight of the rueful countenance, most probably; at least I +feel so, from head to foot;" replied Oldenburg, rising and walking up +and down in the room. + +"Not exactly!" said Melitta. "I thought, on the contrary, you looked +very well in your brown paletot." + +"Jesting apart, Melitta, I am quite sad to-night." + +"That is a pretty compliment for me, who have made the long trip from +my home-nest to this tedious city only for your sake--you hear, sir, +only in order to give you what I thought would be a pleasant surprise +to you; bringing you the children too. For your sake, I say; so that we +might see and talk unobserved. For this reason only I have taken rooms +here at a private hotel, like a farmer's wife; and now, in return for +all this apparently wasted goodness and love, I am told: 'You might as +well have remained at home!'" + +"Do you believe it, Melitta? That thought has occurred to me really +more than once, yesterday and today!" + +"That is hard!" said Melitta, and her face showed that she did not +exactly know whether she ought to take Oldenburg's words as a jest or +in earnest. + +The baron did not leave her long in uncertainty. He sat down again by +her, seized her hand, and said: + +"My dear Melitta, my words may sound hard, but I ask you yourself, if +I, as a man, must not think and feel so. I need not assure you, I hope, +that I am heartily grateful to you for your kindness, for you know +that; or, at least, you ought to know it. Even that you do not mind +evil tongues for my sake I do not count for so much, since I know how +little the judgment of the world is worth; I have despised it all my +life. There is something else which prevents my enjoying your presence +here heartily, and I will tell you what that is. Look, Melitta: it is +natural to man to wish to work and to care for her whom he loves; more +than that, he likes to see the beloved one in a certain way dependent +on him; I mean on his strength, his courage, his wisdom. Many a warm +affection has died out simply because it was impossible to arrange +matters in this way, and many an affection is even now fading away for +the same reason. Thus it is with my love for you. As matters stand I +can only live for you, care and work for you, in trifles; but not at +every hour, every minute, as I must do, if I am to be happy. In the +country, where we, as neighbors, could often spend half of a day +together, without being observed and watched, it was easier; and yet, +even there, the feeling of my uselessness was so painful to me that I +was grateful for the political storm which drove me to Paris, where I +could at least imagine that nothing parted us but distance. But here, +in a large city, the painful feeling overcomes me; it looks to me as if +the moment at which we meet had been expressly chosen to show that the +relations between us are unnatural and false. We are standing here on a +volcano, which may break out every moment. The soil is trembling under +our feet, and before many days are passed we shall have seen unheard-of +things. I am not afraid of the end; on the contrary, I desire a +decision, for it is necessary and will do us good. But in order to +stand firm in days when our people are going to be in trouble and in +danger, in order to be a man in the full sense of the word, I must have +peace within me and that I cannot have as long as we stand thus. I +shall have no peace, Melitta, till you are mine, till we are one; till +I know that I speak and act and fight, and, if it must be, die for wife +and child! Melitta! in your own name, in my name, in all our names, I +ask you: Will you be at last my wife, after I have served you for more +years than Jacob served for Rachel?" + +The baron's voice trembled, although he evidently made a great effort +to speak as calmly and as convincingly as he could. He had bent over +Melitta, who held her beautiful head bowed low; when he paused she +looked up, and showed Oldenburg her pale, tear-flooded face. She said +in a low voice: + +"Would to God, Adalbert--for your sake, for my sake, for all our +sakes--I could answer you Yes!" + +"Why can you not do it?" + +"You know!" + +"But, Melitta, is the memory of the man whom you cannot possibly love +any longer, and of whom you say yourself that you do not love him any +longer, to part us forever? Have you not paid the penalty of your +wrong--if wrong it was to follow the impulse of a free heart--with a +thousand tears? Are you not now to me what you have always been? And, +if there must be a reckoning between us, have you not to forgive and +forget far more in me than I in you? Is it reasonable to sacrifice the +wife to a rigorous moral law, which the husband does not consider +binding? Who has made that unwise law? Not I; nor you. Why then should +you and I obey it? I tell you, the day of freedom, which is now +dawning, will blow all such self-imposed laws to the four winds, and +with them all the ordinances devised by a dark monkish prejudice to +fetter nature and to torment our hearts." + +"Whenever that day comes--and when it comes for me," replied Melitta, +"I will greet it with joy. If it is a mere notion which prevents me +from falling into your arms and from saying: Take me; I am yours, now +and forever!--have pity on me, it makes me suffer as much as yourself. +But Adalbert, I am a woman; and a woman can wait and hope for the day +of release, but she cannot fight for it. And until that day comes, +until I feel as free as I must be in order to be yours in honor, things +must remain as they are now." + +Melitta had said this with a low and sad but yet firm voice, and +Oldenburg felt that it would be cruel to press her further. He took her +hand, kissed it, and said, + +"Never mind, Melitta! I am patient. I know that you do not make me +suffer from obstinacy. That is enough for me. And then the day of +release which you wait for, and which we fight for, must come sooner or +later." + +At that moment old Baumann knocked and entered to announce the expected +visitors. Melitta passed her handkerchief over her face, while +Oldenburg advanced to greet Sophie, who entered with her husband and +Bemperlein by her side. + +Melitta and Sophie met to-night for the first time, but the meeting was +free from all ceremonious formality. The two ladies had heard so much +of each other (especially Sophie of Melitta) that they knew each other +down to the smallest details of their outward appearance, and then it +was natural to both of them to lay aside all restraint when they felt a +sympathetic attraction. Nevertheless they looked at each other with +much interest as they shook hands and exchanged the first words. Sophie +noticed that Melitta appeared much milder and gentler than she had +expected from the great lady; and Melitta observed, on the other hand, +that Sophie did not look half as serious and thoughtful as Bemperlein +had made her believe of the clever and highly educated daughter of the +privy councillor. Sophie saw also Baron Oldenburg for the first time, +and she cast from her seat on the sofa many a trying glance at the tall +man in black, who stood in the centre of the room talking to the two +gentlemen. He also had never seen her before, and, on his part, +observed carefully the two ladies. It struck him that both had an +abundance of soft, curling hair, and in that feature, as well as in the +cut of their large, expressive eyes, a certain resemblance like two +roses, of which one, the darker and fuller, has entirely opened its +calyx, while the other lighter one is but just unfolding the +delicately-colored leaves to the light of day. + +As a matter of course, Sophie was especially curious to see how +Oldenburg and Melitta would behave towards each other, for, in spite of +Bemperlein's assurances she had persisted in believing that there were +close relations between them. But Melitta was too much of a lady of the +great world, and Oldenburg had too much self-control, to show anything +more than a tone of perfect politeness and mutual esteem. + +There was no lack of topics for conversation in those days of great +excitement, when feverish restlessness had seized on all minds, because +all felt, more or less, the shadow of the coming events. Franz was not +a politician, properly speaking. His fondness for the Fine Arts, which +at first threatened to divide his strength, and then the study of his +great science which gave him finally peace and satisfaction, had left +him little time for politics. But he was liberal in all respects, and +besides, his profession had given him frequent opportunities to become +acquainted with the wants of the people themselves, and an insight +which had convinced him of the necessity of an entire change of social +relations. He was not quite as clear about the doctrine that this could +not be done without first changing the political forms of the state, +especially because his eye was more busy with details than with the +whole. "I am at heart a Republican," he was wont to say, "but I have no +desire to hear a Republic proclaimed, because I do not believe that +that would help us essentially as long as the evil is not taken hold of +at the root. But I see the root of the evil in the dark superstitions +which reverse nature and change men from free citizens of this earth +into helots of a supernatural world." + +Franz expressed himself in this sense to-night also to Oldenburg, but +he found him a decided adversary. + +"I believe, doctor," said the latter, "that you attach too little +importance to the results obtained by a well-ordered commonwealth--_res +publica_, ladies, the Romans used to call it--and to the difference +between a sensible and an unwise form of government. I wish you could +have heard the discussions I have had with Professor Berger, speaking +of the sad character of a time which produces hardly anything else but +problematic characters." + +"Where is the professor?" asked Bemperlein. "I had half promised Mrs. +Braun that she should meet her father's old friend." + +"I cannot tell you," said Melitta; "do you know, Oldenburg?" + +"No; I lost him at the meeting at the Booths from my arm, and could not +find him again in the crowd. I am quite sure, however, that he will yet +come." + +"Problematic characters!" repeated Franz, who had been so absorbed in +his thoughts that he had not heard the last words. "Do you know, baron, +that when I heard that expression of Goethe's the first time it was in +connection with your name, and from the lips of a man who was once very +dear to me, and in whom you also, as far as I know, once took a very +lively interest? You need not beat the devil's tattoo on the table, +Bemperlein; I know that you, who are generally as gentle as a lamb, +have talked yourself into a most unchristian hatred against Oswald +Stein, and I only mention our former friend because he, as well as his +teacher, Berger, appeared to me always as a type of such problematic +characters." + +As Franz had not the least suspicion of Oswald's former relations to +Melitta, to Oldenburg, and to Bemperlein, he did not notice the blush +which suddenly spread over Melitta's cheeks so that she bent low over +her work in order to conceal it; and the vehemence with which +Bemperlein exclaimed: "I should think, Franz, that man does not deserve +being mentioned here," only excited his opposition. + +"Do you too think so, baron?" he said, turning to Oldenburg; "would you +relentlessly condemn a man whose greatest misfortune it probably was to +have been born in these days?" + +"No," said Oldenburg, calmly and solemnly; "I have not yet forgotten +the old word, that we must not judge if we do not wish to be judged. I +have always sincerely admired the brilliant talents which nature has +lavished upon that man, and I have as sincerely regretted that a mind +so richly endowed should, like a luxuriant tree, bear only sterile +blossoms, which can produce no fruit whatever." + +While Oldenburg spoke thus his eyes had been steadily fixed on Melitta, +who had raised her face once more and now looked as eagerly up to him +as if she wished to read him to the bottom of his soul. Franz was still +too warmly interested in Oswald to be really satisfied by Oldenburg's +words. He replied, therefore, in his earnest, hearty manner: + +"I was sure you would judge Stein fairly. I have heard Stein himself +quote you too often not to know how fully you understood the peculiar +condition of his mind, and your intimacy with Berger was a guaranty for +me that you are a physician for the sick, and not for the healthy, who, +Bemperlein, need no physician. Berger and Stein are two characters +strikingly alike in talents and temper. How else could they have formed +so close a friendship, with their great difference in age?--a +friendship which, I fear, has contributed more than anything else to +develop in Oswald those eccentricities which sooner or later must lead +him to insanity or suicide." + +"But don't you see, Franz," said Bemperlein, who was always +particularly tenacious in matters connected with Oswald, "that Berger +has successfully rid himself of the alp of his disease, which was +evidently more bodily than mental, and has thus shown that there is a +very different energy in him from Stein?" + +"Do not praise the day before the evening comes!" replied Franz. "I +desire, of course, as anxiously as either of you, the complete recovery +of Professor Berger; but I am bound to say, as a medical man, that I do +not consider a relapse yet out of question. And if I am not mistaken, +Bemperlein, you mentioned only last night that my father-in-law had +expressed himself in the same manner?" + +"But would not that be fearful?" said Melitta. + +"I do not say, madame, that it will be so; I only say it may be so." + +"Have you lately noticed anything peculiar in Berger?" asked Melitta, +turning to Oldenburg. + +"Yes!" said the latter, after some hesitation. "I cannot deny that his +manner has seemed to me lately much more excited than before. Since the +revolution in February, in which, you know, he took an active part, he +seems to be undermined by a kind of feverish impatience, which often +reminds me of the restlessness of a lion who walks growling up and down +behind the bars of his cage. Minutes seem to grow into hours to him, +and hours into days. I have told him in vain that the history of great +ideas counts only by thousands of years. 'I have no time,' is his +invariable answer. 'If you had, like myself, wandered forty years +through the desert, you would comprehend the longing of the weary +pilgrim to breathe at last the air of the promised land. This delaying +and deferring, this hesitating and halting, will cause me to despair.' +But, gentlemen, what is that?" + +All listened. From afar off there came a low but steady sound, louder +than the rattling of carriages. + +"That is the beating to arms!" said Oldenburg, and his cheeks flushed +up. "I know the sound; I heard it just so on the evening of the +twenty-third of February, along the _Boulevard des Capucins_." + +Oldenburg had hardly said these words, and they were all rising to go +to the window, when the door was hastily opened, and a man rushed in, +whom they found it difficult to recognize as Berger. His long gray hair +hung in matted locks around his head; his face and beard were covered +with blood, which seemed to come from a wound in his forehead; his coat +was torn to pieces, as if sharp instruments had cut and pierced it in +different places. His eyes were glowing, his breath came with an +effort, as he stepped close up to the table and, gazing at the company, +said, in a hoarse voice, + +"Up! up! You sit and talk, while without your brothers and your sisters +are murdered! Up! up! With these our bare hands we will turn aside +their bayonets and strangle these executioners." + +"He is fainting," cried Franz, seizing Berger, who had already while he +was yet speaking begun to sway to and fro, and now broke down +completely. + +The men ran up and carried their fainting friend to a sofa. + +"Some cologne, madame," said Franz; "thank you. Do not be afraid; it +amounts to nothing this time, but I fear for the future." + +They all stood around the patient, whose breathing became more quiet in +proportion as the beating of the drums became more subdued in the +streets. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +While the small company in Frau von Berkow's rooms in the second story +had been so suddenly and so terribly startled, there was a young lady +sitting quietly in a room a story higher, who had only arrived at the +house a few hours before with her husband (at least they took the young +man who had accompanied her to be her husband). As the luggage was +marked "Paris," and the gentleman had spoken French to the lady, the +people of the house took it for granted that they were French, +especially as the hotel was always full of French travellers. Mrs. +Captain Black, the owner of the hotel, had herself shown the strangers +to their rooms, and as the young lady seemed to be tired and suffering, +she had asked her very kindly if she could do anything for madame? The +young man (the young lady did not open her lips) had asked her to send +up some tea, but declined all other assistance. Soon afterwards the +young man had left the house. + +He had not been gone five minutes when a cab, which had been waiting at +a little distance up the street ever since the strangers had arrived, +drove up to the house. A young man stepped out and asked the porter if +a gentleman and a lady who had arrived from Paris perhaps a quarter of +an hour ago were at home? When the porter replied that the gentleman +had just left, remarking he would be back in an hour, but that madame +was, as far as he knew, in her rooms. The young man asked him to show +him up at once. The porter--a man of great experience--saw that the +young man, who evidently belonged to the higher classes of society, was +in a state of great excitement; and as nine o'clock at night did not +seem to him the most suitable hour for visiting a lady who, besides, +was alone in her room, he replied that he did not think the lady could +be seen now. Would not the gentleman be pleased to call again to-morrow +morning? + +"I am in a great hurry," said the young man; "I--I must see the young +lady--on family business. Will you be good enough to inquire if she +receives company, and carry this--this card?" he added, after some +reflection. + +With these words he took a small card-case from his pocket and gave the +porter a card. It had on it the name of Adolphus Baron Breesen. + +The young man's hand trembled so violently as he gave him the card, and +his face looked so pale and disturbed, that the porter was more +convinced than ever that all was not right, and that the interview of +the newcomer with the French lady was probably possible only at the +expense of the gentleman who had gone out. + +"Why, I forgot," he said; "there is the key! They are both out." + +The young man still held the case in his hand. + +"I am sure," he said, drawing a gold-piece from a side pocket and +slipping it into the porter's hand, "that the lady is at home, and that +she will receive me when she sees the card." + +The porter was an honest man, but he had a large family, and to-morrow +the school-money for his two eldest children was due. + +"Third story, second door in the passage, on the left," he said, +grumbling. + +The young man did not wait for more. He ran up, taking three steps at +once, and knocked at the door. + +"_Entrez!_" answered a low voice. + +When her companion had left her, to take a stroll through the streets, +the young lady had remained seated where she was, immoveable, her head +supported in one of her hands, and the other hanging listlessly by her +side. The light of the two wax candles on the table fell bright upon +her face. The face was evidently a lovely one when it beamed with joy +and exuberant spirits, as it was wont to do; but now it was pale, and +disfigured by much weeping. The large gray eyes stared fixedly at the +ground, the beautifully arched brows were painfully contracted, and the +lips closed firmly. Mechanically she said "_Entrez!_" when the waiter +knocked to bring tea; she did not even look up while he set the things +upon the table; and he had to ask twice if she had any more orders +before she answered a short "No!" She had totally forgotten that he had +been there as soon as the door closed behind him, and when another +knock came she said, quite as mechanically as before, "_Entrez!_" + +"Emily!" + +The young lady started up with a cry, and stared with wide-open eyes at +the young man who stood before her, as if she had been suddenly roused +from a deep sleep and did not know whether she were still in a dream or +saw what was real before her. + +"Emily!" the young man said once more, and opened his arms. + +"Adolphus!" she cried, and threw herself on his breast. + +The two held each other embraced as they had done in the days of their +childhood when the brother came home during vacations, and the sister +had gone to meet him at the park gate. + +But the days of childhood's innocence were long past. Emily tore +herself from her brother's arms, and cried, stretching out her hands as +if to keep him away from her, + +"Where do you come from? What do you want here?" + +"Can you ask that, Emily?" he replied, sadly; "What I want here? You! +Where I come from? From Paris; where I have searched for you months and +months; where I found a trace of you at last, just as you were leaving +town, and from whence I have followed you from town to town, from hotel +to hotel, without ever succeeding in finding you alone. Not that I am +afraid of him!" said the young man, unconsciously drawing himself up +proudly to his full height, "but I wanted to speak to you kindly and +gently, and I knew I should not be able to do that in his presence." + +Adolphus approached his sister to seize her hand. She stepped back. + +"What do you want of me?" she murmured. + +"Emily!" he said, sadly; "is that your old love? Emily! child! come to +yourself! What else can I want of you than to free you of these chains, +which must have long since become intolerable to you! Oh, do not say +no! I see it in your eyes, I see it in your dear, pale face, that you +are very unhappy! Emily, sister! darling sister! come with me! By our +old father, who is dying for grief and sorrow; by the memory of our +sainted mother; by all you hold sacred, I beseech you, come with me!" + +Emily had thrown herself into a corner of the sofa, sobbing and hiding +her face in her hands. Adolphus knelt down before her. He took both of +her hands in his own; he kissed her brow and hair and eyes; he spoke to +her with that eloquence which even the simplest of men find when their +heart is full of true love. He told her that he did not mean to carry +her back to her husband, whom he could not respect, and whom she had +married against his wishes; that she should not even return home if she +did not wish it; that he would take her to Italy--anywhere. He tried +every chord in her soul which he thought would vibrate under his touch, +but for a long time it was all in vain. + +"I cannot leave him!" she repeated over and over again, amid tears and +sobs. + +"But, for Heaven's sake, Emily!" cried the young man, "is it possible +that such a folly can last so long? Is it possible that you still love +this man?" + +"Yes; yes! I love him; love him better than I ever did before!" + +Adolphus started up and paced the room for some time. Then he came once +more to Emily and said, + +"I must believe it, since you say so; but Emily, upon your honor--for +it is your honor now which is at stake--answer me this question: Are +you as sure of his love?" + +Emily's only answer was more violent sobs; and crying bitterly, she +shook her head. + +"Oh God!" said Adolphus bitterly; "have you fallen so low that you +follow a man who no longer loves you? to whom you are a burden? who +would give much to get rid of you again? Is this my proud sister? Well, +well! I shall have to break my coat of arms, and to cast down my eyes +before every wretched creature in the streets, and take it in silence +if anybody calls me a coward!" + +The young man beat his forehead with his hand, and tears of wrath and +shame filled his eyes. + +Emily started up from the sofa. + +"Come!" she said hurriedly. "Come! You are right! I am a burden to him. +He will be glad to get rid of me. Come!" + +"God be thanked!" said Adolphus. + +"Let us go this instant!" cried Emily, following up her resolve of the +moment in her usual passionate manner. "I do not wish to see him again. +I will write to him----" + +"Yes, yes!" said Adolphus. "Here is a leaf from my pocket-book; pen and +ink are here. Write to him, but just a few words." + +Emily sat down at the table; but she had only written a few words when +she broke out once more in violent weeping. + +"Oh God! Oh God!" she said, dropping her pen; "I cannot do it." + +"Let me do it," said Adolphus, taking the pen; "I will do it. In the +meantime get your cloak; I shall be done in a moment." + +While Emily was getting ready, Adolphus wrote rapidly a few lines. He +was not generally very expert in such things, but now the words came, +as it were, by themselves. + +"Are you ready?" + +"Yes!" + +They went down. No one met them. + +Adolphus gave the porter the keys to the rooms. + +"Tell the gentleman, when he comes home, that the lady has gone out and +will probably not come back again." + +Adolphus had put Emily into a cab. + +The cab drove up with unusual rapidity. + +"Hem!" murmured the porter, as he hung the key to No. 36 again on its +hook on the board; "I thought at once it would be so. Well, I cannot +keep the people if they must needs run away." + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +In William street, the real Faubourg St. Germain of the great city, +Prince Waldenberg's head steward had bought shortly before New Year one +of the largest and finest town mansions, the owner of which had +recently died. The prince himself, who came soon afterwards from +Grunwald, had superintended the inner arrangements, and pushed them so +rapidly, in spite of the magnificent style in which they were carried +on, that he could move in with his numerous household before the end of +January. He took one wing for himself; the other wing remained +unoccupied, as he did not wish to anticipate the desires and the good +taste of his betrothed, who was to leave Grunwald with her mother in +the beginning of the month and to come to Berlin. The upper story, +however, was full of workmen and upholsterers. Here his mother, the +princess, was to stay and to receive company. + +He was gratified to see this part of the house also fully furnished and +ready for her reception when he left the town on the first of March for +the harbor of Stettin, where the steamer from St. Petersburg was +expected in a day or two. At the same time his steward had engaged a +suite of rooms at the Hotel de Russie, Unter den Linden, for his +father, Count Malikowsky, who was expected from Munich. + +It was the same evening on which the above mentioned events had taken +place in the furnished lodgings in Broad street. + +In one of the magnificent rooms of the Hotel Waldenberg, in a +well-padded easy-chair, which had been moved quite close up to the +bright fire burning in the fire-place, the Princess Letbus was +reclining. The prince stood by her, bending his tall form down to her, +as if to spare his mother even the trouble of speaking loud. As the +fire was blazing up brighter, so that brilliant flashes of light fell +upon the two figures, the group with its background of tall mirrors and +costly pictures would have formed a superb subject for the hand of a +modern Rembrandt. It would not have been easy to find two more striking +representatives of frail womanly beauty and overpowering male strength +than the forms of mother and son. While the latter, with his broad +shoulders and long muscular arms, looked as if he were made to perform +the labors of Hercules, the lady, sitting bent and drooping, and +wrapped up in costly furs in spite of the blazing fire, might have +suggested that even the weight of a fly could have been troublesome to +her. Nor was there any resemblance to be traced in the features. +Although the lips were languid and the cheeks faded; and although the +brow of the lady, who could hardly be over forty, looked narrow between +the sunken temples and beneath the dark hair with its numerous silver +threads, the connoisseur could still see that these lips and these +cheeks must have once been of surpassing beauty, and that the hair once +upon a time furnished a frame of glorious curls around a blooming face +of marvellous perfection. The large black eyes were very beautiful +still, when she raised her long silken eye-lashes, which she ordinarily +held drooping, and a deeper emotion brought back for a moment the fire +which had shone in them in days gone by, with too great lavishness, +perhaps, and fatal danger. There could have been no stronger contrast +with this soft melting beauty than the low forehead of the prince, half +hid under thick, crisp curly hair, which stood in perfect harmony with +the coarse though energetic lines of his face. And yet in spite of this +thorough difference in their physical natures, mother and son felt for +each other a tender affection, which in the former almost rose to +enthusiasm, and in the latter formed almost the only sentiment which +acted as a counterpoise to his boundless pride, and the prevailing +passion of his energetic but unintelligent mind. + +"Good-by, dear mamma," said the prince, bending still lower, and +carrying his mother's feeble hand to his lips. "It is time for me to +go, if I do not mean to be too late at the station; the train will be +in." + +"Adieu, my dear son," replied the princess. "Welcome your betrothed in +my name. Tell her she will find a second mother here. Has the count +consented to be present when the ladies come?" + +"Yes, dear mamma." + +"Well, then, my dear son, go with God; and may He bless your going out +and coming in!" + +She breathed a kiss on the brow of the prince, who then arose and +noiselessly stepped on the thick carpet to the door. + +The princess remained deeply imbedded in her easy-chair after her son +had left her. There were evidently no pleasant thoughts passing through +her mind at that moment, for her features became darker and darker, and +the black eyes stared more fixedly than ever at the blaze in the +fire-place, so that they shone like weird fires in the flickering +light, and contrasted almost painfully with the pale face. At last a +shudder seemed to pass over her and to rouse her; she rang the tiny +silver bell that stood close by her on the little buhl table. + +Immediately her first waiting-woman, Nadeska, entered the room. + +Nadeska was a serf, who had grown up with the princess, and gradually +made herself indispensable to her mistress by her pliant submission, +and especially by her perfect skill in carrying on all kinds of +intrigue. The princess had, in her somewhat stormy youth, required the +assistance of such a person; and when she became afterwards a devotee, +being sick in body and soul, she was not disposed to dismiss a servant +who had always been near her person, and knew, therefore, all her +secrets in their minutest detail. And, besides, Nadeska had always been +faithful to her, and even made many a sacrifice for her. Only once, in +one of the most serious difficulties to which the princess had been +exposed by her evil inclinations, had she suspected her of having +played false. But Nadeska had sworn by all the saints of the almanac; +and as there was no evidence against her, her mistress had at last +received her back again in her favor. + +"What does your grace desire?" asked Nadeska, in a tone of voice which +betrayed, through all its deep respectfulness, a certain familiarity. + +"Have the candles lit in the rooms, Nadeska; and, you hear, let all the +servants be called together to receive the ladies in the great hall. +Whom will you give them for their personal attendants?" + +"I thought Katinka, Mademoiselle Virginie; and, among the German girls, +Mary and Louisa." + +"Very well. You will receive the ladies yourself at the door, and show +them to their rooms." + +"Has your grace any other orders?" + +"No, Nadeska." + +The woman courtesied and went to the door. When she was quite near it, +the princess called her back. She came again to her chair. + +"Did you notice the count this morning, Nadeska?" + +"Yes, your grace." + +"Did you observe anything particular?" + +"He looked more dandyish, and was rouged more than formerly." + +"Nothing else?" + +"No!" + +"Nadeska, I am terribly afraid he is plotting against us." + +"You have always feared so, your grace, every time the count has come +to see you; and you are especially afraid now, because you were +positive he would not accept the invitation of the prince." + +"Well, does it not look like mockery that he is coming? What does he +want here? But that is not all. He asked me yesterday again for an +enormous sum of money." + +"Which I hope you gave him." + +"No, Nadeska; my patience is exhausted, as well as my exchequer. +Michail tells me he cannot procure the money." + +"He must get it. Consider how much is at stake!" + +"But this tyranny is intolerable!" cried the princess, and her large +black eyes shone in the reflex of the fire like burning coals. + +Nadeska shrugged her shoulders. + +"What can you do? You know the count hates you as much as the prince. +If he does not indulge his hate, and if he does not utter the single +word which would part mother and son forever, it is not from fear of +the disgrace--when has the count ever minded disgrace?--but from fear +of poverty, which he hates still more. Let him find out to-day that his +silence is to be no longer profitable to him, and to-morrow he will +speak!" + +The princess knew that her confidante was perfectly right, and she +groaned like a tortured prisoner, pressing her thin hands upon each +other. + +"Oh, Nadeska! Nadeska!" she whined; "why did the count come home at +that unlucky moment! Why did you leave your post at that very hour, +which was the decisive hour? If I had only had five minutes' warning +the count would have found me alone, and with all the suspicions he +might have, there would have been no more evidence then than at any +previous time." + +Nadeska was standing by the side of her mistress and a little back of +her. This enabled her to make a scornful face before she replied, + +"Your grace will pardon me, but _this_ time there was evidence, even +without the sudden coming of the count. It was certainly an ugly +accident that the birth of the prince took place just nine months after +a strange man had thrown his father out of the window of his own +bedroom!" + +The remembrance of this tragi-comic accident dispelled for a moment the +melancholy of the princess. The half-ludicrous, half-horrible scenes of +that mad night passed very clearly before her mind's eye, and the image +of the hero of the night--the man of the people, whom she, the +high-born princess, had honored so highly--reappeared to her as he had +appeared then, the beau ideal of exuberant vigor and manhood. + +"I wonder if he is still alive?" she asked, quite lost in her +recollection. + +"Who, your grace?" asked Nadeska, who knew perfectly well of whom her +mistress was thinking. + +The princess made no reply, and Nadeska began noiselessly to light the +candles in all the rooms. Gradually a voluptuous twilight spread over +the salon in which the princess was, which grew brighter and brighter +without losing its soft characters, for all the lights were burning in +rosy shades. This was the only light which the irritable nerves of the +princess could endure; and even during the day, which generally only +began for her in the afternoon, the windows were invariably darkened +with rosy curtains. Scoffers maintained that the princess avoided a +bright light merely because her faded features and injured complexion +could not well be exposed to bright day-light. + +Nadeska had just lighted the last candle when the maid on duty slipped +into the room and whispered something into her ear, for no message was +brought directly to the princess. + +"What is it, Nadeska?" asked the latter. + +"The count wishes to see you," replied her confidante. + +The princess trembled. + +"What can he want?" she said. "He ought to be at the railway station." + +"He probably mistook the hour." + +"Maybe! Let him come; but stay in the room." + +Upon a nod from Nadeska the maid went out, after waiting humbly at the +door. Immediately a gentleman entered rapidly. + +He was a tall, slender man, dressed with exquisite taste, who looked at +the first glance as if he might be twenty-five, and grew older and +older the longer one looked at him, until at last one was disposed to +think him sixty years old. This required, however, a very careful +examination, as his mask was finished down to the minutest details. His +black hair and brows, his curly beard, his snow-white teeth, his broad +shoulders and full hips, were triumphs of art; and if his valet had +been able to give a little lustre to his eyes, to calm the paralytic +trembling of his hands, and to remove the bad, tiny wrinkles which lay +like diminutive snakes around his eyes. Count Ladislaus Malikowsky +might still have been a dangerous man for women, at least for a certain +class. He had been irresistible when a young man; but now nothing was +left him of his youth but an insatiate desire for enjoyment, and a +reckless profligacy, which went hand in hand with the cool, calculating +prudence of old age. + +This disgusting caricature of youth approached the princess, kissed her +hand courteously, and said, while sinking carefully into one of the +arm-chairs before the fire: + +"You wonder, Alexandrina, that I do not appear with the others----" + +"Indeed I do." + +"Do not think it a want of consideration for the betrothed of my +son"--the count uttered the last word with a peculiar accent, and never +without showing his false, white teeth--"on the contrary, it is the +very interest I take in the welfare of the young couple which brings me +here, I may say, out of breath. A discovery which I have made--but, +Alexandrina, may I beg that that person may leave the room; my +communication is strictly confidential," whispered the count, bending +over towards the princess. + +"Leave us alone, Nadeska; but stay in the ante-room," said the +princess. + +"Alexandrina," said the count, when Nadeska had gone into the adjoining +room to place her ear to the key-hole, "you were not disposed yesterday +to help me in my embarrassment. I have lost heavily at cards, and my +exchequer is exhausted. Well I might have been offended by your +refusal, especially considering the peculiar relations existing between +us. But for my part I know how to do with little, and I should not +like, for anything in the world, to be troublesome to you, or to my son +[here the white teeth actually shone]. I am all the more sorry, +therefore, to have to appeal once more to you, not for myself in this +case, but for one who has stronger claims than I have." + +"I am not so fortunate as to guess even the meaning of your words," +replied the princess, sinking back into her chair with half-closed +eyes. + +"Perhaps," said the count, drawing from his coat-pocket a letter, which +he opened slowly, as his hands were tightly encased in close-fitting +kid-gloves--"perhaps this letter, which was handed me half an hour ago +by a young man, may give you the desired explanation. Permit me to read +it to you." + +The count did not wait for an answer, but adjusted his gold eye-glasses +on his nose, and read, glancing every now and then over the paper at +the princess: + +"Most noble count:--At a moment when his highness, Prince Waldenberg, +is bringing home his fair betrothed, the Baroness Helen Grenwitz, to +present her to his mother, the princess, it cannot be but desirable +that all the members of the family should be united by that harmony +without which even less important festivities are often very sadly +interrupted. You yourself, most noble count, set an example, when you +kindly dropped a veil over certain events which took place in the +night, from the 21st to the 22d November, 1820, in the Letbus mansion +in St. Petersburg. I should like to follow your example, if +circumstances permitted. But I have no alternative, and see myself +compelled to present my business personally to you, or to trouble +certain persons with it, who have special reasons for keeping certain +matters a secret from his highness the prince. I beg leave, therefore, +to address myself to his excellency, Count Malikowsky, as the most +suitable person for an arrangement, with the request that immediately +fifty thousand roubles in silver be paid me by his bankers in town; if +not, I shall see myself compelled to present my request in person to +his highness the prince. + +"In the meanwhile (which I beg to limit to eight days from to-day) I +remain, etc., etc., etc., + + "Director Caspar Schmenckel, from Vienna. + +"P.S.--If you should prefer to negotiate directly with me, I may be +found every evening after 7 o'clock in the 'Dismal Hole,' Gertrude +street. No. 15. The same." + +"Well, what do you say, Alexandrina?" snarled the count, letting his +eye-glass drop, and putting the letter back in his pocket. + +"That the whole thing is a poor invention of yours." + +"_Comment?_" exclaimed the count, with an astonishment which was not +affected in this case. + +"Do you really think, sir," said the princess, trembling with rage and +secret fear, "there is a particle of truth in the whole thing, and that +I would be caught in such an ill-made snare? That I do not see what it +all means? That you have only thought of this impudent invention +because I am unwilling to waste the rest of my fortune upon your mad +dissipation?" + +"Really, Alexandrina. Hearing you speak so, one might actually believe +your conscience was as clean as my gloves. Why, you are blinded by +anger, my dearest! Please observe, this letter contains things of which +I have no idea, nor can have an idea, _e. g._, the name of the good man +in question. You know I have never been so happy as to hear yet whose +blood flows in the veins of my son" (the count's teeth were glittering +in a perfectly frightful manner); "and besides, you have an infallible +means to ascertain the genuineness of this letter. Send for the writer! +Twenty-one years will hardly have changed him so much that you should +not recognize him." + +"You think I am not going to do that? You are mistaken. I insist upon +your bringing me this man of straw, with whom you wish to frighten me. +Give me the letter." + +"_Avec le plus grand plaisir!_" replied the count "There! But, +Alexandrina, I hope the interview will take place in my presence, or I +shall not be able to contain myself for jealousy." + +"Devil!" + +"Oh, my angel! Do you call the man so to whom you owe so much?" + +"Owe so much? to you? I, who picked you up from the gutter?" + +"But I have given you my good name." + +"Good name! A name dragged through every mean vice, and every blackest +sin----" + +"And yet good enough for the friend and----" + +"Have a care!" + +"Why? The heavens are high, and the czar is afar off. But you are quite +right in demanding that too much importance should not be attached to +this connection. The whole world knows pretty well that, in some +respects, no rank or position came amiss to you." + +"That goes too far. I----" + +"Keep quiet, _ma chere_! I hear a carriage coming. No doubt, our dear +ones. We must give them an example of conjugal love." + + * * * * * + +It was perhaps two hours later. Helen was wandering restlessly up and +down in her superb room. Nadeska had left her, and the baroness, +fatigued by the journey, had retired to her chamber. Helen could not +sleep. Her soul was oppressed by an indescribable anxiety, which was +all the more painful because so vague. She felt in the midst of all the +splendor by which she was surrounded like a child in an enchanted +castle, where in every corner into which the light does not penetrate +fully, and behind every silk curtain gently waving in a current of air, +some unspeakable horror might be lurking. Was this the realization of +her proudest hopes? She could not get rid of the impression made upon +her by her reception in the salon of the princess. She still felt her +icy-cold lips on her forehead; she still saw the repulsive, impudent +smile of the count and the dark frown of the prince. It was an +uncomfortable spirit that dwelt in this house. And she had surrendered +herself to this spirit; she had sacrificed to it her freedom, her young +girl's dreams, her future! And what was she to gain in return! High +rank, great wealth--how little all that seemed to her at this moment! +How willingly she would have given it all up for the mere shadow of the +unspeakable happiness she had enjoyed last summer, when she stepped +from her cool apartments into the golden morning light of the park, and +slowly sauntered about between the bright flowers, expecting at every +turn around a shrub or a bosquet to meet Oswald! How far, how +irrecoverably far, this was lying behind her! As far as the paradise of +her childish years, which no longing of ours, no return of spring, can +bring back to us! She was quite surprised, herself, that all her +thoughts were wandering back to-day to Grenwitz; that a thousand little +scenes, which she thought she had long forgotten, came back to her now: +a walk with Bruno and Oswald through the fields when the evening sun +was hanging low, like a huge ball of fire, near the horizon, and bright +lights were playing fitfully over the golden grain, while the larks +were jubilant high above them in the deep blue of the heavens. And +again, one hot afternoon, when she had fallen asleep on a bench in a +shady avenue in the garden, tired by the monotonous humming and +whizzing of insects, she awoke at the moment when somebody--it was +Bruno--was placing a wreath of dark-red roses on her head, while a few +steps from them, somebody else--it was Oswald--was peeping from behind +a tree. And ever it was Bruno and Oswald who gave life to the idyllic +picture--Elysian forms in Elysian fields. Oh, were not both dead? Helen +had suffered indescribably when Oswald's elopement with Emily had +become the common gossip of Grunwald; for only now, when a whole world +parted him from her, she felt how dear this man had been to her. She +tried, it is true, to master her passion and to be reconciled to her +fate, which she had after all brought upon herself. But she caught +herself only too frequently comparing her betrothed with Oswald, a +comparison which invariably resulted in the conviction that the former +lacked everything which had made Oswald so attractive: the graceful, +elegant carriage, the bright and yet so tender eyes, the deep voice +with its gentle music, the ever-changing and ever-interesting +expression of his face. She had never felt as deeply as this evening +how little her heart had to say to her betrothed. She recollected with +a shudder that when the drums had beat in the streets, when the war of +the excited multitude had been heard from afar, and the prince had +started up to hasten to his post, she had felt only that this gave her +a good opportunity to retire to her rooms. + +And the poor girl's heart grew heavier and her eyes dimmer. She thought +she was thoroughly wretched; she pitied herself that she was so alone +and had no one to share her sorrow. But had she not prepared her +isolation herself? Had she not repelled good people, who had come to +her with open hearts, by her cool politeness? How she now wished for +good old Miss Bear; for clever, cordial Sophie Roban! But was not +Sophie in town? Might she not look up the friend whom she had +so sadly neglected during the last days in Grunwald? Helen clung +to this thought, while she hid her beautiful face in the silken +cushions;--proud Helen! who looked as if she could go on her path, +lonely, like a bright star, unconcerned about the doings of poor men +far down in their humble huts! + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +The excitement in town grew daily. In vain were troops massed by whole +brigades, and held ready day and night in their barracks; in vain every +assembly was dispersed with the bayonet, and the loudest criers +arrested. Every day brought new and more serious disturbances. The +assemblages of the people, especially on the large public squares near +the palace, became more formidable; the threatening cries and +whistlings and cheers of the masses were heard more frequently; and the +soldiers, maddened by their incessant duties, could less and less +resist the terribly provoking irritation. Paving stones on one side, +and drawn swords on the other, encountered each other daily and hourly. +The number of more or less seriously wounded persons which were carried +to the public hospitals had become considerable. The last evening had +been especially fearful. A detachment of cuirassiers of the guards, +galloping forward with loose reins and drawn swords, had driven a large +crowd of people into one of the smaller streets that opened upon the +square near the palace, and at the other end a picket of dragoons +prevented escape. There ensued a scene of fearful confusion and +consternation in the crowd, thus hemmed in on both sides, while the men +were forcing their horses pitilessly into the thickest, striking right +and left with their heavy swords. The howl of anguish of women and +children, mingled with the cries of rage of the men, and the curses of +the soldiers, while imprecations and threats came down from the windows +of the houses, where peaceful men were frightened at their quiet work. +The commotion quickly spread further and further, and even in remote +parts of the city groups were formed in the streets, when the report +came that the imperial city on the Danube, generally looked upon as +thoughtless and frivolous, had had a complete revolution, and that the +oldest master of diplomacy, the cunning ruler of a whole generation of +men, had at last been driven from the scene of his triumphs. A thousand +cheers arose when the good news was proclaimed, and the great results +which a month before would have been looked upon as impossible, were +made known in detail. They asked one another why they should submit any +longer to misrule and ill-treatment by a privileged caste, if it +required but a firm resolve to establish freedom and equality among +them. + +While thus even the most indifferent were gradually drawn into the +whirlpool of the revolution, one man sat in apathetic calmness in his +room, unconcerned about what was going on around him. + +When Oswald returned the night before, after wandering aimlessly +through the crowded streets, and found his room empty and Emily's +letter on the table, he had laughed out so loud that an old lady who +had been living next door for twelve years was frightened out of her +first slumbers. Then he had thrown himself on the sofa. He was too +wearied and exhausted to be able to sleep. But after a while he started +up with a cry. He had dreamt that he was walking with Emily arm in arm +by the side of a precipice, whispering of love and caressing her hand, +and suddenly she had fallen away from his side down into the deep, from +rock to rock into fearful abysses, from which now cries for help and +groans of anguish were rising up to him. Oswald tried in vain to shake +off the horrible image; it had imprinted itself too deeply on his +over-excited mind. He would have sought rest and oblivion in sleep, but +he felt no longer tired. A thousand thoughts and images were chasing +each other wildly through his head, and he found himself unable to lay +the weird ghosts. He could only look on. Scenes of former days ran into +events of recent date, and the fat gentleman who had been in their +coupe from the last station suddenly changed into the public crier of +his native town, whose big bell he had followed often as a boy. + +Oswald made a violent effort to rouse himself. He rang the bell and +ordered the fire to be rekindled. Then he sat down before the blaze and +recalled the first evenings at Paris, as they were sitting in their +modest lodgings in the fifth story of a house in the Quartier Latin +before the fire-place, and congratulated each other that at last they +were "at home." They had tried to make each other forget their troubles +and anxieties by jesting and caressing, and forming a hundred bright +plans for the future. But the golden, hopeful future had become a dark, +comfortless present; the jests had ceased, and the caresses had become +colder and colder. And then came evenings when Oswald came home out of +sorts and out of temper, having in vain called upon publishers who +"could not avail themselves of" his manuscripts; when he found Emily in +tears, and had to tell himself that he and he only was responsible for +these tears. Then came wretched scenes, when regret at their own folly +sought concealment under reproaches and accusations of fickleness and +heartlessness, and the tender little flower of love was ruthlessly +trodden under foot in the fierce encounter. And yet it had always been +Emily who, good-natured and light-hearted as she was, and full of +tender love for Oswald, had offered her hand to make peace. "I do not +reproach you," she had often said; "I should be perfectly happy if I +could but see you happy. But to see you unhappy, and unhappy through my +fault, that makes me wretched." Had she spoken the truth? Oswald had +then doubted it; now an inner voice told him that it was so, and that +she would never have left him if he had not driven her from him. He +took the letter he had found on the table and stared at the "Dear, dear +Oswald!" written by Emily's trembling hand, and then marked out by +another hand, and the two stains on the paper--the trace of tears she +had wept at parting with him. Oswald dropped the letter into the fire, +and groaned aloud as he saw how eagerly it seized the paper and +consumed it, and the hot draft carried away the black ashes. So there +was an end of that also. + +And as he sat staring into the smouldering embers, his head resting in +his hand, the fever spirits began their mad dance once more. Faces of +marvellous beauty looked at him with large, loving eyes, and then +changed in a moment into grinning negro grimaces; Rector Clemens and +Professor Snellius came walking solemnly in grave converse and broke it +off abruptly to dance a wild Mazurka; Melitta, Helen, and Emily floated +by on a rosy cloud which changed into dismal rain, and the three +witches of Macbeth were shaking their snaky locks. Thus the whole +wearisome night passed away. When twilight began to peep in at the +windows the spirits grew paler and paler. Oswald opened a window and +let the cool morning air play around his heated temples. This refreshed +him somewhat. But as the streets began to become more lively he closed +the window again and let down the curtains; he wanted to see and to +hear nothing of life, for he hated life. + +Emily's escape had hardly been noticed in the house. The only one who +knew more about it, the porter, felt no disposition to speak about it, +as he was not quite sure of his own share in the matter. It was +thought, therefore, that the lady had not been the gentleman's wife, as +was first believed, but his sister, and that the other gentleman who +had come for her had been her husband. The times, moreover, were too +eventful to leave much room for such small matters. + +Such were Mrs. Captain Black's ideas when she called next day at noon +on Oswald, after the custom of the house. For it was the lady's notion +that she ought to inquire in person after the welfare and the wishes of +those of her guests who seemed to propose staying there for some time. +This was partly a matter of courtesy with her, and partly prompted by +her good old heart. She had a twofold interest in Oswald. The young +man's appearance, the expression of his eyes, and the tone of his +voice, had struck her, and reminded her wonderfully of long by-gone +days, and of a person whom she had loved tenderly and whose loss she +had never yet been able to forget. Then the young man came direct from +France, from where that unfortunate young friend had also come, and +where she had probably died. It is true the poor girl had never given a +sign of life, and it was highly improbable therefore that she was still +alive, but that did not keep Mrs. Black from feeling glad whenever a +Frenchman came to her house, as it looked like another chance to hear +something of the poor girl. + +The good old lady was, therefore, not a little astonished and grieved +when she saw how pale and haggard Oswald looked this morning, a mere +shadow of the stately young man of last night. He had had a bad night +to be sure. It must have been a very bad night to pull down a young man +so grievously. Should she send for the doctor? No? But a cup of strong +beef tea with an egg stirred in? _Qu'en dites-vous, Monsieur?_ The good +old lady tripped away to attend to the beef tea herself, as no one else +could make it as well. And while she was busy about it she shook her +gray head again and again, because Monsieur Oswald--the stranger had +given that name--spoke German so very well, and looked so very sick and +unhappy, and yet had some resemblance to the lost one. Her eyes filled +with tears and she decided to ask him about the cause of his grief at +the risk of being considered indiscreet. + +With this desire she entered Oswald's room once more and found the +young man in the same position in which she had left him. He was +sitting on the sofa, his arms crossed on his bosom, his eyes staring +fixedly at an old French engraving, in which Andromeda was represented +chained to the rock and guarded by a dragon, while Perseus was coming +through the air to her rescue, with the gorgon's head in his hand. He +had noticed the picture in the early twilight, and long tried to find +out in the imperfect light what it could mean, till at last, as day +broke, he found it out. The engraving was extravagant, as most pictures +of that epoch. Andromeda was rather too small, a mere child in +comparison with the very tall and slender hero, who was just putting +one foot on the rock and preparing to strike a blow at the monster, +which opened its huge mouth wide and stared at him with basilisk eyes. +Still, it was not without merit in the conception, nor without delicacy +in the execution. The spark of hope which appeared in the girl's eyes +and the whole of her childish, beautiful features, and the heroic +indignation in the face of the youth, were well rendered; while the +landscape--a lonely rock in the boundless ocean, with the sun rising +above the horizon and the first rays trembling on the waves up to the +rock--showed something of Claude Lorraine's cheerful vigor and +grandeur. Oswald had looked at the picture again and again with a +feeling of painful sadness. The beautiful meaning of the ancient +myth--that bold courage carries the happy possessor with god-like wings +over land and sea, that the hero overcomes danger by a mere glance, and +finally that for him alone there blooms the sweet flower of love and +beauty on the rude rock in the vast inhospitable ocean of life--all +this had reminded the dreamer painfully of what he also had already +called his own of love and beauty; but only, alas! to lose it in a +short time and forever, forever! + +Even now--when Mrs. Black at his request took a seat on the sofa, and +told him all she knew about the excitement in the city, the bloody +scenes which had taken place last night quite near by, in Brother +street, the large assemblies of people Unter den Linden, and the sad +times in which everything seemed to be turned upside down--even now +Oswald could not take his eyes from the picture. The old lady noticed +it and said: + +"Yes! It was just so twenty-five years ago! It used to belong to a +countryman of yours, a dear old gentleman who has lived here many +years, and whom I loved like a brother. The picture is here, but +he----" + +She sighed so grievously that Oswald, whom his own sorrow had not made +insensible to the sorrows of others, asked her kindly: + +"He died, the old gentleman, did he?" + +"I do not know," replied the old lady. "He went into the wide world in +order to save a girl whom I had brought up as my own child; a sweet, +lovely creature; but he did not come back, and she did not come back, +and I grieve over my loss, although it is now nearly twenty-five years +old. Have you, monsieur--ah! it is foolish in me to ask, but after all +nothing is impossible in this world--have you, monsieur, ever heard +anything of a Mademoiselle Marie Montbert and a Monsieur d'Estein?" + +The old lady had asked the question so often, and received so often +nothing but a curt: _Non madame!_ in reply, that she scarcely noticed +Oswald's regretful shake of the head, and continued with animation: + +"Ah, I knew it was so! No one ever heard of them. The world is so +large, and there are so many people in it! And in this great world and +this multitude of people how soon are two unhappy beings forgotten!" + +The manner of the old lady was, with all her ingenuousness, so refined +and dignified; the deep-sunk eyes, still full of expression, looked so +gentle and kind; and her voice had such a true, good sound, that Oswald +felt strangely moved, and begged her with cordial warmth to tell him +something more about the two persons whose unhappy fate she deplored so +painfully after so long a time. Mrs. Black smoothed her black-silk +apron, and told him in simple words a simple, touching story. + +Her husband, a brave but wild and reckless man, had compelled her for +years before he lost his life on the battle-field of Waterloo to +provide for her own support. She had taken lodgings in the rear part of +the building which she now owned, and rented out the larger part of the +rooms to single gentlemen. She had always tried to keep up pleasant +relations with her "foster-children," but with none of them had she +been on as friendly a footing as with a certain Monsieur d'Estein, a +descendant of French refugees, who supported himself by giving lessons +in the tongue of his ancestors. Monsieur d'Estein was an old bachelor +of kind heart but very eccentric, who had fallen out with the whole +world, and yet shared his last mouthful of bread with any one who asked +him for it. He had his own ideas about everything, and brooded +constantly over plans how to overthrow the whole world, while he led +all the time a most simple, harmless life. + +Monsieur d'Estein had been living with her several years and had become +a warm friend of hers, who listened patiently to all her complaints +about hard times and domestic troubles, when one fine day a Colonel +Montbert, of the French army, came and called on his relation, Monsieur +d'Estein. The colonel was under orders for Russia--it was in 1812--and +he was accompanied by a little daughter of eight, a lovely child, whom +the father loved tenderly, and perhaps all the more tenderly as she +stood perfectly alone in the world, and had no one on earth to love and +protect her except her father. Until now she had followed the colonel +in all his campaigns, but the brave old soldier trembled at the idea of +exposing his only treasure to the dangers of a winter campaign, the +results of which he might even then have anticipated. As he had been in +Berlin in 1807, and had then made Monsieur d'Estein's acquaintance, he +came now once more to ask him to take care of Marie till he returned; +and if he should not return, there were the family papers, and a large +sum of money in gold and bills of exchange; and the friends looked at +each other and shook hands. The colonel kissed his little girl, +promised to bring her a sleigh with two reindeer from Russia, kissed +her once more, cried: _Adieu, ma chere! Adieu, ma petite!_ mounted his +horse and was gone. + +Colonel Montbert never fulfilled his promise about the sleigh and the +reindeer. His little girl waited and waited for the sleigh and the +father till she was a tall young lady, but sleigh and father never +came. + +Marie had grown up a tall, fair girl, so beautiful that the whole +neighborhood called her, unanimously, pretty Marie. She was a good girl +too, with a good heart, that could be merry with the joyous and weep +with the sorrowful. Her only fault was an over-active imagination, a +fondness of strange, extraordinary things--an inheritance from her +father, the French colonel of cavalry, whose adventurous, fantastic +disposition Monsieur d'Estein said approached very near to insanity. + +This peculiarity of the girl caused much anxiety to Monsieur d'Estein +and to Mrs. Black, but especially to the former, whose plain, +straight-forward mind was utterly averse to everything irrational or +fantastic. "The girl ought to have no time for dreams," he used to say; +"she must learn to think and to act. She ought to have a counterpoise +to her gay dream-world in the prosaic reality of life. No man ought to +live in castles in the air." According to these views he sketched out a +plan of education for little Marie, with which Mrs. Black never could +fully agree, in spite of the unbounded respect she had for Monsieur +d'Estein's intelligence and character. Marie was to dress in the +simplest way, like the children of humble mechanics; she was to learn +every kind of domestic labor: and when she was grown up Monsieur +d'Estein carried his oddity so far that he sent her to a respectable +milliner. "One could never know but that it might become useful to her +in after life." Mrs. Black shook her head, but she could not be angry +at the old gentleman's odd notions when she saw how well he meant it, +and especially how successful he was. For the girl grew brighter and +fairer every day, and looked, in her simple calico dress and her plain +straw bonnet, as refined and as distinguished as the greatest lady in +the land. + +Mrs. Black was proud of the girl. She had never had any children of her +own, but she felt as if she could never have loved one of her own +better. And was she not the child's mother? Had she not watched over +her in health, and nursed her in sickness? And was the girl not as +fondly attached to her as a daughter could be to a mother? Mrs. Black +was almost jealous of this love (she had had so little love in her +life) and did not like it that Marie had not evidently more confidence +in her than in her adopted father. But the latter was, for his part, +not less jealous. Mrs. Black even sometimes suspected that monsieur was +cherishing very different feelings for his beautiful niece, as he +called her, from those of an uncle for his niece, and that his system +of education which confined Marie very strictly to the house, might +have been prompted by other than pedagogic considerations. Monsieur was +at that time only forty years old. It was the mere shadow of a +suspicion, but subsequent events gave it strength. + +One evening--it was a Sunday--monsieur returned from his promenade with +Marie very much out of temper. Marie also looked excited, and showed +traces of tears in her beautiful eyes. She went to bed as soon as +supper was over, and Mrs. Black begged monsieur to tell her what had +happened, till he at last consented. + +Marie and he had been walking up and down in the long avenues of the +public park, chatting cozily with each other, and had then gone into +one of the public gardens, there to order some refreshments for Marie +and himself. They had just taken their seats at a table when two +gentlemen, who had before been sitting at a distance, had come and +taken seats near them. Monsieur, who turned his back to them, had not +noticed them, and only became aware of their presence when he saw +Marie, who was talking to him, cast half-curious, half-embarrassed +glances at somebody behind him. He turned round to see what was the +matter. At the same moment one of the gentlemen approached their table. +He was a remarkably handsome man--monsieur could not deny that, in +spite of his irritation--a lofty, noble figure, a superb head, a fine +though somewhat exhausted face, large deep-blue eyes, with a haughty +and yet kindly expression. He lifted his hat and in very good +French--monsieur and Marie had as usual conversed in French--he asked +leave for himself and his companion to join their company. Monsieur was +the most courteous man in the world, but he said there had been +something in the manner of the distinguished stranger which had filled +him instantly with a violent aversion against him, and he had therefore +replied dryly and curtly that he and mademoiselle preferred remaining +alone. Thereupon a slight altercation between him and the stranger had +taken place, which ended in his rising and leaving the garden with +Marie, pursued by the scornful laugh of the two gentlemen. From that +evening Marie showed a decided change in her whole manner. Formerly gay +and cheerful, she now hung her head, turned pale and red by turns, was +at one time immoderately merry and at another time wretchedly sad. +Neither Mrs. Black nor monsieur knew what to make of it. Misfortune +would have it that monsieur must be taken sick just then, so that Mrs. +Black had to spend nearly her whole time in his room nursing him, and +Marie consequently was left much to herself. Formerly monsieur had +regularly gone for her to the place where she learnt her profession; +now she had to come home alone. What happened to her during these days, +into what snares she had fallen, Mrs. Black never found out. But one +morning, when she came to wake the poor girl, she found the room empty, +and a little note on the table, in which the unfortunate child stated +that irresistible reasons, which she could not now explain, compelled +her to leave town; that she begged her benefactors with tears in her +eyes to forgive her if she rewarded them for their great love with +apparent ingratitude, and that she hoped to God the day would come, and +come soon, on which all this sorrow would be changed into joy. + +That day had never come, but the poor lady had suffered more and more. +Monsieur had nearly lost his senses when he heard of Marie's escape, +and had sworn a fearful oath that he would not rest an hour till he had +rescued Marie from her miserable seducer and personally avenged himself +on the man. Monsieur was the man to keep his word. The little weakly +body harbored an energetic soul. This became evident now, when a +ruthless hand had cruelly destroyed the happiness of his life. For Mrs. +Black could now no longer doubt that the strange man had loved the lost +one with all that intense passionateness which is so often found in +such reserved, eccentric characters. He carried on his search with +restless activity. Success crowned his efforts. He found traces. Where +they led him? He said nothing about it, but observed the strictest +silence upon the whole affair, even to his friend, Mrs. Black. He +packed his trunks as if for a long journey, tore himself from her, +promising to send her news in a week--and now twenty-five years had +passed, and Mrs. Black was still waiting for a fulfilment of that +promise.... + +The old lady had so completely abandoned herself to her own +recollections that she had forgotten her first intention to inquire +after Oswald's troubles. She was only reminded of this when she noticed +how pale the young stranger's face had become during her recital. + +"But you are really worse than I thought, dear sir," she said. "Your +hand is burning hot, and--pardon an old lady--your forehead also is +hot. Let me send for my physician!" + +"I beg you will not do it," said Oswald, making a violent effort. "I +must tell you: I have not slept a moment all last night, probably from +over-fatigue during my long journey." + +"Then you ought at least to lie down for a few hours," begged the old +lady. "I know very well young people cannot do without sleep like us +old people." + +"I mean to do it," replied Oswald, as Mrs. Black rose. "You'll see a +few hours' sleep will set it all right again." + +"God grant it!" said the old lady, cordially pressing Oswald's hand +once more. "Pray, pray, no ceremony! I will inquire again a few hours +hence." + +What had he been told just now? At the very first words of the old lady +he had no longer doubted that this was the continuation of the story +which mother Claus had told him in Grenwitz that evening when he and +Timm had sought shelter in her hut. All the details agreed. Just as the +old lady had described the strange gentleman, the portrait of Baron +Harald looked now, put of its broad gold frame; and had not the +beautiful poor girl, whom he had so sadly ill-treated, borne the name +of Marie d'Estein, like the adopted daughter of Monsieur d'Estein? + +But that was not the reason why his blood froze in his veins and his +limbs shook as in violent fever. It was another terrible fear, which +rose with demoniac power from the lowest depths of his soul. Was it the +work of fever spirits--was it incipient insanity--which changed in his +inflamed imagination Monsieur d'Estein, the eccentric teacher of +languages, into his father, the strange old man? and the beautiful +daughter of the French colonel into the lovely young woman with the +sweet eyes, around whose knees he once used to play during bright +summer mornings in the cosy garden behind the town wall, while the +white butterflies were fluttering about the blue larkspur? + +And mad thoughts chased each other once more in wild haste. Old, long +forgotten thoughts awoke and answered clearly from long ago; strange +doubts, that had troubled him as a boy and as a youth, came again, and +said: There is the solution! So much that he had never been able to +explain in his life became of a sudden quite clear to him. It had not +been pure fancy, then, which made Mother Claus see in his face +continually the features of Baron Oscar, "who fell with Wodan;" nor +mere humor, when Timm declared, "You have the very face of the Grenwitz +barons!" + +Oswald darted up and went to the mirror. A deadly pale face with +strange, wild eyes stared at him there. "See there! The evil spirit not +laid yet! It has not had victims enough yet! Must there be many more +sacrifices? Can a vampire die of his own venomous glance? A bullet? Eh! +a bullet, nicely driven in at the temples--that might make an end to +the gruesome story! But what will bring death really--a death from +which the soul can never awake again?" + +Oswald uttered a fierce cry. A hand seized his arm, and over the +shoulder of his image in the mirror he saw a distorted face grinning at +him. + +"Oho!" said Albert Timm. "Are you going on the stage, dottore, that you +stand before the looking-glass and rehearse monologues which might +frighten an honest man out of his wits? Let me look at you in the +light? Upon my word, you have a strange look about you. Little Emily, +eh? You ought to be glad she is gone, before she made you a mere shadow +of your shadow! You see, I know everything; and I know a good deal +more; and I am going to tell you something that will make you wish to +live again, you melancholy Prince of Denmark! But before I tell you, +send for a bottle of port wine or something; I am as dry as a salted +cod this morning." + +Mr. Timm, as usual, did not wait for Oswald's answer, but rang the bell +and ordered port wine and caviare. "None in the house? Go to the +Dismal Hole, just around the corner, my man, quite near by. Give Mr. +Albert Timm's respects to Mrs. Rose Pape, and come back in a trice, +curly-headed youth!" + +Mr. Timm's statement, that he had taken nothing that morning, was +evidently untrue. He diffused a remarkable smell of liquor around him; +his face was very red, and his eyes less bright than usual. Possibly he +might have sat up all night; his whole appearance made it probable. His +linen was less tidy than ordinarily, and the brown overcoat had +evidently made the acquaintance of numerous whitewashed walls and +stained tables. Mr. Timm's circumstances had not improved since Oswald +had seen him last. + +He did not deny it; on the contrary he raised, unasked, the veil from +the unattractive picture of the last months. + +"Ill-luck has pursued me step by step," he said, throwing himself on +the sofa and stretching his legs. "At the very time when I made the +discovery which I am going to tell you as soon as the wine comes, you +disappeared from Grunwald, leaving not a trace. The next day the police +caught us at faro, and--I was banker--confiscated all I had--several +hundred dollars--which I needed sorely, since on the following day a +bill of mine became due. I could not pay it, of course. The horrid +manichean, to whom I owed the money, had me put in prison, and there I +have been till about a week ago. How I got out? My landlord, the old +scamp, at last bethought himself of going to Moses and threatening him +with certain stories--well, never mind that! Here I am, a free man once +more, and here comes the wine and the oysters. Come, Oswald, fill your +glass! Hurrah for the brave! Man! I tell you I am beside myself at +having found you out so soon. I was prepared for a long hunt. And now I +am going to tell you a story that will make you jump out of your skin. +Yes, out of you skin! For you will have to lay aside the whole +miserable creature you are now and put on an entirely new man, whom I +have made ready for you, without any merit or claim of your own, but +from pure friendship on my part. And now another glass and I'll begin!" +Mr. Timm pushed the plate with the oyster-shells, which he had quickly +piled up, from him, and swallowed a full glass; filled it again, drew a +bundle of papers from his pocket, laid them on the table before him, +leaned his head on both arms, and with a loud hearty laugh at Oswald, +he said: + +"What will you give me, _mon cher_, if I change you from a poor fellow +into the son and heir of a great baron, with a rental of ten or twelve +thousand a year? But I see you are already nearly overcome. I do not +mean to harass you any longer. Listen!" + +There are moments in our soul's life when the overwrought brain looks +upon the most extraordinary, the most fantastic events, as ordinary and +quite natural occurrences. Thus it was now with Oswald. That Timm +brought him the confirmation of his suspicions, that he proved to him +in black and white that he had not dreamt, that he transformed a wild +fancy into a legal, well-authenticated document--all this appeared +quite natural to Oswald. There were Marie Montbert's family papers. +Her real name was that of her mother, Marie Herzog, who had found her +way to Paris, there to meet Colonel Montbert. And Oswald knew that +his mother's family name was Herzog. There was a copy of the +church-register, obtained by Timm's indefatigable activity and +mysterious connections, which proved the marriage performed at St. +Mary's between M. d'Estein _alias_ Stein, and Marie Elizabeth Herzog. +And then the baptismal certificate: On the 22 December, 1823, a son was +born unto Amadeus Stein and his wedded wife, Marie Herzog, who in holy +baptism received the name of Oswald. There were the letters which Baron +Harald had written to Marie during his residence in town in the spring +of 1823; there Marie's letters to the baron; a letter written by M. +d'Estein to Marie during the summer of the same year, in which he tells +her that he has at last discovered her hiding-place at Grenwitz, and +beseeches her by the salvation of her soul, to follow him when all +shall be prepared for her flight, etc. + +"You see," said Timm, "it is all right and complete, and you can trace +every thread of this curiously complicated affair from beginning to +end. The identity of the persons can be established by documents and by +witnesses alike, for the evidence of Rose Pape alone would upset every +argument on the adversary's side. She knew your mother and was present +at your birth and at your baptism. The woman, it is true, is not +willing just now to appear in court and to testify to facts which make +her appear in an unfavorable light; but money makes the devil dance, +and Mrs. Rose will speak out if she is well paid. That is no trouble, +therefore. My only fear is that you have not energy enough for such a +thing. I must tell you frankly, I thought at first it might not be wise +to tell you anything at all about it, you have such very absurd notions +about many things, and so I dropped the old baroness a hint or two, but +she did not receive them very graciously, and----" + +"In a word," said Oswald, and he turned still paler than he had been +before, "you wished to sell your discovery to the baroness, and she did +not pay you the price you demanded." + +"Hear! hear!" said Albert, with sincere admiration. "You develop there +a talent for business which I did not expect. Well, take it for granted +it was as you guess; that will not prevent you from making proper use +of your claims. But, dearest _periculum in mora_! if you wish to become +not only the nephew of the baroness but also her son-in-law, you must +make haste. Things have come about which I foretold you last winter. +Helen is engaged to Prince Waldenberg, and the engagement is to be made +public in a few days here in town. Anna Maria arrived last night, and +stays at Prince Waldenberg's house with the Princess Letbus, the mother +of his highness. Now I have already dug a superb mine underground, in +order to create a useful confusion in the enemy's camp, and we can +begin the attack. I am as sure as of my own life that Helen has no +fancy for the prince, and that she would say No! even at the last +moment, if she knew that you are her cousin, and that she can recover +the fortune she loses by the discovery, by marrying you. But she will +not believe anybody who would tell her of the whole affair, except one +man, and that man is--yourself. Oswald, consider the stake! One single +bold step, and the girl whom you love--don't deny it!--whom you love +madly, is yours. A fortune such as you never dreamt of is yours. You +will have at once all that others spend a lifetime to gain; all that +they would unhesitatingly risk their very life for! Surprise works +wonders! Drive to the prince's house in William street; ask to see the +young baroness; tell her, if it must be, in her mother's presence, +not that you want to marry her--for that will come as a matter of +course--but that you have made this discovery under such and such +peculiar circumstances; and I will eat my own head if the girl does not +fall upon your neck and let the prince go when he chooses." + +Albert was prepared to see Oswald at first reject this adventurous plan +altogether; for, suitable as it was for a man of Timm's character, and +capable as he was of carrying it out boldly, he knew Oswald's +hesitating disposition. His most sanguine hope was to find it accepted +after a long discussion. Great therefore was his joyful surprise when +Oswald, who had not said a word during the whole long explanation, now +rose and said: + +"You are right. There is but one way. I must go myself, and at once." + +"Brother!" cried Timm, jumping up and enthusiastically embracing +Oswald; "that is the most sensible word you ever spoke in your life." + +Oswald shook himself free, with a shudder which Timm did not notice in +his great excitement. + +"Leave me alone now!" he said. "You see how very much I am surprised +and shocked by your revelation. I must collect myself for the +interview." + +"For Heaven's sake; only no new scruples!" cried Timm. "Fresh fish is +good fish! I am afraid, if I leave you, you will discover a thousand +Buts!" + +"I promise you upon my word I will go to her within an hour. I suppose +you can leave me the papers? They might be necessary if the baroness +makes opposition." + +Timm cast a malignant, suspicious glance at Oswald. He did not like to +give up the papers. If Oswald should play false; if--but there was not +time to consider long; and there was something in Oswald's manner which +made him shrink from making objections, a decisive firmness in the +firmly-closed pale lips, a dismal fire in his large eyes. Timm had +never seen him thus. It was no longer the old, fickle Oswald Stein; it +was Baron Harald's son who was standing before him. + +"Well," he said, "do as you please. I see you are determined to go the +whole length! But, Oswald, if the enterprise succeeds, and I cannot +doubt now but it must succeed, do not forget the man who has furnished +you the means." + +"You may be sure," said Oswald, with a strange smile, "that, as far as +material advantages are concerned, you shall not fare worse in the +matter than myself." + +This promise moved the generous Timm so deeply that he was much +inclined to embrace Oswald once more. But the latter made a gesture +which looked not unlike disgust, but which failed to have any effect +upon Timm. He only laughed, and said: "Well, I see you are learning +your part. I will not detain you any longer. Good-by, Oswald! Play your +part well. It is three o'clock now. At four I will come again and +inquire how you have succeeded. Adieu till then." + +Oswald paced the room slowly after Timm had left him. Then he went up +to the engraving, and looked at it long and anxiously. "It is too +late!" he murmured. "I cannot save her; I cannot set her free from the +rock to which fate has chained her. But I will see her once more, and +clear my memory of the disgrace with which this blackguard, no doubt, +has loaded me. She shall not believe that I could use such unfair +means. Who knows how far this man has used my name in order to attain +his end." + +He stepped to the table and arranged and folded up the papers. Then he +began to dress himself for the proposed interview. It took him some +time. He felt as if he were benumbed in all his limbs, and had to sit +down more than once to let an attack of vertigo pass off. At last he +was ready. He put the papers in his pocket and left the room. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +At the same time a carriage drove rapidly through the deserted street +in which Doctor Braun lived, and many faces appeared at the windows to +see what it was. It was an elegant coach, with two high-bred horses, +and a large coat-of-arms on the doors. On the box, by the side of the +coachman, a servant in gorgeous livery was seated. The coach stopped +before Doctor Braun's house, the servant jumped down to open the door, +and a young lady stepped out. She walked rapidly through the little +garden up to the door. + +"Is Mrs. Braun at home?" + +"I do not know," replied the maid, casting a shy glance at the velvet +cloak and the charming white bonnet of the lady. "I will see." + +"You need not go," said Sophie, who suddenly appeared, adorned with a +long kitchen apron; "here I am." + +With these words she hastened with open arms towards the lady, who, for +her part, drew back the white veil and flew into her arms. + +"Dearest Helen!" + +"Dearest Sophie!" + +Sophie drew her friend into the room, helped her to unbutton her cloak +with trembling hands, took off her bonnet, and seizing her with both +hands, she said: + +"Well, now let me look at you in broad day-light, you darling; +beautiful as usual, wondrously beautiful! But you look pale and +haggard, it seems to me. Can I do anything for you? You see I have been +at work in the kitchen." + +Helen smiled. It was a melancholy smile, which made her dark eyes look +still darker. + +"I thank you, Sophie! I only wished to refresh myself by seeing you. +Ah! you do not know how I have longed for you!" + +Sophie was deeply touched by this unusual expression of Helen's +feelings. But she was even more deeply touched by the sad tone of voice +in which Helen said she had longed to see her. Such a confession, which +the boarder at Miss Bear's institute would have been too proud ever to +have made, was still stranger in the betrothed of Prince Waldenberg. + +All this passed through Sophie's mind while she held Helen's hands in +her own and looked deeper and deeper into her dark eyes. + +"Poor Helen!" The words escaped her; she hardly knew what she was +saying. + +But the low, sympathetic words awakened in Helen's heart all the +painful feelings which had kept her from sleeping during the night, so +that she scarcely had more than an hour's rest near morning. Pity for +herself, such as she had never known before, overcame her, tears filled +her eyes, and she threw herself into Sophie's arms, hiding her +beautiful pale face on her friend's bosom. + +"For Heaven's sake, dearest Helen! what is the matter?" said Sophie, +now seriously concerned. "I have never seen you so; I never thought I +should see you so; and that now, when I thought your whole life was +full of joy and glory!" + +"Did you really think so?" asked Helen, raising herself and looking at +Sophie fixedly with her large sorrowful eyes. + +Sophie cast down her own before this look. She did not wish to say No; +and she was too honest to say Yes. But she never hesitated long. Now or +never was the moment to tell Helen all she had had on her heart for so +long a time. + +"Helen!" she said, looking up frankly and calmly with her deep blue +eyes; "I cannot feign and will not feign for any one, and least of all +for you whom I love dearly. Come, sweetheart, sit down by me on the +sofa here, and let us talk like two sisters; and let us be sisters, if +never again, at least for this hour. If you did not wish me to speak +candidly to you, I think you would have hardly come to me, when you +have so many brighter and greater friends. Am I right?" + +"Go on!" said Helen, as if it were comfort and consolation merely to +hear the voice of her friend. + +"You ask me," continued Sophie, gathering courage as she spoke, +"whether I really thought you were happy. I do not. You do not look +like a happy woman. Your beautiful, pale face says No, even if your +tongue should say Yes. I have often read in your face--I have read +there long, long stories of which your lips did not say a word, and I +will tell you what I read. Shall I do it?" + +"Go on!" said Helen. + +"I read on your brow that your mind is not satisfied with anything +except what is great and extraordinary, and even not always with that; +and I have read in your wondrously-beautiful eyes that your heart longs +for love as much as human heart can wish for it. Thus, there has always +been a struggle between your mind and your heart. You wish to rule and +to love at the same time, and that cannot be done. Helen! love, true +love--and there is no other love--must be humble; it bears all thing's +and believes all things; it wants only to be one with the person loved, +one in joy and one in sorrow Look, sweetheart! such love has fallen to +my share, and therefore I know what I say. Franz and I have but one +will: he wants to do what is right, and so do I; and even if our views +ever should be apart, our hearts are always united. All joys are doubly +great, and all sorrows are diminished by half. I felt that when my dear +papa died. What would have become of me if Franz had not been there?" + +"I had no one when my father died!" Helen said, sadly. + +"I know it, darling; and often, when I thought how lonely you were, and +how you did not have a soul to whom you could pour out your grief, I +have thrown myself on Franz's bosom, who many a time could not imagine +what brought me to him so suddenly and so passionately. You stand +alone, even now when you are on the point of being married; and what is +a thousand times worse, you are quite sure in your heart that it will +always be so--that your husband will never be your friend, your +brother, your beloved, before whom your soul lies open and clear, like +a crystal-clear mountain lake, into which the sun looks brightly down +to the very bottom." + +"Never! never!" whispered Helen. + +"I knew it," said Sophie, sadly; "but, Helen, if it is bad enough for +you to marry the prince without loving him, it is still worse to become +his wife while you are cherishing in your heart the image of another +man." + +Deep blushes flew over Helen's face as Sophie said these words in a +firm voice, and at the same time looked at her so gravely and +reproachfully with her large blue eyes. + +"No, darling; don't be ashamed of having loved him. That is not what I +blame you for. He is a man of uncommon attraction, and gifted by nature +with all that can charm woman. I do not even blame you for loving him +still. Who can cast aside true love so promptly? But, Helen, since it +is so, do not marry the prince! You ought not to do it from respect for +yourself, from respect for him, if he deserves respect." + +"It is too late!" said Helen, hiding her face in her hands. + +"Never too late!" exclaimed Sophie, passionately, and showing how +deeply her heart was moved. "It is never too late to confess a mistake +which must make you and him unspeakably unhappy. Do not misunderstand +me, Helen! I do not speak in favor of that man who, if he ever really +deserved your love, has long since forfeited all claim to it. I never +was a friend of his; his so-called brilliant qualities never attracted +me, because they were not founded upon goodness of heart; and, in my +eyes, good old Bemperlein stands immeasurably higher than Oswald Stein. +But, because he is not worthy of you, must you therefore marry a man +for whom your heart feels nothing, however estimable he may otherwise +be? Are there no other men in the world but Oswald and the prince? Oh, +Helen! I wish I had the tongue of angels to touch your heart, so that +you might humbly bow before the truth, and esteem all the splendor of +the world as nothing in comparison with the happiness you would find in +being true to yourself!" + +Helen shuddered as if really one of the heavenly hosts were speaking to +her. + +"Oh, you are so good!" she said. "I wish I were like you." + +"You can be so, if you but choose." + +"But how can I escape? I have pledged my word! I cannot take it back!" + +"Speak openly to the prince!" said Sophie, who thought such a remedy +quite simple and natural. + +"Rather die!" murmured Helen. + +At that moment there came a knock at the door. The servant appeared +with a note in his hand. + +"A special messenger, ma'am, on horseback, with a note from the +baroness." + +Helen seized the note hastily. + +"From mamma!" + +She cast a glance at it and trembled. + +"What is it, Helen?" + +"Mamma has just heard from Grenwitz, that brother has been taken very +ill. She must go back immediately!" + +"Poor girl!" said Sophie. "How pale and frightened you look! Shall I go +with you?" + +"No, no!" said Helen. "You stay! I must go alone. Good-by, dearest +Sophie! Good-by!" + +Helen tore herself from Sophie's arms. + +Sophie accompanied her to the carriage. She held her friend's hand +firmly in her own, and said: "Let me hear from you, Helen! And, Helen, +whatever you do, follow the voice of your warm heart; it is a better +counsellor than your cold intellect!" + +"I will do so," said Helen, already in the carriage; "you may rely upon +it, I will do so. Good-by!" + +The servant closed the door; the carriage dashed off. Sophie followed +it with her eyes till it had turned the nearest corner, then she went +slowly back to the house, her lovely face bent thoughtfully to the +ground. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +In a room in the second story of the Hotel de Russie, Under the +Lindens, Berger was closeted that same afternoon with Director +Schmenckel. They had had a long interview, and Mr. Schmenckel was just +rising to say good-by. Berger rose likewise. + +"You know exactly what you have to say?" + +"I should think so," replied Mr. Schmenckel, and cleared his throat. + +"Had we better go over it once more?" + +"Might do no harm," replied Mr. Schmenckel. + +"You will say, then, that you are sorry to have caused the princess so +much trouble. You, yourself, would never have thought of it; but that +man--how did you call him?" + +"Timm!" + +"----had led you on! Now you had found out that such proceedings were +not worthy of an honest man, and, that you promised the princess, upon +your honor, never to let another word of that whole affair escape your +lips." + +"My lips!" repeated Mr. Schmenckel, like a school-boy who repeats a +lesson the teacher tells him to say after him. + +"And as for that man, Timm, you will tell the princess not to trouble +herself about him; but, if he should come and ask for money, to have +him turned out of the house by the servants. As you do not intend to +support him in any way, he cannot expect to make much out of the story. +Have you got it all well in your head now?" + +"I think it will do," said Mr. Schmenckel, meditatively. + +"And, above all, you will accept no money from the princess, neither +much nor little. Don't forget that; do you hear?" + +"All right!" said the director, putting his hat on his head with a +great show of resolution. "Adieu, professor!" + +"Adieu!" said Berger, shaking hands. "Go and become once more the +honest, upright man you have been heretofore." + +"And now," said Berger to himself, when the door had closed after +Schmenckel; "now the moment has come to pay an old debt." He went to a +bureau and took from a drawer a small box of ebony and a medallion. +Then he left the room and went down the passage till he came to a door, +before which he stopped, listening for a moment. The key was in the +key-hole. Berger noiselessly drew it out and knocked. + +"_Entrez!_" cried a shrill voice. + +Berger entered. + +The man he came to see stood with his back to the door, before a +looking-glass, busy finishing his toilet. He turned round, thinking it +was a waiter. The new comer cast a rapid look around the room, locked +the door quickly and noiselessly from within, and then went to the +middle of the room. + +"What do you want?" asked Count Malikowsky, still busy with his cravat. + +"My name is Berger. I have already told you what I want." + +"If you have any demand upon me you can speak to my valet. I do not +trouble myself with such things." + +"I know very well," said Berger, without changing a feature, "that +Count Malikowsky likes best to have demands which are presented to him +in person attended to by others, even by assassins, if needs be; but +this time I trust he will make an exception." + +With these words he approached the round table in the centre of the +room, placed the little box on it, and took from the box the two +pistols which it contained. + +The count had witnessed these proceedings with an amazement which made +him for a time speechless and motionless. The sight of the pistols, +however, brought him to his senses again. With a rapidity which one +would not have thought possible at his age he hastened to the door. + +Berger stepped in his way, the pistols in his hand. + +"One more effort to escape," he said, "one sound, and you die like a +dog! Stand over there, on the other side of the table; so!" + +"The man is mad!" murmured the count, obeying Berger's command and +trembling in all his limbs. + +"Maybe!" said Berger, with an uncomfortable laugh; "but if I am mad it +is your fault, count. You do not know me?" + +"No; indeed, I do not!" + +"Maybe I have changed slightly since I last had the equivocal honor of +meeting you. I will assist your memory. Do you know this?" + +He opened the medallion and held it towards the count across the table. +The count took his gold eye-glass and looked at the miniature. It was a +well-painted portrait of a marvellously beautiful, brown-eyed girl, in +the costume of the year 1820. + +"Leonora!" cried the count, starting back. + +"Yes; Leonora!" repeated Berger, closing the medallion again and +putting it away. "And now I hope you will know who I am, and what the +account is which we have to settle." + +The count had turned pale even under his rouge; his false teeth +rattled; he had to sit down in an arm-chair which stood near the table, +as he could not stand any longer. + +Berger seemed to enjoy the wretched sight. + +"How the coward trembles!" he said. "How the mean heart in the hollow +bosom knocks against the ribs for the sake of a useless bit of life! +Miserable coward! You can seduce girls, but you cannot face a man! +Here, take this pistol and end a life full of disgrace by an honorable +death!" + +"I cannot do it," whined the count; "have pity on me! You see, I am an +old man; my hands tremble from gout; I cannot hold a pen, much less a +pistol, steady!" + +"Is that so?" asked Berger; "are you really nothing but a whitewashed +grave? Why, then, it would be harder punishment to let you live!" + +Berger bowed his head and thought a moment. + +"Be it so!" he said. He put the pistols back in the box. The count +breathed freely. + +"I have longed for this hour these thirty years. I thought revenge +would be wondrously sweet; but the cup in which it is offered to me is +too disgusting. I do not want it." + +Berger had said this as if speaking to himself. Now he raised his lids, +fixed his piercing eyes on the count, who was still trembling in the +corner of his chair, and said: + +"I have done with you. I will leave you your miserable life, but under +one condition: You will leave town in an hour, and never appear again +in Germany. I do not want a blackguard like you to breathe German air." + +"As you wish it! as you wish it!" said the count. "I shall be glad to +get out of the wretched country." + +Berger put the box in his pocket. Suddenly wild tumult was heard in the +street. Berger was instantly at the window. Crowds of people--men, +women, and children--were rushing down the broad streets. "We are +betrayed! They fire at us! To arms! To arms!" + +"To arms! To arms!" cried Berger, raising his arms on high in wild +joyousness. "At last! at last! Thanks, Great Spirit!" + +He turned away from the window, seized the count, whom curiosity had +roused from his terror, by the breast, and shaking him with perfect +fury, he cried: + +"Do you hear, coward? to arms! A whole nation calls to arms! Women and +children! Now all the old debts shall be paid that you and the like of +you have contracted for the last thirty years!" + +He pushed the half-dead man contemptuously from him, opened the door, +and rushed out. + +He ran against an officer, who was just about to enter. + +It was Prince Waldenberg. + +"Pardon me, father, if I cannot keep my promise to accompany you to the +princess," said the prince, out of breath; "but you hear the rebellion +is out again. I expect every moment to hear the drums beat." + +The count was still quite beside himself from the encounter with +Berger. He stared at the prince with a pale, disturbed countenance. + +"What is the matter, father?" asked the prince, who now only noticed +the change in his appearance. + +"Go to the devil with your father, sir," cried the count, in whom the +wild hatred he had cherished for so many years against his wife's son +at last broke out into full fury. "I am not your father. I do not +choose to be your father. If you wish to see your father go to your +mother. You will find him there!" + +"What do you mean, father?" said the prince, fearing the count had +become insane. + +"Father!" mimicked the count, scornfully. "Delightful! Charming! But I +am tired of the farce. You can all go to the devil!" + +He rang the bell. + +"My carriage; do you hear?" he cried, as the waiter came. Then turning +to the prince, "Will you go now, sir, or not?" + +The prince looked at the count like a man who does not know whether he +shall believe his own ears and eyes or not. Suddenly he seemed to have +formed a resolution. He cast one more look at the count, who was +running about like a madman, and left the room. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + +Mr. Schmenckel walked slowly down the Linden to William street. He had +crossed his arms behind and pressed his hat low down on his brow. +People made way for him, for he stared fixedly at the pavement, and +continually murmured unintelligible words through his teeth. But Mr. +Schmenckel was neither drunk nor mad; he was only a little excited, and +repeated the lesson which Berger had taught him. It was a hard task; +but Mr. Schmenckel felt that he was only doing his duty if he broke up +the plot into which he had been entrapped by the cunning of Mr. Timm. +How fortunate that he had revealed it all to the professor in his great +anxiety! How that man talked! Why, he had frightened him out of his +wits! Schmenckel had always said that the professor was a man of very +special gifts. And that the Czika turned out to be a baron's daughter, +that was no wonder to Director Schmenckel, of Vienna. She had such +wonderful eyes, that girl, and he had always treated her well; it was +not so strange, therefore, that the baron should have offered old +Caspar Schmenckel a place as steward on one of his estates. No; Caspar +Schmenckel, from Vienna, need not try to obtain money by foul means. +Caspar Schmenckel could hold his head high again and---- + +"Why on earth, old man, are you coming only now?" said suddenly a very +sharp voice near him. "You ought to have done with your visit by this +time!" + +It was Mr. Timm who had uttered these angry words. He had been +patrolling up and down William street, in the neighborhood of the +Waldenberg mansion, in order to hear the result of Oswald's interview +with the Baroness Grenwitz. He thought Director Schmenckel was by this +time on his way to the Dismal Hole, where they had appointed to meet in +case they should miss each other in the street. Timm had had his +reasons for sending Schmenckel an hour sooner than Oswald to the house. +If Oswald's interview with the baroness was to be successful, the +baroness must first have read a certain letter; and in order to make +the letter effective, Schmenckel must first have had a conference with +the princess. In Mr. Timm's exquisite plans each measure fitted into +the other as in the works of a watch. Mr. Timm had, therefore, good +reasons for being very indignant at Mr. Schmenckel's dereliction. + +"It is enough to drive one mad," he continued, in his irritation. "I +cannot leave you alone for a moment but you commit a stupid blunder." + +"Oh! not so rude, my friend!" replied Mr. Schmenckel, feeling in his +virtuous purposes quite able to cope with the serpent-wisdom of his +accomplice, "or I'll become personal too!" + +Mr. Timm saw that he had gone too far. + +"Well, well!" he said, gently; "between friends no offence ought to be +taken. Only make haste now to go in. All may come out right yet. You +have seen the count this morning?" + +"No!" growled Mr. Schmenckel. + +"But why on earth haven't you seen him?" exclaimed Timm, whose +indignation was roused once more. + +"Because I did not choose!" said Schmenckel, defiantly. "Because I do +not want to have anything more to do with you anyway!" + +"Ah!" said Timm; "you would like to raise the treasure by yourself? I +have burnt my fingers to draw the chestnuts out of the fire for you, +eh? No, my dear sir, we are not quite such fools. He who wants to be +paid must work." + +"I do not want a farthing of that wretched money!" cried Schmenckel. "I +am going to tell the princess that I am an honest fellow, and that she +need not trouble herself any further." + +"Are you piping in that way?" asked Timm. "You mean to betray me a +little, do you? Have a care, man; you might have to pay dear for the +fun!" + +"I shall do what I like," said Schmenckel, assuming a very determined +air, and walking off with long strides. + +"You shall not enter that house!" cried Timm, and seized Schmenckel by +the arm. + +Schmenckel's reply to this challenge was a blow, which hurled Mr. Timm +very unpleasantly across the sidewalk against the wall. The next moment +the great portal had closed behind Mr. Schmenckel. + +The little altercation with Mr. Timm had put him in a kind of heroic +ecstasy well suited for the interview he was about to have. Thus it +happened that he was not abashed by the gorgeous livery of the +servants, nor by the splendor of the rooms through which he was led. +But his courage failed him and his heart sank when the servant stopped +at a door and whispered: "Her grace is in there; go in without +knocking; she expects you." Mr. Schmenckel passed his hand through his +thick hair, cleared his voice, held his hat firmly under his left arm, +and entered cautiously. + +A rosy twilight received him, and in the rosy twilight he noticed two +women, one of whom was seated in an arm-chair near the bright fire that +was burning there in spite of the warm weather, while the other stood a +little sideways behind the chair. Both of them examined him as he +approached with eager curiosity. His reception caused him to shorten +his steps more and more till he suddenly came to a stop half way +between the door and the fire-place. + +"Come nearer, my friend," said the lady who was standing behind the +chair. + +Mr. Schmenckel advanced a few inches and came again to a stop, quite +determined this time not to approach nearer to those formidable eyes. + +"You are the man who wrote to Count Malikowsky day before yesterday?" +asked the lady behind the chair. + +"Yes, your grace." Mr. Schmenckel felt as if these words, which he no +doubt had uttered himself, had been spoken by some one else at the +other end of the large apartment. This was by no means calculated to +bring back the heroic frame of mind which the rosy twilight and the +bright eyes had so seriously damaged. He blushed all over, and cleared +his voice in order to convince himself that it was really he himself +who was speaking to the ladies. + +"Your name is Schmenckel?" asked the lady behind the chair. + +"Yes, your grace." + +"And you were in St. Petersburg twenty-four years ago?" + +"Yes, your grace." + +"And you visited at Letbus House?" + +"Yes, your grace." + +"Do you recognize me?" + +Mr. Schmenckel fixed his eyes, which had been resting upon everything +in the room except the two ladies on the speaker, and said, after a +short reflection, + +"I should think so; although I should not like to swear to it. If it +was not such a very long time since, I should say you were the Nadeska, +the chambermaid of the princess, who was all the time bringing me notes +and rose bouquets into the Black Bear." + +Nadeska bent over her mistress and whispered a few words into her ear, +to which the latter replied in the same tone. Then Nadeska left the +room. + +"Wont you sit down, Mr. Schmenckel?" said the princess, as soon as they +were alone. + +Mr. Schmenckel seated himself on the outer edge of an arm-chair. + +"Do you recognize me also?" asked the lady. + +Mr. Schmenckel bowed, placing his hand on his heart. + +"Why did you not come to me directly?" the princess continued in a tone +of gentle reproach. "Why did you take the count into your confidence? +Have I ever been ungenerous towards you. Was it my fault if our last +meeting ended as it did?" + +Mr. Schmenckel was about to reply, but the princess continued. + +"If I had known that you were still living, and where you were living, +I would have provided for you liberally; and I am still willing to do +so. But one condition I must make: you must have nothing to do with the +count; and, above all things, you must never dare come near the prince. +If you will comply with these conditions you may ask what you choose, +and if Alexandrina Letbus is able to do it it shall be done!" + +The princess extended imploringly her thin, transparent hand; her black +eyes filled with tears; the rosy twilight gave a spiritual beauty to +her pale but still beautiful features. Mr. Schmenckel had a susceptible +heart in his bosom, and the humility of the great lady moved him +deeply. + +"Let me say a word now, too, your grace," he said "I am not the +scoundrel you make me out. I should never have dreamt, your grace, of +writing a letter to the count, if I had not been persuaded to do so by +an awfully bad man. Timm is his name. I never knew at all that Caspar +Schmenckel, of Vienna, had such a great lord for his son. But that man +Timm said to me: No harm in beating about the bush; no harm in that! +Then he wrote the letter, and carried it himself to the count. The +count came the same evening to the Dismal Hole to see me, and told me +he was very glad if I could make life a little hard to you, Mrs. +Princess. But he said I must not say a word to the prince, or there +would be an end to the fun. And then, says he, you ask too much; a +fourth of it is enough. And he told me to talk it over with your grace +and then he would pay me the money this forenoon at his hotel. Now, +your grace, you may believe it or not, as you choose, but Caspar +Schmenckel, from Vienna, is an honest fellow, and don't like to do any +harm to anybody, least of all to a beautiful lady who was once upon a +time very kind to poor Caspar. And when your grace sent for me, and let +me know that you wanted to see me yourself, I said: Caspar, says I, go +to the princess and tell her so and so, and she must not trouble +herself about it any more; Caspar Schmenckel will never come near her +in all his life. And as for the money, I tell your grace, not a penny +do I want to touch of it, not if it were to turn into pure gold on the +spot. And so, your grace--princess, good-by to you! And if we don't see +each other again you must remain well, and don't you trouble yourself +any more about Caspar Schmenckel; he'll never do you any harm. I kiss +your hand, your grace!" + +With these words he rose and made his best bow. + +The princess was very much touched. + +"Good fellow," she said, with trembling voice. + +Her eyes dwelt with pleasure upon the herculean proportions of the man +who was the father of her son. The extraordinary resemblance between +them, in figure as well as in face, filled her with mournful +satisfaction. She thought of the days when this man, a lion in strength +and agility, had conquered not her heart but her imagination. But at +the same moment a sudden fear overcame her lest her son should find his +father here--lest her son with his pride and his passionate temper +should ever discover that this juggler, this rope-dancer, was the +father of Prince Waldenberg. + +"You must go!" she said, hurriedly. "Here,"--she took a superb ring +from her finger, in which the diamonds shone in all the colors of the +rainbow as they caught the light of the fire--"here; no words, take it! +I wore it long, long ago, even when Nadeska first brought you to me; +take it as a keepsake from Alexandrina Letbus! But now go, go!" + +She touched the silver bell. Nadeska entered. + +"Show him out! Mind that no one sees you!" + +Nadeska took Mr. Schmenckel, who would have liked to say something, but +was too confused and embarrassed to find words, and led him through a +secret door which led near the fire-place into a narrow passage, and +then through a private staircase into the courtyard. + +The princess sank exhausted back into the cushions of her easy-chair, +and hid her eyes behind her hand. She did not notice that a heavy +curtain on the right hand from the fire-place, which had been moving +several times during her conversation with Mr. Schmenckel, now opened +and admitted the prince. She only heard him when he was close by her. +She opened her eyes, and at the same moment she uttered a piercing +shriek--his unexpected appearance and a single glance at his pale, +disturbed face told her that he had heard all. + +"Mercy, Raimund! Mercy!" she cried, raising her folded hands in agony +towards him. + +Raimund's broad chest was heaving as if it were struggling with an +overwhelming burden, and his voice sounded like a hoarse death-rattle, +as he now said, pointing with the finger at the door through which +Schmenckel had left, + +"Was that man who has just left you my father?" + +"Mercy, Raimund! Mercy! Are you going to kill your mother?" + +"Better you had never borne me than this!" + +The powerful man trembled as if violent fever were shaking him; a groan +broke from his breast which resounded fearfully through the gorgeous +apartment. + +"By all the saints, Raimund, hear me, I beseech you! I will tell you +all!" + +"I need not hear any more. I know too much already. The count called me +a bastard! I thought he was mad! He called me by my right name." + +He put his hand to his side--he had laid aside his sword in the +ante-room. His eyes looked searchingly around as if looking for a +weapon. His mother understood him. + +"Raimund, Raimund, what are you going to do?" + +"Make an end of it as soon as possible!" + +"No man will ever know----" + +"_Will_ know? Who does not know it? Nadeska! the count! this man! Are +my rank, my honor, my fortune to depend on the whim of a chambermaid, +the discretion of a heartless roue, and the silence of a rope-dancer? + +"Am I to wait till the people in the street----" + +"I will kill every man who knows it! They shall die--they shall all +die, if you but remain my own." + +"And if they were to die, and if no one knew but you and I--yes, +mother, if you were dead and the secret were buried in my bosom, I +should not think it safe even there; I should hide myself and my +disgrace in the lowest depths of the earth." + +The princess covered her pale face with her thin hands. But this was +not the moment to abandon herself to idle grief. She knew her son's +character too well not to be aware that it was a question of life and +death. + +"Raimund," she said, starting up again, "you do not kill yourself only; +you kill me too! You are my all, my sun, and my light! I never had +another child but you. You do not know what it is to have a child and +to love it, especially when one is as unhappy as I have been! I never +loved the count. I could not have loved a roue who has wasted his +fortune and his health in abominable profligacy. I became his wife +because--because the czar would have it so. And I was so young at that +time, and so frivolous and thoughtless, grown up in all the splendor +and luxury of the most splendid and most luxurious court on earth! I +was not a faithful wife--nor was the count a faithful husband. It +mattered little to him; but he wished to get a hold on me in order to +force me to provide for his mad expenditures. He had long watched +me--till at last, I do not know yet by what unlucky accident or by +whose treachery, he discovered my secret. From that moment my life has +been a perpetual torture; I have grown old before my time. I never had +anything but you and your love to warm my heart in this icy-cold world. +If you rob me of that also, I must succumb. Raimund, is this your +gratitude for all my love?" + +The son had listened to his mother's cunning words, which interwove +truth and fiction so skilfully, with an air as black as a wall of +thunder-laden clouds. + +"Show me the possibility of living," he replied, "and I will live. As +it is, I cannot live. I cannot endure the consciousness that my blood +is no better than that which flows in the veins of my groom." + +"Am I not your mother?" + +"Is that low person not my father?" + +"Yes, Raimund, he is, and to him you owe your proud strength; to him +you owe it, that all men appear weaklings by your side. Would you +rather be the count's son and inherit his wretched feebleness, his +poisoned blood? And do you fancy that in our veins no other blood flows +but noble blood?--that your case is the only one in which a degenerate +race has been renewed by an admixture of sound but humble blood? Shall +I tell you a few anecdotes of our own circles? And do you think it is +different in higher and the very highest families?" + +The princess rose lightly from her chair and whispered something in her +son's ear. But he grimly shook his head. + +"Is it thus with us?" he said. "Then we had better break our swords to +pieces, and drag our coats-of-arms through the mire. I have kept my +honor unsullied; I have no sin on my conscience, but I must atone for +the sins of others, before the tide rises higher and higher, and I get +deeper and deeper into the mire. Do you know that the man with whom I +had a personal encounter Under the Lindens a few days ago was this very +man!" The prince pointed at the door through which Mr. Schmenckel had +made his way out. "Do you know that I escaped but by a hair's breadth +staining my sword with the blood of him who is my father? No! no! The +measure is full to overflowing!" + +"And Helen?" The prince shuddered. + +The princess saw how deep that arrow had entered. A gleam of hope +appeared to her; she thought she might after all be victorious in this +conflict. + +"Are you going to destroy your greatest happiness? will you make this +angel also wretched? will you humiliate yourself before her, the proud +beauty? Impossible! You cannot mean it. You are bound to life with +chains of steel and with chains of roses. You can break the former, you +dare not break these." + +"It is in vain," said the prince; "all your words cannot remove this +terrible burden!" He placed his hand on his breast. "Henceforth +Farewell!" + +He turned to go. + +"Raimund!" screamed the princess, rising suddenly from her chair and +clinging to her son, "what do you mean to do?" + +"Nothing mean, be sure," he said, trying to disengage himself gently +from her arms. "Farewell!" + +"Go then, barbarian, and murder--" She could not finish; the terrible +excitement of these last two scenes was too much for her suffering +nerves; she sank fainting upon her chair. + +At that moment Nadeska came back. A glance at the scene in the room +told her what had happened. + +"You will kill the poor lady," she said, hastening to assist her +fainting mistress. "And why all this? It will never be known." + +The prince laughed. It was a fearful laugh. + +"Do you think so, Nadeska?" he said. "But suppose you talked in your +dreams? Or have you sold your dreams also to the princess?" + +He beat his forehead with his closed fist and rushed out. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + +As the prince hurried through the ante-room, like Orestes driven by the +furies, he met the Baroness Grenwitz, who came to take leave of the +princess. He thought he would sink into the ground for shame, as she +looked fixedly into his eyes. She said something to him, but he did not +hear what it was. His ears were ringing with strange sounds. He uttered +an inarticulate sound, which was to represent an apology. Then he +rushed out. + +The baroness followed him with a sombre, suspicious look. + +Anna Maria had not had a happy moment since she had entered the house. +The reception last night had touched her to the quick. The constrained +manner of the prince, the unprofitable efforts of the princess to give +to the interview a more cordial tone, the thinly-veiled irony of the +count, who ridiculed every affectionate word--all this had filled her +with sad apprehensions for Helen's future. She had passed the night +without sleep, thinking over the riddle, and again and again she had +come to the conclusion that the princess must have been faithless to +her husband at some time in her life, and that the count thus had an +iron hold on her. Perhaps the striking want of resemblance between +father and son might have contributed to such a conclusion. Thus she +had risen late in very bad humor, and with a violent nervous headache, +and was rather pleased to learn that Miss Helen had driven out to visit +her friend, Sophie. Helen had scarcely left the house when two letters +were brought in, one from Grunwald, the other from the city itself. She +opened the one from Grunwald first. The news of Malte's illness filled +her with consternation. She had always trembled for his life, from +childhood up; were her fears to be realized now? And if Malte should +die--oh that God in His great mercy would prevent that!--the whole +entailed estate went, now that Felix also was no more, to a Captain +Grenwitz, the son of her former husband's first cousin, a beggar, whom +she had never liked, and who had always looked like a hungry pike +eagerly snapping at the estate. He was henceforth to be master at +Grenwitz? Why, after all, she would have preferred to find out that +Oswald Stein was really Harald's legitimate son. + +Mechanically she opened the second letter. It was from Albert Timm and +ran thus: + +"Madame:--After our last interview you will not be surprised if I now +use the weapons _against_ you, which I until then had been using _for_ +you. Mr. Stein has been fully informed. Before the year is out--you may +rely on it--he is master of Stantow and Baerwalde, and you will, +besides, have to pay the back interest for twenty-four years. This is +simple ruin for you. I might rub my hands with delight at your +discomfiture; but Albert Timm is a good-natured fellow and offers you a +piece of good advice in return for your ingratitude. Make your peace +with Mr. Stein before it is too late! Better a small sacrifice than an +entire loss. I send your adversary to you; receive him kindly, and if +you are wise give him the hand of your daughter, who loves him madly. +The princely match is anyhow at an end, considering that the prince is +not the son of a count, but of a rope-dancer, and the matter is in such +a position that the whole world will soon enjoy the grand scandal. But +I must resist your desire to hear the full explanation of this +interesting affair, which you might disregard as you disregarded +certain other explanations of mine. Perhaps you may change your mind +after the interview with Mr. Stein, and become convinced of the sincere +friendship with which I have the honor, etc., etc." + +At any other time the baroness would have looked upon this letter +merely as a renewed effort on the part of Mr. Timm to regain his lost +position; but this morning her mind was so disturbed that the letter +and everything else appeared to her in quite a new light. Was not, +after all, everything and anything possible in this false world? It was +evident that this Mr. Timm knew more than most people, and at all +events the persistence with which he adhered to his statements was very +remarkable. Even Felix in his last letter had admitted the fact! + +The usual energy of the baroness gradually gave way under the heavy +pressure. And now Helen, whom she had sent for, was not coming back; +and in an hour the train would start by which alone she could reach +Grunwald next day! Her trunks were not packed, the question whether +Helen should accompany her or stay had not been decided, and she had +yet to take leave of the princess and the prince. But that, at all +events, could be done in Helen's absence! Necessity released her from +the rules of etiquette; and, besides, the princess herself had asked +her the night before to come unannounced to her rooms. + +Thus Anna Maria left her rooms and went hastily down the long passages +and through the ante-rooms which led to the apartments of the princess, +when suddenly the prince rushed out, evidently in a high state of +excitement, and passed her without saying a word. + +"That is strange!" said the baroness. The door opened again suddenly, +and Nadeska rushed out with terror in her face. + +"Where is the princess?" asked the baroness. + +"In there. She is unwell. No one is coming to answer the bell. I am +going to look for the servants." + +"Do so!" said the baroness. "I will stay in the meantime with the +princess." + +Nadeska did not look as if she liked the arrangement, but she dared not +prevent the baroness from entering. She hurried away, while Anna Maria +stepped into the rosy twilight of the apartments of the princess. + +She was still lying in the arm-chair near the fire. Her half-closed +eyes and the convulsive movements of her hands showed that she had not +quite recovered yet from a fit of fainting. + +"Give me back my son, Nadeska!" she murmured. "He must not wrestle with +that Hercules; the father is stronger than the son. You see! you see! +how he takes him around the waist and lifts him up. He will throw him +down, here at my feet. There, there----" + +The unfortunate woman broke out in hysterics, mixed with a horrible +laugh. Between times she raved: + +"Don't let the count know! The count will tell the baroness! The +baroness will tell her beautiful daughter, and then she wont take the +rope-dancer's son! There he comes, his head cut open, and----" + +A fearful cry broke from the bosom of the sufferer. She started up, and +stared with haggard looks at the baroness. Immediately she sank back +once more, fainting anew. Nadeska came in with a couple of Russian +maids. She seemed to be anxious to get the baroness out of the way. + +"The princess has these attacks quite often," she said, in her smooth, +humble manner, while the servants took up the fainting lady and carried +her into her bed-room. "She must be left alone in such cases; the +presence of strangers makes it only worse." + +"I am not going to disturb her, my dear," said the baroness, coldly; +"especially as I have to leave in an hour. I shall write a few lines to +her grace." + +"What does that mean?" said Nadeska. "Does she also know more than she +ought to know?" + +The baroness returned to her rooms in a state of indescribable +excitement. What was that she had seen and heard? The wild expression +in the prince's face, the confused speeches of the princess, the +suspicious' manner of the waiting woman, who evidently knew all about +the family drama--what was she to think of it? What ought she to do? It +was perhaps the first time in her life that the clever, sensible woman +was utterly at a loss. But was not the ground giving way under her +feet? Was the indestructible pillar of her success not snapping +suddenly like a bruised reed? The prince a rope-dancer's son! A family +secret anxiously guarded for twenty-odd years, suddenly proclaimed in +the streets and on the house-tops! Her son, the legitimate heir to the +immense estate, sick unto death! An unknown scion of a former owner, +rising unexpectedly from obscurity, a lost will in his right hand, +which made him owner of a fortune that the baroness had all her life +regarded as her own! And what would Helen say? How her pride would +suffer when she learnt that the diamonds of the princely crown were +nothing but vile glass, unfit for the lowest of the low! + +A carriage came dashing into the court-yard. It was Helen. The heart of +the baroness beat as if the decisive moment was only now approaching. A +few anxious moments and the beautiful daughter came, pale and +distressed, into the room, and threw herself into her mother's arms +with a passionate vehemence which contrasted most strangely with her +usual reserve and coldness. + +"God be thanked you are back!" said Anna Maria. "I must go; I wanted to +ask you if you will go with me!" + +"Can you ask me?" cried Helen. "I should stay here, and without you?" + +"Then you do not feel happy here, Helen?" + +"No, no! I do not love the prince! I have never loved him!" And Helen +hid her face on her mother's bosom. + +The baroness was much surprised. Helen's words, and even more the tone +in which she said them, and her whole strange, passionate manner, +suddenly gave her an utterly new insight into her daughter's character. +She had a dim perception that large portions of her inner life had so +far been utterly unknown to her, and that all her cleverness, of which +she was so proud, had not enabled her to see clearly in her own +daughter's heart. + +"Why did you give your promise then?" she asked. + +"I cannot tell. I was--I did not know what I was doing. But now I do +know it. I cannot marry the prince; he must give me back my word. If +you insist upon the marriage I shall die!" + +"And if I do not insist?" + +It was now Helen's turn to be surprised. She looked at the baroness +with wondering eyes. + +"As I say, my dear child, I have made certain discoveries this morning +which have startled me, to say the least, very much, and which have +brought me the conviction that we have proceeded in this whole matter +with a want of caution which might possibly have been quite disastrous +to us all." + +"I do not understand you, mamma!" said Helen. + +"Well, it is hard to understand," said Anna Maria, plaintively. "I +hardly know where my head is. I am perfectly miserable!" + +And the baroness threw herself into a chair as if she were +broken-hearted, and commenced weeping bitterly. + +Helen had never seen her mother weep. The unusual sight touched her +deeply. She knelt down by her, and tried to console her with kind, +soothing words. But it was all in vain. + +"It is not that alone, though that is bad enough," sobbed Anna Maria; +"but we also are threatened with a similar exposure," and under the +pressure of a moment, yielding to the natural impulse of all helpless +sufferers to cling to others at any hazard, she told Helen in a few +words all about Oswald's claims on her fortune, and that if these +claims should be legally established she and her daughter alike would +be beggars. + +Helen had listened to her in breathless excitement. Her color came and +went continually, her eyes were fixed on her mother, her hand held her +mother's hands with a firm grasp. + +"Beggars! you say? Better so and a clear conscience than in abundance +and fainting with anxiety! Come, mamma, I am not afraid of poverty! You +have often told me how poor you were before you were married to papa. +Why should I be better off? I do not see that being rich has made you +happy, or papa; he told me so in his last hour. I have seen it with my +own eyes how much happier people are who have nothing but their +affection, who rely on nothing but their own strength. I have strength; +I can and will work for you, if it must be so. But now let us go away +from here. You are sick and weary; your hand is icy cold, and your +forehead is burning; stay, do not get up. I will pack your things; you +need not trouble yourself; I shall be down in five minutes." + +"No," said the baroness, "let me do that. Mary can help me. You can do +something else for me. We cannot well leave without writing a few words +of farewell to the princess, as she is too unwell to see us, and we are +in such a hurry. Sit down and write a few lines, kindly and politely, +but neither more nor less than what is indispensable." + +"I will do so," said Helen, sitting down at her escritoire, while her +mother went into the adjoining room. + +Helen had just taken up her pen when she heard a noise behind her which +made her look up. In the middle of the room stood Oswald, deadly pale, +his large eyes, brilliant with fever, fixed upon her. Helen was so +terrified that she could not speak nor move. She thought for a moment +it was an apparition. + +Oswald seemed to guess so. + +"It is really I!" he said. "Pardon me for my abrupt appearance. I asked +for the baroness; they showed me in here." + +"I will call my mother," said Helen, rising. + +"I pray, stay," said Oswald; "I pray you! I have only two words to say. +I would rather say them to you than to the baroness." + +There was something so solemn in Oswald's manner and tone of voice that +Helen had not the heart to refuse his request. + +"Will you sit down?" she said, sinking herself into a chair and +pointing at another chair near her. + +Oswald sat down. + +"I do not know, Miss Helen, if your mother has spoken to you of certain +intrigues by which she has been troubled of late, and which originate +mainly with a certain Mr. Timm?" + +"I have just this morning heard of it for the first time." + +"That was my own fate. And this is what brings me here. I cannot bear +the thought; I believe I could not die quietly if I thought that you +believed me capable of employing such vile means against you. Will you +please tell the baroness so?" + +"I will." + +"And tell her also, I pray, and believe yourself, how bitterly I regret +that you have been troubled with such a matter." + +"It was nothing but an invention of Mr. Timm!" + +"No, Miss Helen!" said Oswald, with a sorrowful smile. "I presume it is +more than that. I am only too much afraid it is the real truth, and +that is the second reason why you see me here." + +"You surely do not imagine we would refuse to acknowledge legitimate +claims against us?" + +"That case will never arise. I have no desire to make such claims. I +should never have done so, under any circumstances; and least of all +now." + +He cast a look around him. The splendor of the apartment reminded him +forcibly in whose house he was. + +"Least of all now!" he repeated. "Here are the papers which prove this +most unfortunate of all stories. I desire the baroness to take them and +to keep them, so as to be secure at all times against that man's +machinations." + +He placed the documents and papers which Timm had brought him a few +hours before upon Helen's escritoire, and bowed to take leave. + +"One moment, sir!" said Helen, rising likewise. "Do you imagine my +mother will accept such a gift? Who has given you the right to think so +little of us?" + +"I think, Miss Helen, your pride misleads you in this instance. There +is evidently no one whom this whole matter concerns except myself, and +I desire to be relieved of an unpleasant suspicion. It was hardly +necessary to remind me that a few hundred thousand dollars, more or +less, mattered little to the mother of the owner of Grenwitz, and to +the betrothed of Prince Waldenberg." + +"Circumstances ought not to affect our duties," replied the young girl, +rising to her full height and curving her lips contemptuously; "and you +need not believe that I am so indifferent to your claims because, I am +proud of our wealth and our rank. We are at this very moment on the +point of leaving for Grenwitz, where my brother is lying dangerously +ill; and there, on my escritoire, lies the beginning of a letter in +which the princess will be told that I shall never be her son's wife." + +Helen's dark eyes were shining brightly; the hot blood gave greater +depth to the red on her cheeks. Oswald had never seen her so beautiful, +so marvellously beautiful. And this at the moment when he had already +in his heart bid farewell to life, which had no longer any charms for +him. Just now this glorious beauty, this highest beau-ideal of his +wildest dreams, must present herself to him, not at an inapproachable +distance, but within reach attainable to his bold desires--to his firm +will, perhaps! Why did she tell him that she would never marry the +prince? And why did she tell it in such a defiant tone, if she did not +mean to humble him--the weak, hesitating, fickle man--by the strength +of her will, by the promptness with which she abandoned all this +splendor, merely in order to remain true to herself? + +These thoughts passed swiftly through Oswald's mind, which worked all +the faster as he had been so long sleepless and feverish. He knew that +she would never have told him all this if she had not loved him at some +time or other; if she did not perhaps still love him; and yet he knew +with absolute certainty that they were separated from each other +irretrievably by all that had happened. There was therefore no +bitterness, but deep sadness in his voice, as he fixed his eyes +immoveably upon the heavenly beauty before him and said, slowly: + +"Let us not sadden one another still more by violent, bitter words! Who +knows whether we shall ever speak to each other again? I feel like a +dying man, and what I am going to say I do not say for myself, but from +an earnest desire to state the truth. Helen, I have loved you from the +hour when I saw you first in the park at Grenwitz! I have never +forgotten that moment. I know that you also would have loved me if I +had but been true to myself; you might have become my own. But when I +forsook myself you also forsook me, and now there is an abyss between +us over which there is no bridge. And what seemed to be about to bring +us together--the discovery of this morning--only parts us forever. I +feel it clearly. You will never be disposed to accept a gift, as you +call it; and I would rather burn my right hand than stretch it out +after the inheritance of a man who made my mother the most wretched of +women. There is no peace possible between us, even if everything else +were as it ought to be. And now, Helen, before we part--probably +forever--one more request; give me your hand across that gulf which +parts us, as a token that I am forgiven!" + +Helen laid her hand in Oswald's. + +Thus they stood and looked deep into each other's eyes; and as they so +looked they saw all the golden summer mornings in the past at Grenwitz +under the whispering trees, and all the purple-glowing evenings in the +green beech woods near the sea-shore--and then they saw nothing more, +for a close veil of tears hid the enchanting images. + +"Farewell, Helen!" + +"Farewell, Oswald!" + +"Forever!" + +"Forever!" + +Oswald did not take the beloved one in his arms; a feeling of holy +reverence kept him back. He felt that the time for repentance which was +granted to him was too short, and swearing new vows which he felt no +strength to keep was not making amends for so many broken ones. + +He let the hand go which he had held in his own, and--the next moment +Helen was alone. + +She was still standing so, her eyes fixed on the door through which +Oswald had disappeared, when the baroness came back to the room. + +"It is high time, Helen," she said; "the carriage is waiting. Are you +ready?" + +"Yes." + +"What papers are those on the escritoire?" + +"Did he not take them again?" + +"Who?" + +"Oswald." + +"Has he been here? What did he want?" + +"He came to say good-by. Take those papers, mother. He brought them to +you." + +"Helen, you look pale; and you have been crying! What does that mean? +Do you love that man? Must I lose my last child then?" + +"Be calm, mamma. I shall not leave you in our misfortune. There is the +letter to the princess. One moment, mother." + +She sat down and wrote in great haste a few lines. + +"Well, that is done! I am free once more! Come, mamma; I will show you +that I have still strength and courage enough for life. Come!" + +And she drew the baroness, who willingly yielded herself up to her +daughter's superior energy, with her out of the room. + +A minute later the two ladies had left Waldenberg House, and half an +hour afterwards the train carried them away from the city. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + +As Oswald hurried down the street, scarcely knowing what he was doing, +he felt suddenly some one seize him by the arm. It was Mr. Timm. + +After his encounter with Mr. Schmenckel Mr. Timm had been compelled to +abandon his post of observation near the princess's house in order to +go into the courtyard of one of the adjoining houses, and there wash +off the blood which the director's weighty fist had drawn from mouth +and nose. Timm was as angry as he had ever been in his life. It +was the rage of the hunter when he sees a wild beast tearing his +cunningly-woven nets and escaping from his most ingenious trap. This +booby of a Schmenckel, with his stupid honesty! How he had worked at +the man to dazzle him with golden prospects; and now! It was enough to +turn a man's brain! The glorious fortune all lost! And why? For nothing +but a fit of honesty! And if Oswald, too, should be such a fool! These +blockheads can never be left alone for a moment! And just now the +bleeding will not stop! What enormous strength that fellow has! + +Thus it came that the martyr of stupid honesty saw neither Mr. +Schmenckel nor the prince leave the house, nor Oswald go in, and he was +now also but just in time to overtake the latter as he was rather +running than walking down the street. + +"Hallo! sir!" + +"What is it?" + +"Well, I ask _you_ that!" + +"Is that you?" + +"Who else? How did it go? Did the old one give in promptly?" And he was +about to slip his arm familiarly in Oswald's arm; but Oswald stepped +back. + +"Don't touch me!" he said, "or I will beat your brains out!" + +"Oh ho!" said Timm, giving way; "is he crazy too?" + +"Wretch!" cried Oswald. "You wretch! who make vulgarity your +profession, and speculate on vice. Let me never find you again in my +way, or you will repent it!" + +He left Timm, who had first turned ashy pale and then broken out into +loud laughter, and hurried away. He did not mind where his feet carried +him! He went as in a dream, and what he saw and heard appeared to him +only like dreamy images: curious, terrified faces of women and children +in doors and windows; dense crowds of men, who seemed to tell each +other fearful things with wild gestures and loud exclamations; running +and shouting, yelling and whistling on all sides, and between the +mournful ring of alarm-bells from all the steeples. Then, as Oswald +left the aristocratic portion of the town further and further behind +him, a new sound mingled with the others: a very peculiar rattling +noise, and a low thundering, which made the very houses tremble. + +But all this did not rouse him from his waking dream. The sorrow for +his ruined happiness had made him blind and deaf to the sorrow of a +whole ill-treated nation. Suddenly a ghastly spectacle startled him. +From one of the side streets a young man came running out, who cried: +"Treason! treason! They are firing at us!" The young man's blouse was +torn and covered with blood; his face was pale, his hair dishevelled; +he staggered like a drunken man, and suddenly he fell down right before +Oswald. Oswald raised him up, and in an instant a crowd of men and +women were around them. "He is dying!" cried the men. "A curse upon the +executioners!" The women shrieked. One cried out: "Take him; don't you +see the gentleman can hardly stand himself!" A man took the dying youth +from Oswald's arms. Suddenly Oswald felt some one touch him. He turned +around and saw Berger. Oswald's soul had during the last hours been so +overwhelmed with strange, exceptional events and sensations that he was +prepared even for the most extraordinary occurrences. And if there was +a man in this world whom he wished to see just then it was his friend +and teacher, the companion of his fate. Oswald did not ask him how? and +whence? He threw himself into Berger's arms. + +"Glad you are here," said the other, hurriedly; "come! let the dead +bury the dead. We must work and be doing as long as it is day!" + +They hastened off together. + +With every step they came nearer to the crater of the revolution which +had broken out a few hours before. In this part of the city barricades +were going up, built by a thousand brave and skilful hands, and manned +by death-defying men and boys, mostly belonging to the lower classes of +the people. These improvised fortresses did not inspire much hope of +being able to resist long, for they consisted mostly of one, or at best +of several, heavy wagons, torn-off planks, and other similar objects, +hastily piled up together, while the arms of the small garrison were +generally only rusty old swords, pikes, guns without locks, and similar +instruments. + +Berger stopped here and there giving advice, encouraging others, and +calling with his deep, sonorous voice "To arms! to the barricades!" But +whenever Oswald offered to lay hand on the work himself he kept him +from it. + +"Not here," he said; "these are only our outposts, which must be given +up quickly. No barricade can be defended successfully in this straight, +wide street. The gross of the revolution is further back." + +Thus they came to Broad street, near Mrs. Black's private hotel. + +The hotel was a corner house, and a narrow by-street led past its side +into Brother street. In the narrow alley was the Dismal Hole. Here the +excitement was intense. From the great square, near the palace, platoon +firing was heard, and quite a cannonade; but no trace of barricades was +yet to be seen. + +"Are these men mad?" cried Berger. "If they do not mean to throw up +fortifications here, where will they do it?" + +On the steps of the hotel, surrounded by a crowd, stood a gentleman in +a white cravat who spoke eagerly to the people: "His majesty has been +pleased to receive the deputation." "Away with your majesty!" cried an +angry voice. "His majesty is pleased to shoot his faithful subjects and +to receive them with grapeshot!" cried another voice. "Gentlemen!" +shrieked the orator, "do not give way to feelings of hatred and +revenge. His majesty consents to withdraw the troops as soon as you lay +down your arms." "And as soon as we offer our throats to the knife!" +cried a tremendous voice, and a man suddenly stood by the side of the +orator in the white cravat. + +It was Berger. His gray hair was hanging wildly around his uncovered +head; his eyes were burning as if the revolution itself had taken his +form and voice. "Will," he continued, "you hesitate, and fear, and +negotiate, while your brethren are murdered in the next street? Are you +ever going on trusting, you trusting, deceived, cheated people. You +will gain nothing but what you conquer, arms in hand; you will have no +liberty which you do not purchase with your blood. Do not chaffer and +bargain any longer, but give the high price--your life's blood!--for +the precious boon!--for liberty! To arms! To arms!" + +"To arms! To arms!" It resounded with the voice of thunder on all +sides. "Victory or death! To arms!" + +The unarmed hands rose, as if to swear. + +Berger had hurried down the steps. They surrounded him; they pressed +his hands. Some asked him to "take the matter in hand;" a leader they +must have. + +Berger looked around. Suddenly he rushed towards a tall, thin gentleman +who was pushing his way through the crowd. + +"There is your man!" he cried, taking the tall stranger by the hand. + +"He must be our leader. Step up there, Oldenburg, and speak to them +only a few words. You understand that better than anybody else!" + +Oldenburg was on the porch. + +"Gentlemen!" he said, raising his hat; "let us follow the fashion of +the day and build a barricade. I practiced the art a fortnight ago for +a little while in the streets of Paris. If you will make use of my +experience for want of a better man, I am heartily at your service. I +am ready to build with you, to fight with you, to conquer with you, +and, if it must be, to die with you!" + +The iron ring in Oldenburg's voice, his manner of speaking easy and yet +so persuasive had a charm which the crowd could not resist. It flashed +like an electric shock through all hearts. + +"You shall be our leader!" they cried on all sides. "Let the +black-beard be our captain!" + +"Well, then," said Oldenburg, raising his voice; "every man to the +barricade!" + +The magic word brought about incredible activity. The confused, +helpless mass suddenly came to order. In all minds but one thought +seemed to be uppermost--to build a barricade--and all hands were busy +at the one common work. + +"We must be done in ten minutes!" said Oldenburg, "or we might just as +well not have commenced at all." + +Oldenburg's marvellous coolness and quickness, his sharp eye and his +firm decision, did honor to his place as leader. He seemed to be +everywhere at once, and his clear, loud voice was heard at all points. +Here they tore up the pavement as he commanded; there they raised the +large slabs of the sidewalk to arm the sides of the upturned wagons, +which had to serve as bulwarks here, as well as in all places where +time is pressing. Doors taken from their hinges, planks bridging over +gutters, bags filled with sand, completed the strength of this +structure, which rose with a rapidity proportionate to the feverish +excitement that beat in all hearts. Every muscle, every sinew, was +strained to the utmost; boys were carrying loads which ordinarily a man +would have considered heavy; men who only knew how to use a pen +suddenly seemed to be endowed with muscles of steel. Above all, +however, a man in a worn-out velvet coat signalized himself by exploits +in comparison with which all the rest seemed to be but the work of +pigmies. Wherever anything was to be lifted or to be dragged which no +one could master, they called laughingly for "Hercules"--the popular +voice had given him the name after the first five minutes--and Hercules +ran up, stretched out his mighty arms, or leaned his broad shoulders +against it, and the immoveable mass seemed of a sudden to become a mere +trifle. + +"Bravo, Mr. Schmenckel!" said Oldenburg, patting the giant on the back; +"but spare your strength; we shall need it all." + +"Pshaw, your excellency, baron!" replied Mr. Schmenckel, wiping the +perspiration from his face with his sleeve; "that is not anything." + +"Hercules, here!" some one called. + +"Coming!" replied Mr. Schmenckel, and hurried to where he was wanted. + +"Now we want the best!" murmured Oldenburg, looking at what had been +done and casting an inquiring glance at the roofs of the houses on both +sides of the barricade, where men were busy taking off the slates and +tiles as he had directed. "If Berger does not bring arms all our work +is for nothing." + +Just then Berger came with five or six young men. Each of them had a +rifle. Others were dragging along a large bag filled with ammunition. + +Berger, who had anticipated the revolution for several days and made +his preparations in his mind, knew all the gunsmiths and shops where +arms were kept in the whole neighborhood. He had taken possession of +the nearest. A shout of joy arose when the little troop reached the +barricade. Soon after an old fowling-piece and a rusty gun with an +old-fashioned flint-lock were brought up, and last of all four pistols +from the lodgings of a couple of officers which had been luckily +discovered. The arms were at once distributed, and every man had his +post assigned him. Every armed man had another man by him to load. In +the kitchen, in the basement of an adjoining house, bullets were cast +under the direction of an old one-eyed man who was an old soldier; and +boys, merry storm-petrels of every barricade-fight, were appointed to +carry the balls to the defenders. + +The quarter of an hour which Oldenburg had allowed as the longest time +that could be given to the erection of the barricade was out, and the +very next moment showed how accurately he had calculated. The rifles +had but just been loaded and the men had taken their places when a +battalion of infantry came marching up the street. A major rode at the +head. He ordered "Halt!" at some distance from the barricade, and rode +up alone till within a few yards. He was an old, gray-haired soldier +with a good-natured face, who evidently did not like the duty he had to +fulfil. His voice sounded wavering, and trembled a little as he raised +it as high as he could, and said, + +"You, there! I must get through here with my men; and if you do not +take that thing there out of my way willingly, I shall have to use +force. I should be sorry, for your sake, to have to do so." + +Oldenburg appeared on the barricade. + +"In the name of these men!" he said, raising his hat politely to the +major, "I declare that we are determined to stand by each other, and to +hold this barricade as long as we can!" + +Oldenburg's appearance and his words evidently made an impression on +the old soldier. + +"You are the leader of these men?" + +"I have that honor." + +"You seem to be an intelligent man. Then you must see that that thing +there is of no avail, and that your few charges cannot possibly do you +any good. Pull that thing down; it is all right." + +"I am sorry I cannot comply with your request, and must adhere to my +resolution." + +"Well, then," said the major, more annoyed than angry, "you will all go +to the devil." + +With these words he turned his horse and galloped back to his men. + +Oldenburg was glad when the conversation was at an end. His quick eye +had showed him that the kindly words of the major had not failed to +make an impression on the crowd, and that more than one looked +undecided and doubtful. In a mass of people enthusiasm effervesces +quickly. He turned round and said: + +"If there is one among you who had rather live for country and liberty +than die for them, he had better say so now. It is time yet!" + +The men stood motionless and silent. Many a heart no doubt beat +painfully, but every one felt that the die was cast, and that it would +be disgraceful treason to turn back now. + +The drums beat on the opposite side, and the terrible summons drove +every hesitation out of their hearts. + +Oldenburg cried, with a voice which drowned the rattling of the drums +like loud trumpet-sound: "Every man to his post! Not a shot before I +give the sign! Not a stone must move!" + +Oldenburg remained standing on the top of the barricade and saw the +column approaching at quick-step; in the centre the drummers, and the +major, who commanded with his sepulchral voice, + +"Battalion! Halt! Aim! Fire!" + +The flash came; the balls hailed upon the barricade and the walls of +the houses. + +"Shoulder arms! March!" + +"Hurrah!" cried the men, rushing with charged bayonets upon the +barricade. + +"Hurrah!" cried Oldenburg, still standing on the barricade and waving +his hat. + +And the rifles of the little garrison gave fire, and the stones came +down rattling from the roofs upon the heads of the unlucky soldiers; +and when the smoke and the dust slowly blew away, the company which had +come up in military regularity was seen running away in wild flight, +and before them a riderless horse, and between them little groups of +three or four men who carried dead or wounded men on litters beyond the +reach of the barricade. + +Of the men of the people only one had been wounded, and not by a +hostile ball; the old, rusty flint-lock had burst at the first +discharge, and a piece of it had struck the head of one of the +marksmen. This accident only increased the good humor of the company. +They cried hurrah! they congratulated each other, they laughed, they +joked, and everybody was in the best of humor. + +There was perhaps but one man behind the barricade who did not share +the general joy, and this man was Oldenburg. He was as fully convinced +as any one that fight they must, but he doubted a happy issue. He had +been in Paris during the month of February; he had fought there; and he +could not but see the difference. There he had seen a people fully +conscious of the weakness of the government against which they rose, +and clearly understanding the whole situation; here he found nothing +but uncertainty, divided opinions, and doubts. But the genius of +mankind does not always require a clear, perfect understanding in its +defenders; a vague impulse, a dim perception even, leads often to +glorious deeds. These harmless men, knowing little of politics, and +quite willing to rest content with very small concessions, might be +fighting only against the brutal rule of a single caste, and not for +the free republic of the future; but great effects could not fail to be +obtained even here, and he who cuts off a diseased limb may by it save +the whole body. + +Thus Oldenburg tried to console himself for the fears with which the +appearance of this revolution had inspired him. He had been on the +square near the palace when the fatal two shots fell which were +destined to be the signal for the explosion, and when the troops had +made their first attack _en masse_ against the unarmed multitude. He +and other good men had in vain tried to stop the shedding of blood; +they had pushed their way through the soldiers at the risk of their +lives in order to explain to the commanding officer the madness of such +a butchery. But all they had heard in reply was open scorn, and at best +rude orders to mind their own business. When Oldenburg saw that he +could not be of any use in this way, and that matters had come to a +crisis, he had tried to reach Melitta's lodgings in Broad street to +place her and the children in safety. But he had been compelled to make +a wide circuit, for the troops had already taken possession of all the +approaches from the side of the palace, and he barely escaped more than +once being arrested. Thus it happened that he reached the hotel only at +the moment when the people were deliberating whether they should offer +resistance or not Oldenburg took only time to inquire at the hotel +after Melitta, where he heard to his delight that she and the children +had already gone early in the morning to Doctor Braun's, who lived in a +remote suburb, to which the _emeute_ was not likely to extend. Then he +had thrown himself heart and soul into the torrent of the revolution. + +And now he stood, after the first attack had been successfully +repulsed, with crossed arms on the barricade, in a sheltered position, +from which he could overlook at once the movements of the enemy and the +space behind the barricade, anxiously awaiting the return of Berger, +whom he had sent out with a patrol to procure if possible more +ammunition, and to establish a communication with the nearest +barricades. For so far the rising was without any organization; no +concerted plan to produce united efforts; every barricade was fighting +by itself. Besides, day-light began to fade away, and night, although +it might leave the troops in doubt as to the strength of the enemy, +also tended to increase the confusion on the side of the people, which +is always an element of weakness in popular risings. Berger returned +soon afterwards, bringing a few more guns but no comfort. The adjoining +streets, he reported, were also barricaded; but the barricades were +badly constructed, and held by too few men, especially the nearest one, +in Brother street. + +"I do not think they can hold it long," he added, "and then we are +lost, because the troops can flank us here through this narrow +alley"--and he pointed to Gertrude street, which passed by the hotel +and led from Broad street into Brother street. "We must necessarily +stop up that street also and occupy it, which can easily be done. I +have directed Oswald and Schmenckel to do it at once." + +"Whom?" inquired Oldenburg, who had no suspicion that Oswald could be +here, and thought he had misunderstood Berger. + +But he had not time to wait for Berger's reply, for at that moment the +drums beat once more, and the second company came up to storm the +barricade. This time the major on his white horse was not there. The +old man, who had been dangerously wounded in the head by a ball, was on +his way to the hospital. + +The second attack was more serious, although no more successful than +the first. The captain in command gave the order to fire three times in +rapid succession, and then rushed his men with great violence upon the +barricade. But as Oldenburg and his men had again reserved their fire +till the last moment, the loss was very great for the attacking party; +upon whom, moreover, such a storm of bullets, tiles, and stones rained +down from the adjoining houses that they once more retreated, carrying +their dead and wounded with them. + +But this time the men of the people also had their losses. A young man +who had imprudently exposed himself was shot through the breast and +died instantly, while another had his arm shattered by a ricochet ball. + +Thus the men of the barricade had had their blood baptism, and now only +they felt as if they were indissolubly bound to the cause of the +revolution. Men who had seen each other to-day for the first time shook +hands and pledged themselves not to leave each other till death should +part them forever. Women, who ordinarily went out of their way to avoid +meeting common people, now went about among the fighting men and +distributed bread and wine. Among these gentle Samaritans one was +especially remarkable by her stately appearance and her venerable gray +hairs. It was Mrs. Black, who found ample opportunity to-night to +gratify her passion for feeding the hungry and nursing the sick. + +Oldenburg now suggested what he had learnt in Paris to be eminently +useful under such circumstances: that lights should be placed in all +the windows which looked upon the barricade, so as to improvise a +brilliant illumination, to which the full-moon, shining bright and +clear on the blue sky, contributed generously. It was a strange +contrast: the sacred peace high up in the heavenly regions, and down +here a city raging in the fever of revolution, where the howling of +alarm-bells and the thunder of cannon, the rattling of small arms and +the mad cries of the combatants, were horribly mingled with each other. +And to make the appalling scene still more so, low, hot clouds of smoke +came now floating slowly over the roofs of the houses. Fire had broken +out at several places at once; the city was threatened with a universal +conflagration! Who had time to-night to help and to save? + +Oldenburg looked for Berger but could not see him anywhere. He wanted +to ask what he had meant when he spoke of Oswald, for he now +recollected having caught a glimpse of a man who had reminded him +somewhat of Oswald Stein. But just then loud cries were heard from +Gertrude street, and a few shots fell. Oldenburg, fearing the troops +might have taken the barricade in Brother street and were pushing on +through Gertrude street, rapidly collected a handful of men and with +them rushed down into that street. Here a surprise had been in +contemplation, and the danger had only been averted by Schmenckel's +giant strength and by the heroic bravery of Berger and Oswald. + +Oswald had joined the barricade-builders in Gertrude street in order to +avoid Oldenburg, whom he had seen to his great surprise first on the +steps of the hotel in the midst of the excited crowd, and then as +captain on top of the barricade. He felt it impossible to meet just now +the man whom he had at one time revered as a superior being, and at +another time hated as his bitterest enemy. He did not wish to renew the +contest between such feelings in his own heart; he was so weary, weary +unto death! The excitement around him felt to him like a song rocking +him to sleep with his weary sick heart, and when he heard the first +bullets whistle around him during the attack upon the barricade where +he then was, his only thought was: Oh, that one of them were intended +for me! + +He said so much to Berger, as they were sitting on the barricade in +Gertrude street to rest for a moment from their exhausting efforts. + +"No," replied Berger; "that is not right. Death itself does not pay our +bills; it only tears them, without paying them, and throws the +fragments at the feet of the creditor. But death in the cause of +liberty!--it pays them all." + +He seized Oswald's hand, looking around anxiously to see that no one +could hear them. + +"I am afraid of life, Oswald! Death is a fearful asylum, in which one +may awake again! Suicide is such a death to me, Oswald. If that were +not so I should long since have died by my own hand. For it is easier +to die, in order to escape from ourselves, than to live for others. I +have found that out. I have drunk the bitter cup, and the dregs are +very bitter. Oswald! at first I had courage enough, and lived bravely; +but after six months of such life my courage is gone and my strength +exhausted. My nerves cannot bear it any longer. That is why I feel so +joyfully this day, on which the people have at last shaken off their +disgraceful apathy to rise in their might. If I could die to-day for +this people, whom now for the first time in my life I find not to be +contemptible any more--Oswald! it would be such good fortune as I had +never expected. And then," he continued, after a pause, "another piece +of good fortune has befallen me to-day. I have met again my oldest +enemy, whom I hated most bitterly, and my youngest and most beloved +friend." + +He pressed Oswald's hand, who said, smiling: + +"Found your oldest enemy? was that fortunate?" + +Berger told Oswald in a few words of his meeting with Count Malikowsky +that morning, and that Schmenckel, who had helped them gloriously in +building up the barricade, was Prince Waldenberg's father. "The +low-born man the father of a prince, the prince the son of a low-born +man--that would make a nice novel," he said with a grim smile. + +"Perhaps I can give you a companion-story to yours," answered Oswald; +and he informed Berger of the discoveries he had made that day with +regard to his own birth. "That is strange!" said Berger; "very strange! +And did you not tell me you loved Helen?" + +"More than my life!" + +"And you refused all that splendor to remain faithful to your old +flag?" + +Oswald shook his head. + +"No, Berger!" he said; "I am not good and great enough for that, as you +think in your goodness and greatness. She could never be mine. Too many +things had happened that could never be forgiven and forgotten. I had +preferred others to her, and she had preferred another man to me. That +Prince Waldenberg was her betrothed." + +"Why do you say _was_?" + +"Because I found them leaving town. She had recollected at the last +moment that she had a heart in her bosom whose longing not all the +riches of the world could satisfy." + +"Strange! strange!" murmured Berger. "You, both of you: the baron's son +who makes common cause with the people, and the low-born man's son who +sits among princes, are rivals for the favor of the same lady! And she +rejects you because she has no suspicion of your noble birth, and she +accepts the prince because she thinks that the same blood flows in his +veins, of which he is so proud! What a pity the world does not know +this and must not know it! They might possibly find out then what the +difference is between noble blood and common blood!" + +"You, at all events, do not seem to value the difference quite as much +as formerly. I can remember the time when you thought it morally +impossible to be the friend of a nobleman." + +"You allude to my friendship with Oldenburg," said Berger, calmly. "I +tell you, Oswald, if there ever was a man who deserved to be loved and +honored, Oldenburg is that man. If any man could ever have reconciled +me with the world, Oldenburg would have been that man. If I ever could +humble myself before any man and acknowledge him to be my lord and +master, that man is Oldenburg. I know you hate him because the woman +whom you have forsaken thinks more of him than of the whole world. That +is not fair, Oswald. Oldenburg has also spoken of you like a friend. I +should be very happy, Oswald, if you could be reconciled with each +other before I leave you forever." + +"My turn comes first!" said Oswald. "Do you know what you once told me +in Grunwald? 'You will die before me,' you said, 'for the Big Serpent +is tough of life, and you are too soft, far too gentle for this hard +world.'" + +"That was long ago. This last year has made the Big Serpent dull and +feeble. But what is that?" + +A noise, coming from a low restaurant with steps leading up from the +basement, made both men jump up from their seats. They seized their +arms and hurried, followed by other men of the same barricade, to the +place, where now several shots were fired. These were the same shots +which Oldenburg had heard when he was roused from his effort to seek +rest on his barricade in Broad street. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + +Albert Timm had stopped, after his violent altercation with Oswald, +looking after his faithless friend and laughing so loud and so bitterly +that the passers-by had looked at him in surprise. Then he had hurried +away in another direction, murmuring violent words, gnashing his teeth, +and shaking his hands at imaginary enemies. Albert Timm was savage, and +from his point of view he had reason to be furious. He was in a +desperate position. The debts he had left behind him in Grunwald and +elsewhere were not particularly pressing--he was great in bearing such +burdens!--but the small sum he had brought with him to town was at an +end; and even if that could be borne, all his bright prospects for a +brilliant future had been suddenly blown to the winds and burst like a +many-colored soap bubble. + +Cursing the world and himself, he had thus walked through several +streets before he reached that part of town where the rising was +general. He delighted in it not because he had any sympathy with the +cause of the people or liberty, but because he felt instinctively that +in such times, where all is turned upside down, he--the man without a +home, the adventurer--could lose nothing, and possibly gain much. This +thought restored to him his full elasticity. He hurrahed merrily with +the crowd, he chimed in with the cry: To arms! to arms! and had real +pleasure in finding the excitement growing apace as he came nearer the +place of his destination, the Dismal Hole. Thus he reached Broad street +just at the moment when Oswald and Berger approached it from the other +side. He noticed both, also Mr. Schmenckel, who had come by appointment +to have an interview with Berger. By no means desirous to be seen by +his enemies he slipped aside, and was about to creep into Gertrude +street when some one seized hold of his coat. When he looked around he +found himself face to face with his friend and patron, Jeremy +Goodheart. + +"Well, how did matters go?" asked the detective, who had in the +meantime become Timm's friend, and was fully initiated in his +intrigues. + +"All up!" sighed Timm, angrily. "Lost my labor and my trouble! All up! +I could roast the two rascals!" He pointed at Oswald and Schmenckel. + +"Hem, hem!" said the policeman. "You must tell me that at leisure. Come +to Rose; but let us first hear what the mad professor has to say." + +"Do you know him?" asked Timm. + +"Hush! We know him. Deceived people!--all right! To arms!--excellent! +Just wait!--we'll catch you! And there comes the tall baron, who makes +such revolutionary speeches at the election meetings! Why, there is the +whole nest of them!--build barricades!--hurrah! Bravo!--hurrah! All men +to the barricades! Hurrah!" cried the detective, and waved his hat with +admirably feigned enthusiasm. Then he seized Timm by the arm and said: +"Now we must get away quickly or the fellows will shut us up here with +their barricade." + +The two companions crept down Gertrude street and disappeared in the +Dismal Hole. + +Mrs. Rose Pape received them with unusual cordiality. + +"Well, darlings, do you come with full purses? Have you got it, eh? + +"Hush!" said the detective, "and bring us beer; we can't stop." + +"Without telling me how the----?" said the worthy matron indignantly, +and made with her thumb and her forefinger the motion of counting +money. + +Mr. Timm shrugged his shoulders in reply, and pulled out the empty +pockets of his trousers. + +Mrs. Pape was of choleric nature, and the failure of such magnificent +expectations filled her with just indignation, to which she gave vent +in a flood of oaths and vile invectives, some of which were aimed at +the detective. "But I will pay Schmenckel, with his big paunch," she +said. "Let him come here again and have no money to pay for his beer; +I'll show him home, the old rascal!" + +At that moment the firing was heard as the troops charged the barricade +in Broad street; and almost immediately afterwards a great noise was +heard at the windows. They began building the barricade which was to +close up Gertrude street. The detective and Timm, who looked stealthily +out at the window, saw Oswald, Berger, Schmenckel, and other men, hard +at work. They withdrew, following their landlady to the remoter depths +of the basement. + +"That is a charming trap," said the detective. "We are hemmed in on all +sides, and if they find us here the rascals will kill us." + +"It is not quite so bad as that," said the woman. "I can get you out +safely. Come along." + +She led the two men through the last room and a hidden door down a few +steps into a deep cellar, which was used as a store-room. On the wall a +thin little gas-flame was burning. The woman screwed it up. + +"Now," she said, "you go through that door!"--she pointed out an iron +door on the opposite side; "then you get into a narrow court-yard; keep +to the left, and thus you can get through my brewer's house into +Brother street. Good-by!" + +"Is it always open? asked Timm, when he found the iron door was not +locked. + +"Only to-day," replied Rose; "we expect more beer that way. The fellows +are like sponges to-day." + +When the two gentlemen had safely passed through the door, the little +court-yard, and the brewery, into the space above the barricade in +Brother street, they stopped and looked at each other. The same thought +was uppermost in the mind of both. + +"What a mousetrap this would be!" said Timm. + +"If you will lend a hand," said the detective, "you can make sure of +the president. We want people like you. I have already spoken about you +to the old man." + +"And that would avenge us, too, on the rascals." + +"The thing is not free from danger, though," said the policeman. + +"Faint heart never won fair lady," said Timm. "I confess I like the +idea of catching my good friends in this funny way. If you do not +choose to undertake it I'll do it alone." + +"Well, then, come!" said the detective. "We'll see if the military are +disposed to look at it as we do." + +And the two men advanced boldly upon the colonel, who was waiting on +horseback at some little distance surrounded by his officers, and +furious at the obstinate resistance of the two barricades in Broad +street and Gertrude street, which he had been ordered to take by storm. + + * * * * * + +When Mrs. Rose had helped her friends out and returned to the public +rooms she found there Mr. Schmenckel, with ten or twelve other men from +the barricades, who wished to refresh themselves after their fatigue. +They were mostly old customers of the locality, the same men with long +beards and dishevelled locks who had been in the habit of meeting here +to condemn the "rotten condition of the state," the "hateful police," +and the "brutalized soldiery." Mr. Schmenckel had always been highly +respected by these people, and now, when they had seen that he could +not only speak boldly but also act courageously, he became the hero of +the day. + +Under these circumstances Mrs. Rose deemed it more prudent not to carry +out her resolution, and to leave the waiting upon the barricade men to +pretty Lisbeth while she herself took her accustomed seat at the bar. + +Pretty Lisbeth was very fond of Mr. Schmenckel, whose gallantry was +universal. She had overheard part of the conversation between her +mistress, Timm, and Goodheart, and their leaving through the back-door +had roused her suspicions. She thought she ought to tell her admirer +what she had seen, especially as she liked to show him what a false +pussy-cat Mrs. Rose was--a fact of which she had often tried to +convince him in vain. Schmenckel at once appreciated the importance of +her communications. If there was a door in the basement which led into +Brother street, and if Timm and Goodheart, whom Schmenckel by no means +trusted, knew this door, then it was most assuredly very expedient to +see if that door was carefully locked. + +Schmenckel let Lisbeth go, and told the men at his table what he had +heard. They all were of opinion that a reconnoissance ought to be made +at once. But at the very moment when the men took up their arms and +turned to the door which led into the store-room in question, the door +was opened from the other side and a troop of soldiers rushed in, +Albert Timm and the detective in their midst. + +The sudden appearance of the shining helmets and guns, and the firing +which began instantly, though fortunately quite at random, filled some +of the barricade men with such terror that they rushed helter skelter +up the steps and fled into the street. Here they were met by Oswald and +Berger, who had been attracted by the firing, and now came to +Schmenckel's assistance, who had until now alone contended with the +soldiers. + +Schmenckel had seized one of the guns which had just been fruitlessly +discharged, and attacked the invaders, first with the butt end, and +when this was broken with the iron barrel, so powerfully that two or +three were lying disabled on the floor, and the others were retiring +panic-struck through the back door. There, however, they met their +advancing comrades, and this caused a fearful confusion, especially as +Oswald, Berger, Schmenckel, and the other men, who had recovered from +their surprise, now also pressed down into the half-lighted rooms and +engaged in a terrible conflict. + +The attacking party was perhaps half as strong again as their enemies, +and better armed; but these advantages were offset by Berger's and +Oswald's impetuous valor, and the gigantic strength of Schmenckel. The +powerful man wielded his terrible weapon indefatigably, and not a blow +fell in vain upon the heads of the unfortunate soldiers. Thus he cut +his way to the door which led into the court-yard, at which he met +several escaping soldiers, while others were eagerly crowding after +them. And now he had attained his end. Seizing with his irresistible +arms a few of the men hemmed in between the door and the door-frame, +and pulling them down into the store-room, he closed the heavy iron +door, pushed the strong iron bar across, leaned his broad back against +it, and cried, whirling his gun-barrel in a circle around him. + +"Now we have gotten our sheep together, professor! No one can get out +or in any more. Caspar Schmenckel will see to that." + +The horror had reached its crisis. In the narrow badly-lighted room, +under-ground and reeking with mould and blood, men fought like wild +beasts. The soldiers defended themselves desperately; but as their +friends could only thunder at the inner door without coming to their +assistance, the result was not long doubtful. The butchery, however, +might have continued for some time if Oldenburg had not come down with +part of his men from the barricade. He threatened to shoot down +instantly every man who should not at once lay down his arms. The +soldiers, deprived of all hope of succor, surrendered, and entered one +by one from the lower room into the drinking saloon, where they were +disarmed. The poor fellows presented a piteous sight There was not one +of them who was not seriously wounded. Their bright uniforms in rags, +out of breath, pale with fright and exhaustion, stained with blood and +dust and dirt--thus they stood there surrounded by the barricade men, +who likewise bore the marks of a severe conflict. But the low cellar +contained greater horrors than these. When lights were brought two +bodies were seen lying lifeless in their blood, a soldier and a +civilian. The soldier had in his wild flight thrown himself upon his +own bayonet, which pierced him through and through, and no doubt had +killed him instantly. The civilian had received a terrible cut across +the head. He was still groaning as they carried him up stairs, but he +also died in a few minutes. At first they thought it was one of the +barricade men, but no one knew him. Oswald also approached the table on +which he had been laid, and after having examined the distorted +countenance for a moment, he saw to his indescribable horror that the +stiff bleeding corpse was all that remained of the Merry Andrew, the +inexhaustible clown and punster, his boon companion of so many a wild +night, the same man from whom he had parted in anger and hatred a few +hours ago--Albert Timm. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + +During the next hour a pause occurred in the fight near the barricade +in Broad street. The regiment of the line, which had charged it five +times in vain, had been reinforced by several battalions of the Guards +who had been fighting in King street, and successfully taken several +barricades. These troops followed different tactics; they did not +advance in close columns, but in small detachments on both sides of the +street, as much as possible under cover, and keeping apart till they +could form once more close before the barricade. But if their losses +were smaller, their success was by no means greater. The besieged +systematically saved their fire till the last moment, and then fired so +coolly at the right moment, that the position seemed to be simply +impregnable. In fact the firing on the part of the troops had ceased +for some time, and the men behind the barricade could rest awhile. + +They needed it sadly. Mostly entirely exhausted, blackened with powder, +all more or less dangerously wounded, they sat and lay about in small +groups, strangely lighted up by the red light of the watch-fires that +had been kindled in the middle of the street, by the white glare of the +candles in the windows, and the pale rays of the full moon, which was +still gliding gently and silently through the blue ether above. Amid +the groups of fighting men, women and girls were seen bringing +provisions from the neighboring houses. There was no lack of beer, and +wine even, and it looked as if here and there too much had been +distributed. At least every now and then sudden shouts and yells were +heard from one or the other group, after which the deep silence became +all the more oppressive. Upon a cask which formed part of the barricade +sat Oldenburg; his long legs were hanging down, and he blew thick +clouds of smoke from his cigar. His air was that of a man who has +assumed a serious responsibility and is determined to carry out what he +has undertaken. He did not doubt for a moment that the barricade would +be taken, and that he would fall at the head of his men; but this was +the last thing he thought of. To die in a good cause had no terrors for +him. Oldenburg actually fancied he felt a faint desire for death in his +heart. Had he not seen how the sweet hope of at last calling Melitta +his own had been recently put off once more, and further than ever? He +could not blame her that the memory of her fondness for Oswald was +weighing her down like an Alp, and made it impossible to her to raise +her eyes boldly to a better and more faithful man; but the very fact +that he could not but honor her for the feeling which parted them made +him so very hopeless and helpless. He had often and often repeated to +himself the word that Melitta spoke so touchingly whenever she saw him +sorrowful: Patience! But in vain! He was consumed by impatience, by his +inability to do anything else for his happiness than to fold his hands +in his lap and to wait with trusting heart for something vague and +uncertain. + +Just then the revolution had broken out and Oldenburg breathed more +freely, as thousands with him. Every one had borne some intolerable +burden, which he now hoped to shake off. Oldenburg was glad that +Melitta was not present. He had at the very beginning sent her word +through old Baumann to stay at her safe place of refuge. When he sent +the old man to her he thought in his heart: We meet again happier or +never more! He now only wished for Oswald to fight by his side for +liberty and for Melitta. The issue might then be an ordeal, and Melitta +crown the victorious survivor. + +And his wish was fulfilled. For an hour Oswald had been fighting by his +side like a man who prefers death to life. Wherever a defective part of +the barricade had to be repaired under the fire of the enemy, wherever +danger was most threatening, there Oswald was sure to be; and as +Oldenburg also chose the most exposed positions, the two men were +constantly side by side. But as soon as the danger was over Oswald +withdrew, and Oldenburg did not follow him as his withdrawing was +evidently intentional. And yet the noble man was anxious, now that +every hour might be their last, to tell his former friend that they +ought to forget the past and join the hands that were on both sides +engaged in a great and holy cause. + +Oldenburg's eyes followed Oswald, as he went to his post, at some +little distance from him, and stood there, rifle in hand, near Berger, +by the watch-fire. In the changeful light their forms now stood forth +brightly, and now were lost in the dark shade. This lent them something +strange, almost supernatural. Oldenburg could not help thinking of the +spirits who beckon to the ferryman on the banks of the Acheron. + +He rose and went up to them. + +"What do you think, gentlemen," he said; "are we going to be left alone +long?" + +"I believe," said Oswald, "they are either short of ammunition or they +have sent for reinforcements." + +"I think that is more likely. What do you think, Berger?" + +Berger had been standing there, his arms crossed, and his large eyes +fixed immoveably upon the flames. Suddenly he stretched out his hands +and said, in a hollow, spectre-like tone of voice, + +"Listen! They are coming! The earth trembles beneath them! How they +whip their horses, who are tired dragging more and more weapons against +the people! Now they alight! And now they cram the iron mouths full to +bursting. We will----" + +"Berger!" said Oldenburg, placing his hand on his arm. + +Berger started like one who is suddenly roused from a heavy dream. He +looked around in confusion. + +"What is it?" he asked, staring at Oldenburg. + +"You are exhausted by excessive efforts, Berger. Lie down for an hour. +I will have you called when you are needed." + +"Exhausted?" said Berger, relapsing into his dreamy state. "Yes; +exhausted unto death. But that is why an hour is not enough; when I go +to sleep, it must be an eternal sleep." + +At that moment Schmenckel stepped up, who had been on guard upon the +barricade, and said, + +"There is something very peculiar going on. I believe they are going to +give us artillery now." + +Berger started up. + +"Did I not tell you?" he cried. "The decisive hour has come. Up! up! +you brave men; all of you! One more merry dance with the weird fairies +of life, and then to unbroken rest in the cool night of death. Up! up!" + +At this call some of the men rose from their resting-places near the +fire, seized their arms, and hastened with Berger to their posts. +Others remained where they were and laughed at the false alarm. But +they also were quickly enough upon their feet when an explosion came +which shook the houses to their foundations, and grape and canister +came rattling against the barricade and the faces of the houses. + +"Now they are in earnest," said Oldenburg, turning to Oswald. But the +place where Oswald had been standing was empty. + +"He avoids me," said Oldenburg, sadly, "and yet my conscience is quiet. +I have no reproach to make to myself as far as he is concerned." + +He hastened to the barricade, where the captain's presence was more +needed than ever. + +The first gun, which had opened the dance, was now joined by three +more, and the thunder came almost uninterruptedly, and with it the iron +hail. There was no doubt they wanted to make a break in the barricade, +and then charge once more with better result. Oldenburg, not wishing to +expose the lives of his men unnecessarily, had given orders that they +should keep as much as possible under cover, and not return the fire of +the enemy, but save every shot for the moment of the charge itself. He +had also doubled the number of men with stones on the house-tops. +Finally he chose from among the men who had shown most bravery a select +corps, which was to fall upon the attacking party and engage them till +the others should have had time to seek shelter behind the barricades +in the adjoining streets. + +Oldenburg had just given his directions when battery opened a most +terrific fire and then suddenly became silent. + +One moment all was perfectly still. + +Perfectly still, and then the iron clang of twenty drums beating the +charge. And with every beat the column drew nearer, a living wall, +apparently irresistible in its approach. + +Not a sound on the barricade. Up on the roofs stand men and boys, with +heavy stones in their hands; in the windows of the houses, and near the +openings in the barricade, the marksmen are watching, with their rifles +close to the eye. + +And the drums beat and the living wall comes nearer. Already one can +distinguish the handsome uniform of the Guards; one can see the +beardless faces of the men, and the black-bearded countenance of the +gigantic officer who leads the attack. And now the officer gives a +command, drowned in the beating of the drums; and as he waves his +bright sword the men cheer, and with three hurrahs they rush forward. +But before they reach the barricade twenty rifles are discharged, and +hundreds of stones are hurled down from above upon the living wall, and +it wavers and trembles like a huge wave in the ocean which dashes its +foam-crested waters against a rocky coast. + +Nevertheless it rolls on, and now it breaks against the barricade. The +officer pulls out huge pieces. Nothing, it seems, can resist his +gigantic strength. But suddenly a man in a worn-out velvet coat, who +wields as his only weapon a rifle-barrel without the stock, leaps down +and faces the officer. When the officer sees the man he starts back as +if struck by lightning, and roars to his men: "Halt! Halt!" + +They halt. + +The men of the barricade avail themselves of this pause and fire once +more. The officer falls dead, face foremost; with him half a dozen men +fall, more or less dangerously wounded. A panic seizes the troops. The +officers try in vain to lead them to the attack. + +The barricade is safe once more; they cheer again and again; they +embrace each other with tears of joy in their eyes. But they have paid +dearly for their victory. While part of the men repair the barricade, +which is half destroyed, another part is busy with the dead and +wounded. The man in the velvet coat brings up the corpse of a man, who +has fought like a hero in the front rank, and who has fallen by his +side, pierced with the enemy's bayonets. + +Oldenburg comes up to help them. + +"Is he dead?" + +"Yes." + +They place him on the ground near one of the fires. The pale face is so +quiet, so peaceful, and a gentle, happy smile plays about the pale +lips. + +Oldenburg looks over to Oswald, who is kneeling on the other side, of +the body. He is startled. The young man's countenance is as pale as +that of the dead man, and his eyes glare like those of a madman. + +"Great God, Oswald! are you wounded?" + +"I am afraid I am," replies Oswald, and sinks down by the side of +Berger's body. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + +The sun has risen twice since the night of the barricades. A wondrously +beautiful spring day is shining upon the immense city. The splendid +palaces show their noble outlines clearly against the bright sky, while +their mighty columns and richly-adorned friezes are bathed in the +golden morning sun. And so there are bathing in the same golden morning +sun thousands and thousands of happy men who wander in endless crowds +through the city. All the pilgrims feel like pious pilgrims who have +long painfully wandered through desert wastes and over rough mountains +to the sacred image of Our Lady, and at last they behold the Holy One, +and she smiles upon them forgiveness of their sins, and peace and joy +and hearty confidence. Now they go back to their homes, silent and full +of emotion, or loud in pious songs, praising the Holy One who has done +wondrously for them.... + +"Poor, gullible people! As if all the saints of the almanac could help +you if you do not help yourself--as if the sins of a generation could +be atoned for in a single night--as if a diseased state could be cured +in a day! You are willing to forget and to forgive those who have +never, never forgiven you anything, and who will never forget that you +have sinned against them as they look upon it. Your houses still show +the traces of the fratricidal struggle. Your roofs, from which in your +despair you hurled stones upon the heads of your enemies, are still +uncovered. The pavements which you tore up to form a wall against +reckless tyranny, have not yet been replaced. The dead even, who shed +their blood for you, have not yet been buried. The wounded--the +mortally wounded, are still waiting on their sorrowful couch for the +hour of release----" + +It was Oldenburg who spoke these words to himself as he stood in one of +the windows of the hotel, and looked down upon the people who now +merrily swarmed over the place where two days ago a huge barricade had +been erected; where men had fought with bitter hatred and gallant +bravery; where many a noble patriot had breathed his last. + +Two of these victims were in the hotel. + +Below, a few feet only above the pavement on which joyous crowds were +thronging, a pale man was lying in his coffin, from whose face a gray +beard was flowing in ample locks over a deep wound, from which night +before last his heart's blood has escaped. + +And in the same room, on his bed of sorrow, lay a young man who had +been mortally wounded by the side of the gray-haired enthusiast, and +whose powerful, youthful strength had so far struggled fearfully with +pitiless death, causing him unspeakable suffering. + +After the charge in which Berger fell and Oswald received his fatal +wound, the troops had not renewed the attack; partly because the +position was really held to be impregnable, partly because hesitation +prevailed among the ruling spirits, and partly because the death of +Prince Waldenberg, who had led the last charge with almost rapturous +bravery and had fallen in the attack, had disheartened the men, so that +the leaders dreaded a second failure. They had contented themselves +with an occasional fire at the barricade; and at last, towards five +o'clock, the last shot had been fired. + +Oldenburg had stood by his post till he was certain that no new attack +was to be expected, and that the troops had received orders to retreat. +Only then he had called Schmenckel, who had stood by him like a true +squire through the whole fight, and they had left the partially +abandoned barricade the last of them all. + +Schmenckel had told Oldenburg that same night, with big tears rolling +down his cheeks, that the officer who had fallen before their eyes, had +been his son. Oldenburg had been greatly surprised when he heard the +somewhat confused account which honest Caspar Schmenckel gave of his +life, and especially the events of the last days--the plot of poor +Albert Timm, whose body had been carried to the hospital--of brave +Jeremy Goodheart, who had led the surprise in the Dismal Hole, and who +had been the first to escape--the interviews between Count Malikowsky +and the Princess Letbus, and the manner in which Albert Timm had +boasted he could transform Oswald Stein at any moment into a Baron +Grenwitz. + +Oldenburg knew the world, and especially the higher regions mentioned +in Schmenckel's story, too well to doubt for a moment that the events +he narrated were possible or even plausible. + +Did Oswald know his own history? But after all that was now perfectly +immaterial. Death was not likely to make any difference between the son +of Baron Harald and the son of Mr. Stein, teacher of languages; and +Oswald was no longer his own, he belonged to death. + +That had been ascertained an hour after he had been wounded. About that +time medical aid had been procured; Doctor Braun arrived in company +with Melitta. The latter had still been with Sophie when old Baumann +brought the news of the conflict and that Oldenburg was in command at +the barricade in Broad street. Melitta had at once decided to join +Oldenburg, and Sophie saw very well that Franz could not stay at home, +when so many thousands were risking their lives, and therefore said +nothing when he declared his intention to accompany Melitta. Old +Baumann and Bemperlein, who were also present, were to stay with Sophie +to guard her and the children. + +Melitta and Franz found much difficulty in making their way, and it was +only after several hours wandering, and often at the peril of their +lives, that they reached Broad street. + +To see his beloved there, was, however, ample compensation to Oldenburg +for all he had endured. Melitta embraced and kissed him amid tears, in +Braun's presence; she clung to his arm and could not let him go again. +She had trembled for his life, and was all joy now to find him again, +blackened with powder but in the full glory of his manhood, till he +whispered in her ear that Oswald was lying, mortally wounded, in one of +the rooms of the hotel. Then Melitta had withdrawn her arm from his, +and had said--pale and distressed, but not overcome--that she would +attend to the poor man, as it was her duty. + +Since then a day and a night had passed--an eternity for those who +watched by the bedside of the patient. The wounded man suffered +indescribable agony. He would now rise madly, so that it required all +of Schmenckel's gigantic strength to put him back in his bed, and now +describe volubly all the fearful images which crowded his overwrought +brain. He who in life was so reserved, had thus revealed the secret of +his birth, a revelation which perfectly overwhelmed Mrs. Black, and +made her bitterly regret her long-continued longing for Marie, which +was so sadly gratified by the sight of Marie's son--on his death-bed. +The old lady, however, remitted none of her tender cares; she was ever +busy; and if for moments nothing could be done, she folded her hands +and prayed Heaven to save the son of her darling daughter. + +But that had been from the beginning a hopeless wish. Franz had +immediately pronounced Oswald's wound fatal, and given him one or at +best two days' life. It is possible, however, he added, that he may +recover his consciousness once more before he dies. + +Melitta looked forward to that moment with great sadness. She now knew +that she loved Oswald only as an unfortunate brother. Oswald had not +once mentioned her name in all his wanderings; he had only spoken of a +dear, sweet woman, against whom he had sinned grievously, and who could +never forgive him for what he had done. This recollection had each time +brought bitter tears to his eyes, and Melitta had wiped them from his +face and wished she could tell him that she had long since forgiven him +all. + +Then the wounded man had groaned so loud that Oldenburg turned quickly +from the window and stepped up to the bed where Melitta was sitting. +But the groan had not been one of pain; it was the deep breathing of a +breath which had been relieved of an unbearable burden. What Franz had +foretold had happened now--the pain had left him, and with it the last +hope of life. + +As long as the pain of the torn vitals had raged within him the mind of +the poor sufferer had been sunk in an abyss of horror, amid hideous +masks that stared at him through hollow eyes, amid monsters that tore +him with their sharp teeth, and dead men who glided by wrapped in their +winding sheets, and displaying as they turned some sweet faces that had +been dear to him. And the abyss had grown still darker--he had been +driven through narrow crevices, pursued by demoniac howls which +re-echoed fearfully from the bare rocky walls, and the hot breath of +hell all around him. Then he heard a voice calling, Oswald! Oswald! And +at the silvery sound of this dear soft voice all the masks and monsters +had vanished and the howling of demons had ceased. The hot, narrow +passages widened into lofty, airy halls which began to sway gently to +and fro, so that there were no longer arches of stone but the majestic +tops of venerable, giant trees, with merrily singing birds skipping +through the green foliage, and here and there golden rays of the sun. +And again the voice called Oswald! Oswald! and he flew towards the +sound, through the dark shady woods, over mossy ground, through which +silvery veins of water were playing. And it grew lighter and lighter +around him; his eye saw beyond the cool twilight, which felt so sweet +and pleasant to him, a land full of blooming life, of golden harvests, +and smiling sunshine. And as his eye eagerly drew in the unaccustomed +sight there came floating over the flowery fields and the ripening +wheat-fields two lofty, beautiful forms. At first he did not know them, +but as they came nearer he recognized both. They were Oldenburg and +Melitta; and he stretched out his arms towards them and said: "You dear +and good ones! can you forgive me?" + +Then they bent over him, and he felt their kisses on his lips. He would +have wept aloud with blissful delight, but he could not. Sweet +weariness flowed through his limbs. He wanted to open his eyes, but a +dear warm hand softly closed them; the land of harvests and sunshine +faded away, the lofty forms floated back into soft mists, the woods +sounded louder, he was drawn back again into the cool twilight, and +then it was night aboriginal, eternal night. + + * * * * * + +And once more the spring sun has risen twice, and once more the immense +city wears a festive air; but the color of this solemnity is that of +mourning, for the feast they celebrate is the feast of the dead. + +Black banners are waving from the towers and parapets of the royal +palace; mourning crape is floating from all the windows; crape is seen +on the bonnets of ladies and on the hats of men, on the arms of +countless numbers, who are all making their way towards the beautiful +open square in the heart of the city, where, amid temples bathed in the +rays of the noon-day sun, the coffins of all the victims of that night +of terror are standing on a huge platform. One hundred and eighty-seven +coffins, some containing women and children, innocent flowers, that +fell under the pitiless scythe when the grim mowers of the bloody +harvest were reaping the field on which the seed of liberty was to have +ripened. + +And even this did not complete the bloody harvest. The hospitals, as +well as numberless private houses, had besides their wounded men, many +of whom were never to see the golden day of freedom. + +And now the bells begin to toll solemnly on all the steeples--the same +bells which in the night of the barricade had rang the alarm. + +The church ceremonies are ended. The procession is in motion. A +procession such as that city had never seen; such as the world's +history perhaps never recorded. + +In endless length the coffins with their rich loads of flowers are +borne on the shoulders of citizens, and twenty thousand men of every +age and every rank form the escort. On every coffin is a paper with the +name of the deceased. Unmeaning names! Who was Oswald Stein? Who was +Eberhard Wolfgang Berger? + +What is there in a name? What matters it who they were in life? what +they did and suffered, blundered and sinned, desired and failed to +achieve? All desires are crowned, all sins are expiated, by their dying +for freedom. This was felt by the hundred thousands who stood on both +sides of the streets through which the procession moved, reverently +baring their heads before every coffin. + +And thus the endless procession moves slowly in silent, solemn +stillness to its destination, a high hill at one of the gates of the +city, where the men of the barricades have on the day before dug out an +immense square hole. The procession enters the cutting. The bearers +quietly set down the coffins and move on, and so the others, till the +whole procession has passed out again. + +And the thousands are standing around in solemn silence. Guns are fired +and a whole nation prays at the graves of its martyrs. + +For whom? + +For the dead? + +They need their pious wishes no longer in their cool resting places, in +their eternal sleep. + +But the living? + +Their lot is not worse, but harder. They must work and be useful in the +hot dust of every day's life, without rest or repose, for tyranny never +sleeps. They must work and watch, lest the night come once more in +which the brave feel sad and the wicked delight; that night full of +romantic masks and fantastic spectres; that night so poor in sound +strong men, and so rich in problematic characters; that long, wretched +night, out of which only the thunderstorm of revolution can lead +through bloody dawn to freedom and to light. + + + + THE END. + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Through Night to Light, by Friedrich Spielhagen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH NIGHT TO LIGHT *** + +***** This file should be named 34598.txt or 34598.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/5/9/34598/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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